摘要
在生物多样性的保护方面,原住民族通常被认为是潜在的同盟者。本文中我们对原住民的民族植物学技能是否有助于减少热带雨林的采伐进行了评估。我们调查了玻利维亚的一个土著亚马孙族群—提斯曼人的128个家庭的男性家庭户主的民族植物学技能并且测定了他们为农业而采伐的雨林面积。我们应用多元回归分析来推测在对学校教育、健康状况、采伐的地块数量、家庭的成年人口以及居住的村庄进行控制时民族植物学技能和采伐的雨林面积的关系。我们发现当男性家庭成员的民族植物学技能加倍时,每户家庭采伐的热带雨林的数量减少了25%。这种联系在被采伐的老龄林面积作为因变量时比采伐的休耕林的面积作为因变量时更强烈。依靠森林生存的人可能会比不利用森林的人更看重林分的价值,因此他们可能更不情愿采伐森林。
Indigenous peoples are often considered potential allies in the conservation of biological diversity.Here we assess whether ethnobotanical skills of indigenous people contribute to a reduction in the clearance of tropical rain forest.we measured ethnobotanical skills of male household heads and area of rain forest cleared for agriculture among 128 households of Tsimane',a native Amazonian group in Bolivia.We used multivariate regressions to estimate the relation between ethnobotanical skills and area of rain forest cleared while controlling for schooling,health status,number of plot cleared,adults in household,and village of residency.We found that when the ethnobotanical skills of the male household head were doubled,the amount of tropical rain forest cleared per household was reduced by 25%.The association was stronger when the area of old-growth forest cleared was used as the dependent variable than when the area cleared from fallow forest was used as the dependent variable.People who use the forest for subsistence might place a higher value on standing forest than people who do not use it,and thus they may be more reluctant to cut down the forest.
