FAO and Forest Departments of various countries  have since long been involved in providing livelihood opportunities to forest dwellers and rural households through some direct intervention and also through research and development initiatives. But it is strongly felt that there are many grey areas where still a lot is needed to be done. Further, many good thing are happening around the globe in the field of NWFP management related issues. There are plenty of success stories regarding sustainable livelihood through NWFP marketing & trading. V Sivaram Research Foundation and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) wishes to learn from such experiences. It is in this background it is necessary for organizing an international conference on NWFP.

The conference gives an opportunity for researchers, policy makers, managers, professionals from different private sectors in Asia and other regions of the world to exchange and share methodologies, approaches, information on products, market and lessons learnt from NWFPs conservation and development initiatives.