by Snehlata Nath, Keystone Foundation

The meeting was a first of its kind held in a beautiful country. Very little was known to me about this place, other than war. However, war and ethnic conflict seems to be slowly giving way to local enterprise and a sincere effort to “build the nation.” Bosnia and Herzogovina produces many herbs, berries and mushrooms, collected from the temperate wild. Amongst the Balkan countries Romania leads in the trade of these products – used mainly for food, condiments and herbal teas.

The meeting was in the idyllic surroundings of Teslic, a three-hour drive from Sarajevo – where people from about 40 countries came together for discussions. I could however, see very little participation from South and South East Asia, except for a few Indians, one Chinese and one Thai participant. The discussions revolved around the importance of wild collection for communities, its growing market share and trade. The opening plenary session highlighted the report The Overview of Production and Marketing of Organic Wild Products commissioned by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and set the stage for a constructive conference.

Another aspect discussed in a lot of detail was “sustainability” of wild collection. This was also the session in which Mathew, my colleague presented the case of Keystone. There was a felt need to put into place ecologically sound principles for sustainable harvest of these wild products. It was felt that local solutions, using indigenous knowledge and a monitoring protocol in place were important aspects. Discussions centered on the role that standards play in guaranteeing sustainable use, a guarantee both for collectors and consumers.

There was interesting display of local products from Bosnia – mainly made of herbs and a host of information on initiatives from all over the world.