From Bolivia: Reflections on Preservation of Madidi National Park

The ¨pristine myth¨ of virgin Amazonian wilderness has been debunked. As Charles Mann describes in 1491, humans had been constructing their natural environment --what we deem "wilderness"-- for centuries before the arrival of Columbus.  What does this mean for preservationist tactics that have been at the forefront of  the 20th century western conservation stategy?

With the support from the UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies through their student project grants program and the UC Davis International Relations department, I have travelled to the community of Santa Cruz del Valle Ameno in the municipio Apolo, within the borders of the ¨Integrated Manegement Natural Area - Madidi National Park¨ in North-east Bolivia.

The town has a rich history as a center of missionary activity for the whole area. The mixing of cultures through missionary activity has left the town´s 65 families with a complex relationship and blending of their indigenous identities.  Only having recieved electricity in last five years, they are now also experiencing a novel interaction with western media.

They are traditionally agriculturalists, with most communities practicing an ecologically sound form of agroforestry. However, in recent years, the majority of men have left home to work in the illegal gold mines of the parks interior.  I am interested in writing about changing views of health within the community since the recent arrival of pharmeceuticals and industrialized food.

I have been "adopted" by the towns plant medicine healer, Ramiro, and his family.  My experience in their home has been of mutual benefit.  He has offered me complete access to his wealth of information, helped translate interviews with the Qechua speaking community, and offered me advice and friendship. In return, I have been helping him in moving forward his dream of a community based traditional medicine center that would invite foreigners to be cured, and serve as the hospital for the local communities that only see the traveling doctor every few months.

I have been helping him with early construction of the center, and assisting him in writing proposals for credit from public banks. We have visited the Minister of Biodiversity, the Minister of Alternative Medicine, the National Park Service, and several banks and indigenous rights advocacy groups.

In addition to doing research for my senior honors thesis on ¨Health and Conservation in the Indigenous Communities of Madidi NP¨ and helping Ramiro with the center, I have organized the kids in town to
work together to build a trash bench (see example right and below, completed before my trip).  The grass streets are littered with plastic wrappers and tin cans. I returned from La Paz with a bag of toys, dolls, soccer balls and colored pencils as incentive. 

I have begun trading the kids a toy for five bottles completely stuffed full of trash.  In the afternoons, after school gets out, they go around the streets collecting trash.  Then, in the evening, we sit in front of my
house stuffing bottles and reading stories to each other.  It is safe to say that I am very popular with the under 13 crowd. 

So far, I have received 75 bottles. I hope to collect another 75 by the end of the month, and then build a bench by stacking the bottles with adobe to hold them together.  This bench will be one of 1000 benches that my friend, and UC Davis alumni, Brennan Blazer Bird, is inspiring around the world. See YouTube video about this project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrtxwDp5Ptc&NR=1

Willie Roberts, undergraduate, International Relations with emphasis on land and energy use in Latin America