1. Game Meat Pilot Questionnaire
FORESTS
Game Meat Pilot Questionnaire
How to proceed?
Forest resources provide a broad variety of wood and non-wood products. With increasing uptake of sustainable forest management for multiple uses, there has been a growing interest in assessing socioeconomic and food security impact of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) and exploring potential ways to improve their production and commercialization. Despite their importance, the values of NWFPs have long been underestimated.
One of the most evident reasons for the underestimation is the poor availability and quality of national or regional statistics on NWFPs. FAO’s Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) program collects information on NWFPs as a minor part of the comprehensive questionnaire on global forest resources once every five years. The UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section also collects the information periodically for pan-European countries as an indicator (productive function) of sustainable forest management. With the growing interests in assessing full economic value of forests in the UNECE region, improving availability and quality of data on NWFPs has become a priority for us.
Objective
The enquiry aims at improving knowledge and understanding of game meat production and trade in the UNECE region and tries to shed light on the potential and future perspective of game meat production, utilization and commercialization in the region.
Team of Specialists on Forest Products and Statistics Meeting
28 March 2017, Geneva

2. Background and Objective
Pilot Questionnaire
FORESTS
Background
Forest resources provide a broad variety of wood and non-wood products. With increasing uptake of sustainable forest management for multiple uses, there has been a growing interest in assessing socioeconomic and food security impact of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) and exploring potential ways to improve their production and commercialization. Despite their importance, the values of NWFPs have long been underestimated.
One of the most evident reasons for the underestimation is the poor availability and quality of national or regional statistics on NWFPs. FAO’s Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) program collects information on NWFPs as a minor part of the comprehensive questionnaire on global forest resources once every five years. The UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section also collects the information periodically for pan-European countries as an indicator (productive function) of sustainable forest management. With the growing interests in assessing full economic value of forests in the UNECE region, improving availability and quality of data on NWFPs has become a priority for us.
Objective
The enquiry aims at improving knowledge and understanding of game meat production and trade in the UNECE region and tries to shed light on the potential and future perspective of game meat production, utilization and commercialization in the region.

3. SoEF 2015
FORESTS
SoEF 2015
Game comprises all hunted birds and mammals, such as partridge, pheasant, hare, deer, wild boar and chamois. The presented figures include game species whose habitats are forest-related or forest-dependent. Game that roams on farms is excluded. Data on game meat was reported by 10 countries in relation to quantity and 14 countries in relation to value. The commercial sale of game meat is an important economic activity in many countries.
Game meat is selected due to its relative importance in general in the UNECE region. According to FAOSTAT, the region produced around 400,000 tonnes of game meat in 2013, valued at around $ 850 million (at constant prices). The export value of game meat in the region has almost doubled in the past decade from US$190 million in 2001 to US$ 365 million in Despite its importance, there are some issues with the availability and quality of the data collected by FAO on production and trade of game meat (see Annex Table 1 attached). The data on game meat from FRA/SoEF surveys are available through table 4b (NWFP) in FRA and table 3.3 in State of Europe’s Forest (See Annex Table 2 attached). In SoEF countries in the pan-European region provided data on quantity and value of game meat production. The FRA/SoEF does not differentiate among species, putting all “wild meat” together.
Among the reporting countries, Germany (EUR 195 million) Spain (EUR 73 million) and Austria (EUR 15 million) were by far the highest producers of game meat in terms of value. Finland and Sweden did not provide data on game meat. Among the reported value of non-wood products, game accounted for EUR 321 million (14% of NWGs) for all responding Forest Europe countries.

4. Questionnaire 16 12 5 6 9 8 7 14 15 FORESTS Production Trade
Production
Trade
Total
of which: marketed
Imports
Exports
Game Meat Category
Name [in Latin] of top 5 species per category in terms of quantity
quantity [number/year]
quantity [tonnes/year]
value [national currency/year]
Large mammals 1 2 3 4 5
Other
total or individual name(s)
Small mammals
Birds
Other relevant species 16 12 5 6 9 8 7 14 15

5. Issues for Discussion How should we proceed? Comments
FORESTS
Comments
Data has been received between August ‘16 and January ‘17
Data is very heterogeneous
Useful comments were provided
No country was able to provide all data
Especially trade data is an issue
Not all countries have a market for game meat
Some only reported data of marketed game, number of total shot game seems not available
Open for discussion
How to publish?
Should the survey be improved?
How can trade data be improved? (Comtrade extractions are not really helpful)
Should data be processed, harmonized?

6. Thank you! FORESTS Name Surname Position
UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section
Date March 2017, Geneva