NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS FROM RESTORATION TO INCOME GENERATION NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS FROM RESTORATION TO INCOME GENERATION Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2018 Required citation Sacande, M. & Parfondry, M., 2018. Non-timber forest products: from restoration to income generation. Rome, FAO. 40 pp. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. 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Cover photo: ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano CONTENTS Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................................................................... iv Acronyms and abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................................................ iv INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................................................................1 FODDER ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................6 HONEY .............................................................................................................................................................................................................14 GUM ARABIC ...............................................................................................................................................................................................20 BALANITES OIL .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 24 SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS FOR LARGE-SCALE RESTORATION ...................................................................................... 28 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 References ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 34 Tables 1. Key plant species supporting fodder production ......................................................................................................................9 2. Key plant species supporting beekeeping and honey production ................................................................................. 17 3. Key plant species supporting gum arabic production ......................................................................................................... 20 4. Balanites aegyptiaca .............................................................................................................................................................................. 24 5. Important native species used by AAD for large scale restoration in the Great Green Wall ............................32 Boxes 1. Action Against Desertification in support of the Great Green Wall: the degradation of Africa’s drylands cannot be tackled without unleashing the land’s economic potential ..................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Important non-timber forest products in the project intervention areas in Fiji .........................................................4 3. Important non-timber forest products in project intervention areas in Haiti ............................................................. 5 4. Importance of the livestock sector in Africa’s Great Green Wall .......................................................................................9 5. Hides, skins and leather: a key sector in Nigeria .....................................................................................................................10 6. Major gums and resins produced in the Great Green Wall core area ............................................................................22 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks are due to the European Union for its financial support for the production of this document, which is part of the “Action Against Desertification in Support of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel and South–South Cooperation in ACP Countries” project implemented by FAO in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Secretariat and partner countries and organizations. Alastair Sarre edited the document and Maria Cappadozzi typeset it. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AAD Action Against Desertification ACP Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GDP gross domestic product GGW Great Green Wall GGWSSI Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative NGARA Network for Natural Gums and Resins in Africa NTFP non-timber forest product USD United States dollar(s) XOF West African CFA franc(s) iv __ ACTION AGAINST DESERTIFICATION NON-TIMBER FROM RESTORATION FOREST PRODUCTS TO INCOME Introduction GENERATION The degradation of Africa’s drylands cannot be tackled without unleashing the land’s economic potential; rural communities, therefore, need to obtain economic benefits from restoration work. Action Against Desertification in Support of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel and South–South Cooperation in ACP Countries (AAD), a project implemented by FAO and partners (Box 1), stimulates economic growth by developing forest products that are useful for communities, create jobs and generate income. Many of these commodities can be produced without damaging the ecosystems in which they grow, provided such production is based on the sustainable management, protection and restoration of dryland landscapes. Locally established green enterprises can provide many income-earning opportunities, thus incentivizing communities to participate in restoration and sustainable management (Berrahmouni, Regato and Parfondry, 2015). Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are useful substances, materials or commodities obtained from forests that do not require the harvesting of trees. In the past, forest departments and other government agencies have tended to pay only limited attention to NTFPs and forest ecosystem services, but this is changing. NTFPs are now more widely viewed as crucial for sustainable forest use, providing benefits for local communities and wider societies and offering an important means for development, especially in drylands.