Eileen McDougall
Tshering* has collected yartsa gunbu, one of the world’s most valuable biological commodities, from the mountains surrounding his home for more than 40 years. He lives in the remote region of Dolpa, in northwest Nepal, where proceeds from yartsa gunbu sales have transformed local living standards over the last few decades. But, according to pickers such as Tshering, yields are drastically declining. Some attribute this to over-picking, while scientists also point to the impact of climate change.
“Before it was abundant, I used to find 10—15 pieces in a square foot,” Tshering explains. He jabs his finger firmly into the ground to indicate the frequency in a small space. “But it’s like any other crop – with potatoes for example, if you don’t keep seeds for the future and eat everything you have, then you won’t get more potatoes,” he goes on. Similar to many other Himalayan communities, locals of Dolpa now ponder when this precious natural resource will come to an end, and how they will cope afterwards.
A Crucial Income for Mountain Communities
Often called Himalayan Gold, yartsa gunbu results from a unique interaction in which fungus spores infect moth larvae living underground in the soil. The infected caterpillar is driven upward, dying just beneath the surface. The fungus, in the form of a brownish stem, sprouts from the shell of the now dead caterpillar, pushing a few centimeters above the soil.
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