Scaling the numbers of non-timber forests product species used from individual to household to village scales in northern South Africa

• We recorded the number of NTFPs used per person, household and village at 5 sites. • The mean number of NTFPs was 26.8 per adult, 36.1 per household and 105 per village. • This resulted in ratio of 1: 1.35: 3.93 species across the 3 scales. • The contextual factors influencing the number used at each scale were investigated. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) contribute to the culture, subsistence, income and wellbeing of billions of people globally through the use of thousands of different species. However, the number of species used varies according to the reporting scale, i.e. per individual, household, community or region, as well as various contextual variables at each of these scales. Because of the variation in reporting scales of NTFP species numbers between studies, it becomes challenging to compare numbers between studies and regions and thereby impossible to distil broader patterns. Consequently, we sought to ascertain how many NTFP species and types are used at the individual, household, and village scale, and how it varies in relation to respondent, household and village attributes. This was done by interviewing 20 randomly selected households in each of five villages in the Vhembe district of South Africa. Every adult member of the selected households was interviewed individually to provide a free-listing of species used across 12 different categories of NTFPs. The species list provided by each adult within a household were added together to provide the household-scale list, and those for the 20 households added together to create the village-scale list (after removing duplicates at each scale). The average number of species listed per adult was 26.8, compared to 36.1 per household and 105 per village, providing a ratio of 1: 1.35: 3.93. At the individual scale, the number of species listed was positively related to age and negatively to education level and employment. At a household scale, the number of NTFP species used was positively correlated with the number of household members, but not with income level or source. Respondents in villages furthest from urban centres listed more NTFP species than those closer to urban centres, as did those with more traditional building styles than more modern styles. The generalisability of these ratios needs to be assessed across more studies and contexts.