Table of Contents Minimum Conflict: Guidelines for Planning the Use of American Humid Tropic Environments Table of Contents GOVERNMENT OF PERU ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS Department of Regional Development Washington, D.C. 1987 All rights reserved © 1987 by Organization of American States Washington, D.C. This report was produced under the project "Case Study of Environmental Management: Integrated Development of an area in the Humid Tropics - The Selva Central of Peru" with support from the United Nations Environment Programme. UNEP does not necessarily share all the views expressed, but welcomes publication as a means to encourage a wider discussion of the environmental management. Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgements http://www.oas.org/usde/publications/Unit/oea37e/begin.htm (1 of 5) [4/14/2000 10:54:32 AM] Table of Contents Executive summary Chapter 1 - Introduction Methods of the study Bibliography Chapter 2 - Concepts of environmental management Human quality of life Human environment Natural resources and the concept of goods, services and hazards Environmental management Environmentally sound development Bibliography Chapter 3 - Legal, governmental, and institutional authority in the Central Selva of Peru Principal natural resource legislation Institutional authority Enforcement problems Chapter 4 - Major ecosystems of the American humid tropics with emphasis on the Central Selva of Peru Classification of the American humid tropics Classification of the Central Selva within the American humid tropics Protection of major ecosystems in the humid tropics Conflicts between protected areas and other types of natural resource use Bibliography Chapter 5 - Water resources Water resources in the Central Selva of Peru Present water use and existing development plans Measures required for water exploitation Identification of conflicts with other interests Bibliography Chapter 6 - Wildlife Wildlife exploitation: Goods Wildlife exploitation: Services Wildlife exploitation: Management Conflicts and compatibility between wildlife conservation and use and other activities Areas of compatibility between the wildlife sector and other sectors Bibliography http://www.oas.org/usde/publications/Unit/oea37e/begin.htm (2 of 5) [4/14/2000 10:54:32 AM] Table of Contents Chapter 7 - Health factors affecting settlement of the American humid tropics Parasitic diseases Viral diseases Diseases produced by Bacteria, Rickettsia, and Spirochaetes Mycotic diseases Fauna harmful to man Medicinal plants Bibliography Chapter 8 - Human occupation of the Central Selva of Peru Geography of human settlements History of the Central Selva The Central Selva since 1940 Problems confronting settlements in the humid tropics Bibliography Chapter 9 - Agriculture Natural goods and services Agriculture today Agricultural development limitations in the Central Selva Sectoral problems and conflicts Bibliography Chapter 10 - Ranching Factors detrimental to the livestock industry Ranching's interaction with other sectors Bibliography Chapter 11 - Forestry Use of wood and other forest products Present and future forest use The timber industry Lumber marketing Forest management alternatives Forest development and colonization experiences in the Central Selva Bibliography Chapter 12 - Fisheries The aquatic ecosystem The Peruvian Amazon fishery Significant relationships between fishing and other development activities http://www.oas.org/usde/publications/Unit/oea37e/begin.htm (3 of 5) [4/14/2000 10:54:32 AM] Table of Contents Bibliography Chapter 13 - Minerals and petroleum Mining in the Central Selva Petroleum activity in the Central Selva Factors limiting mining and drilling in the Central Selva Interactions between the mining and petroleum industries and others Guidelines for mining and petroleum planning in the Central Selva Bibliography Chapter 14 - Transportation in the humid tropics Introduction Evolution of transportation in the Selva Transportation in the Central Selva today Road construction and improvement Bibliography Chapter 15 - Renewable and non-conventional energy sources Small hydroelectric plants Biomass energy Solar energy Wind energy Conflicts and interactions between alternative energy use and other sectors Bibliography Chapter 16 - Guidelines, recommendations and observations Introduction Ecosystem structure and function Conflict identification Colonization: Pressures and problems Directed occupation and authorized uses of the humid tropics Land use capability Agriculture Forestry Livestock management Prior inhabitants and uses Spontaneous migration Monitoring International development assistance agencies Observations on political will Bibliography http://www.oas.org/usde/publications/Unit/oea37e/begin.htm (4 of 5) [4/14/2000 10:54:32 AM] Table of Contents Appendix regional modelling Bibliography Glossary Abbreviations http://www.oas.org/usde/publications/Unit/oea37e/begin.htm (5 of 5) [4/14/2000 10:54:32 AM] Preface Preface MINIMUM CONFLICT: GUIDELINES FOR PLANNING THE USE OF AMERICAN HUMID TROPIC ENVIRONMENTS Minimum Conflict: Guidelines for Planning the Use of American Humid Tropic Environments represents the Phase I report of the OAS/UNEP/Government of Peru sponsored project: "Case Study of Environmental Management: Integrated Development of An Area in the Humid Tropics - The Selva Central of Peru." To a large degree this effort is a follow-up of the OAS/UNEP/Government of Argentina study of the Upper Bermejo River Basin of Argentina in 1975-1977 which sought to develop a planning methodology for river basins in semiarid areas. The results of this early study were published in 1978 as a small book, Environmental Quality and River Basin Development: A Model for Integrated Analysis and Planning. Both of these studies have their basis in Resolution 61 of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment Action Plan, which requests that research be undertaken to design practical planning methodologies for distinct categories of development activity in specific individual biomes and which would include "concern for the environment" as an integral part of development planning. This follow-up study began at a crucial moment in Latin American history. A number of other countries were considering major development of their own tropical areas. Mineral and petroleum exploration, combined with mounting economic and social pressures, were creating waves of spontaneous migration, while conservation groups worldwide were publicizing the plight of the tropics and their inhabitants. Premature descriptions of the tropics as uninhabited and "rich" were leading to uncontrolled migration to areas with a long history of failed and failing projects. Development planners were caught short, since the vast majority of planning experience had been in temperate and arid areas, while the environmentalists had barely begun to understand the astonishing diversity of the rainforest species. But what made 1980 a good time to undertake such a study, was that by now "environment" and "development" were no longer mutually exclusive terms. For after nearly 15 years of conflict, environmentalists and the development community show signs of coming together. When the environmental movement began, it was somewhat fragmented into sectoral interests, prone to hasty analyses and confrontational pronouncements. But this movement has changed substantially. It is now more coherent in its goals and more understanding of the pressures on the Third World. At the same time, the international development community made efforts to improve its "environmental" behavior, and a number of its members signed in 1980 the "Declaration of Environmental Principles and Procedures Relating to Economic Development." The development community had finally learned that no matter where a project was to be undertaken, other plans and projects already existed, other interests were involved, and all of these needed to be considered. More and more, both groups realized that neither the technology of development nor the technology of environmental concern were easy to transfer from the developed temperate areas to the "underdeveloped" http://www.oas.org/usde/publications/Unit/oea37e/ch01.htm (1 of 2) [4/14/2000 10:54:34 AM] Preface tropics. Environmental impact assessments were expensive, and relevant information was too often unavailable. The mechanisms of governance in tropical areas proved difficult to adapt to a system of decision making that includes public participation and open competition between interest groups, and even when specific problems were fully and fairly stated, they were easy neither to understand nor to solve. Realizing their mutual dilemma, developers and environmentalists began to study concepts such as "basic human needs," "appropriate technology," and "appropriate styles of development," which have helped them to work together. Rarely now does one hear of the need to conserve, or of the need to develop, without hearing that specific conservation efforts are necessary for long-term equitable development. Despite the changes on both sides, however, some human beings still suffer the degradation of their environments because other human environments have been improved; the commons are still not managed to provide for the common good, and the number of the disenchanted and the disenfranchised continues to grow. In this light, the development work of the Government of Peru in the Central