Mushrooms in Forests and Woodlands: Resource Management, Values and Local Livelihoods

`Every conservationist and development worker engaged with communities that are dependent on these resources should have this book in their hands.' Alan Hamilton, Originator of the People and Plants Conservation Series

`This book will be a valuable reference for conservation biologists and natural resource managers worldwide on how to integrate the fungal kingdom - including its myriad species, ecosystems functions and income values - into ongoing and future biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource programmes.' Randy Molina, Co-Managing Editor, Mycorrhiza

`Cunningham and Yang have successfully brought together the ethnobiology, trade, ecology and sustainable management of mushrooms to provide us with an integrated approach to understanding the links between mushrooms, local livelihoods and conservation. A fantastic and much-needed resource.' Tamara Ticktin, University of Hawi'i at Manoa

Many mushrooms - or the `fruits of fungi' - are extremely valuable products that are utilized both for their medicinal properties and as food. In many of the world's tropical and temperate forests they are the primary source of income for the people who live there. In southwest China, over 200 species of wild fungi in 64 genera are commercially traded, while in Europe and North America, woodlands and small forests are an essential resource for many small enterprises and collectors of highly-prized mushrooms. Yet the increased demand for timber and rapid expansion of forestry have destroyed the natural habitat of many fungi, unbalancing both forest economics and ecology.

Despite their economic, social and cultural value, there is still a general lack of understanding of the importance of fungi to local livelihoods and forest ecology. This book aims to fill that gap and extends the People and Plants Conservation Series beyond the plant kingdom into the related world of fungi and mushrooms. It demonstrates the crucial roles that fungi play in maintaining forest ecosystems and the livelihoods of rural people throughout the world, providing good practice guidelines for the sustainable management of this resource and an assessment of economic value. It brings together the perspectives of biologists, anthropologists and forest and woodland managers to provide a unique interdisciplinary and international overview of the key issues.

Dr Anthony B. Cunningham works with People and Plants International (PPI), and is a Senior Associate at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia.
Dr Xuefei Yang is the scientific coordinator for the Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning (BEF) Experiment in China, jointly funded by German Research Foundation (DFG) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).