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Livelihood activities and land-use at a riparian frontier of the Brazilian Amazon: quantitative characterization and qualitative insights into the influence of knowledge, values, and beliefs

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Abstract

We examined if smallholders that immigrated to the Amazon over the last 40 years (highway-era families) and households with historical ties to the region (rubber-era families) adopt different livelihood activities and land-use/land-cover (LULC) patterns, in four communities along the Tapajós River in the Brazilian Amazon. Using quantitative data, we characterized three portfolios of livelihood activities, each associated to different LULC. Both rubber-era and highway-era families practice a wide range of activities from all portfolios; however, families that have been in the region for several generations tend to adopt traditional activities (e.g., fishing, non-timber forest product gathering and sales), while recently settled families tend to practice agrarian activities more intensively (e.g., cattle ranching, sale of non-native crops). We then draw on qualitative data to examine some of the underlying reasons for these differences. While recognizing that livelihoods are complex systems with many influential factors, we reflect on some of the overlooked drivers of livelihood and LULC choices such as knowledge, visions of development, and the immaterial value and symbolic meaning of resources. We also reflect on how they shape intended land management choices and relate to household settlement histories. The implications for regional resource-use planning and future research are mentioned.

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Notes

  1. The term colono, used often in the literature to describe small-scale farmers of the highway-era, is a term that many individuals in the communities do use to self-identity and is not embedded in the same socio-historical context as caboclo (see footnote 2). Highway-era was used for consistency and clarity.

  2. In the literature, rubber-era households have often been referred by the socionym caboclo, a term we chose to avoid because not all individuals participating in this study self-identify as such Moreover, it can be a term laced with pejorative connotations (Lima 1999; Pace 2006). These groups may also be referred to as traditional peasants in the literature; we also avoid this term, as it can be concomitant to normative western values, with ‘traditional’, as opposed to ‘modern’ evoking simple, static, and savage lifestyles (Berkes, et al. 2000). All families participating in the study have a shared economic identity in that they are smallholders and a shared geographic identity in that they are river dwellers; this thereby eliminates the use of these alternative terms such as riberihnos or rural, small-scale producers (Brondizio 2004). We decided to identify families as per their settlement histories in the Amazon, rather than to delicate social markers.

  3. Population change in the form of out-migration of youth to urban centers is a phenomenon that has only recently begun in the study communities. The research project was the only institutional/agrarian intervention.

  4. Names are not used or are changed to maintain anonymity.

  5. Rural landowners are required to maintain a portion of their land in uncut forest cover as per the Brazilian environmental legislation. This is referred to colloquially as the legal (forest) reserve.

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Acknowledgments

This research was made possible through funding by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Global Health Research Capacity Strengthening Program (GHR-CAPS), the Canadian National Research council (NSERC) and the Quebec Research Foundation (FQRNT). We would like to thank Iaci Mendez, Leandra Fatorelli, Annie Béliveau, Thomas Ludewigs and Stéphane Tremblay for help with data collection and for offering important insights and suggestions. We are also grateful for the helpful comments and suggestions provided by the three anonymous reviewers. Many thanks to the communities who participated in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut des sciences de l’environnement (ISE), Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jordan Sky Oestreicher, Nicolina Farella, Serge Paquet, Robert Davidson & Marc Lucotte

  2. Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche sur la biologie, la santé, la société et l’environnement (CINBIOSE), Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jordan Sky Oestreicher & Johanne Saint-Charles

  3. Biodôme de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Robert Davidson

  4. Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (CDS), Universidade de Brasília, Brazilia, Brazil

    Jordan Sky Oestreicher & Frédéric Mertens

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  1. Jordan Sky Oestreicher
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  2. Nicolina Farella
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  3. Serge Paquet
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  4. Robert Davidson
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  5. Marc Lucotte
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  7. Johanne Saint-Charles
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Correspondence to Jordan Sky Oestreicher.

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Oestreicher, J.S., Farella, N., Paquet, S. et al. Livelihood activities and land-use at a riparian frontier of the Brazilian Amazon: quantitative characterization and qualitative insights into the influence of knowledge, values, and beliefs. Hum Ecol 42, 521–540 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-014-9667-3

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