The Limits of Extractivism

Author(s): John O. Browder

Source: BioScience , Mar., 1992, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Mar., 1992), pp. 174-182
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological
Sciences

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 The Limits of Extractivism
Tropical forest strategies beyond extractive reserves

John 0. Browder

In recent years, considerable inter- to emphasize the difference between

national attention has focused on extractive reserves as a conservation-
We must dedicate
finding sustainable alternatives to ist concept and extractivism as a so-
tropical deforestation. Figuring more resources to cial reality. Although extractive re-
prominently among such alternatives serves may play a useful role in
are various proposals to establish ex- developing sustainable,
natural forest conservation for a
tractive reserves, that is, natural trop- nonextractive income small proportion of the Amazon's
ical forest areas reserved for the ex- forest area and human population,
traction of potentially renewable alternatives for rural much greater emphasis must be given
commercial forest products (e.g., la- to strategies that go beyond the limits
tex, fruits, nuts, fibers, and timber) by
inhabitants of extractivism, to stabilize the pre-
traditional resident populations. I carious economic and ecological situ-
These proposals have been largely in- ations of small- and medium-scale
formed by the specific historical expe- grating the use and conservation of
farmers and ranchers, the principal
rience of the rubber-tappers move- Amazon forests" (Peters et al. 1989b,
agents of forest destruction in the
ment in the western Brazilian p. 656). Amazon.
* "Extractive reserves offer a
Amazon state of Acre (Allegretti
1990, Schwartzman 1989). mode of forest use that is both imme-
What are extractive reserves?
Several recent studies suggestdiately
that economically competitive and
such extraction may have broadersustainable
ap- in the long-run" (Grad-
Extractive reserves are defined by the
wohl and Greenberg 1988, p. 150).
plications for achieving complemen- Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Re-
tary objectives of natural forest*con-"Extractive reserves proposeform and Development as "forest ar-
servation and income generation thatformuch-discussed but rarely eas inhabited by extractive popula-
real-
rural inhabitants (Anderson 1989a,b,
ized anodyne for development deba-tions granted long-term usufruct
Peters et al. 1989b). Indeed, it cles,
is ar-sustainable development" rights to forest resources which they
gued that extraction generates (Schwartzman
higher 1989, p. 152). collectively manage" (Schwartzman
financial returns than most conven- 1989, p. 151). From this rather
tional tropical forest land uses (e.g., In this article, I examine thesestraightforward
as- definition of a com-
mon property right has emerged a
cattle ranching and colonist farming)sertions as they apply to the Brazilian
that destroy forest. Amazon and challenge the growing series of expectations linking forest
view among conservation groupsconservation
and to extractive reserves
* "Without question, the sustain- donor organizations that extractive that are bound to disappoint many. It
is important to address the following
able exploitation of non-wood forest reserves will help save tropical forests
resources represents the most imme-on a meaningful scale. It is not questions
my that to date have been only
diate and profitable method for inte-intention to criticize broadly superficially
sup- treated in the public dis-
ported social movements (e.g.,course
the on extractive reserves.
rubber tappers of the western Ama-
zon) that have legitimate claims Willto
extractive reserves protect tropi-
John O. Browder is an associate professor
in the Department of Urban Affairs and forest lands they have occupied for
cal forest biodiversity? Extractive re-
Planning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute decades. Indeed, such local serves
organiza- are not intended to preserve
and State University, Blacksburg, VAtions are likely to be essential inbiodiversity
any in the tropics. Extractive
24061. ? 1992 American Institute of successful forest conservation strat- reserves, by definition, are social
Biological Sciences. egy (Browder 1991b). Rather, I wishspaces that do not necessarily coin-

174 BioScience Vol. 42 No. 3

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cide with areas of particular biologi- yield extraction declines, forest- probable returns that extractors can
cal importance. Indeed, extractive re- dwelling populations, whatever theirexpect to receive given the social mi-
serves and other forms of organized social orientation, are likely to de-lieu in which they live. Several other
extractive activity are more likely to plete a renewable commercial re- comparative financial analyses of al-
be economically successful in (rela- source or shift to other, more profit- ternative land-use strategies indicate
tively) biologically poor oligarchic able activities, regardless of theirthat forest product extraction is
forests, where a few marketable spe- ecological effects. Testimonials to re-among the least remunerative uses of
cies dominate (Peters et al. 1989a). source degradation by rural extrac- Amazon forestlands (Anderson
Although the exact geographic ex- tors abound. For instance, two recent1989b, LaFluer 1989, Schwartzman
tent of so-called oligarchic forests in studies of extractive activities near and Allegretti 1987).
the Amazon is unknown, it is widely Iquitos reported "that local inhabit- These studies vary considerably in
accepted that they constitute a small ants in Peru use palm fruits in a their methodologies, sample frames,
fraction of the Amazon's total forest non-renewable manner that may be and objectives. Anderson estimated
area, mainly in the floodplains that more detrimental than selective tim- that extraction provides a net return
constitute approximately 2% of the bering" (Bodmer et al. 1990, p. 109) of US$4.38 per workday versus
region. Hence, extractive reserves and that the "wild populations of US$16.46 from "intensive agrofor-
may not be appropriate for the vast estry." LaFluer that found extraction
these high-potential [fruit] species are
portion of the Amazon's highly bio- being rapidly depleted by destructive generates US$3.13 per workday ver-
diverse terra firme forests, where sus US$3.59 from colonist agricul-
harvesting techniques as market pres-
most deforestation is occurring. sure begins to build" (Vasquez and ture. Schwartzman and Allegretti
Moreover, whereas the absence of Gentry 1989, p. 350). found the gross value of extractive
humans traditionally has been consid- Similar episodes of renewable re- production to be US$31.87 per hect-
ered a paramount criterion in the source depletion by rural inhabitants are versus US$52.37 from colonist
preservation of tropical biological di- occur on the Brazilian side of the agriculture.
versity and in the selection of biolog- Amazon estuary, as reflected in a re-Like every other form of labor,
ical reserves (cf. Foresta 1991), a cent newpaper article entitled "Ex-extractive activities do not exist in a
well-organized permanent human traction of palmito provokes acai social vacuum, and estimates of the
presence is always required to man- financial value of extraction cannot
[fruit] shortages in Belem" (O Liberal
age and defend extractive reserves. 1989; author's translation). That
be abstracted from the social context
more than "15% of the [Sao Luis de in which it occurs. The behavior and
Are extractor populations defenders Remanso extractive] reserve [in Acre]
incomes of rural people who extract
of tropical forests? Forest dwellers had been degraded by the resident forest products are typically deter-
who extract forest products also clear mined by social and economic forces
population [rubber tappers] for shift-
forest and plant food crops, raise live- ing cultivation and pasture conver-over which they have little control.
stock, pan for gold, hunt wild game, sion" (Anderson 1989a) further at-
Although organized rubber-tapper
cut commercial timber, and engage in tests to the tenuous foundation that
groups may be better able to chal-
most of the activities of other rural existing extractive systems provide as lenge the vestiges of the old forms of
Amazonian inhabitants. Schwartz- a model of sustainable natural forest labor exploitation (e.g., aviamento),
man (1989), for instance, observes development. Extractive reserves, most extractors are not independent
that the financial success of rubber- when successful, protect the eco-economic agents but live under vari-
tapper households in Acre depends as nomic opportunities of selected for- ous regimes of economic and social
much on their ability to successfully est-dwelling groups, but they do notdependence to large landowners, mer-
farm and raise livestock as on their necessarily protect the natural forest. chants, and private companies that
success in rubber collection alone. regulate prices and marketing oppor-
Herein lies a fundamental di- Is sustained yield extraction moretunities for rainforest produce. Many
lemma: the extractor population de-
profitable than other major land usesextractors, living in long-established
fies precise definition as a discrete that destroy forests? The affirmative traditions of debt peonage, typically
social category. I know of no finan- position on this question gained aearn a cash income barely sufficient to
cially autonomous rural household wideinfollowing after the publicationensure household subsistence.
Amazonia that derives its entire cash of one benchmark study, "Valuation One prominent North American
income from the sustainable extrac- of an Amazonian rainforest" (Petersadvocate of extractive reserves writes
tion of natural forest products. Yet, et al. 1989b), partly because it wasthat even on the former rubber estates
most rural households extract some- interpreted as providing a realistic(seringals), where the traditional
thing from the forest, and many ob- appraisal of the opportunity cost ofcompany store system ended decades
tain a significant portion of their in- forests. In fact, this study only esti-ago, an estimated 55% of rubber tap-
come from the sale of forest products. mates a hypothetical maximal poten-pers are in debt (Schwartzman 1989).
A major impediment to the develop- tial value of a forest located within a Similar debt-inducing relations of
ment of a replicable model of extrac- short distance of a major urban mar- production are found in timber ex-
tive systems is a lack of a single role ket center (30 km from Iquitos) and traction in Amazonia as well (Brow-
model of extraction among rural Am- uses an unrealistically long planning der 1986, 1987). Estimates of the
azonian households. horizon (50 years) and low discount potential value of the forest present
When the profitability of sustained rate (5%), all of which exaggerate the only a partial picture when they ig-

March 1992 175

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nore the social contexts in which con- sustainable rubber latex extraction yses. To be sustainable as market-
temporary extraction occurs. As from the wild. oriented enterprises, however, extrac-
Fearnside (1989) poignantly notes, tive reserves must provide products
"when the value of products accrues that markets demand at costs that
Are extractive reserves more efficient,
to intermediaries, extractivists remain in terms of land and labor inputs,
compete favorably with cultivated
poor, regardless of the amount of than other alternative forest-use sys- and synthetic substitutes.
wealth they generate." And Parfitt tems? Given the naturally dispersed Although as many as 30 different
(1989, p. 64) adds, "Even in the days distribution of most marketable for- nontimber tropical forest products
of the rubber boom seringueiros [rub- est products in tropical forests, ex-from Amazonia have foreign com-
ber tappers] fought disease, Indians tractive systems typically require rel-mercial potential (Clay 1989), hun-
and crocodiles for months at a time atively large continuous tracts of dreds of other forest resources, many
and then ended up in debt. It remainsforest land. In the Brazilian states of consumed locally, are poorly known
a desperate existence." Amazonia and Acre, for instance, ex- to science and utterly unknown to
tractive reserves range from 25,000 to potential consumers. Moreover,
Are extractive reserves indefinitely 335,000 hectares (Schwartzman many extractive products are consid-
self-sustaining? I suspect that there 1989). The typical rubber-tapper ered exotic. Some consumed in lim-
has never been even one renewable household requires between 300 and ited specialty markets (e.g., compa-
tropical forest resource, once intro- 500 hectares of forest to survive nies such as Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream
duced into commerce, that has pro-(Fearnside 1989). that cater to conservation-conscious
vided the basis for sustained eco- Two points must be made here. consumers) are typically tied to cur-
nomic activity without external First, because of the highly heteroge- rent fashions and are unstable over
subsidization. The extractive reserves neous biological composition of most time.
promoted by the rubber-tappers Amazonian forests, more labor time In the main, any single extractive
movement in Acre have been sus- is expended in lengthy and frequently reserve does not capitalize on the
interrupted collection activities than
tained by a Brazilian tariff policy that tropical forest's biodiversity, but
effectively fixed the domestic pricemight
of be expended in spatially con- rather it relies heavily on just one or
rubber at roughly three times centrated
the two marketable commodities (e.g.,
activities. Heterogeneity
world average price (Fearnside 1989). rubber and Brazil nuts). In the ab-
therefore potentially reduces the effi-
With their recent liberation from tar- sence of a growing market, this de-
ciency of labor (i.e., the net return to
iff protections, domestic Brazilian labor) that might otherwise be pendence
en- on a small number of forest
rubber prices have plummetted and joyed from more land-intensive forms products suggests that as more ex-
rubber tappers are increasingly turn- of tropical forest use. tractive reserves are established and
ing to farming to recover lost income.Second, the dimensions of extrac- larger quantities of accepted products
As Homma (1989, 1990) aptly re- tive reserves may not seem large are in introduced into commerce, the
minds us, the historical record ofcontrast
ex- to some Amazon landhold- prices of such products and the finan-
tractive economies in Amazonia con- ings devoted to cattle ranching andcial returns to each extractor will
sistently demonstrates that such cash cropping, yet less than 17% of decline, setting in motion the cycle of
economies tend to self-destruct. If the
the nearly 500,000 agricultural estab-degradation described above.
lishments in Brazilian Amazonia ex-
prices of extracted products rise (usu- Some of these limits to extractiv-
ceeded 100 hectares in 1985 (IBGEism might be partially overcome, at
ally due to scarcity), further depletion
from the wild may follow as rational 1989). But extractive reserves are least for a time, by effective efforts to
enormous compared with more inten- expand global markets for a greater
extractors (or their bosses) seek quick
profits, or as corporate groups else-sively managed traditional agrofor- diversity of tropical forest products.
where develop cultivated or syntheticestry systems elsewhere in Latin Other limits are inherent to the logic
America, where properties ranging of extractive economies (Homma
substitutes that usually displace the
product extracted from the wild. fromIf 0.1 to 6.0 hectares provide a 1989, 1990) and the barriers to effi-
livelihood for rural inhabitants and
prices fall, degradation also follows cient production arising from the
because extractors must harvest the also maintain forest cover (Alcornrainforest's intrinsic biodiversity
resource above sustainable thresholds 1989, Wilken 1977). In those parts of(Browder in press). In any case, these
to maintain their living standards.the tropics, where limitations on landproblems will limit the potential role
These tendencies, documented by re- and labor are pronounced, extractiveof extractive reserves in conserving
source economists and researchers of reserves are far from being the mosttropical forests on a meaningful
extractive systems, suggest that ex-efficient use of either (Browder in scale.
tractive economies are unstable over press).
time and not indefinitely self-sustain- The social reality of extraction
ing. Currently, cultivated-rubber
Do extractive systems capitalize on on the seringal
plantations in eastern Brazil outsidethe diverse array of products natu-
of Amazonia supply an estimatedrally provided by tropical forests? Ru- Many of the points in the above sec-
60% of Brazil's domestic rubber de- ral inhabitants typically consume a tion may seem academic. After all,
mand, up from 43% in 1988 (Parfittgreater variety of forest products than there are people actually living in
1989), a predictable trend that por-they sell; therefore, benefits often extractive reserves and old rubber-
tends unfavorably for the future of a elude quantification in financial anal- tapping estates, and, even if they de-

176 BioScience Vol. 42 No. 3

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grade their resources a bit, is this diminish the success of extractive re- secondary forest, the area of primary
situation not preferable to the whole- serves, as they are currently con-forest converted to crop fields in-
sale conversion of forests to farm- ceived, as conservation units. creased from 1.75 hectares in 1986 to
lands, such as is frequently found in 4.5 hectares in 1990, indicating an
areas of recent colonization like Ron- Xapuri, Acre. The first case study was average annual increase in deforesta-
donia, Brazil? undertaken on three seringals in thetion of 31.4% above the 1986 level.
But how well do rubber-tapping municipality of Xapuri, Acre, byIn Rond6nia, where commercial agri-
people live in the forests they popu- Ronaldo Lima Oliveira, a Brazilian culture, not extraction, prevails, pri-
late? To what extent are they capable social scientist who has resided on a mary deforestation rates during ex-
of sustainably managing the forest seringal for the last four years and is actly the same period averaged
resources to which they have direct an active supporter of extractive re-10.0% per annum (Browder 1991a).
access? And how extensive is the for- serves and rubber tappers. His study,Although colonists have cleared more
est degradation they cause? In this entitled "Extrativismo e Meio Ambi- forest, the recent higher rates of pri-
section, I review the findings of three ente"1 ("Extractivism and the Envi- mary forest conversion among rubber
ethnographic studies of rubber-tapper ronment"), was based on an intensivetappers suggests a possible shift in
communities in three distinct parts of two- to three-day participatory obser- production modes from extraction to
the Amazon Basin: Xapuri, Acre; vation period and interviews in nine agriculture, as income from rubber
Carauari, Amazonas (both in Brazil); rubber-tapper households. The objec-sales declines.
and an area in the Beni Province of tive of the study was to clarify the Oliveira also notes that "the rubber
Bolivia near Riberalta. Although conditions that shape the relationship tapper's basic diet is progressively de-
these studies are different in their ob-
between rubber tappers and the nat-teriorating." In this regard, "all of the
jectives, methodologies, and timeural environment, and Oliveira was households surveyed confirmed that
motivated by compassion and concernwild animals [an important rubber
frames, making any systematic com-
for the rubber tappers with whom he tapper food source] are becoming
parison unfeasible, the following
common themes emerge: lives. In light of the small sample size, progressively more scarce."
the value of Oliveira's study may re- Residential stability among rubber
* Rubber-tapping populations side more in his descriptive observa-tappers has been cited as evidence of
are heterogenous in their social tions, accumulated over a period of the sustainability of their land-use sys-
relations of production, eco- many years, than in the statistical anal-tems. "The production system of the
nomic activities, degree of orga- ysis of his limited survey data. seringal appears to be indefinitely sus-
nization, and land-use practices. Oliveira characterizes the rubber tainable... [because] many rainforest
* The vast majority of rubber tappers today as "components ofareas a have been occupied by rubber
tappers are financially indebted disintegrated social category," and histappers for over 60 years, and some
to land-owners, bosses, and mid- report explores the social processesfamilies have been on the same hold-
dle-men (padr6es, patrones) and that have undermined the rubber tap-ings for 40 to 50 years" (Schwartzman
are among the poorest, most mar- pers' way of life not only after the 1989, p. 156). Although a permanent
ginalized segment of the Ama- demise of the infamous rubber estateshuman presence is a prerequisite to the
zon's nonindigenous rural popu- some 30 years ago, but also after the success of extractive reserves, residen-
lation. emergence of the Brazilian Council oftial stability (i.e., length of residence at
* The majority of rubber-tapper Rubber Tappers and the legal recogni-one location) is a questionable indica-
households are residentially un- tion of numerous extractive reserves. tor of sustainability. Nevertheless, Ol-
stable, making frequent moves These effects include the progressive iveira's study characterizes the rubber-
usually under duress. decline in Amazon rubber prices, the tapping population as "nomadic,"
* Natural resource degradation increasing subdivision of colocao6es with only two of nine households sur-
by local rural inhabitants occurs, (individual rubber tapper holdings), veyed residing on the same holding for
and it may be accelerating, in and the resulting "superexploitation" more than 10 years, owing to low
many rubber-tapping areas. of individual rubber trails for house- rubber yields, debt problems, disputes
Given the social context in which holds to retain purchasing power. with neighbors, chronic health prob-
rubber-tapper communities exist, To offset progressively lower in- lems, and distance to the municipal
in most cases local residents are comes from rubber tapping, the nine seat, Xapuri.
the victims, not the culprits, in households that Oliveira studied in- Low child mortality and high liter-
local environmental degradation. creased the area in annual cropping acy rates figure among the most im-
(rice, maize, beans, and manioc) fromportant indicators of successful social
All three researchers have lived in the a total of 5.75 hectares in 1986 to and economic development. In 1980,
communities they studied and sup- 11.75 in 1990 (an annual rate of the mortality rate among rural Brazil-
port realistic efforts to improve theexpansion of 20.8%). Whereas most ian Amazonian children under five
living conditions in these communi- of this expansion occurred on areas years of age was 72 per 1000 (IBGE
of
ties. My intent in reviewing these 1989). Among the small number of
studies, which I do with their permis- households surveyed on the seringals,
1A copy of this report, in Portuguese, may be
sion, is to draw attention to some ofobtained from R. L. Oliveira, Unidade Florestal
Oliveira reports 16 deaths of 54 chil-
the problems commonly found in ex-Vai-Quem-Querzinho, Caixa Postal 43, 69.920 dren between the third day and sev-
tractive communities that will likelyXapuri, Acre, Brazil; Fax: 55-69-223-3945.enth year of life, an implied mortality

March 1992 177

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rate of 296 per 1000. objective of the recent study Interestingly,
is to approximately half the
In 1987, 78% of Brazil's rural pop- barraca residents who derive income
examine the relationship between
ulation (seven years old and older) household debt and food insecurity in agriculture do so by working for
from
was classified as literate (IBGE 1989). a patron on current account or by
support of measures that would stim-
Although precise data are unavail- ulate local food production. working for day wages. "When a
able, I would estimate that 40-50% Romanoff's introductory section barraca resident works for a patron,
of the Amazon's rural population states: he benefits by deducting the daily
seven years old and older are func- The [survey] data show that rubber
wage from the current account, but
tionally literate. In 1970, 37% of the tappers in the study area are not a will eventually buy the harvest at a
rural population in the Brazilian uniform population... [However], high price" (Romanoff in press).
"frontier" (excluding the Federal Dis- the social organization of specialized Like Oliveira's Xapuri study, rubber
trict) was classified as literate (World rubber tapping in the deep forest tappers in the Riberalta area are resi-
Bank 1979). On the seringals Oliveira involves hierarchical relationships of dentially unstable. "Only 12% of the
surveyed, just 14.3% of the 42 indi- patronage and ethnic subordinations people with agricultural fields had
viduals seven years old and older in cemented by debt. ... (Romanoff in been using the same land for nine or
press)
the households surveyed could write. more years, and 28% had been using
Some observers may suggest that Romanoff found that 96% of the the same land for a year or less." Yet,
these appalling conditions on the barraca dwellers (rubber tappers)most respondents in Romanoff's rural
seringal are partly due to low rates of were in debt to patrones in amounts subsamples expressed a preference for
rubber-tapper participation in local that were equivalent to one-quarter of stable rural residence that might afford
social organizations. Indeed, few their annual household income. Most them the opportunity to invest in ani-
(only 22%) of the rubber tapper of these debts were incurred in the mals, crops, and house improvements,
households surveyed participate in lo- form of food purchases by rubberessentially agricultural investments.
cal syndicates and cooperatives. tappers. Significantly, agriculture Finally, Romanoff makes two im-
Moreover, Oliveira reports that only contributed to 36% of barraca house-portant points. First, he says that na-
one of the nine households he studied hold income; rubber and Brazil nut tive Americans have suffered and con-
understood the basic objectives of the extraction represented the balance. tinue to suffer at the hands of rubber
National Council of Rubber Tappers By contrast, only 26% and 15% oftappers and patrones, and he warns
and none comprehended the basic campesino and urban households, re- that "financial encouragement for
purpose of extractive reserves. spectively, maintain current credit ac- tappers, as part of an extractive re-
It is probably premature to reach counts, mainly in local stores. serve or otherwise, would have fur-
definitive conclusions about the effec- Romanoff further found that 71% ther damaged the situation of the
tiveness of the work of the National of barraca dwellers reported periodic [indigenous] Matses." Second, the
Council of Rubber Tappers (which food deficiencies. By the braquial in- seemingly intractable trade-offs be-
has only existed for six years) or the dex, 22% of 228 barraca children tween so-called development and for-
many other organizations assisting measured were malnourished, andest conservation are even more atten-
the rubber-tappers movement in another 32% were in danger of be- uated in context of extractive reserves
Acre. Perhaps more time will tell coming so. Lack of monetary incomesolutions.
whether local rubber-tapper organi- (no work, low salary, or delayed pay-
zations can achieve through volunta- ment), along with supply problems Restrictions on building roads and
on major land clearing in isolated
rism what the traditional company (e.g., patron did not bring supplies or
areas, which I presume to be neces-
store (the barracao) and the rubber the river launch did not stop), were sary for an extractive reserve, main-
baron (seringalista) system of debt the most frequently cited reasons for tain conditions in which the patron
peonage achieved through compul- periodic food scarcity among the au- system is most likely to be found....
sion: the sustained production of rub- thor's sample. In contrast, 49% and There is no easy solution. (Romanoff
ber latex (while world prices war- 44% of the campesino and urban in press).
ranted it) and the preservation of the Riberalta subsamples, respectively,
natural forest on the seringals (to- reported periodic food deficiencies. Carauari, Amazonas. The final case
day's prototypical extractive reserve). Moreover, the author's survey study is based on the doctoral disser-
found that the average prices of basic tation research in progress by geogra-
Riberalta, Bolivia. The second case food staples (rice, oil, flour, butter, pher Edward Whitesell,2 who sur-
study (Romanoff in press), by anthro- crackers, and salt) paid by barracaveyed 170 rubber-tapper households
pologist Steven Romanoff of Appro- respondents were approximately between 1986 and 1991. Whitesell's
priate Technology International in 50% more than the prices for theportrait of life on the seringal gener-
Washington, DC, was largely based same items paid by urban residents. ally approximates that of Oliveira.
on his 1981 survey of 164 Bolivian Although patrones typically justify There are some interesting variations.
Amazon households, of which 24 prices charged at the barraca store on The seringals of Carauari, although
were situated on rubber tapping es- the basis of the high costs of import-
tates, or barracas (Romanoff 1981). ing and distributing goods to remote
The author's sample also includes 97 areas, not all food products that cir-2E. Whitesell, 1991, unpublished results. Uni-
urban households and 41 small- culate in the rubber tapping commu-versity of California, Berkeley; fax: 510/642-
farmer (campesino) households. nity The through the store are imported.3370.

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populated by traditional rubber- portance of fisheries to the extractive living in deplorable conditions for
tapping communities, are compara- population at Carauari is reflected in lack of alternatives resulting from
tively isolated. Deforestation pres- the greater importance the the local their ignorance of the forest's poten-
sures from competing land users people ascribe to protecting lakes tial, an accentuated dependence on
decreasingly remunerative rubber ex-
(ranchers and farmers) are not as in- than forests (although from an eco-
traction, their expansion of agricul-
tense as they are in Acre. There are no logical perspective it is pointless to ture without adequate knowledge of
extractive reserves here, and few ac- differentiate between the two). appropriate agricultural technolo-
tivities have been initiated by the Na- gies; all of which seem to affect the
tional Rubber Tappers Council. Extractivism, land use, and environ- ecosystem, placing in risk the viabil-
Although a wide range of social mental politics. The life of the rubber ity of the Extractive Reserves model,
relations of production were found in tappers, and their relationship with as a regional development alternative
Whitesell's study area, the vast major- the environment, remains in ques- based on the perspective of social,
ity of the rubber-tapper household tion. Under the old aviamento system economic, and ecological sustainabil-
ity.
heads surveyed (76%) responded that in Brazil, rubber trappers were ac-
they had a patrdo (landlord, rubber tively discouraged from growing
baron, boss) to whom they felt obli- their own food crops (hence, they did The poverty of rubber tappers char-
gated to sell everything they produced. not destroy much forest) so that they acterized in these studies may not be
On top of that obligation, 28% of would remain exploited by the serin-shared by all rubber tappers in Ama-
Whitesell's sample of the seringueiros galista's company store. Today, inzonia. Some researchers will at once
surveyed pay rent for the use of the the absence of the company store andtake issue with these conclusions. But
patrao's land. The vast majority, 79%, with the decline in rubber prices,these findings do suggest that it would
are in debt. tappers must increasingly destroybe wise to take a closer look at how
Estimated infant mortality rates are forest to produce food for their ownextractive reserves work, who actu-
high (82 per 1000) among the subsistence needs. Yet, historicallyally benefits from them, and how well
seringueiro population, relative to the denied a tradition of agriculture, thethey serve the goal of forest conserva-
Brazilian Amazon regional average rubber tappers may be further disad- tion. This task will not only require
(72 per 1000). The adult literacy rate vantaged in their more limited more detailed research of life in ex-
is estimated to be 12% (versus 78% knowledge of farming techniquestractive reserves, and in some cases on
nationwide). Functioning schools are than Amazonia's agricultural colo-adjoining indigenous areas, but also a
extremely scarce. Residential mobility nists; many of the latter have hadcareful examination of the new global
is high (only 30% have maintained some 20 years of relatively unencum-structure of environmental politics,
their current place of residence for bered freedom to adapt agriculturalespecially the emerging role of envi-
more than nine years). practices to local environmental con-ronmental nongovernmental organi-
Whitesell characterizes Carauari as ditions. There are, of course, many zations and networks in elevating and
a "stagnant local economy." How-interesting variations. Some rubber transforming local social movements
ever, he observes possible changes intappers have developed relatively ad-into global environmental causes cele-
rubber-tapper forest resource use as-vanced practices of managing naturalbres. We cannot assume that every
sociated with recently increasing ille- forests to provide alternative sourcesproposal put forth by an organized
gal logging activities in the study area.of income and food, perhaps the social movement, such as that of the
Forty-five percent of the rubber tap- historical side-effect of social restric- rubber tappers and the Peoples of the
pers surveyed engage in seasonal log-tions on forest clearing. And while Forest, will lead to improvements in
ging, mostly for outside companies.many colonists have fallen on hard the quality of life of forest inhabitants
Some are required to become so en-times in places like Rondonia, some or to the sustained conservation of
gaged by the patrdo, but others do so have developed comparatively sus-tropical forests, as suggested by Sil-
voluntarily in the hopes of earningtainable farming systems based onberling (1991).
some cash toward paying off their secondary forest recovery, the legacy These observations do not imply
debts at the barracao. Whitesell noted of their own social history based onthat governments are relieved of their
some concern about the possibility natural forest clearing. Both groupsobligations to vigorously pursue the
that a few timber species are beingmay have much to learn from andestablishment of protected areas in
over-harvested in the seringals of Car-give to each other. Such social learn-tropical forests based on appropriate
ing will undoubtedly occur whenbiological and social criteria as one
auari. Evidently few of the rubber
tappers involved in logging activitieseach community comes to under- component of a comprehensive strat-
control those activities, and manystand the different social context in egy to curb tropical deforestation.
complain about the depletion of cer-which each evolved and discovers These observations do suggest to de-
tain tree species that have local usestheir common interest in developing velopment assistance policy-makers
of value. more sustainable forms of forestland and donor organizations the need for
Additionally, local fisheries, a vitalmanagement. Until that time, we are more careful economic and social
source of subsistence for extractive left with Oliveira's grim portrayalanalyses
of of sustainable development
populations, are also being overhar- the social reality of the seringal: claims arising from environmental or-
vested, mainly by outside commercial ganizations on both sides of the bor-
fishing interests, but also by a few In spite of the creation of extrac-der. Extractive reserves can become
local rubber tappers. Indeed, the im- tive reserves, rubber tappers continueone small part of a much larger solu-

March 1992 179

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tion. Regrettably, the inordinate em- provided by forest regeneration, espe- In a comparative analysis of crop
phasis being given to extractive re- cially for carbon fixation, cannot be yields obtained by the Kayapo Indi-
serves as a meaningful alternative to ignored. Little is known about the ans (located in the Amazon state of
deforestation has deflected attention regenerative dynamics of secondary Para) with those of smallholder colo-
from the real tasks ahead for saving forests and opportunites for their eco- nists and ranchers in Brazilian Ama-
tropical forests. nomic use. The extent to which sec- zonia, Hecht (1989) found that after
ondary forest systems require artifi-a five-year period the indigenous
Beyond extractive reserves cial nutrient inputs to become farming system produced nearly three
reuseable is an important question. times the yield of all crops as colonist
Most forest destruction in Brazilian
Recognizing the need to balancefarming systems and 176 times the
Amazonia originates on the 500,000 social and economic neccessities (e.g.,output in weight per hectare than the
farms and ranches that in 1985 occu-
finding land for landless farmers and beef cattle ranches surveyed. In con-
pied approximately 450,000 km2 earning foreign exchange throughtrast to western-style solutions, such as
(11.6%) of the Brazilian north, prudent cash cropping) with environ- the Yurimaguas experiments in east-
largely in tropical forest zones. In mental concerns (deflecting socialern Peru, which rely on artificial chem-
contrast, there are only approxi- pressures away from less resilient pri-ical fertilizers to sustain continuous
mately 68,000 rubber-tapper house- mary tropical forests), a considerablecropping on nutrient-poor tropical
holds occupying an estimated 97,000 potential exists in the utilization ofsoils (Nicholaides et al. 1985), the
km2 (2.7%) of the region. secondary forest biomass (AndersonKayapo have traditionally relied ex-
Stated differently, there are be- et al. 1991, Carvalho 1984, Duboisclusively on naturally occurring and
tween one and two million rural
1990, Ewel 1980). Expanding agro-locally available inputs, such as ash,
households in Brazilian Amazonia
forestry (the planting of useful treemulch, termite nests, palm fronds, rice
alone, perhaps 6 million people, that species in conjunction with ground and corn stover, and banana leaves.
derive most of their living not from crops or livestock) on bush fallows Another essential difference is that
the sustainable extraction of forest
could serve as the basis for increasing the colonist system is based on the
products but from largely destructivefarm income over the medium term. dense sequential monocropping of a
land uses that deplete tropical forest Forest timber enrichment (the plant- single forest clearing, whereas the
ecosystems of nutrients and energy ing of commercially valuable tropical Kayapo strategy is based on simulta-
over the short term, strategies that are
hardwoods) in secondary forests neous mixed cropping or patch inter-
rational given the social and eco- could provide the basis for increasing cropping over expansive areas inter-
nomic constraints such households
farm income over the long term. spersed with natural forest that
face (Schmink 1987). The real ques- These activities, combined with short- provide habitats for game animals,
tion facing policy makers and conser- term income activities (e.g., beekeep- fish, and environmental services
vationists is not how many more mil- ing and fish farming), could go a long (clean water, soil conservation, and
lions of hectares of tropical forest wayto toward breaking the dependence shade) that perpetuate, rather then
sequester into extractive reserves but of farmers on short-cycle cropping diminish, the capacity of these rural
rather how to integrate sustainable that entails forest conversion. The inhabitants to survive.
income-generating activities into the economic recovery of secondary suc- The land-extensive production sys-
production strategies of existing ruralcessional forest formations can playtems of the Kayapo and other tradi-
property owners on small farms, large an important role in deflecting pres- tional groups, like rubber tappers,
ranches, and rubber-tapper holdings sures from primary (virgin) forests, may seem impractical on small farm
alike.
and most secondary forests are cur-units, but the objective of diversifying
Toward this goal, I propose the rently found on commercial farmsfarm production is not limited by
following objectives elaborated else- and ranches of all sizes. scale (property size). In Mexico, for
where (Browder 1989a): example, traditional home gardens
Intensification of farm cultivation. ranging in size from 0.3 to 0.7 hect-
Diversification and secondary forest Continuous cropping with naturalares are known to produce between
recovery. Uses and management op- rather than artificial fertilizers would 33 and 55 useful species, mostly pe-
tions need to be developed for native be beneficial. A considerable amount rennials, that provide forest cover for
secondary forest species. I conserva- of research support has been devoted 96.7% of the garden area, virtually
tively estimate that 40% of the nearly to transferring agricultural technol- mimicking the natural forest.4 Irri-
600,000 km2 of Brazilian tropical for- ogy from the industrialized temper- gated raised fields (chinampas and
est deforested by 1988 are today in ate-climate countries to the tropics, cameilones chontales) of 0.5 hectare
various stages of secondary succes- but relatively little attention has been are believed sufficient in size to ensure
sional vegetation.3 Most of this area given to the techniques employed in subsistence for one rural Mexican
is not being used for economic ends, traditional and indigenous Amazo- family by providing a variety of food
although the environmental services nian soil management strategies and cash crops (Morales 1980). Mul-
(Wilken 1989). Yet, recent research tistoried dooryard gardens in Guate-
suggests that some of these traditional
3S. Brown and A. Lugo, 1991, unpublished
results. University of Illinois, Urbana, and In-
systems are more efficient and ecolog-
stitute of Tropical Forestry, Rio Piedras, Puerto ically more appropriate than conven- 4S. R. Gleissman, unpublished manuscript.
Rico. tional smallholder agriculture. University of California, Santa Cruz.

180 BioScience Vol. 42 No. 3

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mala no larger than 0.1 hectare con- creased from 89 in 1952 to approxi- natives to Deforestation: Steps Toward Sus-
tain up to two dozen different food mately 4000 today. tainable Use of the Amazon Rain Forest.
Columbia University Press, New York.
plants that together reproduce the Before 1988, the industrial wood Anderson, A. B. 1989a. Land-use strategies for
layered configuration of mixed forests sector was the single largest employer successful extractive economies. Paper pre-
(Wilken 1977). Small Huastec Maya of skilled and semiskilled labor in five sented at the Symposium on Extractive Econ-
farms averaging only four hectares in of the Amazon's six states. By 1980, omies in Tropical Forests: A Course of Ac-
25.6% of the Amazon's industrial tion. National Wildlife Federation,
size produce more than 200 useful
Washington, DC, 30 November-1 December.
species (many cultivated), retain for- labor force was employed by the indus- . 1989b. Estrategias de uso da terra
est cover, and generate net financial trial wood sector, which contributed para reservas extrativistas da Amazonia.
returns greater than those obtained Para Desenvolvimento 25: 30-37.
13% of the region's total value of in-
from the Yurimaguas experiments Anderson, A. B., P. H. May, and M. J. Balick.
dustrial production (Browder 1989b).
1991. The Subsidy from Nature: Palm For-
(Alcorn 1989). However, we cannot If it is the goal of international conser-
ests, Peasantry, and Development on an Am-
conclude from these studies, severalvationists to make tropical forest con- azon Frontier. Columbia University Press,
of which were undertaken on sites servation through extraction economi- New York.

characterized by relatively nutrient-

cally feasible, then timber extractors,Bodmer, R. E., T. G. Fang, and I. Moya. 1990.
Fruits of the forest. Nature 343: 109.
rich volcanic soils, that similar inten-
like colonists, in Amazonia can hardly
Browder, J. 0. 1986. Logging the rain forest: a
sive small-scale agroforestry will be ignored. political economy of timber extraction and
work in places like Rondonia, where unequal exchange in the Brazilian Amazon.
distrophic soils predominate. Conclusions Ph.D. dissertation. University of Pennsylva-
In documented traditional agrofor- nia, Philadelphia.
estry systems throughout the tropics,There are tremendous constraints on 1987. Brazil's export promotion pol-
icy (1980-84): impacts on the Amazon's
small farm sizes are not a constraint any single approach to arresting trop-
industrial wood sector. Journal of Develop-
on either household income or forest ical deforestation. Multiple ap- ing Areas 21: 285-304.
conservation. Conservationists should proaches are required. In Brazil, bur- . 1989a. Development strategies for
consider how best to preserve anddened with the developing world's tropical rain forests. Pages 111-134 in H. J.
Leonard, ed. Environmental Strategies for
manage small remnant forests that largest external debt, a rapidly ex- Meeting Human Needs: Poverty and Sus-
could serve vital economic and ecolog-panding disdvantaged citizenry, and a tainable Development in the 1990s. Earth-
ical functions on farms and ranches in labor force that is retreating en masse scan Press, Washington, DC.
Amazonia, as well as preserve large, to informal (nonlicensed) activities, . 1989b. Lumber production and eco-
untouched forest tracts that meet some tropical forests can only be conserved nomic development in the Brazilian Amazon:
minimal-critical-size criterion. significantly in ways that balance regional trends and a case study. Journal of
World Forest Resource Management 4:
pressing social needs. Extractive re- 1-19.
Natural forest management for tim- serves may help one small segment of . 1991a. Desenvolvimento regional e
ber products. With a few notable ex- the rural poor hold onto their cultural conservaqco de florestas tropicais em Ron-
d6nia: observaq6es preliminares do projeto
ceptions (Colon 1987, Hartshorn heritage and economic way of life, but de pesquisa Rond6nia, Brasil 17 de
1989), the research literature on neo- solutions for millions of other poor junho-12 de agosto de 1990. Technical re-
tropical forest extraction has focusedinhabitants of tropical forests need to port prepared under the SARSA Cooperative
on nontimber products. In smallerbe developed as well. We must support Agreement, Agency for International Devel-
countries, where tropical forests haveappropriate efforts to establish extrac- opment.
.1991b. Extractive reserves. BioScience
been all but destroyed by loggers and tive reserves in response to social 41: 286.
follow-on farmers, the cessation of needs, recognizing the inherent limits . In press. Social and economic con-
tropical timber extraction might be of this approach to tropical forest con- straints on the development of market-
justifiable. However, the omission of servation. However, it is important oriented extractive reserves in Amazon rain
timber resources from discussions of that we think and act beyond the forests. Adv. Econ. Bot.

sustainable extraction in the case of extractive reserves paradigm as well Carvalho, J. O. P. 1984. Manejo de regener-
and dedicate more resources to devel- acao natural de especies florestais. EM-
Brazil seems incomprehensible. BRAPA/CPATU, Belem, Brazil.
oping sustainable nonextractive in-
Industrial timber extraction repre- Clay, J. 1989. Building and supplying interna-
come alternatives for small Amazo- tional markets for non-wood tropical forest
sents the single largest contributor of
nian farmers and ranchers, in whose products. Paper presented at the symposium
value to the tropical forests of Brazil
hands Extractive Economies in Tropical Forests: A
the fate of the world's largest Course
(more than 80% of the market value of Action. National Wildlife Federa-
of production derived from all ex-tropical forest ultimately resides. tion, Washington, DC, 30 November-1 De-
tracted products in Amazonia). In cember.

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 -
mm
n
"Fascinating....
Rich in good scientific
storytelling."
-The Los Anaeles Times
I opment. University of Florida Press, Gaines- delsohn. 1989b. Valuation of an Amazonian
"[The essays] are models
of clarity, style, and wit."
-The New York Review of Books
Ranging in tone from serious reflections
on the nature of science to more
lighthearted pieces, these writings by
the late Nobel Prize winner entertain
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David Pyke, and introduced with a
foreword by Lewis Thomas, these
essays illuminate the indispensable role
of science in our world.
320 pp. paper $9.95
w?ui.z*a? ?74Ja I..kr '&I
MEMOIR OF A THINKING
RADISH An Autobiography
"A splendid autobiography... [that] will R. Benites, J. H. Villachica, A. J. Coutu, and lands. Pages 44-60 in J. O. Browder, ed.
stand on its own as a living legacy for C. S. Valverde. 1985. Agriculture alterna- Fragile Lands of Latin America: Strategies
many years to come."
-The Washington Post Book World 279-285.
224 pp.; b&w photos paper $9.95
THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE
"[Medawar's] most wonderful book....
So much fun to read that you may fail to
recognize, until later, that he is writing
seriously on serious matters."
-Lewis Thomas, Nature
128 pp. paper $9.95
I
PLUTO'S REPUBLIC
Incorporating the Art of the Soluble
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"The most accomplished writer of pop-
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362 pp.; figures paper $10.95
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ment. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. rubber tappers' strategy for sustainable use
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uma opqco de desenvolvimento viavel para a J. 0. Browder, ed. Fragile Lands of Latin
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