Non-Wood News 19

EDITORIAL

The editorial for this issue of Non-Wood News has been written by Sophie Grouwels, Forestry Officer in charge of the small-scale forest enterprise development programme.

The Millennium Development Goals commit most countries to reducing global poverty in half by 2015. Perhaps nowhere are the stakes higher for meeting this goal than in forest-dependent communities in tropical countries, where poverty tends to be more pervasive and deeper than in urban and more-favoured rural areas. According to the World Bank, approximately 90 percent of the poorest people rely on forests for subsistence and income. The development of small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) represents an opportunity for strengthening the livelihoods of these people and conserving the natural resource base through sustainable forest management and processing of timber and non-wood forest products (NWFPs). Local benefits from SMFE development may include wages and employment, profit-sharing, capital accumulation, cultural and political empowerment, investment in public goods, and increased conservation of forest ecosystems through long-term sustainable management.

Several new market trends favour the development of SMFEs, including increased tourism, providing expanding markets for handicrafts and ecotourism; specialized export markets, e.g. fair trade NWFPs and bio-ingredients; and growing specialized domestic and regional markets for NWFPs such as bamboo, rattan and palm hearts. In this issue, Non-Wood News has highlighted a variety of aspects related to this development. For example, one of the Special Features includes information on the marketing of traditional NWFPs, including various handicrafts. In addition, in the Products and Markets section, you will find articles on the fair trade of two specific NWFPs (shea butter and palm fronds), as well as information in the Products and Markets section on bamboo and rattan.

However, most SMFEs are not able to capture the benefits from these opportunities fully. They struggle to advance beyond the start-up stage of business development, exhibiting low levels of output, productivity, value added and profit. Overcoming these challenges requires concerted action and long-term investments among the various stakeholders, including SMFEs themselves, their business partners (processors and buyers) and service providers, as well as government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). One of the key constraints that SMFEs face has to do with isolation. They are isolated in various ways,not only from neighbouring enterprises with whom they might work for scale efficiencies and bargaining power, but also from potential buyers who would give them sales options, from financial and business development service providers who would help them with sustainability and upgrading and from decision-makers governing their forest accessand use.

Forest Connect, an alliance launched in 2007, is dedicated to tackling this. Its overall goal is to avoid deforestation and reduce poverty by better linking sustainable small forest enterprises to each other, to markets, to service providers and to policy processes such as National Forest Programmes. In fact, across the different countries where Forest Connect operates there are signs that SMFEs can contribute – and are already contributing considerably – to local economies and the sustainable management of the forest, including NWFPs.

NON-WOOD NEWS

is compiled and coordinated by Tina Etherington, Forest Products Service of the FAO Forest Products and Industries Division. For this issue, editing support was provided by Adam DeHeer; language editing by Roberta Mitchell, Josiane Bonomi and Deliana Fanego; design, graphics and desktop publishing by Claudia Tonini.

Non-Wood News is open to contributions by readers. Contributions are welcomed in English, French and Spanish and may be edited to fit the appropriate size and focus of the bulletin.
If you have any material that could be included in the next issue of Non-Wood News for the benefit of other readers, kindly send it, before before 15 October 2009, to:
NON-WOOD NEWS – FOIP
FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy
E-mail: [email protected]
www.fao.org/forestry/nwfp/nonwood.htm

FAO home page: www.fao.org

Non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are goods of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside forests. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs), another term frequently used to cover this vast array of animal and plant products, also includes small wood and fuelwood. However, these two terms are used synonymously throughout this bulletin. Other terms, such as “minor”, “secondary” or “speciality” forest products, are sometimes used to keep original names and/or titles.