The Role of Ethnobotanical Skills and Agricultural Labor in Forest Clearance: Evidence from the Bolivian Amazon

Reyes‐García, Victoria; Pascual, Unai; Vadez, Vincent; Huanca, Tomás; Team, Taps Bolivian Study

doi:10.1007/s13280-010-0107-3

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…This hypothesis is consistent with the findings of Reyes-García et al (2008), who found a positive association between the level of TEK of male household heads and crop diversity in their swidden fields. Similarly, it fits well with the results of Reyes-García et al (2011), who claimed that the more TEK Tsimane' individuals had (1) the more selective and efficient they were in clearing old-growth forest (because they practiced joint production while clearing), and (2) the less fallow forest they cleared (which suggests they lengthened the fallow because they used these forests more efficiently too). We argue that villages with higher levels of TEK may not only have more efficient cultivators and forest managers, but also more experienced foragers who can gather edible wild food in the forest, as well as more skilled hunters and fishers.…”

Section: Associations Between Tsimane' Traditional Ecological Knowledsupporting

confidence: 86%

High overlap between traditional ecological knowledge and forest conservation found in the Bolivian Amazon

Paneque-Gálvez

Pérez-Llorente

Luz

et al. 2018

Ambio

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It has been suggested that traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) may play a key role in forest conservation. However, empirical studies assessing to what extent TEK is associated with forest conservation compared with other variables are rare. Furthermore, to our knowledge, the spatial overlap of TEK and forest conservation has not been evaluated at fine scales. In this paper, we address both issues through a case study with Tsimane' Amerindians in the Bolivian Amazon. We sampled 624 households across 59 villages to estimate TEK and used remote sensing data to assess forest conservation. We ran statistical and spatial analyses to evaluate whether TEK was associated and spatially overlapped with forest conservation at the village level. We find that Tsimane' TEK is significantly and positively associated with forest conservation although acculturation variables bear stronger and negative associations with forest conservation. We also find a very significant spatial overlap between levels of Tsimane' TEK and forest conservation. We discuss the potential reasons underpinning our results, which provide insights that may be useful for informing policies in the realms of development, conservation, and climate. We posit that the protection of indigenous cultural systems is vital and urgent to create more effective policies in such realms.

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Section: Associations Between Tsimane' Traditional Ecological Knowledsupporting

confidence: 86%

High overlap between traditional ecological knowledge and forest conservation found in the Bolivian Amazon

Paneque-Gálvez

Pérez-Llorente

Luz

et al. 2018

Ambio

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“…1). The Tsimane' are one of the largest indigenous groups in the Bolivian Amazon and inhabit a densely forested area (Reyes-García et al 2010). The study area has a mean annual temperature of 25.8°C (Navarro & Maldonado 2002), and a mean annual rainfall of 1743 mm (Godoy et al 2008).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of tree species turnover in a southern Amazonian rain forest

Guèze

Paneque-Gálvez

Luz

et al. 2012

J Vegetation Science

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Questions What is the relative importance of environmental variables and geographical distances to explain tree species turnover? Are these patterns consistent for different tree categories, i.e. all trees (DBH ≥ 2.5 cm), large trees (DBH ≥ 10 cm), small trees sensu lato (DBH < 10 cm) and small trees sensu stricto (strictly understorey species, DBH < 10 cm)? Location Department of Beni, Bolivia, southwestern Amazon. Methods A total of 55 0.1‐ha plots were inventoried in old‐growth terra firme forest in seven sites. Composite soil samples from each plot were analysed for physical and chemical properties. Environmental and geographical influences on tree species turnover were quantified with Mantel correlations and variation partitioning based on multiple regressions on distance matrices. Results Floristic differences between sites yielded significant correlations with both geographical distances and environmental variables (pH, Ca, Mg, exchangeable acidity, C:N ratio, sand content) for all tree categories. Phosphorus was correlated with floristic patterns only for small trees sensu stricto. Together, geographical distances and environmental variables explained 62% of the floristic variation for all trees. Environmental variables explained more variation for large trees than for small trees sensu stricto. Conclusions The results support the hypothesis that species distributions are driven by both geographical distances (as quantifiers of dispersal processes) and environmental variables (niche factors) in similar proportions. Spatial floristic patterns of large trees and small trees sensu stricto were in general terms congruent.

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“…Evidences from a recent meta-analysis published by van Vliet et al [9] suggest that these swidden cultivators are mostly located in the mountainous and hilly parts of Latin America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia (SEA). Based on the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science database (8 October 2013), swidden agriculture is mainly practiced by smallholder farmers in a conservative estimate of 64 developing countries ( Figure 1, [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]) from Africa, Latin America, and South/Southeast Asia. Forty-five of them are part of the United Nations collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (or the UN-REDD Programme) partner countries (currently 48 in total).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It shows that the monitoring of swidden agriculture will greatly contribute to implementing and managing the REDD projects [10]. [9,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Swidden Agriculture in Southeast Asia

et al. 2014

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Swidden agriculture is by far the dominant land use system in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia (SEA). It provides various valuable subsistence products to local farmers, mostly the poor ethnic minority groups. Controversially, it is also closely connected with a number of environmental issues. With the strengthening regional economic cooperation in SEA, swidden agriculture has experienced drastic transformations into other diverse market-oriented land use types since the 1990s. However, there is very limited information on the basic geographical and demographic data of swidden agriculture and the socio-economic and biophysical effects of the transformations. International programs, such as the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), underscore the importance of monitoring and evaluating swidden agriculture and its transition to reduce carbon emission due to deforestation and forest degradation. In this context, along with the accessibility of Landsat historical imagery, remote sensing based techniques will offer an effective way to detect and monitor the locations and extent of swidden agriculture. Many approaches for investigating fire occurrence and burned area can be introduced for swidden agriculture mapping due to the common feature of fire relatedness. In this review paper, four broad approaches involving spectral signatures, phenological characteristics, statistical theory and landscape ecology were summarized for swidden agriculture delineation. Five research priorities about swidden agriculture involving remote sensing techniques, spatial pattern, change, drivers and impacts were proposed accordingly. To our knowledge, a synthesis review on the remote sensing and outlook on swidden agriculture has not been reported yet. This review paper aims to give a comprehensive overview of swidden agriculture studies in the domains of debated definition, trends, remote sensing methods and OPEN ACCESSRemote Sens. 2014, 6 1655 outlook research in SEA undertaken in the past two decades.

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The Role of Ethnobotanical Skills and Agricultural Labor in Forest Clearance: Evidence from the Bolivian Amazon

Cited by 12 publications

References 47 publications

High overlap between traditional ecological knowledge and forest conservation found in the Bolivian Amazon

High overlap between traditional ecological knowledge and forest conservation found in the Bolivian Amazon

Determinants of tree species turnover in a southern Amazonian rain forest

A Review of Swidden Agriculture in Southeast Asia

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