NWFPs

NON-WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS

Besides wood for timber or fuel, woodland and forest trees can offer a variety of products useful to humans without having to kill the tree. Those are often associated with tropical forests but there are many uses in the UK still. NWFPs include:

• turpentine and rosin from pine resin
• edible nuts, fruit and fungi for people and livestock
• foliage for the floristry trade
• natural colourants and dye stuffs
• natural medicinal products
• flavours and fragrances
• sap for fermenting for wine or syrups
• gums, resins and latex
• foliage to feed livestock

Stripping bark for tannin for the leather industry does often kill the tree – but cork oaks can be stripped of their valuable natural product every few years which grows back again. For more on non-timber forest products from Scotland see www.forestharvest.org.uk The FAO also publishes the Non-Wood Forestry Products Digest by e-mail. Register at www.fao.org/forestry/site/12980/en.