Helle Overgaard Larsen

Alpine medicinal plant trade and Himalayan mountain livelihood strategies

Commercial alpine medicinal plants are collected from the wild by local rural households throughout the Himalaya and sold in order to increase household incomes. Recent studies indicate that this annual trade amounts to thousands of tonnes of roots, rhizomes, tubers, leaves, etc., worth millions of US dollars. The main market is in India. Based on a national survey, including the most commonly traded species, and a village study this paper investigates the importance of the alpine medicinal plant trade at national and local levels in Nepal. The national survey included standardized openended interviews with 232 harvesters, 64 local traders, 66 central wholesalers, 47 regional wholesalers, and 16 production companies. The village survey is based on the daily records of household activities in 15 households in a one-year period. The annual Nepalese alpine and sub-alpine medicinal plant trade is conservatively estimated to vary from 480 to 2500 t with a total harvester value of US

Unsustainable collection and unfair trade? Uncovering and assessing assumptions regarding Central Himalayan medicinal plant conservation

0.8-3.3 million; the average harvester value is estimated at US

The non-timber forest policy process in Nepal: actors, objectives and power

66.0 ? 99.0. The trade in 1997/98 amounted to 1600 t with a harvester value of US

Collection and Use of Wild Edible Fungi in Nepal

2.3 million and an export value equivalent to 2.5% of total export from Nepal. Medicinal plant harvesting was found to constitute an integrated part of local livelihood strategies, contributing from 3 to 44% (average of 12%) of the annual household income. Importance at household level depended on land and animal holdings, and the availability of adult male labour. The validity and reliability of methods and analyses is evaluated, and issues of conservation and management of alpine medicinal plant species under the community forestry scheme are discussed.

People, plants and health: a conceptual framework for assessing changes in medicinal plant consumption

The trade in medicinal plants for herbal remedies is large and probably increasing. The trade has attracted the attention of scientists and development planners interested in the impact on plant populations and the potential to improve rural livelihoods through community based management and conservation. This has resulted in a large number of publications and development activities, ranging from small NGO projects to new government policies. Through a review of 119 references from Nepal, 4 common assumptions regarding the medicinal plant collection and trade have been identified: I. The commercial medicinal plant resource base is becoming ever more degraded as a consequence of collection; II. The medicinal plants are an open-access resource; III. Cultivation can contribute to conservation of commercially collected medicinal plant species; and IV. Medicinal plant harvesters are cheated by middlemen. The frequency of the assumptions is documented, their empirical support is evaluated, and the consequences of their presence for conservation and rural livelihoods are discussed. It is concluded that the empirical backing for the assumptions is weak, and that some reviewed references use logically flawed argumentation. It is argued that the assumptions are leading to misguided conservation efforts, and an inclusive approach to conservation of commercial central Himalayan medicinal plant species is briefly outlined.

Combining Household Income and Asset Data to Identify Livelihood Strategies and Their Dynamics

Abstract The importance of commercial non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to the livelihood strategies of rural collectors in Nepal is increasingly recognised. This paper provides suggestions for improving rural collectors’ possibilities for income generation. The formation and implementation of NTFP policies in Nepal is examined by investigating the area of interactions between policy formation, choice and implementation of forest policy tools within the ‘new political economy’ approach, and suggestions are subsequently evaluated within the found practical political context. The study is based on approximately 400 interviews carried out with some 1000 stakeholders in the period 1992–1998. Following a qualitative research strategy hypotheses are formulated on the basis of patterns emerging from the data collected. The main stakeholders in NTFP collection and trade are identified to be: rural collectors and traders; local level politicians; lower level government staff; high level politicians; conservation-oriented institutions; and development oriented institutions. The objectives and influence of these stakeholders on the non-timber sector are identified and proposals for change are discussed in the light of distribution of objectives and power. It is hypothesised that NTFP policy formation, implementation and the field reality are weakly connected: implemented policy tools do not correspond to the aims of formulated policies, and field reality is not regulated in the envisioned direction by policy tools. This situation is explained by the fact that stakeholders at different levels of the policy hierarchy can influence their own level only. It is further hypothesised that a number of changes in forest legislation and regulations can have immediate and powerful effects on rural livelihoods of collectors. Taking into account the present political situation such changes may not be introduced from within the decision making process and, therefore, the view is put forward that pressure from outside the forestry sector is needed to bring about significant changes in favour of rural collectors.

Impact of Replanting on Regeneration of the Medicinal Plant Nardostachys grandiflora DC. (Valerianaceae)

Collection and Use of Wild Edible Fungi in Nepal. The significance of the contribution of wild edible mushrooms to rural livelihoods is acknowledged, but remains largely unexplored. This study investigates the collection of wild edible Nepalese fungi, which species are used, and what are the specific characteristics of the collectors and the collection. Data were collected using 282 structured questionnaires, interviews, and forest walks in 17 districts, environmental household accounts from 413 households in two communities, and a review of literature. A total of 228 species of wild fungi are confirmed to be used for food, and collection is most widespread among the high-mountain Tibeto-Nepalese ethnic groups, which collect an average of 18.1 kilograms (kg) fresh mushrooms per year per household, with some households collecting as much as 160 kg. We found no relation between wealth status and subsistence collection, although the commercial collectors are predominantly the poor earning up to six months of unskilled labor salary per season. Given the limited local trade and occurrence of globally marketed species, the scope for increasing contributions to rural livelihoods from collection of mushrooms, and risks in relation to this are briefly discussed.

Empirically based analysis of households coping with unexpected shocks in the central Himalayas

BackgroundA large number of people in both developing and developed countries rely on medicinal plant products to maintain their health or treat illnesses. Available evidence suggests that medicinal plant consumption will remain stable or increase in the short to medium term. Knowledge on what factors determine medicinal plant consumption is, however, scattered across many disciplines, impeding, for example, systematic consideration of plant-based traditional medicine in national health care systems. The aim of the paper is to develop a conceptual framework for understanding medicinal plant consumption dynamics. Consumption is employed in the economic sense: use of medicinal plants by consumers or in the production of other goods.MethodsPubMed and Web of Knowledge (formerly Web of Science) were searched using a set of medicinal plant key terms (folk/peasant/rural/traditional/ethno/indigenous/CAM/herbal/botanical/phytotherapy); each search terms was combined with terms related to medicinal plant consumption dynamics (medicinal plants/health care/preference/trade/treatment seeking behavior/domestication/sustainability/conservation/urban/migration/climate change/policy/production systems). To eliminate studies not directly focused on medicinal plant consumption, searches were limited by a number of terms (chemistry/clinical/in vitro/antibacterial/dose/molecular/trial/efficacy/antimicrobial/alkaloid/bioactive/inhibit/antibody/purification/antioxidant/DNA/rat/aqueous). A total of 1940 references were identified; manual screening for relevance reduced this to 645 relevant documents. As the conceptual framework emerged inductively, additional targeted literature searches were undertaken on specific factors and link, bringing the final number of references to 737.ResultsThe paper first defines the four main groups of medicinal plant users (1. Hunter-gatherers, 2. Farmers and pastoralists, 3. Urban and peri-urban people, 4. Entrepreneurs) and the three main types of benefits (consumer, producer, society-wide) derived from medicinal plants usage. Then a single unified conceptual framework for understanding the factors influencing medicinal plant consumption in the economic sense is proposed; the framework distinguishes four spatial levels of analysis (international, national, local, household) and identifies and describes 15 factors and their relationships.ConclusionsThe framework provides a basis for increasing our conceptual understanding of medicinal plant consumption dynamics, allows a positioning of existing studies, and can serve to guide future research in the area. This would inform the formation of future health and natural resource management policies.

Environmental Income as a Pathway Out of Poverty? Empirical Evidence on Asset Accumulation in Nepal

ABSTRACT Current approaches to identifying and describing rural livelihood strategies, and household movements between strategies over time, in developing countries are imprecise. Here we: (i) present a new statistical quantitative approach combining income and asset data to identify household activity choice variables, characterise livelihood strategy clusters, and analyse movements between strategies, and (ii) apply the approach using an environmentally-augmented three-wave household (n = 427) level panel dataset from Nepal. Combining income and asset data provides a better understanding of livelihood strategies and household movements between strategies over time than using only income or asset data. Most households changed livelihood strategy at least once over the two three-year periods. A common pathway out of poverty included an intermediate step during which households accumulate assets through farming, petty trading, and migratory work.

Measuring livelihoods and environmental dependence : methods for research and fieldwork

Larsen, Helle Overgaard (Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape, and Planning, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark; Tel. 145 3528 1739; Fax 145 3528 1508; e-mail: hol@kvl.dk). IMPACT OF REPLANTING ON REGENERATION OF THE MEDICINAL PLANT NARDOSTACHYS GRANDIFLORA DC VALERIANACEAE. Economic Botany 59(3):213–220, 2005. Commercial collection of alpine medicinal plants in Nepal is widely believed to destroy the resource base. This study explores the impact of three different collection methods on the regeneration of a frequently collected and traded plant species, Nardostachys grandiflora DC (Valerianaceae), listed in CITES Appendix II. The collected product is the plant rhizome from which essential oil is extracted. An experiment with 209 232 m plots on both southand north-facing slopes of a valley in Gorkha District was conducted over two years. Harvesting 100% of the plants in plots followed by replanting of upper plant parts and 2 cm of the rhizome provided the fastest regeneration and rhizome biomass growth.Commercial collection of alpine medicinal plants in Nepal is widely believed to destroy the resource base. This study explores the impact of three different collection methods on the regeneration of a frequently collected and traded plant species, Nardostachys grandiflora DC (Valerianaceae), listed in CITES Appendix II. The collected product is the plant rhizome from which essential oil is extracted. An experiment with 209 2X2 m plots on both south- and north-facing slopes of a valley in Gorkha District was conducted over two years. Harvesting 100% of the plants in plots followed by replanting of upper plant parts and 2 cm of the rhizome provided the fastest regeneration and rhizome biomass growth.