In recent years, scientists have emphasized the need to maintain the planet's biodiversity. Cultural diversity is no less important, and as this article suggests, the two are inextricably linked. As forests vanish across the tropics, so do the cultural groups who inhabit them. Recently, Indian organizations have begun to appear at the local, regional, and national levels. They must be given the opportunity to express their vision of how their own lands and resources should be managed
In the mid-1970s, Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones sobre los Recursos Bioticos (INIREB) unveiled a plan to build Chinampas in the swampy region of Veracruz and Tabasco, along the Eastern coast of the country. Perfected by the inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico prior to the Spanish conquest, Chinampas had nearly vanished except in a few isolated and shrinking areas around Mexico City
Beschreibung eines Projekts des Smithonian Tropical Research Institute zur Rettung und Verbreitung des vom Aussterben bedrohten grünen Leguans und zur Wiederherstellung des ökologischen Gleichgewichts in Panama. Hervorhebung der erfolgreichen Zusammenarbeit zwischen Wissenschaftlern und ländlicher Bevölkerung
In Panama's virgin rainforest, Kuna Indians are encountering a threat to their cultural and material survival: the steady advance of slash-and-burn agriculture. Encroaching settlers are turning jungle into desert. The authors, a novelist and an anthropologist, describe how the Kuna are adapting to this challenge by turning part of their reservation into a forest park and wildlife refuge that includes research facilities for scientists from around the world
The mapping of indigenous lands to secure tenure, manage natural resources, and strengthen cultures is a recent phenomenon, having begun in Canada and Alaska in the 1960s and in other regions during the last decade and a half. A variety of methodologies have made their appearance, ranging from highly participatory approaches involving village sketch maps to more technical efforts with geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing. In general, indigenous mapping has shown itself to be a powerful tool and it has spread rapidly throughout the world. The distribution of mapping projects is uneven, as opportunities are scarce in many parts of the world. This review covers the genesis and evolution of indigenous mapping, the different methodologies and their objectives, the development of indigenous atlases and guidebooks for mapping indigenous lands, and the often uneasy mix of participatory community approaches with technology. This last topic is at the center of considerable discussion as spatial technologies are becoming more available and are increasingly used in rural areas. The growth of GIS laboratories among tribes in the United States and Canada, who frequently have both financial and technical support, is in sharp contrast to groups in the South—primarily Africa, Asia, and Latin America—where resources are in short supply and permanent GIS facilities are rare.
