Himalayan Bio Trade Pvt. Ltd (HBTL) founded in 2000, is a natural products processing and marketing company, owned by a consortium of community-based forest enterprises of Nepal. These communities have gained tenure over forest habitat and work to conserve the ecosystem’s unique biodiversity and protect the wildlife, while promoting income-generating initiatives such as HBTL's projects. Thus HBTL's shareholders are the community members who sustainably manage the Himalayan forests.
HBTL's mission is to produce and market the highest quality natural products: essential oils, handmade lokta paper products, Himalayan nettle products, fuel efficient briquettes and vegetable oils from wild species. Our products can be traced back to the forests that produced them and to the communities who responsibly harvested and processed them.
HBTL promotes responsible resource management and has a social commitment that has strongly and concretely impacted the local communities: families are able to get jobs on HBTL's projects, thus reducing the need for men to leave abroad in search of jobs. Training and hiring women has also lead to their empowerment. HBTL's projects have also benefited marginalized community groups, helping them fight poverty and improve their standard of living.
HBTL's clients and partners include:
ANSAB (Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources)
CECI (Canadian Center for International Studies and Cooperation)
USAID, GTZ, and others.
HBTL and its community enterprises have received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for their well managed forests, Cradle to Cradle certification for their progressive production processes, as well as Wildilfe Friendly and organic certifications. Himalayan Bio Trade Private Limited is also a Chain of Custody (CoC) cetified company, accredited by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) with COC Code: SW-COC-001465 A. Our handmade paper products are FSC certified, while essential oils are both FSC and Organic certified.
