Suchergebnisse

Forests are alive, filled with rich, biologically complex life forms and the interrelationships of multiple species and materials. Vulnerable to a host of changing conditions in this global era, forests are in peril as never before. New markets in carbon and environmental services attract speculators. In the name of conservation, such speculators attempt to undermine local land control in these desirable areas.
Moral Ecology of a Forest provides an ethnographic account of conservation politics, particularly the conflict between Western conservation and Mayan ontological ecology. The difficult interactions of the Maya of central Quintana Roo, Mexico, for example, or the Mayan communities of the Sain Ka'an Biosphere, demonstrate the clashing interests with Western biodiversity conservation initiatives. The conflicts within the forest of Quintana Roo represent the outcome of nature in this global era, where the forces of land grabbing, conservation promotion and organizations, and capitalism vie for control of forests and land.
Forests pose living questions. In addition to the ever-thrilling biology of interdependent species, forests raise questions in the sphere of political economy, and thus raise cultural and moral questions. The economic aspects focus on the power dynamics and ideological perspectives over who controls, uses, exploits, or preserves those life forms and landscapes. The cultural and moral issues focus on the symbolic meanings, forms of knowledge, and obligations that people of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and classes have constructed in relation to their lands. The Maya Forest of Quintana Roo is a historically disputed place in which these three questions come together.

Forests are alive, filled with rich, biologically complex life forms and the interrelationships of multiple species and materials. Vulnerable to a host of changing conditions in this global era, forests are in peril as never before. New markets in carbon and environmental services attract speculators. In the name of conservation, such speculators attempt to undermine local land control in these desirable areas. Moral Ecology of a Forest provides an ethnographic account of conservation politics, particularly the conflict between Western conservation and Mayan ontological ecology. The difficult interactions of the Maya of central Quintana Roo, Mexico, for example, or the Mayan communities of the Sain Ka'an Biosphere, demonstrate the clashing interests with Western biodiversity conservation initiatives. The conflicts within the forest of Quintana Roo represent the outcome of nature in this global era, where the forces of land grabbing, conservation promotion and organizations, and capitalism vie for control of forests and land. Forests pose living questions. In addition to the ever-thrilling biology of interdependent species, forests raise questions in the sphere of political economy, and thus raise cultural and moral questions. The economic aspects focus on the power dynamics and ideological perspectives over who controls, uses, exploits, or preserves those life forms and landscapes. The cultural and moral issues focus on the symbolic meanings, forms of knowledge, and obligations that people of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and classes have constructed in relation to their lands. The Maya Forest of Quintana Roo is a historically disputed place in which these three questions come together.

Collaborative management, or co-management, of forests has increasingly become an alternative to traditional state management. Utilizing a Political Ecology perspective, this article highlights the conflictive dynamic between the state and community grassroots organizations about their perceptions and understandings about the meanings, objectives, goals, and politics of co-management. It is argued that forest co-management is primarily a social relation mediated by power relations and social nature, in which priority is given to scientific knowledge and Western rationality over what it means local groups. The article also analyzes the discursive strategies used by local groups to defend their management views. Finally, using a Puerto Rican case study, the article discusses which strategies and discourses have been effective and ineffective in the implementation of co-management. ; El manejo colaborativo de bosques, mejor conocido como co-manejo, ha aumentado como alternativa al manejo estatal tradicional de los recursos naturales. Aplicando la perspectiva de la ecología política, en este trabajo se argumenta el carácter conflictivo entre el Estado y los grupos de base en términos de percepciones sobre los significados, objetivos, metas y políticas sobre el co-manejo de bosques. Se argumenta que el manejo de bosques es primordialmente una relación social mediada por relaciones de poder y la naturaleza social en donde se la da prioridad al conocimiento científico y a la racionalidad de manejo occidental a diferencia de lo que representa el bosque para grupos locales y comunitarios. Se analizan además, las estrategias discursivas en que los distintos actores se enfrentan para defender su visión de manejo. Finalmente, mediante los estudios de caso de Puerto Rico, se presentan las estrategias y discursos que han sido efectivos, y los que no, en la implementación del co-manejo.