Global experts collaborate towards policy actions for NWFPs

36 experts in non-wood forest products (NWFP) from around the world joined a two-part, online peer review process towards policy recommendations for NWFPs developed by partners in the INCREDIBLE project.

Experts from the IUFRO Task force on non-timber forest products (NTFP) and partners from previous NWFP projects, StarTree and Cost Action FP-1203 “European Non-Wood Forest Products Network” joined members of the INCREDIBLE consortium in two interactive sessions on 16 and 17 September, which used Zoom breakout rooms and Miro Whiteboard to enable active discussion and comment on a 60-page technical document. 

The technical document provides a comprehensive background for a White Paper, “EU policy priorities for the sustainability of Non-Wood Forest Products: a white paper based on lessons-learned from around the Mediterranean”. The document marks the culmination of over a year’s writing work by INCREDIBLE consortium partners to distil and summarise policy actions stemming from direct stakeholders’ needs and lessons learned from across the Mediterranean basin throughout the three-year INCREDIBLE project, via interregional workshops, science-to-practice events, open innovation challenges and cross-cutting seminars. 
IUFRO, Star-Tree and Cost colleagues provided valuable and detailed feedback on the technical document from which the white paper will be distilled. The white paper aims to orientate policy makers, and key economic and social players of NWFP value chains of the Mediterranean basin, on the most urgent policy actions to be undertaken at the EU and national levels to un-tap the potential of NWFP to address the most relevant challenges in the EU agenda. It will provide evidence of the relevance of NWFP beyond formal accounting, highlighting the over-riding policy loopholes concerning NWFP value chains, from production, to processing and trade, and identifying the knowledge gaps on basic legal and economic information that hinder consistent and effective policy making. The white paper will be presented early in 2021 at a NWFP Policy Forum organised by the INCREDIBLE project. 
The INCREDIBLE-IUFRO webinar welcomed participants from 14 countries and was co-organised by INCREDIBLE partners and IUFRO Task Force, with collaboration from FAO.