Background

About a hundred million people living in and around forests in South and Southeast Asia depend on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for their subsistence and cash income. NTFPs and NTFP-derived products such as furniture, honey, varnish, beeswax candles, herbal medicine and many others are necessities in urban communities and big cities, too. However, communities often have no access to strategic information, practical technology, and financial support to make viable enterprises. A handful of organizations saw this link between sustainable use of forest resources and economic development for indigenous peoples (IPs) and forest communities. The Non-Timber Forest Products-Exchange Programme for South and Southeast Asia (NTFP-EP) sprung from a need for these organizations working with forest communities to come together to push for and promote the NTFP concept for forest conservation and livelihood enhancement. Recognizing the potential benefits of sharing experiences and pooling expertise, in 1998 we started an informal group of practitioners working in local initiatives in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Vietnam and the Philippines. As our partnerships strengthened and initiatives intensified, the group decided to register as a non-profit organisation based in Manila, Philippines in September 2003. Today, NTFP-EP has fully established country offices in Manila, Jakarta, and, Phnom Penh, and partners in Malaysia, Vietnam and India.

Mission

NTFP-EP Mission - to act as a catalyst in empowering local organizations working with marginalized, forest-based communities, mainly indigenous peoples (IPs), in Asia towards sustainable management of forested landscapes and ecosystems, and the right to access to natural resources, livelihood, cultural identity and gender equality.

Vision

"NTFP-EP envisions self-empowered generations of forest-dependent communities, contributing to and benefiting from sustainably-managed forested landscapes and ecosystems, knowledge and cultural traditions."

Goal

NTFP-EP Goal - To secure the empowerment of forest –dependent communities through programs on community conservation and resource management, indigenous food and health, tenure rights and conservation, sustainable community livelihood development in Asia. We work most especially in the field of NTFPs and the related community based livelihood strategies, integrating the ethno-cultural and democratic values of gender and equity.

Staff