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

10.4 Suggestions for further research
The findings of this study suggest a number of interesting possibilities for further
research, both locally and elsewhere. Locally, the aspects of the research programme
that generated the greatest levels of interest were those with direct relevance to
cultural conservation. Specific research projects that would support this interest
include the systematic study of Wapishana biological nomenclature and classification,
recording this information in literary form and providing permanent records of its
relationship to scientific nomenclature for local educational purposes. The recording
of known local uses of wild species and the production of documents on this subject
in Wapishana would also support local agendas. Another specific research interest
that was raised is the recording of Wapishana cosmology and esoteric lore, especially
those aspects of it currently known only to a small number of old people and in
danger of being lost.
Several research projects concerned with cultural ecology also suggest
themselves. I have made various conjectures in this thesis concerning the ecological
impacts of human activities. The effects of human habitat modification on ecological
and genetic diversity is a topic of great potential significance to conservationist
interests in the region, and clearly research in this area should be a priority
consideration. More specifically, I have made specific suggestions concerning possible
ecological functions of food taboos and occupation of certain areas by malevolent
entities (chapter 5.5). If they do actually have these functions, it is important that
they are recognised and taken into account in community-level initiatives in resource
management, and research in this area is therefore needed. Ethnoecological data was
also used to generate a number of specific hypotheses concerning possible ecological
consequences of human activities of interest: habitat enhancement for certain
species of game animal on the one hand, and possible conflicts of interest resulting
from human exploitation of species that are also food sources for economically
important animal species (chapter 8.2). Again, the significance of these for local
management suggests that it would be useful to collect ecological data that would
allow them to be tested.
Possible follow-up research suggested by the ethnoecological component of this
study is of the greatest general interest. Techniques in data collection and analysis
are still very much developing in this field. The analysis conducted in this study
indicated certain limitations of the methods used, and suggested a range of
methodological improvements that could be used to overcome them (chapter
7.14.3). The next step is to take these suggestions into the field for practical