Contracting the commons [electronic resource] : socioecological dynamics of wild mushroom harvesting in Yunnan, China
Keywords: Anthropology.

This dissertation examines social norms and resource access across community based resource management systems in Southwestern China. Since the mid-1980s, wild mushrooms have been harvested commercially in this region, yet remain unregulated by the central government. In response to mush- room commodification and lack of formal government regulation, mushroom harvesting communities have developed diverse local management practices aimed to reduce conflicts over and increase benefits acquired from mushroom resources. Here I document a suite of mushroom management arrangements in communities across Yunnan province, along with a detailed case study within a focal community to assess the diversity and local impacts of these practices. This dissertation examines issues of access, social norms, and effective resource management practices across three units of analysis: 1) resource users; 2) households within mushroom-harvesting communities; and, 3) across forested communities in Yunnan. First, I assess if observed mushroom harvester distribution across forest parcels of varying mushroom yields or quality conform to predictions of the Ideal Free Distribution (IFD), an ecological model of optimal habitat distribution with patchy resources. Second, at the community level, I examine seasonal mushroom harvesting participation rates in a self-organized community-managed wild mushroom harvesting system. Then, at the regional level, I examine the diversity of village-level forest resource management practices across Yunnan. Over 18 months of fieldwork was conducted from 2012-2016. The focal community, Baihua village, is a predominantly Yi ethnicity community in Chuxiong prefecture, Yunnan. In 2014, the population was 376 individuals within 75 households. In Baihua, I conducted 71 initial household surveys in 2014, with 69 follow-up interviews in 2015. These interviews involved questions about the demographic, economic, and social network characteristics of households, as well as their mushroom harvesting experiences and practices. A mix of qualitative and quantitative methods are used throughout that include: participatory mapping of the borders of all forestlands, observations of the annual mushroom auction process, and participation in mushroom harvesting bouts. In addition, I compiled a 31 village comparative dataset based on a literature review of 16 case studies as well as interviews within 15 mushroom harvesting communities across Yunnan. This study employs a distinctive conceptual re-framing of CBNRM assessments. The predominant resource management assessments evaluate the efficacy of resource management practices by their persistence or ecological sustainability. In contrast, I focus on assessing the distribution of resources across diverse actors within a resource management system. Using this conceptual framework, I find that definitions of resource access and participation differ across management contexts. Equitable access does not necessarily require continual resource harvesting by all community members at all times. For example, choosing not to harvest a resource and receive a monetary payment instead may be an effective and profitable strategy for certain households. In addition, flexible institutions and participation in resource extraction activities may allow households to differentially access resources over time based on their households current economic situation and demographic composition. Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical background and outline of the dissertation. Chapter 2 discusses the primary case study site and methods. These chapters introduce the focal study community of Baihua. Since 2000, this community has managed access to 513 ha of mushroom producing forest through an annual forest auction. Each year, before the onset of the mushroom season, 33 named forest parcels are auctioned to the highest bidders. Money collected from this collective auction is then redistributed evenly across all community members. Each year, 39 to 44 households were observed to place successful bids during the auction and then harvest mushrooms. As a result of this auction system, all community members receive some monetary benefits from local mushroom resources each year even if they do not participate directly in mushroom harvesting. Chapters 3 and 4 examine resource management norms and access within Baihua. Chapter 3 assesses if the distribution of mushroom harvesters across available forest parcels conforms with the predictions of an Ideal Free Distribution (IFD). Under an IFD, the number of individuals per parcel is expected to linearly increase as the quality of a parcel increases. I find that the distribution of mushroom harvesters across available forest parcels conforms with the Ideal Free Distributions predictions. This finding holds when either parcel price or mushroom-producing forest area are used as measures of parcel quality. Parcel price offers a stronger prediction of the number of harvesters per parcel than forest area. These findings suggest resource access among active mushroom harvesters in Baihua is both equitable and efficient. Chapter 4 assesses resource access across households in Baihua, both harvesters and non-harvesters. Each season, households decide if they will participate in mushroom harvesting. From 2011-2016, between ∼43% to 55% of all community households participated in mushroom harvesting during any given year. However, cumulatively ∼84% of households participated in mushroom harvesting over this period. Neither harvesting nor non-harvesting are reliably profitable strategies each year, but rather are affected by market fluctuations and variable mushroom productivity. Local perception corresponds with this finding, and may influence households' frequent alternation between harvester and non-harvester status from year to year. Chapter 5 expands the detailed case study in Baihua by documenting mushroom management practices in 31 village communities across Yunnan as well as non-timber forest product management practices in 11 communities within Chuxiong prefecture. These sites contain multiple user types, resource ecologies, and political boundaries. Communities adaptively respond to these local conditions to engage in multi-layer and multi-scale resource management. In addition, many communities maintain resources in quasi-public, quasi-private states that may also change seasonally. Village-level non-timber forest product management practices in Yunnan differ across resource types, resource users, and forest administrative categories. Frameworks for institutional analysis may be enhanced by considering how management practices and outcomes vary along these three dimensions. In addition, longitudinal analysis and ecological habitat distribution models allow resource access to be assessed along both temporal and spatial scales. This approach may be productively applied to analyze the effectiveness and outcomes of other community-based resource management practices.