In
the last two entries I discussed the shocking levels of
deforestation in the Amazon basin and the effects this could have not only on
the people of the rainforest, but on the world as a whole. Today, however, an
article caught my eye that made me think that, perhaps, it wasn't all doom and
gloom.
Before
today I had never heard of ‘indigenous lands’, but a 2005 journal entry by
Schwartzman and Zimmerman changed all this. Indigenous lands are areas of
designated conservation initiatives in which conservation groups work closely
with indigenous people’s vast wealth of knowledge about the complex workings of
the Amazon basin’s rich biodiversity and resource base in order to manage the
land as they see fit. In some cases, this means selectively allow certain
mining and logging activities to be carried out with little damage to the
environment. These lands totally nearly 1,000,000km2 in 2005.
By
investigating one particular reserve totaling more than 100,000km2,
belonging to the Kayapó tribe, Schwartzman and
Zimmerman conclude that the management strategies in place, as detailed in the
article, are producing a form of barrier against the onslaught on deforestation.
Glance at the picture below and you will immediately appreciate the level of
success these initiative are having, as the four black rimmed areas of
conservation are clearly distinguishable from areas allowed to be “freely”
illegally deforested.
Figure 1. Forest-cover change in the region of Kayapo and Panara indigenous territories between 2000 and 2003.
Black lines delimit one Panara and four Kayapo ratified indigenous territories
(Taken with from Schwartzman and Zimmerman (2005), produced by D. Juhn, M. Steininger, T. Christie,
and L. Miller, Conservation International).
However,
my one concern with reading this article was that if tribes are getting
involved with big business and activities that they would otherwise never be a
part of, surely the cultural aspects of tribal life which are so precious to
their identity be lost? This appears to be the case with the Kayapó tribe, who witnessed an increase
in tribe warfare due to the new influx of goods into the land, and the area has
become more assimilated with modern day culture as we know it, yet they gained
a fair amount of economic stability. On the other hand, another tribe profiled –
the various tribes in the Xingu Indigenous Park refused any kind of activity to
be carried out, and while they have kept their vast wealth of knowledge and
culture alive, it was detrimental to their well-being for a period of time. They,
however, have had the last laugh economically as initiatives and incentives to help the
plight of these people have meant that they are now producing certified organic
honey. But even this is not without its problems, as land in the reserve is now
becoming degraded and cleared from poor management.
You can see what a complex
idea this indigenous land initiative is. Pros and cons are appearing left,
right and centre. I can’t help feeling, however, that this is merely a stop gap
and that “progress” will prevail, allowing precious land and culture to be
lost. While I feel this is a good idea in principle, it will be a long while
until conservation and the livelihood of the tribes are in harmony.
Schwartzman,
S. and Zimmerman, B. (2005),
Conservation Alliances with Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon. Conservation Biology, 19: 721–727
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