Community takes control

For Nepali communities in Dolpa, the yarshagumba trade has always been a vital source of income. Local authorities say schools and offices frequently close down during the picking season as children help their parents collect the fungus. But the increasing trade and influx of outsiders is putting local villagers' livelihoods and their forests at risk. In 2006, it was reported that over 30,000 harvesters had gathered in Dolpa's forests.
To protect their livelihoods and the delicate mountain habitat, local communities in Dolpa have sought to find their own solution to regulating the yarshagumba trade. Community forest user groups (FUGs) are found throughout Nepal, but many in Dolpa had ceased to function while others made no provision for NTFPs in their management plans. With support from the Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB), a Kathmandu-based NGO, which had lobbied the government over the excessive yarshagumba royalty fee, three FUGs are now meeting regularly, having revised their constitutions and management. The harvesting areas have been surveyed and district authorities have officially handed over management of these to the groups.