Green Exits from Poverty – The Anatomy of a Sustainable Himalayan Bioeconomy

Narratives of the overexploitation of renewable natural resources are common, often coupled with international demand and the need for poor harvesters to generate an income. The commercial plant silphium was the first recorded species extinction in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago, and there are many current examples – for instance, whale, fish, and timber species – where populations have been reduced to critical levels. But this need not be so. Drawing on empirical data on traded medicinal plants from the Himalayas, this book and advanced doctoral dissertation shows how to achieve positive outcomes: the commercial use of plants, fungi, and lichens can be sustainable and, at the same time, provide a pathway out of poverty for some of the poorest people in the world.