Why efforts to legalize harvest and trade of Yartsa gumba have failed in India?
Description
The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) is spread across ten Indian States and four hill districts of the states of Assam and West Bengal, covering an area of around 5lakh square km. The region has a discreet geographical and ecological entity and is replete with unique biodiversity values. Though sparsely populated with approximately 3% of India’s population residing here, its innumerable ecosystem services and particularly that of water and forests, are appropriated by the majority of the mainland. Despite such ecological significance of the IHR, it has been largely absent from the center-stage of Indian policy in addressing a large number of developmental issues. The terrain complexity and remoteness of the IHR poses unique economic, social and environmental challenges that are very different from mainland India. More specifically, prolonged negligence towards employment and higher education of the hill population has lead to economic stagnation, steady out-migration, exploitation of natural resources, eroding environmental stewardship, growing disgruntlement against governance mechanisms and a general attitude of mistrust towards those from the mainland. In the knowledge of this backdrop, an unprecedented economic transformation of the fortunes of thousands of impoverished households, by the harvest and trade of the highly valued Yartsagumba (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) (henceforth cordyceps), in high altitude villages of the three states of Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh has attracted much scholarly attention. This entomopathogenic fungus, supposedly endowed with a host of curative properties, is also found in the Tibetan Plateau and the adjoining high altitude areas in Bhutan and Nepal. Though historically it was used in Chinese, Tibetan and Bhutanese traditional medicine, presently, China is by far its largest consumer. Its high market value and the unprecedented livelihood security that it has provided led thousands of people to rake the moist alpine meadows every summer in areas of its availability to harvest it. Ever since this “gold rush” was discovered, its mycology,ecology, pharmacological functions, medicinal value, contribution to livelihoods, production and sustainability, harvest and trade and conservation implications have been substantially studied in most of the regions of its availability. It should be noted that studies regarding its sustainability and distribution, which is significant owing to its contribution to the rural economy, has been possible in all the other countries except India, due to availability of accurate government data about quantum of production annually, since its harvest and trade has been legalized. In this study, we interrogate four aspects with the case study of Askot conservation landscape in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand to understand why efforts to legalize harvest and trade of cordyceps have failed in India. 1. What is the economic contribution of cordyceps to household income among collectors? 2. Does harvest trend indicate declining or increasing productivity? 3. What has been the spatio-temporal trend since year 2000 till 2016, of suitable areas for Cordyceps, as opposed to future scenario predictions made by most studies? 4. Whether restricted access or open access methods of management provide more effective regulation and conservation of this resource for its long term sustenance? For the first and second assessment a socio-economic survey was undertaken in the three prime valleys constituting Askot landscape from 2013 till 2017. The survey was carried out in sampled van panchayats (community forest - units of forest governance) along the elevation gradient and household was the unit of analysis therein. 81 van panchayats (66%) were samples out of the total 122 in the landscape. A semi structured questionnaire schedule was used to collect a) socio-demographic information about households, b) details of primary occupation and secondary/tertiary income sources and c) natural resource dependency for commercial purposes. Minimum and maximum harvests of cordyceps and their corresponding years was inquired from every interviewed collector and used as a surrogate to assess the trend of fungus availability. This method was adopted in order to avoid errors owing to the inability of recalling factual details from autobiographical memory spanning over long periods of time. In this fashion we analysed cordyceps availability from year 2009 till 2017. Further inquiry made from the respondents concern investments made for harvest, reliability of the occupation, alternate source of income if caterpillar fungus is not available in the future, probable reasons for declining availability and difference in lifestyle with earnings from the sale of fungus so far. Herein the respondents’ perception about the short seasonal occupation is analyzed. A total of 824 interviews were conducted . For the third assessment, field data (occurrence points) and finer resolution spatio-temporal satellite data was used to carry out Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM) to predict historically suitable areas from 2000 till 2016 aided with climate change assessments. Multiple evaluation criteria was used to select the final models and temporally transferred. Local harvesters were recruited for locating occurrence data efficiently. Information about harvest, trade, local politics and threats was also documented through harvester interviews. ENM was done in R using kuenm package. Predicted suitable area assessments were processed from final maps using ArcGIS software. Secondary literature review on common property resource governance, international trade treaties relating to conservation of natural resources and methods of management for effective regulation of the same guide our fourth assessment. The study reveals that majority of the households (more than 50%) among the three valleys in Askot landscape depend upon income from wage labor and harvest and sale of cordyceps.Amongst harvesters in the three valleys, income from cordyceps contribute - 52% in Byas, 68% Gori valley and 78% in Dhauli valley – to the mean annual household income. The Mean annual household income (INR) of households is 117367 (±8652.5) in Byas , 118048 (±8185.2) in Dhauli and 84266 (±4053) in Gori valley. Additionally mean annual household income of non harvesters in Gori is 45%, Dhauli - 52% and Byas - 20% less than harvester’s incomes. Analysing trends of availability suggest that income from cordyceps is increasingly becoming unreliable even for seasoned harvesters. Furthermore, the 17-year spatio-temporal trend indicates as high as 38% loss of suitable area in the low elevation range of 2500-3500 m. Additionally, microclimate analysis showed that extreme weather patterns contribute to a marked upward shift in the suitable elevational range, rendering its accessibility difficult and perhaps subsequently endangering the livelihood derived from it. [Remaining results yet to be articulated]
Why efforts to legalize harvest and trade of Yartsa gumba have failed in India?
The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) is spread across ten Indian States and four hill districts of the states of Assam and West Bengal, covering an area of around 5lakh square km. The region has a discreet geographical and ecological entity and is replete with unique biodiversity values. Though sparsely populated with approximately 3% of India’s population residing here, its innumerable ecosystem services and particularly that of water and forests, are appropriated by the majority of the mainland. Despite such ecological significance of the IHR, it has been largely absent from the center-stage of Indian policy in addressing a large number of developmental issues. The terrain complexity and remoteness of the IHR poses unique economic, social and environmental challenges that are very different from mainland India. More specifically, prolonged negligence towards employment and higher education of the hill population has lead to economic stagnation, steady out-migration, exploitation of natural resources, eroding environmental stewardship, growing disgruntlement against governance mechanisms and a general attitude of mistrust towards those from the mainland. In the knowledge of this backdrop, an unprecedented economic transformation of the fortunes of thousands of impoverished households, by the harvest and trade of the highly valued Yartsagumba (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) (henceforth cordyceps), in high altitude villages of the three states of Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh has attracted much scholarly attention. This entomopathogenic fungus, supposedly endowed with a host of curative properties, is also found in the Tibetan Plateau and the adjoining high altitude areas in Bhutan and Nepal. Though historically it was used in Chinese, Tibetan and Bhutanese traditional medicine, presently, China is by far its largest consumer. Its high market value and the unprecedented livelihood security that it has provided led thousands of people to rake the moist alpine meadows every summer in areas of its availability to harvest it. Ever since this “gold rush” was discovered, its mycology,ecology, pharmacological functions, medicinal value, contribution to livelihoods, production and sustainability, harvest and trade and conservation implications have been substantially studied in most of the regions of its availability. It should be noted that studies regarding its sustainability and distribution, which is significant owing to its contribution to the rural economy, has been possible in all the other countries except India, due to availability of accurate government data about quantum of production annually, since its harvest and trade has been legalized. In this study, we interrogate four aspects with the case study of Askot conservation landscape in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand to understand why efforts to legalize harvest and trade of cordyceps have failed in India. 1. What is the economic contribution of cordyceps to household income among collectors? 2. Does harvest trend indicate declining or increasing productivity? 3. What has been the spatio-temporal trend since year 2000 till 2016, of suitable areas for Cordyceps, as opposed to future scenario predictions made by most studies? 4. Whether restricted access or open access methods of management provide more effective regulation and conservation of this resource for its long term sustenance? For the first and second assessment a socio-economic survey was undertaken in the three prime valleys constituting Askot landscape from 2013 till 2017. The survey was carried out in sampled van panchayats (community forest - units of forest governance) along the elevation gradient and household was the unit of analysis therein. 81 van panchayats (66%) were samples out of the total 122 in the landscape. A semi structured questionnaire schedule was used to collect a) socio-demographic information about households, b) details of primary occupation and secondary/tertiary income sources and c) natural resource dependency for commercial purposes. Minimum and maximum harvests of cordyceps and their corresponding years was inquired from every interviewed collector and used as a surrogate to assess the trend of fungus availability. This method was adopted in order to avoid errors owing to the inability of recalling factual details from autobiographical memory spanning over long periods of time. In this fashion we analysed cordyceps availability from year 2009 till 2017. Further inquiry made from the respondents concern investments made for harvest, reliability of the occupation, alternate source of income if caterpillar fungus is not available in the future, probable reasons for declining availability and difference in lifestyle with earnings from the sale of fungus so far. Herein the respondents’ perception about the short seasonal occupation is analyzed. A total of 824 interviews were conducted . For the third assessment, field data (occurrence points) and finer resolution spatio-temporal satellite data was used to carry out Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM) to predict historically suitable areas from 2000 till 2016 aided with climate change assessments. Multiple evaluation criteria was used to select the final models and temporally transferred. Local harvesters were recruited for locating occurrence data efficiently. Information about harvest, trade, local politics and threats was also documented through harvester interviews. ENM was done in R using kuenm package. Predicted suitable area assessments were processed from final maps using ArcGIS software. Secondary literature review on common property resource governance, international trade treaties relating to conservation of natural resources and methods of management for effective regulation of the same guide our fourth assessment. The study reveals that majority of the households (more than 50%) among the three valleys in Askot landscape depend upon income from wage labor and harvest and sale of cordyceps.Amongst harvesters in the three valleys, income from cordyceps contribute - 52% in Byas, 68% Gori valley and 78% in Dhauli valley – to the mean annual household income. The Mean annual household income (INR) of households is 117367 (±8652.5) in Byas , 118048 (±8185.2) in Dhauli and 84266 (±4053) in Gori valley. Additionally mean annual household income of non harvesters in Gori is 45%, Dhauli - 52% and Byas - 20% less than harvester’s incomes. Analysing trends of availability suggest that income from cordyceps is increasingly becoming unreliable even for seasoned harvesters. Furthermore, the 17-year spatio-temporal trend indicates as high as 38% loss of suitable area in the low elevation range of 2500-3500 m. Additionally, microclimate analysis showed that extreme weather patterns contribute to a marked upward shift in the suitable elevational range, rendering its accessibility difficult and perhaps subsequently endangering the livelihood derived from it. [Remaining results yet to be articulated]