Non-timber Forest Problems: NTFPs in Conservation and Development Initiatives

Abstract

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are any goods and services derived from forests besides timber. NTFPs have been consumed, traded and managed by forest-dependent peoples for millennia. Starting in the 1980s, NTFPs became the focus of a variety of conservation and development programmes that viewed commercialisation of NTFPs as a strategy to incentivise conservation of forests by improving forest community livelihoods. However, these initiatives often overlook existing local systems that promote sustainable forest management, leading to marginalisation of forest-dependent communities and overexploitation of NTFP species. To be effective, NTFP-based initiatives must understand NTFP species as cultural-ecological keystones in the management approaches of forest-dependent peoples and promote secure land rights that enable community-led conservation.