Peasant adaptation to environmental change in the Peruvian Amazon : livelihood responses in an Amerindian and a non-Amerindian community

• Main Author: Manzi, Maya
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 2005
• Subjects: Peasantry > Amazon River Region > Economic conditions.; Indians of South America > Amazon River Region > Economic conditions; Rain forest ecology > Amazon River Region.; Rain forest conservation > Amazon River Region.; Rain forests > Amazon River Region > Management.
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=83193

One of the primary challenges facing researchers and practitioners in their efforts to address issues of poverty and environment is the need to deepen our understanding of the logic that guides local people's decisions over resource use, particularly among the rural poor whose livelihoods depend on fragile and dynamic environments. This study seeks to identify the set of factors that influences how rainforest people respond to abrupt natural disturbances and resource scarcity through changes in livelihood and resource management practices in two rural poor communities of the Peruvian Amazon. Data were gathered through in-depth survey interviews (n=95 households) between June and December 2003 in the Amerindian community of Arica Viejo (Ucayali River) and the mestizo (ribereno) community of Roca Fuerte (Maranon River). The results reveal that socioeconomic characteristics such as forest experience and knowledge, and access to agricultural land explain striking differences among households in livelihood responses to environmental change, particularly concerning resource use behavior, resilience to disturbance, and the propensity to adopt sustainable resource management strategies.