Elizabeth Byron

Market Economy and the Loss of Folk Knowledge of Plant Uses: Estimates from the Tsimane' of the Bolivian Amazon

victoria reyes -garc ı́a , v incent vadez , el izabeth byron, l il ian apaza, will iam r. leonard, eddy perez , and david wilkie Sustainable International Development Program, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454-9110, U.S.A. (vreyes@brandeis.edu) (Reyes-Garcı́a and Vadez)/International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC 20006-1002, U.S.A. (Byron)/ Protección del Medio Ambiente Tarija, Calle Alejandro del Carpio N E-0659, Casilla N 59, Bolivia (Apaza)/Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, U.S.A. (Leonard)/ Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Ecologia, Estación Biológica Tunquini, Bolivia (Pérez)/Wildlife Conservation Society, 18 Clark Lane, Waltham, MA 02451-1823, U.S.A. (Wilkie). 10 ii 05

Local financial benefits of rain forests: Comparative evidence from Amerindian societies in Bolivia and Honduras

Researchers generally express the local value of tropical rain forests in dollars/ha/year. The approach is problematic because it produces low values to local users, underestimating the importance of the forest expressed as a share of household consumption or earnings. Here we contribute to valuation studies of rain forests by estimating the financial importance of the forest measured in three ways: (1) the contribution of forests to annual household consumption and (2) earnings; and (3) the value of a hectare of rain forest to villagers measured through the biological goods consumed and sold. We collected panel data on consumption and earnings from 81 households in four villages of two Amerindian societies in two nations (Tsimane’, Bolivia; Tawahka, Honduras). Analyses suggest: (1) forests account for a large share of household consumption (median 38.5%; range 14.65–53.11%); (2) forests contribute more to household consumption than to household earnings (median 22.69%; range 16.56–44.81%); (3) the relative

Integrating nutrition security with treatment of people living with HIV: lessons from Kenya.

Background The increased caloric requirements of HIV-positive individuals, undesirable side effects of treatment that may be worsened by malnutrition (but alleviated by nutritional support), and associated declines in adherence and possible increased drug resistance are all justifications for developing better interventions to strengthen the nutrition security of individuals receiving antiretroviral treatment. Objective To highlight key benefits and challenges relating to interventions aimed at strengthening the nutrition security of people living with HIV who are receiving antiretroviral treatment. Methods Qualitative research was undertaken on a short-term nutrition intervention linked to the provision of free antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV in western Kenya in late 2005 and early 2006. Results Patients enrolled in the food program while on treatment regimens self-reported greater adherence to their medication, fewer side effects, and a greater ability to satisfy increased appetite. Most clients self-reported weight gain, recovery of physical strength, and the resumption of labor activities while enrolled in dual (food supplementation and treatment) programs. Such improvements were seen to catalyze increased support from family and community. Conclusions These findings provide further empirical support to calls for a more holistic and comprehensive response to the coexistence of AIDS epidemics with chronic nutrition insecurity. Future work is needed to clarify ways of bridging the gap between short-term nutritional support to individuals and longer-term livelihood security programming for communities affected by AIDS. Such interdisciplinary research will need to be matched by intersectoral action on the part of the agriculture and health sectors in such environments.

Measuring Culture as Shared Knowledge: Do Data Collection Formats Matter? Cultural Knowledge of Plant Uses Among Tsimane’ Amerindians, Bolivia

In this article, the authors contribute to the empirical study of culture as shared knowledge by exploring correlations of individual responses to different questionnaires of the same tasks and correlation of individual responses to different tasks. They collected data on ethnobotanical knowledge from 149 adult Tsimane’ Amerindians in Bolivia. The authors used a cultural consensus model to calculate individual scores of cultural knowledge for each questionnaire, correlating individual scores using pooled samples and various subsamples. Results from multiplechoice questionnaires show high reliability. A comparison of competency scores from the paired-comparison and the average of the three multiple-choice questionnaires showed a positive correlation ( r = .46), although it was lower than when comparing multiple-choice to each other. Competency on the triad questionnaire did not correlate with information from any of the other questionnaires. The evidence presented suggests that cultural competence may be consistent across questionnaires of the same task but not necessarily across different tasks in the same domain.

AIDS and Agriculture in Zambia

Background Because agriculture is the livelihood base for the majority of people affected by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, the interactions between AIDS and agriculture, and their implications for policy and programming, are of fundamental importance. Objective This paper summarizes evidence from three RENEWAL (Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods, and Food Security) research studies and one policy review on the interactions between AIDS and agriculture in Zambia and their implications for future policy and programming. Methods The unit of analysis adopted for each study varies, spanning the individual, household, cluster, and community levels, drawing attention to the wider socioeconomic landscape within which households operate. Results This paper identifies the ways in which livelihood activities, within the prevailing norms of gender, sexuality, and perceptions of risk in rural Zambia, can influence susceptibility to HIV, and how the nature and severity of the subsequent impacts of AIDS are modified by the specific characteristics and initial conditions of households, clusters, and communities. Conclusions The findings demonstrate the importance of studying the risks, vulnerabilities, and impacts of the AIDS epidemic in the context of multiple resource flows and relationships between and within households—and in the context of other drivers of vulnerability, some of which interact with HIV and AIDS. The paper addresses several factors that enable or hinder access to formal support programs, and concludes by highlighting the particular importance of engaging communities proactively in the response to HIV and AIDS, to ensure relevance, sustainability, and scale.

Market economy and the loss of folk knowledge of plant uses

victoria reyes -garc ı́a , v incent vadez , el izabeth byron, l il ian apaza, will iam r. leonard, eddy perez , and david wilkie Sustainable International Development Program, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454-9110, U.S.A. (vreyes@brandeis.edu) (Reyes-Garcı́a and Vadez)/International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC 20006-1002, U.S.A. (Byron)/ Protección del Medio Ambiente Tarija, Calle Alejandro del Carpio N E-0659, Casilla N 59, Bolivia (Apaza)/Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, U.S.A. (Leonard)/ Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Ecologia, Estación Biológica Tunquini, Bolivia (Pérez)/Wildlife Conservation Society, 18 Clark Lane, Waltham, MA 02451-1823, U.S.A. (Wilkie). 10 ii 05