Management of Non-Wood Forest Products

Basic knowledge

The Management of Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP) Module is aimed at all actors – such as
local communities, the private sector, governments, traders and consumers – involved in the
management, use and marketing of NWFPs. The module provides basic and more detailed
information on the process of NWFP management, including planning, harvesting, marketing
and trade.

The module also provides links to tools for NWFP management and case studies of effective
management.

What are NWFPs?

Non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are goods of biological origin other than wood derived from forests, other wooded land and trees
outside forests. They may be harvested in forests and agroforestry systems and from trees outside forests. Examples of NWFPs are foods
and food additives (e.g. edible nuts, mushrooms, fruits, berries, bushmeat, herbs, spices and condiments, aromatic plants, and insects),
fibres (e.g. bamboos and rattans), and medicines, cosmetics and cultural products (e.g. resins, gums and dyes). The table gives additional
examples of various NWFP categories.

Categories of NWFPs

Category Examples of material Examples of end use

Food stuffs – plant-based Fruits, leaves, vegetables, fungi, nuts/seeds, berries Food, oils, drinks, colourings and dyes
Food stuffs – animal-based Bushmeat, wild game, insects, honey, snails Food, trophies
Medicinal Medicinal plants, herbs, spices Medicine, flavourings, fragrances
Animal fodder Leaves, twigs Fodder
Fibres Rattan, bamboo, liana, cork Construction, crafts, paper, clothing
Gums and saps Latex, rubber, gums, resins, chemicals Chemical raw materials

NWFPs and SFM

Several million households of the world utilize and depend on NWFPs, primarily for nutritional, health and economic needs. It is estimated
that 80 percent of the population in developing countries are utilizing NWFPs for these purposes in some way (FAO, 1997).
Most of them are women as it is they who collect and manage most NWFPs, even accounting for product, context and country.

In many countries, NWFPs are important components of forest product exports. Despite their real and potential value, however, most
NWFPs are usually categorized as “minor” products of forests. NWFPs are often associated with traditional uses that are not widely known,
or with poverty and subsistence. Transactions related to NWFPs largely take place in households and small-scale enterprises, mostly
outside established marketing channels, thus forming part of an informal sector. For these reasons, NWFPs are often overlooked in forest
management planning, leading to conflicts over resource use, for example where wood-harvesting interferes with the local production and
harvesting of NWFPs.

The sustainable management of NWFPs, especially those occurring in natural forests, can be complex. Nevertheless, developing
enterprises based on NWFPs can help increase the sustainability of forest management by increasing the range of forest benefits that
accrue to local communities, who can often undertake gathering and processing activities themselves and consequently retain a greater
proportion of the value of end-products, increasing their incentive to manage the forest sustainably. However, there are also examples of
where the growth of markets for NWFPs has led to the degradation of forest resources or failed to help alleviate poverty or increase forest
conservation (see Cases). Efforts to manage forests sustainably will continue to be hampered if NWFPs are not considered in forest
management plans and practices and in regulations governing forest use. Forest managers need to understand the importance of NWFPs
for the livelihoods of local communities and work with communities to promote the sustainable management of such products.

The sustainable management of NWFPs should take into account the interests of the various actors involved – such as local communities,
the private sector, governments, traders and consumers – and ensure stakeholder participation in decision-making.

This is particularly true when it comes to women's involvement. Women are often excluded from decision-making processes on managing
NWFPs, even though they are usually the people who are most affected.

Management of Non-Wood Forest Products contributes to SDGs:

In more depth
The process of NWFP management is outlined below.

Resource management planning

Defining management objectives and strategies for NWFP. Three main criteria should guide forest managers and other stakeholders in
setting forest management priorities: economic (e.g. financial viability); social (e.g. demand for forest goods and services, legal access, and
traditional rules); and environmental (e.g. resource productivity and ecological suitability). A thorough review should be conducted of
background information, such as existing studies, laws and regulations and previous management plans. Participatory appraisals should be
conducted to draw on the experience of local communities.

Where there is only limited local experience in the management and production of NWFPs, a small set of NWFPs (no more than six) should
be selected for initial commercial development on the basis of their economic, social and environmental suitability. Preference should be
given to those products with established local or regional demand, because such demand is likely to fluctuate less than demand in newly
developed international markets. Where possible, a “basket” of NWFPs and (potentially) wood products and environmental services should
be developed over time to reduce the vulnerability of enterprises and communities to sudden changes in demand and prices for single
products.

Other factors, such as the seasonality of harvesting and the availability of labour, should also be taken into account; seasonally
complementary harvests of diverse NWFPs can help smooth demand for labour. Products with the greatest potential for local livelihood
improvement – particularly for disadvantaged groups – should be prioritized.

NWFP inventories
Various kinds of forest assessment can inform and guide the development and management of NWFPs. Approaches may focus on either:

the NWFP resource itself, including its abundance or potential for future supply, through a resource assessment; or
the use of the NWFP in the market, such as market or product surveys, biodiversity inventories (or species lists), and cultural
studies.

Resource assessments can be carried out for both flora and fauna and may involve inventories of selected species, growth and yield
studies, and the determination of maximum allowable annual harvesting levels.

(see Tools - Resource assessment of non-wood forest products)

NWFP harvesting
In general, the sustainable harvesting of NWFPs in natural forests follows close-to-nature principles. This means, for example, that wood
harvests (where they occur) should be dispersed so that nearby forest stands are at different stages of recovery following harvesting and
that mature and near-mature stands are also close to each other. Minimizing forest fragmentation in this way is likely to maintain greater
species diversity and minimize the risk of losing NWFP species. To ensure that wood-harvesting can co-exist with NWFP harvesting:

Management planning should aim to protect NWFP species.

The planning of roads and skid trails for log extraction should accommodate and, where possible, facilitate the harvesting and
transport of NWFPs.
Local communities should be invited and encouraged to work with forest managers on pre- and post-harvest assessments to
ensure that NWFPs and their local use are properly considered.

(see Cases - Seminar Proceedings: Harvesting of NWFP, 2000)

Domestication or cultivation of key NWFPs

Domesticated or cultivated species refer to species in which the evolutionary process has been influenced by humans to meet their needs
(Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992). The domestication offers the possibility of increasing the productivity of certain NWFPs and
reducing harvesting pressure on natural forests while increasing and reducing fluctuations in market supply. The domestication of wild
forest species, however, usually involves a considerable investment of time and money, which may only be feasible where the product has
a very high value and where social and political conditions are such that investors have a reasonable chance of obtaining good returns. Key
steps that need to be taken to domesticate an NWFP include:
 the identification of key species;
the collection of germplasm;
the development of vegetative multiplication techniques or breeding schemes; and
the integration of the NWFP (either vegetative or animal) in agroforestry or agricultural systems.

(see Domestication and commercialization of NTFP in agroforestry systems)

Marketing and trade of NWFPs

Forests and woodlands can be managed for subsistence or commercial purposes. In areas without access to markets, wood and NWFPs
may still contribute substantially to domestic consumption and thus make important contributions to the food security of local communities.
Nevertheless, enterprises based on NWFPs face many hurdles, such as a lack of access to finance, the dispersed nature of many NWFPs
in a forest, the risk of depleting a resource on which local people may rely for subsistence, taxation systems and other administrative
processes that are poorly structured for small-scale enterprises, a lack of access to markets, and a lack of harvest quotas.

Options to help increase the viability of enterprises based on NWFPs include:

assisting small-scale operators to establish appropriate organizational structures such as cooperatives and user groups so that
individual operators can pool resources to improve trade links and marketing and invest in the value-added processing of products;
improving infrastructure for storage, transport and communication;
undertaking research and development into the domestication of NWFPs; and
providing training for staff, user groups and other stakeholders.

(See Market analysis and development of forest-based enterprises).

Certification of key NWFP

The huge diversity of NWFPs discouraged early efforts to certify their management, but this has started to change – see, for example, the
fair wild standard, developed in 2010. The main selection criteria to determine whether certification should be pursued for an NWFP are as
follows:

The NWFP has an international market with considerable demand and involves a market chain with significant added value.
The harvest is organized in a well-structured chain.
The production of the NWFP is predictable, with well-known periodicity.
The NWFP has high conservation value

(see brazil nut, Bolivia and devil's claw, Namibia).

Gender and NWFPs

It is essential that the role women play in the NWFPs sector be recognized. While men tend to engage in the timber market, women rely on
non-timber forest products both for their sustenance and as a source of income. There are various reasons why this sector is essentially
female-dominated, but among them are that: (i) men are usually interested in more profitable activities; (ii) men have more access than
women to national and export markets and to credit, while the market for NWFPs is mostly informal; and (iii) women are often in charge of
household nutrition and have knowledge of edible NWFPs.

With the huge growth in demand related to natural health and beauty products, there could be enormous opportunities for women to benefit.
In fact, over the past few years there has emerged a sizeable and growing domestic and international market for NWFPs. Nevertheless,
social and economic constraints prevent women from earning participating in it.

Challenges arise for poor rural women because communities are often isolated, which means that women with limited opportunities to
connect with markets have little access to useful information such as how much a consumer in the city or in developed countries will pay for
the final product. In some cases, women typically have been found to receive less than 10 per cent of the final selling price.

Another concern, affecting both women and the biodiversity of the forests, relates to the overexploitation of NWFPs. Increased
commercialization of NWFPs can result in overexploiting the resources, possibly creating a scarcity of goods for women, who are the
poorest members of the community. Over-harvesting can also increase the danger of extinction, especially for medicinal plants. This could
cause women to lose an important source of income. Women need support for livelihood diversification activities, but they also need to be
included in efforts to alleviate pressure on wild and possibly endangered species (e.g. participatory domestication of NWFPs, where women
are often left out).
It is very important for women to be included in forest planning processes. Governments and local authorities should conduct gender
analyses to mainstream gender in their policies and to ensure they do not create disadvantages for women. Moreover, to gain influence in
the process of commercializing NWFPs, women should organize into cooperative and producer groups.

Further detailed guidance and support the management of NWFPs may be found in the Tools and Cases sections of this module.
Further learning
Fakir, H., Dutkuner, I., Gürlevik, N., Sarikaya, O. & Babalik, A. 2011 Abstracts book of the 2nd International Non-Wood Forest Products
Symposium, 8-11 September 2011, Isparta, Turkey.

FAO. 2007. Tools to promote the sustainable use of NWFP? An assessment of trade related instruments influencing the international trade
in non-wood forest products and associated management and livelihood strategies. NWFP Working Document, No. 6. Rome, Italy, FAO.
p145.

FAO. 1995. Trade restrictions affecting international trade in non-wood forest products. NWFP Series, Vol 8.

Guariguata, M.R., Cronkleton, P., Shanley, P. & Taylor, P.L. 2008 The compatibility of timber and non-timber forest product extraction
and management. Forest Ecology and Management 256: 1477–1481

Guariguata, M.R., Sist, P. & Nasi, R. 2012. Multiple use management of tropical production forests: How can we move from concept to
reality? Forest Ecology and Management 263: 170–174.

ITTO & IUCN. 2008. Guidelines for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in tropical timber production forests. ITTO Policy
Development Series No. 117. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan. p118.

Marmillod, D.,Villalobos, R. & Robles, G. 1998. Hacia el manejo sostenible de especies vegetales del bosque con productos no
maderables: las experiencias de CATIE en esta década. Turrialba, Costa Rica: CATIE. p14.

Putz, F.E., Redford, K.H., Robinson, J.G., Fimbel, R. & Blate, G.M. 2000. Biodiversity Conservation in the Context of Tropical Forest
Management. The World Bank Environment Department. Biodiversity Series – impact studies, paper no. 75. Washington DC. viii + p80.

Sabogal, C., Guariguata, M.R., Broadhead, J., Lescuyer, G., Savilaakso, S., Essoungou, N. & Sist, P. 2013. Multiple-use forest
management in the humid tropics: opportunities and challenges for sustainable forest management. FAO Forestry Paper No. 173. Rome,
FAO and Bogor, Indonesia, CIFOR.

Shanley P., Pierce A. & Laird S. 2005. Beyond timber: Certification of non-timber forest products. Forest Trends – CIFOR . People and
Plants.

Shanley, P., Pierce, A. R, Laird, S.A. and Guillén, A. 2002 Tapping the green market: certification and management of non-timber forest
products. Earthscan Publications Ltd. 456p.

Taylor, D.A. 1996. Income generation from non-wood forest products in upland conservation. FAO, Rome.

Ticktin, T. 2004. The ecological implications of harvesting non-timber forest products. Journal of Applied Ecology 41: 11-21.

Tobgay, S. 2008. Consultant report on developing a national strategy for NWFP development in Bhutan.
Credits

This module was developed with the kind collaboration of the following people and/or institutions:

Initiator(s): Christopher Muencke

Contributor(s): Paul Vantomme, Simmone Rose, Cesar Sabogal - FAO, Forestry Department

Reviewer(s): CATIE; CIFOR

This module was revised in 2018 to strengthen gender considerations.

Initiator(s): Gender Team in Forestry

Reviewer(s): Giulia Muir - FAO, Forestry Department