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6 Distribution and consumption
Fish is viewed as a source of food and income by contemporary ribereños Between 65 and 75 per cent of the catch is consumed locally. As is true in most peasant societies, food serves both social and economic functions. Food sharing among a well-established network of friends and relatives is one of the means for cementing social bonds among the ribereño villagers. The scarcity of fish, especially during the December-March period, makes the product an especially valuable item. Gifts of fish during the season of scarcity are remembered and reciprocated among the villagers. Aside from its social relevance, the partitioning of fish has a practical purpose: since preservation is difficult, reciprocation of supply serves to equalise its yearround availability. Fish is often "borrowed" when other pressing activities like crop harvests or wage labour, or the absence of key family members, preclude fishing. Increasingly, such debts are paid in store-bought goods or cash at a later date.
Several forms of fish preservation are practised to increase continuous supply. The bottom-feeding carachamas, able to withstand high water temperatures and low dissolved oxygen in the water, are kept alive in canoes and plastic or aluminum containers for as long as a week. Nylon nets and cane brave (Gynerium sagitatum) stalks are used to prepare small corrals called rapisheos to keep the fish alive. Smoke and salt are commonly employed to preserve fish for a few days. The only form of long-term storage practised among the ribereños is to salt and sun-dry the catch. This method enables the fish to be preserved for several months. Although the techniques are known, ribereños rarely practise them consistently. The preference for freshness and regular availability appear to mitigate against preserving the product.
A portion of the fish is destined for the market. During the study period, 25-35 per cent of the catch was sent to Iquitos, but the marketing period and species were well defined. Over 90 per cent of the fish sold from San Jorge was caught during the months of April, May, and July, the main period of mijanos. Among the fish sold, 86 per cent was accounted for by characins like lisa, palometa, boquichico, and carachama. The rest consisted of siluroids, especially dorado and saltón. The significance of fisheries for income generation varied during the year, but its sale accounted for less than 10 per cent of the ribereños income. During the April-July period, when outside employment and agricultural revenues are limited, fish sales may represent 50-60 per cent of the cash receipts. The capture of ornamental fish for exports was important for a short period in the 1970s at San Jorge. However, the harvest of piabas, as the ornamental fish are collectively called, involved few individuals and was limited to the lowwater season. The seasonal nature of revenues and the depletion of stock from the neighbouring waters led to the abandonment of this pursuit.
Fishing is likely to continue as a minor income-generating activity into the near future. Increased output is unlikely as conservation-oriented practices are progressively abandoned among the residents and commercial fishermen from Iquitos continue to increase the pressure on the resource with unsustainable practices. Already large catfishes are rare, and choice species like Arapaima gigas and Mylossoma and Colossoma spp. have virtually disappeared from the San Jorge area.
Fish, however, play a major role in the diet of the riverine people. Ichthyofauna are relied on as the main source of animal protein for several reasons. Every household keeps between ten and thirty fowl, but they are raised mainly for sale. Land fauna is insufficient to meet all the animal protein needs on a year-round basis. Cattle and water buffalo meat is unavailable in the village.
As is occurring elsewhere along the Amazon, a number of internal and external factors are changing the local fish population and the fish-dominated diet. Rapid regional population growth, especially among the rural people and the urban poor, is placing increasing demands on inexpensive fish-derived protein sources.
Use of new technologies and tools by both the local people and the commercial fishermen is hastening the decline of some species. New forms of land use, competing directly with the habitats of important ichthyofaunal species such as Arapaima gigas, Colossoma spp., and Plagioscion spp., are contributing to their decrease. With increased participation in the market economy, more attention is devoted to saleable species. The breakdown of traditional beliefs, myths, and lore that served to protect aquatic fauna and their habitats is causing the inhabitants to re-evaluate their resource base, often leading to accelerated harvests. The long-term trend does not seem promising. Species composition is becoming streamlined because those species requiring specialized habitats, having limited initial stock, and undergoing selected removal to supply market demands are reduced or eliminated.
The ribereños fish-based diet shows signs of alteration. With the expansion of cash cropping, an increasing proportion of the inhabitants' time is taken up by agriculture. The detraction of time from fishing seems to be responsible for a slow shift to the consumption of more abundant but less desirable species and lesser per capita intake. Average fish consumption in 1983, the period before rice began to be cultivated for the market by the majority, was 130 g/capita/day. By 1987, the consumption had declined to 94 g/capita. To make up for the shortage, people increasingly resort to purchased items like canned sardines and meat. But as the terms of trade are usually unfavourable to the farmers, animal protein intake declines. A contributing factor is in the change in perception of desirable food. As middleclass urban values diffuse to the riparian communities, the multiple species making up the bulk of the small fish consumed by the ribereños are slowly equated with poverty and low social status. The response has been an increase in the consumption of processed foods, including larger fish like gamitana (Colossoma macropomum), paco (Piaractus brachypomum), and paiche in salted and dried form. The ecological changes associated with increased extraction of forest products and with the expansion of farming within the floodplain are also responsible for alteration in the amount of fish harvests.
San Jorge illustrates the importance of non-agricultural activities in the overall livelihood of Amazonian peasant communities. Aside from contributing to sustenance and to income generation, fishing and hunting play significant roles in the regional economic, social, and ecological stabilities. Mechanisms to maintain inter- and intracommunity ties, such as socialization. opportunities during the mijanos and partitioning of surplus fauna, are integral parts of the activities. Myths, taboos, and folklore associated with faunal management also serve as crucial elements in maintaining floodplain ecological balance.
It seems appropriate that students of rural economies, especially smallscale farmers, direct attention to non-farm activities for a better understanding of social and economic patterns. Likewise, rural development planning aimed at improving the lot of family farmers has to incorporate not only plans to improve crop production and productivity, but also other complementary activities that may offer valuable information about economically and ecologically sustainable management practices. Increased familiarity with indigenous fishing and hunting activities, in conjunction with a better understanding of the natural history of economically valuable species, may serve to devise wildlife management procedures suited to supplying households with the needed animal proteins and complementing household incomes while maintaining the existing faunal population.
The author would like to acknowledge the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi-CNPq, the National Geographic Society, the Pennsylvania State System fo Higher Education, and the Millersville University Academic Grants Committee for their financial assistance. He is also indebted to M. Chibnik, C. Padoch, and M. Pinedo V. for valuable insights and discussions over the years on the ribereños of Peru.
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Subsistence- and marketoriented agroforestry in the Peruvian Amazon
1
Introduction
2 Traditional agroforestry in north-eastern Peru
3 Swidden-fallow agroforestry among the Bora
indians
4 Market-oriented agroforestry in Tamshiyacu
5 Conclusions and recommendations
References
Christine Padoch and Wil de Jong
In recent years, researchers have demonstrated that indigenous Amazonians have a profound knowledge of agricultural soils, useful plants and animals, and productive agricultural and forestry techniques (Boom, 1987; Clay, 1988; Denevan and Padoch, 1988; Dufour, 1990; Posey, 1982, 1984, 1985; Prance, 1984; Vickers and Plowman, 1984; and others). Many of these researchers have suggested that indigenous knowledge and technologies can be incorporated into the planning of contemporary agricultural and forestry efforts in Amazonia. Data showing traditional practices to be economically attractive alternatives for recent colonists and other non-indigenous people who need and want market goods are, however, still very scarce. The paucity of demonstrated economic potential is among the most important factors that have recently prompted some experts to question the usefulness of indigenous patterns in future economic development (Redford, 1990).
Increased interest in studying the resource use patterns of indigenous or long-resident, but non-tribal communities of Amazonia, such as Peru's ribereños (de Jong, 1987; Hiraoka, 1985a, 1985b, 1986, 1989; Padoch and de Jong, 1987, 1989, 1990; Padoch et al.,1985) or the caboclos of Brazil (Anderson et al., 1986; Parker, 1985) may help fill this gap in the discussion of development alternatives for the region. These populations usually participate more actively in local and even export markets than do most tribal peoples, and have needs and expectations that more closely reflect national norms. ribereño and caboclo resource use practices show clearly that these frequently ignored people are inheritors as well as adapters of indigenous traditions. Examination of many traditional swiddenfallow agroforesty practices in the Department of Loreto, Peru, provides several examples of how indigenous patterns have been adapted to the market-oriented economy of ribereño villagers (Denevan and Padoch, 1988; Padoch and de Jong, 1987, 1989).
2 Traditional agroforestry in north-eastern Peru
Amazonian agroforestry systems include a diversity of production patterns, ranging from the most subtle manipulation of largely natural forests to increase their economic yields, to the creation and maintenance of nearmonocultural commercial orchards (Hecht, 1982; Padoch and de Jong, 1989; Padoch et al., 1985). Many, although not all, of these systems are cyclic and are based on an alternation of intensively cultivated swiddens and less intensively managed fallows. Swidden-fallow use by tribal peoples has been studied in several parts of the Amazon Basin, including areas in Ecuador (Irvine, 1985) and Brazil (Dufour, 1990; Posey, 1982).
We conducted studies on agroforestry in the Department of Loreto, Peru, between 1981 and 1983 as part of a cooperative programme of research between the University of Wisconsin (USA) and the Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, and in 1984 and 1985 as participants in a research programme of the Instituto Nacional de Investigacíon y Promoción Agrícola. In this paper, we report on two examples of swidden-fallow agroforestry systems: one typical of a community of tribal Bora Indians, the other a pattern found in the ribereño village of Tamshiyacu. These examples share some characteristics. Both begin as swidden fields, both involve quantitative and qualitative changes in management practices, and both exhibit major shifts over time in species composition and production. However, major differences between the two are also notable, particularly in the diversity, quantity, and destination of the species produced, and in the intensity and quality of their management.
The types that we present are only two of a large variety of swid den-fallow agroforestry patterns found in the region and should not be considered typical of the Department of Loreto. After presenting and comparing these examples of traditional resource use practices, we shall attempt to point out several aspects of these systems that may prove useful in planning for enhanced agricultural and forestry production in the humid tropics.
3 Swidden-fallow agroforestry among the Bora indians
The Bora community of Brillo Nuevo is located along the Yaguasyacu River, a tributary of the Ampiyacu River, which itself joins the Amazon around the town of Pebas, 120 km north-east of Iquitos (fig. 9.1). Much of the village territory of Brillo Nuevo is still covered by mature humid tropical forest, although considerable areas of secondary forest, swiddens, and small pastures are found near the settlement. Climatically the area is characterized, by consistently high temperatures (around 26°C throughout the year), high humidity, and rainfall averaging almost 3,000 mm per year. (See Denevan and Padoch, 1988, for a more detailed description of the area.) The residents of Brillo Nuevo were brought to the present site by a patron from neighbouring Colombia in 1934. While contemporary Bora use market products and have become assimilated to varying degrees into Peruvian society, their subsistence activities still largely reflect traditional practices. Bora resource use in their homeland closely resembles Brillo Nuevo patterns (Centlivres et al., 1975; Gasché, 1980). The considerable distance of the village from Iquitos, the major regional market, and the difficulty of using boats in the Yaguasyacu river during low water, makes it difficult for most Brillo Nuevo residents to participate actively in local markets.
Bora farmers make new agricultural fields in old forests as well as in secondary forest. Like most Amazonian terra firme farmers the Bora follow a cycle that begins with the cutting, drying, and burning of a forest plot between 0.5 and 1 ha in size. Any valuable species found in the original forest cover, including fruit trees, palms used for fibre, thatching, or construction, and important timber trees are usually spared.
Initial planting includes a variety of crops, but manioc (Manihot esculenta), the dietary staple, predominates in new swidden fields. The number of crop species planted varies from field to field. Some swiddens are planted with very few species, others with a large variety. Planted species usually include annuals and perennials. The latter often are species of fruit trees, but other woody species such as coca (Erythroxylum coca), or barbasco (Lonchocarpus spp.), which is used as a fish poison, are frequently also present.
Bora farmers distinguish between the agricultural phase, in which their fields yield manioc, and which lasts for about two years, and the following phase, in which fields are less actively managed. This second phase begins the transition from the swidden to the swidden-fallow stage. While this transition is occurring in one holding, the Bora cultivator is often already clearing other sites to plant new annual crops. Thus a farmer manages several plots at the same time: swidden fields producing annual crops, other fields just passing into the fallow stage, and still others in the mature forestfallow phase.
The assemblage of plant species present in a Bora swidden fallow is often very diverse and changes considerably during its life cycle. The pre-existing fruit and other economically important forest trees that were originally spared are often present later in the managed fallow field. Many plants that appear spontaneously from coppicing stumps, or that sprout from seeds, are of use to the owner and may also be left untouched or may even be actively protected. In fact, weeding is often directed toward aiding the growth of valuable "weed" species, as well as the protection of planted crops. Still other individual plants are the result of natural reseeding by planted species. Thus, deliberate planting is only one of many pathways by which a particular individual plant may find itself in a Bora swidden fallow at any particular stage.
The swidden-fallow fields that result from the interaction of these complex processes often include a large variety of useful plants. Denevan and Treacy (1988: 17-18), for instance, found a Bora field, five years after it was first planted, that featured a small, unproductive manioc patch. Six of the other twelve originally planted crops were, however, still yielding well and were frequently harvested. The outer edges of the field were not being actively weeded any more, and secondary vegetation had encroached considerably. This invading vegetation, however, also contained many useful species. Handicraft materials and medicinal species were abundant in this zone, while several trees useful for construction were nearing harvestable size.
Weeding and protection of plants in many Bora swidden fallows continue for at least twelve years after their first planting. One nineyear-old fallow sampled at Brillo Nuevo still included five cultivated fruit species as well as coca; all but the last of these were represented by only a few individuals. Together with these planted trees numerous useful - protected but not planted - species were found, including such valuable construction timbers as tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata).
Bora swidden-fallow management techniques result in fields with a very patchy pattern. While overall management of a plot may decrease with time, limited areas may continue to be actively cleared for many years. In older fields the cultivated area shrinks rather than being totally abandoned. Even when a forest canopy covers the entire plot, old fallow areas still yield fruits or other useful materials. During occasional visits farmers will often clear a few lianas or other plants which threaten to interfere with economically valuable species. Even after twenty years cultigens may still be harvested. One such field that was studied included three cultivated fruit species and an other 53 useful native forest species. These included species used as construction materials, medicines, and foods, and in basket-making, saltmaking, and extraction of pitch.
Swidden-fallow fields located at larger distances from the village attract a variety of forest animals that come to feed on the fruits of the planted and protected trees. In certain seasons animals appear in fallow fields in higher numbers than in the surrounding forest. The swidden-fallow fields then become important hunting sites, especially abundant in fruit-eating monkeys and large rodents.
Although the general pattern we described above is fairly common among Brillo Nuevo farmers, numerous geographical, cultural, ecological, personal, and purely chance factors give rise to variations in the composition of a swidden fallow. Among important variables that contribute to this diversity are: the age of the original vegetation as well as its previous use, the distance of the field from the village, other fields the owner farms, soil conditions, drainage, slope, and aspect of the site.
Although each Bora swidden fallow differs in exact species composition from every other, most older fields are rich in useful plants. In the fallows that were sampled at Brillo Nuevo, a total of 133 useful species were identified. The Bora swidden-fallow agroforestry pattern, characterized, by a high diversity of species, appears appropriate for a population that seeks to satisfy a wide variety of its daily needs through harvesting its own fields and forests. With little access to markets, the Bora cannot and do not specialize in the production of any particular plant species. Rather, they seek to produce a little of many different things. This pattern, which may have been typical of Amazonian communities in the past, is not a universal strategy among the rural folk of the Department of Loreto.
4 Market-oriented agroforestry in Tamshiyacu
The town of Tamshiyacu, located 30 km upstream from Iquitos, is known as one of the most important native fruit-producing areas in the region. The two principal products marketed by Tamshiyaquinos, pineapples and umarí (Poraqueiba sericea), are cultivated within a well-designed, marketoriented agroforestry system. The two products are harvested at different phases of this system. Although Tamshiyacu farmers do grow products destined for household consumption, a market emphasis pervades virtually every phase of this particular agroforestry system. (For more detailed information on Tamshiyacu agriculture see de Jong, 1987; Hiraoka, 1986; Padoch et al., 1985.)
In contrast to the Bora, the people of Tamshiyacu are not officially recognized as Indians, that is, natives of the region, although few if any Tamshiyaquinos are recent arrivals. They belong to a large group of Amazonians known locally as ribereños (Padoch, 1988), who are largely offspring of detribalized natives and immigrants who arrived during or soon after the great Rubber Boom of the turn of the century. This largest group of rural people in the lowland Peruvian Amazon has gone surprisingly unnoticed by scientists.
Tamshiyacu is one of the larger towns in the area, and the majority of its approximately 2,000 inhabitants are farmers who frequently visit Iquitos and its markets. Transportation is provided by colectivos (river buses), several of which leave the village for the city early in the morning, or pass by from upstream and stop at the village dock. Many producers, however, choose not to make the trip themselves but sell their products to middlemen in the village itself.
In Tamshiyacu, which is both more populous and longer-settled than Brillo Nuevo, mature forest is found at a greater distance from the community centre. Tamshiyacu farmers, like the Bora, begin the swidden-fallow agroforestry cycle by clearing patches of forest, both primary and secondary. As in Brillo Nuevo, valuable forest species including palms and fruit trees may be spared. However, in contrast to the practice of Bora farmers and other tribal shifting cultivators, part of the cut and slashed vegetation is not burned in the field but is turned into charcoal for sale in Iquitos. Sites where charcoal is made are then often reserved for the planting of nutrient-demanding crops.
Most of the crop species planted in Brillo Nuevo can also be found in Tamshiyacu fields. In the town, however, the selection of cultigens, and especially the quantity planted of any species, is determined more by recent and expected urban market price trends than by household needs. The first crops to be harvested are manioc and plantains, which are also planted first. Both these crops, meant for market and household consumption, are commonly replanted after the first harvest. The planting of a field is, however, a complex process that continues for a over a year or more. After manioc and plantains, other annuals and several perennials are planted. The timing of many plantings depends on the availability of seeds or seedlings.
However, a field may already show a large diversity of crops at an early stage. After about two years, manioc and plantain production is phased out and pineapples start producing in quantity. At this point, the fields change primarily into cash crop plantations. Pineapple is harvested until the fourth year. By then, tree crops have come into prominence.
Apart from umarí (Poraqueiba sericea), trees commonly planted in agroforestry fields are fast-growing but short-lived species such as cashew (Anacardium accidentale), uvilla (Pourouma cecropiaefolia), and caimito (Pouteria caimito). The production of these fruits starts early and does not last very long; their productive life is from two to six years. Together with pineapple these fruits provide cash income during the transition stage from swidden to mature fruit orchard. Once production of these species has declined, umarí, a much-favoured fruit in the Iquitos market, becomes the pre-eminent product. An umarí stand normally yields for at least thirty years, although examples of sixty-year-old umarí orchards can be found. Yields of up to 80,000 fruits per hectare of umarí orchard are not unusual. A second important cash crop species in older orchards is Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa). This long-lived tree crop has traditionally been planted in small quantities, although farmers now are increasingly including this crop in their fields.
Although total labour input declines when fields become older, Tamshiyacu farmers clean their field thoroughly as long as they are being harvested. In the swidden stage, while manioc is in production, weeding and harvesting are done frequently. When pineapple becomes the principal crop, fields continue to be weeded once or twice a year. However, as perennials take over, weeding changes in intensity. The more careful weeding in early swiddens gives way to a more rapid slash weeding in older fields. The shade provided by the fruit trees allows for more open understorey in older fields and a much faster weeding. Some cleaning, however, remains essential even in old fields, since umarí fruits must be gathered when they fall to the ground. Although several naturally occurring fruits or other useful species may survive the periodic weeding of an umarí orchard, Tamshiyacu agroforesters commonly protect or encourage far fewer forest species than do the Bora.
After thirty years or so, production in many umarí fruit orchards declines. The stand is then cut, with many of the umarí trees made into charcoal. Brazil nut trees, however, are not felled since they con tinue to fruit for a much longer time. After cutting, the umarí field may be fallowed for five to ten years, but it is not unusual to see farmers plant new swiddens immediately, and begin the cycle again.
Although we have presented a generalized picture of agroforestry in Tamshiyacu, individual differences among farmers, their fields, and the management techniques they employ are notable. Some farmers never use forest slash to make charcoal, some never convert annual crop fields to perennial-dominated orchards, some market most of their produce, others market little. Furthermore, it must be pointed out that many residents of Tamshiyacu engage in other economic pursuits. Some have diverse agricultural holdings in the Amazon floodplain (Hiraoka, 1986). Most farmers are also hunters, fishermen, occasional waged labourers, or even market vendors. The majority of Tamshiyacu farmers, however, obtain the bulk of their income from selling cultivated fruits from agroforesty fields (Padoch, 1988). While incomes vary enormously, Tamshiyacu producers as a group are exceptional in the level of incomes they report from sales of agroforestry products. Owners of large umarí orchards have incomes several times the Amazonian average. Yearly household incomes of approximately US$5,000 were enjoyed by several Tamshiyacu umarí producers, a level few other rural residents of the region ever reach.
5 Conclusions and recommendations
We have presented descriptions of agroforestry practices found in two communities in the Peruvian Amazon. One of our sample villages is inhabited by members of a tribal group, the other is a settlement of non-tribal, but none the less largely indigenous Amazonians known as ribereños The Tamshiyacu and the Bora systems show some obvious similarities; ribereño practices should quite clearly be considered a transformation and adaptation of indigenous tribal patterns. However, the two systems described differ dramatically as well. In Tamshiyacu, production in older fields becomes highly specialized reflecting the relatively easy access the town's farmers have to the Iquitos market. Brillo Nuevo farmers, on the other hand, do not have the same market opportunities. Their system is much more generalized, diverse in species, and successful in satisfying the many needs of farmers in an area far from markets.
The differences in species composition and production between the two Amazonian settlements largely reflect differences in management. Tamshiyacu orchards are managed more intensively over a longer period, while Bora farmers allow, even encourage, more forest vegetation in their ageing fallows.
While the choice to specialize does help Tamshiyacu farmers frequently to earn high incomes, it also has drawbacks. In years of particularly high umarí production throughout the Iquitos region, a considerable part of the harvest cannot be sold and farmers are not adequately compensated for their labour investments. To date, no suitable process for preserving the bland, oily pulp of the umarí fruit has been developed and all fruit must be consumed fresh.
We have noted that the two descriptions given here are not an exhaustive summary of agroforestry types found in the lowland Peruvian Amazon. Our research indicates that agroforestry systems in the Peruvian Amazon are widespread and greatly varied (see Padoch and de Jong, 1987). There is no one Amazonian agroforestry system. Local patterns of swidden-fallow agroforestry are highly flexible, adaptable to various environmental and economic conditions. The examples that we have presented are also highly dynamic. Active experimentation occurs in both communities, as farmers attempt to accommodate their agroforestry practices to changing environmental and economic conditions.
In focusing much of our discussion on the market-oriented system of Tamshiyacu, we would particularly like to emphasize the need to study the traditional systems of non-tribal communities. These forgotten villages of the Peruvian Amazon (and of other Amazonian states) often present useful models to resource use planners. Yet it is the remote, tribal communities that have been given more attention. Most ribereños or mestizos living within a day's travel of Iquitos participate more actively in market trade than do natives on small isolated tributaries. Rather than using such tribal systems as models, and speculating on how these might serve the Amazonian who is heading toward increased market involvement, ribereño patterns may offer a more accessible model.
Our investigations in the Iquitos area have pointed out the great importance of market access and market demand in determining the configuration of a particular agroforestry system. The example taken from Tamshiyacu demonstrates conclusively that swiddeners can and do respond strongly to market opportunities. However, the market of Iquitos, like many tropical regional markets, is limited and often cannot consume even the yields that are produced. Research and extension in agroforestry systems must be accompanied by sound economic knowledge and advice. If the small farmers of Iquitos and similar regions elsewhere are to be encouraged to augment their production of fruits and other agroforestry products, they must also be presented with opportunities for processing and extraregional export of those products.
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Local management of forest resources in a rural community in north-east Peru
Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez, Daniel Zarin, and Peter Jipp
Indigenous systems of natural resource management in the Amazon Basin have led outside observers to judge the productivity and sustainability of those systems in dramatically different ways. Two opposing points of view about the sustainability of forest management systems are prevalent in the available literature. One group of analyses describes indigenous forest management as primitive, unproductive, and unsustainable (e.g. Benedict, 1959; Redfield, 1953). Those analyses reinforced the biases of many of the region's urban-based politicians and bureaucrats, who often choose to neglect the interests of distant rural Amazonians. More recent analyses tend to depict traditional forest management techniques as blueprints for optimal use of available resources (see, for example, Posey and Balée, 1989).
We believe that reality is neither as black nor as white as most of its interpreters portray it. Those who interpret particular places, peoples, and times generally do so more accurately than authors who write about the Amazon as if it were one homogeneous region. Indigenous methods of resource use are neither always unsustainable nor always sustainable. Rather, from a management perspective, such systems can provide valuable insights, and valuable tools, for the planning and implementation of resource use and protection in different regions within the Amazon Basin.
In the region surrounding the city of Iquitos, in north-east Peru, indigenous systems of forest management are diverse and complex. Such systems have developed based upon the diversity of useful forest resources and the cultural diversity of the local populations.
None the less, overexploitation of highly valuable resources has always been a problem in the region. As early as the sixteenth century, for example, a report from the region mentions that native people had overhunted manatee ( Trichecus inunguis) in the lakes and streams of the Marañon and Ucayali Rivers (Maroni, 1988). In other floodplain areas within the Amazon Basin, archaeological evidence suggests that overexploitation of fish and game resources by densely populated settlements forced Indian groups to migrate constantly from one location on the floodplain to another (DeBoer, 1981; Roosevelt, 1989).
