A vast variety of non-wood forest products (NWFP) are known. For millennia, forest dwellers have thrived on harvest of fruits, nuts, leaves, tubers, saps and medicinal products gathered from the forests. Due to over emphasis on timber production during most of the recent times, however, these products were neglected by the foresters and policy makers. Despite the lack of attention, collection, processing and trade of NWFP thrived, because of their social and cultural roots in the local communities. Some of these products are among the oldest traded commodities. Wood and wood products have become major international commodities only during recent times, but the non-wood products were traded over long distances for many centuries. This study attempts to bring together available information on international trade in non-timber forest products. Basic information in NWFP is seriously lacking. Reliable data are nowhere painfully lacking as with NWFP. In order to comply with this demand, this report aims at providing a perspective, along which the conservation and development of the NWFP sector can be approached. The report is based on information gathered from secondary sources including national trade statistics, UNSO Comtrade data base, international journals and some commodity specific trade reports. Trade statistics, as far as they do exist, are to be handled with much thought, as a very large volume of NWFP is being traded unregistered.

Type of Case
Printed publication (book, sourcebook, journal article…)

Publisher
FAO

Region
Global

Biome
All

Forest Type
All forest types (natural and planted)

Primary Designated Function
All