The Regional Expert Consultation Meeting on “Sustainable Management of Community-based Non-wood Forest Products and its Contribution towards Improvement of Rural Livelihoods in South Asia” was held on 11-12 November 2020. It was organized by SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) in a virtual mode as a need based program of Natural Resource Management. According to the coordinator of the meeting Mr. Kinzang Gyeltshen, Senior Program Specialist of SAC, the meeting was organized mainly to assess the sustainable management practices of Non-wood Forest Products (NWFPs) and evaluate its contribution to the improvement of rural livelihoods in South Asia. The National Focal Experts from all eight SAARC Member Countries have participated in this important meeting.

Dr. S.M. Bokhtiar, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council has graced the opening session of the meeting as Chief Guest. Mr. Jamal Uddin Ahmed, Director (SAARC) Ministry of Foreign Affair, Bangladesh and Dr. Md. Nazirul Islam, Director General, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute have attended the session as Special Guests. The Director of SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dr. Mian Sayeed Hassan cordially welcomed the Guests and National Focal Experts in the meeting. He stressed that the meeting was important as rural populations in the region heavily depend on the non-wood products for their everyday livelihoods and its sustainable management and development is crucial for sustenance of their living. The Chief Guest highlighted the important role played by SAC in coordinating and creating common platform for the experts of the region to share their knowledge and experiences in this particular subject and disseminate knowledge for the sustainable management of NWFPs. The Special Guests have also shared the importance of the meeting as 60% of rural population depends on NWFPs and sustainable management of these renewable natural resources is vital for the improvement of rural livelihoods. Further, they underscored the achievement made by the SAC in disseminating agricultural technologies and striving to enhance living standard of rural populations. Detailed report