Conservation of Natural Resources within Mature Tropical Forests: How an Indigenous Community Uses and Manages Wild Plants in the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama by Adele Michon A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario 2012 Adele Michon Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91606-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91606-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Abstract Concerns regarding the degradation of tropical forests and the indigenous communities that rely on them have been growing for decades. However, the use of wild plants and local efforts to manage them remain poorly understood. Using participatory methods, this research examines the use and management of useful wild plants from mature forests by a Ngobe community in the forested highlands of the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle in western Panama. Ethnobotanical information about nine plants selected by the participants was obtained through a household survey, interviews, focus groups and harvest trips. The findings show that that the use of wild plants is gendered and varies between households, and that a variety of management practices are used within the community, aimed at reducing the impacts of harvesting. The study also identifies limitations of current management practices for long-term sustainability, and highlights the necessity of basing conservation strategies on local priorities for useful plants. ii Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to all those individuals who made this thesis possible. My dearest thanks goes to the community members of Raton, who so warmly accepted me into their homes, shared their thoughts, concerns and hopes, and in doing so enriched my life experience. I am especially grateful to Ramon Pineda and Denia Montezuma for their friendship and generosity. They allowed me to stay with their family and helped me integrate into the community. In addition, I would like to recognize the contributions of a dozen other community members who supported and assisted me in this project; Cacique Basilio Montezuma, Alfredo Carpintero, Titi Montezuma, Meligo Pineda, America and Omar Montezuma, Ebaristo Palacio G., Aquilino Castillo, Silvia Morales and Micaela Palacio. I would also like to sincerely thank Dr. Derek Smith, who supervised this thesis, for his continuous support, encouragement and insight. Thank you Derek for giving me the opportunity to undertake this research, and guiding me throughout the process. Credit should also be given to the research partners, Sr. Antonio Amador (President of the Congreso Regional de Nedrini) and Sr. Jesus Alemancia (Director of the Centra de Estudios y Accion Social Panameno) who offered me the opportunity to participate in the fight for social justice in Panama. I would like to express profound gratitude to Dr. Alicia Ibanez, researcher at STRI, who was incredibly supportive throughout the field research. Thanks to Charlotte Elton for her encouragement and for sharing her passion for social and environmental justice, and also to Dr. Bias Quintero (Director of Accion Cultural Ngobe). I would like to sincerely thank the amazing staff and faculty of Carleton's Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, especially Natalie Pressburger, Michael Brklacich, Doug King and David Bennett. Their warm and cheerful presence and support made my time at Carleton very enjoyable. Thanks to Dr. Gita Laidler and Dr. Theresa Wong for reading earlier drafts of this thesis. Their comments helped me develop a stronger argument and gave me a better understanding of how my work contributes to the field. iii I offer my most heartfelt gratitude to my partner Matthew Palmer for his unbelievable support throughout the whole research process, and for spending countless hours discussing and editing my work. Thanks to my parents and grandparents, for planting the seeds of curiosity in me and for encouraging me to follow my passions. Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the financial support provided by: IDRC's John G. Bene Fellowship in Community Forestry, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Neil Huckvale Memorial Scholarship, the Ina Hutchison Award, the J. Kenneth and Margaret Torrance Scholarship, the Jack F. Fleming Scholarship and Carleton University's Graduate Entrance Scholarship. iv Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgments iii Table of Contents v List of Tables vi List of Figures vii List of Appendices ix Introduction 1 1.1 Research Focus 3 1.2 Overview of the Theoretical Framework and Research Design 5 1.3 Thesis Outline 5 Chapter II. Theory 7 2.1 Political Ecology 9 2.2 Local Knowledge 12 2.3 Indigenous People in Tropical Forests: A Literature Review of Current Knowledge 17 2.4 Forest Management and Plant Use by the Ngobe Peoples of Panama 24 Chapter III - Methodology 29 3.1 Methodological Framework 29 3.2 Research Approvals and Ethical Considerations 36 3.3 Field Research Methods and Data Collection 44 3.4 Analytical techniques: Reflection, compilation, processing and analysis 44 Chapter IV: Situating the Research: Daily Life in Raton 59 4.1 Historic and Contemporary Injustices 59 4.2 The Diverse Geography of Raton 64 4.3 Daily Life in Raton 67 Chapter V - People and the Forest: Forest Importance, Management and Tenure 85 5.1 Importance of the Forest for the Community 85 5.2 Under the Canopy: Indigenous Forest Management 92 5.3 Change in Forest Cover 100 Chapter VI - Use and Conservation of Forest Plants 107 6.1 The Uses of Wild Plants 108 6.2 Wild Plants of Particular Concern to Local People 115 6.3 Differentiated Use of Wild Plants from Mature Forests 146 6.4 Patterns of Harvest of Useful Wild Plants 151 6.5 Local Management of Useful Wild Plants 156 Chapter VII - Discussion and Conclusions 164 Appendices 170 References Cited 184 v List of Tables Table 1. Forms of participation of local people in research (Modified from Agarwal 2001:1624) 31 Table 2. Summary of research activities, Raton, Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama 2010 45 Table 3. Comparison of the sources of income reported by men and women in a community- wide survey in Raton, Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama 2010 73 Table 4. Environments in which useful wild plants are encountered, Raton, Comarca Ngobe- Bugle, Panama 2010 109 Table 5. Comparison of roof materials for the 2000-2010 period, Raton, Comarca Ngobe- Bugte, Panama 2010 (INEC 2010) 112 Table 6. Useful plants found in mature forests according to their types across use categories, Rat6n, Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama 2010 (n=41) 120 Table 7. Ethnobotanical characteristics of the nine plants selected as priorities for further examination, Raton, Comarca Ng6be-Bugle, Panama 2010 117 Table 8. Gendered distribution of knowledge of useful plants across four use categories, Rat6n, Comarca NgQbe-Bugle, Panama 2010 148 Table 9. Examples of local management practices in Raton, Comarca Ng6be-Bugle, Panama, 2010 157 vi List of Figures Figure 1. Geography and location of the community of Raton, in the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama, 2010 38 Figure 2. View of the community and the steep grass-covered hills (facing Westward), Rat6n, Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama, 2010 65 Figure 3. A house structure entirely made with local materials and surrounded by food crops, Rat6n, Comarca Ng6be-Bugle, Panama, 2010 69 Figure 4. Comparison of households' production, harvest and purchase of food, reported by residents of Rat6n, Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama, 2010 (n=44) 71 Figure 5. The dense mature forests are found 2.5 hours (walking distance) north of the village centre, Raton, Comarca Ng6be-Bugle, Panama, 2010 87 Figure 6. The most recent harvest of wild plants from forest environments, Raton, Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama, 2010 (n=45) 88 Figure 7. An area along the continental divide that according to local informants was heavily forested fifty years ago, Raton, Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Panama, 2010 102 Figure 8. National Environmental Authority's assessment of change in forest cover for the period 1992-2000 showing the area around Raton (ANAM 2011) 102 Figure 9. Principal uses of wild plants found in mature forests, Raton, Comarca Ngobe- Bugle, Panama, 2010 (n=66) 110 Figure 10.