Traditional Erva-mate Production Systems: How Historical Ecology and Environmental History Can Inform Local and Global Approaches to Ecosystem Restoration

Abstract

Family farmers who continue to use traditional erva-mate agroforestry production systems in the Iguaçu River valley in Southern Brazil have a unique relationship with the forest environment in which they live and work. By focusing on the historical and contemporary trajectory of the connection between humans and erva-mate, this chapter examines how perspectives from Historical Ecology, Environmental History, and Landscape Archaeology can support the development of conservation strategies that are grounded in the perceptions, histories, and memories of local and traditional communities. Such strategies recognize the need to support sustainable livelihoods as well as sustainable ecological interactions that favor the preservation of biocultural diversity, local ecological knowledge, and ways of knowing and managing the environment. We examine the inter-generational practices and management within the Araucaria Forest, the affect and sensorial assemblages involved in this human-environment system, and how these subjectivities can be leveraged to address current and future challenges related to changing climates and ecosystem degradation.