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This article highlights the results of an action research to upgrade mountain farmers of bay leaf (Cinnamomum tamala Nees and Eberm) in Udayapur district of Nepal
. Farmers received low prices, lacked market information, capacities, and institutional mechanisms, and were exploited by traders. To address these constraints, three independent but interlinked pro-poor value chain (VC) upgrading strategies comprising VC coordination upgrading and horizontal and vertical contractualization were implemented. Information was collected from focus-group discussions with collectors, traders, and facilitators, and a questionnaire was used to collect pre- and postintervention data (n = 120). VC upgrading strategies improved harvesting practices, increased farmers’ bargaining power, and led to a threefold increase in price, which increased household incomes. Results demonstrated improved terms of participation of farmers and a general increase in market price of bay leaf in Udayapur. The study approach can be up scaled to reduce poverty from high value products
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Cultivation of bay leaves (Cinnamomum tamala Nees & Eberm) to fulfil household income needs is a long established practice in Udayapur district of Nepal
. The practices adopted by farmers for bay leaf harvesting have not, however, been validated by scientific investigation for their sustainability. To investigate the impacts of harvesting on the yield of branch, leaves and biomass of leaves, a two-year research project was conducted in farm fields at Kopche village of Routa VDC in Udayapur district, Nepal. Four different harvesting treatments, the orientation and the order of branches were taken as independent variables to test their effects on number of branches, leaves and biomass of leaves. Orientation, harvesting treatments and order of branches had a significant effect on the number of branches, but not on the number of leaves or biomass (fresh and dry weight) of leaves in the year of harvest. Between two consecutive harvests there was no significant difference in the number of branches, leaves or biomass. Lower two-thirds portion of the trees produced the largest number of leaves and branches of the fourth order in both years. Therefore, lower two-thirds portion of the trees were suitable for harvesting. Our findings support farmer experience that no change in productivity of leaves is observed when harvesting each year. For long term sustainability, harvesting should be conducted without debarking of trees or damage to branches. Our findings could be extrapolated to and tested in other areas with different access and user rights where the rotation for harvest is fixed or regulated without research evidence
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This article presents the findings of a study that analysed the Indian Bay Leaf (Cinnamomum tamala) Nees and Eberm value chain (VC) in Uttarakhand, India and Udayapur, Nepal
. The results show that bay‐leaf VCs are loosely integrated and consist of stakeholders with asymmetrical power relations and different priorities. Traders in India dominate the chains and inappropriate standards lead to the exploitation of small producers and inequity in the chain. Policy measures are suggested for improving co‐ordination and competitiveness in the bay‐leaf VC which could be applied to the NTFP sector as a whole
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Livelihoods in the Himalayas have traditionally depended on a multitude of strategies, using available ecosystem services, but also typically encompassing external activities like trade and labour migration
. Changes in ecosystem services due to environmental or socio-economic change affect mountain livelihoods, and so are likely to impact migration. Yet the impacts of environmental stressors are super-imposed on the local socio-economic setting and, generally, exacerbate existing household vulnerabilities. Differential vulnerability within and between communities is the consequence of unequal exposure to shocks and stress, sensitivity of livelihoods and inequalities in terms of adaptive capacity. Depending on the scale of damage, adaptive capacity of affected households and communities, issue of safety and security, availability of material assistance, and extent of livelihood disruption, mountain households can adopt one or more livelihood strategies from a portfolio of responses, which may include migration. Moreover, favourable environmental conditions along with the development of transport and communication infrastructure in some parts of mountainous regions have also created employment opportunities not just for local populations, but also migrant workers from within mountain regions and from the neighbouring lowlands. Migration in these circumstances can therefore have several forms: displacement, labour migration, household migration, or community resettlement. This chapter explores these different forms of migration, drawing on existing literature on the Himalayan region. It seeks to understand the extent to which environmental stressors and drivers are important to migration in the context of a range of other drivers
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This paper reviews the major environmental and non-environmental drivers of migration in the mountainous regions of the developing world
. Mountains are highly diverse in terms of their physical, socioeconomic and political environments. Mountain environments are highly fragile and their inhabitants are exposed to both environmental and non-environmental stressors, which are interlinked and have serious implications for mountain livelihoods. The combination of multiple agricultural and non-agricultural income sources is a characteristic of mountain people’s livelihood systems. Migration is not a recent phenomenon, but has been a traditional source of non-farm income to varying degrees. This review finds that migration behaviour is influenced by a combination of environmental (floods, flash floods, landslides, droughts and land degradation) and non-environmental (economic, demographic, social and political) drivers. As the decision to migrate or not is ultimately an individual one, it is methodologically challenging to single out any single driver as significant – a fact well reflected in the available literature. The inter-relationship between the dynamics of the factors triggering migration and migration dynamics has been rarely explored. In particular, studies concentrating on migration in the mountainous regions of the developing world are few
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This paper highlights the results of an action research to upgrade mountain collectors of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) like Indian bay leaves (Cinnamomum tamala Nees and Eberm) in Chamoli district of Uttrakhand, India
. Collectors were vulnerable to state regulations that constrained their access to bay leaves in reserve forests and to MAPs markets that were established by the Government in the lowlands. To address these constraints, policy readjustments through three independent but interlinked value chain (VC) upgrading strategies comprising of VC coordination upgrading, horizontal coordination and streamlined marketing were implemented together with stakeholders. Information was collected from focus group discussions with collectors, traders and facilitators in bay leaf VC and a questionnaire was used to collect pre- and post-intervention data (n = 139) to analyse the impact on resource management and household incomes. Findings show horizontal coordination that increased awareness and ownership of collectors led to adoption of improved harvesting and management practices. Streamlined marketing through local auctions reduced collectors' risks and led to a three-fold increase in price at the village, which increased household income. VC coordination strategies enabled piloting a pro-poor VC governance system. Local auctions are a crucial but missing function in the MAPs VC in Uttarakhand that should be incorporated in MAPs marketing polices. The study's findings and approach can be upscaled to other MAPs for benefiting a large number of people and ecosystems in Uttarakhand and beyond and contribute to the debate on green economy in mountains
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A medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) project was implemented in Nepal and parts of India from 2005 to 2009 by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development to enhance the livelihood options and reduce the poverty of poor rural households
. The present study assesses the impact of the project on poverty and livelihood security using quantitative and qualitative data collected in a household survey, focus group discussions, and interviews with key informants. The project improved the skills and knowledge of producers and collectors MAPs in production, management, processing, and marketing, as well as their negotiating power with traders. This helped increase household income and alleviate poverty. However, the project's impact varied across project sites. While an impact was quite visible in Nepal and Chhattisgarh, India, it was less visible in Himachal Pradesh, India. Factors responsible for the different levels of impact are analyzed, and lessons are drawn for future programs and projects. The findings suggest that locally available and commercially valuable natural resources, including MAPs, have the potential to improve the livelihoods of rural mountain people
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Non-timber forest product commercialisation requires information on what and who is involved in markets, but this is rarely documented
. This paper presents the findings of a study to assess the structure and dynamics of markets for bay leaf ( Cinnamomum tamala Nees and Eberm) in Nepal and in Uttarakhand state in India. Data were collected from key informant interviews with stakeholders from the governments of the two countries, research agencies, user groups and traders associations, from focus group discussion involving 100 farmers and district and wholesale level traders, and from stakeholder meeting and interviews with traders using an open-ended questionnaire in the two countries. It was found that of the 2,500 tons of bay leaf traded in Nepal in 2009, 86 % was exported to India. The total size of the bay leaf market in Uttarakhand is estimated at 1,470 tons, with the spice industry as the main consumer. Nepalese bay leaf sustains the demand in Indian markets that were studied. Processing of leaves into essential oil and powder by wholesale traders takes place in Nepal and India respectively, but no regional trade in essential oil was observed. Three quality grades are sold in markets which are not known to the farmers. The bay leaf trade is increasing, creating an opportunity for farmers to engage in its cultivation. There is a need for transferring market information and improving policy implementation to promote transparent and equitable market linkages that enhance benefits to mountain farmers
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Production of high value products and services can help reduce poverty in mountain regions
. Value chains can be used to describe the activities and benefits involved in bringing such a product from the producer to the market, and analysed to identify improvements along the chain which, if addressed, yield the highest positive outcome for small producers, traders, and processors. This publication presents the results of an action research project on value chains of Indian bay leaf that was designed to increase the benefit gained by the collectors of leaves, mainly poor mountain farmers, in selected villages in Uttarakhand, India, and Udayapur, Nepal. The research integrated the three crosscutting themes of poverty, environment, and gender into the value chain analysis and upgrading. Interventions with the mountain stakeholders led to immediate benefits in terms of increased income, enhanced understanding of environmental values, and increased gender equality. Results show that fair and equitable integration of producers/collectors in value chains can enhance food security, promote resilient livelihoods, and reduce the poverty of mountain people.
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Loss of livestock to snow leopards Panthera uncia is one of the primary concerns of subsistence herders’ communities and one of the primary threats to conservation of this endangered species throughout the alpine regions of the central Asia
. Unless the relationship between snow leopards and humans is better understood and appropriate strategies are applied, coexistence may not be sustainable. Thus, to address this issue, WWF Nepal piloted a community-managed livestock insurance scheme in Ghunsa valley of Kangchenjunga Conservation Area simultaneously with various types of mitigation measures (i.e. preventive and curative). We found significant advantages of the insurance scheme including that it is self-sustaining and locally managed thereby ensuring it is economically viable and effective in preventive retaliatory killing of snow leopards. The main strength of the insurance scheme is that it was designed and developed in close co-operation with the affected herders’ communities. The communities start by designing a simple livestock insurance plan whereby owners contribute to a common fund that is later administered and managed at the local level, thus reducing likelihood of fraud. Benefit sharing of funds among subsistence herders’ communities from income generating activities is one of the positive motivating tools for people towards snow leopards. Since initiated, snow leopard killings have gone from 1-3/year to 0/year for 3 years
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