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About 83% of the total population of Lao PDR lives in rural areas. People living near forest are highly dependent on the forest resources closed to their villages. Especially non-timber forest products (NTFPs) provide a wide range of subsistence needs and are the main source of their cash income. They also make a significant contribution to the country economy. The annual export value of NTFPs is considerably high. 708 edible NTFP species (238 edible plants and 470 animals) have been recorded so far, and about 400 plants have been reported and used as medicinal plants by Lao people. One hundred NTFP species are considered as commercial forest products. The striking trend in NTFP resources is the decline of some commercial species due to increased demand on them for commercialization, and the loss of forest by rapid population growth. To sustainablely manage the NTFPs resources, a number of new management systems are under development and support in progress by the government.

In Malaysia, Labisia pumila Benth & Hook f, popularly known as ‘Kacip Fatimah’ has been used traditionally to treat various elements of the woman’s health in Malay community. The objective of this study was to develop randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) based DNA markers for the identification of L. pumila and to distinguish its three varieties from each other. Total DNA from nine accessions of L. pumila was extracted by CTAB method and polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were carried out to amplify the segments of DNA using different primers to develop DNA barcode using RAPD technique. To find out variety-specific DNA marker/s, twenty different 10-mer primer sequences with annealing temperature from 36-40 °C were evaluated in triplicate. Out of 20 random primers, two primers (OPA-1 and OPA-2/A10) were selected which produced reliable RAPD band patterns. To have DNA based handle, two RAPD amplification products were cloned and sequenced to determine the identity of the DNA. RAPD analysis using two random primers generated 72 discrete bands ranging in size 200 bp-3,000 bp. Fifty nine of these were polymorphic loci (82%) and thirteen were non-polymorphic loci (18%). A total of 32 bands polymorphic loci (72%) were amplified with primer OPA-1 and analyzed by cluster analysis and UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic) to present a dendogram depicting the degree of genetic relationship among nine accessions of L. pumila. Our results shows the reasonable genetic diversity among the L. pumila varieties and within varieties; and two RAPD marker sequences obtained could be used to identify L. pumila at species level.

The Hajong are the ancient tribal forest community among the ethnic minorities of the North-East region of Bangladesh. The study was carried out with respect to three income groups highlighting their indigenous knowledge. A total of forty-five households (fifteen from each income groups) were assessed using different participatory appraisals through semi -structured questionnaires. A special type of indigenous knowledge on food habit was explored in the Hajong community, which correspond to the severe dependence on forest resources. They collect their food resources from homestead forest (45%) followed by forest (40%), market and others. They have indigenous hunting procedure to trap the animal in the forest. Twenty three tree species were tremendously planted in their homestead forests which are the very important source of food. Male are highly responsible to collect the food materials from forest as well as other sources.

Multiple shoot induction and plant regeneration using apical bud and nodal explants of 100 year old tree of Anthocephalus cadamba, an important sacred and medicinal tree in India was achieved for the first time. Aseptic explants cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium augmented with different concentrations of BAP (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 10 mg/l), when maintained for 60 days, healthy shoots were induced in presence of BAP (1 mg/l). Lower concentrations of BAP (0.1 - 0.5 mg/l) induced only one shoot per explant. Increase in number of shoots per explant was observed in presence of higher concentrations of BAP (2.5, 5.0 and 10 mg/l). However, elongation of shoots was completely inhibited. Bud break and shoot regeneration was largely associated with seasonal factors. Apical buds cultured during June to August exhibited early bud break within two weeks of initial culture. In rest of the months, bud break and shoot regeneration was very slow irrespective of the various concentrations of BAP used in the medium. Explants sourced from three different maturity levels of shoots indicated that actively growing shoots from the mother plant with 1 – 2 nodal segments was more suitable for culture initiation than the explants collected from mature shoots at dormant stage. Regenerated shoots with 2 – 3 pairs of leaves when transferred to half strength MS medium fortified with IBA (1 mg/l), 60% of the shoots induced healthy roots, indicating the possibility of large scale micropropagation.

Recently, various efforts for the extended utilization of woody biomass has been attempted due to the fact that global warming, energy and environmental problems are urgent ones to be solved. Development of new energy sources at our national security level is desperately needed as we depend on almost all of energies supplied from other countries, let alone the economic crisis caused by oil price hike. Woody biomass can be converted to energy by means of thermochemical, biological, or direct combustion processes. Many processes are available for producing bioenergy, such as bioethanol, wood pellet, wood chip, combined heat, and power system. Political support and R&D investment should be provided that can boost the utilization of the wood biomass, the eco-environment, and recyclable and alternative energy resources for national power security. In addition, a long-term strategy that can utilize unused and low efficient woody biomass resources, and systematically collect and manage them in a national level should be set up. Even though the possibility in total exchange of fossil oil with woody biomass is quite low, technology developments of woody biomass for the solution to global warming and environmental problem through its commercialization are expected to grow steadily.