COMMUNITY IN CONSERVATION

COMMUNITY IN CONSERVATION

LATIN AMERICA

AGRICULTURE FOREST IRRIGATION WATERSHED

AGRICULTURE

Alcorn, J (1981). “Huastec noncrop resource management: implications for prehistorical rainforest management.” Human Ecology 9: 395-417.

Alcorn, JB (1985). “Development policy, forests, and peasant farmers: reflections on Huastec-managed forests' contributions to commercial production and resource conservation.” Economic Botany 38: 389-406.

Ashby, JA (1985). “The social ecology of soil erosion in a Colombian farming system.” Rural Sociology 50(3): 377-396.

New interest in environmental factors in the sociology of agriculture has stimulated the development of a "social ecology" perspective. This is applied to soil resource degradation & the implementation of soil conservation policy in a Colombian farming system. Analysis of data from interviews with 102 farmers illustrates two important themes in social ecology: how interaction between biophysical & social parameters in agriculture structures farmers' use of natural resources, & the interpretation of natural resources in terms of how farmers perceive them. Analysis of the political economy of the farming system shows how biophysical & institutional factors create incentives for farmers to use destructive soil management practices, which are reflected in norms & values of land use in the farm community, & farm types or adaptive strategies for coping with this environment. It is concluded that a socioecological perspective focuses analysis on institutional factors that cause soil erosion. (Copyright 1986, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved)

Bebbington, A (1989). Institutional options and multiple sources of agricultural innovation: evidence from an Ecuadorean case study. London, Agricultural Administration Unit Overseas Development Institute.

Bebbington, A (1996). Movements, modernizations, and markets: indigenous organizations and agrarian strategies in Ecuador. in Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements. R Peet and M Watts, Ed. London, Routledge.

Bebbington, A (1997). “Social capital and rural intensification: local organizations and islands of sustainability in the rural Andes.” The Geographical Journal 163: 189-197.

Part of a special section on environmental transformations in developing countries that contains papers presented at a conference convened by the Environment and Developing Areas Research Groups of the Institute of British Geographers at the Royal Geographical Society on October 16, 1996. The writer considers the deconstruction of environmental orthodoxies and histories and the role of civil society actors in environmental transformations. He discusses the diversity of trends in environmental and socioeconomic change observed in six localities in the Ecuadorean and Bolivian Andes and reflects on the roles that civil society actors, particularly native organizations, can perform in intensifying agriculture, livelihoods, and resource use. In doing so, he aims to draw attention both to local diversity and to regional pattern in Andean transformations. (Author)

Coomes, O and G Burt (1997). “Indigenous market-oriented agroforestry: dissecting local diversity in western Amazonia.” Agroforestry Systems 37(1): 27-44.

This paper reports on a study of local diversity and variation in indigenous agroforestry practices mong Amazonian peasants in a traditional community near Iquitos, Peru. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with agroforestry-reliant households (n = 36) on farming practices, demographic characteristics, income-expenditures and household wealth. Visits to crop fields and forest fallows (n = 329) allowed the reconstruction of extensive cropping histories. More in-depth assessments of crop occurrence, density and diversity were conducted on 83 fields. Our results indicate considerable variation in field characteristics, agroforestry-cycles, and

household agroforestry portfolios. Agroforestry practice is found to be strongly related to access to land within the community: households holding more land use both potentially more sustainable and more lucrative swidden-fallow agroforestry systems. Our results question the view of indigenous agroforestry systems as intrinsically 'stable, equitable, and sustainable', and underscore the

importance of studying local variation in indigenous agroforestry practices. Promising avenues are discussed for future research on the factors related to the successful adoption of sustainable agroforestry systems. (SSCI)

Denevan, W and C Padoch (1988). “Swidden fallow agroforestry in the Peruvian Amazon.” Advances in Economic Botany 5: 1-107.

Hammond, DS, PM Dolman, et al. (1995). “Modern Ticuna swidden-fallow management in the Colombian Amazon: Ecologically integrating market strategies and subsistence-driven economies?” Human Ecology 23(3): 335-356.

The past failure of large-scale, rural development in Amazonia has emphasized the value of small-scale, swidden-fallow management practices. The management strategies used by indigenous cultivators are well-documented, but few studies have examined how absorption by market-based economies may affect the economic and ecological stability of the agricultural system. In this study, we provide a detailed account of swidden-fallow management as it is practiced at Las Palmeras, Amazonas, Colombia; moreover, we assessed the effect of a shift from subsistence to market-directed production. A total of 68 species were selectively managed in the swidden/fallow system. Seventy-seven percent of species at the site were managed for subsistence only, 22% were managed with a view to selling surplus at market. Only one species,Cedrela odorata, was managed solely for market production. A shift from subsistence-based to market-directed production may lower the ecological and economic stability of the system at Las Palmeras. Nonperishable production strategies, such as for timber production, appear to provide the most secure approach coward market integration. (Journal)

Henrich, J (1997). “Market incorporation, agricultural change, and sustainability among the Machiguenga Indians of the Peruvian Amazon.” Human Ecology 25 June: 319-351.

By marshaling empirical data from five Machiguenga communities studied over 20 years, this paper disputes two common assumptions about the behavior of indigenous peoples in the face of increasing commercialization. First, many Amazonian researchers suggest that the social and ecological deterioration confronting native populations results from externally imposed political, legal and market structures that compel local groups to pursue short term, unstable economic strategies. Second, these structural explanations are combined with the increasing recognition that indigenous peoples possess a substantial agroecological knowledge to suggest that, if indigenous people receive control of adequate land and resources, they will implement their traditional knowledge in conservative resource management practices. In contrast to these assumptions, this analysis shows that the Machiguenga are not compelled by external forces (such as land tenure, migration policies or economic trends), but instead are active enthusiastic participants seeking to engage the market in order to acquire western goods. Further, despite highly adaptive traditional subsistence patterns and a vast agroecological knowledge, households and communities facing increasing degrees of market integration are progressively altering their traditional cropping strategies, planting practices, labor allocation and land use patterns toward a greater emphasis on commodity crop production and domesticated animal breeding. This increasing concentration on income generating activities subverts the environmentally friendly nature of traditional productive practices and creates a socially, economically, and ecologically unsustainable system. (Author)

Huizer, G (1964). “Community development and land reform: preliminary observations on some cases in Latin America.” Mens en Maatschappij 39(5): 335-344.

Immink, MDC and JA Alarcon (1993). “Household income, food availability, and commercial crop production by smallholder farmers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 41(2): 319-342.

Lundberg, M (1996). “Ethnic minorities and the state: conflicting interests between shifting cultivators and the governments in Peru and Vietnam.” Research Report EPOS Environmental Policy and Society Linkoping University, Sweden 7(41).

The study describes some of the conflicting interests between shifting cultivators and the governments of two countries, Vietnam and Peru. It is argued that the governments of Peru and Vietnam view traditional shifting cultivation and ethnic minorities as a hindrance to development rather than a resource for learning how to exploit the local environment in a sustainable way. However the traditional shifting cultivators have a deep knowledge of the local environment and as a result their agriculture is more sustainable than non-traditional shifting cultivators' agriculture. (SSCI)

McNeill, JR (1986). “Agriculture, forests and ecological history: Brazil 1500-1984.” Environmental Review Summer: 123-133.

Padoch, C, J Chota, et al. (1985). “Amazonian agroforestry: a market oriented system in Peru.” Agroforestry Systems 3(1): 47.

Padoch, C and WD Jong (1989). Production and profits in agroforestry: an example from the Peruvian Amazon. in Fragile Lands of Latin America. J Browder, Ed. Boulder, Westview Press: 102-113.

Staver, C (1989). “Why farmers rotate fields in maize cassava plantain bush fallow agriculture in the wet Peruvian Amazon.” Human Ecology 17(4): 401-426.

Toniolo, A and C Uhl (1995). “Economic and ecological perspectives on agriculture in the eastern Amazon.” World Development 23(6): 959-973.

Treacy, J (1982). “Bora Indian agroforestry: an alternative to deforestation.” Cultural Survival Quarterly 6(2): 15-16.

Wheeler, JC and D Hoces R. (1997). “Community participation, sustainable use, and vicuna conservation in Peru.” Mountain Research and Development 17(3): 283-287.

Winklerprins, AMGA (1997). “Land use decision making using local soil knowledge on the lower Amazon floodplain.” The Geographical Review 87(1): 105-108.

The writer presents field notes gathered for her doctoral research on the land use decision making of peasants on the lower Amazon floodplain, focusing on local soil knowledge as an entree into farmers' decision making. Drawing on a political ecological framework to carry out qualitative research in 1995 and 1996, she discovered that locals opted to limit the application of particular soil knowledge and management strategies that could increase agricultural production because of their need to minimize environmental and economic risk. She suggests that the logic behind the locals' risk management is of interest to anyone studying sustainable land management and especially to those who would like to see a more intense agricultural use of the Amazon floodplain. Details of her research and her findings are provided. (Source)

Zimmerer, K (1996). Discourses on soil loss in Bolivia: Sustainability and the search for socioenvironmental 'middle ground'. in Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements. R Peet and M Watts, Ed. London, Routledge.

Zimmerer, K (1998). “The ecogeography of Andean potatoes.” BioScience 48(6): 445-454.

FOREST:

Aagesen, D (1998). “On the Northern fringe of the South American temperate forest : the history and conservation of the monkey-puzzle tree.” Environmental History 3(1): 64-85.

Alcorn, J (1981). “Huastec noncrop resource management: implications for prehistorical rainforest management.” Human Ecology 9: 395-417.

Allegretti, MH (1990). Extractive reserves: an alternative for reconciling development and environmental conservation in Amazonia. in Alternatives to Deforestation: Steps Toward Sustainable Use of the Amazon. AB Anderson, Ed. New York, Columbia University Press: 252-264.

Allegretti, MH (1992). Reconciling people and land: the prospects for sustainable extraction in the Amazon. in Development or Destruction? The Conversion of Tropical Forest to Pasture in Latin America. TE Downing, S Hecht, HA Pierson and G Garcia-Downing, Ed. Boulder, Westview Press: 249-254.

Anaya, SJ and ST Crider (1996). “Indigenous peoples, the environment, and commercial forestry in developing countries: the case of Awas Tingni, Nicaragua.” Human Rights Quarterly 18: 345-367.

The writer discusses the trilateral agreement that the Community of Awas Tingni, which is indigenous Sumo, or Mayagna, signed on May 15, 1994, with a foreign owned timber company and the government of Nicaragua. The agreement, negotiated under the supervision of a major international environmental organization, is an attempt at a new model of forestry development that is economically beneficial, environmentally sound, and respectful of the rights of indigenous peoples. However, the negotiated agreement was very difficult to achieve, and its faithful implementation is not guaranteed. This case lies at the intersection of diverse interests and categories that find a theoretical basis for convergence in the concept of sustainable development and demonstrates both the potential applications and limitations of this theoretical convergence. The writer assesses the case and presents some recommendations. (Author)

Anderson, A (1992). Land-use strategies for successful extractive economies in Amazonia. in Non-timber Products From Tropical Forests: Evaluation of a Conservation and Development Strategy. D Nepstad and S Schwartzmann, Ed. New York, Institute for Economic Botany.

Anderson, A and E Ioris (1992). “Valuing the rain-forest: economic strategies by small-scale forest extractivists in the Amazon estuary.” Human Ecology 20(3): 337-369.

The current interest in non-timber forest products as an economic option for the Brazilian Amazon represents a radical departure from the policies that have guided development in the region during recent decades. Despite this interest, little is currently known about the forms of resource management or economic strategies practiced by populations dependent on such resources. In this study, we measured the annual income and expenditures often households on Combu Island, located in the Amazon estuary near the major port city of Belem; in addition, we documented local uses and management of natural resources on the island Average annual income per household was found to be over U. S. $4000, derived primarily from the harvest and sale of non-timber forest products. The results of this study show that the combination of proximity to a major market and appropriate resource management can lead to high and apparently sustainable economic returns. (Journal)

Anderson, AB, Ed. (1990). Alternatives to Deforestation: Steps Toward Sustainable Use of the Amazon. New York, Columbia University Press.

Anderson, AB and EM Ioris (1992). The logic of extraction: resource management and income generation by extractive producers in the Amazon estuary. in Conservation of Neotropical Forests. J Redford and C Padoch, Ed. New York, Columbia University Press.

Balee, W (1992). People of the fallow: a historical ecology of foraging in lowland South America. in Conservation of Neotropical Forests. K Redford and C Padoch, Ed. New York, Columbia University Press: 35-57.

Balee, W (1994). Footprints in the Forest: Ka'apor Ethnobotany -- The Historical Ecology of Plant Utilization by and Amazonian People. New York, Columbia University Press.

Bodmer, RE, TG Fang, et al. (1990). “Correspondence: Fruits of the forest.” Nature 343(6254): 109.

Browder, JO (1992). Extractive reserves and the future of the Amazon's rainforests: some cautionary observations. in The Rainforest Harvest. S Counsell and T Rice, Ed. London, Friends of the Earth Trust.

Browder, JO (1992). “The limits of extractivism: tropical forest strategies beyond extractive reserves.” BioScience 42( 3): 174-182.

Browder, JO (1992). Social and economic constraints on the development of market oriented extractive reserves in Amazon rain forests. in Non-timber Products From Tropical Forests: Evaluation of a Conservation and Development Strategy. D Nepstad and S Schwartzmann, Ed. New York, Institute for Economic Botany. 9: 33-42.

Butler, JR (1992). Non-timber forest product extraction in Amazonia: lessons from development organizations. in Non-timber Products From Tropical Forests: Evaluation of a Conservation and Development Strategy. D Nepstad and S Schwartzmann, Ed. New York, Institute for Economic Botany. 9: 87-100.

Carneiro, RL (1988). Indians of the Amazonian forest. in People of the Tropical Rain Forest. J Denslow and C Padoch, Ed. Berkeley, University of California Press: 73-86.

Clay, J (1992). Buying in the forests. in Conservation of Neotropical Forests. J Redford and C Padoch, Ed. New York, Columbia University Press.

Coomes, OT (1995). “A century of rain forest use in western Amazonia.” Forest and Conservation History 39(3): 108-120.

Denevan, W and C Padoch (1988). “Swidden fallow agroforestry in the Peruvian Amazon.” Advances in Economic Botany 5: 1-107.

Donovan, R (1994). BOSCOSA: Forest conservation and management through local institutions. in Natural Connections: Perspectives in Community-based Conservation. D Western and RM Wright, Ed. Washington DC, Island Press.

Dufour, D (1990). “Use of tropical rainforests by native Amazonians.” Bioscience 40(9): 652-659.

Dugleby, B (1994). Developing appropriate institutions for protected areas: co-Managing chicle extraction in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology June 7-11, 1994. Guadalajara, Mexico, Society for Conservation Biology.

Duke, J (1992). Tropical botanical extractives. in Sustainable Harvest and Marketing of Rain Forest Products. M Plotkin and L Famolare, Ed. San Francisco, Island Press.

Fearnside, P (1997). “Environmental services as a strategy for sustainable development in rural Amazonia.” Ecological Economics 20(1): 53- 70.

Rural Amazonians, especially Indians, extractivists and other forest dwellers, desperately need something that they can sell. Sale of material commodities taken from the rainforest is the focus of most attempts to encourage 'sustainable development' for these populations, but the mother lode waiting to be tapped is not a material commodity, but rather the forest's environmental services. Converting services like biodiversity maintenance, carbon storage and water cycling into monetary flows that can support a population of forest guardians requires crossing a series of hurdles. Reliable quantification of the magnitude of services being offered is a first necessity. How to convert forest environmental services into an income stream, and how to convert this stream into a foundation for sustainable development in rural Amazonia is a great challenge. Effort should be focused on tapping environmental services as a long-term strategy for maintaining both rainforest and its population. In addition to progressing toward long-term goals, immediate measures are needed to support the population and to avoid further loss of forest. (Source)

Figueiredo, G, H Leitao, et al. (1997). “Ethnobotany of Atlantic Forest coastal communities: diversity of plant uses at Sepetiba Bay (SE Brazil).” Human Ecology 25(2): 353-360.

This is an ethnobotanical study of Atlantic Forest coastal communities located at Sepetiba Bay, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Atlantic Forest remnants are top priority conservation areas, and include native communities that depend on fish and small-scall agriculture. We conducted fieldwork in the community of Calhaus (Jaguanum Island) from 1989 to 1991, and interviewed adults on their use of plants. we examined the diversity of medicinal plants used among communities of different islands and found results similar to previous research at Gamboa (Itacuruca Island); communities living in smaller islands and on islands further from the coast use a lower diversity of plants. Also, older islanders show a deeper knowledge of medicinal plants than younger islanders. (SSCI)

Gentry, AH and R Vasquez (1988). “Where have all the Ceibas gone? A case history of mismanagement of a tropical forest resource.” Forest Ecology and Management 23: 73-76.

Godoy, R, S Groff, et al. (1998). “The role of education in neotropical deforestation: household evidence from Amerindians in Honduras.” Human Ecology 26(4): 659-675.

A survey of 101 Tawahka Amerindian households in the Honduran rain forest examined the effects of schooling on the clearance of old-growth rain forest. The results of tobit, ordinary least square, probit, and median regressions suggest that: (i) each additional year of education lowers the probability of cutting old-growth rain forest by about 4% and reduces the area cut by 0.06 ha/family each year and (ii) the effect of education on deforestation is non-linear With lip to 2 years of schooling forest clearance declines; with between 2 and 4 years of schooling, clearance increases, brat beyond 4 years education once again seems to curb deforestation. Even a little education curbs forest clearance because it is easier for individuals to acquire information about new farm technologies from outsiders in order to intensify term production by river banks. Estimates of the social rare of return to education for indigenous populations of Latin American have been shown to be high, We suggest that these rates of return may need reappraisal for Amerindians in the rain forest to take into account the positive and negative environmental externalities of education. (Journal)

Godoy, RA (1994). “Effects of rural education on the use of the tropical rain forest by the Sumu Indians of Nicaragua: possible pathways, qualitative findings, and policy options.” Human Organization 53(3): 233-244.

Godoy, RA, M Jacobson, et al. (1998). “The role of tenure security and private time preference in neotropical deforestation.” Land Economics 74(2): 162-170.

A survey of 209 Chimane Amerindian households in 18 villages in the Bolivian rain forest was door to examine rite role of tenure security and private time preference on the clearance of old growth forest. Results of Tobit regressions suggest that conflict with abutters was associated with more deforestation, but the average impatience of the household heads was associated with less deforestation. Results suggest that governments should protect the land rights of indigenous people if they wish to enhance conservation. Results cast doubts on the idea that high private time preference increases the depletion of natural resources. (Source)

Godoy, RA, M Jacobson, et al. (1997). “Strategies of rain-forest dwellers against misfortunes: the Tsimane' Indians of Bolivia.” Ethnology 37(1): 55-69.

Hecht, S (1989). Indigenous soil management in the Amazon Basin: some implications for development. in Fragile Lands of Latin America: Strategies for Sustainable Development. J Browder, Ed. Boulder, Westview Press: 166-181.

Hecht, S and A Cockburn (1989). The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon. New York, Verso.

Hecht, SB (1992). Valuing land uses in Amazonia: colonist agriculture, cattle, and petty extraction in comparative perspective. in Conservation of Neotropical Forests. J Redford and C Padoch, Ed. New York, Columbia University Press.

Hecht, SB, A Anderson, et al. (1988). “The subsidy from nature: Shifting cultivation, successional palm forests and rural development.” Human Organization 47(1): 25-35.

Hemming, J (1987). Amazon Frontier: The Defeat of the Brazilian Indians. London, MacMillan.

Henrich, J (1997). “Market incorporation, agricultural change, and sustainability among the Machiguenga Indians of the Peruvian Amazon.” Human Ecology 25 June: 319-351.

Hidalgo, RC (1992). The Tagua Initiative in Ecuador: a community approach to tropical rain forest conservation and development. in Sustainable Harvest and Marketing of Rain Forest Products. M Plotkin and L Famolare, Ed. San Francisco, Island Press.

Homma, AKO, Ed. (1992). The dynamics of extraction in Amazonia: A historical perspective. Advances in Economic Botany 9. New York, Institute for Economic Botany.

Jacobs, TD (1996). “From forest clearing to forest replacement: the political ecology of conservation in the Dominican Republic.” Culture and Agriculture 18(2): 58-67.

Kainer, KA and ML Duryea (1992). “Tapping women's knowledge: plant resource use in extractive reserves, Acre, Brazil.” Economic Botany 46(4): 408-425.

Kolk, A (1996). Forests in International Environmental Politics: International Organisations, NGOs and the Brazilian Amazon. Utrecht, International Books.

May, PH (1992). Common property in the neotropics: theory, management progress and an action agenda. in Conservation of Neotropical Forests. J Redford and C Padoch, Ed. New York, Columbia University Press.

May, PH, AB Anderson, et al. (1985). “ Subsistence benefits from babassu palm.” Economic Botany 39(2): 113-129.

McNeill, JR (1986). “Agriculture, forests and ecological history: Brazil 1500-1984.” Environmental Review Summer: 123-133.

Moran, E and E Brondizio (1998). Land use change in the Amazon basin. in People and Pixels: Applications of Remote Sensing in the Social Sciences. D. Liverman et al., Ed. Washington, National Academy Press.

Mori, SA (1992). The Brazil Nut industry -- Past, present and future. in Sustainable Harvest and Marketing of Rain Forest Products. M Plotkin and L Famolare, Ed. San Francisco, Island Press.

Morris, A (1997). “Afforestation projects in highland Ecuador: patterns of success and failure.” Mountain Research and Development 17(1): 31-42.

Murray, GF (1991). The tree gardens of Haiti: from extraction to domestication. in Social forestry: Communal and private management strategies compared. Proceedings of a Workshop, Program on Social Change and Development. D Challinor and MH Fronhoff, Ed. Washington, The Paul Nitze SAIS, The Johns Hopkins University.

Nations, JD (1992). Xateros, chicleros and pimenteros: harvesting renewable tropical forest resources in the Guatemalan Petén. in Conservation of Neotropical Forests. J Redford and C Padoch, Ed. New York, Columbia University Press.

Nepstad, D, IF Brown, et al. (1992). Biotic impoverishment of Amazonian forests by rubber tappers, loggers and cattle ranchers. in Non-timber Products From Tropical Forests: Evaluation of a Conservation and Development Strategy. D Nepstad and S Schwartzmann, Ed. New York, Institute for Economic Botany.

Padoch, C (1992). Marketing of non-timber forest products in Western Amazonia: general observations and research priorities. in Non-timber Products From Tropical Forests: Evaluation of a Conservation and Development Strategy. D Nepstad and S Schwartzmann, Ed. New York, Institute for Economic Botany.

Padoch, C, J Chota, et al. (1985). “Amazonian agroforestry: a market oriented system in Peru.” Agroforestry Systems 3(1): 47.

Padoch, C and WD Jong (1990). “Santa Rosa: the impact of the forest products trade on an Amazonian place and population.” Advances in Economic Botany 8: 151-158.

Parker, E (1992). “Forest islands and Kayapó resource management in Amazonia: A reappraisal of the Apete.” American Anthropology 94: 406-443.

Parker, E (1993). “Fact and fiction in Amazonia: the case of the Apete.” American Anthropologist 95: 715-723.

Peters, C, A Gentry, et al. (1989). “Valuation of an Amazonian rainforest.” Nature 339(6227): 655.

Peters, CM, J Rosenthal, et al. (1987). “Otomi bark paper in Mexico: commercialization of a pre-Hispanic technology.” Economic Botany 41(3): 423-432.

Phillips, O, AH Gentry, et al. (1994). “Quantitative ethnobotany and Amazonian conservation.” Conservation Biology 8: 225-249.

Pinedo-Vasquez, M, D Zarin, et al. (1990). “Use-values of tree species in a communal forest reserve in Northeast Peru.” Conservation Biology 4(4): 405-416.

Posey, D (1983). Indigenous ecological knowledge and development of the Amazon. in The Dilemma of Amazonian Development. E Moran, Ed. Boulder, Westview Press.

Posey, D (1985). “Indigenous management of tropical forest ecosystems: the case of the Kayapo Indians of the Brazilian Amazon.” American Anthropologist 94: 139-158.

Posey, D (1992). Traditional knowledge, conservation and "The Rainforest Harvest". in Sustainable Harvest and Marketing of Rain Forest Products. M Plotkin and L Famolare, Ed. San Francisco, Island Press.

Redford, KH and C Padoch, Eds. (1992). Conservation of Neotropical Forests: Working From Traditional Use. New York, Columbia University Press.

Redford, KH and AM Stearman (1993). “Forest-dwelling Native Amazonians and the conservation of biodiversity.” Conservation Biology 7(2): 248-255.

Reining, C and R Heinzman (1992). Nontimber forest products in the Petén Guatemala: why extractive reserves are critical for both conservation and development. in Sustainable Harvesting and Marketing of Rainforest Products. M Plotkin and L Famolare, Ed. San Francisco, Island Press.

Richards, M (1991). “The forest ejidos of south-east Mexico: a case study of community based sustained yield management.” Commonwealth Forestry Review 70(4): 290-311.

Richards, M (1993). “Lessons for participatory natural forest management in Latin America: Case studies from Honduras, Mexico, and Peru.” Journal of World Forest Management 7(1): 1-25.

Richards, M (1993). “The potential of non-timber forest products in sustainable natural forest management in Amazonia.” Commonwealth Forestry Review 72: 21-26.

Rioja, G (1992). The Jatata project: the pilot experience of Chimane empowerment. in Sustainable Harvesting and Marketing of Rainforest Products. M Plotkin and L Famolare, Ed. San Francisco, Island Press: 192-196.

Rocheleau, D and L Ross (1995). “Trees as tools, trees as text: struggles over resources in Zambrana-Chacuey, Dominican Republic.” Antipode 27(4): 407-428.

The people of the Rural Federation of Zambrana-Chacuey, in the Dominican Republic, are engaged in complex and multivalent struggles over resources in a forest and farm landscape subject to rapid land use change. Acacin mangium, a fast growing tree recently introduced as a timber cash crop, has become an object, a site and a tool of struggle in conflicts between local and state interests, and between women and men. Until recently, tree cutting has been illegal, so the government-approved acacia has reversed the role of trees from liabilities to assets in land tenure. The acacia has also begun to alter the pattern of land use, land cover, and the species composition of the region's forests, gardens, and fields, and could replace women's diverse gardens with single species blocks of timber. (SSCI)

Roosevelt, A (1989). “Resource management in Amazonia before the conquest: beyond ethnographic projection.” Advances in Economic Botany 7: 30-62.

Salick, J, A Mejia, et al. (1995). “Non-timber forest products integrated with natural forest management, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua.” Ecological Applications 5(4): 878-895.

Silva, E (1994). “Thinking politically about sustainable development in the tropical forests of Latin America.” Development and Change 25(4): 697-721.

This article examines a number of factors which facilitate the adoption and success of policies and projects to promote grassroots sustainable development - that is, the sustainable, multiple use of forests at the community level, including aspects of local self-reliance and control of economic resources. I will argue that the extractive reserve legislation in Brazil and community Forestry projects in Mexico and Peru depended on the formation of pro-grassroots development coalitions. The exact make-up of those coalitions depended on three factors: (1) the initial disposition of key governmental and dominant class actors to such policies; (2) the intensity of local conflicts and the extent of community organization; and (3) the involvement of international actors. The cases suggest that in the absence of serious government or upper class opposition, the adoption and durability of such policies and projects can be promoted by the formation of a coalition of organized communities, domestic non-governmental organizations (NGOs), some allied government agencies, and support from international actors. However, when key government agencies and socio-economic elites are fundamentally opposed to sustainable development initiatives at the grassroots level, much higher levels of community organization, conflict, and domestic and international support appear to be necessary. (SSCI)

Southgate, D (1990). Institutional origins of deforestation in Latin America. St. Paul, MN, University of Minnesota, Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

Sponsel, L (1992). The environmental history of Amazonia: natural and human disturbances and the ecological transition. in Changing Tropical Forests: Historical Perspectives on Today's Challenges in Central and South America. H Steen and R Tucker, Ed. Durham, NC, Forest History Society: 233-251.

Stanley, DL (1991). “Communal forest management: the Honduran resin tappers.” Development and Change 22(4): 757-.

Stearman, A (1991). “Making a living in the tropical forest - Yuqui foragers in the Bolivian Amazon.” Human Ecology 19(2): 245-260.

Questions concerning the availability of resources in tropical rain forests have given rise to the current debate centering on whether human subsistence based solely on foraging is possible in these biomes without agricultural subsidies. This paper takes the position that changing perspectives on ecological pattern and process in tropical forests and the significant variation among tropical forests on a worldwide as well as regional scale must be taken into consideration. Human disturbance is also proposed as a cause of dependence on agriculture by modem human foragers rather than as a necessary precondition for successful exploitation of the tropical forest. These issues are discussed against the background of a case study of the Yuqui, who, until very recently, were true foragers in the Bolivian Amazon. For the Yuqui, the sustainability of their subsistence system depended on a fine-grained knowledge of their environment and the freedom of movement over a large territory to access resources within it. (Journal)

Stearman, A (1994). “Only slaves climb trees - revisiting the myth of the ecologically noble savage In Amazonia.” Human Nature 5(4): 339-357.

Professional and popular publications have increasingly depicted native peoples of Amazonia as ''natural'' conservationists or as people with an innate ''conservation ethic.'' A few classic examples are cited repeatedly to advance this argument with the result that these cases tend to be generalized to all indigenous peoples. This paper explores the premise that many of these systems of resource conservation come from areas of Amazonia where human survival depends on careful management of the subsistence base and not from a culturally imbedded ''conservation ethic.'' Where resource constraints do not pertain, as in the case of the Yuqui of lowland Bolivia, such patterns are unknown. Finally, the negative consequences of portraying all native peoples as natural conservationists is having some negative consequences in terms of current struggles to obtain indigenous land rights. (Source)

Steen, HK and RP Tucker, Eds. (1992). Changing Tropical Forests: Historical Perspectives on Today's Challenges in Central and South America. Durham, Forest History Society.

Steinberg, M (1998). “Neotropical kitchen gardens as a potential research landscape for conservation biologists.” Conservation Biology 12(5): 1150-1152.

Stocks, A and G Hartshorn (1993). “The Palcazu project: forest management and native Yanesha communities.” Journal of Sustainable Forestry 1(1): 111 -135.

Taber, A, G Navarro, et al. (1997). “A new park in the Bolivian Gran Chaco - an advance in tropical dry forest conservation and community-based management.” Oryx 31(3): 189-198.

The Kaa-lya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Area was established in September 1995. At 3.44 million hectares it is one of South America's largest protected areas. The tropical dry forest of the Chaco, which this reserve protects, is Bolivia's most threatened major lowland habitat type. With the creation of this reserve the protected-area coverage of the Gran Chaco increased to 4.7 percent. With at least 69 species of mammals (the Chiropeta have not yet been surveyed) it is one of the richest Neotropical sites for this taxonomic group. The Kaa-Iya park is being administered by the Izoceno-Guarani Indian organization, the Capitania del Alto y Bajo Izozog and puts community-based conservation into practice. Threats to the park include encroachment by colonists, ranchers and farmers; the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline, and hunting. (Author)

Townsend, JG (1995). Women pioneers in the tropics. in Women's Voices from the Rainforest. JG Townsend, Ed. London, Routledge: 18-33.

Treacy, J (1982). “Bora Indian agroforestry: an alternative to deforestation.” Cultural Survival Quarterly 6(2): 15-16.

Turner, T (1989). “Amazonian Indians lead fight to save their forest world.” Latin American Anthropology Review 1(1): 2-4.

Vasquez, R and AH Gentry (1989). “Use and misuse of forest-harvested fruits in the Iquitos area.” Conservation Biology 3(4): 350-361.

Veber, H (1998). “The salt of the Montana: interpreting indigenous activism in the rain forest.” Cultural Anthropology 13(3): 382-413.

Walschburger, T and Pv Hildebrand (1992). Indian reserves: a feasible alternative for the conservation and proper use of the Colombian Amazon forest. in The Rainforest Harvest. S Counsell and T Rice, Ed. London, Friends of the Earth Trust.

Young, KR (1994). “Roads and the environmental degradation of tropical montane forests.” Conservation Biology 8: 972-976.

Young, KR (1996). “Threats to biological diversity caused by coca/cocaine deforestation in Peru.” Environmental Conservation 23: 7-15.

Indirect sources were used to characterize the nature and magnitude of threats to the native plants and forest ecosystems caused by the cultivation and control of coca, the precursor to cocaine, in the Huallaga valley of Peru, whence the majority of the world's cocaine originates. Deforestation is concentrated between 500 and 2000 m in the tropical pre-montane forest belt. Recent listing of Peru's seed plants permitted a quantification of plant species known from the department of San Martin between 500-2000 m and thus at risk due to forest degradation. This flora consists;of 169 plant families, almost 900 genera, and about 2600 species. Fifteen percent of the species are restricted in distribution to Peru, while 6% are known only from San Martin. An additional 778 species, including 46 narrow endemics, are known from vegetation types found below 500 m. More than 223 000 ha of land were found to be in 'hill agriculture', consisting predominantly of coca fields and this suggests that the total impact of coca/cocaine deforestation is greatly under-estimated by using simply the area of coca under cultivation. Degraded tropical pre-montane forest may amount to as much as 1 000 000 ha in all of Peru. (SSCI)

Ziffer, K (1992). The Tagua Initiative: building the market for a rain forest product. in Sustainable Harvest and Marketing of Rain Forest Products. M Plotkin and L Famolare, Ed. San Francisco, Island Press.

IRRIGATION/WATERSHED:

Richards, M (1997). “Potential for economic valuation of watershed protection in mountainous areas: a case study from Bolivia.” Mountain Research and Development 17(1): 19-30.

White, T and C Runge (1995). “The emergence and evolution of collective action - lessons from watershed management in Haiti.” World Development 23(10): 1683-1698.

The practice and theory of collective action is constrained by a dearth of rigorous empirical tests of why and how such institutions emerge and evolve, and under what conditions they can be successful. Empirical analyses of cooperative watershed management in Haiti reveal that, given a conducive environment and political leadership, groups will emerge and survive where a ''critical mass'' of individuals have practical knowledge of the potential gains from action. Emergence can be constrained in the short run by: (a) landscape factors that affect the potential net economic gain, and (b) sociocultural factors that affect the cost of constructing the new institution. (Journal)