Indigenous land-use systems : evidence from the Pueblo Kichwa de Rukullakta

dc.contributor.advisorSierra M., Rodrigo, 1959-
dc.creatorBennett, Drew Edward, 1981-
dc.date.accessioned2016-10-06T14:20:46Z
dc.date.accessioned2018-01-22T22:30:41Z
dc.date.available2016-10-06T14:20:46Z
dc.date.available2018-01-22T22:30:41Z
dc.date.issued2017-05
dc.description.abstractThere is a growing recognition of the importance of indigenous lands to the fate of tropical forests around the world. Indigenous lands are especially critical to the Amazon as they make up a substantial portion of the region. Despite this recognition, most recent research has focused on colonists and little is known about the contemporary land-use systems of indigenous groups. This thesis examines the land-use system of the Pueblo Kichwa de Rukullakta located in the western extreme of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Household-level data was collected and used to characterize land-use strategies, location of production, and household characteristics. Findings on household land-use strategies demonstrate the widespread cultivation of cacao in the area. The majority of households also produced traditional food crops like yuca and plantains. Surprisingly, hunting and cattle ranching were of minimal importance to the livelihoods of most households Observed Kichwa land-use patterns are compared to a generalized colonist land-use system to reveal similarities and differences. Most notable of these differences is the spatial organization of land tenure in which the majority of Kichwa households hold land in two locations within the territory. This spatial organization of land tenure appears to have roots in “traditional” methods of organizing land-use and may have important implications for understanding land-cover change in the region.en_US
dc.description.departmentGeography and the Environmenten_US
dc.format.mediumelectronicen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.15781/T2599Z33H
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/41514
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.relation.ispartofUT Electronic Theses and Dissertationsen_US
dc.rightsCopyright © is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.en_US
dc.rights.restrictionRestricteden_US
dc.subjectIndigenous landsen_US
dc.subjectTropical forestsen_US
dc.subjectPueblo Kichwa de Rukullaktaen_US
dc.subjectEcuadorian Amazonen_US
dc.titleIndigenous land-use systems : evidence from the Pueblo Kichwa de Rukullaktaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.genreThesisen_US

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