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

characterised as a multiple use system based around long-fallow swidden agriculture,
recognising that the value of this label is somewhat limited by the fact that it
characterises a great diversity of agricultural systems worldwide (Brookfield and
Padoch 1994). Forests are used for agriculture, hunting, lumbering, fishing, and
gathering of foods, medicines, firewood, and the raw materials for building and crafts.
Savannahs provide the major sites of permanent settlement, and are also used for
fishing, livestock rearing, hunting, gathering of plant and animal foods and non-food
items such as building materials, firewood, craft materials and medicines. The
Wapishana subsistence strategy is thus adapted to the exploitation of the resources
offered by both forest and savannah habitats, reflected in a pattern of settlement
that spans the ecotone between the two (Potter 1993: 2).
Within this broad picture there is much variation, both within and between
villages. Some can be ascribed to differences in availability of resources. Sand Creek
village, for example, is situated close to the confluence of two major rivers, has a long
history of involvement in the livestock trade, is fairly close to a number of important
ranches, and suffers a shortage of forest lands within its reservation boundaries. In
contrast, Maruranau is amply supplied with forest land but is situated some distance
from the nearest sizeable watercourses; opportunities for involvement in the
livestock industry are less readily available and people generally focus to a greater
extent on forest-based activities. This is manifest in a much lower level of hunting in
Sand Creek than Maruranau: whereas 73 percent of Maruranau households
interviewed in the present study reported hunting to be an important subsistence
activity, a socio-economic survey in Sand Creek found there to be only six recognised
hunters among the 118 households in this village (Forte 2000: 64). My impression
from visits to Sand Creek is that hunting is focused much more strongly on the
savannah deer (Odocoileus virginianus) than is the case in Maruranau. In contrast, in
the same survey, all households in Sand Creek reported that they engage in fishing,
as opposed to 85 percent of those in Maruranau interviewed in the present study.
People will on occasion travel widely to procure particular resources unavailable in
their home village. Villagers from Maruranau and the neighbouring villages make
seasonal fishing trips to large rivers and lakes in the vicinity of Rupunau and Sand
Creek. During the course of this study Rupunau village council approached Maruranau
to request permission to send a group to visit and collect mokoro, a forest vine
(Ischnosiphon arouma) used to make a variety of household utensils and reported to
be extremely scarce in the vicinity of Rupunau.