Human Impacts on Amazonia

Human Impacts on Amazonia

The Role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Conservation and Development

From the pre-Columbian era to the present, native Amazonians have shaped the land around them, emphasizing utilization, conservation, and sustainability. These priorities stand in stark contrast to colonial and contemporary exploitation of Amazonia by outside interests. With essays from environmental scientists, botanists, and anthropologists, this volume explores the various effects of human development on Amazonia. The contributors argue that by protecting and drawing on local knowledge and values, further environmental ruin can be avoided.

  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Coeditor’s Note
  • Acknowledgments
  • THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE AMAZONIA The Region, Residents, Researchers, and Realities - Michael J. Balick
  • 1 ROMANCE AND REALITY The First European Vision of Brazilian Indians - John Hemming
  • 2 CONSTRUCTING TROPICAL NATURE Nancy Leys Stepan
  • 3 DEMAND FOR TWO CLASSES OF TRADITIONAL AGROECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN AMAZONIA Charles R. Clement
  • 4 FIRE IN RORAIMA, 1998 - POLITICS AND HUMAN IMPACT What Role for Indigenous People in Brazilian Amazonia? Elizabeth Allen
  • 5 THE CERRADO OF BRAZILIAN AMAZONIA A Much-Endangered Vegetation - James A. Ratter, J. Felipe Ribeiro, and Samuel Bridgewater
  • 6 A REVIEW OF AMAZONIAN WETLANDS AND RIVERS Valuable Environments Under Threat - Christopher Barrow
  • 7 FRAGILITY AND RESILIENCE OF AMAZONIAN SOILS Models from Indigenous Management Peter A. Furley
  • 8 IS SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF BRAZILIAN AMAZONIA POSSIBLE WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF THE SOIL AND SOIL RESPONSE TO DEVELOPMENT? Stephen Nortcliff
  • 9 FRAGILE SOILS AND DEFORESTATION IMPACTS The Rationale for Environmental Services of Standing Forest as a Development Paradigm in Amazonia - Philp M. Fearnside
  • 10 CONCURRENT ACTIVITIES AND INVISIBLE TECHOLOGIES An Example of Timber Management in Amazonia - Christine Padoch and Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez
  • 11 INSTITUTIONAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES IN THE PROMOTION OF COMMERCIAL FOREST MANAGEMENT IN AMERINDIAN SOCIETIES - Michael Richards
  • 12 COLLECT OR CULTIVATE - A CONDUNDRUM Comparitive Population Ecology of Ipecac, Jan Salick
  • 13 EXTRACTIVISM, DOMESTICATION, AND PRIVATIZATION OF A NATIVE PLANT RESOURCE The Case of Jaborandi in Maranhao, Brazil - Claudio Urbano B. Pinheiro
  • 14 PEASANT RIVERINE ECONOMIES AND THEIR IMPACT IN THE LOWER AMAZON Mark Harris
  • 15 CONSERVATION, ECONOMICS, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, AND THE YANOMAMI Implications and Benefits for Whom? William Milliken
  • 16 THE COMMODIFICATION OF THE INDIAN Aloida Rita Ramos
  • 17 EUPHEMISM IN THE FOREST Ahistoricism and the Valorization of INdigenous Knowledge - Stephen Nugent
  • 18 WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BEWEEN A PEACE CORPS WORKER AND AN ANTHROPOLOGIST? A Millennium Rethink of Anthropological Fieldwork, Joanna Overing
  • 19 TRADITIONAL RESOURCE USE AND ETHNOECONOMICS Sustainable Characteristics of the Amerindian Lifestyles , Clovis Cavalcanti
  • 20 ENHANCING SOCIAL CAPITAL Productive Conservation and Traditional Knowledge in the Brazilian Rain Forest, Anthony Hall
  • APPENDIX: Findings and REcommendations
  • Contributors
  • Index