42agriculturalcolonization.pdf

Agricultural Colonization

and

the Social

Dimension!

Of

Ecological

Destruction

in

Ecuador's

Amazonia

Francisco

J.

Pichon

Tropical deforestation

is

the

subject

of

heated

debate.

This

article

examines

the relationship

between

small-holder

agriculture

and

ecological destruction

in

Ecuador's

Amazonia.

Poverty,

unequal

land

distribution,

low

agriculturalproductivity,

and

misguided

government

policies

are

all

causes

_of

deforestation,

argues the

author.

Tropical deforestation

in

Ecuador

will

continue

at

an

alarming

rate

unless the

economic

incentives

encourag-ing deforestation

are

removed.

Introduction

The

world's tropical rainforests aredisappearing at

an

alarmingrate.

These

forests,

which once

occupiedsixteen

million square kilometers of the earth's surface, today

cover onlyninemillionsquarekilometers. Africaalone has

lostoverhalfofitsrainforestwhile Latin

America and

Asia havelostfortypercent (Myers,1986). In

many

countries,

the rate ofdeforestation is accelerating.

Most

of the

forested areas ofBangladesh, India, the Philippines, Sri

Lanka,

and

partsofBrazilcould

be

gone

bythe

end

ofthis

century.

Only

inthe

Congo

Basin

and

in

some

ofthe

most

isolated areas of

Amazonia

does the rainforest

remain

largely intact.

Deforestation

and

itsassociated

symptoms

of environ-mentalcollapseinthedeveloping

world

are the subjectof considerabledebate

and

concern. Expertsdisagree

about

how

rapidly primary forests near the equator are being

clearedorotherwise disturbed (Sedjo

and

Clawson,1983;

Allen

and

Barnes,1985;Myers, 1980). Likewise, tropical deforestation's social costs are difficult to estimate,

be-causenaturalscientistscannotprecisely describe

defores-tation's impacts

on

soil quality, climate,

and

biological

diversity;furthermore,attaching

monetary

values to these

impactsisdifficult (Southgate

and

Pearce, 1988). Tropical

deforestationresults inthelossoftimber,fuelwood,fibers,

canes,resins,oils,pharmaceuticals,fruits,spices,

and

ani-mal

hides.1

Long-term

costsincludesoilerosion, flooding,

and

thesiltationofreservoirs

and

hydroelectricfacilities;

destructionofwildlife habitat;

and

climaticchanges associ-atedwiththe

removal

ofprotectiveforestcoverintropical

regions.

But

perhapsthe

most

importantsinglelong-term

cost ofdeforestation is the irreversible loss ofbiological

diversity.

Many

ofthe species native to tropical rainforests are

in-valuable; forexample,vincristine

and

vinblastine,

deriva-tivesof a wild periwinkle

found

intheforestsof

Madagas-car,havedramatically

improved

the treatmentfor

leuke-mia

and

other cancers. Since less than

one

percent of

tropical plantshave

been

screened for potentiallyuseful

properties,

ongoing

deforestationwill result inthe

perma-nentlossof otherspeciesbeforetheirvalueisrecognized

(World Resources

Institute, 1988). If present rates of

deforestationcontinue,it isestimatedthat

more

than

thir-teen

thousand

plant speciesinLatin

America

will

be

extinct

bythe

end

ofthiscentury. Inaworstcase scenario as

many

assixty

thousand

couldsufferthis fate(Wolf,1988).

The

Underlying

Causes

of

Deforestation:

"Blaming

the

Victim"

The

causes ofdeforestation

and

subsequent

deteriora-tionoftropical soils

and

other natural resources in the

humid

tropics varysignificantly

among

regions,aswellas

within countriesofthe world.

Most

observers agreethat small subsistencefarmers

who

havesettledinthetropical

rainforestaretheprimary agents ofdeforestationinthe

de-velopingworld.

According

to

Myers

(1986), this

small-scale agricultural colonization results in about 150,000

square kilometers offorestdepletionannually.2

Most

recentanthropological

work on

peasant

and

small

farmers has

emphasized

thesmallfarmers'rationality

and

adaptivebehavior(Schultz, 1964;

Wharton,

1971; Netting,

1968;Bennett, 1969;Johnson, 1971;Brush,1977;Barlett,

1980).

While

variability in

knowledge

and

skills

among

localpopulations has

been

recognized,

much

attention has

been

giventothe

ways

in

which

peoplealter theirbehavior

(Collins, 1986).

Yet

the destructionoftropicallandshas

often

been

attributed to

poor

decisionsof smallproducers.

But

holding thesmall farmer responsible for tropical deforestation

amounts

to

"blaming

the victim," since the

realcausesofdeforestationare likelyto

be

poverty, un-equal landdistribution,

and low

agricultural productivity

combined

withrapid population growth.

To

this list

one

must

also

add

misguidedpublicpolicies

which

either

pur-poselyorinadvertently

encourage

rapid depletionofthe

forest(Collins, 1986).

Ecuador:

A

General

Background

Ecuador

has evolved

from

a predominantly agrarian

country into an oil producer nation within the last

two

decades.

The

transformation ofthe

Ecuadorian

economy

inthe1970s broughtrapid

economic growth and

affluence unparalleledinEcuador'shistory. Inthemidst ofthis

pros-perity, economic, social,

and

political changes occurred

which

moved

Ecuador toward

relativemodernization

and

raised expectations for sustained

economic growth and

wealth. Yet,asthe

government espoused

industrialization

and

income

transferprograms,

Ecuador

increasedits

inter-dependencewithin the

world

econ-omy;

thus,

becom-ing

more

vulner-able to external

shocks, as well as

increasing

indebt-edness

due

to bur-geoning external

borrowing. Inthe

1980s, Ecuador's

economy

slowed

down,

responding

totheworld reces-sion with sagging

demand,

high in-terest rates, rising

protectionism,

de-clining prices for

primary

export

commodities,

and

growingscarcityof

capital resources.

These

forces have

culminatedin a dif-ficult balance of paymentssituation forthe country.

Ecuador

has

fol-lowed similar

de-veloping patterns

common

to otherdeveloping countries.

Throughout

its

history,

Ecuador

hascontributedthe

raw

materials neces-sary toset

up

not onlyits

own

infrastructure,butalso that

ofindustialcountries

which have

profited

from

mistaken

policies of exploitation

and

the lack of environmental

guidelines (Sarmiento, 1987).

Ecuador

does not have a

national

program

fortheproductiveuse,

management, and

conservation ofits natural resources.

There

is neither a

general national lawthat poses specific

norms

and

stan-dardsforthedevelopment,use,

management, and

conser-vation ofnatural resources,nora suprainstitutional

coor-dinatingor planning

body (Fundacion

Natura,1986).

Oil

Development and

Government

Attitudes

Toward

Amazonia

Mainland

Ecuador

isdivided intothreeregions: Coast,

Sierra,

and

Oriente.

The

Coast

and

Sierraregions feature a "bi-urban schism"

between

Andean

Quito

and

coastal

Guayaquil. Quito,the nation'scapital,

burgeons

with

po-litical-economicstrength

drawn from petroleum

revenues.

Guayaquil

isa

commercial

portcity

which

grew

out ofa

base of

commercial

agriculture,shipping,

and

banking.

Na-tional attention

withinthistwocity

dialecticof

econ-omy

and

social

relations has

in-creasinglyturned

eastward toward Ecuador's small

segment

of

Ama-zonia.

The

Amazon

region, eastofthe

Andes

mountains,

is the country's

major zonefor ag-ricultural

expan-sion. Thisregion facesthe greatest

dilemmas

of

ade-quate

environ-mental

manage-ment.

Govern-ment

policieshave

indirectly encour-agedsettlementin

Amazonia

by

viewing coloniza-tionasan

alterna-tivetolandreform

inother regionsof

SatellitephotooftheNaporegion 1987. Thewhite, criss-crossedareas reveal theextentofdeforestationalong roadsbuiltbyoilcompanies.

asa

way

toprovidea

mobile

labor forcefortheoilindustry

inthe

Amazon

(Bromley,1980; Collins, 1986;

CLIRSEN,

1987). Inthelast

two

decades,themassive road-building

programs

of the oil industry have

made

large areas of

Amazonia

accessible forthefirsttime,while

government-sponsoredsettlement

schemes

havesimultaneouslyattracted

migrants

from

the Sierra

and

coastal regions. Specialfiscal

incentives

and

subsidized credit lines have

encouraged

cattleraising

which

hasallowed small populationstohave

alargeimpact

on

theenvironment (Hiraoka and

Yamamoto,

1980).Furthermore,agriculturalcolonists face various

dif-ficultiesinlandtitling,credit,

and

marketing

which

reflects

thegovernment'slack ofawell-defined policy for

small-holdercolonization(Bromley, 1980).

The

pace

and

extentofcolonizationinEcuador's

Ama-zon

regionhas

been

more

heavily influencedbythe

invest-ments

and

preferences of the multinational

companies

dealingin oil,tropical agricultural products,

and

timber

thanby

sound

environmental

management

criteria

prom-ulgatedbythe

Ecuadorian

government.

The

development

oftropical colonizationzonesin

Ecuador

hasoccurred

on

a

temporary

basis,whilethe extractionof wealthispossible

and

highly profitablefornational

and

international

inter-ests,ratherthan

on

acontinuingbasiswith aims of

improv-ingthewelfare ofthe inhabitants

and promoting

long-term settlementinconjunction withsustainableenvironmental

management.

The

petroleum

industry's interests consistently prevail

over those of conservation

management

in

Amazonia.

Thisislargelybecause ofthe

strong political

power

back-ing the oil industry.

The

oil

sectorisnot adequately regu-lated topreventit

from

exert-ingnoxious impacts

upon

the

environment.

So

far, the oil

companies

operating in the

Amazon

regionindustry

seem

unwilling to invest in less

damaging

but perhaps

more

costlytechnologiestoconserve

and

protectthe

environment

(FundacionNatura

and

FON-APRE,

1988). Furthermore,

under

thisresource

exploita-tionphilosophy,environment

and

conservationinEcuador's

Amazonia

is

under

the

juris-diction of

one

particular

agency: the

Department

of

Protected

Areas

and

Wildlife.

Environmental

management

isnot theconcern of other agencies undertaking

develop-ment

projectsintheregion(Uquillas, 1987).

Although

a national protected areas system,providing

the

Amazon

region with

some

4million acresofprotected

land(57percent of thetotal protected landinEcuador), hasexistedin

Ecuador

since 1979, trueprotectionis

lim-ited. "Protected" areas are thoseareas presently too

re-mote

forcolonizationorinterventionofanykind.

Mean-while, areas close to thesettlement frontierorrichwith

mineralresources arebeingdisturbed: theNational Parks of

Yasuni

and

Cuyabeno

areor

soon

will

be

criss-crossed

with roadsforoilexploration.

Depending

upon

whether

oilis

found

withinthelimitsoftheseareas,

opening

roads

willinevitablylead to furtherforestconversion

and

occupa-tionbysettlers

(Fundacion

Natura

and

FONAPRE,

1988;

Sarmiento,1987).

Social

and

Ecological

Cycles of Decline

Understanding

ofthe ecological issues related to the

easilydegradabletropicallandsof Ecuador's

Amazon

re-gion hasincreasedsufficiently inthe past

decade

toallow

one

to

move

beyond

analysis to actualresource

manage-ment.

Much

has

been

learnedaboutthe variable properties

oftropicalsoils

and

their relative susceptibilityto

thefragile,naturalecosystem ofthe

Amazon

region.

At

the

same

timetherehas

been

a

growing

awarenessthat a

more

sophisticated

knowledge

of the region's ecology

and an

increased repertoireof productive techniques

do

not

nec-essarilyensuresustained

and

successfulresource

manage-ment.

Environmental

deterioration in this region cannot

be

understood without considering

how

land tenure, credit policies, provision of land titles,

and

other institutional factors conditionthe resource

management

strategies of

theproducers

who

work

theland. Thus,it ispossibletoask

whether

the processesof environmental degradationthat

have

accompanied

the settlement of

new

regions result

only

from

the idiosyncrasies of climate

and

culture; or,

whether

significant patternsofinteraction

among

the

so-cialcontext,producerdecisions,

and

environmental

dete-rioration can

be

identified.

There

is

enough

evidenceto

argue that

low

productivity

and

ecological deterioration

alongEcuador's

Amazon

are theresultsofmisguided

in-centivesfor

improper

landuses;

and

arenotthe resultsof

the exploitationof landthatshould

remain

untouched.

A

case for this

argument

is

made

below

by exploring

what

would

seem

to

be poor and

self-destructive

management

practicesby small farmers inthe colonizing areas

around

the

Lago

Agrio

region.

A

Case Study

of Agricultural

Colonization

in

the

Ecuadorian

Amazon

Hiraoka

and

Yamamoto

(1980) describe

spontaneous

and

plannedcolonization

schemes

innortheastern

Ecua-dor.

Because

of road construction

and the

demand

for

labor resulting

from

petroleum

extraction, these

areaswere

opened

tocolonizationin

the early 1970s.

The Lago

Agrio

region, in the

northeastern

prov-ince of

Napo,

is

presently

experi-encing severe

en-vironmental

deg-radation. Approxi-mately ten

thou-sandworkers

were

brought to the

Lago

Agrioregion

to

work on

a vari-etyof projects

re-lated tooilexploration.Afterthe projects

were

completed,

some

fivetotenpercentofthesepeople choseto

remain

as

smallfarmers.

At

the

same

time,the

Ecuadorian

Agrarian

Reform

Institute

(IERAC)

began

recruiting

and

transport-ingsettlers tothe region.

While

this

planned

settlement

was

short-lived,the

opening

of roadsattracted

many

colo-nists.Today, accordingto

Fundacion Natura

ofEcuador,a

nonprofit environmental organization,

some

fifty thou-sand people have settled inthe area

around Lago Agrio

alone.

Perhaps

more

thanany other colonization areain

Ecua-dor,

Lago

Agrio

has experienced excessive deforestation

and

exhaustiveuse offarmland overthelast

two

decades.

This haslimitedthe effectivenessofcolonizationasasocial

orresourceutililizationpolicyforthe region.

Hiraoka

and

Yamamoto

found

thatinstitutionalinstead

ofecological factors

posed

the

most immediate

challenges

tosmallproducers. First,the costsof obtaininga plot

were

high,

and

included

mandatory

membership

in

an

agricul-tural cooperative. Second, inaddition to the costofthe

land,there

were

costsassociatedwithsurveying,

mapping,

and

registering the land.

While

this

amount

could

be

amortized overtwenty-fiveyears, settlerscouldnotreceive

permanent

titleuntilthe

amount

was

paidinfull; without

permanent

titletheycould not obtaincredit. Sincelegal

transfer

was

also impossible with this provisional title,

those farmers

were

forced to sell their lots before their

debts

were

paidinfull

and

could only obtaina fractionof

their realvalue(Collins,1986).

Allofthese factors

impeded

capitalaccumulation

among

small producers.

Some

impatientsettlersconvertedtheir

plots to pasture

before

they amassedthe capi-tal to

begin

ranching.

These

partially

formed

grasslands

were

quicklyabsorbed

by speculators.

The

settlers

who

were

forced to

dispose of their

lotseitherleftfor

urban

centers,

moved

forward

on

the settlement

frontier, or

be-came

part-time

laborers for the

ranchers,

main-taining a small

partoftheir

for-mer

lotsfor

sistencefarming purposes (Hiraoka

and

Yamamoto,

1980).

Other

settlers lostor

abandoned

theirlandsbecause they

were

unableto

make

installment

payments

or

were

unable

tocoversubsistenceneeds,or

found

off-farm

employment.

Those

who

escapethiscycle find

ways

to

move

intocattle

ranching, marketing, or service activities; they are not

necessarilybettermanagers (Hiraoka

and

Yamamoto

1980).

They

must,inother words,"getbig.. .orgetout"

(Hecht

1981,82). Inthe end,sociallycreatedconditionsof

indebt-edness

and

economic

insecurity

have

proven

todrivecycles

of environmentaldecline,

which

inturnacceleratelossof land

and

socialdifferentiation

among

settlers.

Furthermore, thereisalocaltrend

toward

cattle

ranch-ing

which

isfostered

by

thesmallfarmers'

need

toprove

cattle raising has resulted in greater deforestation

and

more

intensiveland-use patterns characterizedbylesscareful

husbandry.

As

thesettlershave

encountered problems

intheir

farm-ingactivities,

an

increasing

number

of

them

have had

tosell

orlosetheirlands to largerinterestsor

abandon

them

inthe faceofdecliningyields. Consequently,largeholdingshave

been

consolidated in the region.

Fundacion Natura

of

Ecuador

hasreportedthatfive

hundred

acreholdingsare

emerging

alongthe

Lago

Agrio-Chaco

region,

and

other

cattle ranching

and

oil

palm

enterprises

have

gradually

accumulated

land

bought

from

smallsettlers.

As

aresult,

a varietyofso-calledprecariouslandtenureforms (owner-to-worker association forms that

have

been

considered

Cattleranchingalong roadinNaporegion

landpossession or land

"improvement"

tothegovernment.

According

to current legislation in

Ecuador (Fundacion

Natura and

FONAPRE

1988),thisis

done most

expedi-entlythroughtheconversion offorestlandintoanother use

(at least eighty percent of the forest area that is to

be

colonized

must be

cleared before property title can

be

granted,thus stimulating deforestation). Also, the

conver-sionof land topasture-whatever itsqualityor potential usefulness-is

much

easierthanitscultivationfor agricul-tural purposes. In addition, the lack of adequate roads

makes

it difficult to transport agricultural products to

market. Cattle,however, can

be

easilyherded tomarket. Furthermore,cattleraisingisnotlabor intensive

and

isless riskythanfarming. Despitetheadvantagestothe farmer,

noxious,unfair, exploitative,

and

thereforelegally

banned

inotherregionsof

Ecuador)

haveariseninthe region.

Although

deforestationin

some

instancesprovides

some

short-termbenefits through timber exports

and

agricul-turalproduction or otherrelatedactivities,italsoimposes

huge

long-termcostsforthe country.

As

a

consequence

of

these processes,

Fundacion Natura

(1986) has indicated

that by 1986, deforestationabsorbed at least 2.5 million

acresoftropicalforest,

and

thisfigurerefersonlyto areas

where

legallandtitleshave

been

granted. Thisfiguredoes notincludethe extensionsofterritoryoccupied bynational

and

international

companies

dealing inoil, tropical

agri-cultural products

and

timber, as well as those areas

Direction National Forestal,

by

1968 deforestation

oc-curred in

an

area covering 150,000 acres; by 1974, this

expanded

to500,000acres;

and

by 1976, to1 million acres

(CONADE-UNEP,

1987).

The

United

Nations

Food

and

Agriculture Organization estimated thatdeforestation in

Ecuador's

Amazon

region reached 750,000 acres in the

period

between

1976

and

1980;

and

further

expanded

to

850,000acres

between

1981

and

1985(Uquillas, 1987).

unsuitableforagriculture,orthattheyrequire thesuperior

management

skills

and

capital resources oflarger

enter-prises,areperhaps

no

longertenable. Ifapolitical

commit-ment

exists to support agricultural colonization,

and

if

available

knowledge

isrelied

upon

tocreate incentivesfor

sustainableresource

management,

then long-term

settle-ment

plansmightsucceed.

Conclusions

Recent

yearshave seen

an

increasinginterest

on

the part

of

development

agenciesinthe

promotion

ofviablesmall

farmsectors in Latin America.

Governments

have

pro-moted

or allowed the agricultural colonization ofeasily

degradable land areas. Nevertheless, the prevalence of

failure

among

smallfarmers raises

fundamental

questions

regarding theviabilityof small

farm

colonizationof tropi-callands.

The

initialpoverty of small producersinsettlementareas

alongEcuador'sagricultural frontieris

an

impediment

to

soundresource

management;

butgovernmentpoliciesfurther

exacerbatethis

problem

by pursuingpoliciesthat

engender

smallholder indebtedness. Thus, in order to formulate

policies for land use

and

resource

management

ineasily

degradable land areas suchas the

Amazon,

the links

be-tween

social

and

ecological

dynamics

must be

made

ex-plicit. Social factors

must be

incorporatedinto

models

of ecosystem

change

in

ways

that

go

beyond

simple

descrip-tionsof behavior

and

reflecta

more

sophisticated under-standing ofthe contextswithin

which

land usedecisions are

made

(Collins, 1986).

Research

isrequired thatwill pro-videan

improved

understanding ofthe

ways

in

which

credit

lines,landtitling,

and

factor

commodity

marketsaffectthe

behavior of smallsettlers ina varietyoffrontiersettings.

Such

insights can then

be

incorporated into

models

of

socio-economic

and

environmentalinteraction that

char-acterize the colonization of tropical lands. Ultimately,

these

models

can

be

usedtocreate policiesdesignedto

pro-mote

sustainable production, in keeping with

environ-mentalrealities

and

the overall goalsofagrarian policyin acountry.

Questions about land use

and

ecologyaretied tothese kindsofpolicies

and

practices, aswellasthe larger politi-cal

economic

context.

They

cannot

be answered

without

reference to thedifferential interestsofgroups vyingfor land, or without consideration of

who

benefits

and

who

suffers asaresultofthechangesthatoccur(Collins,1986;

Mahar,

1988).

Recognition ofthelinks

among

structuralincentivesto

produce for short-term gain, deterioration ofresources,

and

loss of land by small holders challenges the simple

explanationsof

how

new

tropicallandscanbest

be

brought

into production. Assertions that these lands aresimply

FranciscoJ.Pichonisa Ph.D.studentfromColombiaintheDepartment

of Cityand Regional Planningatthe UniversityofNorthCarolina.Hehas received a grantfromtheWorldWildlifeFundtocarryouthisdissertation fieldwork on "AgriculturalColonizationandthe Social Dimensionof EcologicalDestructioninEcuador'sAmazonia."

Notes

1. Littleisknownaboutthe extentofannuallossesofforestproducts throughdeforestation. EstimatesfortheCoted'lvoireandNigeria suggestthat50-100millioncubicmetersof quality logs--3-6 times the

annual productionofsawlogand veneer logs-arelosteach yearin thesecountriesthroughclearingandburning(WorldResources

Insti-tute,1988).

2. Othermajor proximate causesof deforestation include:commercial

logging (45,000 square kilometers peryear), fuelwoodgathering (25,000squarekilometersperyear),andcattleraising(20,000square

kilometersperyear) (Myers,1986).

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