THE TENSION BETWEEN DEVELOPMENTAL LAND USES AND THE
CONSERVATION AREA DESIGNATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE CREOLES IN
CATANIAPO RIVER BASIN, VENEZUELA
A thesis presented to
the faculty of
the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University
In partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
Master of Science
Hector V. Blanco-Ponce
June 2005 This thesis entitled
THE TENSION BETWEEN DEVELOPMENTAL LAND USES AND THE
CONSERVATION AREA DESIGNATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE CREOLES IN
CATANIAPO RIVER BASIN, VENEZUELA
BY
HECTOR V. BLANCO-PONCE
has been approved for
the Program of Environmental Studies
and the College of Arts and Sciences by
Nancy Bain
Professor of Geography
Leslie A. Flemming
Dean, College of Arts and Science BLANCO-PONCE, HECTOR V. M.S. June 2005. Environmental Studies
The Tension Between Developmental Land Uses and the Conservation Area Designation:
A Case Study of the Creoles in Cataniapo River Basin, Venezuela (100 pp.)
Director of Thesis: Nancy Bain
Shifting cultivation is a contributing activity of deforestation in the Venezuelan tropical forest. It involves slash-and burn techniques as a cheap mean for clearing forestland for agriculture that is not compatible for conservation area designation. This study focuses on a case-study of small farmers settled on a protected area in Venezuela and addresses the question of what are the social aspects of deforestation. The data used to explore these issues consist of a survey of 83 households in 2005. Overall, results indicate that origin, product markets, and off-farm labor opportunities influence deforestation decisions. Households with greater levels of education and off-farm labor income or wealth are relatively new to the area, and are more likely to use the land for residential or recreational purposes. This introduces a new land use system to the area that suggests further research for land use and conservation planning.
Approved:
Nancy Bain
Professor of Geography
Acknowledgments
This thesis was partially supported by the Fulbright Amazon Basin Program, and
the Venezuelan Environment and Natural Resources Agency (MARN). This work could
not have been accomplished without the help of the State of Amazonas Environmental
Affairs Office (DEA-Amazonas) who provided the personnel and transportation to carry out the field survey and the LandSat-7 satellite image and the cartographic information of the study area.
I would like to thank Domingo Noguera, Hugo Chacon, and Jose Sanchez for
their help while visiting the farmers on the Cataniapo River Basin; I also would like to
thank Kathy Devecka for her encouragement and spiritual support throughout this project, as well for the proofreading and presentation preparation. I am also committed to Dr.
Brad Jokisch and Dr. Ariaster B. Chimeli for their constructive comments and advice. I am also especially thankful to Dr. Nancy Bain, my thesis advisor, for her encouragement, advice, and helpful discussions throughout the course of this project. I am indebted to Dr.
Gene Mapes, Director of the Environmental Studies Program, for her unconditional
support and guidance during my two years at Ohio University and along my stay for
thesis defense. Finally I am grateful to my family, friends, and co-workers for all their
moral support. 5 Table of Contents
Abstract...... 3
Acknowledgments ...... 4
List of Tables ...... 7
List of Figures...... 8
Chapter I. Introduction...... 10
Background of the study ...... 10 Problem statement...... 12 Significance of the study...... 13 Overview of methodology ...... 15 Delimitation of the study ...... 15 Definitions...... 16
Chapter II. Literature Review ...... 18
Theoretical literature...... 19 Empirical research ...... 24 Literature review of study area ...... 26 Background of the study area ...... 28 Chapter III. Hypothesis and Methodology...... 34 Hypothesis...... 34 Methodology...... 35 Data collection ...... 35 Data Problems/Biases ...... 41 The biophysical settings...... 42 Geology...... 43 Climate...... 44 Drainage...... 45 Vegetation...... 47 Chapter IV. Results...... 49 Secondary data collection results...... 49 Agricultural and economic uses of land...... 53 Households and lots characteristics ...... 57 Household agricultural production ...... 65 Household deforestation ...... 69 6 Case study: Morichalito Hiwi Village ...... 75 Case study: Arawak group family sharing common lands with ‘Las Pavas’ Piaroa Village...... 78
Chapter V. Discussion ...... 81
Statement of the problem...... 81 Review of the methodology...... 82 Summary of the results ...... 83 Discussion of the results ...... 83 References...... 93 7
List of Tables
Table
3.1 Vegetation Cover on the Cataniapo River Basin in 1983...... 48
3.2 Landscape Units in Square Kilometers within the entire Cataniapo River Basin
Between 1973,1979, and 1984 from Satellite Image Processing...... 48
4.1 Indigenous Communities by Ethnicity and Foundation Year in the Cataniapo
River Basin...... 51
4.2 Population Growths by Absolute and Rate Terms in the Cataniapo River Basin
from1981 to 1999...... 52
4.3 Variable Definitions...... 58
4.4 Descriptive Statistics for Households in Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area,
Venezuela, 2005...... 61
4.5 Hiwi Household Characteristics, Located at the Village of Morichalito compared
to Creoles settled on the Cataniapo River Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005...... 77 8 List of Figures
Figure
2.1 Cataniapo River Basin Area...... 30
3.1 Photo by author: Farmer showing her small coffee plantation...... 36
3.2 Satellite Image of the study area...... 37
3.3 Photo by author: Interview carried out with a farmer...... 38
3.4 Photo by the author: Outcrop rock, dark color relates to Rapakivi texture ...... 43
3.5 Monthly average precipitation on the upper section of the basin (1970-2000) ...... 45
3.6 Photo by the author: Low section of the Cataniapo River...... 46
4.1 Photo by the Author: Typical Indigenous village...... 50
4.2 Photo by the Author: Sugar cane plot, at the back palm peach tree ...... 56
4.3 Survey delivered in Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area ...... 62
4.4 Author’s survey results: Place of origin of farmers...... 63
4.5 Author’s survey results: Education level by age range...... 63
4.6 Author’s survey results: Number of cars own by farmers ...... 64
4.7 Author’s survey results: Main source of income of small farmers...... 66
4.8 Author’s survey results: Proportion of agricultural farmers based on family size ....67
4.9 Author’s survey results: Agricultural farmers related to socioeconomic variables...68
4.10 Author’s survey results: Farmers who cleared their lot completely ...... 70
4.11 Author’s survey results: Relationship between deforestation and market distance...71 9
4.12 Author’s survey results: Place of origin vs. deforestation ...... 71
4.13 Author’s survey results: Time of settlement vs. deforested land...... 72
4.14 Author’s survey results: Lot size vs. percentage of deforestation on lot...... 73
4.15 Author’s survey results: Proportion of lot on agriculture vs. deforested land...... 74
4.16 Author’s survey results: Deforested land vs. land for intercropping and/or fallow...74
4.17 Photo by the author: Smog from slash-and-burn agriculture above
Puerto Ayacucho...... 80
5.1 Satellite image from LandSat -7 TM, Jan. 1999 of the study area ...... 87
10
CHAPTER I
Introduction
This thesis is a report of a case-study of deforestation caused by shifting
cultivation in the tropical forest of the Venezuelan Amazon. The study was based
primarily upon data collected from a survey of Creole small farmers in the state of
Amazonas, Venezuela, that are settled within in area designated for watershed protection
and conservation since it provides drinking water to its capital city, Puerto Ayacucho.
The first chapter presents the background of the study, it specifies the problem, describes
its significance, and presents an overview of the methodology used. The chapter
concludes by noting the delimitations of the study.
Background of the study
Although causes of deforestation have been broadly discussed in the literature
(Allen & Barnes, 1985), the political, technological, cultural, socioeconomic and natural
driven forces that propel them have been claiming more attention for several years
(Meyers and Turner, 1992; Bürgi, Hersperger, and Schneeberger, 2004), and attempts to
model them and predict their impact brought significant interest in the 1990s (Grainger,
2004). 11 Among those who studied and modeled social determinants, several authors
(Perz, 2003; Vosti, Braz, Carpentier, D’Oliveira, Witcover, 2003; Browder, Pedlowski, and Summers, 2004; Caviglia-Harris, 2004) have focused their attention to the adoption of agriculture technologies by small farmers in the Brazilian Amazon. On this case, infrastructure, institutional factors and market forces propels agricultural expansion at household levels. In addition, forest management regulations and land tenure problems, with the exception of Browder et al. (2004), are not a constraint of major concern in their study-cases.
This research, however, investigates the extent of slash-and-burn agriculture conversion and settlement, on deforestation and forest degradation of areas designated for conservation. Despite the institutional restrictions exerted by the government, infrastructure and local market demands still impels deforestation from the expansion of agricultural areas at the expense of primary and secondary forest. Therefore, this research addresses the question of what are the social aspects of this deforestation of protected areas in the Venezuelan Amazon and what cause tensions between developmental land uses and conservation area designation. More specifically this research examines the characteristics and practices of Creoles farmers located on the Cataniapo River Basin
Protected Area, located in the state of Amazonas, Venezuela, and how the incidence of their agricultural practices impacts deforestation and forest degradation. 12 Problem statement
Dwellers on the Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area (CRBPA) depend heavily upon forestland and its resources. Their income (especially market income) comes from agriculture at the expense of deforestation on land designated for conservation use -as the primary indicator of household welfare and land titling.
The CRBPA is currently threatened by the inadequate use of the riparian section of the Cataniapo River, and the overuse of land along the road not so far from the river.
Rapidly growing population are utilizing the relatively cultivable land along creek banks and their small tributaries, cutting off migratory path of animals, causing landscape fragmentation that affects genetic pool flow, and drying out water courses. The occurrence of the Cataniapo River sedimentation, air pollution by forest fire, and loss of water resources has raised concerns among the inhabitants of the city of Puerto Ayacucho because of its importance as source of fresh-water supplier.
Creoles are traditionally located on plots along the road due to past initiatives of local government to land titling individuals lots with relatively easy access to the market.
Except for very few exceptions, Creoles are restrained from settling on indigenous common land, because indigenous people see Creoles as white colonists with greed for land and therefore too risky to be accepted for permanent settlement. Meanwhile, the indigenous people's inland agricultural frontier expands under traditional patterns that can be interpreted more as forest degradation rather than actual deforestation, due to the fact that they still clear forest on temporal basis, leading to secondary vegetation that involves species variation in a series of successional stages along time. There is the presumption that indigenous people have original rights to use the land at their 13 convenience, in addition to the belief that their traditional methods have proved to be sustainable. However, their plots have also turn to cash crops and reducing fallow periods on those lots next to roads, affecting biodiversity and soil conservation.
Although is still unclear for this case-study concerning the factors that influence the household decision-taking in land-use, it is assumed that the lack of social, technological and capital resources for low-income farmers forced them to exploit forest resources in such ways that leads to short-terms satisfaction of need with long-term resources depletion. This is a consequence of agricultural frontier expansion at the expense of tropical forest reduction. As a remedy, conservation programs should oriented to a more community-based one to ensure the continuing of the regional biodiversity and the quality of water resources within the watershed protected area.
Significance of the study
Biophysical and social-cultural data collected since the mid 1970s have given some basis for a literature-based study of the region (Ramirez & Rangel, 1978). Research and data collection at a more detail level has been focused on the lower section of the
Cataniapo River since late 1980s and mid 1990s because of relatively easy access to the area (Bergkamp, 1981; Padilla, 1981; Ramirez, 1982; Jimenez, 1981; MARNR, 1982;
OBHIDRA CONSULT, 1983; Martinez-Barruchi, 1985; Saez & Mercado, 1985;
Matheus & Cobo, 1991; Infante & Contreras, 1992; Nuñez, 1993; Castillo, 1992;
Oldham, 1993). All these studies reveal that settlement and resource management patterns within the basin is becoming more intensive along time, reducing areas for water 14 recycling and biodiversity conservation, and urging the need for a policy of a
conservation enforcement plan implementation and a land use designation that would halt
deforestation and promote a sustainable use of forest resource management.
Because of this, the government declared the basin as “Area Under Special
Administration Regime,” specifically has a “Watershed Protected Zone” in 1992
(Venezuela, 1993), in order to maintain the conservation level of the time and guarantee
fresh water supply to the capital city of state. However immigration of foreign ethnic groups from the southern municipalities of the state, such as the Arawaks, and Ye'kuanas, and Creoles from the other states of the country, are also changing the land-use pattern of the area from forestland cover and traditional shifting cultivation land to a more intensive and permanent agriculture, residential use and recreational land, having a trickle-down
effect in the traditional land use pattern.
There is a widespread agreement that land-use and conservation areas designation
must be designed and enforced in order to guarantee the quantity and quality of fresh
water coming from the basin, as well as to preserve other related elements such as
biodiversity conservation, soil erosion control, and archeological preservation.
Community-based organizations for development are being promoted as a strategy to
reach ‘sustainable development’ in the region. Government at the national, regional, and
local level, as well as NGOs (of particular interest, the regional Roman Catholic Church
Vicary) is the main sponsors of such initiatives in the area. 15 Overview of methodology
The methodology applied was inspired by those found in the literature review about social determinants of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, particularly one proposed by Caviglia-Harris (2004), but with some adaptations for the study area and its
particular characteristics. This research was carried out from the perspective of neoclassic
economics, which assumes that farmers base their decision-taking on the maximization of their utilities coming from natural resources assets management of their plots at the expense impose by exogenous factors -such as the natural environment, markets demands, government policies, and others- and endogenous factors such as household characteristics (Browder et al., 2004).
This research is a case-study that aims to collect data through the use of semi- structured interviews about Creole’s farms and households’ characteristics, in order to describe and understand the social aspects that motivate them to intensify their agricultural practices at the expense of forestland conversion of their plots. To accomplish this goal, a questionnaire of twenty-seven variables were carried out and tabulated in order to elaborate a statistical descriptive table about the average, standard deviation, and maximum and minimum values of those household and farms characteristics.
Delimitations of the study
Although the study area involves population with different ethnic background and land tenure systems, this research did not cover those people settled on common land 16 property and Native-Venezuelan settlers. It also did not address the technological aspects of land use farming. However, this survey included almost the entire population of Creoles along the roadside except for those parcels without inhabitants at the time of
the visit. Also up until now local researchers have not done this type of research.
Definitions
Shifting cultivation is traditional form of food production. It is characterized by not using fertilizer or any kind of pesticides. It consists of a small gap of forest cleared manually with axes and machetes. Then the area is burned and planted with plants domesticated by indigenous people and the incorporation of other species that they cultivate from wild areas. The land is cultivated for a short period, from one to three years, and then is followed by a long period of fallow that can last 50 to 70 years, sometimes even more than a century. This new cultivated area will respond in many ways depending on the ecological conditions, the historical situation and social and cultural traits of the people involved (Boerboom & Wiersum, 1983). This variation will affect the structure and composition of the crops, as well as the vegetation that will return after the cultivation period.
Slash-and-burn agriculture has been considered one of the primary causes of deforestation as well as a factor in the degradation and loss of tropical rainforest (Wilson,
1988; Lawrence at al., 1998), particularly when it is used as a strategy for agriculture intensification (Browdler et al., 2004). However, some authors (e.g. Boerboom &
Wiersum, 1983; Anderson, 1990; Fox et al. 2003; Grainger, 2004) consider that this activity may have little impact on the natural disturbance of tropical humid forest, when 17 is practiced by traditional people settled on remote areas, distant from markets and low density populated areas.
The human disturbance can be categorized according to the different cultures that occupy these areas. Each one uses the land differently. In Asia for example, Lawrence at al. (1998) explains how traditional people classified their land use for shifting cultivation of rice in dry areas and wetlands. It also contains spaces of gardens for domestic fruits and rubber, and finally, the primary forest surrounding the community. In central and south America a different pattern of disturbance can be identified. The land is use for slash and burn agriculture, logging, and extraction of non-wood products as in Asia, but it is also used for cattle raising, leading to a significant degradation of the land (Pedlowski et al., 1997).
Therefore, shifting cultivation can be interpreted from two standpoints. First, it is a practice of indigenous or traditional people for subsistence since early times as a cultural adaptation and response to this kind of environment. However, the globalization of the economy and the expansion of communication and transportation have promoted colonization and massive exploitation of natural resources, such as mining and logging in the area. New settlers have tried traditional ways of farming such as ranching and perennial cash crops without success. As a result, they use the practice of shifting cultivation for cash crops as an effective strategy adapted to the regional environment.
This kind of shifting cultivation named in the literature as ‘pioneer shifting cultivation’
(Fox et al., 2000), covers relatively extensive areas of new settlements in the agricultural frontier of tropical forests regions, and has been blamed for land degradation and loss of
forest habitats. 18
CHAPTER II
Literature Review
The present study, about the tension between developmental land uses and the conservation area designation, is focused on a case-study of the Creoles farmers in
Cataniapo River basin, Venezuela. It attempts to build upon a growing body of research on social aspects at household level that causes deforestation for agriculture by small dwellers in the tropical forest through shifting cultivation techniques. It might be useful therefore, to review the important findings of previous research in order to provide an intellectual context to the present study.
Most of the literature about deforestation in tropical forest deals with the relationship between forest clearing and agricultural production by low-income households and its impacts on global change and biodiversity loss in less-develop countries, with particular emphasis in Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America
(Varma, 2003). This literature is reviewed first in order to establish the importance of deforestation caused by shifting cultivation. Then the more limited literature about the factors that influence household decision on deforestation is reviewed. Throughout, there is an emphasis on theories about shifting agriculture, and how problematic is to reconcile conservation with sustainable forest management.
The need to investigate causes of deforestation for slash-and-burn agriculture in 19 tropical forest is important because since the 1960s its rate has been globally
increasing at concerning levels (Allen and Barnes, 1985; Houghton et al., 1991),
becoming one of the main contributors to carbon dioxide emissions, and therefore
aggravating global warming, and water resources and biodiversity loss (Zhang, Justice,
and Desanker, 2002; Varma, 2003). This context put policy-makers in the need to find
alternative agricultural technologies for shifting cultivation systems oriented to reduce the ecological damage from slashing and burning forest plots (Pascual, 2005). Therefore, it is
necessary to understand the determinants or factor that influence the decision taking of
these small farmers to consider deforestation as an input for farm production (Cagvilia-
Harris, 2004).
Household-level studies about small farmers in tropical forest and their land use
decision taken factors has been published in the literature (e.g., Perz, 2003; Browder et
al., 2004), and those reviewed here are based on case-study in the Brazilian Amazon,
since this country has invested heavily in satellite image processing analysis and research
on deforestation in the Amazon basin (Silvius, 2004). These studies inferred the dynamic
processes of land use from field data collected upon household characteristics, through
the use of empirical models.
Theoretical literature
Fox, Troung, Rambo, Tuyen, Cuc, Leisz, (2000) state that unfairly, shifting
cultivation has been held to be the principle driven force for deforestation in tropical
Asia, particularly in northwestern highlands of Vietnam, where they conducted a
comparative satellite image analysis of land cover between 1952 and 1995. They point 20 out that a clear distinction should be taken into consideration between traditional slash-
and-burn practices and pioneer shifting cultivation. On the one hand, the former is
practiced by indigenous or traditional people living in remote areas from cities and markets, in which their impact on the land has not resulted in extensive deforestation, but has altered the character of the vegetative cover. On the other hand, the later is a common practice of those that use fire as a tool to clear forest for permanent cultivation, pasture, or further development. It also involves land abandonment when the soils are exhausted or have reached a degraded condition. From this perspective, authors suggest that environmental managers and policy-makers should take into consideration the definitions that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) use between the terms ‘degradation’ and ‘deforestation.’ The first term applies for the practice carried out by traditional people that on a relatively short temporal basis they clear a forestland for agriculture, and as a consequence they alter the quality of the affected forest. In addition, the term degradation applies also when quality of forest cover is affected by indiscriminate logging, uncontrolled forest fire or inappropriate methods for development. The second term, however, refers to the permanent land change from forest cover to non-forest land uses such as permanent cultivation, human settlement, mining, and building of dams.
In their view, they consider that because governments have little understanding of traditional shifting cultivation systems, they have wrongly promoted resettlement programs that are intended to convert shifting cultivators into farmers of permanent agricultural fields, and therefore their plans becomes an incentive force of more 21 deforestation in the region. Their suggestion is therefore, that in order to achieve a more efficient and humane policy, governments should invest in research on methods of maintaining biodiversity associated with traditional shifting cultivation while increasing their productivity and soils sustaining properties.
Zhang et al. (2002) states that population growth in tropical areas is pressuring agricultural expansion through the use of shifting cultivation strategies in Central Africa, becoming a major source of carbon emission from terrestrial ecosystems, because of the slash-and-burn practices involved. Using a simulation model intended to investigate the impacts of shifting cultivation on deforestation of the humid tropical forests by growing rural population in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, they found that with the current level of technology and forest destruction, there is potentially a risk that by the year 2050 ninety four percent of the current forest cover of the study area could be converted into cropland, fallow and secondary forest due to population growth. Through the use of simulation procedure to investigate changes of landscape pattern, they suggest that cultivation intensification in addition to fallow management and agro-forestry. These strategies could help for forest conservation in the region without compromising shifting cultivation’s economical competitiveness.
From Fox et al. (2000) and Zhang et al. (2002) contributions, it become noticeable that shifting cultivation systems demands more comprehension from policy makers in order to implement more effective tropical forest strategies. However, how social and natural sciences researchers should approach the understanding of this phenomenon in order to propose alternatives oriented to sustainable use of tropical forest? Traditionally 22 conservation biologists have suggested the creation of national parks without inhabitants as an effective strategy for tropical forest conservation (Shwartzman, Moreira, and Nepstad, 2000). Nevertheless, Shwartzman et al. (2000) state that putting rural and traditional people that traditionally have lived in those areas designated for conservation as enemies of nature rather than potential allies for conservation, undermines the possibility of traditional and rural people becoming ultimate constituents for local conservation enforcement that is so needed in less develop tropical nations where deforestation is becoming a hotspot as pointed out by Lepers, Lambin, Janetos, deFries,
Achard, Ramankutty, and Scholes (2005).
Contrary to Zhang et al. perspective, about population growth as a mayor factor pressuring deforestation, Shwartzman et al. claim that exogenous factors such as
“infrastructure development, government incentives and inequitable land tenure have far more to do with the problem of deforestation than does population” (p.1355). These remarks suggest that more emphasis should be put on the understanding of culture as a factor of landscape change, as pointed out by Bürgi, Hersperger and Schneerberger
(2004). Bürgi et al. (2004) claim that there are five major types of driving forces of landscape change, such as political, technological, socioeconomic, natural and cultural, and in order to understand the major factors affecting global environmental change.
Landscape-change researchers face nowadays four challenges: “…studying processes and not merely spatial patterns, extrapolating results in space and time, linking data of different qualities, considering culture as a driver of landscape change” (p. 857). In their
attempt to overcome these challenges, they propose a standard procedure to study driving
forces of landscape change based on: “studying landscape change across borders and 23 transects, focusing on persistence as well as change, investigating rates of change,
considering attractors of landscape change, targeting correlation and causality, and searching for precursors of landscape change” (p. 857).
In the purpose to understand in this particular study the socioeconomic
motivations behind deforestation not caused by logging or mining but by small farmers
and cattle rancher as the agents of land use change (Pedlowski, Dale, Matricardi and da
Silva 1997), Browder, Pedlowski and Summers (2004) have found that research literature
about land use change has been informed from three perspectives. The first and most
influential in the analysis of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon come from
‘neoclassical economics,’ where farmers are perceived as landscape managers that would
emphasize to “…maximize utility constrained by exogenous (market and environmental)
and endogenous (household labor) characteristics…” (p. 199). The second perspective, named by Pedlowski et al. (2004) as ‘domestic life cycle,’ and focuses its attention on
“…the role of family dynamics in farming systems changes…” (p.199). Last but not the least, the third approach is referred as ‘political ecology,’ where local processes of environmental degradation is linked to “…social class and gender differentiated exploitation, government policies to promote export production, external debt and associated structural adjustment, and to the transnationalization of agriculture” (p. 199).
To ascertain the social determinants of deforestation by shifting cultivation farmers, the literature review of this particular case-study has focus its attention on the empirical literature that addresses factors that influence deforestation decision-taking at the household level. 24 Empirical research
In a paper based on technical notes originally prepared as input into the World
Bank’s review of forestry policy in Brazil, Vosti, Braz, Carpentier, D’Olivera and
Witcover (2003), developed a bio-economic model at farm level that identifies several conditions that influence deforestation at household level in the western Brazilian
Amazonian states of Acre and Rondonia. This simulated experiment, drawing upon a 3- year (1994-1996) follow-up survey of 200 households, correlated land use, especially the trend to pasture, with a set of household characteristics. The authors found that market, transportation, and household assets, are factors that favors or constrains deforestation at household level. The results show that forest retained on the parcel clearly decline over time, disappearing over a period of 25 years to turn the original forest cover into pastures for cattle production in those areas where farmers have links to local markets. This finding suggests that financial returns at household level play a key role in determining which decisions regard activities and investments would be taken. Their study highlight the important point that farmers that endowed forest cover on their parcel will manage their forest assets “…in ways probably economically wise but not environmentally sustainable…” (p. 1898).
Perz’s research (2003), on a basis of a 1996 survey of 261 farms in Uruara, Para,
Brazil, finds that the adoption of agricultural intensification technologies such as the use of chainsaws, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, organic and chemical fertilizers are correlated to more deforestation for crops and pasture in the Brazilian Amazon. He found that those households with greater land, labor and capital endowments are positively 25 correlated to owning a chainsaw as a mean to substituting capital for available labor or the use of capital to complement scarce labor. While, the use of herbicides in his research indicates that they are more likely to be used on parcels if the owners had capital availability such as access to credit, and/or remittance income, if extension agents visited them, and if the household is reaching an advance stage of their life cycle (more elders and adults and few children). In addition, his results indicates that the use of pesticides and fertilizers take place on those parcels where farmers had less deforested land upon acquisition, received investments from credit or remittances, and where located near to local markets. Similarly happens with the use of organic fertilizers, but mostly among those farmers coming from areas that use this kind of technological inputs of have some tradition in their use. Meanwhile, the use of chemical fertilizers is more correlated to the presence of extension agent visiting the farm, rather than credit access. Finally he calls attention to the need to be aware that land use and land cover change has many determinants among which technology adoption is just only one of them.
Browder et al. (2004) using a comparative cross-sectional research from a rural household-level survey in 1992, found that external factors are more likely to influence household decisions regard land use than internal household characteristics. Their research conducted at three different settlement sites consisted of a selected stratified random sample of 240 households in Rondonia, Brazil. It focuses its attention to land use patterns and the factors that influence land use decisions at household level. They concluded that “social participation, land tenure security, off-farm employment, and credit use were not significantly among farmers pursuing different farming strategies”
(p.221), but nevertheless they do not dismiss these factors as important determinants. 26 One interesting household-level research project is Caviglia-Harri (2004) in the
Ouro Preto do Oeste region of Rondonia, Brazil. On the basis of a panel collected from
152 households in 1996 and 2000 respectively. He uses a model based on utility maximization framework for market imperfection (appropriate for household that produce and consume goods). Caviglia-Harris suggests that his empirical model indicates that credit access, wealth, lot size, product market, and off-farm labor opportunities are determinant for deforestation and production decision at household level. He particularly insists to be careful about incentives such as credit access that would encourage agricultural intensification that in his literature review findings has proved to increase deforestation. The author insists that policies intended to promote sustainable growth must include opportunities for households to improve both their production systems and livelihoods. It also includes training extension programs devoted to educate about how to produce sustainable products and sell these goods, as well to find out steps toward improving off-farm labor market opportunities.
Literature review of the study area
The study area (Figure 2.1) is located in the Atures regional municipality in the
northwestern part of the state of Amazonas, Venezuela. The Cataniapo River Basin
Protected Area covers an area of 153,401.92 hectares and is bounded by the Serrania
Cuao-Parguaza to the South, and the Parhuaza River basin to the North, the Ventuari
River to the East, and the Cataniapo Bridge to the West (MARN, 2001). It belongs to the 27 transition zone of tropical humid forest and natural savannas. Annual average temperature is 26.7°C. The altitude ranges from 1,120 meters above sea level (MSL) at
Kumeque hill to 76 MSL at the Cataniapo Bridge. Precipitation is unevenly distributed throughout the year, with an increase from May to October (rainy season) fallowed by a dry season with eventual rain showers, mean total being 2865mm. The Cataniapo River has a caudal is of 82.7 m³/sec at the union with the Orinoco River, and an extension of
108 kilometers and its course set with the road and trials the land occupation pattern
(Sebastiani, 1998).
The inhabitants of the basin are mostly Native-Venezuelans, settled in 20 communities. The ethnic groups in those communities are Uöthuha or Piaroas, 60%, Hiwi or Guahibos, 25%, and 15% belong to the Arawak group as Curripacos and Baniva.
Spanish-speakers mestizos are also in the area as farmer managers of small dwellings.
The main economical activity is agriculture and the extraction of secondary forest resources, such vines, resins, fuel wood, wild fruits and others. This land occupation in the basin is related to the soils that have a better agricultural potential (Sebastiani, 1998).
The occupation follows the existing roads, trails, and river courses. Around 8% of the basin has been intervened; half of it for agriculture and the other half for non-timber forest products, the rest (92%) can be considered pristine land.
This area contains ecological units representative of the whole state that remain almost untouched by local inhabitants. Understanding the process that is taking place in this area could help to predict the impact of development plans in the rest of the state. It can also set the basis for prediction model designs. 28 Background of the study area
In 1946 a path to access the timber available for logging in the area initiated the
construction of a road that later would promote the settlement of indigenous communities
in the area, as well as a suitable place to grant Creoles agricultural lots (MARN, 2001).
Because of the nature of the soils, the ecological processes, and the cost to control it, this settlement has been very slow.
In 1992, the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry (ENRM) declared the
Cataniapo Basin as an ‘Area Under Special Administration’ (AUSA) (Venezuela, 1993).
This decision was made in order to guarantee the conservation of the main fresh drinkable water source to the city of Puerto Ayacucho. Currently the Cataniapo River basin contains around 131 farming lots administered by Spanish-speakers Mestizos and
20 Native Venezuelans communities. The area is considered a tropical forest, a biome that represents 93% of the state of Amazonas. Because of the status of AUSA, it needs a management plan still pending for public hearings to become legally bounded and allow developmental land uses. The most important geographical landmark near the basin is the city of Puerto Ayacucho, the capital of the State.
Farmers from the interior of the state who moved to the forested areas at the outskirts of Puerto Ayacucho attempt to reproduce the same agro-ecosystems models of their place of origin. For instance, the Piaroa people who used to live in the Humid
Tropical Forest, (HTF); at the water heads of rivers, tried to find their place in the forested piedmonts or close to the forest at the ecotone forest-savanna. On the other hand, the Hiwis, who used to live in the flat lands or savannas and gallery forests, along the 29 flood plains of the Orinoco River, have settled down in the savanna areas. The Arawak group, represented by the Curripacos and Piapocos, settled on the area, through intensive
shifting cultivation.
On the other hand, Creoles and indigenous people living on individual lots started their own particular strategy of forest management characterized by the gradual transformation of their traditional agro-ecosystems through:
1. The reduction of fertility recovering periods of former garden lots (fallow land).
2. The expansion of their agricultural frontier through the conversion of their farm
forestland covers into agricultural land.
3. Agriculture focused in one or two cash crops, which would lead to a diminishing
production of varieties staples and food traditionally use for the household
consumption and replaced by those industrially processed.
4. Diversification in sources of income, households start to explore alternatives to on
farm labor, such as selling their labor force in the urban areas. This means less
family members participating on-farm labor to support traditional agro-
ecosystems activities in order to satisfy the needs of household.
30
Figure 2.1 Cataniapo River Basin. Adapted from Nuñez, 1993 and Sebastiani, 1998 31 These new practices and strategies have a series of consequences:
1. Fallow period reduction may lead to the transformation of agricultural practices based
on shifting cultivation (initially for self-consumption) into sedentary and permanent
agriculture gradually oriented to the market. However, the absence of using fertilizers
would lead unintentionally to soil fertility loss and consequently to the reduction of
crops physical yields.
2. The reduction of the land fertility as a consequence of fallow period reductions can
lead to more deforestation. This would be done to compensate the decreasing physical
yield of the crops through increasing the size of agriculture cover on the lot; which is
what normally happens through the conversion of forest cover into new areas of
agriculture. In the long term, nevertheless, these strategies tend to a) Deplete their lot
resources and b) Biodiversity loss.
3. Frequently, the reduction of fallow periods and the expansion of agricultural land
stress on cash crop production of one or two staples; e.g. bitter manioc and its sub-
products (cassava cakes, hot sauce, starch, and others), or pineapple. The
specialization can also be at small-scale agro-forestry (like palm leaf extraction for
housing or hunting of birds, mammals or turtles, which are in more demand and have 32 better potential for commercialization. This means that the production of other
crops and forest extractive activities oriented for household consumption tend to lose
value among the subsistence strategies of the household. One of the consequences is
an increasing dependence to the market to satisfy household needs, which is
translated through the adoption new consumption habits that cash make feasible.
4. Off-farm labor as an income diversification strategy has the purpose of compensating
income from the short revenue provide by cash crops. This strategies can include a)
Participation on the nearby rural and urban labor market. b) Participation in the
informal labor market through side street vending. The immediate consequence of
these strategies is the reduction of overuse of the land; but in the long term another
consequence is to turn the agricultural production into a secondary complement of
household consumption. This can cause an increasing dependence on markets to
satisfy their needs.
These sets of strategies at household level seem to have as a consequence a lesser dependency on traditional agricultural system, which can only satisfy elemental conditions of subsistence. The outcome of these circumstances is a diminishing income from household activities as their natural resources start to deplete, leading to the collapse
of their agricultural systems. It is important to question, then, how is it possible for the
household to keep cash crop and forest management practices that are obviously leading
to a decreasing physical yield of the crops and the gradual deterioration of family
incomes? 33 A possible answer is the different alternative methods of income generation that households use to complement agricultural revenues, such as off-farm labor income and non-timber products sales. Another possible explanation, however, can be that the resource frontier has not been depleted for most of the domestic units, which still makes possible an extensive expansion of their agriculture lots at the expense of their forest cover.
There is not a clear answer yet to this question, but in any case it is important to consider the potential outcomes, which it can be either the persistence of current state of the basin from a biological and socioeconomic perspective, or a general collapse of current agricultural systems and the biophysical conditions of the settled area.
34
CHAPTER III
Hypothesis and Methodology
Hypothesis
Creole dwellers on the CRBPA do not heavily depend on forest resources, since they own the land as a fixed asset, which they use for recreational or temporally residential purposes, or just as an investment to protect their assets against the high volatile economy that currently characterizes Venezuela.
Although Creole farmers hold certain economic land-use rights, regional-level- conservation statues constrain them from any economical attempt to implement efficient and competitive technologies associated to agriculture intensification. Despite the lack of local research about factors that influence the household decision-taking about land-use, it is assumed that the lack of social, technological and capital resources to low-income farmers forced them to exploit forest resources in such ways that leads to short-terms satisfaction of need with long-term resource depletion. This is a consequence of agricultural frontier expansion at the expense of tropical forest reduction. As a remedy, conservation programs should oriented to a more community-based one to ensure the continuing of the regional biodiversity and the quality of water resources within the watershed protected area. 35 Methodology
This study seeks to explore land use dynamic patterns, which local inhabitants
have in the Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, and how it favors or not the
conservation initiatives that it has been implemented to guarantee the quality and quantity
of fresh-drinking water that the city of Puerto Ayacucho demands.
Social and cultural data of the area are disperse and some cases vague, but
biophysical studies conducted by the national government are well documented, since in
the 1970s and 1980s there were intentions to open a bauxite mine and to build up a
hydroelectric dam. But both projects resulted too costly and were cancelled. In both
cases, however, social data were oriented to understand the cultural aspects of the
potentially affected population by the proposed projects. This study, nevertheless, is
focused on land use patterns of local inhabitants and their impact on actual land cover at
the household level.
Data collection
The Venezuelan Government collected data that proved to be accessible. Dating from early 1990s, it focused on the analysis of indigenous villages settlement patterns,
concerning how these patterns impact the environment, and how the existing
conservation policies affects indigenous traditional lifestyles. Venezuela’s Environment
and Natural Resources Agency (MARN) has provided information of the local population
and their spatial distribution within the area in the last 4 years. 36 Field data collection took place over an eight-week period from early February
2005 through late March 2005. This data collection was needed to get specific information on local agricultural practices and land uses. Collection of data was not difficult, since it was made in the high peak of the dry season period, and had the support of MARN personnel.
Research was carried out in three major areas:
1. In the capital city of the state of Amazonas, Puerto Ayacucho, where all the main
government offices are located. Most of their documents are accessible to the
general public. Documents coming from the Environment and Natural Resources
Agency proved to be the most valuable data sources.
2. Three indigenous villages of the Hiwi, Piaroa, and Arawak ethnic group
respectively, located on the lower section of the basin, where exists a higher
settlement pressure.
3. Creole’s small farms settlement located along the only road that goes through the
lower section of the basin.
Conservation with the land owners/ managers of these farms were conducted in a
semi-structural manner, although the interviewees were asked to verbally answer a
formal questionnaire, additional information were obtained through informal
conversation, and a guided short visits over the farm’s land and gardens (Fig 3.1).
The aforementioned farms were considered to be most important because they have
experienced the most intensive deterioration of the land by past and actual land use
patterns. 37
Figure 3.1 Farmer showing her small coffee plantation (Photo by the Author). 38
Morichalito Las Pavas Km 9-13 Gavilan Village Km 21- 23 La Reforma
Cucurital Orinoco River Cataniapo River
Figure 3.2 Satellite image of study area. LandSat-7 TM, Jan 1999. Map from GraphicMap.com 39
Fig. 3.3 Interview carried out with a farmer, 2005 (Photo by author).
Household level land use patterns were assessed via questionnaire (Figure 4.3).
The questionnaire was designed with three main purposes in mind: 1) To identify the characteristics of the families settled in the study area; 2) To acquire a sense of what are the factors that condition the land-use and deforestation decision-taking at household level, based on source of income, affluence, education, land cover, and other agricultural parameters approach; and to ascertain the attitudes of the local people toward forest resource management and local conservation policies, and whether this local conservation efforts has helped or hindered awareness on watershed conservation 40 practices within the farmers and their economy. The interview was designed with some conversational questions at the start in an attempt to develop a sense of comfort between interviewer and interviewee (Figure 3.3).
Problems with the interview were recognized early as a significant number of farmers or landowners do not live on the farm but in the city, and only occasionally they visit their land. On the other hand, some indigenous families had some trouble understanding or answering in Spanish. Fortunately, previous conversations with anthropologists and missionaries helped to understand key words and perceptions of what the interviewee was trying to express. All the interviews were conducted and recorded in
Spanish. To support the interview process, a National Guard and a Fire Fighter, assigned to work for MARN, accompanied the interviews. The National Guard took GPS points at each of the farms’ entrances, so the socioeconomic data could support a GIS database; and the Fire Fighter, who is also a local farmer and a leader among the Creole farmers, participated as an interviewer to give a more sense of confidence with the interviewees, as well as to update MARN’s demographic database made 4 years ago.
A total of 108 interviews were collected, eighty-three were collected from Creole farms, twenty one from a Hiwi village (Morichalito), and four from an Arawak group located within a Piaroa village (Las Pavas). The researcher was present at all of the interview sessions. Informal research was also garnered, from the indigenous people settled in villages, since cultural and language barriers makes more difficult to access a formal research based on standard questionnaires. 41 Data Problems/Biases
There appear to be two major problems and or/biases in the field data as collected.
First, and foremost is the perception of the interviewers as authority figure, especially with the author present. Because of the potential sensitivity of some of the issues dealing with government intervention, and the fact that the author works for an institution that has administrative control over the land and its resources, and accountability to authorize or not agricultural loans and infrastructure investments, some answers may not be so reliable, particularly on those topics such as land extension, use of pesticides and fertilizers, years of residence, and income-related issues.
On the other hand, during visits to indigenous villages, people were more reluctant to speak openly, due to the presence of a National Guard, since he was associated with the local institution on charge of applying seizure of forest resources when indigenous people do logging for shifting cultivation or building up their housing without formal permits from the Environment and Natural Resources Agency. However, before starting the interview, a briefly explanation about the reasons of our visit were given, and once they became aware that they were free to participate or not and that their information would not be linked to personal data or identification, they willingly consented to participate and the interview process went quite fluid.
A second potential data problem can occur in those cases where interviews were conducted while the land-owner or the household head were off of the land, raising some suspicious about the accuracy of the data submitted by the interviewees present at the moment, since it may be based on estimates or their subjective appreciation of the lot, 42 and therefore affecting the results of the data. Although this bias is less serious given the scope of the study, it should be duly noted. The author is confident, however, that the results are suitable for use in this qualitative study and all 108-survey sheets have been used and are treated with equal validity, but differentiated by ethnic background.
The biophysical settings
The Cataniapo River basin (Figure 3.2 ) covers an area of 153, 401.92 hectares and is bounded by the Serrania Cuao-Parhuaza to the South (67° 26’W and 5°
25’ N), and the Parhuaza River basin to the North (67° 09’ W and 5° 43’ N), the Ventuari
River to the East (67° 05’ W and 5° 43’ N), and the Cataniapo bridge to the West (67°
35” W and 5° 36’ N) (MARN, 2001). The basin is located between the western
boundaries of the Guyana shield mountain range and the eastern Colombian tropical
savannas. The landscape is a dramatic composition of low mountains, high and low hills,
and valleys punctuated by mountain ranges.
The most important landmark near the basin is the city of Puerto Ayacucho, the
capital of the State. This basin is important because it is the source of fresh water for the
existing population of Puerto Ayacucho. Although the city is next to the Orinoco River,
the Cataniapo River it is the source of fresh water because the sediment load of the
Orinoco River requires expensive treatment to make the water fit for human consumption
(Sebastiani et al., 1998). 43 Geology
The Cataniapo River basin is located in the Parguaza granite formation, originated
in the Middle Proterozoic era, around 1.5 billion years ago (Siddler et al., 1995). The rocks of this formation include massive, coarsely crystalline, porphyritic granite and
biotite granite, sometimes with rapakivi texture (wiborgite – type). These rocks contain
quartz, and potassium feldspars.
Figure 3.4 Outcrop rock, dark color relates to Rapakivi texture,2005 (Photo by Author)
Since the area has been subjected to soil-forming process under extreme
temperatures and precipitation for a prolonged period time, the soils on the area are 44 characterized by low pH and low effective cation exchange capacity (a measure of the
capacity of a soil to provide nutrients to plants). Oxisols, characteristic of savannas
ecosystems and ultisols characteristic of forest formations, are the predominant soils in
the area (MARNR, 2001)
Climate
The Cataniapo River basin is in the transitional zone between the savannas and tropical medium dense forest. Climate characterization is derived from precipitation records registered from Gavilan village and Puerto Ayacucho. Temperature records are registered at Puerto Ayacucho’s meteorological station. Extrapolations of these data suggest tropical monsoon climate on the Gavilan and upper watersheds area to the east and tropical savannas climate in the downland zone section of the river to the west
(Nuñez, 1993).
The existing precipitation records (Figure 3.5) cover a 31-year period (1970 –
2001), and they are more representative of the middle and down section of the basin. The mean annual rainfall is 2,632 mm, where most of the precipitation occurs between June and July. The mean annual temperature is 26.7 º C and constant throughout the year.
Maximum and minimum mean annual temperatures are 32º C and 24º C accordingly
(MARNR, 2001). 45
Monthly average precipitation at Cataniapo's River Basin (years 1970-2000)
450
400
350
300
250
200 Milimeters(mm)
150
100
50
0 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AGUS SEP OCT NOV DEC
Figure 3.5 Monthly average precipitation records on the upper section of the basin (1970-2000). Source: Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales
Drainage
Cataniapo River is part of the middle drainage section of the Orinoco River. Its flows of 108 km long go from east to west and it has been classified as a sixth order river.
It contains 116 creeks, the primary ones being the Carinagua, Danto, Culebra, Pintado,
Colorado and Gavilan Creeks. Gavilan Creek is accountable for a quarter of the drainage area. High river flows are registered during July and August (550 m³/s). The speed of the drainage varies with the level of the flow, being the minimum mean of 0.686 m/s during
March, in the dry season (Nuñez, 1993). 46 Precipitation and stream flow are directly correlated. High flows are a natural disturbance to which the riparian vegetation is adapted and upon which it is dependent.
The waters of the Cataniapo River present a low turbidity and availability that favors a relatively low cost treatment of fresh water for the city of Puerto Ayacucho and the humans’ settlement on the river basin.
Figure 3.6 Low section of the Cataniapo River during the Dry Season, 2005 (Photo by the Author)
47 Vegetation
The Cataniapo River basin is categorized as Humid Tropical Forest (MARNR,
2001). From the west, the vegetation undergoes a gradual change up to the eastern mountains. At elevations of 400 to 800 meters (1,320 to 2,640 ft), the natural vegetation is classified as basi-Montane, semideciduous forest, and at higher elevations the Montane semideciduous forests occur. The characteristic of the natural vegetation of the lowlands
is non-flooded, tree and shrub savannas with anthropogenic intervention. In addition,
along the streams, semideciduous, seasonally flooded riparian forest with anthropogenic
intervention throughout the Cataniapo River can also be found.
A vegetation cover map by Huber (1995) at scale 1:100,000 identify seven types
of vegetation cover throughout the basin. Table 3.1 indicates that the predominant
vegetation is natural forest whose density and height ranges in response to altitude and
substrate. The extensive floral diversity of Amazonas has not yet been fully evaluated.
Approximately 322 wild species used by the indigenous people have been identified
across the state (Guanchez , 1999). 60 species of ethnobotanical value have been reported
in the Cataniapo basin, and only three of them have been studied thoroughly - Bractis
gassipae (Palmae), Hevea sp. (Euphorbiaciae) and Heteropsis sp. (Araceae). 48
Table 3.1Vegetation Cover on the Cataniapo River Basin in 1983
Vegetation Acronym Cover in hectares Percentage Middle Dense Forest MDF 112,800 73.2 High Open Forest HOF 4,305 2.8 Low Dense Forest LDF 20,994 13.6 Gallery Forest GF 800 0.5 Savannas SV, SVCH 3,310 2.1 Riparian Vegetation RV 5,224 3.4 Secondary Vegetation SV 6,767 4.4 Source: Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales, 2001
Table 3.2 Landscape Units in Square Kilometers Within the Entire Cataniapo River Baisn between 1973,1979, and 1984 from satellite image processing Landscape unit 1973 1979 1984 Primary Forest 1520.13 1516.07 1487 Secondary Forest 0.82 0 32.26 Sabana 45.07 46.09 38.11 Urban Areas 4.13 4.80 8.61 Villages 0.23 0.32 2.46 Shifting Cultivation 10.01 13.34 8.66 Roads 3.46 3.51 5.77 Pasture (Ranchs) 2.13 1.85 2.37 ______Total Cleared Land 65.85 69.91 98.24 Percentage of Cleared Land on theBasin 4.15 4.41 6.19 Source: Adapted from Nuñez, 1993
49
CHAPTER IV
Results
Secondary data collection results
Shifting cultivation and extraction of forest resources is the most widespread
traditional form of land utilization in the state of Amazonas. The extraction of forest
resources like rubber, fibers, resins, and others, was more likely to be oriented to the
market since the arrival of the Spaniards in the region along the 19th and first mid 20th century. Neither cash-crops plantations, nor hard industry have been established into the state. Currently, logging for commercialization, and mining of metallic ore of any kind is prohibited in the state as a strategy to protect biological resources in the area.
The state of Amazonas has traditionally presented a dispersed and low population size. Even though the state represents 20% of the national territory (183,500 km²), it contains less than 100,000 inhabitants (0.55 inhabitants/ km²). However, during the last forty years indigenous population from the interior of the state has been concentrating in
Puerto Ayacucho to have access to public services such as education and health care.
Some indigenous communities have established on the upper and middle section of the road – Barranco Colorado, Las Pavas, San Pedro de Cataniapo, and Cucurital. In the
1980s a larger immigration in the basin occurred through the establishment of eight communities. Table 4.1 shows indigenous communities classified by ethnic group and year of establishment in the study area. All the settlements were established throughout 50 the road and the Cataniapo River become an alternative fluvial mean of transportation for the upper river communities of Gavilan, San Pedro and San Pablo de Cataniapo.
Fig. 4.1. Typical Indigenous village. Housing development comes from Governmental initiatives about Malaria prevention, 2005 (Photo by author).
Table 4.2 presents the population growth between 1981 and 1992 of indigenous communities. Some of them started to show high population growth rates by internal immigration place in the region. 51
Table 4.1 Indigenous Communities by ethnicity and Foundation Year in the Cataniapo River Basin Village Ethnical Group Year of foundation Pilon Hiwi 1960 La Reforma Hiwi,Arawak,Piaroa 1960 San Rafael de Manuare Piaroa 1966 Gavilan Piaroa 1969 San Pedro de Cataniapo Piaroa 1986 Barranco Colorado Piaroa 1978 Las Pavas Piaroa 1974 Babilla de Pintado Piaroa 1977 Cucurital Arawak 1977 Los Morales Piaroa 1981 Pintao Hiwi 1981 La Danta Hiwi 1981 Morichalito Hiwi 1982 Samaria Piaroa 1983 San Pablo de Cataniapo Piaroa 1986 Caño Tigre Piaroa 1987 La Sabanita Piaroa 1987 La Esperanza Arawak 1984 Merey Piaroa Not Available Piedra Cucurital Arawak 1997 Source: Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales, 2001 52
Table 4.2 Population Growths by Absolute and Rate Terms in the Cataniapo River Basin from 1981 to 1999 Population Absolute Growth Growth Rate ______1981 1992 1999 1981-92 1993-99 1981-92 1993-99 Village Gavilan 192 248 340 56 92 92 4.6 San Pedro 100 80 108 -20 28 -2.0 4.3 San Pablo --- 128 145 --- 17 --- 1.8 Samaria --- 41 54 --- 13 --- 4.0 Barranco Colorado --- 10 17 --- 7 --- 7.8 Las Pavas 90 160 138 70 -22 5.4 -2.0 Los Morales --- 28 67 --- 39 --- 1.3 La Reforma 267 427 537 160 110 4.4 3.3 Cucurital 18 82 67 64 -15 14.8 -2.8 Manuare 34 58 148 24 90 4.9 14.3 Babilla Pintao 110 102 173 -8 71 0.7 7.8 Pintao 200 264 189 64 -75 2.6 -4.6 Caño Tigre --- 60 67 --- 7 --- 1.6 La Danta 65 63 120 -2 57 -0.3 9.6 Culebra --- 32 ------2 ------Pilon 4 58 54 54 -4 27.52 -1.0 La Sabanita --- 44 52 --- 8 --- 2.4 La Esperanza ------80 ------Merey ------38 ------Morichalito --- 209 135 --- -7.4 --- -6.0 Piedra Cucurital ------133 ------Total 1,080 2,094 2,662 1,014 568 6.2 3.6 Source: Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales, 2001
53 Agricultural and economic uses of land
Land occupation in the basin is related to soils that have better agricultural
potential. Most of the farms and villages are on the low section of the river, where the
plains are the predominant unit of the landscape and are accessible by roads. The
occupation pattern follows the main roads, trails and river courses (Sebastiani et al.,
1998). The two paved roads represent the main axis of land occupation. The largest road
follows the fluvial axis of the Cataniapo River and contains the most important villages
with regard to population size and public services- La Reforma and Gavilan. Agriculture
is the most common activity in the basin, although Mestizos alternate this activity with
agro-tourism and recreation. Sebastiani et al. (1998), reports that in 1992, about 3.7% of
the 6000 hectares of the protected area were cleared for agriculture. However, only 1100
ha were being cropped; the rest were fallow.
A wide variety of crops are grown in the basin. Most crops are grown for household use, except for cassava, which is intensively marketed. The main staple of the indigenous people in the state is cassava or manioc (Manihot sp., Euphorbiaceae). The starchy root takes from eight to 10 month to mature. If it were left in the ground for more than that time the root would become fibrous and inedible by the second year. Two main varieties are grown, the bitter and sweet cassava. The bitter variety is preferred over the sweet one because of its resistance to plagues and diseases on the field, and its capacity to be harvested gradually according to the household needs. The sweet variety is ripe by its sixth month and needs to be harvested all at once, surpassing the capacity of the household to store and market it. Other starchy crops are yams (Dioscorea sp., 54 Dioscoreaceae) and sweet potatoes (Ipomea sp., Convolvulaceae). However, their cultivation is very limited because of the demand in labor input. The lengthy in-ground storage time of these four crops (bitter manioc, sweet manioc, yams and sweet potatoes) help secure an uninterrupted supply of starchy staples throughout the year for household
consumption and marketing. Plantain and banana (Musa sp., Musaceae) crops are the basic supply of carbohydrates. Several varieties of bananas are grown, with the manzano, and topocho being the most common types. Both are preferred also for commercialization, but their need for costly chemical inputs limits their production to the market. Therefore, plantains and bananas are imported to Puerto Ayacucho from other regions of the country to satisfy the local demand.
Pineapple (Ananas sp., Bromeliaceae) is also important, and perhaps is becoming the most common cash crop following cassava on the upper section of the Basin (Near
Gavilan) and the middle section (Cucurital and Km 10-13). It takes two years to the plant to produce fruit, so it is found in first year fallow fields. Fallow field also contains also fruit trees such as guamo (Inga sp., Leguminosae), palm peach (Bactris gassipae,
Palmae) papayas (Carica sp., Caricaceae), and guavas (Psidium sp., Myrtaceae).
Many other crops are important, but are typically not grown extensively. Mangoes
(Manguifera indica, Anacardaceae), sugar cane (Saccharum officinalis, Graminae), maize
(Zea mais, Graminae), peanut (Arachis sp., Leguminosae) kidney beans (Phaseolus sp.,
Leguminosae), cotton (Gossypium sp., Malvaceae), passion fruit (Passiflora edulis,
Passifloraceae), coffee (Coffea arabica, Rubiaceae), citrics (Citrus sp., Rutaceae), chili pepper, and sweet pepper (Capsicum sp., Solanaceae), squash (Cucurbita sp., 55 Cucurbitaceae), curuba (Sicana sp. Cucurbitaceae), annatto (Bixa sp. Bixaceae) and tobacco (Nicotiana sp., Solanaceae) are common. However, they are all for household consumption, surplus commonly sold in the market.
The agricultural landscape can be described as a succession of zones. Within the village itself, most crops varieties are found to be growing in the gardens of the residential units. Old fallow fields, rastrojos, are most likely to be found around the villages as a secondary vegetation belt, while the new open fields, conucos, are being opened at remote distances from villages. The distances of the conucos from the villages increase with every passing year. Some of them are more than an hour’s walking distance. This is because villages are becoming sedentary as result of housing development implemented by the health policy to control the spread of Malaria in the region.
The formation of these various zones reveals the agricultural history of the village, as the zones are formed by the cycle of shifting cultivation. The new open fields or conucos, in which the primary dietary staples are grown, are fields that have been cut from the forest. Cassava is typically planted in freshly cleared land. After two years or so, the yields of cassava begin to diminish as nutrients are depleted, so the field is diverted from cassava cultivation and a new field is cleared. The conucos zone thus gradually creeps further inland. The abandoned plot may be left to fallow, which may require 30 to
40 years to occur. Alternatively, the field may be planted with a variety of tree crops such as inga, palm peach, guavas, and others.
However, the amount of land cleared has doubled over time (MARN, 1997), and 56 this corresponds to growing population within the basin. Furthermore, the prevalence of cassava in the traditionally mixed-crop conuco has become so common that at some extent that they are turning into single-crop fields. In addition, a remarkable period of land in fallow has started to be shortened. This is a result of the need to keep profitable cassava production within a walking distance to the villages. Conucos located distant from the village make it impossible to tend to the household and the fields simultaneously. On the other hand, the harvested cassava needs to be processed into flour cakes for the market. This activity is normally done in the household in the village, where trucks can have access to transportation of agricultural products.
Fig.4.2 Sugar cane plot, at the back a palm peach tree and fallow vegetation (Bractis gasipae), 2005 (Photo by the Author) 57
Households and lots characteristics
Around 52% of the surveyed households that hold land in the area (Figure 4.4), are from the state of Amazonas, 29% come from the interior of the state, and 23% from the city of Puerto Ayacucho. No natives where found. The remaining group, 7% are from
Colombia, 5% are from the state of Bolivar, which has a similar biome as the state of
Amazonas, but with fewer restrictions for logging and mining, 11% come from the state of Apure, which is characterized by flat plains lands cover of natural grass, dedicated mostly to extensive cattle raisin, 7% comes from the eastern states such as Trujillo, in the
Venezuelan Andean region, Lara at the Venezuelan on the Northeastern mountain range, and Zulia, which surrounds Maracaibo Lake, well known for its rich soils and oil production revenues. Legal owners inhabit sixty percent of the lots, while the remaining
40 percent has someone being paying for to stay on the lot and protect it from squatters and thefts.
Figure 4.3 provides a sample of the applied questionnaire. Results (Table 4.4) show that the average number of family members living on the plot is four. Of the five members, there are approximately two adult males (individuals over the age of 9 years), one adult female, and one child. The average age of the household head is 47 years. On the other hand, the average education level is seven years or the equivalent of uncomplete junior high school. 58
Table 4.3 Variable Definitions ______FAMILY Number of family members residing on Family size, allows to determine lot household life cycle location in term of dependency and force labor available FEMAL09 Number of female household member Determines household life cycle between the ages of 0 and 9 location in term of number of children not able to work at the farm because of age. FEMALE9 Number of female household members Determines number of adults available over the age of 9 in the household for work MALES09 Number of male household members over the age of 9. MALE9 Number of males household member over Determines number of adults available the age of 9 in the household for work AVEDUHH Average education of the household Average education, will help to know heads, in years potential labor skill household heads have to offer at urban and rural areas. AVEAGEHH Average age of the household heads, in Helps to determined at what household years life cycle stage is YEARSLOT Number of years the household has Determines familiarity with the resided on the lot surroundings and capacity to implement appropriate technological input to the plot. DISTCITY Distance from the city center, in It determines if markets prices and kilometers. access influence deforestation decision COOP Number of cooperatives in which the Determines informal tenure security household participates and access to technological improvements 59
Table 4.3 Variable Definitions (Continued)
RESIDE Dummy variable indicating whether the Determines attachment to the area owner resides on the lot, otherwise the lot is rented; = 1 if owner resides on the lot, = 0 if rented. ORIGIN Dummy variable indicating whether the Attempts to capture cultural variation household migrated from the interior of the in the origins of the migrants state or from outside the state; = 1 if household migrated from the interior of the state, = 0 if migrated from other region INCTOTAL Dummy variable indicating whether the Attempts to capture affluence of the household migrated from the interior of the household state or from outside the state; = 1 if household migrated from the interior of the state, = 0 if migrated from INCANN Total yearly household income from Attempt to capture income from annual annual crops, 2004 bolivares production INCPER Total yearly household income from Attempt to capture income from perennial crops, 2004 perennials INCOFF Total yearly household income from off- Attempt to capture income from off- farm labor (including pensions),2004 farm labor opportunities in the household VEHICLE Number of cars and trucks and motors Attempts to capture affluence of the MOTOR owned by the household household and needs to commute to the city 60
Table 4.3 Variable Definitions (Continued) CATTLE Number of cattle owned by the To know if there is still using cattle household ranching in the area is a key factor of deforestation BANKACCO Number of bank account held by To use as an indicator of affluence and household members capacity to save money LOTSIZE Lot size, in hectares Indicates the relative availability of land
DEF Total number of hectares deforested Indicates availability of already cleared on the lot (includes agriculture, land thus, the ease of establishing pasture, and fallow) DEFPREV Number of hectares deforested in year Indicates a temporal dynamic of prior to the survey year deforestation for agriculture AGRI, PAS,FOR,INT Land Endowment in terms of how Explains in terms of land use cover and much land is under agriculture, distribution of the lot, how the pasture, forest and intercropping household manage its land as a resource to obtain income for self consumption or /and sell products to the local market
61
Table 4.4 Descriptive statistics for household in Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005 Households (n = 83) ______Mean Std. Dev. Min Max FAMILY 3.9448 2.7235 0 10 FEMAL09 0.4610 1/2372 0 7 FEMALE9 1.2699 1.1396 0 4 MALES09 0.4196 0.7052 0 3 MALE9 1.9782 1.5247 0 7 AVEDUHH 7.6675 5.2731 0 16 AVEAGEHH 49.0833 13.9430 20 74 YEARSLOT 9.5161 8.2299 0.0833 37 DISTCITY 11.3162 6.9948 1.4 2.4 COOP 0.0928 0.2862 0 1 RESIDE 0.5960 0.4874 0 1 ORIGIN 0.5698 0.4917 0 1 INCTOTAL 16,636,772.45 28,281,442.01 0 144,000,000 INCANN 1,450,701 3,919,771 0 22,140,000 INCPER 125,271.7 527,273.6 0 3000000 INCOFF 16,442,414.4 29,647,324.9 0 144,000,000 VEHICLE 0.675579 0.8979 0 5 MOTOR 0.0935 0.4860 0 3 CATTLE 0.0805 0.4749 0 3 BANKACCO 1.1905 0.8928 0 5 LOTSIZE 4.8101 4.8276 0.5 24 DEF 3.11 3.15 0 20 DEFPREV 0.2810 0.8618 0 5 AGRI 1.1227 1.1401 0 5 PAS 0.1601 0.8030 0 5 FOR 1.6361 3.8356 0 22 INT 2.0325 3.0494 0 18.8 Source: Field data survey Note: US $ 1.00 = 1920 bolivares in 2004; 2150 bolivares in 2005 62 OHIO UNIVERSITY MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES RESEARCH PROJECT: THE TENSION BETWEEN DEVELOPMENTAL LAND USES AND THE CONSERVATION AREA DESIGNATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE CREOLES IN CATANIAPO RIVER BASIN, VENEZUELA
DATE: HOUSEHOLD: LOCATION: VILLAGE: FARM)
Number of family members residing on the lot:
Nº of male household members over the age of 9: Nº of female household member between the age of 0 and 9:
Nº of female household member over the age of 9: Nº of male household member between the age 0 & 9:
Average education of household heads, in year:
Average age of household heads, in years:
Number of years the household has resident on the lot:
Distance from the city of Puerto Ayacucho, kilometers:
Number of cooperatives in which the household participates:
& Dummy variable indicating whether the owner resides on the lot, otherwise the lot is rented; &=1 if the owner resides on the lot, = 0 if rented & = 0.
& Dummy variable indicating whether the owner migrated from the state’s interior or outside the state; &=1 if the household migrated from the interior, & = 0 if migrated from other region.
Total yearly household income, 2004 bolivares:
Total yearly household income from annual crops, 2004 bolivares:
Total yearly household income from perennial crops, 2004:
Total yearly household income, from off-farm labor (including pensions), 2004 bolivares
Number of cars and trucks owned by the household:
Number of motorcycles owned by the household members:
Number of cattle owned by the household:
Lot size in hectares:
Total number of hectares deforested in year prior to the survey year:
Number of hectares on the lot in:
AGRICULTURE: PASTURE: PRIMARY FOREST: INTERCROPPING:
NOTES:
Fig. 4.3 Survey format, adapted from Caviglia-Harris, 2004 63
Place of Origin of Farmers on the Cataniapo River Basin, Venezuela, 2005
23% Puerto Ayacucho 29% Apure Bolivar North East 11% North Center 7% 5% Colombia 18% 7% Interior of Amazonas
Figure 4.4 Place of origin of farmers
Education Level by Age Range, of Farmers on the Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
10 8 6 15 to 25 4 2 26 to 35 0 36 to 45
Number of People 46 to 55
Some 56 to 65 Higher School School Primary Iliterate School 66 to 75 Secondary Education Level
Figure 4.5 Education level by age range 64 Data on land-use designation indicate that the average lot size is 4.81ha (11.885 acres), and approximately 75% of the total number of lots is devoted to agriculture, in terms of annual cropping. Intercropping and/or vegetation in fallow are present in 62.65% of the lots, and also provide harvest of some perennials as palm fruits, citrics, papaya, coffee, inga, and others. Little land-use is devoted to pasture, since there are restrictions to cattle raising within the protected area, and only about 16% of the land cover is kept as forest.
Household wealth indicators as ownership of vehicles showed that 53% of the families have at least one car, and the remaining group, (43%) does not has any kind of vehicle for transportation. Only two individuals reported having motorcycles, and
Number of Cars Farmers Have on the Cataniapo River Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
1% 4%
No cars 46% One car Two cars 49% Five cars
Figure 4.6 Number of cars own by farmers 65 possession of bank accounts is more related to pensions and salaries than from agricultural revenues.
It was difficult for farmers to remember the exact income from their annual
agricultural production (on-farm labor income), so their answers regard this topic were
influenced by their subjective appreciation of their land production, and therefore, were used for informational purposes only. Source of income are varied and related to educational level. Those with higher educational degree or with entrepreneurs skills
presented the highest income level, with little use of the land to produce revenues; while those with little schooling or retired with little income from their pensions were more likely to obtain cash from selling crops at the market (Figure 4.7). Nevertheless, 79% of
the interviewed population receives incomes from off-farm labor.
Household agricultural production
Household agricultural production consists of the harvest of manioc,
which later is transformed into cassava cakes, dry manioc flour, hot sauce, and starch.
Other secondary harvests are sugar cane, bananas, chili pepper, pineapple, papaya, and
perennials as palm fruits, citric, avocados, and coffee. Forest clearing is a necessary step
to agriculture until soils are exhausted and weeds become uncontrollable by burning. In
the study area, 74.69% of the surveyed population practice agriculture. Figure 4.8
suggests that largest families are more likely to use agriculture as a source of income,
since labor force is abundant and cheaper, as well as dependency rate tends to be higher
at this family proportion level. 66
Main Source of Income of Small Farmers on the Cataniapo River Basin, Venezuela, 2005
25 20 15 Off-Farm Labor Income 10 On-Farm Labor Income 5 0 Number of People Higher School Primary School No School Secondary Education Level
Figure 4.7 Main source of income of small farmers
Off-farm labor strongly complements the income from agricultural production and occurs on the rainy season when there is little harvest. Since cattle raisin is restricted in the area, crop production is the major source of income. Eight out of seventeen agricultural farmers (47.06%) that rely on agriculture and do not practice off-farm labor complements their cash crops income with retirement pensions or receive financial support from relatives living and working off the farm. The remaining 52.94% has cash crops as their only source of income (Figure 4.9). Of the universe of those who has a car, approximately 71.11%, do agriculture. However, from the total surveyed population that does not own any kind of transportation, 78.94% also practice cash crop production.
Therefore, car ownership may be more related to off-farm labor, where higher salaries 67 help for the purchase of them. Cooperative participation is reported only on three cases, despite the government is promoting agricultural loans to low-income families that are organized as cooperatives.
Proportion of Agricultural Farmers Based on Their Family Size, on the Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
120
ers 100 80 60 40 Percentage of
ricultural Farm 20 g
A 0 12345678910 Number of Family Members
Figure 4.8 Proportion of agricultural farmers based on family size
Since agriculture is a risk activity due to fluctuation weather patterns, market prices, technology input, and macroeconomics conditions, there is some reluctance to participate into these social programs, even though it proportionate cash, technological assistance, and inputs such as machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, and others. The only 68 three households involved in this kind of organization are also receiving a bank loan from the government.
Forest clearing is a determinant for agriculture production, since farmers are limited to expand the size of their lots due to the conservation policies that applies to the study area. However, this source of income stimulates farmer to keep this kind of land use over their lot until soils capacity is exhausted.
Percentage of Agricultal Farmers related to Socioeconomic Variables on the Cataniapo River Basin, Venezuela, 2005
120 Own a Car
s 100 er 100 m Do not Own a 78.94 80.3 Vehicle al Far 80 71.11 Member of a cultur i Cooperative r 60
g 52.94
Receives Off-Farm 40 Labor Income entage of A
c Incomes Coming r 20
e from Farm
P Products Sales Only 0 Socioeconomic Variables
Figure 4.9 Agricultural farmers related to socioeconomic variables 69 Household deforestation
Origin of the household’s heads seems to be significant determinant of forest clearing. Farmers coming from the interior of the state, Puerto Ayacucho, and the state of
Bolivar, are most likely to clear their forest (Figure 4.10). They all have in common to be familiar with the environmental conditions and knowing what are the most effective cash
crops to be produce in the region. People coming from the interior may rely more on
agriculture to satisfy their needs since their opportunity to participate in the city’s labor
market are low due to lack of skills demanded in urban areas. People coming from the
North-Central states, presents also a high proportion of ‘no forest’ on the land, but this
may be explained by the fact that they bought the lot already deforested by formers
farmers, since presumably their original intention was real state speculation. 60% of this
group has less of 5 years living on the area, where the newest has less than a month and
the oldest has 15 years on the lot.
Distance from the market is another important variable (Figure 4.11), those lots on the first 15 kilometers (9.3205 miles) coming from the city are more deforested than those located at farther distances. Lots on the first 5 kilometers (3.1068 miles) are the oldest ones, and are almost totally deforested, and with little agricultural potential. It was
noticeable that the most common use of these lots is abandoned land, real estate
speculation, and residential use. On the other hand agricultural activity is more intense
between the first five and fifteen kilometers. 15 out 24 farmers coming from the interior
of the state (37.5%) are located on the further points of the road (Figure 4.13), where land is cheaper and forest is available on relative abundance. 70
Percentage of Farmers Who Cleared the Lot Completely, on The Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
73.33 75 80 70.83 68.42 60 44.44 50 50 40 20 0 Percentage of Farmer's Group Based on Origin the East North From From North Apure Center Bolivar interior Puerto From Colombia Ayacucho Origin of Farmers
Figure 4.10 Farmers who cleared their lot completely
Regard farmers from Puerto Ayacucho, 31% of them are located beyond
Kilometer 16 (Mile 9.9). Ninety nine percent of the households settled beyond Km 21
(Mile 13) are either coming from Puerto Ayacucho or from the interior of the state of
Amazonas.
71
Relationship Between Percentage of Deforestation and Distance from Market Place, of Farmers on the Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
25 20 20 0 to 30 13 15 12 11 31 to 60 10 5 61 to 90
Farmers 3 2 3 3 2 2 Number of 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 91 to 100 0 0 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 Distance from Market Place in Kilometers
Figure 4.11 Relationship between deforestation and market distance
Relation Between Place of Origin vs. Percentage of Deforestation of Farmers on the Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
35 30 30 26 25 20 Out of the state 12 15 From the state 10 5 6 5 1 2 1 0 Number of Farmers 0 to 25 25 to 50 51 to 75 76 to 100 Percentage of Deforestation
Figure 4.12 Place of origin vs. deforestation 72
Relationship between Time of Settlement in Years vs.Percentage of Deforested Land of Farmers on Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
30 rmers
a 25 0 to 5
F 20 f 15 6 to 10 10 er o 5 11 to 15 0 mb 16 to 20
Nu 0 to 11 21 31 41 51 61 71 81 91 21 to 25 10 to to to to to to to to to 26 to 30 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 31 to 35 Percentage of Deforestation on Land
Figure 4.13 Time of settlement vs. deforested land
Newcomers with less then five years on the area currently settled on lots with high proportion of cleared forest (Figure 4.13). This may be explained by the fact that they probably bought the land almost completely deforested from those who cannot farm it anymore, but can sell it through real state speculation for people living in urban areas.
This type of owners would use the lot for recreational purposes on weekends. This may suggest that urban sprawl could become a risk to the area. Particularly if the major deforested areas are located near the start of the road adjacent to the fresh water pumps for the city, the most vulnerable point for to water pollution. Farmers with more then 25 years are more likely to have at least removed 60% of their forest cover. 73 Lots of two and less hectares are reported as almost deforested. This strongly relate to the need of reaching crop production to economically acceptable levels.
Agricultural lots for manioc are commonly around a hectare (2.4719 acres), with are the minimum size to sustain a family for a year, and are combined with chili peppers, fruits, bananas, legumes, and sugar cane. Those lots around 1 to 2 hectares will to have to deforest their entire land to meet at least their production for self-consumption needs.
Relationship between Lot Size vs. Percentage of Deforestation on Lot by Farmers on the Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
s 0 to 10 r 30 e 11 to 20
m 25 r 21 to 30 20 31 to 40 15
of Fa 41 to 50
r
e 10 51 to 60 b 5 61 to 70 0 71 to 80 Num 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10121315162024 81 to 90 91 to 100 Size of Lot in Hectares
Figure 4.14 Lot size vs. percentage of deforestation on lot
74
Relationship between Percentagee of Lot on Agriculture vs. Percentage of Deforested Land on Households of Cataniapo River Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005 s
r 15 e m r 10 0 to 25 of Fa r 5 25 to 50 51 to 75 mbe 0 76 to 100 Nu 0 to 20 21 to 40 41 to 60 61 to 80 81 to 100 Percentage of Deforested Land on Lot
Figure 4.15 Proportion of lot on agriculture vs. deforested land
Relationship between Percentage of Deforested Land vs. Percentage of Land Devoted to Intercropping of Perennials and Fallow of
Farmer's Lots on the Cataniapo River Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005
25 0 to 25
s 20 of r
e 15 26 to 50
m r 10 51 to 75
Fa 5 Number 76 to 100 0 0 to 20 21 to 40 41 to60 61 to80 81 to 100
Percentage of Deforested Land on Lot
Figure 4.16 Deforested land vs. land for intercropping and/or fallow 75 Lots with largest agricultural area report the most deforested percentage as well
(Figures 4.15 and 4.16), similarly happens to individuals who posses largest areas under vegetation in fallow, or intercropping of perennials and annual crops. This suggests that forest clearing is being compensated with agro-forestry, since it provides natural fertilizer and soil protection through leaf litter created by standing trees.
Case- study: Morichalito Hiwi Village
On this research, indigenous villages were visited but not surveyed; secondary sources were used in order to understand the settlement patterns on common land property. Cultural and language barrier within the span time available would make very difficult to reach reliable data. Indigenous people are an important group in the Amazon region because of its population size, unique cultural background and important traditional agriculture that have proved to be sustainable in the long term. In Venezuela they are also important because of being minority groups which cultural identity has practically been ignored until past years, when the Venezuelan new Constitution set a chapter about their rights to land and cultural identity. This recognition has started a new process about land marking and policies about protection of their habitats to guarantee their cultural identity related to their biophysical surroundings. However, some conflicts about conservation and development have risen occasionally in the state of Amazonas, particularly when they have been willing to allow loggers to harvest timber from their land for jobs and little cash compensation. 76
Morichalito is located right at the entrance of the road that crosses along the
Cataniapo River Basin on the low section of the river, where the savanna ecosystem is
predominant. This village should be important to monitor because it lies less than a mile from the water pumps that supply fresh water to the city of Puerto Ayacucho. It is represented by the Hiwi ethnic group who settle in the area in the early 1980s. Hiwis are an original and predominant group of the low flat lands (llanos) of Colombia and
Venezuela. Since savannas are characterized by poor soils, of predominantly grass, shrubs, and palms, this group combines handicraft from palm fibers, and agricultural production in small plots of rich soil spots located at the foot of outcrops rocks with nutrients coming from the litter of leaves dragged by rain waters.
Savannas are not good places to rely on agriculture, so traditionally Hiwis were hunters, fishers, and gatherers. The strategy that Morichalito have taken regard their close location to Puerto Ayacucho is to sell their labor force at the urban market place, rather than keeping their traditional economical practices.
Only twenty-one families were present when we visited the field. Compared to the data obtain from Creoles farmers, indigenous show important differences. Average size of the family is seven, where the largest one contained 17 individuals. The average age of the household heads is 39, and illiteracy reach 42.86% of the surveyed population.
No one has reach college level education and only one finished secondary school. This means that the rest, 57.14%, has reached only primary school. The average size of their gardens is 0.96 ha, being the main staple manioc. A third of all the Hiwi interviewees, do not have a garden at all. On the survey data, only 38.09% expressed dependency in 77 agriculture as their only source of income, although important is to say that they are
just 20 minutes from Puerto Ayacucho’s market place. 52.38% of the population has low
skill demanding off-the-farm jobs, mainly located at the capital city.
Deforestation is not a major threat in the area, but it can be urban sprawl and housing location, since newcomers from the city where observed while the survey period, and most of the houses where located next to streams to ease the water gathering with no infrastructure for sewage or final disposal of domestic solids
Table 4.5 Hiwi Household Characteristics, located at the village of Morichalito, compared to Creoles settled on the Cataniapo River Protected Area, Venezuela, 2005 Creoles Hiwis ______Overall sample, mean values
Family size 3.94 7.19 Age of household heads (years) 49.08 38.76 Literacy (%) 89.16 57. Off-the-farm labor dependency (%) 80.30 52.38 Garden size (hectares) 4.81 0.96 Distance from market in km 11.31 1 ______Source: Field Data
78
Case- study: Arawak group family sharing common lands with ‘Las Pavas’ Piaroa village
Arawaks are today predominant groups of the upper section of the Orinoco River,
Casiquiare and Rio Negro. Those who live nearby the capital city migrated from the
interior of the state in search for better living conditions such as health services and education opportunities that usually are better in the urban areas. Three main groups can be found on the Cataniapo River Basin Protected Area. One is located in the Hiwi village of ‘La Reforma,’ other one in the Piaroa village of ‘Las Pavas,’ and there is an independent village named ‘Cucurital’ who has split into another village named ‘Piedra
Cucurital.’ The group living on La Reforma, has set a section that for governmental purposes is considered an autonomous village itself, named ‘La Esperanza.’ They also have significantly impacted the area through extensive agricultural practices, since agriculture is the only way they can exchange goods from the city market because of their lack of skill for participation in the labor market.
The group at ‘Las Pavas’ is represented by one extended family that moved into the area from a concern that the Piaroa elders had about their ever shrinking size of the village in the last 10 years, when the national economy was going through a recession because of low oil prices. Since agriculture was not providing the necessary income to satisfy household needs, some families decided to move to the city for more stable jobs. 79
Arawaks saw this situation as a unique opportunity to live near the city but still relying on the traditional subsistence agriculture that they had on their former sites. This way
they could obtain health care services and education opportunities for their offspring.
This extended family group is made up of four households, where average size of
each is six members. The average age of household’s heads is 40 years old. None of them
completed primary school, and the elders, who average age is 64 years old, are illiterate.
They came from the Atabapo River Region, a tributary of the Orinoco River. On the field
survey they have proved that their intention is to clear forest for farming as they
traditionally do in the region of origin, which is characterized by the abundance of free
land, inland forest, and low-density population. Their new land has soils that were under
fallow vegetation or marginal lands that the Piaroa no longer use. It becomes noticeable
that these were soils with severe fertility limitations. They participate in forest extraction,
usually palm fruits, but this activity is for self-consumption, and they sell manioc cakes
(cassava) as their main source of income. Their cassava production for the market varies
according to their needs of buying commodities from the market of Puerto Ayacucho.
They do not have legal attachment to the land except for the grant they obtain verbally
from the Piaroa elders. 80
Figure 4.17 Smog from slash-and-burn agriculture above Puerto Ayacucho (Photo by the Author)
On the overall analyzed data, significant differences can be detected based on ethnical background. Education learned from formal schooling is important to participate in the market, either for trade, access to social services such health care and education, and chances to participate in the job market, which means money for trade for commodities and services of all kind. These field data outcome important insights for environmental protection enforcement and planning. The following chapter deepens the analysis and discussion of these results, and the recommendation suggested from these findings. 81
CHAPTER V
Discussions
As an aid to the reader, this final chapter restates the research problem and reviews the major methods used in the study. The major sections of this chapter summarize the results and discuss its implications. As explained in Chapter 1, the study reported here was a case-study of deforestation caused by Creole settlers that use slash- and-burn techniques as a cheap strategy for forestland clearing for agricultural purposes in a area designated for watershed protection and conservation.
Statement of the problem
Although the current conservation policy in the area has banned logging, mining and cattle ranching, shifting cultivation is still practiced because of the generalized believed that traditional agriculture is a sustainable practice. However, due to exogenous and endogenous factors influencing local household’s decision taking, this traditional agricultural system is facing certain variations near cities and markets that involves deforestation and permanent agriculture to levels that impose a threat to environmental conservation attempts and compromise the quality and quantity of the local hydrological and biologic resources available. 82 The prevailing opinion in the area is that indigenous people are sustainable agriculturalists that clear forestland on temporal basis, affecting more likely vegetation composition cover, while the Creoles are deforesting their lots for permanent and intensive agriculture without the use of fertilizers of sustainable agricultural practices which in the long term will deteriorate the soil qualities and the general environment. The aim of this research is to know, through an empirical approach, who are these Creoles, and what practices are in fact using in the area.
Review of the methodology
As a case-study, this research primarily used a semi-quantitative perspective, attempting to discern what are the social aspects and farm characteristic of the Creole settlers in the area in order to understand what influence their decision-taking regard deforestation. The case-study covered the dry season peak period of 2005 and involved
83 Creoles settlers out 131 parcels available in the area. By this, the author means that from the overall universe of parcels within the study area (131), around 103 proved to be active as a production unit, but the rest were founded abandoned during the study period.
The research relied on semi-structured interviews, in which a questionnaire with 27 variables where filled by the researcher along the conversational interview. The data were tabulated, and the average, standard deviation, and minimum and maximum values of each of the variables were calculated. 83 Summary of the results
The field survey shows that contrary to the popular belief that large families are
common in rural areas, this particular group tend to be represented by relatively small families of four members, with low prevalence of children in the household. Also, the average age of the household heads are around fifty and predominantly with some education at junior high school level. So the tendency is that middle age individuals
represent the typical households head and are at a late family life cycle stage. The
average time of household settlement is 10 years, and most of them are around 11
kilometers away from the city. Creoles settlers are not socially organized except for an
association made of 14 settlers at km 11. Approximately half of the population
interviewed lives on the lot. While the rest commute from the capital city.
Regard their parcel characteristics, the average plot is around 5 hectares and three
fifths of them are already deforested. One hectare is use for annual crops production or
for perennials, while two remaining fifths of the total cover land is covered by fallow
vegetation and little is under pasture cover. Overall, parcels still keep a portion of their
land cover with forest.
Discussion of the results
The dynamics of land use patterns of Creoles found along the field survey suggest
that general factors influencing deforestation at household level are more likely local
rather than a global one, as is suggested by Zhang, Justice and Desanker (2002). Origin,
off-farm labor income opportunities and markets are the main reasons that cause
deforestation in the study area. 84 Settlers coming from the interior of the state, with low labor skills for urban areas, but relatively close to a market of 66,000 inhabitants, perceive non-forest land use more profitable than extractive forestry. At this point, traditional shifting-cultivation becomes more market-oriented, through the sell of cassava cakes, manioc starch, hot sauces, and other manioc-derived products, and independently from market distances for those indigenous people settled on common land. Settlers coming from out-of-the-state perceiving higher wage rates from their labor force at the city are more oriented to use the land for recreational and residential purposes or for land speculation. The survey suggests that average income from farm products is US $ 558.05, and the average income from labor is around US $ 8024.46 per year per household, while the average income from perennials crops and forest extraction is US $ 40.26.
Although these data is quite influenced by farmers’ appreciation of their income that limits its reliability, it reveals that agriculture is a more persuasive source of income than intercropping or secondary forest extraction. Particularly for those who cannot participate in the urban labor market. Caviglia-Harris (2004) has found in the Brazilian
Amazon that off-farm labor activities serve as a substitute for agricultural production.
Similarly, Vosti et al. (2003) proposes a model which predicts that high incomes from
off-farm labor make the household to use its earning power off-farm and reduce on-farm
agricultural activities. Since labor wages rates are usually correlated to education level, it
is more likely that for almost half of the population in the study area would need to
complement their off-labor income to on-farm production to boost their income. 85 Even though settlers along the road, particularly those who arrived in recent years cannot be held responsible for past excessive forest clearance, they potentially hold the threat that once the soil fertility declines, they would allegedly move to new parts of the forest, engaging to a never-ending cycle of forest destruction and soil degradation.
Their only limitation to do so is the fact of being surrounded by indigenous territories who are very jealous of their land rights boosted by the national policy to reinforce their cultural identity, or by conservation policy enforcement, which often has failed to prevent this kind of incidents, particularly when the environmental felony is made by poor individuals that need the agriculture to sustain themselves.
The Venezuelan federal government through the Environment and Natural
Resources Agency holds the property lands rights forest cover and its products; so farmers face severely limitations to be motivated for forest management because of the taxes impose to secondary forest resources extraction. Without a formal permit, farmers can legally extract only food and small amount of timber for home use. As a result, farmers focus their income generation efforts on labor and cleared land for agriculture.
Vosti et al. (2002) describe a similar condition in the Brazilian Amazon. In both cases, however, regulations of forest use have largely failed due to weak enforcement. In addition, Vosti et al, suggest that the with the current information and technology level on
tropical forest management available, there is no guarantee yet to halt deforestation, but to delay it up for 25 years, on the lot. 86 To present, the only conservation policy instrument applied on the state as well as on the rest of the nation, has been limited to land use zoning and regulation of forest use as the primary policy instrument for slowing deforestation. However, these environmental regulations on watershed conservation are not stopping land degradation from overuse. Environmental surveillance has been limited to road patrolling, without often stepping into indigenous territories, and carried out mostly by individuals not well
trained to identify environmental felonies. Satellite images from LANDSAT TM on 1999
(Figure 4.1), reveals vegetation patches at various successional stage, recovering from the
impact of human activities, most of them from indigenous people common land and
settlers along the road of the protected area. These images suggest that agriculture is an
intensive activity despite the government efforts to promote forest conservation, which
impose the need to identify more practical and effective policy instruments to enhance
the value of traditional forest-based activities. 87
Slash & burn impact along the road by Creoles farmers Km. Shifting cultivation impact 19-23 on common land At Gavilan village
Km 9-13 La Pavas
Shifting cultivation impact on common land, Cucurital
Figure 5.1 Satellite image from Land Sat, Jan1999 of the study area
88 In response to these deforestation constrains, household decision-taking has
been land abandonment, land speculation either for recreational or residential purposes, land use change from agricultural cover to intercropping of perennials with annuals crops, and major dependency on off-farm labor opportunities.
Agricultural expansion arises from the demographic pressure that the city of
Puerto Ayacucho has over the area. And it also suffers the consequences of slash-and-
burn agriculture through carbon emission smog. Along the survey period, it became
noticeable that individuals, who were hired to protect the land from squatter or theft, were
slashing and burning forest for agriculture at a relatively short distance from the road.
Similarly, indigenous villages located at the end of the road has deforested all the land
that is between the road and the Cataniapo River, leaving stand only the riparian trees of
creeks and streams. Their entire crops surpluses were intended for the city market.
In regard to the hypotheses statement, the results suggest that although there is an
increasing group of dwellers that are orienting land use to others than traditional
agriculture, there is also a significant group of farmers that need to deforest land to satisfy their basic needs of food and housing. On both cases a more educational approach forest conservation initiative should be attempted. However, further research in finding path ways to accomplish a sustainable level of development and conservation is still required on the area. Higher income dwellers that rely on off-farm labor are becoming noticeable in the area in response to the increasing revenues from oils exports that are boosting the
Venezuelan economy. Unfortunately Venezuela in the last decades at the macroeconomic level has showed a roller-coaster economic behavior pattern because of its dependency on 89 international oils prices. On recessional times, it is more likely that low income families from the interior may come to the protected area in quantities that over exceed the wealthy ones, to produce cash crops at the expense of forest conservation.
From the survey results it was interesting to note that most of the intensive
agricultural activities where taken place around kilometer 11 to 13 of the road. This
particular spot has paved road in very good conditions, electricity access, and public
transportation services, there is also an indigenous village nearby (La Reforma) that has
elementary and junior high schools, and a public walking clinic. Al these services require costs that must be covered by the household. Households on this particular sector are represented by those who depend heavily on agriculture to cover their family spends, it may reasonable to understand why so much intensive agriculture exists on this particular place. However, it was interesting to observe that those household with low family dependency ratio or contained retired individuals with no children practiced little agricultural activities and most of their plot was substituted by fallow vegetation or in the production of perennials around the house. In either case forestry production was not considered as an option.
Other element to take into consideration on this particular spot (Kilometers 11 to
13 on the road), is that some dwellers expressed that they were authorized to settle on the area by the elders of Cucurital. They recalled having a meeting with the leaders of the village, to learn about the outcomes of a previous meeting held by the elders with the village members to take a decision to support or not some families who were willing to join the indigenous community. Along that particular meeting, issues about how white 90 settler perceive the land as a property that can be sold to the speculation market were
considered, and the village was not willing to support such attitudes through not letting
Creoles colonist to join the area, but in contrast, they were more willing to accept those
settlers who were married to a indigenous spouse, since in their interpretation, indigenous background in the family would not impose a threat to land speculation on the village land.
Since Cucurital is an Arawak village where the first settlers came from the interior of the state with no real land attachment to the area, it may be understandable such relaxed policy on land granting, something that for example Piaroa villages leaders would be less willing to allow. However, it is becoming noticeable that common land territories are some how loosing their policy to allow newcomer to join their villages. An example of this is La Reforma, which has allowed Arawaks and Piaroa from the interior of the state to use their land for agriculture at the expense of forest cover; similarly happen on the village of Las Pavas who recently allowed Arawak groups to join the village. It was also noticeable that in Piaroa villages there is also in increasing population of Piaroas in-migrating from their traditional lands at the interior of the state to participate on the market of Puerto Ayacucho. Even though that that are located at the furthermost point of the road on Cataniapo River basin. The reason of such initiative can be explain by the fact that those larger villages are more likely to receive more governmental funds for social services, such as schools buildings, walking clinics, housing development, and others. Since on the 1990s the Venezuelan economic recession was focusing this kind of funding only on larger villages, it can be inferred that there was 91 a more willing to boost the increasing rate population growth of villages who were eager to receive health service to protect them from malaria and other deadly disease
threats. On the other hand, small villages are more vulnerable to protect their common
land from squatters, which is significant issue in the country since this later group is
represented by large poor families without land, housing and jobs. From a social justice
point of view is a very complicated issue to handle. As it already happened on 1998 with
the Village of San Rafael de Manuare, which land were invaded by squatters that could
not be expelled from the land so easily. It took five year to expel them and at the cost of
350 hectares of degraded land, because of the complexities that still exists on land titling
on the judicial system of the nation.
Impacts of agricultural activities over deforestation on common land are not
covered by this study. Past studies (Nuñez, 1993) suggest that around 35% of the total
cleared lands on the study area for agriculture are located on common land. However,
since the indigenous population is predominant on the area and their impact over
vegetation cover is larger than those caused by the settlers along the road, further studies on this regard should be taken into consideration. Moreover when the considered area is important for conservation protection because provides drinking water to a city that is relevant due to its political, social and economic characteristics.
Other factor not considered in this study is technology, because supposedly chemicals, machinery, poultry, cattle rising, and extensive farms are not allowed on protected areas in Venezuela. However, from the field observation few cases proved the use of pesticides at discrete quantities and more related to those who practice 92 intercropping under cleared canopies of low dense forests. Loans for agriculture were no either covered by the survey since along the visits, credit holders were not present
except in two cases, in their major concerns were that the input and the technical
assistance were not opportune at the time needed. Although there is a national-level
program that tries to train farmers into more effective and efficient agricultural practices,
as well training them to establish cooperatives, and promote a more socially oriented
market, these initiatives are still incipient to be covered by this study. It would be interesting nevertheless, to incorporate this element in further studies of this topic in similar circumstances, since the literature considered this factor as key to boost on-farm incomes. 93
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