Emergency grant : Supporting the remote village of Pungmo (Nepal) to restore its earthquake-damaged Amchi clinic and strengthen itself to conserve the local environment.

Amchi is an ancient medical tradition that makes use of herbal medicine and is strongly related to religious beliefs (i.e. Bon and Buddhism), community rituals and the practice of art and astrology. The Amchi clinic of the remote Pungmo village (Dolpa district, Dolpo region of Nepal) was damaged by the earthquake that devastated Nepal in April 2015. Immediate repair work was carried out by the local people and the PKF Foundation has later agreed to support a process by which they will finalize their work and fully reconstruct and refurbish the clinic. As part of that, the community will meet before, during and after the common work – expected to take place in the Spring and early Summer of 2016— to discuss issues related to the use and collection of local medicinal substances, including the all-precious yarcha (yarchagunbhu), for which collectors come every year from all over Nepal. Yarcha collection has become a major threat to the people and environment of the Pungmo and this small emergency grant will support the community to strengthen its organization to control the land and natural resources. The Community Conservation and Development Center (CCDC) of Pungmo will be in charge of this initiative. CCDC, whose members include all the residents of the village, is part of the ICCA Network Nepal, which started to work with a grant of the PKF Foundation in 2013.

Here is a beautiful photostory developed by the Pungmo villagers shortly before the earthquake :