Firewood Resource Management in Different Landscapes in NW Patagonia

Abstract

Ecosystems, their components, processes and functions are all subject to management by human populations, with the purpose of adapting the environments to make them more habitable and ensuring the availability and continuity of subsistence resources. Although a lot of work has been carried out on resources of alimentary or medicinal interest, little has been done on associating processes of domestication with firewood extraction, a practice considered to be destructive of the environment. In the arid steppe of NW Patagonia, inhabited and managed for different purposes for a long time by Mapuche-Tehuelche communities, the gathering of combustible plant species has up to the present time played a crucial role in cooking and heating, and work is required to achieve sustainability of this resource. In this study we evaluate whether environments with less landscape domestication are more intensively used for firewood gathering. Using an ethnobiological approach, information was obtained through participant observation, interviews and free listing. The data were examined using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Twenty-eight firewood species are gathered, both native (75%) and exotic (25%). The supply of firewood mainly depends on gathering from the domesticated (10 species), semi-domesticated (17 species) and low human intervention landscapes (17 species). In contrast to our hypothesis, average use intensity is similar in all these landscapes despite their different levels of domestication. That is, the different areas are taken advantage of in a complementary manner in order to satisfy the domestic demand for firewood. Neither do biogeographic origin or utilitarian versatility of collected plants vary significantly between the different landscape levels of domestication. Our results show that human landscape domestication for the provision of firewood seems to be a socio-cultural resilient practice, and shed new light on the role of culture in resource management. This approach may offer new tools for the development of firewood and cultural landscape management, and conservation planning.

The Mating System of the Wild-to-Domesticated Complex of Gossypium hirsutum L. Is Mixed

“…Many nations want to defend the rights of the next generations to enjoy and decide about biodiversity and its services, aware that decisions made today will have an impact on the natural resources available in the future ( Bennett et al, 2015 ; Steffen et al, 2015 ; Morales et al, 2017 ). Upland cotton is a remarkably important plant for humanity, not only due to the versatile uses of its fiber, but for many other applications ( Wegier et al, 2016 ).…”

Etnobotánica de las especies combustibles comercializadas en la Ribera Platense, Buenos Aires, Argentina

“…Expendedores y sitios de expendio Los expendedores entrevistados tanto en el AMBA como en el PCS y alrededores, corresponden mayormente a personas de sexo masculino (77, 4%), de manera que las prácticas asociadas a la extracción y venta de leña podrían responder a una cuestión de género, como sostienen Ramos et al (2008b) en Brasil, donde estas actividades las realizan principalmente los varones, o a la inversa en Uganda, donde la tarea de recolección la realizan mayormente las mujeres como parte de las actividades domésticas (Tabuti et al 2003). En Argentina la recolección de leña para uso doméstico se realiza indistintamente por personas de ambos sexos (Cardoso 2013, Doumecq 2019, Jiménez Escobar & Martínez 2019, Morales et al 2017a), mientras que la recolección para su comercialización la realizan los varones (Arré et al 2015), coincidiendo con los resultados aquí obtenidos.…”

“…In total, 36 ethnotaxa marketed as firewood were surveyed, of which 33 were mentioned in the BANA and 20 in the PCS. The most widely used species are exotic, unlike that found in other studies conducted in Argentina where the native species predominate (Cardoso et al 2013, Fernández 2017, Jiménez Escobar & Martínez 2019, Morales et al 2017a. Local sellers consider as good firewood the ethnotaxa that have hard woods that produce good embers, and good heat and flame emission.…”

“…Así, el CB urbano (CBU) es un corpus complejo de conocimientos (no tradicionales, ligados a tradiciones) que interactúan en el mismo contexto pluricultural y resulta adaptativo debido a que orienta la selección de ciertas plantas o productos vegetales, en tanto otras se desechan (Hurrell 2014, Hurrell et al 2011a, Pochettino et al 2008, 2012. En los contextos culturalmente homogéneos, en general, las especies nativas locales constituyen la mayor fuente de combustibles, a menudo, la única (Cardoso et al 2013, Morales et al 2017a,b, Nascimiento et al 2019, Ocampo et al 2009. En contextos culturalmente heterogéneos (pluriculturales), como los del área de estudio (Hurrell 2014, Hurrell & Delucchi 2013, la situación es distinta: las especies nativas disponibles son escasas y las exóticas que se han naturalizado ofrecen una alternativa de uso local.…”

“…The most commonly used species are "quebracho colorado" and "eucalyptus". According to some authors Cardoso (2013), Cardoso et al (2012Cardoso et al ( , 2013, Arré et al (2015), Morales et al (2017a), the main destination for firewood is the household heating and to a lesser extent for cooking. In total, 36 ethnotaxa marketed as firewood were surveyed, of which 33 were mentioned in the BANA and 20 in the PCS.…”