Resilience and human adaptation to arid lands: interpretations based on ethnobotanical evidence in Mapuche communities of NW Patagonia.

LADIO A H

Adaptation to Mountain. Archaeology, Anthropology, and Ecology of High Altitude Lifestyle

Springer

Lugar: London; Año: 2013; p. 259 - 273

Human indigenous populations living in arid environments such as deserts, semi-deserts, savannas, steppes and dry forests have developed several adaptive strategies related to natural resource use associated with water and nutrient limitations. This is the case of the Mapuche communities living in the Argentinean extra-Andean Patagonia, which have had to overcome extreme living conditions. A frequently applied subsistence strategy among Mapuches living in arid lands is the utilization of different ethno-ecological units in accordance with different altitudinal gradients. Mapuche traditional practices such as transhumance, wild plant gathering, hunting and horticulture form unique, distinct cultural domains that are different from each other and reflect different contexts of action and knowledge acquisition. On the other hand, along with the use of the traditional language, they are activities which identify the people, and as such are pivotal in the resilient maintenance of their culture. In this work, the complex relationship between the preservation of different Mapuche cultural practices and how this relates to traditional botanical knowledge related to wild edible plants will be analysed in several ways. According to two logistic models, in these communities, in order to know more about plants in adulthood it is necessary principally to hunt, participate in piñoneo and have learned the language. The Mapuche language, and particularly plant names in this language, include a complex range of denominations involving ecological, utilitarian, morphological and organoleptic aspects, as well as references to magic-religious symbols, constituting an essential, unique vehicle which cannot be translated into another culture’s logic. In contrast, the probability of effectively using these plants is not so strongly linked to the language, but is related more closely to hunting and piñoneo. These activities, both strongly rooted in tradition, allow greater and more detailed exploration of the environment, promoting access to environments that are ecologically different to the arid one, as are the A. araucana woods and wetlands, rivers or streams. It is widely recognised that wild plant knowledge is decreasing in diverse populations throughout the world. This fact seems paradoxical, given that elements of self sustenance and self sufficiency are being lost. This work demonstrates quantitatively how populations living in arid environments are at less risk of losing their capacity for alimentary self-sufficiency if they do not abandon their traditional ways of using the environment. These practices and knowledge related to the harsh environment were based on a complete understanding of ecosystem processes (seasons, altitudinal gradients, climate irregularities, prey and fruit variability, plant associations, etc.) in an attempt to minimize the adverse impact of these circumstances on their livelihoods. Further analysis in this area should be carried out, taking advantage of the virtues of logistic approximation as in this study, since it can better reflect the nature of the kind of information dealt with by ethnobotanists and ethnoecologists. The use of this kind of model allows us to “predict chance”, and therefore provides us with a much richer platform from which to contribute to the social and ecological sustainability of communities living in arid environments.