By revealing historical and present plant use, ethnobotany contributes to drug discovery and socioeconomic development. Nepal is a natural storehouse of medicinal plants. Although several ethnobotanical studies were conducted in the country, many areas remain unexplored. Furthermore, few studies have compared indigenous plant use with reported phytochemical and pharmacological properties.

This paper identifies and analyses climate change impacts, their cascading consequences and the livelihood implications of these impacts on smallholder agricultural communities of coastal Bangladesh. Six physically and socio-economically vulnerable communities of south-western coastal regions were studied. Primary data was collected through focus group discussions, a seasonal calendar, and historical transect analysis. Three orders of impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers are identified and described. The first order impacts involve increasing erosion of the capacity of local communities to mitigate vulnerability to climate change impacts. This situation led to the second order impacts, which significantly transformed the agricultural landscape and production patterns. The cumulative effects of the first and second order impacts sparked the third order impacts in the form of worsening community livelihood assets and conditions. The findings of this paper can contribute to the formulation of sustainable adaptation policies and programs to manage the vulnerability of local communities to climate change impacts in the country effectively.

The increasing importance of stakeholders in project design, implementation, and evaluation requires mechanisms to ensure their effective participation to enhance project success. As a national non-governmental organisation (NGO) engaged in the design and implementation of community development projects, International Centre for Enterprise and Sustainable Development (ICED) adopts a quadripartite project participation model (QPPM) that facilitates the participation of project stakeholders. This article analyzes the model and its implication for managing community development projects in Ghana. The article adopts an action research strategy relying on the experiential knowledge of the authors in the application of the model. The results of the analysis indicate that although stakeholder participation in community development projects can be very challenging, the application of the model reduces the tensions that often characterize stakeholder participation. The model helps to spread project responsibilities, obligations, and rights equitably amongst project stakeholders.

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) farming is emerging globally as an important tool for establishing sustainable forest communities and supporting forest-based livelihoods. NTFPs are of great importance to millions of people whose livelihoods largely depend on them. Increasingly, forest policies of many countries are being revised to reflect the potential of NTFPs in achieving rural development and poverty alleviation. In Ghana, various forest policies have been formulated and implemented for developing a national forest estate and timber industry. However, most of the forest policies have failed to address the role of NTFPs in achieving poverty reduction in the country. Forest policies continue to remain a major hurdle to the growth and development of NTFP in Ghana.Through an exhaustive literature review, interviews conducted on various forest development stakeholders, forestry experts and forest dependent communities, this paper uses sustainability frameworks to critically evaluate Ghana’s forestry policies and their impacts on NTFPs utilisation and management in Ghana. The 1994 Forest and Wildlife Policy (FWP-94) and its implementation process from 1995 to 2008 were analyzed with regard to the development of NTFPs and a number of challenges facing this sub-sector identified. The results revealed that the lack of definite policy on NTFPs has impacted negatively on their promotion and development in the country. Until recently, most of the policy initiatives were aimed at forest conservation and timber production; the livelihood opportunities of NTFPs for local communities were ignored. The paper also urges government of Ghana to effectively place development and promotion of NTFPs farming as core element of the country’s forestry policy-making process and national development agenda.