Search

A widespread concern among ethnobiologists is the rapid process of erosion of indigenous environmental knowledge observed worldwide. This paper examines the ongoing transformations of knowledge about natural remedies in the Quechua-speaking Andes. Freelisting exercises and interviews were conducted with 36 households at Bolivian and Peruvian study sites. (Generalized) linear mixed-effects models were used to analyze the effects of age on knowledge about medicinal plants, animals, minerals, and their uses. Our study demonstrates that younger participants knew as much about natural remedies as their elders. However, proportional knowledge about some medicinal use categories of natural remedies varied with age. We conclude that knowledge about natural remedies is generally not being lost at the study sites. Nevertheless, it is undergoing transformations in terms of specific medicinal uses. A careful understanding of these complex transformation processes is needed to better orient initiatives for the conservation of biocultural diversity in the Andes and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on environmental change often highlights the importance of public policies as a key driver of land use and land cover change. However, demonstration of policy impacts in agricultural settings has been hampered by the lack of systematic analysis across landholders, who may not universally adopt government policy incentives, or time periods, which may be associated with differing policy regimes. This paper evaluates the importance of voluntary adoption of policy incentives offered by Peruvian government administrations over two decades for land-use among small farmers in the Peruvian Amazon. The analysis focuses on whether farmers adopted one or more policy incentives in order to observe the effects on land uses including mature forest, agricultural crops, cattle pasture, and secondary growth. We employ multivariate statistical models to estimate the effects of policy adoption while controlling for other factors. The findings show that distinct policies are associated with particular land-uses and largely follow expectations. Specifying policy incentives promulgated by governments and differentiating among adopters and non-adopters advances understanding of the impacts of public policies on land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the material, discursive, and biophysical dimensions of fuelscapes, or energy landscapes. Ethnographic and ecological fieldwork was conducted in the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary, Peru. Andean land use studies have focused on agricultural patterns such as vertical production zones. Fuelscapes are an important, energy-based means of producing and representing landscape. They show how uncultivated lands fit into livelihood strategies and reflect historic sedimentation of landscape. Fuelscapes are shaped by ecological characteristics, historic settlement patterns and property rights, gendered and intergenerational divisions in household labor, and state conservation policies. Conservation policies delimit fuelscapes to privilege live trees, but the resultant denudation of dead wood may carry implications for ecosystem health. This study elucidates how official policies intersect with household and communal resource use strategies to produce Andean fuelscapes. It provides insight into how uncultivated ecosystems fit into land use politics, practices, and representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-scale fisheries in developing countries are often vital to the livelihoods of the rural poor, yet the dynamic and variable nature of household engagement in local fisheries remains poorly understood. This paper describes a small-scale fishery for aquarium fish in two proximate villages of the Peruvian Amazon, and explains observed differences within and between villages in participation, reliance and organisation of the fishery. A framework is developed to guide the systematic description and characterisation of small-scale fisheries organisation in Amazonia and beyond. An improved understanding of the socioeconomic factors that shape the organisation of artisanal freshwater fisheries promises to better inform research and management initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable local fisheries and poverty reduction among fishers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]