Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

subsistence strategies to exemplify wise custody and usage of lands. Examples of
cases where the reformation of land tenure systems in ways that strengthen control
by indigenous communities has resulted in tangible conservation benefits have been
reported from Bolivia (Kaimowitz et al. 2000) and Mexico (Alcorn and Toledo 1998).
In 1976, the designation by UNESCO of the first biosphere reserves expressed in
concrete terms a formal recognition, at the highest levels of decision-making, of the
connection between cultural and biological conservation (Droste zu Hulshoff and
Gregg 1985). However, much environmentalist rhetoric in the support of indigenous
peoples is founded upon perceptions of indigenous worldviews and lifestyles that are
often highly idealised, resting upon severe - if well-meaning - distortions of
ethnographic reality (Ellen 1986; Brosius 1997). The alliance thus formed may be
highly fragile - environmentalists have in the past been quick to abandon their
partnerships with indigenes when the latter have failed to live up to their
romanticised images - and may provide an unstable base for the advancement of
indigenous interests (Conklin and Graham 1995). This can amount, in effect, to the
imposition of western notions of environmentalism upon people for whom, while it
may represent a better alternative than the imposition of neoliberalism, it
nevertheless represents a loss of control over their own destiny. The qualified fashion
in which the World Wide Fund for Nature words its statement of support for
indigenous rights is testimony for this - clearly, should they conflict with the
organisation's purported conservationist goals, the latter will hold greater sway (WWF
n.d.). Examples of dispossession of indigenous peoples and other violations of their
rights on the grounds of conservation are numerous, and in some cases ongoing
(Oviedo 2001; for a current example see Survival International press releases on the
Ogiek). On the other hand, at times a mutually beneficial alliance has arisen, perhaps
the most spectacular example being the opposition of the Kayapó to planned
hydroelectric projects along the Xingú River (Fisher 1994). In other circumstances,
indigenous groups such as the Kuna and Kayapó have found it expedient to adopt
western notions and methods of conservation and apply them on their own lands
(Clay 1988: 66-67, Zimmerman et al. 2001). There are also many cases where
conservationists have assisted indigenous groups in developing programmes for
sustainable exploitation of natural resources (Clay 1988: 64-66).
The relationship between western environmentalism and indigenous causes is
complex, and its terms are still developing. This point is a key one for the present
thesis, the core of which is concerned with the practical value of local expertise
relevant to the management of natural resources, particularly in hypothetical