Nepal NTFP Alliance Final Report December 2005 Cooperative Agreement Award No.: 367-A-00-02-00209-00 Project Title: Certification and Sustainable Marketing of Non-timber Forest Products (NTFP) – Private Public Alliance (PPA) Submitted to: USAID/Nepal Ravi Bhawan, Kathmandu Nepal Submitted by: Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB) P.O. Box 11035 Baneshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal Contact: Dr. Bhishma P. Subedi, Executive Director Project Period: September 27, 2002 – September 30, 2005 Reporting Period: September 27, 2002 – September 30, 2005 ANSAB Final Report 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................1 II. SUMMARY OF KEY ACHIEVEMENTS ..................................................................2 III. KEY ACHIEVEMENTS ...........................................................................................4 A) NTFP Alliance among national and international companies, networks of forest users and policy makers, NGOs, government programs, and donors developed..........................................................................4 B) Forest certification model developed and forest user groups received international recognition for sustainable forest management and organic production with FSC forest management and organic certifications..............................................................................................................................................................5 C) Capacity of forest users, NGOs, government staff, and enterprises developed on sustainable forest management, enterprise development and marketing ........................................................................................8 D) Forest based enterprises and NTFP products developed to achieve local value addition and generate incomes and employment ........................................................................................................................................9 E) Sustainable marketing mechanisms and market linkages established and sales of forest products increased..................................................................................................................................................................10 F) Contributed to develop NTFP policy and enabling policy environment for sustainable forest management and enterprise development...........................................................................................................13 G) Democratic decision making and governance system of forest user groups and FECOFUN strengthened............................................................................................................................................................13 IV. SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN......................................................14 V. KEY LESSONS AND CHALLENGES ..................................................................17 A) Forest Certification...........................................................................................................................................17 B) Enterprise development and sustainable marketing ....................................................................................18 C) Product development........................................................................................................................................18 D) Public-private alliance and networking .........................................................................................................19 E) LRP development for program facilitation and sustainability....................................................................19 F) Challenges ..........................................................................................................................................................19 VI. FUND MANAGEMENT.........................................................................................20 VII. MANAGEMENT ISSUES ....................................................................................21 Alliance Aspiration to Further Certification and Marketing of NTFPs .........................................................23 ACRONYMS ..............................................................................................................26 Nepal NTFP Alliance- Certification and Sustainable Marketing of NTFPs Page # i ANSAB Final Report 2005 ANNEXES Annex 1: Proceedings of the conference on certification and sustainable marketing of NTFPs Annex 2: Proceedings of the PPA annual review and planning meetings 2003, 20004 and 2005 Annex 3: Minutes of the alliance sharing meetings Annex 4: Minutes of the NNN sharing meetings Annex 5: Nepal interim standards for assessing forest management Annex 6: FECOFUN resource manager’s policy and guidelines for forest certification Annex 7: List of FUGs received technical assistance in the project period Annex 8: List of FUGs certified for FSC forest management certification Annex 9: Rainforest Alliance final technical report Annex 10: Sustainable BioTrade Group’s chain of custody policy and guidelines Annex 11: List of companies certified for FSC chain of custody Annex 12: FECOFUN forest certification assessment report public summary Annex 13: Trip report on the Latin America certification study visit Annex 14: Report of the international training on forest certification Annex 15: List of the activities undertaken during the project period Annex 16: A report on herbal tea development from FSC certified products Annex 17: Natural products expo participation and market study reports Annex 18: Market information system homepage and a sample of MIS newsletter Annex 19: Articles in international newsletters/web magazines Annex 20: Herbs and non-timber forest products development policy-2061 Annex 21: Report on the alliance’s lesson learned workshop LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Capacity building at different levels............................................................................2 Table 2: Forest certification progress (Jan. 2003-Sep. 2005)…………….................................3 Table 3: Sales of NTFPs through the alliance by year...............................................................3 Table 4: Achievements on FSC forest certification...................................................................6 Table 5: Achievement on organic certification..........................................................................8 Table 6: Capacity building on forest certification and enterprise development ........................9 Table 7: Enterprises developed and strengthened by the project.............................................10 Table 8: Achievements in marketing, sales, and employment generated in the 2 pilot districts and by the alliance companies by year *.........................................................................12 Table 9: Activities accomplished for year 2003-2005 to achieve the proposed objectives.....16 Table 10: Cumulative funds for PPA activities .......................................................................20 Nepal NTFP Alliance- Certification and Sustainable Marketing of NTFPs Page # ii ANSAB Final Report 2005 I. INTRODUCTION The goal of the Certification and Sustainable Marketing of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) alliance project, which was principally funded by USAID, was to link Nepal and foreign NTFP buyers, Nepali producers, and NGO and government programs assisting the NTFP sector in order to: • increase incomes and employment for Nepal’s NTFP producers (especially in remote rural areas); • promote sustainable resource management; • institute a certification program for NTFPs in Nepal; and • expand responsible buying practices among industry members in the West. This alliance brings together U.S. product buyers and designers (Aveda and its extended industry contacts of the American Herbal Products Association); certification expertise (Rainforest Alliance); a diverse range of Nepali companies (Himalayan BioTrade Pvt. Ltd. and Gorkha Ayurved Company (P) Ltd); Nepali Networks and NGOs (Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources – ANSAB, Nepal NTFP Network, Himali Jadibuti Sarokar Samuha, and Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal); and donors (The Ford Foundation, SNV, and SDC) that have been developing community forest user groups and NTFP industry coordination within Nepal. Aveda and Rainforest Alliance are international partners in the alliance and bring global cutting edge industry and certification expertise to the alliance. The alliance members have worked together to contribute ideas and direction to the project design as well as work plans and their implementation. Each of the alliance members has a proven track record in their area of expertise, and the alliance activities have great potential for replication across Nepal as well as other parts of the world. With its solid track record in coordinating the Nepali partners and delivering NTFP enterprise expertise and forest management services to community forest user groups, ANSAB coordinated the overall alliance activities during the project period by holding meetings, facilitating community forestry and certification activities, providing business development services to NTFP enterprises, and administering product design and development research grants, in order to achieve the following specific objectives of the project. 1) Promote Community Based Forest Enterprises (CBFE) to ensure