The role of non-timber forest products in sustainable tropical forest management

摘要

The importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for forest-dwelling people in the tropics and the relatively small ecological impact of their exploitation has raised high expectations as to their potential to contribute to tropical forest conservation. Three major issues in re- lation to NTFPs are addressed: their potential to contrib- ute to the conservation of tropical rainforests; their potential to improve the livelihood of forest-dwelling peoples and their potential for participatory forest man- agement. .