A. Species
Scientific name: Armillaria mellea
Common name(s): Honey Fungus
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status:
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Romania
Country/Region:
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Sub-national / Sub-region / Sub-State
Name/Details of location: Făgăraș mountains
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 2009
End Year: 2025
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Gathering/Cutting/Collecting terrestrial plants and fungi or their products from the wild
Lethal or non-lethal: Non-Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: Only parts or products of the organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed
Motivation of use: Income generation from trade (individual/household/community)
Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal under national law
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: Project Reporting
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The use is non-lethal and seasonally extractive. It is an ongoing project, and has been running for a prolonged period of time, suggesting that populations remain stable.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: Project Reporting
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: "In the Făgăraș mountains, Foundation Conservation Carpathia have developed a community of producers who harvest, process, and sell a range of local/traditional products via a local food hub (Roadele Munților). Ten nature-based businesses had been established by 2020, providing jobs (some seasonal) for over 50 people and creating annual gross revenues of two million euros. One of these nature-based businesses is a food hub, with local producers selling products from processing of wild harvested berries, fruits and vegetables. The food hub represents an additional sales channel for these small businesses, with producers selling around 10-30% of their products through this avenue. So far, Foundation Conservation Carpathia has focused on improving the economic dimension of sustainability by supporting access to markets for harvesters. FCC works with small businesses within their network of local producers to help them access larger markets and also to provide technical assistance and support in business development. FCC have set up a sales platform to enable direct sale of their branded food products on a national scale, as well as working with a large online retailer in Romania to sell products. The food hub has also become one of the main food suppliers for their eco-tourism programme Travel Carpathia. Currently, FCC has 25 local producers that are authorised for business-tobusiness sale, with 50 branded products listed for sale online, and 200 products overall. FCC covers the operational costs of the food hub, which helps to enable producers to profit."
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
Record source
Information about the record source: grey_lit
Date of publication/issue/production: 2025-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2025-07-11