Much has been written on Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP) and this paper will not enter into the theoretical aspect of what is not very much understood by it, its role, its importance, its socio-economic value and finally, its contribution to the welfare of the people and to the national economy. Therefore, it is very important to stress that Angola has immense heritage of natural resources. Forest resources apparently ignored in the ranking of the national economy could play a huge role contributing to the development of the country. Timber seems to be the only product largely recognised when it comes to value the importance of the forest, with more emphasis on wood, and in most of cases forgetting its role and other various services able to deliver. There is a range of NWFP used day by day by the people in order to satisfy their basic needs, such as for food, medicine purposes, and among others.
The use of these products is recognised, but it is still very difficult to the forestry sector to know at what extend they are used. There are no practically available data concerning the NWFP. No effort is made with this regard in order to acquire information in view of assisting the sector in planning and ensuring its sustainable administration, management and use for the future generations as well.
The forestry sector is operating under its capacity in terms of skilled personnel to introduce and develop necessary changes in the framework of institutional aspect. Financial constraints could relatively found solution if the sector launches a programme of formulating and developing adequate forestry policy for sustainable use of forestry resources, in which NWFP need to be accommodated.
Finally, it is a concern to do not present the scientific names of major part of Non-Wood Forestry Products, especially for plants and medicines. The frame time has been a limitation factor, however, it is expected that the sector of statistics needs to make a follow-up of this of this paper and provide their scientific names.
