Venezuelan Amazon Research Articles

El secreto de la tierra: Entangled Poetics and the Venezuelan Amazon in Una ojeada al mapa de Venezuela (1939) by Enrique Bernardo Núñez

In the beginning of the twentieth century, after its rapid insertion into the vortex of oil and mineral extraction, Venezuela was forced to re-think its relationship with nature. This process of rethink, characterised by an eagerness for modernisation, resulted in a series of discourses focused on Venezuela’s Amazonia as a repository of possibilities. This paper analyses how these possibilities were channelled through the metaphor of el secreto de la tierra, tracing an early reading of the ideological configuration of Venezuela and its Amazonia as a land of inexhaustible material and poetic richness. This metaphor was voiced by a set of socio-ecological discourses written about the Venezuelan Amazon, including the essay on Venezuelan geography and culture by Enrique Bernardo Núñez Una ojeada al mapa de Venezuela (1939). The paper focuses on the representation of this region as a set of discursive constructions entangled with the naturalisation of the modernising ideal that has fuelled the imaginaries of material growth and rentier capitalism in Venezuela. The concluding remarks will point to how such a reading can help us to understand a discursive and poetic radicalisation embedded in conflicting approaches to the nature-culture confluence in the Venezuelan Amazon.

Impending anthropogenic threats and protected area prioritization for jaguars in the Brazilian Amazon

Jaguars (Panthera onca) exert critical top-down control over large vertebrates across the Neotropics. Yet, this iconic species have been declining due to multiple threats, such as habitat loss and hunting, which are rapidly increasing across the New World tropics. Based on geospatial layers, we extracted socio-environmental variables for 447 protected areas across the Brazilian Amazon to identify those that merit short-term high-priority efforts to maximize jaguar persistence. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and comparisons of measures of central tendency. Our results reveal that areas containing the largest jaguar densities and the largest estimated population sizes are precisely among those confronting most anthropogenic threats. Jaguars are threatened in the world’s largest tropical forest biome by deforestation associated with anthropogenic fires, and the subsequent establishment of pastures. By contrasting the highest threats with the highest jaguar population sizes in a bivariate plot, we provide a shortlist of the top-10 protected areas that should be prioritized for immediate jaguar conservation efforts and 74 for short-term action. Many of these are located at the deforestation frontier or in important boundaries with neighboring countries (e.g., Peruvian, Colombian and Venezuelan Amazon). The predicament of a safe future for jaguars can only be ensured if protected areas persist and resist downgrading and downsizing due to both external anthropogenic threats and geopolitical pressures (e.g., infrastructure development and frail law enforcement).

Trekking the Amazon with Love and Care

This essay highlights the philosophical views of the Jotï, an Indigenous group from the Venezuelan Amazon. Daily Jotï behaviors are embraced by a notion of life in which everything is interconnected (mana jtïdemame) and should be respected given its sacredness (jkïmañe). Furthermore, life is in perennial movement (jkeibïae dekae) and is designed to be carried out together in groups (uliyena majadïka). The maintenance of life is related to engaging in solidarity, reciprocity, and amicability (me madöna), with these values being the key metaphor for hunting-gathering-farming-fishing rather than predation. The universe is populated by a myriad of entities with unique capacities, volitions, and motivations (budëkïmade)—like those of people, regardless of their nonhuman appearances—evidence that the universe’s inherent condition is subjective, and all life forms originated from the same root. Likewise, no landscape or life form is pristine or final; instead, everything is potentially subject to ceaseless transformation (jka ojtali ~ jkabaemade). Those reasons provide the basis for why every person should strive for righteousness (nï jti maudöna), endeavoring to be morally good and practicing love-care with all that surrounds us (jkyo jkwainï). Love-care is the translation of a praxis considered an innate essential constituent of all persons. It is also the fundamental strategy to sustain and protect life. Given that nothing prevents a person anywhere in the world from embracing love and care as their life motto while struggling to prevent the current path of destruction of the Earth, the enactment of love-care is an endless possibility regardless of location or time.

Love Sustains Life:Jkyo jkwainïand Allied Strategies in Caring for the Earth

This essay is an impassioned epitaph conveying the teachings of Jotï wise persons from the Venezuelan Amazon who passed away recently. It honors their wish to spread the philosophy of jkyo jkwainï, which holds that loving-caring for everyone and everything around us is an essential human trait that holds the key to sustaining all life. If this innate faculty is nurtured, it gives people the power to maintain or even enhance the living world; if suppressed, its absence will inevitably lead to the degeneration and demise of the world. Their essential message urges everyone to use the dynamism of love already present within us to reverse the dominant trend of exploiting nature selfishly. An environmental ethic of loving-caring can actually be found in disparate cultural traditions, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. (Re)establishing loving-caring as a central guiding principle for organizing human ecological dynamics is already taking place in different urban and rural settings globally. Vital connections between ancient eco-philosophies and contemporary ecosocial movements are highlighted in order to show that real possibilities exist for building ecotopias moving forward. These arguments are attuned to postulates for biocultural conservation endorsed by ethnobiologists, Indigenous rights advocates, and environmental activists. Case studies are mentioned to stress the common ground shared by a diverse assortment of stakeholders.

A phenomenological approach to Intercultural Initial Education

ABSTRACT Educating in and for diversity poses one of the greatest challenges in contemporary education that aims to be respectful of cultural diversity. This paper presents results of qualitative research that set out to design methodological guidelines for a phenomenology of intercultural initial education in the Venezuelan Amazon region. We approached the study of the social reality from the intersubjective link and the constructions of the subjects by using interviews and considering the social phenomenology proposed by Schütz. A methodological design allowed us to understand the socio-educational phenomenon being studied from a representation that is close to the reality lived by its protagonists and that was reflected in the categories of analysis that emerged, as well as their corresponding interpretations. This study is part of a broader research project that seeks to develop a theoretical approach to early childhood education in diverse socio-cultural contexts.

Introducing preservice primary teachers to socioscientific activism through the analysis and discussion of videos

ABSTRACT Complexities of social problems in our globalised world pose new educational challenges, including how to empower citizens for active engagement with socioscientific issues. This study describes the analysis and discussion of an activist video as the first phase in an activist education programme. Participants were 104 preservice primary teachers from the University of Malaga (Spain). Their task was to watch a video about illegal mining in the Venezuelan Amazon and, using the CoAnnotation tool, to annotate the video so as to indicate: the problem they saw as most important, the best solution and ways in which the video could be improved. Students were subsequently shown all the annotations that had been made by the group as a whole so as to facilitate discussion. The content of their annotations was analysed and described using a category system developed by consensus among the research team. The problem most commonly referred to by students was environmental damage. In terms of solutions, the main focus was on raising awareness, although mention was also made of government intervention and both citizen-led and school-based initiatives. As for how the video might be improved as a tool for raising awareness, students made several suggestions regarding its content.

A Low-Cost and Robust Landsat-Based Approach to Study Forest Degradation and Carbon Emissions from Selective Logging in the Venezuelan Amazon

Selective logging in the tropics is a major driver of forest degradation by altering forest structure and function, including significant losses of aboveground carbon. In this study, we used a 30-year Landsat time series (1985–2015) to analyze forest degradation and carbon emissions due to selective logging in a Forest Reserve of the Venezuelan Amazon. Our work was conducted in two phases: the first, by means of a direct method we detected the infrastructure related to logging at the sub-pixel level, and for the second, we used an indirect approach using buffer areas applied to the results of the selective logging mapping. Pre- and post-logging forest inventory data, combined with the mapping analysis were used to quantify the effects of logging on aboveground carbon emissions for three different sources: hauling, skidding and tree felling. With an overall precision of 0.943, we demonstrate the potential of this method to efficiently map selective logging and forest degradation with commission and omission errors of +7.6 ± 4.5 (Mean ± SD %) and −7.5% ± 9.1 respectively. Forest degradation due to logging directly affected close to 24,480 ha, or about ~1% of the total area of the Imataca Forest Reserve. On average, with a relatively low harvest intensity of 2.8 ± 1.2 trees ha−1 or 10.5 ± 4.6 m3 ha−1, selective logging was responsible for the emission of 61 ± 21.9 Mg C ha−1. Lack of reduced impact logging guidelines contributed to pervasive effects reflected in a mean reduction of ~35% of the aboveground carbon compared to unlogged stands. This research contributes to further improve our understanding of the relationships between selective logging and forest degradation in tropical managed forests and serves as input for the potential implementation of projects for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).

Yanomamius n. gen., a new genus of tarantula from Brazilian and Venezuelan Amazon (Araneae, Theraphosidae), with description of three new species.

The new genus Yanomamius n. gen. from Brazilian and Venezuelan Amazon is described, with three new species from Brazil: Y. franciscoi n. sp. (type species), Y. raonii n. sp., and Y. neblina n. sp. The enigmatic Venezuelan species described as Holothele waikoshiemi Bertani Araújo, 2006 and presently included in Guyruita Guadanucci et al. (2007) is transferred to the new genus, making the new combination Y. waikoshiemi (Bertani Araújo, 2006) n. comb. Yanomamius n. gen. is closely related with the schismatotheline genera Schismatothele Karsch, 1879 and Euthycaelus Simon, 1889 sharing as probable synapomorphies a group of short spines on the retrolateral distal tibia of male palp and the shape of bulb. They differ by the position of the spines in a compact group instead of in rows and by a tapering embolus. Females differ from Schismatothele and Euthycaelus by the spermathecae weakly sclerotized. A series of recent phylogenies based on molecular data suggested a close relationship between schimatothelines and psalmopoeines. The male tibia I of Yanomamius n. gen. species have a series of ridges or a single protuberance behind the tibial apophyses that resemble those of psalmopoeines and strengthen the idea of close relationship of the two subfamilies.

La política del Estado venezolano hacia los indígenas amazónicos. Esbozo del problema

En el artículo presento la política del Estado Venezolano hacia los pueblos indígenas que viven en el estado Amazonas venezolano. Dedicará especial atención a la política educativa. El artículo presentará tres modelos de la política estatal: proselitista, asimilatorio y multicultural. En el primero, el Estado trató de transformar a los indígenas en cristianos, en el segundo, en mestizos y campesinos y el tercer modelo fue convertir a los indígenas en ciudadanos socialistas (los ciudadanos bolivarianos). En el texto trato de demostrar que la política venezolana hacia los indígenas del Amazonas se basó en todas sus etapas en la asimilación.

MARCADORES SEROLOGICOS DEL VIRUS DE HEPATITIS B EN PUEBLOS INDIGENAS DEL ESTADO AMAZONAS, VENEZUELA

Venezuela presenta un nivel de prevalencia intermedia de Hepatitis B, con cuatro focos de alta endemicidad asociados principalmente a población indígena. Las prevalencias halladas en el Amazonas venezolano tienen distintas distribuciones entre los pueblos, observándose diferentes particularidades epidemiológicas. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue reportar la prevalencia de VHB en población indígena de diferentes pueblos y regiones geográficas del estado Amazonas, que no habían sido evaluados hasta la fecha, mediante la determinación de los marcadores serológicos: Antígeno de Superficie del Virus de Hepatitis B (AgsHB) y Anticuerpos Anticore (Anti-HBc). Se estudiaron 1390 individuos de 15 pueblos indígenas (Baniva, Baré, Curripaco, Jivi, Mapoyo, Maco, Piapoco, Piaroa, Puinave, Sáliba, Warekena, Yabarana, Yanomami, Yekuana, Yeral), resultando una prevalencia de exposición al Virus de 37,6 % (Anti-HBc), y una prevalencia de infección activa de 5,6 % (AgsHB). La prevalencia de exposición al virus es proporcional a la edad. No se encontró diferencia significativa en relación al sexo. La exposición al virus en el pueblo Sáliba fue significativamente menor al resto de los pueblos indígenas (p<0,001), y la observada en Yabarana, significativamente mayor (p<0,001). Se encontró una prevalencia de AgsHB significativamente mayor (p<0,01) en el pueblo indígena Yabarana. Se puede predecir que existe relación entre prevalencia de exposición al virus de hepatitis B y la distancia geográfica al centro urbano.

Impacts of an indigenous settlement on the taxonomic and functional structure of dung beetle communities in the Venezuelan Amazon

In the last 50 years, traditionally nomadic indigenous communities in Amazonia have increasingly adopted more sedentary lifestyles as a result of external influences. Permanent settlements lead to the concentration of disturbances (e.g., forest extraction and hunting) and threaten vulnerable species as well as those that provide important ecosystem services such as dung beetles. Here we evaluated the abundance, taxonomic, and functional structure (composition and diversity) of an ecological indicator group—dung beetles—along a disturbance gradient associated with a permanent settlement of the Joti people in the Amazonian region of Venezuela. We applied generalized linear model to assess the response of dung beetle abundance to settlement distance and latent variable model to assess the influence of settlement distance on taxonomic diversity and functional structure. We found the abundance of roller-species increased but small-bodied beetles decreased away from the settlement. We found that proximity to the Joti settlement did not affect metrics of taxonomic and functional diversity of the dung beetle assemblages in general, although functional evenness was lower away from the settlement. In contrast, we found impacts on the functional composition of dung beetles, with significant increase in the community-weighted means for roller species and large-bodied dung beetles away from Joti settlement. Our findings suggest that the transition from nomadism to a more sedentary lifestyle has not caused widespread collapse in the diversity of dung beetle assemblages surrounding the settlement, however significant trends were observed in species-specific responses to human impact, and these responses were mediated by functional traits.

La persona y su identidad en la Amazonía. Problemas básicos

This article analyzes the concept of Person and Time among the E’ñepá (Panare) Indian people of the Venezuelan Amazon. It is related to a number of other concepts such as: humanity, the identity of beings, the idea of differences and similarities, kinship and affinity, human and animal forms, direction of time, and order and succession of time. These categories are not material in nature, and are rather processes and relations.

La Amazonía en disputa: agencias políticas y organizaciones indígenas de la Amazonía venezolana frente al Arco Minero del Orinoco

A partir del concepto de agencia y desde una sociología fundamentada en la teoría de la estructuración, analizamos el fenómeno de la participación política de las organizaciones indígenas amazónicas y sus respuestas al plan de desarrollo minero de la región amazónica de Venezuela conocido como el Arco Minero del Orinoco. Para ello, prestamos atención a los mecanismos de presión política y participación popular (asambleas, protestas, denuncias, comunicados, etc.) llevados adelante por las organizaciones indígenas entre 2016 y 2018, así mismo, a los resultados electorales en los territorios amazónicos desde 2013 hasta 2017. La realización de este trabajo fue posible a través de una estrategia multi método, considerando datos históricos, observación participante y entrevistas con líderes indígenas, intelectuales y participantes de los movimientos sociales. Los datos se organizaron siguiendo el método de Mapeo de Actores Clave. Concluimos que el Arco Minero del Orinoco representó una ruptura en el plano político y electoral de las organizaciones indígenas con el chavismo, en el marco de una intensificación del extractivismo minero en la Amazonía venezolana.

Fuel of fear and force: gasoline's energetic power and its entanglement in composite ethics

AbstractEnergy is far more than a resource exploited by states and corporations. Yet, at the level of consumption it is generally thought to be a difficult phenomenon to examine because it is so familiar that we barely notice its role in our lives; or at the very least, its production becomes obscured by this pragmatic daily engagement. The other side to the story – the one in which energy is a provision distributed to and experienced by people in intimate and unanticipated ways — is distinctly perceptible in locales like the Amazon rain forest where conventional energy provisions are absent. This essay explores how everyday encounters with gasoline offer insights into ethical judgements among the Sanema of Venezuelan Amazonia. The fuel is so pervasive that it is increasingly present in numerous facets of daily life, including gold mining, dilemmas of kinship, the animist world of vengeful spirit masters, and ethically infused rumours of disaster. Being a volatile substance – simultaneously vaporous, explosive, narcotic, and caustic – gasoline is also a vital entity that holds a particularly intriguing place in the Sanema's understanding of personhood and ethics. Indeed, its mysterious and unsettling qualities cause it to become entangled within a composite form of ethics that defines Sanema social worlds.

Abstract 020: Age-Associated Rise in Arterial Stiffness Among Hunter-Gatherers

Introduction: Elevated blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness increase cardiovascular disease risk. While BP and arterial stiffness both increase with age in most westernized populations, BP does not rise with age in isolated hunter-gatherers, including Yanomami, where vascular disease is uncommon. No studies have examined if arterial stiffness rises with age among Yanomami or the geographically collocated Yekwana. Methods: In a pilot study conducted in February 2016, we sampled participants from 5 isolated Yanomami-Sanema villages and 3 Yekwana villages in the Upper Caura River Basin, a remote area of the Venezuelan Amazon. Trained staff measured cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) per standard protocols, and height and weight to determine body mass index (BMI). We used ANCOVA to compare the age-CAVI association between Yanomami and Yekwana, and further compared associations with data from US whites and Japanese female volunteers for physiological studies with CAVI measurement. Results: 80 participants (63 Yekwana; 17 Yanomami) age 11-72 years had data on CAVI. A 5-year increment in age was associated with a 0.24 unit (95% CI: 0.17, 0.31) and a 0.25 unit (95% CI: 0.14, 0.35) increase in CAVI in Yekwana and Yanomami, respectively (Figure). The age-CAVI slope did not differ in these two populations (p=0.95). Compared to Yanomami and Yekwana individuals, a 5-year increment in age was associated with a significantly greater increase in CAVI in US whites (0.12, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.20) and a non-significantly greater increase in Japanese females (0.08, 95% CI: -0.02, 0.18). Estimates did not markedly change after adjusting for BMI. Conclusion: In Yekwana and Yanomami individuals with hunter-gatherer lifestyles, arterial stiffness increased with age, in a manner similar to Japanese females but less steep than US whites. Taken together with our previous finding that BP does not rise with age in Yanomami and minimally in Yekwana, our preliminary findings suggest that rise in arterial stiffness with age might be independent of BP.

Biological Macromolecule Composite Films Made from Sagu Starch and Flour/Poly(ε-Caprolactone) Blends Processed by Blending/Thermo Molding

Non-conventional starch sources (starch and flour) obtained from sagu (Canna edulis Kerr) rhizomes grown in the Venezuelan Amazon were used as biological macromolecule matrices. Biological macromolecule composite films prepared from sagu starch and flour/poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) blends were then obtained by blending/thermo molding. The use of flours as a rich source of starch has attracted much attention as they are cheaper than starch, thus making them commercially more competitive. The PCL-containing films proved to be less stable in an alkaline medium and less dense (0.60–0.66 g/cm3), and were also thinner (1.15–1.17 mm), rougher, more crystalline (20.5–27.1%) and opaque (1.45–1.52) than the films without added PCL. Films made from the flour/PCL blend showed a greater phase separation than the starch/PCL films. The use of flour as a starchy source is interesting. However, the results of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and water activity suggest that the films prepared from sagu starch-glycerol had stronger hydrogen bonding interactions than those made from flour-glycerol. This led to the sagu starch-based film being less susceptible to moisture and more stable under alkaline conditions.

Abstract 029: Age-Related Blood Pressure Changes at the Incipient Stages of Westernization in Yanomami and Yekwana Tribes

Introduction: Studies of isolated hunter-gatherers have found little evidence of the age-related rise in blood pressure (BP) that is common to Western societies, but none of these studies have included children or, for comparison, neighboring tribes exposed to Western culture. We tested the hypothesis that BP does not rise with age in isolated, hunter-gatherer Yanomami, and the age-BP slope is greater in neighboring Yekwana tribes that have some Western exposure. Methods: In the Upper Caura basin, a remote area of the Venezuelan Amazon, we sampled 438 participants from 5 isolated Yanomami-Sanema villages, accessible only by foot or canoe, and 3 Yekwana villages, 1 of which had a grass landing strip for small-engine planes, allowing for delivery of medicine and aspects of Western lifestyle, including salt. Trained researchers measured ausculatory sitting BP in triplicate per standard protocols, and height and weight to determine BMI (kg/m 2 ). We used ANCOVA to compare the age-BP slope between the Yanomami and Yekwana. Results: 154 participants (83 Yekwana; 71 Yanomami) ages 2-60 y (53% female) had data on age and sitting systolic BP (SBP). Age-SBP slopes were significantly different (p=0.02): in Yekwana, a 1-y age increment was associated with a 0.25±0.08 mmHg (p=0.003) increase in SBP ( Figure ), whereas in Yanomami age was not associated with SBP (1-y increment: 0.00±0.07mmHg; p=0.98). These results indicate that at age 10 y, mean sitting SBP was, on average, 5.8 mmHg lower for Yanomami compared to Yekwana, and that the average difference increased to 15.9 mmHg by age 50 y. BP differences between Yanomami and Yekwana remained after control for BMI. Conclusion: In isolated Yanomami with hunter-gatherer-grower lifestyles, BP does not increase with age over ages 2 to 60 y. Yet, among the Yekwana—the closest geographic neighbors of the Yanomami in whom Westernization is at the incipient stages—age is positively associated with BP, suggesting that the rise in BP with age may result in part from cumulative exposure to Western lifestyle.

Performance Analysis of Satellite-Terrestrial AF Cooperative System at Venezuelan Amazon Region

Performance Analysis of Satellite-Terrestrial AF Cooperative System at Venezuelan Amazon Region

New record and range extension of the Horned Toad, Rhinella ceratophrys (Boulenger, 1882) (Anura: Bufonidae), in Venezuela, and confirmation of its presence in Brazil

The Horned Toad, Rhinella ceratophrys, is widely distributed in the northwestern part of the Amazon region. It is known from Venezuela by only a single juvenile from the base of Cerro Marahuaca, Amazonas state. Herein we report four additional specimens from Venezuela: three juveniles also from Cerro Marahuaca, and a subadult female from the southern slopes of Cerro La Neblina, at the southern border of Amazonas state. The specimen from Cerro La Neblina extends the species distribution to the extreme south of Venezuelan Amazonia, 307 km south of Marahuaca, and it represents the southeasternmost record of the species. We also confirm the presence of R. ceratophrys in Brazil based on voucher specimens, and present an updated distribution map.

Maneuvering for Paper: Physical and Social Experiences of Bureaucracy in Venezuelan Amazonia

ResumenEl presente artículo explora un caso de aprendizaje de la burocracia venezolana, que los Sanema experimentan a través de su participación en los proyectos sociales de la Revolución Bolivariana de Chávez. Este análisis se enfoca en la capacidad de maniobra que genera el papeleo burocrático, y contribuye a la comprensión de las formas de movilidad y la experiencia del Estado de manera somática en la Amazonía contemporánea. Los nuevos patrones de movimiento que involucran un desplazamiento hacia y desde las ciudades, los trámites cotidianos y maniobras efectuadas en diversas esferas sociales, no solo deben entenderse en relación con el Estado y su omnipresencia burocrática, sino también como prácticas congruentes con las costumbres tradicionales de ‘viajar en busca de conocimiento’ que involucran un vínculo estrecho entre movilidad física y social. Así, los Sanema utilizan la experiencia burocrática adquirida en este ambiente político para conseguir sus propios objetivos, en lugar de aquellos del Estado.