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

9.3 Does the existing social-ecological system have properties that
could promote its stability in the face of anticipated changes in the
circumstances in which it operates?
Wapishana ecological relations are currently undergoing disruption along three
dimensions: socio-cultural, economic and ecological. Socio-cultural change takes the
form of changes in the belief system, a gradual and progressive result of the
widespread adoption of Christian beliefs over the course of the past century. Many
contributors to the present study voiced their concerns about the decreasing extent
to which local beliefs and knowledge are being transmitted to younger generations.
Assuming their impressions are accurate, the prospect of loss of the institutional
knowledge encoded in aspects of tradition related to exploitation of the natural
environment represents a serious danger to the continued functioning of traditional
management systems, and one for which there is currently no remedy. This is not an
unfamiliar phenomenon: among the Rungus of Sabah, changes in practices relating to
the natural environment resulting from conversion to Christianity led to the
breakdown of traditional systems of management and resultant loss of biodiversity
and ecological functions (Appell 1997). As in that case, the change in beliefs and
practices among the Wapishana is not taking place in isolation, but is part of a
general process of degeneration of systems of transmission of traditional beliefs and
knowledge, the other major driving force behind which is economic change.
The pattern of economic change is complex. On the one hand, there is a general
change in subsistence practices as lifestyles become increasingly savannah-based. It
appears that the majority of people are spending less time in the forest and making
less geographically extensive use of it than in the past. Hunting trips are fewer and
less far afield, farms are less commonly situated in deep forest, and the rearing of
livestock on the savannah is an ever-increasing part of Wapishana life. This trend is
exemplified in the current interest in the use of the savannah for agricultural
purposes. Having said this, it must be stressed that the forest remains crucial to
Wapishana lifestyles not only in economic but in cultural terms, and remains a key
component of identity at the levels of individuals and larger social groups.
Despite its continued cultural and economic importance, many young people are
today participating less in forest-based pursuits than was the case in the past, and
consequently have less opportunity to learn the linguistic, practical and intellectual
skills of their parents' generation. Wage migration is a big factor in this, and the
consequent failure of many young people to acquire a full range of subsistence skills