A manual published in November 2008 and directed at rural and indigenous communities, their technicians and organizations, who wish to collect or extract copal resins and aromatic oils of different species of Bursera in a sustainable manner.
It contains an overview of the production of resins and aromatic oils, their past and present uses, and definitions and explanations of the technical and scientific concepts needed to understand the principles of sustainable forest management.
The manual provides useful technical information for various stages of the use of copal. Some of the different community situations targeted by this manual are:
Those communities with a natural resource, but one which has not yet been exploited or only to a very small scale. Information is given to help plan and begin extraction.
Those that already have been extracting oil or resin and wish to improve and regularize their uses.
Those who have overextracted their resource and wish to restore the productive capacity of their ecosystems.
Those who practice sustainable management but do not have permission to use their resource and would like to regularize their situation to formally market their products.
Those communities with a natural resource, but one which has not yet been exploited or only to a very small scale. Information is given to help plan and begin extraction.
