@FAO/Abdel Hamied hamid Forests are beyond wood

28 November 2016

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) hosted a two days’ workshop at its regional office in Cairo to discuss the modalities of developing non-wood forest products-based micro-enterprises in the Near East and North Africa Region.
The workshop was an opportunity to provide participants with a brief synthesis on the outcomes of the various country studies, before elaborating a full project proposal, with the suggested budget and time frame.
It was attended by Country representatives from forestry national institutions, national consultants, as well as technical officers from FAO Regional Office. It will allow experts to analyse potential partnerships and identify the ideal resource partners in all phases of the project.
FAO Senior Forestry Officer, Abdel Hamied A. Hamid said that Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) provide income improvement opportunity to millions people who live within forest vicinity in the region.
He noted that globally “over 1.6 billion people have been depending heavily on forest resources for their livelihoods, of which 1.2 billion in developing countries use trees on farms to generate food and income.”
He added: “NENA forests has huge potential for the production of a wide range of NWFPs and that the utilization of NWFPs by local communities for food, fodder, medicine and income generation have been practiced for millennia.”
The workshop will allow participants to develop a regional project which will contribute to poverty reduction and livelihoods improvement of the rural poor forest-dependent people in the targeted countries through maximizing their gains from the commercialization of the NWFPs.
Mr Lokman Zaibet briefed the participants on the results of the national study he conducted in Tunisia, followed by Mr Tarig Elshiekh who shared the findings of the study in Sudan and Ms Nedja Rahmani who presented the outcomes of Algeria study. Finally, Mr Kanje Hamadi summarized, through skype, the study about the NWFP value chains in Lebanon.
Julius Tieguhong from Biodiversity International, who facilitated the workshop, identified common ground among all national studies and discussed the added value of non-wood forest products ‘microenterprises.
He will then facilitate the drafting of the Project document based on the NENA concept note on the development of NWFPs-based microenterprises, discuss the proposed project framework and agree on its scope, long term impact and expected outcomes.
The highly participatory workshop will be allowing participants to put together the project plan for developing NFWPs in their respective countries, while identifying needed policy actions to support these products in light of their contribution to the rural development. The project will also foster regional collaboration and experience sharing in the development of the NWFPs sector.
The anticipated project will support countries’ efforts to achieving sustainable management of the forest resources, and empower them for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, namely SDG 1 which aims at ending poverty in all of its forms, everywhere.
It will also play a major role in achieving SDG 15: which calls for protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.