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Hybridizing Indigenous and Modern Knowledge Systems: the Potential for Sustainable Development Through Increased Trade in Neo- Traditional Agroforestry Products T.H

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Hybridizing Indigenous and Modern Knowledge Systems: the Potential for Sustainable Development Through Increased Trade in Neo- Traditional Agroforestry Products T.H California in the World Economy Chapter V Chapter V: Hybridizing Indigenous and Modern Knowledge Systems: The Potential for Sustainable Development through Increased Trade in Neo- Traditional Agroforestry Products T.H. Culhane Introduction .............................................................................................................157 1. A Consideration of the Problem.........................................................................160 1.1 Deforestation: A Prime Driver of Outmigration to California......................160 1.2 A Determination of the Causes........................................................................161 2 The Maya Breadnut Solution: ............................................................................161 2.1 The Case for Ramón........................................................................................162 2.2 Perceived Disadvantages of Ramón: Barriers to market entry..........................170 2.3 The emphasis is on information.......................................................................177 2.4 Seizing the day: California’s Potential for Competitive Leadership in Ramón Production ............................................................................................................178 3. Maya Silviculture: Agroforestry as Agricultural Policy .......................................180 3.1 Attacking the Problem at Its Root:...................................................................180 3.2 Forest Farming as Solution..............................................................................180 3.3 Forest Valuation Exercises: Conceiving Different Forms of Capital ................181 3.4 Moving toward Postmodern Deindustrialization in Agriculture ......................182 4. A Best Practice Model: Proyecto Iximché and Sustainable Devlopment.............185 4.1 The Don Pedro Development Strategy:............................................................186 4.2 From degraded land to enhanced productivity: ................................................187 4.3 Semi-Proletarian/Semi-Peasant Strategies .......................................................188 4.4 Production plan:..............................................................................................190 4.5 Applying the Agroforestry Model...................................................................191 4.6 Agrosilvipastoralism: The Rain-Forest/Ranch-Forest ......................................191 4.7 The promise of "Agro-Tourism"......................................................................193 5. Lessons Learned: An Exploration of the Historical and Theoretical Information Necessary to Make a Decision:.................................................................................194 5.1 Why other regional development and rainforest conservation policies are doomed to fail. ...................................................................................................................194 5.2 Vulnerabilities of current NTFP markets.........................................................196 5.3 Historical Perspective and Review..................................................................197 5.4 Neo-traditional Rainforest Products and other Forest Valuation Options: ........198 5.5 Getting there from here: Politics vs. Biology and Technology.........................200 5.6 Using Carbon Offset Trading to Stimulate both Economies.............................202 6. Policies for Longevity Planning – using the promise of globalization ...................203 6.1 We are What We Eat.......................................................................................203 6.2 Population and Deforestation – a Necessary Correlation?................................206 6.3 Summary and Recommendations ....................................................................208 156 California in the World Economy Chapter V Bibliography: ...........................................................................................................211 WEBSITES: ....................................................................................................................................... 223 APPENDICES:................................................................................................................................... 224 Appendix I: Nutritional Analyses of Ramón............................................................224 Appendix II: The Ramón Product Line:....................................................................226 Details of Product Line .........................................................................................227 The Leaves ...........................................................................................................227 Zoo Browse: .........................................................................................................227 The Seeds .............................................................................................................228 Ramón flour..........................................................................................................229 Tree sap................................................................................................................231 The Fruit...............................................................................................................232 The Wood.............................................................................................................233 Carbon Trading.....................................................................................................234 Animal Nutrition...................................................................................................236 Biodiversity Enhancement: ...................................................................................237 Other Species of Brosimum of potential commercial importance: .........................237 Appendix III: Economic and Environmental Advantages of Tree Cereals in Comparison with Corn and Pasture: .........................................................................237 157 CHAPTER V HYBRIDIZING INDIGENOUS AND MODERN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS: THE POTENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH INCREASED TRADE IN NEO-TRADITIONAL AGROFORESTRY PRODUCTS T.H. Culhane “He participado en viajes de intercambio en Centro America y Espana, y mi anhelo es demostrar que hay metodos y formulas mas sencillas para vivir en armonia con la naturaleza, utilizando elementos que provienen de todas las culturas del mundo pero especialmente de la cultura Maya que es la nuestra. Y que puede constituir un modelo a retomar desde ahora para las nuevas generaciones1.” – Don Pedro Gonazalo Cuc Garcia, Maya Quiché Development Specialist "Ramón is the most useful plant in the world." – Don Samuel, Maya Itza forester and guide at Sayaxché Ecotourism Lodge, Petén, Guatemala. Introduction In a world where market demand in the United States determines the fate of the forests and the forest peoples of the world, and development funds and policies are driven by globalized economic transactions, gringo familiarity with sustainable natural resources and indigenous resource management techniques can make the difference between hometown opportunity or forced migration for farmers. It also can determine the choice between environmental enhancement or degradation. In many cases it could be the difference between life and death for the people of a region and existence or extinction for that region’s biodiversity. 1 “I have been involved with cultural exchanges in Central America and Spain and my dream is to demonstrate that there are much simpler methods and formulas for living that are in harmony with nature, using elements that are derived from all the cultures in the world but especially the Maya culture, which is our own. I dream that we can create a model to bring these ideas back so they can serve future generations.” 157 California in the World Economy Chapter V Today, as Jill Sourial and Jennifer Ito have shown2, the majority of Guatemala’s arable land (12 %) is devoted to production of exotic “traditional agricultural export crops” – coffee, sugar, bananas and cattle. The “Non-traditional agricultural exports” (NTAE’s) being promoted by the Guatemalan government through Agexpront, The Ministry of Agriculture (MAGA) and programs like Chapinas sin Fronteras, are also mostly made up of exotic crops (apples, peaches, African Oil Palm, kitchen vegetables) which are grown unsustainably and degrade the environment.3 The Guatemalan rainforests that remain, concentrated in the Petén in the Maya Biosphere reserve, are rapidly being destroyed by competing land uses, chief among which are conversion to milpa (cornfield) and cow pasture. Official Guatemalan agricultural policy makes almost no provision for increasing the use of indigenous rainforest resources as alternatives to these practices, nor has it historically recognized the contributions of indigenous farmers who have used practical silvicultural methods for sustainable agriculture for millenia. Land policy decisions are, on the whole, market-led and demand-driven, while unsanctioned uses of land, such as conversion to corn and pasture in the Petén, are driven by desperation. This paper deals with how the ancient practice of Maya silviculture4 can help. Specifically, it champions the promise of a single underutilized natural resource in the Petén rainforest region that is well known to indigenous groups and local
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