PARENT SESSION
Symposium 3: Complex Interactions Between Human Population and the Environment: Integrating Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Ecological Perspectives .
Organized by: Jianguo(Jack) Liu and RL Clark
Monday, August 2, 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, Oregon Ballroom 204.

Population pressure and market integration among Ecuadorian Native Amazonians: Impacts on land and resource use.

Bilsborrow, Richard¹, Holt, Flora^*,1, ¹ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

ABSTRACT- In 2001 the authors conducted a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary research project in northeastern Ecuador to (1) characterize demographic, economic and socio-cultural variation among five indigenous populations, and (2) examine the effects of these factors on land cover change and resource use. Our methodology included surveys, time allocation studies, input/output household diaries, semi-structured questionnaires, and satellite imagery, all combined into a GIS. Based on the ethnographic analysis, we find a significant gamut of market integration among the sample of 36 Quichua, Shuar, Cofan, Secoya and Huaorani communities. The Shuar are engaged in cash cropping, wage labor and raising cattle, while the Huaorani and Cofan are at an early stage of market incorporation, with high reliance on natural resources. For example, Shuar households purchase food on 44% of the days recorded, while the Huaorani hunt on 45% of the recorded days. The lowland Quichua and Secoya are in between, perhaps currently undergoing the most significant transitions from a subsistence to a market based economy. Similarly, the size of forest areas cleared for agricultural use is greatest for the Shuar, followed by the Secoya and Quichua. Demographic data show that fertility is highest among the Shuar and Quichua, lowest for the Secoya, and intermediate for the Huaorani, belying ideas about simple inverse associations with market integration. The paper will examine these demographic, economic, and socio-cultural factors and their impacts on land and resource use. Conservation efforts in this ecologically renowned region must be cognizant of the diversity inherent in these indigenous populations.

Key words: market integration, land use/land cover change, Native Amazonians, Ecuador