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

Useful trees were assigned to use categories by a method derived from Johnston
and Colquhuon (1996). Their categories were modified slightly, dropping that of
commercial timber trees, which I deemed to be of little relevance to the present
study. This was despite the fact that some people, particularly those who had worked
with coastlanders, did have some knowledge of which species were marketable. In its
place I included firewood, a usage not mentioned at all in their paper, but which I
consider to be important in the context of the present study. Its inclusion here as a
separate category allows the remaining categories to be consistent with those in
their study, which was based in the village of Kurukupari in central Guyana. The six
categories employed in the present study were as follows:
Edible - in 50 of the 53 recorded cases, these were producers of edible fruits. The
others included four palms felled to cultivate grubs, three of which also produced
edible fruit, one producing an edible oil and two used for beverages.
Technological - including a variety of materials used for making tools and utensils,
such as woods, fibres, gums and resins, and other uses such as making canoes,
firelighters, insecticides, fish poison and sources of fish bait.
Construction - all materials used in the manufacture of dwellings or forest camps,
including house poles, beams and rafters, wattles, thatching materials and materials
used for tying.
Medicinal - any tree product used for the treatment of ailments.
Firewood - on many occasions, especially in the forest, people would not seek specific
trees for firewood. Instead, they would use whatever dead wood was available, with
the exception of a few species known either to burn poorly or to emit noxious fumes.
However, there are also certain trees particularly useful for firewood, either in general
or on specific occasions, and those recorded as such have been included in this
category.
Miscellaneous - a variety of functions not included in any of the above, including
incenses and other products with esoteric uses, decorations and cigarette papers.