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Contrastando Impactos de Colonizadores e Indígenas sobre Bosques Amazónicos
Author(s) -
LU FLORA,
GRAY CLARK,
BILSBORROW RICHARD E.,
MENA CARLOS F.,
ERLIEN CHRISTINE M.,
BREMNER JASON,
BARBIERI ALISSON,
WALSH STEPHEN J.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01463.x
Subject(s) - indigenous , amazon rainforest , geography , deforestation (computer science) , agroforestry , agriculture , land use , ethnic group , pasture , socioeconomics , environmental protection , forestry , ecology , archaeology , environmental science , political science , economics , computer science , law , biology , programming language
To examine differences in land use and environmental impacts between colonist and indigenous populations in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon, we combined data from household surveys and remotely sensed imagery that was collected from 778 colonist households in 64 colonization sectors, and 499 households from five indigenous groups in 36 communities. Overall, measures of deforestation and forest fragmentation were significantly greater for colonists than indigenous peoples. On average, colonist households had approximately double the area in agriculture and cash crops and 5.5 times the area in pasture as indigenous households. Nevertheless, substantial variation in land‐use patterns existed among the five indigenous groups in measures such as cattle ownership and use of hired agricultural labor. These findings support the potential conservation value of indigenous lands while cautioning against uniform policies that homogenize indigenous ethnic groups.