AbstractSpatial Distribution and Relative Abundance of Nontimber Forest ProductsTrack: Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management Author The upgrading of the Takamanda Forest Reserve (TFR) to a National Park (NP) by the government of Cameroon provided the need to understand effective spatial distribution and relative abundance of high economic value plant NTFPs within the Park. Such knowledge regarded as baseline to provide decision makers with an efficient tool to making informed decisions regarding sustainable harvesting of NTFPs by communities living within the park and the peripheral zones. GIS was applied in the survey of these NTFPs using recces transects. Point data of over 5000 ways-points represented 10 different NTFPs spatial distribution was collected. The encounter rate of each of the 10 NTFPs was calculated. The obtained results were used in ArcGIS 9.2 to generate density maps for each of the 10 NTFPs. Buh Gaston AFC/GTZ P. O Box 7814 Yaounde Yaounde, Central Region 00237 Cameroon Phone: 0023777458353 E-mail: buhgaston@yahoo.com |