The bioeconomy and non-timber forest products

This book provides the first in-depth investigation of how non-timber forest products are an integral part of local, national, and global bioeconomies.

While the plants and fungi that produce non-timber forest products are essential to the sustainability of forest ecosystems, peoples' food and livelihood security and sovereignty, and thus the bioeconomy, are often absent from bioeconomic strategies. Presenting a selection of empirical cases from around the world that engage with the bioeconomy and non-timber forest products, this volume reveals how essential these products are to creating a greener and more sustainable future, how to to better integrate them into efforts to transition to and expand the bioeconomy, and how such efforts can be supported and developed. Chapters analyse how and to what degree non-timber forest products promote sustainable resource use, generate employment, and contribute to food and livelihood security and poverty alleviation. The volume develops approaches and identifies interventions and policies to support the integration of non-timber forest products into bioeconomy strategies, including in national reporting schemes to provide recommendations for future research and practical implementation.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of forest and natural resource management, bioeconomics, circular economy and ecological economics more widely. It will also be of interest to professionals working in sustainable development and the forestry sector.

"This timely and seminal investigation enters almost untouched academic?territory by combining scholarship on the bioeconomy and non-timber forest products, moving beyond the dominating Western and biotech focus. The book is of high value to students, researchers, and policy practitioners in bioeconomy, forestry, development, livelihoods & poverty around the globe."

Lukas Giessen, Professor of Tropical & International Forestry, TU Dresden and Editor-in-Chief of Forest Policy and Economics

"Forests play a critical role in supporting the transition from fossil fuels towards a "green" bioeconomy to tackle the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. This book analyses the importance of non-timber forest products in the bioeconomy on five continents, providing a solid scientific basis for insightful recommendations on sustainable management and increased benefits to communities living in and near forests."

John Parrotta, President, International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)