Horizontal integration of multiple institutions: solutions for Yarshagumba related conflict in the Himalayan region of Nepal?

Abstract

Abstract:The incidence of conflicts among communities over the collection of Yarsagumba, the high value caterpillar fungus, has increased after the Government of Nepal has lifted a ban on its collection and trade in 2001. In most cases, conflicts over Yarsagumba harvesting persist either between locals and outsiders, or between collectors within a local community. In the Api Nampa Conservation Area in Darchula District, Nepal, conflicts are primarily caused by the competiHorizontal integration of multiple institutions 465 tion for control over resources. The rights of the indigenous Shauka community (migratory herders), the Api Nampa Conservation Authority, and the non-Shauka communities of lower villages are at odds due to a lack of clarity, and the absence of coordination regarding the access to resources in the landscape. The Shauka community has restricted the Yarsagumba collection by 'outsiders' to specific and limited areas of their community forest and traditional grazing land. The lowland, non-Shauka community who are dissatisfied with the restrictions have excluded the Shauka people from the utilization of their winter pasture for animal grazing possible through the introduction of a community forestry programme. In this conflict, both communities suffer as the migratory lifestyle of the Shauka has been adversely affected, and earnings of the lowland community from Yarsagumba collection have been reduced. This is a no-win situation. Our study suggests that the Government of Nepal should prepare a national Yarsagumba management policy and local Yarsagumba management guidelines to address conflicts by clearly defining the roles, responsibilities and rights of local institutions and actors, while ensuring the provision of particular services in the community forestry programme to distant and seasonal users.

Governing the yarshagumba ‘gold rush’: A comparative study of governance systems in the Kailash Landscape in India and Nepal

“…The sudden run of collectors to the yarshagumba collection sites led to conflicts about access and uncontrolled usage of the resource (Negi et al 2006;Shrestha and Bawa 2013). Especially collectors from distant villages, hereafter called "distant collectors," have exacerbated the pressures on the social-ecological systems (Pant et al 2017). Over the last decades the governance systems in these high alpine areas where yarshagumba is collected, have struggled to adapt to these changes and to set up and enforce management mechanisms for its sustainable collection (Cannon et al 2009;Negi et al 2006;Winkler 2009;Weckerle et al 2010;Childs and Choedup 2014;Baral et al 2015).…”

“…Over the last decades the governance systems in these high alpine areas where yarshagumba is collected, have struggled to adapt to these changes and to set up and enforce management mechanisms for its sustainable collection (Cannon et al 2009;Negi et al 2006;Winkler 2009;Weckerle et al 2010;Childs and Choedup 2014;Baral et al 2015). Today, the collection is influenced by governance systems consisting of both formal governmental institutions and informal communal management arrangements (Cannon et al 2009;Weckerle et al 2010;Childs and Choedup 2014;Negi et al 2015;Caplins 2016;Pant et al 2017).…”

“…However, collectors harvest yarshagumba wherever possible -within state forests or protected areasregardless of property rights and legal status (Negi et al 2016). In Nepal, in contrast, yarshagumba collection and sale in all community forests and conservation areas is legal (MoFSC 2017), but conflicts regarding access between villagers and distant collectors are common (ICIMOD 2015;Pant et al 2017).…”

Transforming the Lives of Mountain Women Through the Himalayan Nettle Value Chain: A Case Study From Darchula, Far West Nepal

“…Residents have traditionally depended on subsistence farming supplemented by collection and sale of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), such as the caterpillar fungus yarshagumba (Ophiocordyceps sinensis), for their livelihoods (Negi 2007). Yarshagumba is a high-value medicinal herb, mostly found in alpine and subalpine pastures of the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayas, that is becoming one of the biggest contributors to the cash economy in high mountain areas of Nepal (Shrestha and Bawa 2013;Pant et al 2017). Men, women, and children risk their lives on the high mountain slopes to collect it (Pant et al 2017).…”

“…Yarshagumba is a high-value medicinal herb, mostly found in alpine and subalpine pastures of the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayas, that is becoming one of the biggest contributors to the cash economy in high mountain areas of Nepal (Shrestha and Bawa 2013;Pant et al 2017). Men, women, and children risk their lives on the high mountain slopes to collect it (Pant et al 2017).…”