The Rubber Tappers’ Rapidly Transitioning Land Use Strategies: Cattle Ranching Expansion in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in Acre, Brazil
Carlos
Valerio A.
Gomes, Department of Geography/University of Florida, SETEM/Federal University of Acre, valerio@ufl.edu
(Presenting)
Stephen
G
Perz, Department of Sociology, University of Florida, sperz@soc.ufl.edu
Irving
Foster
Brown, Wood Hole Research Center, SETEM/Federal University of Acre, fbrown@uol.com.br
Despite the fact that Acre has one of the largest percentages of its territory under protected areas in Amazonia, it has had the highest rate of cattle ranching growth in the region over the last decade. The state of Acre is the birthplace of the Extractive Reserve System, which has been promoted as a major strategy for forest conservation while simultaneously providing a sustainable economic return to extractivist peoples based on non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Since the establishment of the Extractive Reserve System in 1992, extractivist communities continue to face low-income generation based solely on NTFPs. The push for economic growth is a major driver forcing cattle ranching practices in Extractive Reserves. This research addresses key socio-economic and biophysical factors influencing cattle ranching expansion in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve (CMER) linking household land-use decisions to a broader context. Understanding the underlying drivers that lead to cattle ranching among rubber tappers is a complex process that involves multiple agents operating at different scales. Principles of “hierarchy theory” are used in order to examine various levels of the socioeconomic and biophysical drivers involved in the cattle ranching phenomena in the CMER. These drivers are divided within the three-tiered hierarchical levels of “distant,” “intermediate,” and “proximate.” By using hierarchy theory, one can achieve a broader understanding of not only the biophysical, but also the socio-economic drivers of cattle ranching winthin a synergistic framework. Such an approach can contribute to the strengthening of alternative land-use strategies in the CMER and other protected areas in Amazonia.
Submetido por Carlos Valerio Gomes em 23-MAR-2004
Tema Científico do LBA: LC (Mudanças dos Usos da Terra e da Vegetação)