The People Settled Around Podocarpus National Park

In southern Ecuador, a region of heterogenic ethnic, socio-cultural and socio-economic structures, profound knowledge of ethnic-specific human ecological parameters is crucial for the sustainable utilization and conservation of tropical mountain forests. In order to satisfy the objectives of environmental protection on the one hand and the utilization claims of the local population on the other hand, a detailed analysis of human ecological parameters is needed. This chapter aims to provide an introduction to the indigenous and local population of the area surrounding Podocarpus National Park in southern Ecuador. In the case of the indigenous Shuar (lowland Indians) and Saraguros (highland Indians) and the local mestizos, fundamental differences occur not only in the attitudes towards the tropical rainforest and the management of forest resources but also in wider economic and social activities, including all strategies for maintaining their livelihood. Besides differentiating the population in socio-economic terms, this chapter also deals with the regional (horizontal) distribution of ethnic groups, their traditional altitudinal stratification (vertical distribution) and recent migration trends.