Reframing the fire narrative in Canaima National Park,

Venezuela__________________________________

Roles of science transforming an environmental conflict

“Pathways to Sustainability: Agendas for New Politics of Environment, Development and Social Justice” Conference

STEPS Centre, Sussex University, Brighton, September 23-24, 2010

Iokiñe Rodriguez, Bibiana Bilbao, Isabelle Sanchez-Rose and Alejandra LealVenezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) and Simon Bolivar University

Canaima National Park

• 3 million hectares

• Ancestral Pemonindigenous homelands

• Population: approximately 20.000 Pemon

• Since 1994 UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site 400 km

Colombia

Caribean Sea

Brazil

Guyana

CanaimaNational Park

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF CANAIMA NATIONAL PARK’S FORESTS

400 km

GURI DAM:Production of 77% of country’s electricity

THE FOREST-SAVANNAH MOSAIC

DOMINANT FIRE NARRATIVE

• An area originally covered by forests has been converted mostly to savannahs by fire.

• The Pemon use of fire is responsible for a gradual savannization process and a reduction of forests area.

• The Pemon have no knowledge of sustainable use of fire(stigmatised as pyromaniacs, “Los Quemones” (the burners), attributed among others, to the belief that they are resent arrivals to the area.

• If actions are not taken the Gran Sabana will be turned into the Great Dessert in a matter of one or two centuries.

•Need to create a fire control programme in the area.

FIRE CONTROL PROGRAMME

Foto:Bjorn StletoFoto:Bjorn Stleto

OUTCOME

•Great investment in fire control ($500.000 annualy)

•Failure achieving a reduction in theuse of Pemon fires.

•Pemon silent resistance.

MAIN FEATURES

• Technology-dependent way to control fires

• External control

• Exclusion of Pemon ancestral firemanagement methods.

ROLE OF SCIENCE REPRODUCING THE FIRE NARRATIVE

• Environmental practitioners and researchers view fire as an external component of the landscape.

• Emphasis on explaining ecological fragility of the area and not the fire regimes.

• Partial explanations of forest-savannah dynamics and environmental change which are generalised.

• Short term ecological studies.

•For cleaning and maintaining paths clean.

•To maintain the landscape “tidy” and “attractive”

•To Prevent large catastrophic fires.

• For communication

• Hunting (rampūn)

• Slash and burn agriculture (in forest areas)

• To keep themselves warm

• To scare dangerous animals away

• As a cure of diseases (fire has magical properties)

• To catch grasshoppers

• To dry wood

• To help fishing

PEMON USES OF FIRE

ONGs

ACTORS

CORPOELEC (formerly EDELCA)

INPARQUES

UNESCO

PemonElders

YoungPemon

EnvironmentMinistry

InternacionalNationalRegionalLocal

UNEG:Centro de

Investigaciones Ecológicas

de Guayana

IVIC: EcologyCentre, Social

Studies ofScienceCentre

USB, Laboratorio de Dinámica de Comunidadesy Procesos Ecológicos

Texas University, USA

Instituto Botánico

de Barcelona,

España

UCV: CENDES

IZTEstación Científica

de Parupa

Bolivar StateIndigenousFederation TNC

CHALLENGE TO ACHIEVE A TRANSFORMATION

OF THE FIRE CONFLICT

CHANGE IN POWER RELATIONS IN KNOWLEDGE

PRODUCTION SYSTEM

COUNTER NARRATIVE OF FIRE

Develop plural environmental policies that represent different viewpoints of fire, its use and its impactsFINAL AIM

THROUGH......

● Generation of new scientific knowledge

● Giving more visibility to marginalised knowledge

● Public confrontation of weak aspects of the narrative (scientific controversies)

● Catalysing processes of collective deliberation and analysis.

COUNTER NARRATIVES CAN.......

• Help build scenarios or arguments that people find more convincing than the narrative (Roe 1991).

• Help re-focus the narrative so that it becomes less questionable (Roe 2004).

• Play an important role helping a conflict over different forms of knowledge transcend from a latent state to a manifested one so that its substantives issues can be understood and addressed.

ROLES FOR “EXPERTS”

• Carry out research

BUT ALSO:

• Strengthen vulnerable actors, help to clarify local views• Create interactive process of research and action• Trigger open confrontation of views (publish research

results, give rise to controversies)• Mobilise support- build coalitions between experts and

practitioners• Facilitation-catalyse public discussions

EVOLUTION OF THE FIRE COUNTER NARRATIVE IN

CANAIMA NATIONAL PARK

STAGES

STAGE 1(1999-2007)

Spontaneous, un-coordinted efforts by different actors.

STAGE 2 (2007- to present)

Coordinated efforts with an institutional base acting as dialogue and coalition builder (Risk Project)

“RISK FACTORS IN THE REDUCTION OF HABITATS IN CANAIMA NATIONAL PARK: VULNERABILITY AND TOOLS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”

PROJECT

Universidad Simón Bolívar (USB) RESEARCH

TEAMEcologists

Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC)

EngineersAgronomy/Forestry

Estación Científica de Parupa-CVG INTERINSTITUTIONAL MULDISCIPLINARY Mathematicians

KNOWLEDGE ARTICULATION(RESEARCH APPROACH)

Universidad Experimental de Guayana (UNEG)

Sociologists

AnthropologistsCentro de Estudios para el Desarrollo (CENDES-UCV)

SOCIALPRACTITIONERS

ENVIRONMENTALPRACTITIONERS

PEMON

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

Evaluate the ecological and socio-institutional vulnerability of the park at different spatial and time scales, with the aim of developing indicators and tools for the management of risks and for sustainable development of the area.

RESEARCH APPROACH

Plural and participative (allowing to take into account in a broad way the different perspective and interests at stake in the search for viable and sustainable solutions to the existent problems)

THE COUNTER NARRATIVE PROCESSES

1. ALTERNATIVE SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF FIRE

DATE DISCIPLINARY FIELD

AREA OF RESEARCH

1999 Social Studies Different perspectives of fire, with emphasis on Pemon views/knowledge (Iokine Rodriguez)

2002-2006 Social studies Power relations in the production of knowledge over fire. Effects of cultural change in Pemon use of fire (Bjorn Sletto)

2005 to present

Socio-ecological studies Scientific validation of Pemon fire management system based on long term fire experiments (Bibiana Bilbao, AlejandraLeal, Carlos Mendez)

Social perception of fire by different park actors as a risk factor (Isabelle Sanchez-Rose-Hebe Vessuri)

Paleo-ecological reconstruction of fire in the Gran Sabana landscape (AlejandraLeal, Bibiana Bilbao)

1999-2009 Ecological Studies Ecological behaviour of fire and its impacts, in long term experiments (10 years) (Bibiana Bilbao)

MAIN FINDINGS

PEMON VIEW OF FIRE AND OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

In the “traditional” Pemon world-view fire is an integral part of the landscape and of Pemon cultural identity.

Pemon use of fire is based on an ancestral cooperative system of savannah patch mosaic burning (prescribed burning).

One of the main reasons to use fire is to prevent large forest fires. Fire is controlled with fire.

Rather than many fires, the problem is lack of sufficient fires. Fuel build-up in 10 km perimeters of communities subject to greater cultural change.

Noticeable difference in the knowledge of young Pemon about ancestral system of fire management in communities subject to greater cultural change.

ECOLOGICAL BEHAVIOUR OF FIRE

Fires do not take place in the same place annually.

Savannah vegetation in the area takes 2, 3 to 4 years to recover.

This generates a savannah mosaic with different fire histories.

By increasing fuel accumulation discontinuity and its characteristics, it should be possible to reduce fires in high risk areas (ecological base for patch mosaic burning)

DIFFERENT PERCEPTIONS OF FIRE AS A RISK FACTOR

Achieving a sustainable management of fire requires greater discussion about: what the fire problem is? how it is interpreted? how are its impacts viewed and ¿how fire affects the interests of different actors?

PEMON SAVANNAH PATCH BURNING

• An area originally covered by forests has been converted mostly to savannahs by fire.

• The Pemon use of fire is responsible for a gradual savannization process and a reduction of forests area.

• The Pemon have no knowledge of sustainable use of fire (stigmatised as piromaniacs,“Los Quemones” (the burners), attributed among others, to the belief that they are resent arrivals to the area.

• Fire is an external component of the Gran Sabana Landscape.

• If actions are not taken the GranSabana will be turned into the Great Dessert in a matter of one or two centuries.

• Need to create a fire control programme in the area.

NARRATIVE

• Savannahs been the predominate vegetation in the areas for thousand of years.

• Fire is an integral component of the Gran Sabana landscape.

• Fire has to be considered one of a variety of factors that could be contributing to vegetation change in the area.

• The Pemon have an ancestral system of fire management that, if widely supported, could help reduce fires in high risk areas.

• Rather than controlling fires, fire policies should aim to manage fires, using the ancestral Pemon prescribed patch burning-system.

COUNTER-NARRATIVE

2. SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSY

Año Autores Referencia Visión Disciplinar

Posición Representada

2004a

Rodríguez, I. Conocimiento indígena vs. científico: el conflictopor el uso del fuego en el Parque NacionalCanaima, Venezuela. Interciencia. 29 (3): 121-129.

Social Sciences Counter-narrative

2004 Dezzeo, N., H. Folster &L. Hernandez

El fuego en la Gran Sabana, Interciencia, 9(8): 409-410

Ecology Narrative

2004b

Rodríguez, I. El fuego en la Gran Sabana, Interciencia, 9(9): 481

Social Sciences Counter-narrative

2007 Rodríguez Pemon perspectives of fire management in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. Human Ecology. 35(3):331-343

Social Sciences Counter-narrative

2008 Sletto, B. The knowledge that counts: institutional identities, Policy Science, and the Conflict Over Fire Management in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela. World Development 36(10): 1938-1955.

Social Sciences Counter-narrative

2009 Bilbao B., A. Leal, C. Mendez y M. D. Delgado-Cartay

The Role of Fire in Vegetation Dynamic of Upland Savannas of the Venezuelan Guayana in M.A. Cochrane, ed. Tropical Fire Ecology: Climate Change, Land Use and Ecosystem Dynamics. Springer-Praxis, Heidelberg, Germany.

Ecology Counter-narrative

2009 Rull, V. On the use of paleoecological evidence to assess the role of humans in the origin of the GranSabana (Venezuela). Human Ecology

Ecology Narrative

2009 Rodríguez I., A. Leal, B. Bilbao, I. Sanchez, H. Vessuri

Facing up to the challenge of interdisciplinary research in the Gran Sabana (Venezuela), Human Ecology, 37(6), December 2009.

Mixted (Socio-ecological)

Counter-narrative

2009 Rodríguez, I. y B. Sletto

Apok hace feliz a Pata: desafíos y sugerenciaspara una gestión intercultural del fuego en la Gran Sabana. Antropologica 52 (111-112).

Social Science Counter-narrative

2010 Bilbao, B, A. Leal & C. Mendez

Indigenous use of fire and forest loss in CanimaNational Park Park, Venezuela. Assesment of and tools for Alternative Strategies of Fire Management in Pemon Indigenous Lands. Human Ecology. Published on line-28 August 2010.

Ecology Counter-narrative

RESULTS

• Controversy maked the conflict visible

• Different views of fire have started to become discussed in scientific forums, protected area management training courses, among practitioners, etc.

• Public acknowledgement of more than one side of the “story”.

The New York Times, by Simon Romero, In Venezuela’s Savanna, Clash of Science and Fire

23 April 2010.

3. DIALOGUE, PUBLIC DELIBERATION PROCESSES

DIFFICULTIES FOR DIALOGUE AND DELIBERATION

• Pemon in a vulnerable position to participate in dialogue with othersactors. Feeling of disrespect and lack of understanding of theirperspectives. Internal conflict about the subject (elders vs. young Pemon).

• Historically a subject of great friction and tension among the park actors.

CALLS FOR

• Creating the conditions for dialogue: helping the Pemon articulate their views

• An actor that is perceived by all actors as “neutral” in order to be able to facilitate dialogue and public deliberation (Risk Project)

1999 INTRA-COMMUNITY DIALOGUE PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITY RESEARCH ON PEMON MEANINGS OF FIRE, KUMARAKAPAY

OBJECTIVE:Help the Pemon articulate their views of fire and its impacts

CARACTERISTICSPart of a series of participatory workshops on local perceptions of socio-environmental change

29 interviews with young Pemon and eldersIn situ analysis of research findingsCommunity meeting to discuss research results.

OUTCOMESYoung Pemon legitimized the knowledge of elders. Elders acknowledged their responsibility in loss of local knowledge.Young Pemon and elders express their commitment to learn and teach about the use of fire.Subsequently some young Pemon have shown more confidence to debate with experts and researchers about the Pemon use of fire.

2007 MULTI-ACTOR DIALOGUEVII NATIONAL ECOLOGY CONGRESS

ACTIVITY CARACTERISTICS PARTICIPANTSSymposia “Institutional, Ecological and Socio-cultural perspectives for the management of fire in Canaima National Park”.

Public event

10 minutes presentations

Congress participants

Speakers:• Pemon representatives (Bolivar State Indigenous) Federation- FIEB)• Scientists• Practitioners (EDELCA, INPARQUES, ParupaScientific Station)

Workshop “Joining perspectives for the creation of an effective and legitimate management of fire in Canaima National Park”.

Closed event

Open discussion

Speakers in the previous event.

Environmental and Fire Managers at the National and Regional Level

OBJETIVES

To develop a concerted environmental policy for the management of fire in Canaima National Park.

ACHIEVEMENTS

•Fist time main actors of the conflict exchange views of the problem in an atmosphere of respect un mutual understanding.

•EDELCA and FIEB participated as convenors, together with the Risk Project.

•Agenda discussed and agreed among the three convenors.

•Success in building coalitions between experts and practitioners to further a contested agenda (fire management instead of fire control)

•Shared interest to continue dialogue

LIMITATION

Lack of continuity lack due to institutional changes

2008-TO PRESENT INTER-CULTURAL DIALOGUEAT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL, KAVANAYEN

OBJETIVE:Exchange of ecological and Pemon perspectives of fire, its impacts

and management.

CARATERISTICS:Part of a community self-reflection process of socio-environmental

change with view of contributing to the development of a community “life-plan” (Plan de Vida).

Two workshops: one with young Pemon and one with elders.Fire discussed by young Pemon and elders as one of the different

factors of environmental change.Results of ecological research on fire behaviour were shared with the

community.

OUTCOMESElders felt that their knowledge and livelihood practices legitimised

by ecological research.Opened up to talk about changes in the landscape due to historical

events: inter-ethnic wars, 19th century slave trade.Triggered local discussion about the need to maintain traditional

prescribed burning practices. Areas of risk due to lack of systematic burning.

CONCLUSIONS• A counter-narrative of fire has started to emerge, but it is still in its initial stages.

• The Pemon have had little participation in the evolution of the counter-narrative. Process lead by scientists who have the power resources to transform the conflict: financial resources and technical know-how to produce a change in the knowledge production system.

• The different counter narrative processes have been successful in helping the conflict over the use of fire become more public so that its substantive issues can be discussed and addressed.

• More public discussion about: what the fire problem is? how it is interpreted? how are its impacts viewed? and, how fire affects the interests of different actors? is still necessary among the different park actors.

• Favourable conditions to carry out an in depth community dialogue about this issue has been created in one community, Kavanayen.

• Conditions to open up the discussion in institutional settings was favourable in a given moment in time (2006, 2007), but do not seem to exist in present, perhaps due to resistance to change, institutional inertias, etc.