| European
Tropical Forest Research Network |
INDIGENOUS FOREST OWNERS: DOES HIGHER INCOME MEAN HIGHER PRESSURE?
By Han Overman and Josefien Demmer
Trade links with external markets play a central role in strategies that aim to merge improved local welfare with conservation goals. Meanwhile, external knowledge and communication links increasingly lead to the legal demarcation of indigenous territories. Quantitative information about how natural resource use changes when indigenous people become wealthier and more integrated into the market is, however, still scarce. We studied these effects for 2.5 years in the recently approved Tawahka Biosphere Reserve in the Honduran rain forest, by comparing the economic behaviour of a range of households from poor and isolated to wealthy and connected with the outside world, and the effect on forest plants and animals.
The field data provided quantitative insights into:
Changing forest use
Forest use appeared to intensify as wealth increased (i.e. the actual value
of household assets) and integration into the market (cash transactions with
outsiders). Wealthier Tawahka consumed more hardwood, thatch and wildlife. However,
the relationship was not linear but instead had an inverted u-shape, with top
households consuming less forest products than mid-range ones. In terms of cash
income from detrimental activities and agricultural area, forest use increased
linearly in a statistically significant way with wealth and integration. We
found that doubling wealth corresponded with a 47% increase in forest cash income
and 40% in agricultural area. The figures for the market integration level were
74% and 38%. Consumption of agricultural products went up by 46% when wealth
or market integration doubled. Consumption of cacao, rice, domesticated meat
and dairy products increased , while that of traditional crops like cassava,
maize and sugarcane decreased (see Demmer and Overman, 2001 for exact figures).
The consumption of industrial products (e.g. hardware, sugar, soft drinks, coffee,
cooking fat, flour) went up by 38%, on average.
Woody species used for canoe building and house construction, such as mahogany, cedar, laurel and santa maria, and thatching leaves face more pressure when people become wealthier or more integrated into the market. The same applies to almost all wildlife species (armadillo, collared and white-lipped peccary, tapir, deer, monkeys and larger, non-predatory birds. The hypothesis that larger species will be depleted first, after which people switch to smaller species, is refuted. Time becomes more precious and people hunt whatever they encounter. The affordability of bullets leads to a huge increase in pressure on non-terrestrials (monkeys, birds). For most households, domesticated meat is too expensive to replace bush meat on a regular basis.
Effects on the forest
We studied effects of wealth and market integration in an isolated and relatively
poor village as well as in a more integrated and relatively wealthy one. The
rainforest surrounding the isolated and poorer village contained 40% more good
quality adult trees and 10% more good quality young trees than the forest surrounding
the wealthier and more integrated village. Around the wealthier village there
were clear indications that white-tailed deer, capuchin and spider monkey, collared
peccary, crested guan and great curassow were being over-hunted. No species
was locally depleted, though, presumably because there is still ample sparsely
populated forest outside the reserve for replenishment and keeping most wildlife
populations genetically healthy.
Sustainable use?
To gain more knowledge on sustainable use, we compared yearly human extraction
with production rates in the forest. Contrary to common perception, yearly stem
growth, as well as the number of individual trees per hectare of good quality
species, appeared inherently low. Adding mortality figures (98% of the trees
never become 'giant'), this explainsthe large extraction areas. Conservative
calculations show that with current extraction rates and numbers of families
the Tawahka need half of their biosphere for ecologically sustainable use. It
should be noted that we optimistically estimated the density at 1.0 mahogany
trees per hectare (dbh >10 cm), while the scant literature available refers
to 'less than one per ha'. If mahogany abundance turns out to be 0.5 trees per
ha, then the area needed for sustainable use doubles and the Tawahka are already
at the boundaries of their territory.
This is where the global community could step in. The sustainable production potential of tropical soils and forests is generally too low to finance local welfare aspirations and may well lead to internal conflicts over the use of communal resources. In compliance with, for example, CO2 reduction and biodiversity obligations, governments or their representative international bodies could agree to compensate villagers for the foregone benefits of exploiting rain forests beyond sustainable levels. The parties involved would have to reach agreement on the specifics of implementation, but this could be a promising long-term management strategy because it covers the direct interests of the stakeholders: the avoidance of national/global damage costs and biodiversity loss, the improvement of local living standards and rain forest conservation.
Indigenous reserves may be good initial locations to learn. If, however, governments endowed with tropical forest can be convinced that nothing grows sustainably on most tropical soils but rainforest and that developed countries are willing to pay competitively for it being left alone, there may be opportunities to convert other, more recent forest inhabitants, into forest managers as well.
Reference:
Demmer J. and Overman, H. (2001). Indigenous people conserving the rain forest?
The effect of wealth and markets on the economic behaviour of Tawahka Amerindians
in Honduras. Tropenbos Series 19. Tropenbos International, Wageningen, Netherlands.
Further information:
Dr Han Overman
AGIDS, University of Amsterdam
Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130
1018 VZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
E-mail: h_overman@hotmail.com