Showing papers in "J3ea in 1997"

Conservation and Culture: Natural Resource Management and the Local Voice

Abstract: Introduction Contemporary natural resource management is expanding its focus as a result of the dynamic interchange between conservationists and local people residing in or near the world's protected wildlands. "Whereas conservation efforts previously focused on the biological aspects of particular wild areas, todays conservation involves local, national, and international stakeholders in a broader, more sociopolitically-charged context. This paper illustrates the different variables involved in natural resource management from the local to international sphere, and discusses the new emphasis in management programs that involve culture and local involvement as crucial components to their success. Following this discussion, the paper will illustrate how these variables have broken down in the Ecuadorian Amazon, resulting in desperate attempts by local communities to surpass national resource managers and appeal to the international conservation community for protection of their native environment. The process of contextualizing natural resource management is difficult, especially when viewed at the external or international level. However, integration of different cultural perspectives concerning natural resource management at die local level, with acknowledgement of sitespecificity, may prove to be die new paradigm in conservation. It is upon the social stage, radier than the economic, diat conservation of culture and conservation of-environment will be viewed as die same process. And it is when local perspectives and cultural contexts are respected and valued, that conservation becomes an effective process. The Politics of International Conservation Conservation projects in the developing world have been historically driven at the national or international level by interest groups concerned with preserving biological diversity. International and national-level non-government organizations (NGOs) and other conservation institutions around the globe have oftentimes undertaken projects which reflect dieir biases for preservation of biological diversity over cultural integrity, without reflection upon the relationship between the two. Policies with direct implications for local communities are oftentimes formulated in international arenas (Milton 1993), radier than at the sites of their administration. Acceptance of national parks has been shown to increase proportionately with increased distance to the area (Rentsch 1988), afindingwhich reflects the decontextualized nature of park delimitation. This decontextualization in environmental policy making can have drastic consequences upon local communities "who may find their everyday activities banned by international laws, or their economies undermined by the campaigning efforts of NGOs" (Milton 1993: 5). As notes Einarsson, "in the realpolitik of international relations, ethnocentric assumptions can be forced upon cultures that deviate from what hegemonic cultural superpowers define as civilized and acceptable" (1993: 81-2). He further states that, "greater understanding of the cultural barriers that are crossed when policies are implemented could make these policies more sensitive to local needs" (Milton 1993: 5). Developing countries, many of which retain large expanses of wildlands in unprotected or newly-protected status, may be forced politically or economically to accept natural resource policies that ignore the cultural context of resource use. While management successes such as the debtfor-nature swaps and ecotourism have served to combine wildland protection with economic planning (Hendee et al. 1990), their effects upon local people in terms of social, rather than economic, factors have not been fully explored. The decontextualized nature of international conservation projects often results in a breakdown in enforceability at the local level. It has been noted that the Western ideals of parks and preserves have protected externally-valued areas at the expense of local rural peoples, who view the reserves as taking away local life support (Field and Burch 1988). …

Can Gaharu Be Harvested Sustainably? A Case Study from East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract: Introduction Since the late 1980s, non-government organizations (NGOs), agricultural extension workers, and international development agencies have devoted increasingly more attention to the potential for managing and sustainably exploiting non-timber forest products (hereafter NTFPs). The underlying obejctive behind the efforts to promote NTFPs on the national and international levels was to create an alternative to the conventional exploitation of the forests (particularly in the tropics) - i.e., timber extraction and/or conversion (Prance et al. 1987; DeBeer and McDermott 1989; Panayotou and Ashton 1992; Plotkin and Famolare 1992). The gains (or positive impact) that could potentially arise from establishing the NTFPs as the main resources extracted from the forests are thought to be numerous. First, as imperative as ecological concerns are, the most important consideration relating to non-wood forest products seems to be their potential for providing greater financial benefits for local communities than extraction of timber or conversion to fulltime sedentary agriculture (Gradwohl and Greenberg 1988; Fearnside 1989; Peters et al. 1989). The second key assumption is that, in principle, the exploitadon of NTFPs will leave tree cover intact, thus providing a viable solution to the problem of deforestation. Cumulatively, it is hoped that extraction and marketing of non-woody species may provide a means to balance the concerns associated with both conservation and development in the rural areas (Schwartzman 1989;Allegretti 1990). Economic and ecological studies carried out among the indigenous communities in South America (particularly in Amazonia) provided an early confirmation of the projections about the potentially high economic (marketing) value of fruit trees, saps, and latexes (Peters et al. 1989a; Peters et al. 1989b; Vasquez and Gentry 1989; Anderson and Jardim 1989). However, as the studies of the economic value of these resources became more numerous it became increasingly apparent that the estimates of the monetary incomes that indigenous collectors could obtain from NTFPs were grossly overestimated (Saw et al. 1991; Pinedo-Vasquez et al. 1990; Appasamy 1993; Chopra 1993; Godoy et al. 1993). In spite of this troubling revelation, it was assumed diat the economic success (however erratic) of certain Amazonian communities specializing in NTFPs was, however, an indication of ecological sustainability (i.e., steady income = steady supply of forest products = sustainable management of the species) (Fearnside 1989). Eventually, it became clear that economicecological compatibility was the exception rather than the rule and that rural communities exhibit a distinct tendency to over-exploit non-timber forest resources (Kahn 1988; Nepstad et al. 1992; Bodrner et. al 1993; Padoch 1988; Peluso 1992a and b). It is important to point out that studies which have shown the ecological non-sustainability of the exploitation of forest products rarely mention the economic and political factors, such as influx of foreign capital and the importation of external labor force, as the primary causes of the negative ecological consequences. In this paper, I will attempt to illustrate the impact of these external interventions on the economic and ecological status of the Aquilana. spp. in the Berau River system, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The case of Aquilaria is bound to be somewhat controversial since the resource extracted from the trees of this species, a diseased fragrant heartwood, technically does not qualify as a nonwood forest product. Furthermore, as I will show, the extraction techniques used to obtain the heartwood invariably result in the destruction of the tree containing the resource. From the outset then the exploitation of the gaharu wood seems to be anything but sustainable. However, by drawing a clear distinction between the methods used to search, sample, and extract gaharu by local communities (particularly formerly nomadic Punan) and by opportunistic collectors (usually migrants from other islands employed by the pharmaceutical companies) I will argue that extraction of gaharu could be carried out in a sustainable manner. …

Transforming Herds and Herders: Modeling the Evolution of Himalayan Pastoralism

Abstract: Introduction: Himalayan Subsistence Types Adaptation to the constraints (and potentialities) of high-elevation, mountainous environments has been a popular theme of anthropologists, as well as geographers and other writers Orlove and Guillet (1985) discuss three generalized 'mountain subsistence types: ''alpwirtschaft'; Verticality;' and the 'montane production strategy' All three fit loosely into an adaptationist perspective'; that is, each claims "that patterns of economic activity and social organization can be understood as responses to environmental constraints" (Orlove and Guillet 1985: 7) They reveal, however, that like other such adaptationist arguments, and despite their immediate intuitive appeal, "they fail in adequately explaining the precise nature of the goals of adaptation, the specific mechanisms of the process of adaptation, and the selection among alternative means to the goals of adaptation" (1985:7) Himalayan researchers, in particular, have struggled in their attempts to examine subsistence systems in ecological terms, in part because of a heavy and uncritical reliance on the notion of 'adaptation' Despite the drawbacks listed above, many Himalayanists continue to adhere to the rigid environmental determinism inherent in these 'subsistence types' in their piecemeal attempts to describe such Himalayan subsistence systems as transhumant pastoralism For instance, it is often said that the transhumant pastoral system is adapted to the lack of resources found at high elevations' Other researchers have suffered from their tendency to focus almost exclusively on the supposed problems of deforestation, soil erosion, and the general deterioration of the mountain environment as described by Eckholm (1976) and Sterling (1976) Many envision change in the region as inevitably following a "rapid, irreversible, and destructive" trend (Orlove 1987: 98), labelled the "Himalayan crisis" (Ives and Messerli 1989), following (or even resulting from) the (uncritically assumed) universal progression towards permanent agriculture, increasing sedentarism, and the intensification of subsistence production Similarly, this pattern is believed to result in attitudes about ecological change leading to cultural loss and (social, political, and non-human) environmental degradation This paper will address two major shortcomings of much of the research conducted on transhumant pastoralism and ecological change in the Himalayas First, there has been no attempt to construct an ecosystem model depicting a transhumant pastoral subsistence system, and second, despite substantial attention devoted to examining change (in the social, cultural, political, and/or physical environments), there has been a conspicuous lack of synthesis and holistic analysis The aim of this paper is to present a holistic model of a transhumant pastoral subsistence system as it has changed during the present century The following discussion and models are based primarily, though not exclusively, on the Thakali, a transhumant pastoral people inhabiting northcentral Nepal and one of the few ethnic groups in the Himalayas whose changing circumstances have been given much analytical attention1 The Thakali2 in the Early 20th Century: Tians-Himalayan Pastoral-Traders The Thakali are an agro-pastoral and trading people who reside in the upper Kali Gandaki River valley of northcentral Nepal, and have long been renowned as "traders and merchants of great economic and political acumen" (Messerschmidt 1982: 266) Thak Khola, the region of the Kali Gandaki in which the Thakali live, is a relatively isolated mountainous river valley wedged between the towering peaks of the Dhaulagiri and Annapurna Himalayan massif which rise to over 8,000 meters It falls within the Nepalese administrative district of Mustang in Daulagiri Zone, and stretches approximately 55 kilometers (c 35 miles) in length while the inhabited areas range in elevation from 2,500 meters to 4,000 meters (Messerschmidt 1982: 268) …

Schistosoma Japonicum Infection: A Hidden Cost of China's Three Gorges Dam?

Abstract: Introduction In 1919, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen proposed improving shipping conditions and developing hydroelectric power generation in the "Three Gorges" section of the Yangtze River. During the 1930s, research on the project done by the Kuomintang government concluded that such improvements were indeed feasible (Yao 1992: 17). A plan for building a dam in the Three Gorges area was approved in 1958. However, the tremendous cost of building the dam prevented it from actually being constructed at that time (Fearnside 1988: 616). In 1986, an extensive re-examination of the project began. It was concluded that the project was not only technologically feasible and economically reasonable, but that it would be better to build it than not to do so. Commencing construction as soon as possible was also recommended (Yao 1992: 17). On April 3,1992 the plan for the Three Gorges dam was approved by the National People's Congress, by a vote of 1,767 to 177, with 664 abstentions (Li 1992: 24). In December, 1994 construction of the dam officially began (Topping 1995: 132). The Yangtze is the third largest river in the world. The Three Gorges (Xiling, Wu, and Qutang) are located in Western Hubei province in central China. The area is characterized by rapids, currents and a steep drop, forming a storehouse of water resources (Yao 1992: 17). The Three Gorges dam is to be the largest in the world. At 185 m high and 1983 m across, the dam will create a reservoir of 54,000 km . The major objectives for building the dam are flood control, navigation, water supply, and hydroelectric power generation (Edmonds 1991: 112). Once constructed, die dam is expected to generate 13,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity with a power generating efficiency of 10mw/km of reservoir area. These figures are higher than those of other major hydroelectric projects across the globe (Fearnside 1988: 617). Not only is the Three Gorges dam to be the largest in the world, it is perhaps the most controversial. WhUe Chinese leaders strongly support the dam, technical experts and intellectuals have expressed serious doubts about the projects feasibility, as well as serious concerns for the dam's impact on the environment (Edmonds 1991:112). The concerns of environmentalists include natural habitats, fauna, erosion, reservoir siltation, estuary salinization, earthquake hazard, and microclimate. Opponents to the dam have also expressed social concerns. Upon creation of the reservoir, countless cultural landmarks and archaeological sites will be lost. Population transfer is another main concern, as 1.4 million people will have to be resettled due to the flooding of their lands (Fearnside 1988: 618). Estimates of the cost of the project range from 57,100 million up to one billion yuan. Opponents of the dam are concerned that bodi time and cost of building the dam have been underestimated. There is also a fear that several hidden costs have not been considered at all. The Gezhouba dam (38 km upstream ofThree Gorges) was scheduled to be completed in five years. In reality, the dam took 18 years to complete and cost four times the original estimate (Edmonds 1991: 120). Judging from the Gezhouba project, concerns that the cost of the Three Gorges dam may be underestimated are not unfounded. One factor that has largely been ignored in the literature is the dam's impact on public health. According to the World Health Organization, "the construction of dams and formation of reservoirs and irrigation systems...can cause rapid environmental degradation, and health risks may arise even before there is any awareness of the danger and before preparations have been made to overcome it" (Hunter et al. 1993: 5). Water resource development projects, such as the Three Gorges dam, have a strong tendency for exacerbating parasitic diseases (Hunter et al. 1993: 4). Among such diseases is schistosomiasis, which has long been a public health problem in China. The purpose of this paper is to consider the environmental impact assessments (EIA) and cost-benefit analyses of the Three Gorges project, and their reliability. …