Biodiversity Conservation Network
1. Essential Oils from the Alpine Areas of Humla
Location: Chuwa and Humla
Karnali Watersheds,
Humla District, Nepal
Partners: Appropriate Technology International (ATI)
Asian Network for Small-scale Agricultural Bioresources (ANSAB)
The Humla Conservation and Development Association (HCDA)Project Title: Integrated Community Based Ecosystem for Humla, Nepal through Local Enterprise Development
BCN Funding: $549,995 Partner Contribution: $143,252
Grant Period: January 15, 1995 - January 14, 1998
Project Overview
The Humla region of northwestern Nepal lies between two distinct botanical regions, the Western and Eastern Himalayas. This location, and the area's relative isolation, create a region of high floral diversity, including many valuable medicinal and aromatic or essential oil bearing plants. This complex ecosystem is threatened by overharvesting of these plants caused by increasing national and international demand for products from them, over grazing, and fuel wood and fodder collection.
To counter these threats, project partners and local people have established an enterprise based on producing essential oils such as jatamansi which is used by perfume and cosmetic manufacturers. Local people harvest the jatamansi root from nearby alpine meadows using sustainable techniques, process it into oil on-site, and operate and maintain the processing equipment. By selling a processed product, enterprise participants are receiving more money than they did by selling plants in raw, bulk form. The project partners are hoping this additional income will reduce the amount of raw plants local people sell to outside traders and provide incentives to maintain the supply of plants in the future. In addition, partners will be working with villagers so that they gain more control over the resources that they collect from government-owned lands.
This project has the potential to broaden the Humla District Forest Office's acceptance of community-based management of local natural resources. Although practiced in many parts of Nepal, this approach to forestry management had not yet been implemented in Humla prior to the start of the project. As a result of project efforts to develop two community forests, the Forest Office has, however, moved these two and twelve others through the designation system. The project also places a strong emphasis on working with women's groups, and on establishing mechanisms to allow communities to keep larger portions of the taxes levied on non-timber forest products.
1996 Accomplishments
This year two distillation units (Rodikot and Kurilla) were up and running in Humla, distilling oils from three NTFPs - Jatamansi, Juniper, and Sagunawaal. Technical issues have been largely solved, enterprise workers are comfortable with distillation operations, and community members are realizing the benefits of value added processing and the importance of sustainable harvesting of NTFPs.
Sales of oil have also picked up after initial problems in locating quality buyers. As of August, Humla Oil Pvt. Ltd. had sold its entire stock of oil from the preceding year, 235 kg of jatamansi oil generating $22,300 in sales Humla Oil Pvt. Ltd. also negotiated its first distributor agreement with Phoenix Aromas & Essential Oils of New York. Phoenix is a distributor of essential oils in the United States with over 25 years experience in the industry. A relationship with Phoenix was initiated in May and has resulted in the signing of a two-year exclusive distribution agreement giving Phoenix the right to represent Humla Oil's products in the United States. The tie up with Phoenix is expected to place Humla Oil's products in higher value markets. Phoenix is shouldering the costs of product promotion including industry mailings and advertising.
Finally, implementation of the biodiversity monitoring system is underway. The project will collect the biological baseline information from September to November, 1996. Baseline information for socioeconomic monitoring has been collected using a sample household survey.
Success Stories
While it is much too early to make "biodiversity conservation conclusions," anecdotal information is encouraging. For example, villagers have stopped burning some of the pastures so as not to disturb growth of NTFPs and collectors are eager to get information on what is a sustainable harvesting level from the test plot experiments.
Furthermore, communities in the project area are actively participating in the process of handing over community forest and pasture land from the government to community groups. In Nepal, this transition represents the greatest degree of local control that can be awarded over areas formally belonging to the Government. In Humla, the land being handed over constitutes virtually all of the areas where NTFPs are collected and thus represents an unprecedented advance for local communities' ability to gain control over their natural resource base. Community members are working closely with HCDA and ANSAB to develop group constitutions and management plans that are needed for the formal awarding process to proceed. Two hand overs have taken place so far this year, with three more expected before the close of 1996.
Challenges
Accessing Indian buyers (the largest market for jatamansi oil) and negotiating sales continues to be problematic for Humla Oil Pvt. Ltd., a newly established company without the long standing trade links that Indian buyers rely upon. Humla Oil wasted valuable time the first year trying to negotiate a brokering agreement with an Indian firm. This fell through when they were not willing to promote Jatamansi oil at a reasonable floor price. To date, a suitable partner to act as distributor for Humla Oil in India has not been identified. This was originally thought to be the best way to enter the Indian market as Humla Oil's understanding of Indian products and markets is limited.
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