diss02.doc / 13-Sept-01 Variations and dynamics of extractive economies: the rural-urban nexus of non-timber forest use in the Bolivian Amazon Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Forstwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Brsg. vorgelegt von Dietmar Stoian Freiburg im Breisgau 2000 Dekan: Prof. Dr. G. Becker Referent: Prof. Dr. M. Becker Korreferent: Prof. Dr. V. Kohler ii I fell asleep, and while sleeping, I dreamed that I was a butterfly. But when I awoke, I was uncertain whether I was a man dreaming that I was a butterfly, or whether I was a butterfly dreaming that I was a man, dreaming that I was a butterfly. Old Chinese paradox Can we actually 'know' the universe? My God, it's hard enough finding your way around in Chinatown. The point, however, is: Is there anything out there? And why? And must they be so noisy? Finally, there can be no doubt that the one characteristic of 'reality' is that it lacks essence. That is not to say that it has no essence, but merely lacks it. Professor Woody Allen cited in Ways of Worldmaking by Nelson Goodman iii iv This thesis is lovingly dedicated to Susy Alexandra Guardia Vaca, mi compañera y fuente de sonrisa, de amistad, de cariño e inspiración; es la Cachuela que nos demuestra que no hay ningún obstáculo que no sea superable the memory of Yolanda van der Meer who never came to see the beauty of the Amazon again and all those in the rural and peri-urban areas of northern Bolivia who make their living against the odds of ecological constraints, versatile markets, and political neglect; que su futuro sea un porvenir de mejores oportunidades, de más reconocimiento – tanto político como social – y de mejor acceso a sus propios recursos naturales y humanos v vi Contents Summary ................................................................................................................................... ix Glossary....................................................................................................................................xii Abbreviations and Acronyms.................................................................................................xvii 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Statement of the problem................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Extractive economies in the context of tropical deforestation ............................... 1 1.1.2 The call for extractive reserves, or, two divergent views of extractivism ............. 3 1.1.3 Extractivism from a livelihoods perspective.......................................................... 7 1.1.4 The spatial and temporal dimension of extractive economies ............................... 9 1.1.5 The rural-urban nexus of extractivism in the northern Bolivian Amazon ........... 13 1.1.6 Summary of the problems addressed and resulting research needs ..................... 17 1.2 Objectives, research questions, and structure of the study............................................ 18 1.2.1 Objectives............................................................................................................. 18 1.2.2 Guiding research questions .................................................................................. 19 1.2.3 Terminology and definitions ................................................................................ 20 1.2.4 Organization of the dissertation ........................................................................... 22 1.3 Point of departure: disciplinary and theoretical pluralism and transparency of values 23 1.3.1 General methodological approach........................................................................ 23 1.3.2 Positivist vs. constructivist/naturalistic philosophy of science............................ 24 1.3.3 Own values, paradigms, and root assumptions .................................................... 36 1.3.4 Limitations to the study........................................................................................ 40 1.4 Study region: the northern Bolivian Amazon................................................................ 42 1.4.1 Physiographic conditions and demography.......................................................... 42 1.4.2 The macroeconomic and political framework...................................................... 45 2 ADVANCE OF THE EXTRACTIVE FRONTIER: RAIN FOREST USE IN NORTHERN BOLIVIA, 1820-1995 ......................................................................................................... 49 2.1 Analytical framework and research questions............................................................... 49 2.2 Exploitation of Peruvian bark in the pre-rubber era, 1820s-1859................................. 51 2.3 The early rubber era: emergence of rubber estates, 1860-1897 .................................... 56 Insertion: the contest for Acre at the threshold of the 20th century.............................. 68 2.4 The great rubber boom, 1898-1919............................................................................... 73 2.5 Aftermath of the boom: the first rubber crisis, 1920-1940............................................ 85 2.6 World War II resurgence of the rubber boom, 1941-1945............................................ 90 2.7 The second rubber crisis: post-war disintegration of rubber estates, 1946-1973.......... 92 2.8 Ephemeral rubber boom in the wake of the oil crises, 1974-1983................................ 98 2.9 The third rubber crisis: final collapse of rubber trade, 1984-1995.............................. 100 2.10 Synthesis: Evolutionary trends of extractive economies in northern Bolivia ........... 103 2.10.1 The wild rubber industry: basic characteristics, plantation failure, scarcity of capital and labor, and spin-off effects .............................................................. 104 2.10.2 The habilito revisited: credit, debt, and insurance in view of transaction costs, competition, risks, and property rights in the wild rubber industry ................. 110 2.10.3 Macro-level influences on booms and busts in extractive economies ............. 119 2.10.4 Extractivism-agriculture, tapper-trader, proletariat-peasant and Indian campesino trajectories ...................................................................................... 121 2.10.5 Three stages of extractive economies: from mercantilist via primitive capitalist to full-scale capitalist relations......................................................................... 123 vii 3 THE POST-RUBBER-ERA: SHIFTS IN FOREST PRODUCT EXTRACTION ............. 128 3.1 Analytical framework and research questions............................................................. 128 3.2 Macroeconomic, political and legal framework.......................................................... 132 3.3 Rise of the Brazil nut industry..................................................................................... 133 3.3.1 Structure and Performance ................................................................................. 133 3.3.2 Distribution of benefits....................................................................................... 140 3.4 Emergence of the palm heart industry......................................................................... 147 3.4.1 Structure and Performance ................................................................................. 147 3.4.2 Distribution of benefits....................................................................................... 151 3.5 Expansion of the timber industry ................................................................................ 156 3.6 Ephemeral gold rush.................................................................................................... 161 3.7 Expansion of agriculture.............................................................................................. 163 3.8 Synthesis: dynamics in forest product extraction revisited......................................... 166 4 THE MULTIFUNCTIONAL CHARACTER OF RURAL SPACE: SETTLEMENT DIFFERENTIATION, FRONTIER EXPANSION AND URBANIZATION.................. 177 4.1 Analytical framework and research questions............................................................. 177 4.2 Methodology and methods .......................................................................................... 181 4.3 Typology of rural settlements...................................................................................... 182 4.4 Migratory trends in rural settlements .......................................................................... 191 4.5 Expansion and urbanization of the frontier ................................................................. 200 4.6 Settlement trajectories in a frontier setting.................................................................. 202 5 PERI-URBAN LIVELIHOODS: RURAL TIES OF AN URBAN LIVING...................... 211 5.1 Theoretical framework and research questions ........................................................... 211 5.2 Methodology and methods .......................................................................................... 224 5.3 Demography and migratory patterns........................................................................... 229 5.3.1 Demographic features of peri-urban households...............................................