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Dear E-foresters,
Although there may be many people more qualified people, including Phuntsho, to answer the questions of D.B. Dhital, I will give some partial answer. The problem with Cordyceps sinensis is that its sustainability probably only depends for a small part on the amount of harvesting taking place. It appears (or at least in Trashi Yangtse) that Cordyceps is found in low densities in less suitable environments such as alpine slopes and in higher densities in flatter alpine meadows. Most of the collecting will take place in the flatter areas. As Cordyceps is hard to find, many individual fungi, even in the flatter meadows, will escape harvesting and probably produce sufficient
spores to produce a rich harvest the next year. That is as long as there will be enough host caterpillars around. Since very little seems to be known about the life cycle of the caterpillar and the Ghost moth or about its host plant(s), it may well be that this is the critical factor. Harvesting techniques or other factors such as climate change or overgrazing may effect the growth of the host plant(s), and this could significantly affect the survival of the moth or the caterpillar and consequently the sustainability of Cordyceps. It would be an interesting study, much more interesting than my present job.
As for the sustainability of other marketable species that may be on Schedule 1 of protected species in Bhutan, such as Agarwood, Schedule 1 (still 1995 I assume) is not a very logical list, as it includes species that may not even occur in Bhutan as well as some species that according to the IUCN redlist of endangered or threatened species are not threatened at all. Agarwood is listed as vulnerable by IUCN, which indicates to me that it should not lightly be pronounced not deserving its place among protected species in Bhutan
So long,
Piet van der
Poel
China
DBDhital <db_dhital@...> wrote:
Dear Dr Phuntsho Namgyle,It is great to hear once gain from you in this forum. You have really taken out time from your busy schedule and made such great and very useful contribution. It is hoped that you will continue to appear in this forum.As you put it that the cordyceps trading has so much research, political and economic value. It is very true that so much is being discussed pertaing to the issue on research and trading of this very high value commodity. However I sometime feel that there is less discussion on topic such as resource base or sustainabiliity. There are scientists who say that millions of spores are produced by the plant and the reproduction is pretty simple and successful. Out of millions of spores floating in the air some thousands will be definitely infect the caterpillar and reproduction goes on. Now since you have studied this commodity in depth, you may like to enlighten us on the followings:How sure are we on the sustainability of this rare and very high value commodity ? Is somebody doing very in-depth and critical study on the sustainability aspect ?More than anything else, I guess, we need to be reasonably sure on this aspect. The opportinity and constarints surrounding this commodity are many. for example:(i) It is a very high value commodity (ii) Grows in the very climatic condition (iii) very few people have studies this species in depth (iv) reproduction/regeneration fairly difficult (v) Being very high value products everybody would like to participate in collection and trade (vi) management responsibility seems to be on the Department only (vii) suceptible to high degree of poaching from across the border (viii) if the commodity is not utilized then the commodity will go waste and do not benefit anyone. There could be many such opportinities and cosntraints. Under such situations, there could be many scenarios that are likely to unfold over the years (may be 10 to 15 years down the line):How would you like to describe couple of scenarios taking into consideartions some of the situations described above. What could be most likely scenario after (may be)12 to 15 years from now.In my opinion this discussion might generate lot of interst and information which would be very useful for innitiating policy discussion and ultimately would influence our management options for this very important rare and high value commodity.I will stop here to let you respond with your expert views for the benefit to all resource managers.Thanks and with best wishes,D.B.DhitalForest Resources Development DivisionDepartment of Forest----- Original Message -----From: Phuntsho NamgyelSent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 6:12 PMSubject: [Bhutan-eForest] National Cordyceps Workshop - 5 May 2008The Ministry of Agriculture organized the National Cordyceps Workshop
on 5th May 2008.
Cordyceps trading has so much research, political and economic value,
I said I must make this effort to share this information to the
eForest members. Anyway, with the election over,it is not so
difficult for me now to snatch some time to devote to other passions.
Hope you find this post useful and relevant, and more importantly it
generates once again life in our eForest group.
The Workshop was attended by policy makers, resource managers,
researchers, security personnel, buyers, and law makers and local
leaders from the Cordyceps growing areas. The participants numbered
over 100.
What heartened me as an observer at the Workshop was that a wild
product has for the first time in the history of forestry in the
country assumed a national significance. There was in attendance at
the Workshop of three cabinet ministers who included the Agriculture
Minister, Trade Minister and Foreign Minister, and the eight members
of the National Assembly.
The Agriculture Minister said that even though Cordyceps was a
totally protected species as per the Forest Act 1995, the Royal
Government, being mindful of the difficult life conditions of the
people living in Cordyceps growing areas, legalized the collections
of Cordyceps in 2004. He noted that Cordyceps trading has brought
about significant improvement in the living conditions of the people
in Alpine region.
Dorji Rinchen from Agriculture Marketing gave an overview of
Cordyceps marketing which included the following statistics:
Year Vol (Kg) Value (Nu. in million) Avg. Price/kg (Nu.)
2004 178 10.68 60,000.00
2005 200 13.00 65,000.00
2006 506.66 42.91 84,691.00
2007 140.36 41.15 293,160.00
Dophu Dukpa who undertook a study on socio-economic impact of
Cordyceps said that Cordyceps has taken over as the dominant source
of cash income for the people in the Alpine areas. People have used
the cash income to install CGI roof sheets, buy more number of yaks
and buy compound bows.
There was no paper distributed, but only power point presentation.
Dophu, as I knew yesterday, is no more with the Agriculture Ministry
but with the Anti-Corruption Commission.
I was also asked to make a presentation. I titled my paper as "NTFP
Commercialization. What lessons can we learn from Cordyceps
legalization?"
In the paper, I challenge our pre-occupation with the concept of
forest protection and sustainable management for NTFPs. I identify
these two factors being responsible for poverty of local people who
live in the middle of rich natural resource. Cordyceps, a highly
valued product, prior to 2004, was a resource curse for the local
people as they were subjected to harrashment by forestry and park
people in the field.
Taking the cue from the legalization of Cordyceps picking, I propose
that we legalize now agar-wood extraction. Agar wood is another
valuable product found in the sub-tropical belt of the country where
poverty is most severe, but currently it is listed in the Schedule 1
of the Forest Act, thus totally protected. Agar wood is fast growing
pioneer species and easy to raise in the nursery. It is not a matter
of conservation issue at all.
The last presentation was by Chado Tshering of the Department of
Forests. The presentation touched on the issues and management of
Cordyceps. The issues discussed included the start and end time of
Cordyceps picking, defining the collection rights and auction system.
The discussions were lively. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I wished I
was a researcher again.
Karma Dukpa, Director of Forests, chaired the discussions.
He said to me over lunch that he is working on re-branding the
Department of Forests as people and economy friendly.
The future looks bright. I cannot wait to see the end of 10th FYP
with the new political system and the new direction in forest policy
formulation.
This post has turned up longer than I thought. I hope you don't mind.
Phuntsho Namgyel
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