Forests have always been recognized as rich reservoirs of valuable biological resources. Forest functions other than the production of timber are widely recognized. These acknowledged functions can be subdivided into two groups: functions or benefits, which are indirectly provided by a forest ecosystem, such as clean air and freshwater, recreation and biodiversity, and those which can be physically extracted from the forest or the forest vegetation.

Traditionally, many forest dwellers and forest margin communities have benefited from a variety of non-timber forest produce (NTFP). These include mangrove forest products, illipenuts, dammar, gaharu, rattan, medicinal plants, honey, nipah palm, palm hearts and animal products. NTFP activities hold prospects for integrated forms of development that yield higher rural incomes and conserve biodiversity while not competing with agriculture. There has been an increased commercial demand for many NTFP of tropical forests.

Mangrove Forest Products
The harvesting of mangrove poles (usually Rhizophora spp.) for piling purposes is still an important part of mangrove utilization. The mangrove timbers are also used for the production of charcoal, firewood and woodchips. The latter is used in the manufacture of rayon. The mangrove bark was the traditional source of tannin although the market is now largely replaced by chemical tannin.

Dammar
Dammar, which means resin in the Malay language, is produced mainly by trees of the Dipterocarpaceae family. They are oxidation products of terpenes, formed by the tree to close wounds; unhealthy trees produce more than healthy trees. Rural communities use this fact in the wounding of trunks to get more out of the trees. The resin is used mainly for burning and caulking the seams of boats. The fragrant resins are used in some religious ceremonies while the non-fragrant resins are used in the paint and varnish industries.

Gaharu
The Chinese were busy traders of the fragrant wood during the 1st century in South East Asia. The chief sources are Aquilaria malaccensis and Aetoxylon sympetalum while other Aquilaria species produce gaharu of inferior quality. Gaharu which is eagerly sought after, is used as incense in religious ceremonies and in the manufacture of joss-sticks. The prized fragrant wood is actually the diseased portion of the trunk, saturated with resin.

Rattan
Rattans or rotans, are the stems of climbing palms of the genera Calamus, Daemonorhops, Ceratolobus, Calospatha, Plectocomia, Plectocomiopsis and Korthalsia, which together form one-half of the sub-family Lepidocaryoideae, of the family Palmae.

Rattans find their chief uses in the furniture and basketry industries, where great strength is essential, and appearance, a secondary consideration.

Rattans are used by the native population for so many purposes, for example, for tying and binding. Houses, fences, fish-traps, and even boats, are bound together with rattan, often without the use of a single nail. Ropes for tethering buffaloes, drag-ropes for hauling timber, mooring-ropes, anchor cables, bridge cables, and deer snares are all known uses of the rattan among the natives (Burkill, I. H., A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula, 1993).

Medicinal Plants
One important offshoot of NTFP in Sarawak is the extraction of phyto-pharmaceutical compounds from rainforest vegetation to treat modern diseases such as AIDS and cancer. US-based scientists are conducting clinical trials on compounds isolated from the Bintangor tree which had been discovered to test positive against HIV in the laboratory. Please see Plant Screening and Pharmaceutical Research.

Among the locally known medicinal plants are the tongkat ali (Eurycoma longifolia) whose roots are used for treating high-blood pressure and stomach ache; the bark of the langsat (Lansum domesticum) is used for malaria-fever and stomach ache; the leaves of the mambong (Blumea balsamifera) is used after child-birth to cope with pain; the bark of the engkala (Litsea garciae) for skin burns; the bark of the empit (Pentaspadon montleyi) and leaves of the rugan (Cassia alata) is used for ringworm and itchy skin; the fruit of the kemunting (Melastoma spp.) is used for infections in mouth and on gums; the leaves of the tipang ular (Pedilanthus tithymaloides) is for treating snake bites and the leaves of the entemu (Cratoxylum formosum) is used for general body aches (JP Report 3, FOMISS 1996).

The identification of such properties in the trees or plants could lead to their subsequent cultivation which would benefit the local communities.

Nipah (Nypa fruticans)
This palm produces a diversity of minor products. The leaves are used extensively for roof thatching (atap) and mat making. The unfolded leaf sheaths are made into cigarette wrappers (rokok daun) which are cheaper than paper wrappers. The production of nipah sugar (gula apong) from the inflorescence and infructescence sap is still an important traditional activity for communities living in the vicinity. Most of the traditional cakes and the sugar produced is consumed locally. Nipah sugar is also used to produce alcohol for the local market although the production has declined in recent years.