From: ir@ene.nu   
      
   On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 23:17:29 -0800, mushroomgroup@mushroomgroup.nym   
   wrote:   
      
   >Matsutake exports help indigenous communities in Mexico   
      
   This is an encouraging story!   
   Let's just hope they can keep their rights to preserve the forests,   
   and set an example for others to do something similar.   
      
   Irene Andersson (usually not top-posting...)   
      
   >CAPLALPAM DE MENDEZ, MEXICO, Aug. 14 KYODO   
   >     After ten years of exporting matsutake mushrooms to Japan, the indigenous   
   >Zapotec and Chinantec communities in Mexico's state of Oaxaca are convinced   
   that   
   >these fancy mushrooms have helped them maintain the sustainable development of   
   >their communities and forests.   
   >     Since the 1960s, multinational corporations have been buying logging   
   rights   
   >in the Sierra Norte region in the state, which is about 500 kilometers from   
   the   
   >capital, and as a consequence, the area has suffered from widespread   
   >deforestation.   
   >     The local people also had to toil for these big firms for little pay.   
   >     ''We had no rights to make a decision about our own forest, and were very   
   >sad to see it destroyed'' said Javier Cosmes, the president of the Union of   
   >Zapotecs and Chinantecs.   
   >     In 1991, indigenous people in four communities in the region refused to   
   >lease their forest, and they formed a union to protect their rights and seek   
   >better use of the land.   
   >     Sierra Norte has beautiful pine-covered mountains, which produce many   
   kinds   
   >of fresh mushrooms. The locals did not even know that matsutake -- a sought   
   >after delicacy in Japan -- could be commercialized.   
   >     They were surprised when a Japanese company visited their communities in   
   >1994 to look into whether the strangely flavored mushroom could be exported to   
   >the Japanese market.   
   >     Lilia Perez, who is in charge of nontimber forest products for the union,   
   >explained that the prized mushroom brought several benefits to the   
   communities.   
   >Above all ''it showed an alternative way to exploit the forest,'' she said.   
   >     But initially things did not go so well. ''When people found matsutake   
   >could make money, everyone wanted to go pick them,'' and damaged the   
   >environment, according to Perez.   
   >     The union therefore now carefully regulates harvesting the mushrooms.   
   >     The growing season spans from June to December. But harvesting is only   
   >allowed to take place from July to August. Mushrooms can only be gathered   
   every   
   >three days, and only certain quantities can be picked.   
   >     And anyone who wants to harvest the mushrooms must receive training by   
   >conservation experts about how to preserve the forest.   
   >     The matsutake industry is not only contributing to the sustainable   
   >development of their forest, but also to the economy of indigenous people.   
   >     ''With this job, I can afford to send my sons to go to school,'' said   
   >Marcelino Gomez, a 32-year-old father of six sons, who has 11 years of   
   >experience.   
   >     He makes 800 pesos to 1,000 pesos (about $75-$94) per week, which is more   
   >than double the amount he earns the rest of year working as a plasterer.   
   >     According to Cosmes, the work has been an important source of income for   
   >women who are widowed or whose husbands cannot work.   
   >     ''The matsutake industry is helping us to protect the right of indigenous   
   >people,'' Cosmes said.   
   >     The pickers work from around 5:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and collect an   
   >average of 1.5 kilograms of Matsutake per day.   
   >     The sell the mushrooms from around $7.5 to $33, depending on their   
   quality.   
   >     Each collector has to give 20 percent of their earnings back to their   
   >communities, which in turn pay a monthly fee to the union to help maintain the   
   >conservation system.   
   >     Habacuc Lopez, 29, who has eight years of experience, said he goes to the   
   >forest because he really enjoys to ''be in the nature.'' Caring for the forest   
   >is something that can ''benefit all of us,'' he said.   
   >     According to Kenichi Abe, an associate professor of the Japan Center for   
   >Area Studies at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, who has studied the   
   >relationship between the matsutake industry and local communities, the   
   matsutake   
   >boom in China in the 1990s spawned conflicts between communities and   
   >consequently damaged the environment.   
   >     ''But this is a successful example of the sustainable development of the   
   >communities,'' he said.   
   >==Kyodo   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)