Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme

Blogs

Read up on commentaries and perspectives on issues on forests and peoples around Asia.

March 10, 2020

Namo Women and the Orchid

With its bright color and unique petal shape, orchids are not only interesting, they are also easy to find in the forest. For the women in Namo Village, orchids are more than just for decoration–it has significant economic potential in increasing their family’s income.

December 19, 2019

Indigenous peoples can help fight climate change, so why aren’t we letting them?

For most indigenous and local communities, nature and culture are inseparable. And for that reason alone, no other sector of society is more suited for caring and guarding key biodiversity and forest areas. Despite only comprising 5% of the global READ MORE »

September 18, 2019

Stories vs. Numbers: Data gaps and synergies in forest trade and markets

The market for forest products continues to grow given the changes in forest products value chains in the Asia-Pacific region. This holds true for both the non-timber and timber ‘worlds.’ Aside from the increasingly transnational nature of trade, the role READ MORE »

September 7, 2019

The value of empowered communities

How do we overcome the challenges of community enterprise initiatives? It’s easy to understand why most people never associate lucrative businesses with forests and indigenous groups. We like to associate big businesses with the destruction of natural resources and the READ MORE »

June 30, 2019

Ensuring quality and value through empowering community enterprise initiatives in the forest products trade in the Asia-Pacific Region #APFW2019

Community forestry enterprises have proven to contribute significantly in raising rural incomes and improving food security. In their analysis, the Program on Forests (PROFOR) in 2018 highlighted that at the global level, it is estimated that small and medium-sized enterprises READ MORE »

June 30, 2019

Actions by producing/processing and consumer countries to regulate timber legality #APFW2019

The link between the supply and demand-sides’ measures for the legality and sustainability of the forest products trade remains to be an inextricable component to ensure the sustainability of the forestry sector. All over the Asia-Pacific region, efforts undertaken by READ MORE »

June 30, 2019

Situation and trends in forest products trade #APFW2019

There is vast potential for timber sector to learn from NTFP experiences working with SMEs/communities; and for NTFP producers to benefit from experience of timber sector with legality assurance systems/information collection and management. There is also potential for sustainable NTFP READ MORE »

June 30, 2019

Are we lagging in forest governance? #APFW2019

Meaningful engagement of CSOs, local communities, and indigenous peoples is a key ingredient to successful forest governance. There have been numerous researches and case studies that support this key message. With certain Asian national governments taking a right-wing stance in READ MORE »