Non-Timber Forest Products – Exchange Programme Explained

Non-Timber Forest Products - Exchange Programme
Type:International non-governmental organization
Foundation:1998
Location:Quezon City, Philippines

The Non-Timber Forest Products – Exchange Programme (NTFP-EP) is a network of non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations in Southeast Asia and South Asia that promotes the use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for forest conservation and as a source of livelihood for forest-based communities.[1] [2] The network has a regional secretariat office in the Philippines with country-level offices in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.[3]

NTFP-EP's work focuses on community-based conservation, tenure rights and governance, sustainable livelihoods, indigenous food and health, strengthening cultural identity, gender equality, and youth empowerment.[4] [5] The organization conducts information and knowledge exchange activities, trainings, and advocacy work with network partners and supporting organizations as part of its capacity building activities.[6]

History

NTFP-EP started informally in 1998 as a group of forest professionals working in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In September 2003, the group was formally registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-profit organization based in Quezon City, Philippines.[7] Dutch ethnobiologist Johannes Henricus de Beer served as NTFP-EP's first executive director from 1998 to 2010.[8]

In its early years, the regional secretariat organization was originally called the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme for South and Southeast Asia.[9] Meanwhile, the NTFP-EP Philippines country office was formerly called the Non-Timber Forest Products Task Force.[10] The names were later shortened and re-organized to its current form in 2012.

Today, the organization has fully established country offices in Quezon City, Bogor, and Phnom Penh with smaller country offices in Kotagiri, Miri, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Activities

Regional

Since 2007, NTFP-EP has hosted Madhu Duniya, an international conference on forest honey and Asian bee species held every four years in Southeast Asia.[11] [12]

In 2016, the Food and Agriculture Organization partnered with NTFP-EP to assess the role of NTFPs in cosmetics and beauty products. The outcome of this collaboration was jointly published in the book Naturally Beautiful in 2020.[13]

NTFP-EP published the book Wild Tastes in Asia in 2019, detailing various examples of wild foods consumed by indigenous peoples and local communities in Asia.[14]

In a 2019 meeting, the ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry tasked NTFP-EP to develop guidelines and protocols for harvesting and managing NTFPs in the region.[15] On 21 October 2020, the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry formally adopted the guidelines developed by the organization.[16]

In 2021, NTFP-EP organized the five-day Forest Harvest Community-based NTFP Enterprises Forum, which focused on community enterprises that produces and markets traditional and indigenous products.[17] [18]

In 2022, the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization signed a five-year cooperation deal with NTFP-EP to lead its capacity building program on forest fire management, natural resource conservation, and promotion of local livelihoods within ASEAN member states.[19]

On May 5, 2022, NTFP-EP, in partnership with the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), organized an official side event for the XV World Forestry Congress in Seoul, South Korea, entitled “Communities Speak: Indigenous Peoples’ Local Actions and Initiatives are Vital to Implement the Paris Agreement and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.[20]

NTFP-EP is a member of the Green Livelihoods Alliance, an international alliance of environmental organizations funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with Gaia Amazonas, IUCN Netherlands, Milieudefensie, Sustainable Development Institute Liberia, and Tropenbos International, with Women Engage for a Common Future and FERN acting as technical partners.[21] [22]

NTFP-EP holds observer status at the United Nations Climate Change conference as an admitted NGO.[23]

Pastor Rice Small Grants Fund

In 2016, NTFP-EP established the Pastor Rice Smalls Grants Fund, a microgrants facility that funds women-led community initiatives in Southeast Asia.[24] The fund was named in memory of Delbert Arthur Rice, an American missionary and environmental activist who served as a board member of NTFP-EP.[25] [26]

Country-level

In 2014, WWF partnered with NTFP-EP Cambodia to design alternative livelihood projects for forest-based communities in the Kratié and Stung Treng provinces.[27]

In 2017, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and NTFP-EP Philippines jointly established a School of Living Tradition in Benguet province to help preserve indigenous cultural practices in the region.[28]

In 2021, search engine provider Ecosia partnered with NTFP-EP Philippines to plant native seedlings with the assistance of its partner indigenous and local communities.[29] [30] An estimated 55,000 native tree seedlings were planted in the Sierra Madre mountain range of Luzon, the central mountain ranges of Panay island, and the Kimangkil-Kalanawan-Sumagaya-Pamalihi mountain range in Mindanao.[31]

In 2022, NTFP-EP Indonesia launched its participatory guarantee systems certification for sustainably harvested rattan, with its first certificate awarded to Dutch company Van der Sar Import.[32] [33]

Also in 2022, NTFP-EP Cambodia helped establish several community ecotourism sites in Kratié and Stung Treng provinces through funding from the USAID Greening Prey Lang project.[34] [35]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: AWG-SF . NTFP-EP . 4 February 2021.
  2. Web site: 2019-08-04 . How non-timber forest products preserve living traditions in the Philippines . 2023-03-23 . RAPPLER . en-US.
  3. Web site: Both ENDS: NTFP-EP . 2023-03-22 . Both ENDS . en.
  4. Web site: 2017-09-20 . Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme IPBES secretariat . 2023-03-22 . www.ipbes.net . en.
  5. Web site: Non-timber Forest Products Exchange Programme for South and Southeast Asia . IWGIA.
  6. Web site: 2020-04-08 . NTFP-EP . 2023-03-22 . weADAPT . en.
  7. Web site: 2021-01-19 . NTFP-EP AWGS-SF . 2023-03-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210119181242/https://www.awg-sf.org/ntfp-ep/ . 2021-01-19 .
  8. Web site: 2009-2011 Field Fellow – Johannes Henricus "Jenne" de Beer . 2023-03-22 . International Society of Ethnobiology . en-US.
  9. Web site: October 2010 . A COMMUNITY APPROACH TO FOREST CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THE NTFP-EP EXPERIENCE . Food and Agriculture Organization.
  10. Web site: May 2012 . Philippines REDD+ Capacity Building Services Assessment . UN CC:Learn.
  11. Web site: Mayuga . Jonathan L. . 2019-10-14 . PHL to host international conference on bees Jonathan L. Mayuga . 2023-03-22 . BusinessMirror . en-US.
  12. Web site: 2019-11-24 . Why Asian honey is 'medicinal honey' . 2023-03-22 . RAPPLER . en-US.
  13. Book: Naturally beautiful: Cosmetic and beauty products from forests . 2023-03-22 . www.fao.org. 2020 . 10.4060/ca8590en . 978-92-5-132398-4 . 242711700 .
  14. News: Gupta . Felix Padel & Malvika . 2020-11-21 . Illustrative and illuminating: Review of Wild Tastes in Asia by Madhu Ramnath and Ramon Razal . en-IN . The Hindu . 2023-03-22 . 0971-751X.
  15. Web site: 2020 . ASEAN Guidelines for Sustainable Harvest and Resource Management Protocols for Selected Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) . ASEAN.
  16. Web site: 2021-01-08 . ASEAN adopts sustainable harvest guidelines, resource management protocols for NTFPs . 2023-03-22 . NTFP-EP . en-US.
  17. Web site: 2021-05-27 . Forest harvest forum to shed light on sustainable community enterprises, traditional products . 2023-03-22 . APFP / FO4A / ARISE . en-US.
  18. Web site: Sitte . Jonas . CBNE Forum . 2023-03-22 . IFSA . en-US.
  19. Web site: AFoCO-EML . 2022-06-01 . Launch of AFoCO-AKCF Project at XV World Forestry Congress . 2023-03-23 . AFoCO . en-US.
  20. Web site: 2022-06-13 . "A Human Rights-based Approach is Key to Addressing the Global Biodiversity and Climate Crises":A Hybrid Side Event on Indigenous Peoples' Initiatives and Actions in the Context of the Paris Agreement and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework - Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact . 2023-10-03 . aippnet.org . en-US.
  21. Web site: Forests for a Just Future - Green Livelihoods Alliance . 2023-10-03 . Tropenbos International.
  22. Web site: GLA Annual Report 2021 . IUCN Netherlands.
  23. Web site: Admitted NGOs UNFCCC . 2023-10-03 . unfccc.int.
  24. Web site: November 2020 . Embedding gender justice in climate action . BothENDS.
  25. Web site: May 13, 2014 . Environmentalist Pastor Delbert Rice passes away . 2023-03-22 . GMA News Online . en.
  26. Web site: 2009-02-11 . Remembering Pastor Delbert Rice . 2023-03-22 . NTFP-EP . en-US.
  27. Web site: WWF partners with NTFP-EP to ensure project design will improve community livelihoods . 2023-03-22 . wwf.panda.org . en.
  28. Web site: Geminiano . Pamela Mariz . September 10, 2018 . NCCA, Benguet confirm 198 graduates of Schools Living Tradition . Philippine News Agency.
  29. Web site: 2021-08-13 . Your trees in the Philippines . 2023-03-23 . The Ecosia Blog . en.
  30. Web site: Jose . Christian San . 2021-04-01 . Ecosia, the search engine that plants trees, is now repopulating Philippine forests . 2023-03-23 . NOLISOLI . en-US.
  31. Web site: Cabico . Gaea Katreena . Indigenous communities lead forest restoration powered by web searches . 2023-03-22 . Philstar.com.
  32. Web site: Label for sustainable rattan launched IUCN NL . 2023-03-22 . IUCN Netherlands . en-US.
  33. Web site: Havermans . Onno . 2022-05-10 . Rotan is terug, nu zelfs met een keurmerk, maar is uw stoel daarmee duurzaam? . Rattan is back with a quality mark, but does that make your chair sustainable? . 2023-03-23 . Trouw . nl-NL.
  34. Web site: 2022-09-14 . NTFP-EP Cambodia supports ecotourism communities in Stung Treng, Kratie - Khmer Times . 2023-03-22 . en-US.
  35. Web site: Raksmey . Hong . Ministry promoting eco-tourism to award winning communities . 2023-03-23 . www.phnompenhpost.com . en.