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Tapping the Green Market -- Certification & Management of Non-Timber Forest Products PublishedRainforest Alliance experts have developed and published the world's first standards for sustainably managed non-timber forest products, commonly known as NTFPs. Though most consumers think immediately of wood as the most common forest product, NTFPs such as Brazil nuts, rattan, palm heart, pine resin, maple syrup, mushrooms, chiclé, and even maguey (the plant used to produce tequila) have long played crucial roles in rural livelihoods all over the world. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the important economic, social and ecological value of non-timber forest products (NTFPs).
One promising tool to promote sound ecological and social practices in NTFP management and trade is certification. While so far certification has mostly focused on timber products, attention is now being given to NTFPs. The underlying premise is that consumers will seek out and support products that are guaranteed to be derived from well-managed sources. To explore the feasibility of NTFP certification, principally in Latin America, the Rainforest Alliance's NTFP Marketing and Management Project worked with an extensive network of collaborators in Mexico, Central and South America during a two-year study that has been thoroughly documented in the new book, Tapping the Green Market: Certification & Management of Non-Timber Forest Products. Written by Patricia Shanley, Sarah A Laird, Alan R Pierce and Abraham Guillén, with support from the United States Agency for International Development, the book was published as part of the People and Plants initiative to enhance the role of communities in efforts to conserve biodiversity and use natural resources sustainably. Among the study's most significant results is the world's first standards for NTFP certification, standards that are now being adopted by the Forest Stewardship Council, the international body that accredits certifiers such as the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood program.
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