Globalised forest-products: commodification of the matsutake mushroom in Tibetan villages, Yunnan, Southwest China

Small Mushrooms for Big Business? Gaps in the Sustainable Management of Non-Timber Forest Products in Southwest China

“…Of the recorded 2000 species of edible mushroom worldwide, 938 grow in China and more than 850 in Yunnan [25], including a number of endemic and economically valuable species such as Tricholoma matsutake, Tuber sinense, Ophiocordyceps sinensis, Morchella conica, Lactarius delciosus, Lentinus edodes, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Thelephora ganbajun. This diversity and abundance of wild mushrooms contributes significantly to local economic and household livelihood development [6,26,27].…”

“…Concomitantly, an increase in market-oriented development and market liberalization has enabled remote communities to integrate with the global market, providing numerous market opportunities for poor rural households [2]. In the past two decades, therefore, commercial non-timber forest products (NTPFs) have become the focus of alternative forest use [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Many empirical studies have shown that these so-called "minor" forest products play a significant role in both the maintenance of forests and local economic development [2,[10][11][12][13].…”

“…From the ecological perspective, species distribution, human intervention, and particularly harvesting techniques can impact on the distribution of certain species [18,19]; socioeconomic studies highlight how commercial mushroom production can create unequal benefit-sharing within global trading networks [6,20,21] and lack of sustainability related to certification and resource tenure [19,22]. However, there has been no systematic analysis of commercial mushroom production.…”

Community-based management of Tricholoma matsutake (S. Ito and S. Imai) Singer: a case study of South Korean mountain villages

“…Yeh (2000), Arora (2008), Yang et al (2009) have documented case studies of CBM of matsutake in Yunnan province, China. Matsutake commercialisation is relatively new in China having begun in earnest in 1986 (He 2010). Some villages, however, began experimenting with locally devised guidelines governing the harvesting of matsutake within a decade of commercialisation (Arora 2008).…”

Community-based management of Tricholoma matsutake (S. Ito and S. Imai) Singer: a case study of South Korean mountain villages

“…The commercialisation of the matsutake mushroom provides significant economic benefits to rural communities, mainly in China, Japan and South Korea (He 2010;Faier 2011;van Gevelt 2013). Recently, a growing body of research focusing on China's Yunnan province has raised questions concerning the effects of commercialisation on harvesting behaviour and matsutake supply (e.g.…”