In 2021 REFORD signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA) with the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for provision of
support to the FAO’ Regional Initiative on Empowering smallholders,
family farms and youth, facilitating rural livelihoods and poverty.
REFORD with its regional network addressed related NWFPs issues by
gathering and analyzing information on NWFPs in five Western Balkan
countries: R. North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro.
In the frame of the assignment, five desk reports were provided
reviewing the legal status of NWFPs and associated statistics in the
respective countries.
In 2022 the cooperation continued in conducting the second phase of the
NWFPs assignment, specifically conducting an “In-depth study on the use
of non-wood forest products (NWFPs)” in selected Western Balkan
countries: North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia.
In the second phase of the assignment more in-depth data collection
regarding different aspects of use and regulations dealing with NWFPs
was conducted, including also interviews on the field with households
involved in the collection and processing of NWFPs.
The reports prepared in this phase were delivered to FAO to serve for
further analysis.