**1. Introduction**

Any biological products and services collected mainly from forests and other associated tree-based land use systems are known as non-timber forest products (NTFPs) [1–4]. Most of the rural and indigenous communities residing in and around forests rely for their livelihood on NTFPs socioeconomically and culturally [2, 3, 5–14]. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) along with the tradition of plantsbased knowledge is distributed among the vast number of indigenous and rural communities [15, 16]. NTFPs provide natural insurance against hunger and malnutrition during scarcity and even during famines [5]. NTFPs are thus vital for the social development of the indigenous/forest fringe and rural communities [17]. In spite of the "right of ownership, i.e., access to collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce by the 'Forest Rights Act, 2006'" to the indigenous communities dependent on forest or forest dwellers, they still remain underprivileged and impoverished [18]. Having potential to address poverty, sustainable development, and tropical forest conservation without competing with agricultural activity, NTFPs is now receiving more academic and policy attention [2, 3, 19, 20].

The dependency of the indigenous forest and rural people on NTFP continues today because of their poor economic conditions and non-empowerment toward socioeconomic development [21] through its use in food, medicine, fiber, fuelwood and sale [2–4]. Plant and animal resources and their value as NTFPs are rich among the ethno-cultural groups [22, 23], but potentialities of many of these resources and valuable plants are yet to be explored [2, 3]. Unfortunately, till now, there are no serious efforts either to document the NTFP resources or to analyze their utilization and socioeconomic aspects [5]. Additionally, due to deforestation, modernization, unsustainable development, and ignorance of younger generation toward NTFPs, the traditional knowledge associated with them and their utilization is gradually eroding through acculturation and the loss of plant biodiversity [24–26]. Awareness, research, and education are needed to protect this diminishing knowledge of NTFPs and conserve bioresources for the benefit of our future generations [27].

Dependence on NTFP collection and utilization is still a crucial livelihood strategy for forest dwellers in the Terai foothills of eastern Himalayas in West Bengal [11, 24, 28–31]. Unfortunately, now the traditional knowledge associated with NTFPs in these regions is found mostly confined to the older generation of these communities, which is consequently in the verge of extinction [24]. Hence, identifying and documenting the diversity of NTFP resources with their utilization is important to conserve and manage these resources sustainably while also being helpful for restoration and preservation of their associated traditional knowledge [25, 26, 32–34]. More importantly, promoting the NTFPs-based activities has now become a crucial policy action of any developmental strategy for uplifting and empowering the rural and indigenous communities [35]. Such documentation will provide baseline data and information for conservation and sustainable utilization of the NTFP resources. Additionally, these documentations will be a proper testimony from specialists, which will also popularize the NTFPs to be introduced into the present-day farming systems and also get acceptance for utilization by the urban population [25, 26, 35, 36]. Therefore, the present study was conducted in the forest fringe villages in the Terai region of West Bengal with the following objectives:


*Non-Timber Forest Products: Diversity, Utilization, and Dependency in Fringe Areas… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113271*
