The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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The cultural context of biodiversity conservation
The observation that regions of high remaining biodiversity are most often found in
areas inhabited by indigenous peoples also applies to the Guatemalan context. 6 For
millennia, the ecosystems of many areas have been shaped by communal land use systems
related to subsistence production, hunting and gathering practices and forest extraction
of indigenous farming communities. 7 Besides the use and protection of numerous
wild species, these communities have generated a large variety of domesticated
plants and crops like maize, beans, tomatoes, chilies and numerous tropical
fruits adapted to the specific environmental conditions. Although the crop diversity
and associated knowledge have undergone a process of severe erosion, indigenous
communities throughout the country have generally preserved customary practices for
meeting basic needs and securing their livelihoods. Unlike the situation in most other
Latin American countries, where they constitute minorities, the indigenous peoples of
Guatemala represent the majority of the country's inhabitants. Within this multi-ethnic
society, they comprise around two-thirds of the eleven million citizens, most of them
of Mayan descent (Secaira 2005). 8 The other major part of the population is referred
to as Ladinos. The term generically refers to Spanish-speaking people of mixed or indigenous
origin who have adapted to or identify themselves with the mainstream national
Hispanic culture. 9 Although there are no rigid boundaries between the categories,
the society is divided along these ethnic lines. The social divide has for centuries
been marked by an oppositional relation. Economic power is held almost exclusively
by Ladinos, who mainly inhabit the central southern and eastern parts of the country
and dominate the large-farm sector, whereas the indigenous people comprise the vast
majority of the land-poor and landless population living predominantly in rural areas
of the highlands. The overlap of departments with the highest concentration of indigenous
population and those that experience the greatest poverty confirms the link
between ethnic origin and poverty in Guatemalan society. 10
6 In mapping the intersections of forested land and indigenous peoples, researchers found that the
densest tropical forests in Central America coincide with territories inhabited by indigenous communities
(Berger 1997: 106).
7 In examining resource use patterns among the ancient Maya, Gómez-Pompa (1991) identified a series
of biological conservation strategies, many of which are still practiced in different parts of the
area. Despite the Mayan collapse, such conservational knowledge still exists in present-day silvicultural
and agricultural production systems.
8 Statistical data tend to vary. As to the geographical distribution (map 4.1), the majority of the indígenas
live concentrated in the western and northern regions of the country. The K'iche', with over one
million members, form the largest of the 21 Mayan groups. The other largest groups include the
Mam, Kaqchikel and Q'eqchi'.
9 Apart from the Maya and the Ladinos, there are two other ethnic groups of minor number to be distinguished:
the Xinca, a minority of a few thousand people that has inhabited the country since precolonial
times and the Garífuna, who are of Afro-Caribbean origin, settled along the eastern coastline.
10 According to official figures, 60 percent of the country's population lives in rural areas. Of these,
59 percent are indigenous (MINUGUA 2001: 10). The country has one of the highest rates of inequality
in the world and is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. In 1995, the World Bank
estimated that 75 percent of the population live in poverty and 58 percent in extreme poverty, meaning
they cannot fulfil their basic survival needs (Amry 1999: 78).