How a Himalayan Herb Is Protecting Snow Leopards and Local Incomes
Affiliate Disclosure
Hey fellow impactful ninja ?
You may have noticed that Impactful Ninja is all about providing helpful information to make a positive impact on the world and society. And that we love to link back to where we found all the information for each of our posts.
Most of these links are informational-based for you to check out their primary sources with one click.
But some of these links are so-called "affiliate links" to products that we recommend.
Why do we add these product links?
First and foremost, because we believe that they add value to you. For example, when we wrote a post about the environmental impact of long showers, we came across an EPA recommendation to use WaterSense showerheads. So we linked to where you can find them. Or, for many of our posts, we also link to our favorite books on that topic so that you can get a much more holistic overview than one single blog post could provide.
And when there is an affiliate program for these products, we sign up for it. For example, as Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.
What do these affiliate links mean for you?
First, and most importantly, we still only recommend products that we believe add value for you.
When you buy something through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a small commission - but at no additional costs to you.
And when you buy something through a link that is not an affiliate link, we won’t receive any commission but we’ll still be happy to have helped you.
What do these affiliate links mean for us?
When we find products that we believe add value to you and the seller has an affiliate program, we sign up for it.
When you buy something through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a small commission (at no extra costs to you).
And at this point in time, all money is reinvested in sharing the most helpful content with you. This includes all operating costs for running this site and the content creation itself.
What does this mean for me personally?
You may have noticed by the way Impactful Ninja is operated that money is not the driving factor behind it. It is a passion project of mine and I love to share helpful information with you to make a positive impact on the world and society. However, it's a project in that I invest a lot of time and also quite some money.
Eventually, my dream is to one day turn this passion project into my full-time job and provide even more helpful information. But that's still a long time to go.
Stay impactful,
At Impactful Ninja, we curate positive and impactful news for you. Add Impactful Ninja as a preferred source on Google or sign up for our free newsletter to get these delivered straight to your inbox—just like our expert roundup below!
📰 The quick summary: Farmers in Nepal’s remote Phu Valley have begun cultivating jimbu, an aromatic Himalayan herb used in the country’s iconic dal bhat dish, offering communities a new source of income while also helping protect endangered snow leopards.
📈 One key stat: Three annual harvests of jimbu across 37 households could generate around $79,500 in total, roughly $2,150 per household in communities where potato farming offers little cash income.
💬 One key quote: “To protect snow leopards, we must protect the farmers’ wallets,” said Shailendra Thakali, principal investigator of the Phu pilot project.
1️⃣ The big picture: In Nepal’s high-altitude Phu Valley, 37 households have joined a pilot project to farm jimbu, a pungent Himalayan herb that gives the beloved Nepali dish dal bhat its distinctive flavor. Until recently, locals foraged this herb from steep and dangerous slopes, selling whatever they did not use themselves. Since 2022, the Narpa Bhumi Rural Municipality has partnered with Mountain Spirit, a Nepal-based NGO, to cultivate jimbu on abandoned farmland with support from the UK’s Darwin Initiative and the Snow Leopard Conservancy. Beyond generating income, jimbu’s strong aroma deters blue sheep from raiding crops, and since blue sheep are the primary prey of snow leopards, fewer blue sheep near human settlements may reduce snow leopard visits and the livestock predation that often triggers deadly retaliation against the endangered cats.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: Farming jimbu gives remote Himalayan communities a reliable and scalable source of income, reducing their dependence on risky wild foraging or low-yield potato crops. Each household involved in the project stands to earn around $2,150 per season, a significant sum in these isolated villages. The herb’s pungent scent naturally deters blue sheep from crops, creating a passive buffer that keeps snow leopards farther from livestock and lowers the risk of retaliatory killings that threaten the species’ long-term survival. This community-led model shows that local livelihoods and wildlife conservation can reinforce each other rather than compete, offering a hopeful template for human-wildlife coexistence. Growing demand for authentic Thakali dal bhat in restaurants, combined with jimbu’s newly documented antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, also points to a strong and expanding market for this Indigenous herb.
3️⃣ What’s next: Farmers now need to build a reliable market chain, tackle quality control, and secure fair pricing to fully benefit from jimbu cultivation. Improving branding and packaging, as well as solving logistical challenges like transporting irrigation equipment to a settlement at 4,000 meters, remain priorities. Experts stress that while the Phu model is promising, any expansion to other snow leopard habitats must account for site-specific conservation needs rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
Read the full story here: Mongabay – What’s jimbu? The herb that bolsters an iconic Nepali dish could also help save snow leopards
