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

Reyes-Garcia, V and Pascual, U and Vadez, V and et al, . (2011) The Role of Ethnobotanical Skills and Agricultural Labor in Forest Clearance: Evidence from the Bolivian Amazon. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 40 (3). pp. 310-321. ISSN 0044-7447

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Abstract

Research on the benefits of local ecological knowledge for conservation lacks empirical data on the pathways through which local knowledge might affect natural resources management. We test whether ethnobotanical skills, a proxy for local ecological knowledge, are associated to the clearance of forest through their interaction with agricultural labor. We collected information from men in a society of gatherers–horticulturalist, the Tsimane’ (Bolivia). Data included a baseline survey, a survey of ethnobotanical skills (n = 190 men), and two surveys on agricultural labor inputs (n = 466 plots). We find a direct effect of ethnobotanical skills in lowering the extent of forest cleared in fallow but not in old-growth forest. We also find that the interaction between ethnobotanical skills and labor invested in shifting cultivation has opposite effects depending on whether the clearing is done in old-growth or fallow forest. We explain the finding in the context of Tsimane’ increasing integration to the market economy

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
CRP:	UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Ethnobotanical skills – Labor inputs – Market integration – Slash-and-burn agriculture – Tsimane’ (Bolivia)
Subjects:	Others > Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
Depositing User:	Ms K Syamalamba
Date Deposited:	10 Apr 2012 09:40
Last Modified:	13 Aug 2013 05:07
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/5861
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13280-010-0107-3
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	UNSPECIFIED
Links:	Author

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