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

incorporate substantial amounts of ecological information accessible to scientific
investigation, and a vast body of practical skills that can be transferred to the
context of modern sustainable use programmes. These skills could provide the basis
for a marked expansion of the scale of extractive industries, if the appropriate
marketing linkages can be developed, and the latter provides a key point for possible
state intervention. They could also be employed in ecological surveying and
monitoring, and in which G’s AI groups have enormous latent expertise. This potential
can best be realised in combination with scientific approaches. The design of
management programmes will thus be maximally effective if it combines extensive
use of the existing skills base with vocational education and training programmes
designed to complement this with appropriate technical and practical applicatons of
the biological sciences. The outcome would be a forest management sector largely
staffed by people with a complementary background in both traditional and scientific
approaches to resource management. The professional capacity of such a workforce
would be formidable.
I have already stressed that Amerindian ecological knowledge can not be
separated from its social and cultural context. Moreover, much of this is social
knowledge, embedded in the belief systems, social norms and cultural practices of
the societies rather than the explicit knowledge of any individuals. It is clear,
therefore, that realisation of the fullest future development of Guyana’s capacity in
ecological management requires the maintenance of the cultural distinctiveness of
indigenous societies. This does not imply either protectionism or stagnation, but
simply that they be permitted to retain as full control as possible of the course of
their future development, in order that adaptation to their changing circumstances
can be an endogenous process which does not undermine their social or ecological
integrity. This social evolution will nonetheless be shaped to a large extent by the
character of the wider, Guyanese society within which Amerindian societies are
located. This influence must, like the interaction between traditional and scientific
knowledge systems, have a dialectical character. If the dominant national culture
allows itself to be informed and altered by the influence of its Amerindian
constituent, the possibility exists of the emergence of new and different forms of
human relationships with nature which may ultimately provide the basis for a truly
ecologically conscious national society.