Human ecological dimensions in sustainable utilization and conservation of tropical mountain rain forests under global change in southern Ecuador

Abstract

Profound knowledge of region-specific human ecological parameters is crucial for the sustainable utilization and conservation of tropical mountain rain forests in southern Ecuador, a region with heterogenic ethnic, socio-cultural and socio-economic structures. In order to satisfy the objectives of forest conservation on the one hand and the utilization claims of the local population on the other, an integrated concept of nature conservation and sustainable land use development is being sought (e.g. Ellenberg 1993). Within the human ecological research project of the German Research Foundation (DFG) presented here, four research topics have been explored in detail in indigenous Shuar and Saraguro as well as local Mestizo communities of southern Ecuador: Research topic 1 is concerned with the use of wild plants and local agrobiodiversity. In the research area land use is focused on cattle ranching, which poses the main threat to forests and to biodiversity. Based on an ethnobotanical survey conducted in Shuar, Saraguro and Mestizo communities, the use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and the cultivation of plant species in demand in home gardens have been identified as promising options for increasing household incomes. Research topic 2 deals with the local people’s perception and evaluation of the natural environment, environmental stress/risk factors and conservation measures. Although deforestation is an ongoing process within the research area, Saraguro and Mestizo farmers clearly prefer to live in areas with forest and highly value the economic functions of the forests, e.g. as an agricultural reserve which can be inherited by their children. Conservation measures have long since been established in the research area, but local people are not aware and have not been informed about resource use regulations and restrictions. Research topic 3 investigates livelihood strategies of local communities which to varying degrees depend on natural resources. Whereas the Shuar’s livelihood strategies to a large extent depend on subsistence agriculture (shifting cultivation) combined with fishing, hunting, and gathering of wild plants, the Saraguros and Mestizos are mainly engaged in agro-pastural activities that combine market economy (cattle ranching) and subsistence economy (crop production and horticulture). Research topic 4 is concerned with the determination of the political and administrative use agreements including land tenure systems. North of Podocarpus National Park current land use and land tenure conflicts are founded primarily on the colonization process starting in the 1950s, and are severely dependent on state policies on land adjudication, increase of accessibility, and national or international concern for nature conservation and environmental protection. Despite the remoteness of many communities living in the tropical rainforests of southern Ecuador, the local people have never been completely isolated from global processes of ecological, political, cultural and economic changes. Recently, the research area was declared as Biosphere Reserve Podocarpus – El Cóndor. Since biosphere reserves are strongly rooted in cultural contexts, in southern Ecuador it thus can be the vehicle for protecting tropical mountain ecosystems and developing sustainable forms of land use at the same time.