2003/12/01 by Derek Smith, Derek A. Smith · 1 citation
Environmental Science · #Anthropology #Archaeology #Citizen journalism #Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management #Ecology #Environmental planning #Environmental resource management #Geography #Indigenous #Local community #Natural resource #Participatory action research #Political science #Socioeconomics #Sociology #Subsistence agriculture #Wildlife #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
paper · doi:10.17730/humo.62.4.cye51kbmmjkc168k
openalex publication_date 2003/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Indigenous peoples living in the rain forest regions of Central america have detailed mental maps of streams, topography, and land cover of large areas surrounding their villages. they also have the skills to make important contributions to geographic research that can help them manage their natural resources and defend their historic rights to their lands. Participatory research among the Buglé of western Panama incorporated several local investigators who, among other tasks, facilitated community mapping sessions and administered weekly questionnaires on hunting activities in their respective communities. Part of their work consisted of drawing sketch maps showing the locations where game animals were captured. Local investigators and the author together plotted these hunting kill sites onto 1:50,000 topographic base maps. Over 1,500 questionnaires were administered and roughly 1,300 kill sites were documented, showing the spatial distribution of hunting yields of 59 households over a period of eight months. Although the participatory methods were not free from difficulties, the research process made it possible to produce detailed maps of game extraction over a considerable area—maps that would have otherwise been impossible to create. the local investigators were thus active participants in the production of information that will help explain the relationships between indigenous peoples and their environment and provide new understanding of the impacts of subsistence hunting on wildlife populations.