Browsing by Subject "Land use systems"

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Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Sekundärwalderhaltung im Bundesstaat Sucre, Venezuela - Brachewirtschaft, Agroforstsysteme und forstliche Nutzung in der kleinbäuerlichen Landwirtschaft -
(2003) Valqui Haase, Alexis Holger; Heidhues, Franz
Half a billion people are considered as direct actors of tropical deforestation. Especially those, who live in the tropics in forest areas or nearby forests as peasants and landless people. They use and destroy the tropical forests by trying to secure the subsistence of their families. This study analysis the leading socio-economic and legal factors of the use and destruction of forest ecosystems in the small scale agriculture of the Paria Region, in the State Sucre, Venezuela. In the Paria Region the small scale agricultural systems secure their subsistence especially trough the cultivation of agricultural products in fallow systems and agroforestry systems. Following questions are treated: In which way does the agrarian reform law and the local land tenure as well as the forest law and the forest politics influence the protection of forests by peasants? How does the landuse systems contribute to the income and subsistence assurance of peasant families as well as to deforestation? Which functions does the forests fulfil from the point of view of the peasants and what benefit could they realise from the forests? A quantitative and qualitative approach was chosen. Standardised survey as well as econometric and statistical data analysis methods, like Cluster analysis and logistical regression, are combined with semistructured interviews and qualitative analysis methods. Conclusions: Forests are seen in the agrarian reform law as well as at community level primarily as a reserve for agricultural land. The "agrarian occupation" which follows the principle, land is owned by them who use it, is an instrument to avoid land concentration. But in countries like Venezuela it has also deforestation as consequence, where forests are seen as land that is not in use. The fact that forests are seen as land that is not in use or even useless land is reinforced by the restriction which peasants are confronted with, due to the forest law and it's implementation, when they wanted to use the forests for income generation. Also the function of the forests as supplier of subsistence goods for the families is loosing importance because of the substitution of this goods by industrial ones. This restriction and development has the consequence that peasants become more and more "disinterested forests managers". The comparison of the fallow systems and agroforestry systems of the Paria Region shows that agroforestry systems are relative better from the view of income generation and forests conservation. They have a lower land productivity, but they have a relative high work productivity and generated better distributed income. On the other side they are less forest destructive. In most of the cases they can be even seen as secondary forests.