The composition of rubber tapper livelihoods in Acre, Brazil:a case study of sustainability and peasant economy

G Geography (General);GE Environmental Sciences;HC Economic History and Conditions

Sydneysmith, Robin Sam More ; Flynn, Peter

University:University of Glasgow

Department:School of Geographical and Earth Sciences

关键词: G Geography (General);    GE Environmental Sciences;    HC Economic History and Conditions;   

Others  :  http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6734/1/1996Sydneysmithpdf.pdf

来源: University of Glasgow

【 摘 要 】

Amazonia is both a diverse ecological space and a complex social place in which theconservation of its varied forest and aquatic environments cannot be divorced from thefate of its human inhabitants. Rural society is comprised of a wide range of socioeconomic,cultural, and historical groupings that includes several types of peasants orpeasantries. One of the most important segments of contemporary rural society inAmazonia consists of traditional or historical peasantries, caboclo society or the socalled "indigenous rural population".Events of recent decades in the Brazilian Amazon have shown that the region issusceptible to rapid degradation from modem pressures of development and anexpanding population. Approaches to sustainable development need to reflect thediversity and complexity of the regions' social and physical environments. Caboclos areimportant for their historical place in Amazonian social ecology and for their potentialcontribution to the search for viable solutions to sustainable development.Sustainability will be achieved on the basis of incorporating sustainable livelihoods intoa development paradigm that maintains and improves the social use of resources and theintegrity of ecosystems. Rubber tappers in the state of Acre are a type of Amazoniancaboclo. Their livelihoods exhibit many of the attributes of resiliency and adaptabilitythat characterize peasantries. Resources are used, based on the demands and capabilitiesof household economies and in recognition of their dependence on the forest and itsresources. The livelihoods that rubber tappers pursue are to a large degree, ecologicallysustainable; rubber tappers are practitioners of sustainability. The diversity andflexibility of their livelihoods is geared towards low impact, long-term use of forestresources and is highly adaptable to variable socio-political, economic andenvironmental conditions.Extraction of forest resources is a major component of rubber tapper livelihoods thatencompasses rubber tapping, Brazil nut collection, hunting, fishing and myriad uses ofother forest resources. Their livelihoods also include a farming system that is adapted toboth the social conditions of rubber tapper society -limited capital and technology,dependence on household labour - and to the ecological constraints of Amazonianenvironments - weak tropical soils, seasonal changes, and variability. The compositionof their livelihoods permits each sector of the household economy to function withinlocal environmental constraints and to escape the need to independently fulfillhousehold subsistence requirements. Extractive reserves provide a locally derivedmodel of socially acceptable, conservation oriented development.