in ethnobotanical -studies and intellectual property rights (ETFRN
1994).
The Anton de Kom University of Suriname was founded in
1968, and has today some 2,000 students and 220 faculty members,
distributed into the faculties of social sciences, technological sciences
and health sciences. Research on the Amazon is conducted principally
in health, biology and agriculture sciences (Brunings 1988; Ouboter, et
al. 1992; Pirson 1993). The University possesses eight units where
research related to health is conducted: The Medical Scientific Institute
Prof. Dr. P. C. Flu, the Academic Hospital of Paramaribo, the
herbarium, the Zoological collection, the Institute for Social Scientific
Research, the Scientific Agriculture Research Institute, the Institute for
‘Technical Research, and the University Computer Centre. The Faculty
of Medicine of the University has as predecessor the Medical School,
founded in 1882 with the objective of improving the health care of
immigrants from colonial East India, who came to Suriname as labour
force after slavery was abolished in Suriname (1863) (Oostburg 1992).
An important effort for building capacity in French Guiana is
being carried out through an Interest Group for Forestry Research in
French Guiana (SILVOLAB). SILVOLAB is an interest group founded
at the end of 1992 by CIRAD, ENGREF, INRA, ONF, and ORSTOM to
carry out research work on the topic "Study of Physical and Biological
Bases for the Functioning and Cultivation of Forestry Ecosystems of the
Humid Tropics." All of these five French research institutions operate a
permanent branch office in Guiana (Kourou and Cayenne). Institutions
already performing important forestry research in Guiana - such as the
‘CNRS, the National Museum for Natural History, and the University
of the Antilles-Guiana - are planning to increase their activities in this,
area and to join the interest group in the near future.
Field work is concentrated in several research and experiment
stations. The Nouragues Station is situated in a dense forest 100 km
south of Cayenne. Here, studies are concentrated on an intact forest
that has not-yet been exploited or exposed to anthropogenic influence.
The site of Bafog gives reference to the development of forests that had
been exploited some decades ago; it consists of four sites where the
vegetative evolution following an intensive exploitation of the forest
has been under study for more than 40 years. The site of the Sint-Elite
‘Track comprises a number of parcels of land each situated on the slope
of a basin. Here, studies are conducted on the effects of diverse
changes in a forest ecosystem, and the condition of water and soil
%
(erosion, mineral and organic elements). The Paracu Station comprises
several parcels of land designated towards the study on the
mechanisms at work in a natural forest and its reaction to forest
interventions (cleanings, and commercial lumbering). Finally, the
experimental forests of Risquetout and Organabo represent two forests
in which large scale experiments with forest systems are performed.
SILVOLAB intends to develop the French research facilities in
Guiana to improve the management organisation of joint research
stations, to better co-ordinate researchers stationed in Guiana and their
contacts with scientists from their home countries performing missions
in Guiana, to make the scientific approaches more easily
comprehensible for regional, national, and international authorities by
establishing a steering instrument for the various research programmes
and for recruitment policies. SILVOLAB was created to co-ordinate the
research programmes of its members as well as for managing funds,
research stations and infrastructure. The main topic of research is the
forest in its entirety of components at sites of different quality
(mountain ranges, forest exploitation, parcels of land) and with
varying population levels (population, species). The research aims at
building knowledge about the mechanisms within the ecosystem and
to provide a reliable management technique, particularly regarding
timber production.
SILVOLAB facilitates regional and international co-operation by
encouraging Europeans, in particular, to work in Guiana and by co-
operating with research institutions of the Amazon region. At present,
the interest group consists of a scientific community of about 15
researchers situated in Guiana and an equal number of scientists in the
home country who regularly come to work in Guiana. Funds donated
by the Inter Ministerial Pund for Uie Co-operation Canbbean-Guiana,
destined to the establishment of a research network in this region have
allowed SIEVOLAB to lay the foundations for co-operation with
Amazonian partners in areas such as the ecophysiology of forestry
systems, forestry in natural forests, and application of remote sensing,
in the study of mangroves. Through funds and equipment, SILVOLAB
has facilitated the completion of the project "Documentation Centre for
Research on the Amazon Forestry Systems" financed by the European
Union and other organisations (ETFRN 1994).
Since Guyana and Suriname achieved independence only
Tecently, and French Guiana being an overseas Department of France,
the linkages of research and training institutions of the Guianas are principally with Europe. Although joint efforts to strengthen co-
‘operation with Brazil and other Amazonian countries are being made
through the Amazon Cooperation Treaty, UNAMAZ and other
mechanisms.
THE
AMAZON
ASA
Stupy Oxject
Building Regional Capacity.
for Sustainable Development
Luis E. Arragén
Stockholm University
Institute of Latin American Studies
Monograph # 28
STOCKHOLM
1994 a
a naE
BUILDING REGIONAL CAPACITY
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
IN THE AMAZON
‘The Amazon has been an object of study since the European
Froth oe eats @g0. Countries such as Portugal, Spain, England,
Holland and France, sponsored explorers, chroniclers, natufalise av
muy, Ciher tavellers, who have described this exotic region, and
sollected materials of ito fauna, flova, ethnography and archacel
These ‘expeditions obeyed to the expansionist interests “of the
metropoles, which needed a better knowledge of their colonies in order
{0 explore their resources more effectively and maintain tigid control
Over local authorities, The results of such expeditions represent today a
Significant number of books, writings, maps, Biological and
ethnographic collections and other materials of important scientific
value, but many were also the origin in ic
value bs mere igin of distorted images of the region
- Today, the Amazon is the concern of scientists,
Fauonmentalists, ecologists, policy makers, politicians, artists,
filmakers, tourists, and media; and is represented and interpreted to
serge eit own views. Traditionally, the Amazon has mistakenly beon
defined as a huge homogeneous flat region of humid tropical forte
or the "grecn hell"; as a "demographic vacuum’, or a ‘virgin area"; as
an area of unlimited resources, a world's reserve or "Eldorado", as the
“earth's lungs"; and at the same time as a tegion of extreme poverty.
The word Amazonia originated from the Greck mythology of the
Amazonas, described by Herodotus in his Histories, as the strongest and
Fiercest women ever known, supposedly found by European
conquerors and travellers among tribes of the region
Such mythical interpretations reflect a lack of knowledge, geo-
Political interests and search for easy fortunes, Throughout history, the
mythological interpretations, contributing to devastating effects on the
environment and perpetuating false images of the region:
mythic projections and the fantasies of explorers, freebooters, missionaries,
builders of empire, naturalists, Romantics, and transcendentalists, have
imposed upon the Amazon preconceptions that have exacted a heavy price:
a refusal to permit the Amazon to tell its own story (Hecht and Cockbum
1990: 15),
In reality, the Amazon is one of the largest natural reserves with
a great degree of diversity: physically, biologically, culturally,
politically and economically. The term Amazonia-implies a planetary
view that conceals the enormous differences, conflicts, peoples,
cultures, resources and economic vocations within it. As one author,
referring to America, pointed out;
Ttwould be interesting to know whether in the field of science has not been.
aan ‘objectivisation’ of America; that is to say, if America has not been
evaluated simply as an object of study from which to swell an intellectual’s
‘curriculum vitae, and not asa human, creative world (Mix 1992: 22)
It is from the sixties that scientific research on the Amazon takes
impetus, setting the basis for a more realistic view of the region.
During the seventies, the projects RADAM in Brazil and PRORADAM.
in Colombia were developed, creating important data-bases of its
natural resources, Graduate studies and research concerning the
Amazon are strengthened in the Amazonian countries, and foreign
Scholars intensified their studies emphasising the need for empirical
work in the region, generally in co-operation with local institutions.
Such extraordinary work generated the basis for a more realistic
approach of Amazonian history that is becoming institutional within
the Amazonian countries, and within the region itself.
There exists global awareness regarding the failure of
technological models imported from developed countries that has
caused devastation, concentration of wealth in a few hands and
increase of poverty in the Amazon region. This problematique requires a
new treatment. It is necessary to modify this way of thinking and look
for alternatives to value the forest as living nature with all its diversity
and wealth.
The need for a new development approach
Science is surely not sufficient to solve all problems of the
Amazon, but it does contribute through the consolidation of research to
environmentally-friendly policies and techniques. In this sense, new
scientific approaches are needed involving (1) a new theoretical framework for the concept of development; (2) interdisciplinary work;
and (3) networking.
A new theoretical framework of development
Literature on the theme of development is overwhelming, and
covers all possible fields, but it is after the UN Conference on Human
Environment, Stockholm 1972, that established concepts. of
development based on economic growth at any-cost were seriously
challenged. This led to the world-known concept of sustainable
development in the Bruntland Report, "Our Common Future” (WCED
1987). -
Birgitta Dahl (1992: 30), the ex-Minister of Environment in
Sweden declared just before the meoting of UNCED/92 that, only 500
million people, or about 10% of the population of the world, would be
able ‘to live today on the earth “as we live, in rich industrialised
countries, with the same standards of living and using the same
technologies, without destroying the planet." This statement
synthesises the global problem and dilemma that the present model of
development poses.
During the opening session of UNCED/92, Maurice Strong,
General Secretary of the Conference was emphatic when he stated that
over the past two decades between the Conferences of Stockholm in
1972 and Rio in 1992,
the world GDP increased by USS20 trillion. Yet only 15 per cent of the
inerease accrued to developing countries. Over 70 per cent went t0 the
already rich countries, adding further to their disproportionate pressures on
the environment resources and life-support systems of our planet (Strong
‘Some 80% of the population in the Third World will most likely
enter the twenty-first century with the same level of misery and
poverty existing today. What is more alarming is that the resource
‘consumption by a child bom in the developed countries vis-2-vis that
of developing countries will remain 20 to 30 times greater, perhaps
even more.
Itis evident that humanity is entering a period of crisis and new
challenges at the end of this century. Although political conflicts and
tensions have mitigated with the end the cold war, new areas of
conflict have emerged around the issue of access and control of natural
resources. The contradictions between economic growth and
environmental preservation have grown and begun to threaten the
survival of the already impoverished populations in poor countries, as.
well as patterns of high consumption in the rich countries. The capacity
to sustain life on earth is gradually diminishing as a consequence of
increasing atmospheric pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, and other
environmentally deteriorating factors (Rattner 1993a).
Environmental problems have a global impact; but they affect in
a more striking manner the poor populations in poor and rich
countries alike. The poor live in the worst of two worlds: "they do not
have the advantages of our civilisation, but bear the complete costs of
this civilisation in the form of environmental degradation" (Sachs 1992:
7). The challenge for science is to formulate alternatives to these
situations of inequality and injustice. Science also needs to gencrate
development strategies to sustain acceptable levels of life-quality for
today's populations, assuring similar or better levels for future
erations. That is, to discover new paradigms for development and a
new world order.
Necessities and technological limitations related to utilisation of
resources are key concepts in this new theoretical formulation of
development. Fulfilment of human necessities should happen in
sustainable conditions, that is, without destroying nature; using
appropriate technologies for exploration of resources mainly available
at local levels; and considering that all levels are integrated into a big
global system.
Whatever the reformulation of the concept of development will
be, it must consider simultaneously the following five dimensions of
sustainability (Sachs 1993a):
1. Social sustainability: refers principally to the question of whom
development is for? Who are the beneficiaries of development? The
process of development is sustained by people, men and women,
groups and individuals. In the final analysis, it is man who develops.
The rest: science, economics, politics, technology are instruments
properly or poorly used (Mendes 1987). Therefore, social sustainability
means that the process of development should be centred on the well-
being of Man: "The goal is to construct a civilisation with more equity
in the distribution of income and goods, in order to reduce the gap
between rich and poor" (Sachs 1993a: 37).
2. Economic sustainability: requires a more efficient system of
allocation and management of resources. Furthermore, it requires a
new attitude towards exploration of natural resources, attributing to them correct values for their use and for the services that nature
provides to sustain life on earth. Social, environmental and human
benefits should be the centre of economics.
3. Ecological sustainability: creativity is needed to replace a
developmentalist thinking centred on economic growth at any cost.
Development and environmental preservation are two faces of the
same coin that should be seen as complementary, rather than
contradictory. Environmental questions are not on ecology per se, but
on human actions. Environmental issues are primarily centred on
relations among men, which determine different attitudes and actions
on the environment. Therefore, changing the way men relate among.
themselves will affect their relations with the environment, emerging
ew ways of transforming nature (Benjamim 1990). Dy inteusifying the
use of natural resources with minimum damage to ecosystems, the
carrying capacity of earth can be enhanced. Recycling should be used
intensively to reduce residuals and waste. Exploration and use of non-
polluting sources of energy including wind and solar energy, as well
as fuels from renewable resources should be intensified.
4. Spatial sustainability: it should begin with the creation of a new
world order. The extreme differences between North and South should
be narrowed. Fair transfer of technology and terms of trade should
exist between North and South. Internally, sharp differences between
urban and rural, and disparities between regions should be reduced,
5. Cultural sustainability: means recognition of the importance of
‘ocal cultures and endogenous ways towards modernity. Appropriate
technologies and non-predatory forms of resource management should
be considered. Development can not be imposed hy outside forcec, but
should instead grow from within, helping and assisting groups to find
their own ways within their own cultural patterns. Mendes (1987) goos
as far as stating that development,-when imposed, is a form of
dictatorship, or at the minimum of authoritarianism.
Interdisciplinary work
Interdisciplinary work is another element necessary in scientific
research for the construction of alternative theories of development.
Interdisciplinary work is the integration of fragmented knowledge
possessed by specialists from different fields, applied to specific
problems. In this sense interdisciplinary work is a practice to create
epistemological frameworks to interpret reality. Well grounded
knowledge of specialised fields is a condition for interdisciplinary
work, but new attitudes are needed for specialists to work together:
willingness of working jointly, recognition of limitations, openness to
criticisms, eagerness to learn from others, and humility.
Changes in scientific approaches and attitudes of scientists are
emerging as old paradigms are unable to respond to issues of today.
Distinctions between disciplinary boundaries; between specialisation
and generalisation; between pure and applied research are becoming
harder to make. The role and meaning of science itself is being
questioned. Paradigms dominated by positivism divided science into
multiple (unlimited) fields, bringing with them an equal number of
specialists unable to grasp the whole.
Modern civilisation was built on the principles of science,
understood as objective explanation. But questions are arising: science
for whom?, who should be the beneficiaries of science? what type of
research should be conducted?, and is it possible to explain and
control everything through science? Science is another expression of
culture (especially of modern western culture), other cultural
expressions and values exist through which many people behave and
for which science does not have much meaning (Shweder and LeVine
1993).
Interdisciplinary work offers an alternative to deal with these
scientific dilemmas. Interdisciplinary work is a practice in everyday
activities and occurs more often than we really think. It is necessary
however, to recognise its value and be ready to learn from one another.
New scientific approaches require leadership based on co-operation,
systemic view of the world, promotion of human potential, collective
action and sharing of information, as opposed to traditional attributes
of leaders based on authoritarianism, secrecy, individualism, and
hierarchy (Rattner 1993b).
Networking
A third key clement for reformulating the concept of
development is networking. It is impossible to work today in isolation.
Co-operation is essential particularly among developing countries.
Networking speeds up transfer of technology and maximises financial
and technical resources. Lack of well-developed and well-functioning
communication systems between scientists in developing countries
keep them isolated from the mainstreams of progress. They are cut off
from vital information denying them the insights and experiences of
other institutions. South-South co-operation programmes should therefore be fortified. This co-operation may take various forms;
ranging from the exchange of information and of scientists, to the
participation of institutions in commonly agreed research programmes.
Co-operation among scientists and/or institutions acts as an incentive
to keep them in their own institutions, and thereby reduce brain-drain
that is so common in peripheral regions (Von Droste and
Schreckenberg 1991).
An important element that should contribute to a new
formulation and action for development in relation to the Amazon is
the activity of the scientific community in organising meetings to
discuss, analyse and propose actions towards a sustainable
development of the’ region. While these initiatives used to be the
exclusive privilege of foreign organisations, and were generally based
in foreign countries, such meetings are occurring with greater
frequency in the Amazonian countries and in the region itself. Since
1980, these meetings were directly or indirectly related to UNCED/92.1
One of the reasons to hold UNCED/92 in Brazil was because the
Amazonian question attracted world attention, although during the
Conference itself the Amazonian issue ‘was treated only mariginally.
Outside the conference however, the Amazon was one of the most
important issues discussed in Brazil and in other Amazonian countries,
as was demonstrated by the active role of the Amazon Cooperation
'since 1980, several conferences were organised to discuss specifically the development
problems ofthe Region and propose shitons Among the ment imporant by ek ees,
umber of patpants an material produced were®“Man and News he hese
Tabinge (Germany), 2628 May 1886, oguine by te Carman Associaton of Reps oh
Latin Ammerka (ADAGE) tKonitepp sn Schader 198) “Aeron the Apseoth
oti Twenty Yur Later Bel Greil, Decombe 1888, crganoed by te Emtie Get
Museum (na and Olvars 1591), °A Latin Amerean Steps for Amazbni Se Ren
Braid, 25.27 March 182 orgaisd by he Latin Aces Memoat Gavan HTN hay
and Frcs for Sine Drolpan ihe Mester Couns he Ares Co
Operation Treaty" Caracas (Vener, 2-25 Novenber 1, orgeed hy AC? TA
Bria); “Ersronent, Poverty and Developmen! of the Amazon Beem ea, Se
Eebraary 199, gated bythe Secret of Science, Tachlogy and Enviorcney oie
State of Park SECTAM 1992) and the sre of conferences, seater, couie and wolstone
cxznsed ty the Anoviaton of Amazonian Universities (UNAMAS) te cat
espacial, “Human Populations sit Amazonian Development Horenss Catan
14:16 November 188 (Aragon and Inbiin 1989), Conto of Mercury Const ee
Amazon Region: New Tochwoiotes and Environmental Edueation* Belen ase ee
December 169 (Cuimares, ea 194);"Ensirnmentl Law a th Amazonian Guetons
elem (Bazi, 78 December 569 (Dourado 1), Hrlogel Dsonder in Anson Boe
Brat, 28 Geotar! November 190 Avan 199), Entonnenay, Sound Soa
tonomic Development inthe Humid Tropics” Manaus (Sans 1319 aga
omic bev pies” Manaus (Gran, 109 jane 992 (Aragon
Treaty (ACT), the multiple meetings and follow-ups concerning the
region, and the significant representation of NGOs dealing with
‘Amazonian issues in the Global Forum. Thanks to efforts of ACT, the
Presidents of the Amazonian countries met twice in Manaus, in May
1989 and in February 1992, and on both occasions arrived at joint
declarations emphasising co-operative responsibility concerning the
future of the region, while also stressing the sovereignty of these
countries over the Amazonian territories of their respective countries.
By the time of the Conference, ACT elaborated and approved a set of
some 54 programmes and 200 projects to be implemented jointly and
individually by all eight countries in the next century, involving the
Pro-tempore Secretariat and ACT Special Commissions on
environment, science and technology, health, Indian affairs, tourism,
and infrastructure, transportation and communications. Its
implementation will depend on international co-operation, availability
of resources, economic stabilisation, and co-ordination among
scientific, academic and planning institutions, together with social
actors of the region. It is definitely a big step and a demonstration of a
political will to promote local Agenda-21s.
‘The importance that the Amazon represents for humanity
As a result of those efforts, there is today, sufficient evidence of
the importance that the Amazon represents for humanity. A relevant
number of publications and other materials have been produced in the
Amazonian countries and in the region itself, adding further
documentation to the one produced by a cohort of researchers,
especially from USA, Germany, France and UK, that during the 1970s
and 1980s, alerted to the dangers of the way public policies were
implemented in the Amazon and proposed possible solutions.
AbSaber (1992) lists some 210 recent publications dealing specifically
with recommendations for development implementation in the
Brazilian Amazon alone.
‘Whatever the proposals for development, they must consider
that unsuccessful past policies left deep scars on the physical and social
environment of the Amazon region and that severe problems
generated by such policies require prompt solutions. The scope of
Proposals for a desirable scenario is summarised by Dourojeanni
(1990): ‘Some may consider, openly or in private, that, ideally, one should not to
have any kind of development in the remaining tropical forests ..] The other
extreme, changing the entire humid tropics into a cultural landscape, like
that presently covering most of the temperate latitudes of the planet, is quite
‘.common view. The desirable soenario would be a compromise between the
"freezers" and the "developers", but would probably lean on the side of the
latter. Nevertheless, it must differ strongly from "traditional development" in
‘many crucial respects (Dourojeanni 1990: 355).
Diversity in all its dimensioris: biological, social, cultural,
political, economic, is a key concept to understand and treat this new
reality (Becker 1994). The direct and mutual relationships existing
between sociodiversity and biodiversity have been demonstrated by
scientific research in the Amazon. Different forms of social
organication have been explained as solutions found by human groups
to overcome environmental limitations or explore natural resources
more efficiently. Different forms of social organisation induce changes
in or reveal different patterns of biodiversity, and even human
biological diversity is considered to be intricately linked to different
forms of social organisation (Neves 1992). According to one author, the
Amazon region should be considered as an integrated system of micro-
regions or "spatial cells", very different from each other but internally
homogeneous to certain degree (Ab'Saber 1989). Any proposal for
development will depend on knowledge of these “spatial cells", their
ecologies, their peoples and their societies. There is no room for macro-
projects applicable to the whole region, putting together people that
have lived there for millennia and those that have just arrived; areas of
diverse economic vocations, cultures, ecologies, fauna, flora and soils;
or caboclos, Indians, colonisers, gold prospectors, ranchers, urban
dwellers and many other groups that inhabit the region today.
The Amazon region is the earth's largest area covered by
tropical rain forest, representing 60% of the world's tropical forestarea,
Its area and population, estimated to be 7.5 million square kilometres
and 23 million people; are shared by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela?.
Delimitation of the Amazon region and estimation of its population are controversial issues
‘in specialised literature. Physically, there are at least two ways of delimiting the Amazon
region, generating consequently different estimates of area ate population’ The Amazon
Basin refer to the hydrographic basin integrated by the Amazon river and all its tributaries.
By this criteria, the surface of the region is estimated in about 73 million square Kilometres
{ts relief rises from zero to more than 5,000 meters above sea level, and cities such as La Paz
at 4,000 metcrs above sea level) is within the basin, and therefore, would be Amazonian. This
Bach country sharing the region has its own political regime, and
public policies concerning the region varies from country to country.
Likewise, the area and population from each country that are part of
the Amazon vary, as well as the proportion of area and population
shared by each country. An important feature is that more people of
the region today live in urban rather than in rural areas. Migration
towards the Amazon region originated principally from the Andes
and North-eastern Brazil. It was caused mainly by the unresolved-
socio-economic problems in these areas, consequently generating
similar problems in the lowlands. Accentuation of these problems and
conflicts such as concentration of land ownership, violence and cocaine
trafficking, stimulated intense rural-urban migration within the
Amazon region itself.
‘The Amazon basin contributes to a fifth of the planet's fresh
water, and with 15% of fresh water flowing into the Ocean. The
Amazon tropical forest is a concentration of the most fabulous
biodiversity of the planet. The term biodiversity is a concise form
referring to the variety of genes, and the multiplicity of species of
organisms found in a single area together with the variety of
ecosystems within. The Amazonian forest possesses at least half of all
animal and vegetative species of the planet, estimated between 5 and
30 million. Commercially, there are estimates of 2,000 species with
medicinal properties, of which five are already processed and
principle eliminates Suriname and French Guana of the region, because thir rivers a0
‘iret to the Aantis Ocean and not o the Amazon river. Another physical criteria to define
the Amazon region isthe arex continuously covered by tropicl rin forest andl dominated by the
“Amazon river, In this caro, the ara larger than fhe basin, covering some 75 milion square
lulometres. Areas of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela not covered by the
‘Ariavonlan bain sre lode acorn wo Ws cleva Dt ares tlw ta Une Aen
basin in Brail and other countries are excluded because they are not covered by that type of
‘vegetation. A thid criteria for delimitation of the Amazon tepion is political and cultural, Some
countries have delimited for administrative or planning purposes their own Amazon regions
In Brail and Colombia there exist the delimitation of Legal Amazonia. In Colombia sath of
‘he Guaviore river and in Brazil th area covered by the States of Rondnia, Acre, Amazonas,
Roraima, Pars, Amapé, Tocantins, Mato Gross, and Maraniio (West ofthe aith Meridian)
In Brazil this delimitation ditfers fom the Classical Amazon (Northern region, which exudes
the states of Mato Grosso and Maranhio. In Venezuela there is the Federal Teriory of
‘Amazonas, where the actions for planning are taken. In some cases these polteal
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