THE EFFECTS OF WEALTH AND MARKETS ON RUBBER TAPPER USE AND KNOWLEDGE OF FOREST RESOURCES IN ACRE, BRAZIL By RICHARD HOOD WALLACE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2004 Copyright 2004 by Richard Hood Wallace For my family ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have completed this journey with the guidance, support, and encouragement of many people. At the University of Florida, my dissertation committee members have been by my side every step along the way. I do not think it would be possible to find five faculty members more giving of their time and guidance. Dr. Karen Kainer in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, a mentor and a friend, has always been a source for new ways of thinking about the role of forest products in rural livelihoods in Acre. Dr. Ronald Ward of the School of Food and Resource Economics worked with me patiently as I developed the economic models for the statistical analysis. The amount of learning that took place during those meetings was tremendous. Dr. Clyde Kiker, also of the School of Food and Resource Economics, helped me to step back and think about what I really wanted to say. Over the past two years, I knew a trip to Dr. Kiker’s office would leave me with a better understanding of what I was trying to achieve. Dr. Russ Bernard of the Department of Anthropology has had a great effect on my development in graduate school and my dissertation research. He has challenged me to think critically about my research questions and methods, and has shown me how exciting the field of anthropology can be. Finally, my chair, Dr. Marianne Schmink, has been a wonderful mentor and guide. She has taught me how much one can achieve by pursuing small ideas and accepting challenges. As she told me once, “It doesn’t hurt to dream.” Indeed, it does not. I thank her for her encouragement, patience, and support. iv I also would like to thank the many people and organizations in Acre, Brazil, that helped me in the implementation of my fieldwork. I would like to thank the Research and Extension in Agroforestry Systems Group (PESACRE) for providing institutional and logistical support during the study period. I also want to thank the State Secretary for Forests and Extraction (SEFE), and in particular Arthur Leite, Andrea Alexandre, Mário Jorge da Silva Fadell and Alexandre Souza and Nuria Merched, who provided valuable insight into the changing extractive sector in Acre. At the Federal University of Acre, Francisco Kennedy de Souza was very helpful in developing my research instrument. The National Center for the Sustainable Development of Traditional Populations (CNPT)/Acre provided authorization to work in the Chico Mendes Reserve and I thank them for their continued support over the years. In Xapuri, I would like to thank the Association of Inhabitants of the Chico Mendes Reserve in Xapuri (AMOREX), which supported my research in the three communities in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, and the Rural Worker’s Union (STR), which assisted in arranging transport animals for my fieldwork. A number of individuals also assisted my research in diverse ways. Maria Lúcia Rodrigues, a geography student at UFAC, worked as my research assistant during the first round of fieldwork 2001. I would also like to thank Dione and Durival who assisted in fieldwork in 2002. Warm and special thanks go to the families in the communities of Rio Branco, Terra Alta, and São João de Guarani in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve. I thank them for opening their homes and sharing their lives with me. Very special thanks to João Pereira da Silva, who befriended me on my first visit to Xapuri in 1995. Since then, he has contributed to my research in so many ways, from assisting v with logistics of forest travel, serving as a guide, and helping with data collection. His friendship, and that of his family, I am privileged to have. Many colleagues also contributed ideas and support along the way. They include: Samantha Stone, with whom I passed many hours discussing our research projects while sharing a house in Acre; Douglas Daly at the New York Botanical Garden and Evandro Ferreira of the National Institute for Amazon Research (INPA) who provided assistance in the botanical identification of free-list items, and Ricardo Godoy, Beth Byron and Mike Gavin, all of whom helped me better understand data collection and valuation methods. I would also like to give special thanks to Ana Cristina Puentes for her friendship and encouragement as I neared my destination. Finally, a warm and heartfelt thank you to my family for encouraging me to pursue my dreams, and giving me the confidence to realize them. This degree is as much theirs as it is mine. Funding for this dissertation came from various sources and they deserve recognition. Pre-dissertation research was funded by a Tropical Conservation and Development Program field grant and the Charles Wagley Fellowship, both of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, and the Dickinson Award of the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, also at the University of Florida. Fieldwork was funded by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award and a grant from the Conservation and Research Foundation. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiii ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................xv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................1 The Emergence of Extractivism as a Sustainable Development Strategy....................5 Rubber Extraction in Acre: The History and Culture of the Seringueiro.....................8 Wealth, Markets and Extraction: Discussion and Hypotheses ...................................15 Rubber Tapper Cultural Knowledge: Discussion and Hypotheses.............................21 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................25 2 RESEARCH SITE AND METHODS........................................................................27 Acre: Geography, Climate and Ecology.....................................................................29 Acre: Political History, Economy and Conservation..................................................31 Large Scale Development Planning and Rural Conflicts ...........................................36 The Acre State “Forest Government”.........................................................................39 Study Site: The Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve....................................................45 Research Design and Methods....................................................................................51 Use of Participatory Data Collection Tools.........................................................54 Operationalizing the Variables............................................................................56 The effects of wealth and markets on income..............................................56 The effects of wealth and markets on cultural knowledge...........................62 Data Analysis.......................................................................................................65 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................66 3 THE RUBBER TAPPER HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY.............................................68 Recent Household Economy Studies in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve ........72 A Model of the Rubber Tapper Household Economy................................................77 The Rubber Tapper Household: A Demographic Portrait..........................................81 vii Age and Sex of Household Members..................................................................81 Education in the Forest........................................................................................84 Landholding Size and Land Use in the Forest.....................................................87 Social Organizations in the Forest.......................................................................89 The Diversity of Rubber Tapper Wealth ....................................................................90 Household Wealth Holdings by Asset Category.................................................94 A Portrait of Changing Wealth Investments in the Reserve..............................100 Rubber Tapper Income in a Changing Forest Economy ..........................................109 On-Farm Productive Income: Consumption and Trade in the Forest ...............113 Consumptive income in the forest: the important role of extraction..........114 Income from product trade.........................................................................125 Off-farm Labor Income .....................................................................................135 Conclusion ................................................................................................................138