Non-Wood News 14

EDITORIAL

A new year, a new look! Mr Jan Heino, the new Assistant-Director General of the Forestry Department has written the editorial of the restyled Non-Wood News.

I am fully aware of the social, cultural and economic importance of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) in the lives of many people – both in my own country, Finland, and worldwide. Over the years, I have been impressed by how Non-Wood News has managed to capture this importance, as well as the diversity of NWFP actors, in its many articles, features and reader contributions.

I also fully recognize the need for further protection and promotion of traditional forest related knowledge (TFRK), which is closely linked with the cultural and intellectual heritage of indigenous people and other forest dwellers.Their practices can form a significant part of sustainable forest management. It is imperative to ensure that they receive benefits from the use of this knowledge and that technologies drawing from traditional forest-related knowledge clearly acknowledge the origins of this knowledge. Many recommendations on this topic exist internationally, but their implementation has remained inadequate. Promotion of TFRK needs to be better incorporated in national forest programmesas well as in forest management planning at the local level.

This restyled Non-Wood News is one of the outcomes of the auto-evaluation exercise that took place in 2005 and is a direct response to the readers who commented on its format and legibility. We hope that you like it and would welcome your comments on this “face-lift”. In another response, which requested more information more often, we are also increasing the frequency of Non-Wood News to every six months.

Yet another outcome of reader participation is that we now have a regular section covering non-profit and non-governmental organizations. We invite NGOs and non-profit organizations that are involved with any aspect of NWFPs (including indigenous knowledge, biodiversity, environment and gender issues) to submit information on their organization and the NWFP activities/projects they implement.

However, we would like to stress that behind the new-look Non-Wood News is the usual wealth of information from the world of NWFPs. The Special Features section covers two different aspects of NWFPs: a specific product (bamboo) and a developing market (cosmetics and beauty care). As you will see from the articles, bamboo is versatile: it can be transformed, for example, into textiles, charcoal, vinegar, green plastic or paper and can also be used as a food source, a deodorant, an innovative building material and to fuel power stations.

Reports indicate that natural cosmetics and beauty care are a huge global market, with forecasts indicating an annual growth of 9 percent through 2008. The Special Feature on “Forest cosmetics: NWFP use in the beauty industry” builds on this and includes information industry interest and marketing strategies (consumers are being drawn to natural products and thus their content is emphasized). Usually considered a predominantly female market, it is now also increasingly becoming an important market for men too. However, as can be seen from the articles on shea butter in Africa and thanakha in Myanmar, many societies have always used and benefited from natural cosmetics. In this issue you will find other examples of traditional knowledge, such as using the secretions of a poisonous tree frog in Brazil and the use by the traditional healers in India of allelopathic knowledge.

Non-Wood News readers are indeed very active and participatory and, as the new head of the Forestry Department, it is very gratifying to learn that so many e-mails and letters are received from you. As we have shown with the new look, increased frequency and greater coverage of traditional knowledge and NGOs, we genuinely take your opinions into consideration and try to act upon them.

I would particularly like to thank the many people who have contributed to this issue; we greatly appreciate your interest and views. I believe that this very active reader participation provides a unique networking opportunity and is a great strength of Non-Wood News.

NON-WOOD NEWS

Is compiled and coordinated by Tina Etherington, Forest Products Service of the FAO Forest Products and Industry Division. For this issue, editing support was provided by Sandra Rivero; 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 31 March 2007, 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

All Internet links cited were checked on 23 November 2006. Articles express the views of their authors, not necessarily those of FAO. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

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.