Land and resource rights - Zoning and mapping
Improving existing cultivars
Developing new crops
The impact of non-sustainable economic activities
New directions for development in Amazônia
Jason W. Clay & Charles R. Clement
Conservation is, a people issue more than a biological one. Environmental problems, like acid rain and ozone depletion don't create themselves, people do. Likewise, rainforests don't cut themselves, people do. If these issues are to be addressed head on, we need to look beyond the symptoms to the root causes.
The major causes of environmental degradation, including Amazonian rainforest destruction, are population pressure, poverty, greed and ignorance. These play their roles within the numerous; political systems of the modern world and economic models; designed to enhance industrial growth at the expense of natural resource conservation. Consequently, attempting to conserve biodiversity in Amazônia by preserving entire ecosystems is, not a viable option, because it fails to recognize the presence of a large human population in the region with all of their diverse preferences and needs. Conservation, defined as the wise use of resources to enhance the quality of present and future life, not preservation, is the key. In Amazônia, as in most of the Earth'- fragile ecosystems, it is a use it or lose it proposition.
Over millennia, people have interacted with the Amazonian forest, modifying it significantly from its primeval state. Thus, the forests of today are human creations; and are constantly used by long-term forest inhabitants and by newcomers to the region. According to some biologist there are not 10 km2 of Amazonian rainforests that have not been altered by people (Kent Redford, pers. com.). In addition, virtually all rainforests, in Amazônia or elsewhere in the humid tropics, are already claimed by someone. To degrade them, the rights of the people who already live there must be denied. In Brazil, for example, one indigenous group has disappeared each year since 1900, 90 groups out of 270. In other countries the situation is similar. Worldwide, cultural destruction precedes and even out paces the destruction of the forests.
The long-term survival of the rainforests and their residents depends upon the development of successful strategies to meet the economic needs of people while maintaining biodiversity. Fortunately, scientists and international and national development agencies are beginning to understand what forest residents have long known, namely that forests are capable of generating more income and employment than the same areas cleared for pasture or high tech modern agriculture.
Yet, to date, this is all theory, because the subsistence and extractive products obtained from the forest are not adequately valued in the economic model or are ignored completely. A practical model of sustainable forest development, with a more equitable relationship with external markets, has never been fully implemented or tested in a modern economy.
Forests were viewed exclusively as sources of industrial timber and all other forest products and services were ignored. An unforeseen consequence of this new view was the increased repression of forest peoples so that their timber could be extracted for the national and international markets and the improvement of the national balance of payments equation. Naturally, other forces act to repress forest peoples also, such as inter-ethnic political rivalries, colonization pressures, etc.
Only in the last decade has the tide started to swing back towards the earlier view of the forest as a storehouse of products and services. The momentum, however, remains with the "industrial" foresters and economists, because this restricted view of the forest favors those currently in political and economic positions of power. Even the term "non-timber forest products", used frequently, highlights the dominance of the industrial timber orientation.
This report discusses some of the factors necessary to develop and manage income-generating forests and what will be required to successfully process and market the numerous products that can be obtained from these forests. In addition, 19 chapters of this report provide information on specific species which appear to have considerable income-generating potential. Only a small sample of species which produce fruits, nuts, oils, flours, and/or resins have been selected, in order to highlight issues associated with achieving their potential. These issues will need to be addressed not only for these species, but also for others with similar products in other forests.
Obviously
the development and management of income-generating forests will
not be done in a vacuum. There are other important issues which,
although not the focus of this report, are essential
prerequisites to any successful attempts at commercializing
forest products. These issues - land and resource rights, the
improvement of existing and the search for new crops, the impact
of destructive economic activities, and new approaches to
development in Amazônia and elsewhere - are raised briefly here.
Clear and legal land tenure
and resource rights for forest residents are essential first
steps towards creating an economy based upon forest management
and a wide diversity of forest products and for conserving
Amazonian biodiversity. There are three specific areas that
deserve attention.
First, clear titling of those areas that are most densely occupied by traditional forest residents and new migrants [e.g. Indians, rubbertappers, caboclos (mixed blood riverine peoples), long-term peasant populations and recent colonists]. Such titles could take many forms, including Indian reserves, extractive reserves, or individual titles. In those areas where groups have only use rights (e.g. extractive reserves), clearly spelling out who has access to the resources, which resources can be used, and over what period of time, is extremely important.
Second, determine the regions in Amazônia with sufficient biodiversity to warrant protection, either in the form of limited access or of restricted economic use. If an area is already occupied, special efforts will need to be made to assist local groups in meeting their economic needs while limiting their impact on the environment. This type of zoning will be extremely important in conserving Amazonian biodiversity.
Third, identification of those regions that have already been degraded. Work on these areas will also need to focus on land titling and identification of resource management strategies to conserve remaining forests while investing in programs to reclaim degraded areas, preferentially with the creation of new income-generating forests. The point is to fix the colonists in their area so that they will not move on to other areas and degrade them also. In Pará and Rondônia many colonists are already extracting resources from the remaining forests in their areas. Their efforts should be encouraged by investing in transportation or processing systems, by providing better harvesting techniques and seedlings of valuable tree species, or by creating new markets for their products.
The physical act of delimiting and subsequently demarcating lands, whether for individual or communal title, could be greatly facilitated through the use of existing computer technology. At present two mapping efforts in Brazil are assisting Indians and rubbertappers to scan into computers (digitalize) all existing information about border coordinates. This not only allows individuals on the ground to use hand-held locators (GIS or Geographic Information Systems) to determine and mark precise boundaries (within 1 meter), it also allows satellite images to be scanned, in order to determine where boundaries are being illegally invaded by ranchers, colonists and gold miners. The large computer systems with scanning and mapping capacity cost about US$ 200,000 to set up and operate. The hand-held locators cost less than US$ 5,000 each. Demarcation of lands with up-to-date computer technology instead of traditional surveying technology would reduce demarcation costs by one-half.
Inventories
of biodiversity can be conducted using the same hand-held
locators which then store the data in a memory bank which can be
transfered to the main computer at the end of each day.
Eventually, data from such on-the-ground systems can be used by
planners or managers to see what the inventoried plot looks like
from the air and then do computer extrapolations from that area
to neighboring ones. While this system would become more accurate
over time, even in the beginning it could be a very useful tool
for identifying regions to be zoned for their biodiversity or for
their potential economic interest.
One of the concerns about
the loss of biodiversity in areas such as Amazônia is that at
least part of the diversity being lost has economic potential. In
some cases [e.g. cacao (Theobroma cacao),
rubber (Hevea brasiliense)],
the economic potential of former rainforest plants has been
realized, but to assure long-term production, in situ gene banks
will need to be preserved.
In other instances, although the potential has been realized, the contribution of Amazonian biodiversity may be less clearly recognized. For example, cassava (Manihot esculenta) is the second most important root crop globally after the potato (Solanum tuberosum) and presents enormous diversity in the region. Pineapple (Ananas comosus), which is probably native to Amazônia, is one of the most important tropical fruits today. Timbó (Lonchocarpus timbo), another native, is the source of rotenone, a natural insecticide. Annatto/urucum (Bixa orellana) and guaraná (Paullinia cupana) are both important Amazonian products that are now mostly produced in monoculture plantations in other areas. How important is it to preserve the many varieties of these plants, both in the wild and cultivated by indigenous people in Amazônia? Amazonian germplasm is essential for continued improvement of these species.
The continued existence of species variation in the wild will afford plant breeders a better chance of creating new disease-resistant varieties for cultivation in the future. Our agricultural history shows quite clearly that new diseases will evolve to attack the varieties that we depend upon today. To put it more succinctly, a world without rainforests will surely be a world without chocolate.
Regions identified for in situ genetic conservation should definitely include those areas with the greatest number of plant varieties with known economic value, as well as those with the greatest economic potential (some of which are cited in the following chapters). In situ conservation of the genetic diversity of cultivated crops can be undertaken most efficiently with the people that developed them and that continue to use them today. This means that cultural conservation should go hand-in-hand with genetic and biodiversity conservation.
With the genetic diversity conserved, new efforts will need to be undertaken to widen the genetic base of the major crops native to South America and widely used in the region. Because of the great diversity of pests, diseases and weeds in Amazônia, these crops will need not only the wider genetic base already mentioned, but they will need to be modified to adapt to multispecies environments (eg agroforestry systems) because most small holders do not have the capital necessary to maintain them adequately as monocultures. Most of these species were originally domesticated in agroforestry systems but modern improvement programs have adapted them to monoculture. The wider genetic base for resistance to pests and diseases and tolerance to weed competition should be combined with diverse agroecosystems so that this resistance is maintained for longer than would be the case in monoculture.
The
recognition of this new direction in the improvement of these
crops is only now dawning in the research institutes that will be
responsible for the majority of the work. With the genetic
resources native to Amazônia that are still adapted to
agroforestry systems, it will not be difficult to modify the
agroecological adaptation of the major crops.
Another facet of the
undeveloped economic potential of Amazônia is the large number
of potential crops that are not yet widely utilized or at least
that are not produced for the market economy.
The list of Amazonian cultivars that have already found their way around the world is respectable, but it is merely a tiny fraction of what has already been domesticated by the Amerindians and used by them and peasants throughout the region. There are about a dozen domesticated fruit crops in Amazônia and another 40 or 50 that have been or still are cultivated by Indians and caboclos. A half dozen vegetable and root crops have also been domesticated. Five to ten local nut species are similar or superior in quality to Brazil nuts. At least 20 palms offer fruits with widely varying oil characteristics. Each Amerindian tribe has from 20 to 50 medicinal plants that have not been adequately screened for use in modern pharmacology. Numerous Amazonian plants have compounds that act as insecticides, fungicides, and preservatives, many of which are known to and used by the Indians and caboclos.
Many rainforest species offer tremendous potential as both income and food sources for forest residents, not to mention for countries as a whole. Most Third World countries face the problem of feeding growing populations on shrinking per capita land base. Amazonian countries are no exception. The problem is, however, that many of the major crops in these countries, as well as the systems of land management, are imported, and are not well suited to Amazônia There are, however, indigenous species and cultivation practices that not only produce respectable yields but could also reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
EMBRAPA (Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research) has recently recognized that Amazonian agricultural development needs to include extractivism, forest management, and agroforestry. For EMBRAPA these are all unconventional practices, more oriented towards the small holder and the conservation of biodiversity, than are conventional agricultural approaches. To make the production of marketable crops work within this framework, new crops will need to be discovered, in addition to the five well-studied perennial plantation options - rubber, oil palm, black pepper, cacao, and coffee.
Each of these five crops has serious problems. Rubber is susceptible to leaf blights when produced in monoculture plantations in Amazônia It is not yet known how densely forests can be enriched with rubber before leaf blight becomes a problem. Likewise, cacao is susceptible to witches' broom and monilia pod rot. There are some 100,000 hectares of cacao planted in Amazônia Most are in medium to large holdings and the owners are not willing to pay the labor costs to maintain the plantations in a disease-free state. The 200,000 hectares of coffee in Amazônia mostly in Rondônia, are productive for only eight years. Can they be maintained sustainably? Black pepper lives for only six years and then must be replanted in a new area because of nematodes and root rot. African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is starting to be attacked by diseases new to the species after only 20 years near Belém, Pará. Can an infusion of germplasm from the American oil palm (E. oleifera) save this agroindustry?
Even if each of the production problems identified above can be solved in the short to medium term, national and international markets are already at or near saturation for all of these products. The reason for this saturation is that all tropical countries are using the same five crops and trying to be more competitive than the next country through improved germplasm, improved agronomy, lower land and labor costs or proximity to markets. Amazônia is coming late to this competition and is at a competitive disadvantage.
Consequently, research needs to be undertaken to identify new species with economic potential and to initiate the domestication of those most likely to have markets in the short and medium terms. This work has started, although never as a primary objective of any major institution. Such work should be strengthened at all existing institutes. Perhaps a rainforest development institute could be established to coordinate this type of research effort. Regional capacity could also be developed to improve new crops genetically and technologically for local agricultural and environmental conditions, as well as for national and international markets. It is precisely this scientific capacity that is a major limiting factor to Amazonian development, although EMBRAPA, INPA (the National Research Institute for Amazônia) and several state institutions have capable staff.
Specifically, the work on new crops will need to include:
1. Developing a database on Amazonian species, including historic and ethnobotanical uses as well as current research, experiments and field trials being undertaken by Indians, rubbertappers and caboclos. The regular publication, and distribution to users, of compendiums on major groups of species (e.g. fruit, nut, root, vegetable, oil, essential oil, gum/resin/latex, medicinal, timber) is essential;
2. Evaluating the market potential of specific species and major species groups to establish priorities. This should be done in collaboration with commercial and marketing entrepreneurs so as to better husband scarce resources and better identify priorities;
3. Collecting, characterizing (including nutritive, chemical, and technical analyses), evaluating and conserving germplasm of priority species ex situ, and identifying priority areas for in situ conservation of important concentrations of their diversity;
4. Developing efficient seed and vegetative propagation techniques for each priority species, including in vitro techniques if less sophisticated techniques prove to be inadequate;
5. Selecting outstanding germplasm of priority species to distribute to growers and for continued improvement;
6. Producing extension materials on new crops for forest residents, farmers, processors, and businesses.
Such
research would require an overall investment of tens, if not
hundreds, of millions of US dollars over the next few decades.
Research could begin, however, with a more restricted focus.
Income can also be generated through the sale of information to
businesses. However it is done, the money spent will definitely
yield significant returns to its sponsors and to the people of
Amazônia
Most of those who dismiss
the potential of extractive economies for developing sustainable
sources of income for forest - residents do so with insufficient
critical examination of-the long-term negative environmental
impacts of current Amazonian" development activities, such
as mining, logging, hydro-electric dams, ranching or large-scale
plantation agriculture. The fact that extractivism has
historically been an important activity and continues to be so
today, suggests that improving its efficiency and social equity
should be a development objective in the region. This is
especially true if the improvements are made with the intention
of conserving biodiversity while improving human carrying
capacity in Amazônia.
The relative value of extractivism, both current and improved, can be better understood in the context of the long-term economic costs of the various types of environmental degradation associated with most conventional development - programs in Amazônia today. Among these are: water pollution (by sediments, chemicals and heavy metals - the 600,000 gold miners in Amazônia are responsible for 8% of the mercury released into the Earth's atmosphere each year and have already contaminated some of the major tributaries of the Amazon River); declining soil fertility and the eventual abandonment of huge areas used inappropriately for agriculture and ranching; increases in malaria and other diseases associated with mining and colonization; loss of biodiversity; and the release of carbon and greenhouse gases (while the average Brazilian does not release nearly as much carbon as the average American per year, recent research shows that the average Amazonian colonist produces more carbon than any other identifiable group on the planet).
If these
impacts are treated as components of the cost of production,
rather than as "externalities", conventional
development alternatives must be viewed as generally
anti-economic in Amazônia. While we don't expect these
externalities to be adequately internalized in the immediate
future, recognition of their long-term impacts reenforces the
argument in favor of extractivism, forest management and other
environmentally friendly development alternatives.
Most development and
production programs should concentrate on areas that are already
well populated so as to prevent new colonization in largely
uninhabited regions. These areas fall into two types.
First, those areas that are currently inhabited by long-term extractivists, whether Indian, rubbertapper, or caboclo. Helping these groups make a better living should be a priority, knowing full well that what they see as a decent living is constantly changing. In addition, the rules of the game are changing - laws, policies, markets, subsidies for pasture and agricultural alternatives to the sustainable use of forests. If these long-term forest residents cannot survive with the opportunities currently available to them, they will be inclined to degrade their own areas, move to other areas and degrade these also, be forced to work for others who would have them clear the forests for other purposes, or abandon their areas, not only leaving them defenseless to newcomers but also swelling the ranks of the urban unemployed in the region. Incidentally, most people in Amazônia already live in cities, and some 60 percent of them are unemployed or underemployed.
Second, those once-forested areas that have already been degraded by recent colonists. This type of region is important for three reasons. 1) Because of past degradation, the area will not support agriculture or livestock in the medium to long term. It: is imperative to get as many of these areas as possible back into tree crops before the soils become permanently degraded. 2) If colonists cannot be kept in these areas by helping them make a decent living, they will continue to migrate further into the forests, repeating their mistakes along the way. 3) Whoever can institute programs that will turn project failures (eg Rondônia) into successes will receive considerable attention and will have a great deal of influence in discussions on successful development programs for the region as a whole.
Whether they work with long-term residents or new colonists, programs should be tailored to the needs and skills of the intended beneficiaries. Beneficiaries all need land rights if they are to protect their resource bases in the short term, much less plant trees for some longer-term payoff. Land rights are only the first step. Land rights, whether through demarcated Indian areas, extractive reserves, or individual titles, are only token gestures unless the groups are organized to protect their rights and the legal system is prepared to hear their cases.
Even land rights and locally organized groups will not necessarily guarantee sustainable development and the conservation of biodiversity. There are probably no more than a handful of individuals out of the millions of people in Amazônia who want to live exactly as their parents did. Most have new wants and needs, and to fulfill them they are using resources differently - even the long-term residents, Indian groups and extractivists. As they become more integrated into the market economy they need to know how to modify traditional production systems in ways that produce more for sale or trade while not degrading the resource base upon which they and future generations will depend.
Many sections of this report address precisely these issues - adding value through transport or local processing of raw materials, identifying and increasing the density of income-generating species, expanding existing markets and creating new ones, diversifying production, and so on.
The most important point, however, is to get beyond production in our thinking. Development programs can no longer center exclusively on identifying products that can be produced sustainably or getting the product to the farm or forest gate. They also have to address the related issues of markets and value. Added value for products can lead to increased income from less overall production, thus conserving resources while using less land, labor and capital. Adding value is also important socially. Traditionally both extractivists and their products have been looked down upon in Brazil and elsewhere. If we merely help such groups enter the market through production, they will end up in the marketplace exactly where they are in the social scheme of things today - at the bottom. These people and products can play a very important role in helping us save one of the most important ecosystems on the planet; but to do this they want a better quality of life.
The market-oriented activities of forest groups and colonists will change the forests forever. That is a fact. The forests of Amazônia cannot be preserved entirely in their natural state. Hopefully, they can be conserved - conservation through use. The current forest residents, even though they use Amazônia's fragile resources, are the best hope for protecting it. But they will not be satisfied to live a life of poverty in order to insure the quality of everyone's air or the genetic diversity that might save lives or feed others.
Work will need to be undertaken both with forest groups and with recent colonists to zone Amazônia into areas of protected and restricted use, of extraction and limited clearing and agriculture, of intensively manipulated agroforestry and annual and perennial agriculture and/or livestock. Zoning should be used to protect those areas which are deemed important strategically.
More than half of Amazônia's inhabitants are recent colonists or the descendants of those who moved into the region under the military government. No strategy to save the region's biodiversity will succeed if the needs of this group are not addressed. Many colonists in western Amazônia in areas like Rondônia and Acre, are attempting to live on land that is half cleared. Many have begun to harvest forest products as part of their survival strategy. In those cases, programs to add value to such products will benefit these people. Likewise, programs to increase the density of income-generating species in their remaining forests would eventually provide them with increased income as well.
Perhaps the most important initiative, though, would be to work with such groups to put more of their degraded areas into perennial crops. Few economic studies exist, however, regarding the profitability of these tree crops so far from major markets. Without such information it is hard to determine which perennial crops should be encouraged. Logically, emphasis should be placed on trees that produce marketable crops within a few years. Improved or state-of-the-art processing can also help the colonists benefit from improved market potential. For example, cacao from Rondônia is very high in quality, but is worth very little on the world market because it is so poorly processed. Better processing, then, would serve to assist colonists in making a better living where they are, rather than moving and cutting more forests.
Another important Amazonian group that needs to become part of the overall effort to sustainably develop the region and conserve its biodiversity is the urban poor. If this group sees the Amazonian forest as essential to its own survival, they will form political alliances with similar groups in rural areas. Together they can become a majority - and a potentially powerful political movement.
One way to involve the urban poor in sustainable development and the conservation of biodiversity, as well as in ongoing political relationships with the rural poor, is through the processing of forest products. It often makes little sense (depending, of course, on the commodity) to process forest products in the forest itself. Usually it is better to transport the product to neighboring towns or cities for processing and packaging for sale in national or international markets. One way to insure that local processing benefits both urban and rural poor is to set up the factories so that they are owned by both. Collectors in the forest would own 50% and processors in the cities would own 50% of the operation. This agreement has the added advantage of encouraging both groups to insure that the factory is profitable.
This volume
represents an attempt to redirect the thinking about development
in Amazônia. Many peoples' experiences are summarized here. When
summed, they show the need for new or modified directions for
strategies to protect biodiversity, harvest, process and/or
market forest products, and generate income for Amazonian
residents - Indian and colonist, rubbertapper and caboclo,
rural and urban. While this volume is limited to a discussion of
species and strategies specific to Amazônia, the approach is
applicable to most tropical forest areas in the world.