El juego de las condiciones naturales que infl uyen en la Zona de Chacras de Río Gallegos

Conception of vital space of the people of Ntem-Sanaga region

The conception of nature is based social representation of vital space (dza’a), which is spatially structured from the household or family (nda bot/mvôg) to the village territory (dza’a), as one entire global system. It emphases the integration of six components: household combining the house plus man house (n’da, aba’a), court (n’seng), bin (akun), private zone (fa’a), agricultural lands (ekotok or

ekorog) and the forest lands (afane). Each component is defined and delimited, as well as their social

meanings, their forms and their uses. These relationships are presented in details in Table 1.

Table 1. Representation of the vital space of the people of Ntem-Sanaga region

Component Local

names Social meaning Forms Uses

nda Symbolize

freedom within the house

Rectangular Private house, habitation of wifes, kept the

important goods and tools for hunting, fishing and agriculture. Bedrooms for sleeping and preparation of food

Household House + Men house

aba’a Derived from aba

meaning both to dismember and to carve

Rectangular Social and public area where bushmeat

captured or domesticated animal killed is dismember and shared, where timber is carve, basket work is weaved; Area of education and information where young acquired the knowledge of traditions via proverbs, tells and epics; Area where customary court is hold to solve conflicts and others social problems; Social place for family council and palavage.

Court n’seng Derived from

aseng that

means to welcome guests

Uncovered and

clean soil Social meetings, ritual ceremonies, games and festivities

Bin akun Derived from

akune meaning

spoil

No particular

form Gabbages are dropped; the richness of its humus is suitable to plant plantain (Musa

spp.), wild peper (Capsicum spp.) and others

horticultural crops. It is more or less the home garden.

Private zone fa’a Derived from

afack that means

both to dig and penetrate

No particular

form Private zone where the secrets of the family or the village are buried or hidden. The area is

often cultivated by fruit trees. Agricultural

lands Mesi bidi and

ekotog

From akore that

means leave to come back later

No particular

form Area where land is cultivated to cover the food needs and income generation

Forest lands afane Derived from

afane that means

narrow focus

Diverse and changing forms

Area where hunting/trapping and fishing, collection of non wood forest products, rituals and collection of medicinal plants are conducted

Characterization of the relationships between the components of vital space

Four categories of natural resources management knowledge of landscape affecting human activities have identified. These categories include markers of local perception of space such like forests and agricultural lands and its biodiversity agricultural lands, animals and rivers. Each category of NRM provides message for human, which serves to build the maintenance of communication channels. The links with interpretation of natural phenomena, capitalization of practices and utilizations of references for food consumption, house building, medicine, rituals and human names. These relationships are presented in details in Table 2.

Table 2. Relationships between components of vital space representation

NRM

categories Messages provided to human systems Maintenance of communication channels

Benefits to Human and Natural systems

Behaviour, physical qualities; Ecological and biophysical responses to climate stress; Attacks by animals and humans; their uses Regulation in use and maintenance of use; Domestication and cultivation space markers

Human names derived from such

knowledge such as trees (Bile), forest

(Afana), Gnetum spp.(Okoa), stone

(Akoa), etc. Forests and agricultural landscapes (Trees and food crops)

Agronomic performances and qualities; Yield and resistance to pests-diseases within crops and comparison among crops in terms of quality of crops; and food taste and qualities

Cropping and

farming practices Crop varieties are given names which are symbolically charged and transferred them

a ‘spirit’ to produce high and quality yields.

Wild fruit trees such as Dracryodes edulis

and Persea americana are given names

that reflected the abundance and the quality of their fruits

Animals Behaviour, ecology, biology of

reproduction and

representativness vis à vis other animals

Insects movements

Domestication, hunting, trapping, consumption for good health and protection against certain diseases

Animal names are given to humans such

as panthers (Ze) and elephant (Zoa),

etc…

Natural phenomena names such as the transition from one season to the other

such as dry season (esep) are linked to

the movements of animals and insects such as termites, birds, butterflies…etc, on one hand, on the spread of human diseases, on the others

Rivers Behaviour of rivers and their

content, quality of their contents, abundance of specific fishery products and others indicators of animals

Fishing;

Space marker Rivers names are linked to local knowledge of bio-indicators of the

dominant fish species or niche of animals or other social events

Humans received the names of some fish products

Lands and

hills Complexity of nature and ecological niches Uses and markers of lands and spaces Lands, hills, mountains are given names to maintain communication channels and

names are also given to these resources such like toponyms

Local perceptions of forests and natural resources management

Three markers and seven categories of perceptions on forests and natural resources have identified from interviewer discourse. These markers are described as follow: (i) forest perception based on descriptive markers such like forest types or lands resources (Mesi); (ii) forest perception based on practical/utilitarian markers such like gift of life, source of human well-being activities, tool for time and weather management; (iii) forest perception based on symbolic/representative markers such like gift of God, mystery, hide-out and shelter. The very high distance between forest perceptions, its uses, socio-cultural and economic functions are related to animals and plants species, and Creator (90%) and food (80%) and source of income (75%). The details of these results are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Local perceptions of nature and forests resources management

Markers of the perception on

nature and forest Content of markers

Perception of distance between forest, its uses, its socio-cultural and economic functions

Percentage of responses

Descriptive Forest types or land use

system (Mesi) Animal and plant species 90

Practical/utilitarian Gift of life

Source of human well-being activities

Tool for time and weather management

Labor Food

Raw material/House building Income generation (money) Hunting Fishing 40 80 55 75 40 30

Representative Gift of God

Mystery /hide-out/shelter Fear Creator Creation Witchcraft 90 75 65

Local knowledge systems of forest dynamics and associated NRM practices

Several local knowledge systems are related to the description of the states of forest dynamics. These states are organized in five broad types of forest ecological successions and included: (i) virgin forest (afan adam) which is a place where, in the collective memory, there have never been human conduct and there is no presence of indicators of human disturbance; (ii) old secondary forest (mbiam); (iii) secondary forest (nnom ekotog); (iv) pre-secondary forest fallow (ekotog); (v) young fallow (nfefe ekotog). Each category differs from the other by a single or several socio-ecological, bio-indicators and/or associated with NRM practices. The details of these results are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Local classification of forest land use, socio-ecological indicators and NRM practices

Categories of

land use Socio-ecological descriptors Associated NRM practices

Virgin forest

(afan adam) Total absence of indications of human disturbance ; Big size of animals; Abundance and diversity of animals

Commercial hunting or trapping ; Collection of specific commercial NTFPs Old secondary

forest (mbiam) Big size of animals ; Abundance and diversity of animals; Far away from the villages ; Few

indicators of activity such as ‘huts’ for seasonal migrations ; Presence of isolated old oil palm

trees (nfon alen) ; Presence of Irvingia spp

and Cola acuminata

Commercial food-crop agriculture with

Cucumeropsis manii or Musa spp ;

Commercial hunting/trapping Collection of NTFPs

Intermediate secondary forest (nnom ekotog)

Abundance of mature oil palm trees; of Musa

spp and Macaranga spp, of rodents and other

small mammals attracted by the farming activities

Commercial food crops agriculture such

like with Cucumeropsis manii or Musa

spp; Domestic hunting and trapping;

Intensive collection of Raphia and palm

tree wines Pre-secondary

forest fallow and/or young fallow (ekotog-nfefe ekotog)

Abundance of seedlings and young trees of oil

palm (Eleais guineensis), of Chromoleana

odorata in agricultural land closer to the

villages, of Maranthaceae in agricultural fields distant from the villages. Dispersed presence

of food crops such as Musa spp and Cassava

spp. Abundance of rodents and other small mammals attracted by the farming activities

Food crop agriculture where indicators of fertility are abundant ; Intensive

collection of Raphia and Palm tree wines; Intensive collection of NTFPs ; Domestic trapping

Local agro-climatic and time management knowledge systems affecting NRM practices

Three broad categories of time management - parts of a day, moon cycle (ngon) and year of activities (mbu) - are organized in 4 seasons (Table 5). For the last one, its two outcomes are bioecological cycle, and agricultural and forest resources management calendar. These categories are described as follows: (i) Moment of a day breaks the time in a 24-hours day. It is organized into four main moments: morning (kikirigi); mid day (zan amos); evening (ngegole); and midnight (zang alu); (ii)

Moon cycle also affects the human activities and determines the management of natural resources and the farming practices when it is full or middle full; (iii) Four seasons of the year (mbu) derived from main dry season (esep) and short dry season (oyôn), on one hand, the main rainy season (sugu-

oyôn) and the short rainy season (sugu-esep); this division of time affect agricultural, gathering of

forests products, hunting and fishing, and livelihood strategies. For this last description of time management, the details results are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Relationships between seasonality knowledge and local natural resources management activities

Associated activities by gender Main

Seasonality category

Seasonality

classification Local name Type of indicators Men Women

Short dry

season Oyôn Presence of caterpillars

Abundance of wild fruits

Forest clearing

Trees felling Harvesting of food crops Patch clearing and cultivation

of food crops farms Harvesting and

commercialization of forest products

Dry season

Long dry

season Esep Movement of insects, birds

and wildlife Falling of tree leaves

Forest patch clearing Hunting of small rodents

Traditional fishing

Short rainy

season Sugu esep Flowering of cocoa

plantations

Maintenance of

cocoa plantations Intensive farming activities and harvesting of food crops

Harvesting of forest products Rainy

season

Long rainy

season Sugu oyôn Abundance of wildlife Harvesting of cocoa Commercialization of

cocoa production Intensive hunting and trapping

Support to cocoa harvesting Harvesting of food crops

The conception of nature is embedded on the social presentation of vital space of people of the study area; it is both a geographical and sociological space (Table 1 & Table 2). Each trait of this vital space has a function that affects economic, social and spiritual life of people (Mviena, 1970; Laburthe-Tolra, 1981; Bahuchet, 1996). The relationships between the natural and human worlds are the important channels to maintain interactions with the spiritual world; they contribute to the structuration of local ecological and environmental knowledge and to keep their focus in the search of common livelihood in the context where local community have used to live with uncertainty (Gonese, 1999; Ruitenbeck & Cartier, 2001; Oyono, 2002; Prabhu, 2003; Haverkort & Rist, 2004). Moreover, the results show that the local descriptions of forests and natural resources are based on the perception of the distance between forests and its socio-economic values with very high frequency for forest-tree-animals- hunting (90%), forest-food (80%) and forest-money (75%), and not only on technical definition that put forwards biophysical elements such like the size and the height of trees (Helms, 2002). Moreover, local knowledge systems of forest dynamics and forest management are correlated to socio- ecological descriptors and associated NRM practices such like trees and forests (Oyono, 2002; Sène, 2003).

These results moderate the conventional thinking on biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resources management outcomes claiming the inability of local systems of forest management systems to rationalize their practices. However, the results show that the concept of nature and the associated local knowledge and practices are effective in the interpretation on natural processes and in management of forest resources (Tables 3, 4, 5). These results confirm the potential of concept of nature and local forest knowledge as an emergent property of complex system that requires an integrated conceptual approach (Armitage, 2003; Prahbu, 2003; Woodley, 2004). Local perceptions of nature and forest knowledge management systems are tools that affect the management systems at the forest agriculture interface. These tools guide the implementation of adaptive forest management and agricultural practices incorporating the dynamics of space, biodiversity management, time and surnatural and social institutions.

In document La agricultura en la provincia de Santa Cruz : motivaciones, desafíos y expectativas ante situaciones de marginalidad (página 48-61)