Collaborating for Conservation
Collaborating for Conservation
Professor in Geography and Environmental Studies, Derek A. Smith, helps to fight deforestation in Panama.
In the forests of Panama, indigenous communities rely on natural resources to survive. From food and medicine to materials to build housing, the forest provides these people with all of their basic, essential resources. Unfortunately, like many other regions across the globe, the forests of Panama are hastily falling victim to axes and chainsaws. Population growth and a lack of diverse economic opportunities are among the many factors that are contributing to deforestation across Panama; and this holds true for the communities in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, a semi-autonomous indigenous territory in Panama.
Professor in Geography and Environmental Studies, Derek A. Smith, has recently won an award at the annual meeting of the Panamanian Association for the Advancement of Science (APANAC) for work he and his colleagues have done over the last year in western Panama, in studying indigenous forest use in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé. Out of 200 posters’ Smith and his team’s poster ‘Participatory mapping as a tool for investigating patterns en the use of natural resources and promoting forest conservation in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé,’ won first prize.
The poster summarized the community mapping research prepared by Smith and his team of two other university investigators and four indigenous university students who helped with the field work. Also on the team were local investigators from five communities who received training in basic cartography and how to use a GPS receiver.
To understand land use and tackle the problem of deforestation in Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, a participatory approach with the indigenous population was implemented to create community maps that include heavily detailed cultural information, and represent hybrid geographies that combine different knowledge’s into a single, common cartographic language. The goal is to use participatory mapping and surveys on the use of forests to identify conservation strategies that do not conflict with traditional practices, needs, rights and traditional uses of indigenous communities. Smith explains the impetus behind his research:
“Indigenous peoples in general are at the very bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in Panama, and extremely poor compared to most other people. The differences are quite dramatic. That’s one of the reasons why deforestation is happening in the area where we are working, and it is sad to see – not just for the people living there, because they depend on the forest for a range of resources, but also because it is a really important area for biodiversity, a place where you have for example at least two species of endemic birds that don’t exist anywhere else in the world.”
“More broadly, the research we’re doing aims to understand how people living in the region are using and managing their forests. The way things are going now, most of the forest will be gone in 25 years or so, and this kind of research is an important first step towards developing conservation strategies that have a chance of working. So we’ve learned about the forest resources that people use, about informal forest ownership, and what local people think about the idea of a protected area within their territory.”
To conduct this tremendously important research, Smith needed to immerse himself amongst the communities of Ngäbe-Buglé. Anytime a researcher enters a new community with aspirations of helping the people indigenous to the area, it is absolutely necessary that an acceptance and trust is forged between the researcher and the population of focus. Needless to say, this isn’t always a smooth or simple process; particularly when the community has been consistently exposed to the calices of outsiders.
“I did my doctoral research in Panama almost 15 years ago, with a focus on hunting, and hadn’t been back since, so it was wonderful to go back,” explains Smith. “The research we are doing now is happening in a different area, so people there didn’t know me. At first most people were concerned that I might be from a mining company, so it was important to build relationships with indigenous leaders who are trusted in the region, who were able to explain what we wanted to do. It is very important for them to be vigilant.”
Deforestation isn’t a problem that’s effects are limited to those who live amongst the trees of Panama. It is very much a global issue that’s ramifications will be felt by all. Humanity is rapidly approaching a tipping point wherein we can make the collective decision to fight for preservation, or continue on the path that we’ve been travelling on for years. Its destination: immense deforestation. Panama is an embodiment of this international problem, and as Smith continues his research in Comarca Ngäbe-Bugle, he’s hoping we haven’t already crossed the Rubicon.
“Unfortunately, one of the things we’ve learned in Panama is that it is going to be extremely difficult to save these forests over the long term. There are major structural factors that are not easy to change, and any kind of conservation strategy will also need a major investment to provide economic alternatives for these communities. It may seem absurd that people cut down a piece of beautiful primary forest to be able to plant maize which is worth almost nothing in the marketplace, but if they don’t have money and they don’t have an alternative that is what they have to do to feed their children. There is still some time, fortunately to develop conservation strategies that will protect the forest and also help local people, but it will not be an easy road. We hope that our research is helping make people more aware of the problem, and also providing the kind of knowledge that is needed to develop strategies that can actually work.”
Now in Ottawa, Smith will return to Panama at the next opportunity and willing participant or not, he will inevitably be propelled into many more unexpected adventures.
“On my last trip to Panama in October, I was glad to have an extra day in my schedule to make it to the airport and get back to Ottawa in time for my first-year class. Only one of the communities is connected by road, so it took about three days to walk to each village to hold a meeting and give them their maps. It rained a lot while we were there, and we had to contend with three landslides. The first two were relatively small, and not a major problem, but the third one included a boulder the size of a small elephant and a lot of mud. In the end we had to walk out, but I did make it to the city the next day.”
