NO PODEMOS COMER BILLETES: CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN ECUADOR by Lisa Coffield DePaoli B.A. in Psychology and Anthropology, California University of Pennsylvania, 2000 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of Pittsburgh 2011 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Department of Anthropology This dissertation was presented by Lisa Coffield DePaoli It was defended on October 12, 2011 and approved by Dissertation Advisor: Richard Scaglion, PhD, Professor, Department of Anthropology Andrew Strathern, PhD, Professor, Department of Anthropology James Richardson, PhD, Professor, Department of Anthropology Mark Abbott, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences María-Auxiliadora Cordero, PhD, Research Associate, Department of Anthropology ii Copyright © by Lisa Coffield DePaoli 2011 iii NO PODEMOS COMER BILLETES: CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN ECUADOR Lisa Coffield DePaoli, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2011 This project investigates the relationship between autochthonous people and immigrants in a valley of southern Ecuador, specifically in terms of climate change and related moves toward sustainable development. The landscape and environment are frequent topics of conversation, especially concerning the increasingly dry climate. Engagements between individuals often result in dynamic relationships in which people take active steps to curtail human impacts, such as developing new land-use and livelihood strategies. Southern Ecuador has historically experienced the effects of periodic drought, and land degradation is exacerbating the problem. This and other factors, including the relative isolation and lack of rural development in Loja province and the overall economic situation in Ecuador, has resulted in large-scale migration of Ecuadorians from the province of Loja. Paradoxically, the valley in which fieldwork was carried out is also known as the Valley of Longevity and has attracted immigrants from various other countries. Some of these expatriates have lived in the valley for long periods of time and have developed working relationships with Ecuadorians that have proved beneficial in terms of development. iv This dissertation is the result of 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork that included participant observation, formal and informal interviews, and the analysis of written materials. The project focused specifically on how the local-nonlocal relationship impacts livelihoods, land use change, sustainability, and the perception of and attention to issues surrounding climate change. These themes help us to understand the distributional consequences of changes in agri-food systems, and have led to concern over where food is going to come from because, as some informants have said, “no podemos comer billetes ” (we can’t eat dollar bills). Research shows that the social heterogeneity of the valley fosters mutual learning and benefits and contributes to more varied views of the natural environment and of the use of natural resources. This project demonstrates how responses to climate change and land degradation may be integrated into emerging sustainable development strategies, particularly important because human activity will both drive and mediate the impact of climate change during the next century. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS ........................................................................................................... XIV PREFACE ............................................................................................................................... XVII 0.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 0.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM .................................................................................... 1 0.2 THE SOCIOCULTURAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING .................... 4 0.2.1 The History of the Area................................................................................... 6 0.2.2 The “Valley of Longevity” ............................................................................ 11 0.2.3 Climate ............................................................................................................ 15 0.2.4 The Valley’s Position in the Andes ............................................................... 19 0.2.5 Drought and Desertification ......................................................................... 20 0.2.6 Social and Developmental Milieu of Southern Ecuador ............................ 23 0.2.6.1 Migration ............................................................................................. 23 0.2.6.2 Loja Province and Southern Ecuador ............................................... 24 0.3 PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS AND FIELDWORK IN VILCABAMBA .................................................................................................................. 33 0.3.1 Methodology ................................................................................................... 34 0.4 THE LAYOUT OF THE DISSERTATION .................................................... 36 1.0 THEORETICAL INFLUENCES ............................................................................. 37 vi 1.1 ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN-NATURE INTERACTIONS ............................................................................................................... 38 1.1.1 Cultural Ecology ............................................................................................ 38 1.1.2 Historical Ecology .......................................................................................... 40 1.1.3 Climate Anthropology ................................................................................... 44 1.2 THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA .......................... 47 1.2.1 Modernization ................................................................................................ 47 1.2.2 Dependency Theory ....................................................................................... 48 1.2.3 Import Substitution Industrialization and Structural Adjustment .......... 50 1.2.4 Anthropological critiques of development .................................................. 51 1.3 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ................................................................. 53 1.3.1 Climate change, human beings, and how they inform our understanding of sustainable development ....................................................................................... 54 2.0 RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN ECUADOR ............................................................ 57 2.1 LAND REDISTRIBUTION .............................................................................. 57 2.2 AGRICULTURAL MODERNIZATION ........................................................ 61 2.3 THE IMPACT OF ECUADOR’S DOLLARIZATION ................................. 65 3.0 “NO PODEMOS COMER BILLETES”: LIVELIHOODS AND FOOD SECURITY .................................................................................................................................. 68 3.1 LIVELIHOODS AND MIGRATION .............................................................. 68 3.2 REAL ESTATE ................................................................................................. 73 3.3 CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGROCHEMICALS ........................................ 75 3.3.1 Human and Environmental Health ............................................................. 80 vii 3.3.2 Other Effects of Agricultural Modernization ............................................. 83 3.3.2.1 Effects on farmer knowledge ............................................................. 85 4.0 DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENTIALS: OLD-TIMERS, NEWCOMERS, AND THEIR INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL RELATIONS IN VILCABAMBA ........................................................................................................................... 94 4.1 LONG-TERM IMMIGRANTS ........................................................................ 97 4.1.1 Joy and Curtis Hofmann ............................................................................... 97 4.1.2 Martha Menefee and Glenn Clayton ......................................................... 105 4.1.3 Orlando and Alicia Falco ............................................................................ 112 4.1.4 Sue Mann ...................................................................................................... 114 4.1.5 Bernarda Bravo and Samuel DuBois ......................................................... 115 4.2 THE PACE AND FACE OF CHANGE ........................................................ 119 4.3 MORE RECENT IMMIGRANTS ................................................................. 122 4.3.1 The Hacienda ............................................................................................... 122 4.3.2 The Arts and New Science .......................................................................... 124 4.3.3 La Bruja (The Witch) .................................................................................. 125 4.3.4 The Backlash ................................................................................................ 128 4.3.5 The In-Between ...........................................................................................