ABSTRACT
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) 1 provide a valuable contribution to rural and urban livelihoods (de Beer and McDermott, 1996, Nepstad and Schwartzman, 1992; Prance, 1992; Colfer, 1997; Prance, 1998; Shanley et al, 2002; Belcher and Schreckenberg, 2007; Shanley et al, 2008; Paumgarten and Shackleton, 2009). Particularly in areas that lack basic infrastructure and market access, these products provide food, materials and medicines, and are often culturally important (Sunderland et al, 2004). Their sale provides direct, and often the only, access to the cash economy (Arnold and Ruiz-Pérez, 1996; Ros-Tonen and Wiersum, 2005). In many instances, trade in NTFPs involves long and complex chains of beneficiaries (Belcher and Küsters, 2004).
