No bush foods without people: the essential human dimension to the sustainability of trade in native plant products from desert Australia

摘要: Improvement in Aboriginal people’s livelihoods and economic opportunities has been a major aim of increased research development on bush foods over the past decade. But worldwide trade non-timber forest products from natural populations raised questions about ecological sustainability harvest. Trade-offs tensions between commercialisation cultural values have also found. We investigated small-scale commercial harvest native plant sourced central Australian rangelands (including Solanum centrale J.M. Black, Acacia Mill. spp.). used semi-structured interviews with traders harvesters, participant observation trading harvesting trips, analysis species trader records. An expert reference group guided project. found no evidence either taxa being vulnerable to over-harvest. S. production is enhanced by when it co-occurs patch-burning. Extreme fluctuations productivity both taxa, due inter-annual rainfall variability, much greater impact supply than effects. Landscape-scale degradation cattle grazing wildfire) affected according participants. By contrast, we that food more strongly impacted social factors. The relationship-based links harvesters are critical monetary trade. Harvesters identified access productive lands narrow margins costs returns as issues for future emphasised sustaining relies generations having necessary knowledge skills; these extremely loss. people derive multiple livelihood benefits custodians harvester groups involved recent likely benefit investment inter-generational skill transfer investments breeding horticultural development. In an inductive comparison, our study there be strong alignment key findings strategies produce ‘desert system’..