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Editorial Review Book Description
* Examines the links between woodcarving and deforestation, conservation, and international trade with case studies from Australia, India, Africa, and Mexico
*Highlights the vital importance of traditional industries to rural economies: more money and jobs are generated per unit of wood in woodcarving than in any other part of the timber industry
*Part of the cutting-edge People and Plants series
Much has been published on the impacts of logging in tropical forests for timber, but relatively little has yet been written about the effects of felling hardwood and softwood trees for commercial scale woodcarving enterprises. "Carving Out a Future" is the first thorough examination of the international woodcarving trade and its critical links to rural livelihoods, deforestation, biodiversity and conservation, forestry and forest policy, and the international trade regime. A range of case studies from Australia, India, Africa, and Mexico provide a lens for examining the critical issues relating to the significant impacts of woodcarving on forests, conservation efforts, the need to promote sustainable rural livelihoods, and efforts to promote fair trade so that skilled artisans in developing countries get a fair economic return. ... Read more Customer Reviews (2) 
Woodcarving: eonomic livelihood/environmental impact
Anthony Cunningham, et.al. edit CARVING OUT A FUTURE: FORESTS, LIVELIHOODS AND THE INTERNATIONAL WOODCARVING TRADE, which provides a detailed coverage on the cultural and economic contribution of woodcarving to livelihoods and its affect upon the environment. A global overview of the topic moves to regional focus of woodcarving efforts in Asia, Africa, and South America, with chapters outlining issues in both sustainability and woodcarving economics. It's a scholarly ethnobotanical survey which is especially recommended for college-level holdings on the topic.
Traditions and Business Principles for Livelihoods Improvement
Traditional knowledge and skills as intellectual property of local people are valued for its potential contribution to the sustainability of ecosystems and livelihoods improvement of local communities. In particular, supporting local livelihoods has implications for environmental conservationÂ. Role of traditional knowledge for the conservation science is acknowledged but the evidence related to its direct contribution to household income is often overlooked*. The book, "Carving Out a Future: Forests, Livelihoods and the International Woodcarving Trade" edited by Anthony Cunningham, Brian Belcher and Bruce Campbell provides opportunity to explore if, and under what conditions, traditional knowledge on woodcarving contributes to livelihoods improvement and household incomes. There has been a paucity of good studies on woodcarving and this pioneering work is a great addition to the field.
Engravings and carvings are the earliest and enduring form of sculptures produced by humans. The Middle Stone Age abstract representations engraved on pieces of red ochre from Blombos Cave in South Africa have been dated about 77,000 years ago. These engravings support the evidence for emergence of modern human behavior at least 35,000 years before the start of the Upper Paleolithic#. Furthermore, origin of the figurative art is now considered as a crucial threshold in human evolution. Figurines carved from mammoth ivory at Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabian Jura, Germany provide evidence for the appearance of figurative art more than 30,000 years ago. These Aurignacian sculptures belong to one of the oldest traditions of figurative art known worldwide*.
Starting with these pioneering steps, a continuous history of nature-society interactions gave rise to a large body of traditional knowledge in diverse fields including: (i) hunting, fishing and gathering; (ii) agriculture, animal husbandry, tree cultivation; (iii) preparation, conservation and distribution of food; (iv) location, collection and storage of water; (v) coping with disease and injury; (vi) interpretation of climatic phenomena; (vii) manufacture of clothing, tools, crafts and woodcarving; (viii) construction and maintenance of shelter; (ix) orientation and navigation on land and sea; (x) management of nature-society interactions; and (xi) adaptation to environmental/social change.
Various chapters in the book by different authors introduce a large body of knowledge within the pages of this hugely informative book. Amid a diverse body of knowledge, the art woodcarving is of particular interest because it combines aesthetics with utility. Contribution of woodcarvings to livelihoods is now well researched in Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, and Mexico. Oaxacan wood carvings from Mexico are known worldwide. For instance, the woodcarvings in Kenya are estimated to support livelihoods of ~80,000 carvers and their 500,000 dependents, generating export earnings of $US20 million to markets in North America, Asia, and Europe. Likewise, woodcarving in South Africa provides household income between US$500-2000 per year, which is about 80% of the household cash. Export earning in Bali region of Indonesia amounts to US$100 million annually. A range of case studies in the book from Australia, India, Africa and Mexico provide convincing evidence of woodcraft's critical links to rural livelihoods, deforestation, biodiversity and conservation, forestry and forest policy and the international trade regime.
I take a different approach to review this work as it would worthwhile to explore, by implications and analysis derived from the book. I take two states of India as an example. Although study of woodcarvings in India has just begun, the country has emerged as one of the largest producers of woodcarvings globally. Woodcarving export in 2002-03 amounted to Rs. 5113.5 million (US$ 113.55 million). The noteworthy issue here is that even as many states in India are rich in traditional woodcarving, their contribution to the national export pool varies widely. In order to search the enabling factors, apart from the existence of traditional knowledge, it is useful to compare the woodcarving enterprises in Rajasthan (western India: wood deficit region) and Jharkhand (eastern India: wood surplus region).
Jodhpur in Rajasthan has rich tradition of woodcarving in the form of wood figurines, deities and artistic furniture. During the ancient and medieval periods, rulers of Rajasthan supported the woodcraft by providing patronage to woodcarvers and artisans. Woodcarving has now developed into a leading enterprise that thrives partly on local wood from plantations and partly on purchase of wood from adjoining states. Woodcraft industry in Jodhpur now provides employment to more than one lakh people and generates exports of at least Rs. 400 crores annually$. Woodcarving contributes substantially to household income too ranging between Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 37,000 per annum depending upon the skills of woodcarvers. Although this income is substantial compared to the average per capita income of India (Rs.12,414), but the profit margins on woodcraft products manufactured by artisans are only 7-10% while profit margins for exporters are as high as 25-35% (see the chapter in the book by S. Chatterjee et al. p. 103-119). This is very similar to other traditional knowledge based enterprises where middlemen earn 35-40% of the total profit.
Similar to Jodhpur, many districts in Jharkhand too have rich tradition of woodcraft. Jharkhand is particularly known for deities, artistic furniture and variety of musical instruments known locally as arbansi, bansuri, damama, dhak, dhamsa, dhol, ghanta, jurinagra, karha, kartal, madanvari, mandar, manjhira, nagara, sahnai, sankh, singa, tasa, thapchanchu, visamdhanki etc. In addition, toy making is also developing as a new craft industry using a variety of soft wood trees available in plenty within Jharkhand. The contribution of woodcraft to household income or the total volume of trade in Jharkhand is not known, but our preliminary survey indicates that the exports are negligible and the average household income for artisans who sell their products locally remains below Rs. 8000 annually.
This stark difference in the two states, as discussed above, is intriguing and begs the question as to why the woodcarving knowledge in Jharkhand does not contribute substantially to household incomes? There are many conditions that can explain why the markets may not have worked in favour of poor people±, but, in addition to the necessary pre-condition of existence of local knowledge, three additional factors may have contributed to the growth of woodcraft industry in Jodhpur compared to Jharkhand. First, a supportive policy environment and governance is necessary to promote woodcarving industries as an important contribution to livelihoods improvement. Jharkhand being the newly created state, it has only recently issued a policy intent to boost the manufacturing of sophisticated and intricate handicrafts in cane, bamboo, woodcarving and lac-based items, while government has vigorously promoted and encouraged woodcraft industry in Rajasthan. Second, infrastructure has a decisive effect on development. Woodcarving industry in Jodhpur benefited from the infrastructural support such as an outstanding road network, communication, electricity and export promotion facilities including dry ports. Such facilities are comparatively less developed in Jharkhand. Indeed, Jharkhand has to travel 80% of the distance to reach the level equivalent to the state with the best infrastructure in India, compared to 56.9 for Rajasthan. Lastly, a vigorous investment to promote to tourism in Rajasthan provides a ready market and buyers from all over the world. In Jharkhand, however, tourism is yet to develop.
We can thus infer that a comparatively much better policy and governance, good infrastructure and a growing tourism play vital role in supporting local artisans and entrepreneurs to use their traditional knowledge for generating large household incomes. States desirous of promoting woodcraft as a revenue earning and poverty reduction strategy will do well in addressing the issues identified here.
Emergence of woodcarving as an important source of income to local artisans worldwide has three other advantages too: it facilitates long-term locking-up of carbon in carved wood coupled with creation of new carbon sequestration potential through intensified tree-growing; supports local knowledge on wood-carving and tree-growing, therefore, further strengthens livelihoods; and it also helps in promoting local trade and industry as a revenue-earning activity for the local governments. Processes such as these are expected to enhance the ability of developing countries to participate in the growing global economy.
To conclude, although more robust studies are required to get useful insights but there is some indication that traditional knowledge on woodcarving can support livelihoods improvement with suitable interventions identified here. Promoting woodcarving is expected to encourage application of other forms of traditional knowledge and skills such as tree-growing in agroecosystems to supply raw material for woodcarving enterprise. Because the species useful for woodcarving are often overexploited in forests, tree-planting in agroecosystems by local communities should be encouraged to supply wood for making woodcarving and reduce pressure on the forests. Integration of traditional knowledge with modern science and technology can bring new innovations. Innovations with already existing skills and knowledge such as woodcarving-rather than completely new interventions-may be a better option to concurrent efforts aimed at poverty reduction, livelihoods improvement and biodiversity conservation. The book by Cunnigham, Belcher and Campbell is a first comprehensive step in that direction. This work is destined to become a citation classic!!!
Endnotes
ÂCunningham, A., B. Belcher & B. Campbell (eds.). Carving Out a Future: Forests, Livelihoods and the International Woodcarving Trade. Earthscan, London, UK, pp.293, 2005.
ÂSayer, J. A. and Campbell, B. M., The Science of Sustainable Development: Local Livelihoods and the Global Environment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2004.
*Pandey, D.N., Ethnoforestry: Local Knowledge for Sustainable Forestry and Livelihood Security, Himanshu/AFN, New Delhi, 1998.
#Henshilwood, C. S. et al., Emergence of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa. Science, 2002, 295, 1278-1280.
*Conard, N. J., Palaeolithic ivory sculptures from southwestern Germany and the origins of figurative art. Nature, 2003, 426, 830-832.
Pandey, D. N. Carbon sequestration in agroforestry systems, Climate Policy, 2, 2002, 367-377.
$Yadav, M. M., Research study on woodcraft and carving industry at Bastar in Chattissharh and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, IIFM, Bhopal, 2003.
±Scherr, S. J., White, A. and Kaimowitz, D., A New Agenda for Forest Conservation and Poverty Alleviation: Making Markets Work for Low-Income Producers, Washington, DC, Forest Trends and CIFOR, 2003.
Srivastava, S. K., Dutt, C. B., Nagaraja, R., Bandyopadhyay, S., Meena Rani, H. C., Hegde, V. S. and Jayaraman, V., Strategies for rural poverty alleviation in India: A perspective based on remote sensing and GIS-based nationwide wasteland mapping. Current Science, 2004, 87, 954-959.
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