Sustainable Land Management in Latin America Essay -- Environment Envi

Sustainable Land Management in Latin America â€Å"The enthusiastic celebration of indigenous skills can be the basis of alternative strategies of development.† – W.M. Adams Introduction The sustainability of land management practices in developing countries is in question currently as a way to address poverty. Yet, this investigation is often done with the assumption that people in developing countries are acting irresponsibly and their behavior must be corrected by more enlightened conservationists from North America , Europe , and northern Asia . An analysis of the history of different land management practices shows that environmental degradation was often the result of colonial disruption of indigenous peoples. In the 1990 book Green Development by W.M. Adams, sustainable development is defined as practices designed to protect the environment and involve communities in making decisions. Land management practices developed by indigenous communities offer the best chance for sustainable development in Latin America today. Pre-Columbian land management practices in Latin America A diversity of cultures flourished in the Caribbean , Central and South America , before European conquistadors arrived, changing and using the land and resources to feed communities, build cities, raise temples, and govern empires. Land management practices were developed to be specific to their regions over the course of thousands of years in human communities. Prescribed burns were used in the pà ¡ramo of Costa Rica to promote desired kinds of vegetation (Horn, 1998). Raised fields created in the swamps of Mexico, Colombia , and Ecuador yielded large harvests (Atkins, Roberts, and Simmons, 1998) (Yapa, 2003). In the Venezuel... ...ly human fire mastery revealed.† BBC News Online. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3670017.stm Shetler, Jan Bender (2004). â€Å"Sugar and the Industrial Era.†Environmental History Lecture. Goshen College . Sluyter, Andrew (2002). Colonialism and Landscape. Lanham , Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Watts , Sheldon (1999). Epidemic and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism. New Haven , Conn. : Yale University Press. Yapa, Kashyapa A. S. (2003, July 1). â€Å"Floodwater Management, The American Way †: Past and Present.† The Diary of a Polit-Eco Tourist. Retrieved November 7, 2004 , from http://kyapa.tripod.com/agengineering/drainage-lowland/drainage.htm Zimmerer, Karl S. And Kenneth R. Young, eds. (1998). Nature's Geography: New Lessons for Conservation in Developing Countries. Madison , Wis. : The University of Wisconsin Press. Sustainable Land Management in Latin America Essay -- Environment Envi Sustainable Land Management in Latin America â€Å"The enthusiastic celebration of indigenous skills can be the basis of alternative strategies of development.† – W.M. Adams Introduction The sustainability of land management practices in developing countries is in question currently as a way to address poverty. Yet, this investigation is often done with the assumption that people in developing countries are acting irresponsibly and their behavior must be corrected by more enlightened conservationists from North America , Europe , and northern Asia . An analysis of the history of different land management practices shows that environmental degradation was often the result of colonial disruption of indigenous peoples. In the 1990 book Green Development by W.M. Adams, sustainable development is defined as practices designed to protect the environment and involve communities in making decisions. Land management practices developed by indigenous communities offer the best chance for sustainable development in Latin America today. Pre-Columbian land management practices in Latin America A diversity of cultures flourished in the Caribbean , Central and South America , before European conquistadors arrived, changing and using the land and resources to feed communities, build cities, raise temples, and govern empires. Land management practices were developed to be specific to their regions over the course of thousands of years in human communities. Prescribed burns were used in the pà ¡ramo of Costa Rica to promote desired kinds of vegetation (Horn, 1998). Raised fields created in the swamps of Mexico, Colombia , and Ecuador yielded large harvests (Atkins, Roberts, and Simmons, 1998) (Yapa, 2003). In the Venezuel... ...ly human fire mastery revealed.† BBC News Online. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3670017.stm Shetler, Jan Bender (2004). â€Å"Sugar and the Industrial Era.†Environmental History Lecture. Goshen College . Sluyter, Andrew (2002). Colonialism and Landscape. Lanham , Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Watts , Sheldon (1999). Epidemic and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism. New Haven , Conn. : Yale University Press. Yapa, Kashyapa A. S. (2003, July 1). â€Å"Floodwater Management, The American Way †: Past and Present.† The Diary of a Polit-Eco Tourist. Retrieved November 7, 2004 , from http://kyapa.tripod.com/agengineering/drainage-lowland/drainage.htm Zimmerer, Karl S. And Kenneth R. Young, eds. (1998). Nature's Geography: New Lessons for Conservation in Developing Countries. Madison , Wis. : The University of Wisconsin Press.