Two Kyrgyz MP members share project experiences
16.07.2014
Two Kyrgyz mountain communities, involved in Mountain Partnership (MP) members'projects, met on 23 June 2014 to exchange experiences and build their respective capacities to harvest mushrooms and grow medicinal plants. Ten members of each group attended the meeting, which covered themes that included which species to plant and gather, when to harvest, in addition to processing technologies, marketplace and legal issues (e.g. permits for collecting natural resources).
Overall, the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) and the Agency for Development Initiative (ADI) found the exchange fruitful. According to Simon Charré, CAREC Project Manager, the meeting will likely be the first step of a long-term voluntary dialogue between these communities, who appeared willing to share with and learn from each other.
The meeting started with each group describing its activities and answering the other group’s questions. The level of interest were high, prompting both groups to discuss the possibility of visiting the other with their own funds, and to organize additional trainings on the two topics discussed.
In the afternoon, participants visited a farm growing mint where specific aspects of the harvesting and processing activities were explained. They then went to a nearby forest to pick mushrooms and share resource-friendly picking techniques.
Since 2011, CAREC has been working in the north of Issyk-Kul Lake, Kyrgyz Republic, on developing a payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme. Amongst several natural resources users groups, the PES scheme integrates a group of mushroom pickers (approximately 400 people), who settle in the forest from June to August. This group, consisting mostly of poor families, was unified in the course of the project into an association of mushroom pickers, giving members more power to defend their rights. However, the economic opportunities of these mushroom pickers are overall low and they do not have many alternative income sources.
ADI has been working for many years with local women groups throughout the Kyrgyz Republic. One of those groups is based in Novovoznesenovka village, east of Issyk-Kul Lake. Members of this specific group grow medicinal herbs while mushroom picking is for them a side and limited activity since they are not aware of picking techniques, processing or existing marketplaces. Building their knowledge is of great interest so they can develop their activities in this field as an additional source of income. Read more
Photo: Simon Charré
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