Deforestation and Waodani Lands in Ecuador: Mapping and Demarcation Amidst Shaky Politics

Resumen

One of the major forces of deforestation around the tropics is the chipping away of forested areas for pastures by agricultural peasants who are difficult to control by remote central governments (Colchester 1998) and by loggers who enjoy the same advantages of working in isolated areas as colonists and who tend to bring roads into the forest. The major danger to many forests is fire, made more likely by the agricultural colonization that follows road construction (Nepstad et al. 2001). In the Ecuadorean Amazon fire is not a major threat, probably because of the year-round rainfall regime that maintains high levels of humidity, and road construction is driven first by oil exploration and exploitation activities that in turn facilitate access and settlement by colonists and loggers (Bromley 1972; Vina et al. 2004). Ecuador’s 1964 Law of Agrarian Reform and Colonization classified large portions of Amazon as unoccupied, allowing colonists to claim 50 ha plots along roads, directly promoting deforestation by requiring proof of improvements to establish legal land titles (Bilsborrow et al. 2004; Bremner & Lu 2006; Fuentes 1997; Kimerling 1991). In many parts of the world, however, the tropical forests have potential allies in the form of indigenous people who have inhabited the forest for millennia and are anguished about seeing it degraded and cut down. In fact it is estimated at present that 85% of the world’s areas designated for biodiversity conservation are inhabited by indigenous peoples, whereas outside of the parks and nature preserves, the world’s remaining pristine forested habitats are nearly all occupied by indigenous peoples (Alcorn 2000; Colchester 2001; Schmidt & Peterson 2009; Weber et al. 2000). This is true of the Ecuadorean Amazon in particular (GeoPlaDes 2010). In fact, conservation-minded outsiders have only a few choices it they want protection for these habitats. They can try to protect the forests while excluding the indigenous people – treating them essentially as fauna and making enemies of them – or they can assist them as allies (Colchester 2000, 2004; Schwartzman et al. 2000). The latter choice carries its own problems. Not all indigenous people want to save the forest, given their current assessment of costs and benefits of doing so; a certain amount of discrimination is necessary. Those who do usually want to either own the land (Colchester 2000), or, in the case of protected areas, to have signed legal agreements with governments giving them use