Unsustainable harvesting frequently threatens non-timber forest product (NTFP) enterprises. But in Nepal, despite government intervention, increasing demand for yarshagumba, a rare and unique fungal herb, is threatening forests high in the steep, remote valleys of the Himalayas.
In May this year (2007), 16 harvesters were reported killed in heavy snow storms in the Dolpa district of western Nepal, although local reports claimed that fatalities were much higher. Each year thousands of Nepali villagers trek to Dolpa's high pastures, hoping to share in the harvest of this lucrative commodity, and the bodies buried in the snow were the latest victims to succumb to the potent lure of the yarshagumba trade.
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