Ethical trade is an umbrella term embracing the growing volume of trade, where social and/or environmental criteria is used to measure performance in addition to established economic criteria. Ethical trade, especially timber certification, is currently a major issue in forestry, prompted by wide consumer concern about the sustainability of forests. Current initiatives often have a limited understanding of both the potential ethical trade offers for enhancing or securing the livelihoods of forest-dependent people, and the conditions under which such people can take advantage of ethical trade opportunities. As the number of initiatives affecting forest-dependent people grows, this lack of understanding is likely to result in (i) initiatives that fail to understand the complexity of forest-dependent people's livelihoods and therefore arbitrarily favour one group over another; (ii) initiatives that exclude or negatively impact upon forest-dependent people in general; or (iii) initiatives that are not seen as an opportunity by forest-dependent people and who will not therefore benefit from any advantages of such trade. There are also a number of unanswered questions about the viability of initiatives, and the external trade and policy environment.

Viability and potential of ethical trade, as a means of enhancing and safeguarding income generating opportunities for forest-dependent households and communities in tropical moist forest eco-systems, assessed and promoted.

• Identification of the potential that ethical trade can play in improving forest-dependent people's livelihoods.
• Assessment of the impact of global trading regulations and markets on the viability and potential of ethical trade.
• Guidelines for implementing ethical trade for the benefit of forest dependent people developed, tested and promoted.