Fragile Lands of Latin America Strategies for ... - PART - USAID

Costs and Benefits of Floodplain
Forest Management by Rural Inhabitants
in the Amazon Estuary: A Case Study
of Agai Palm Production
Anthony B. Anderson
and Mdrio Augusto G. Jardim
Introduction
This chapter is a case study of an economically productive and
ecologically sustainable land use that has evolved among traditional
inhabitants in the floodplain of the Amazon estuary. These river dwell-
ers ("ribeirinhos"), typically mestizo in ethnicity, constitute a living
bridge between indigenous Amerindian knowledge of the natural di-
versity and inherent productivity of the Amazon's floodplain resources
and the modem world with its more limited view of the economic
potential of natural ecosystems. The river dwellers of the Amazon
estuary participate in the market economy, and are often mistakenly
included in the economically marginal, rural population of lesser-de-
veloped countries that recent multi-lateral development programs have
sought to advance. What prevailing development programs have failed
to consider is how the river dwellers' knowledge of their environment
can contribute to a better use of fragile lands in the floodplain.
The present case study does not aspire to propose a comprehensive
sustainable land-use strategy for the Amazon's floodplain ("varzea").
Rather, it focuses on the economic potential of one important natural
resource element in the regional economy, the "aqai" palm (Euterpe
oleracea Mart.). We report the findings of a field experiment designed
to measure the effects of different management practices utilized by
river dwellers on fruit yields in natural stands of aqai. Although mea-
surements of the effects of these practices on other floodplain forest