NCCF, jointly with CIFOR-ICRAF, organizes the first brainstorming session on “Developing a Certification Standard for Sustainable Management of Non-Timber TOF Products (NTTPs)

A brainstorming session on “Developing a Certification Standard for Sustainable Management of Non-Timber TOF Products (NTTPs)” was organized jointly by NCCF and CIFOR-ICRAF at NASC Complex, DPS Marg, Pusa Campus, New Delhi, in hybrid mode, on October 6, 2022, with an aim to collectively delineate the plan of action to achieve the Activity 1.2.1.3 of the TOFI Program that mandates “Field test certification scheme for NTTPs and Review of the outcomes with stakeholders and facilitate recommendations”. The entire event was structured in two sessions, where Mr. A. K. Bansal, Former Addl. D.G. of Forests, Chairman SDG NWFP, chaired the sessions, and Dr. S. K. Dhyani, Country Coordinator, CIFOR_ICRAF and Dr. Devendra Pandey, Former D.G., FSI, Chairman SDG TOF, co-chaired the first and the second sessions respectively.

The event began with a welcome address by Ms. Abhilasha Guleria, Assistant Director, NCCF. Dr. Chandrashekhar Biradar, Chief of Party-TOFI and Country Director, CIFOR-ICRAF, provided an overview of the TOFI Program, and Mr. A.M. Singh, Project Director, NCCF, spoke about NCCF’s role under the TOFI Program to set the right context for the discussion regarding NTTPs, through PowerPoint presentations. Mr. Varghese Paul, Deputy Director, Environment and Natural Resources, General Development Office, USAID/India, gave the introductory remarks. Dr. O. P. Sharma, Additional Commissioner, NRM Division, from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), attended the event/workshop as a representative from the Central Government, MoA&FW. Mr. A. K. Srivastava, Director General, NCCF, also participated virtually and gave his valuable remarks regarding the intended standard. The participants comprised of representatives from the consortium partners of the TOFI Program as well as SDG and TWG members of the NCCF-NWFR standard.

The first session concentrated on the resource that is currently available, namely the draft NCCF-Non-Wood Forest Resource (NWFR) Standard, which may be considered to further expand its scope to cultivable lands. Mr. Maisnam Sanathoi Luwang, Project Associate, NCCF, made a PowerPoint presentation on this. Ms. Abhilasha Guleria’s presentation in the second session focussed drawing ideas on the course of action forward to achieve the activity 1.2.1.3 related to NTTPs under output 1.2.1 and concerned issues related to defining the key terminologies associated with the Program. Following Mr. A. M. Singh’s summary of the discussion’s main conclusions and Dr. Chandrashekhar Biradar’s closing remarks, the session was brought to a close with a vote of thanks to all the distinguished attendees by Ms. Devashree Nayak, Gender Coordinator, CIFOR-ICRAF.