Abstract
Recent research on the ecology of fire has challenged the view that the use of fire by indigenous peoples is detrimental to ecosystems and wildlife in protected areas. However, in Canaima National Park and World Heritage Site in southeastern Venezuela, since 1981 managers have employed a costly fire control program to eliminate savanna burning by the Pemon indigenous people. Here I present the results of the first study on Pemon perspectives of fire management in the park. I show that savanna burning is an important tool in indigenous land management and plays a key role in preventing large catastrophic fires. Pemon knowledge of fire also raises questions about conventional interpretations of environmental change in the park. Lastly, I recommend a fire management policy that seeks to integrate local ecological knowledge. This will require: (a) greater openness from scientists and resource managers to understanding Pemon rationale for the use of fire, (b) clarification among the Pemon themselves of their own views of fire, and (c) research partnerships among scientists, resource managers and the Pemon in order to encourage understanding of Pemon ecological knowledge of fire, and to assess its true impact in the Canaima National Park.
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Notes
A very similar account was obtained from the daughter (nowadays an elder) of a man named Achic (Isaac in English); who was at that time the local Pemon guide for the expedition up to Mount Roraima.
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Acknowledgements
Juvencio Gómez (Headman General of the Pemon from Sector 5) and his wife Iraida Fernandez were my research partners in the study of Pemon views of fire. Without them, and the interest and participation of the elders and youngsters of Kumarakapay, this article would not have been possible. This article presents some of the results of my doctoral thesis, which I was able to carry out at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, England, thanks to the support of the Venezuelan Science Council (FONACIT) and the British Council. My supervisors Ian Scoones and Jutta Blauert were of great guidance in carrying out the research on which this article is based. The International Development Research Center (IDRC) of the Government of Canada supported the production of this publication. Miguel Lentino, from Fundación Phelps and Colección Ornitológica Phelps, and Ana Maria Fernandez, from the Venezuelan National Library, kindly provided access to invaluable historical documents. Gabriel Picón, from Parupa Biological Station, provided access to important documents in the station’s library. Dominic Hamilton put in my hands the evidence that I needed to help substantiate a reinterpretation of the cause of the 1926 fire. And Jon Paul Rodríguez, Kathryn Rodríguez-Clark, Chris Sharpe and two anonymous referees provided very valuable critical insights, which improved significantly earlier versions of this manuscript.
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Rodríguez, I. Pemon Perspectives of Fire Management in Canaima National Park, Southeastern Venezuela. Hum Ecol 35, 331–343 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9064-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9064-7