Diversity of palm uses in the western Amazon |
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Authors: | Narel Y Paniagua Zambrana Anja Byg Jens-Christian Svenning Monica Moraes Cesar Grandez Henrik Balslev |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, Build. 1540, Ny Munkegade, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark;(2) Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Casilla 10077 – Correo Central, La Paz, Bolivia;(3) Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Iquitos, Peru |
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Abstract: | We used palm knowledge to understand the interaction between people and the rainforests and the factors that influence this
dynamic process. We interviewed 278 informants in 12 villages in the Pastaza and Madidi areas of the western Amazon basin.
Together they used 38 different palm species for 38 different uses in six use-categories (food, construction, utensils, ritual,
medicine, commercial). Euterpe precatoria, Iriartea deltoidea, and Oenocarpus bataua were best known and were mentioned as useful by 76–72% of the informants in the 12 villages. There was a great variation
in number of uses and in how widespread the uses were and five of the 38 useful palms were mentioned by only one informant.
Among the socioeconomic factors analyzed, the residence village influenced the informants’ knowledge of palms and their uses
more than any other factor. Length of education, prosperity and for how long the informant had lived in the village were also
positively correlated to how many palms and palm uses were known. Gender differences in informants’ knowledge of palm uses
were not observed in our data. We suggest, that the high importance of forest products to the livelihood of the villagers,
the great variation in the knowledge they possess, and the fact that the differences between villages is so great, are important
elements to consider when developing management plans for the sustainable use of the rainforest resources in the western Amazon. |
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Keywords: | Local knowledge Palms Western Amazon Ethno-botany Socioeconomic factors |
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