University of Kent

Jaime Andrés Cabrera PhD Student
E-mail: jac56 E-mail: tropicisjaime@cable.net.co

CV

Background
I get my BSc in biology at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia and after that a MSc in conservation and wildlife management in Costa Rica. After some work in Panama working with the local communities in the Island of Bahia Honda in 2004 I have been based uninterruptedly in the Colombian Amazon, where I started a research program with Instituto SINCHI looking at mammal communities in the Putumayo river basin. During that time, I developed a close relationship with the local indigenous population and came to know about natural licks and the way they use them, mainly as hunting grounds for lowland tapir, but also as very special places for their mystical relationship with the environment. The growing pressures on the land of the indigenous communities and their increasing integration into the western-style market are resulting in a dramatic change in their relationship with the environment and in an overexploitation of the rainforest’s resources. My research aims to understand natural licks’ ecology by looking at their role for the entire mammal community, with an special interest in tapirs, and taking human activity into account as part of their normal functioning

Project title: Natural licks, Traditional Knowledge and Subsistance Hunting in the Colombian Amazon

Aim
To understand how natural licks work (ecology) in the Colombian Amazon, and determine the effects of their use as hunting grounds of lowland tapirs by the indigenous people in order to develop sustainable use strategies.

Relevant species:
Lowland Tapir, Vulnerable
Other key species:
Besides the lowland tapir the most frequent species at the licks are: white lipped and collared peccary (Pecari tajacu/least concern, Tayasu pecari/near threatened), red and gray brocket deer (Mazama americana and Mazama gouazoubira/data deficient), black agouti (Dasyprocta fuliginosa/least concern) , paca (Agouti paca/least concern), howler monkey (Alouata seniculus/least concern).

Project summary
Aiming to set up culturally and biologically acceptable management practices that help to conserve lowland tapir and other wildlife in the Colombian Amazon, this project takes an interdisciplinary approach that combines research on ecology of wildlife that use natural licks with an understanding of the indigenous people who use licks for bush meat hunting.
The project has four objectives that will produce the information to develop conservation actions: 1)To understand the relationship between the local indigenous people and licks, 2)To develop a classification of the natural licks, 3)To understand how wildlife uses the licks and the ecological processes taking place in the licks and 4)To determine the social role of licks both for animal and human users.

Project background:
Natural licks are sites where wildlife consumes mineral rich soil, which occurs in diverse habitats around the world, from African savannas, to Asian woodland, to Amazonian rainforests. In the Amazon, indigenous people use natural licks as favoured hunting grounds, especially to hunt the large lowland tapir, which is a vulnerable and overexploited species, but also one that is preferred for bush-meat.

Every year more than 23.5 million reptiles, birds, and mammals, corresponding to164.692 tons of wild meat, are consumed by local people in the Brazilian Amazon alone. This kind of bush meat hunting is one of the major issues facing tropical forest conservation since it has a direct influence both on animal and human populations. Nonetheless hunting is an integral part of indigenous cultures and survival. I have lived uninterruptedly in the Colombian Amazon since 2004, and during that time I developed a close relationship with the local indigenous population and came to know about natural licks and the way indigenous communities use them, mainly as hunting grounds, but also as very special places for their spiritual relationship with the environment. Since 2008, as part of my PhD research, I started this project in the middle Caquetá basin, documenting the relationship between the local indigenous communities and the wildlife in the natural licks. I have completed more than 2500 hours of direct observation and camera trapping at the licks providing interesting preliminary data about natural licks functioning, but still there is much to do, mainly documenting the hunting and its effects on the local animal populations.

To date, most conservation initiatives in the area have been concerned with fisheries management, timber extraction and use of non-timber plant products. The impact of subsistence hunting has been underrepresented in conservation activities.  Incorporating hunting and the role natural licks play in the rainforest's ecology, will bring bush meat issues to the attention of authorities as important conservation concerns.  The project will help in developing more effective conservation strategies that take into account traditional ways and the ecological findings as well. The discussion of these issues and their inclusion in the management plan of the indigenous reserves will be an important conservation outcome.

The project is ‘rescuing’ traditional knowledge about natural licks and the ways they are used by animals and people, thus gaining an understanding of licks’ place in the ecology and conservation of the Colombian Amazon. The data gathered on hunting will inform us about the population trends of the animals that use the licks, and will be used to monitor and evaluate their management over the long term. We are working closely with the local indigenous councils and the elders of each community. This ensure that the findings and conservation practices will be developed with the input of local people, and later used by them in their management solutions that can be monitored by the community using the same simple methods used in the project.

Achievements to date:
Since 2008, as part of my PhD research, I started this project in the middle Caquetá basin, documenting the relationship between the local indigenous communities and the wildlife in the natural licks. I have completed more than 2500 hours of direct observation and camera trapping at the licks providing interesting preliminary data about natural licks functioning, but still there is much to do, mainly documenting the hunting and its effects on the local animal populations.

Project partners:
Fundación TROPICIS,Colombia
Fundacion TROPENBOS
Indigenous communities middle Caqueta basin
Indigenous communities Colombian Amazon river
Amacayacu National Park
Fundación Nativa

Donors
Scott Neotropical Fund
Chester Zoo
Rufford Small Grants
International Fundation for Science