Dissertation Research: Common Property-Uncommon Interests: Pastoral resource management and eco-tourism in the Reserva de Huascaran, Peru

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation research in ecological anthropology studies the factors affecting traditional pasture use and common property management in a highland biosphere reserve in Ancash, Peru. The project studies the interaction of ecotourism and pastoral land use among subsistence-based agro-pastoral households. The theories explored in the research contribute to our understanding of individual decision-making, common property resource management, and conservation in mixed subsistence-market economies. Hypotheses will be tested that link changes in herd size and composition to incentives generated by the ecotourism industry; specifically that household earnings are being invested in livestock and that the preference is shifting toward animals suited for the portering and transport services demanded by visiting tourists. Household surveys of market participation, monetary income and livestock ownership will help to track recent changes in herd size and composition associated with recent changes in household economic activity. The study will extend the analysis of subsistence-market articulation by considering how the socio-economic changes associated with market involvement affect the use of common property pastures located in the core-protected area of the reserve. Hypotheses will be tested that link decisions regarding the use of common property pastures to differences in household wealth and labor, and will additionally explore how existing common property institutions manage the resource use of diverse households. The spatial and temporal herding behaviors of sample households will be assessed by participant observation and time allocation data, which will be linked to an existing geographic information system. Observations of spatial and temporal herding behaviors will be supplemented by vegetation/soil analyses of common property pastures. This research will contribute to an understanding of the ecology of resource use at different scales of the household, community, and landscape; as well as further ongoing debates about the sustainability of development options common to many biosphere reserves. It will also contribute to the training of a young social scientist and advance our knowledge about this important highland region.