Programs
Sierra
Tarahumara Diversity Project
Report
on the First Planning Meeting
Introduction
The
first planning meeting of the Sierra Tarahumara Diversity Project (STDP) was
held in Chihuahua City, Mexico, on June 15-18, 2000. The meeting was sponsored by the Mexico-North Research
Network with support provided by the Creativity and Culture Program of the
Rockefeller Foundation.
The
purpose of the meeting was to explore the possibility of establishing a
collaborative research project among residents of the Sierra Tarahumara and
scholars from Mexico and the United States to document, analyze, and conserve
the biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity of the Sierra Tarahumara
region of southwestern Chihuahua. The
meeting grew out of a series of preliminary contacts, beginning in 1998, between
Sierra Tarahumara residents and scholars that revealed a shared concern for the
rapid deterioration in environmental conditions in the Sierra, the erosion of
traditional ecological knowledge and other cultural traditions, and the decline
in the use and transmission of Indigenous languages.
A
total of sixty-one individuals participated in the meeting (a complete list of
participants is attached to this report). The core participants included twenty
residents of the Sierra Tarahumara and twenty-two scholars affiliated with
institutions and organizations in Mexico and the United States.
An additional nineteen individuals attended the meeting as observers.
The
Sierra Tarahumara participants came from communities located in the Eastern Rarámuri
area of Norogachi (Municipio de Guachochi), the Western Rarámuri area of San
Rafael de Oruibo (Municipo de Chínipas), and the Ódami (Northern Tepehuan)
area of Baborigame (Municipio de Guadalupe y Calvo).
The delegation from the Norogachi area included principal Indigenous
authorities (siríame; Spanish: gobernadores)
from the communities of Choguita, Ciénega de Norogachi, Norogachi, Pahuichiqui,
and Tatahuichi as well as the president of the ejido
of Norogachi, the deputy president of the Norogachi municipal district (suplente
de la presidencia seccional de Norogachi), and the director of the Guachochi
office of the State Coordinating Center for the Tarahumara (Coordinación
Estatal de la Tarahumara). The
delegation from the Baborigame area included the Captain General (the highest
traditional authority) of the Ódami. The other Sierra participants were
individuals concerned by the current threats to the biological, cultural, and
linguistic diversity in the region.
Professional
scholars and students who participated in the meeting included specialists in
anthropology, botany, conservation, ecology, environmental policy, linguistics,
history, psychology, and zoology affiliated with ten Mexican and ten United
States institutions or organizations. These were (in
alphabetical order): American Museum of Natural History; Centro de
Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social; College of Santa
Fe; Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad; Cornell
University; Instituto de Ecología, A.C., and its Centro de Investigaciones
Sobre la Sequía; Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia; Instituto
Politécnico Nacional, Durango Campus; Mexico-North Research Network; National
Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Rockefeller Foundation;
Sociedad Chihuahuense de Estudios Históricos; State University of West Georgia;
Terralingua: Partnerships for Linguistic and Biological Diversity; Universidad
Autónoma de Chihuahua; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Universidad
de Sonora; University of Arizona; University of Georgia; and the World Wide Fund
for Nature-Mexico.
The
meeting was structured to foster the exchange of diverse cultural and
disciplinary perspectives. On June
16-17, Sierra Tarahumara residents presented information on the current
situation in the Sierra Tarahumara and their concerns while scholars from
various disciplines explained the methodologies and goals of their research
activities. Each presentation was followed by comments and discussion.
On June 18, community members from the Norogachi and Baborigame areas and
scholars affiliated with most of the participating institutions met to evaluate
the results of the meeting and to discuss future project plans. Inter-cultural
and inter-disciplinary exchanges also took place during meeting breaks, meals,
and several, more formal events, including a welcome cocktail and reception on
the evening of June 15 (for full details, see the attached meeting schedule);
the inauguration of an exhibit of of late nineteenth century photographs of the
Sierra Tarahumara and its residents by the Norwegian explorer Carl Lumholtz in
the evening of June 17; and, in the late afternoon and evening of June 18, a
tour of Chihuahua City and a concluding cook-out and maize beer drinking party.
The Meeting Events
Date:
Friday, June 16, 2000
Meeting Site:
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus
Chihuahua
William
Merrill
(NMNH, Mexico-North) opened the meeting welcoming participants and explaining
the purpose and organization of the meeting. He stressed that no project had
been developed up to that point, and that project planning would begin only if
Sierra residents were convinced that whatever project might emerge would be of
interest and benefit to their communities and if they would be willing to
participate in all aspects of the project from the outset.
Alejandro
Rivas
presented Ódami perspectives,
describing the ecological and economic changes that characterize the Baborigame
area. He mentioned the disappearance of various bird, mammal, and medicinal
plant species largely as a result of extensive deforestation, the poisoning of
fish due to water contamination, and the decline of traditional agricultural
activities because of the recent extended drought. He noted that in the past,
human-environment relationships formed a circle, with local people preserving
the environment because they depended on it, but recent negative environmental
and economic trends have forced them to participate in the commercial
exploitation of forestry resources. He added that people now realize that few or
no benefits accrue to them from cutting down trees for the forestry industry,
and are beginning to seek strategies for managing their resources themselves and
for protecting the remaining old-growth forests. He stressed that the Ódami are
interested in collaborating with scientists on projects in the area, provided
that they can maintain control over their resources and the use of their
knowledge. The other members of the Ódami delegation then presented their
comments, stressing many of the same points. Extensive discussion followed,
particularly between the Ódami and the Rarámuri participants, who had never
before had an opportunity to share their concerns with one another. Various
other problems leading to loss of biodiversity, cultural traditions, and local
languages were mentioned, as were community efforts to address these problems.
Robert
Bye
(Botanical Garden, UNAM) spoke about botany,
explaining how botanists do their research both in the field and in the
laboratory, and describing in particular his work in the Sierra Tarahumara,
which also includes the documentation of Indigenous botanical knowledge. He gave
examples of his own research on Sierra Tarahumara medicinal and food plants and
of related benefits provided to local communities, including the preparation of
books on Rarámuri plant knowledge, environmental education programs for
children that incorporate local environmental knowledge, environmental
restoration, and health and sustainable development projects. Bye also mentioned
a pending project to create an herbarium and botanical garden in the Sierra that
would promote research on the Sierra’s flora, collaboration between scientists
and community members, the integration of formal and informal environmental
education, and the formation of a central database of relevant information
available to local community members and scholars alike. In discussion, Rarámuri
participants agreed on the importance of making information on the plants of the
Sierra available to local people, especially children, so that they may continue
to learn about and value the local environment. They stressed that Sierra
people, who have the most direct interest in knowing the status of the local
flora, do not have the economic and educational resources to carry out such
research, and the results of research conducted by outsiders are mostly stored
away from the Sierra and are thus inaccessible to local residents. There also
was discussion on the Convention on Biological Diversity and its provisions for
the protection and promotion of Indigenous environmental knowledge and
practices, as well as of other international instruments relevant to the rights
of Indigenous and traditional local communities. Bye noted that while forest
regeneration may take as much as a hundred years, some projects, such as
restoration of medicinal plants, may be realized in a few years. Laura Arriaga (CONABIO)
indicated that her institution would consider supporting such a project, as well
as the creation of a research and education center in the Sierra.
Carlos
Palma presented Rarámuri
perspectives on the Sierra Tarahumara. Focusing
on the Norogachi area, Palma explained various aspects of Rarámuri ceremonial
and social life, illustrating his presentation with slides.
He stressed that such communal practices are crucial to the maintenance
of cultural traditions and community cohesiveness, but that these and many other
traditional practices are being lost because of the changes affecting the
Sierra. He pointed out that, because they have no other ready source of income,
and furthermore need firewood and construction materials, the Rarámuri have
been exploiting their forests at a pace that does not allow for regrowth, thus
leading to deforestation and erosion. Very
little old-growth forest is left and because of the nearly decade-long drought,
the pines that are left are drying up. At the same time, people are beginning to
realize that commercial forestry under the current production policies does not
yield any real benefits for the communities and that reforestation plans
proposed to date do not appear to be effective and have not, in any case, been
adequately implemented. He noted that the Indigenous residents of the Norogachi area
are interested in regenerating their forests, not so much as a source of money
but as a part of their traditional surroundings and a source of sustenance, and
raised the question of how Indigenous authorities should lead their communities
in the preservation of their natural resources and cultural traditions.
He pointed to the need for orientation in this regard and suggested that,
among other things, traditional authorities should be involved in developing
educational initiatives for local school children focused on increased
environmental awareness and the revalorization of local cultural traditions and
languages. In discussion, many of the Rarámuri delegates stressed these same
points, as well as the need to understand the nature of Rarámuri traditional
authority and to foster respect for this authority among young people.
Joaquín
Arroyo (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia)
and Celia López (Instituto Politécnico
Nacional, Durango) presented the goals and approaches of zoology. Arroyo
pointed out that Mexico is one of the world’s “megadiversity” countries
(i.e., countries with the highest numbers of biological species), but many
species are threatened and are disappearing before they are described by
biologists. There is thus an urgent need to complete inventories of flora and
fauna across Mexico. In the case of the fauna of the Sierra Tarahumara, it is
necessary to determine the species that are present, their geographical
distribution and relationships with one another, as well as the species that
have disappeared and why such extinctions have occurred. López then described
the research methods used by zoologists, focusing on those used to study
mammals, and indicated that information gathered through such research usually
is made available through publications. As a concrete example of a zoological
research project, Arroyo and López described their own research on bats and the
benefits it provides to local communities. They and their colleagues have
prepared and distributed educational books on bats for children and are working
in other ways to ensure that the results of their work are made available to the
members of local communities, to inform them about which species provide
benefits such as pollination and control of insects and which can be detrimental
(for example, vampire bats or rabies-carrying bats). They stressed that it is
important to recognize that certain species of bats or other animals may be both
detrimental and beneficial so that preserving their positive contributions
requires that they not be destroyed. They
concluded by asking the Sierra participants about the kinds of zoological
projects they would like to see carried out. Rarámuri participants indicated
that they would like to see protection of all animals, including those that are
uncommon, since all contribute to the Sierra’s ecological balance. Possible
forms of collaboration were discussed, in which the zoologists, while pursuing
their goal of learning about the Sierraís fauna, would also support communities
projects related to conservation of fauna. The importance of traditional
ecological knowledge (TEK) and of a two-way exchange of information was
stressed, along with the need to strengthen TEK.
Felipe
Chávez
(WWF-Mexico) concluded the day’s presentations speaking on environmental
conservation. Chávez described the activities of WWF and how this
organization realizes its conservation goals. The mission of WWF is to revert
the loss of biodiversity and achieve balance between humans and the environment
through sustainable use of natural resources. WWF seeks to implement use systems
that are not destructive, including protected natural areas and management plans
in partnership with local people; it also seeks to promote legislative change
allowing for these new forms of protection and sustainable use. WWF has a
specific policy concerning its relationships with Indigenous peoples in
conservation, based on the recognition that many natural areas of importance for
biodiversity are inhabited by Indigenous peoples, and that there should be a
natural alliance between the latter and conservationists. This policy recognizes
the rights of Indigenous peoples over their lands and territories and their
right to determine priorities in the conservation and sustainable management of
natural resources. WWF is also working with social scientists to identify the
socioeconomic factors representing threats as well as opportunities for
conservation. The Mexico program focuses on promoting sustainable use of natural
resources in the areas of the country identified as priorities for conservation;
involving civil society in conservation efforts; and seeking funding for
conservation activities. Possible activities that WWF-Mexico would be interested
in carrying out in the Sierra Tarahumara include: water capturing, wise forest
management through wood certification programs, and work with the region’s
Indigenous peoples, including co-management of protected areas. In the
discussion session, Sierra participants expressed their own understanding of
biodiversity, as comprising all living beings, and of the need to live with it
without destroying it, while at the same time stressing that they need to know
more about the relevant issues in order to be able to wisely guide their people.
The need for consciousness-raising and development alternatives in the
communities was also stressed by Sierra residents. They manifested interest in
the process of dialogue with scientists as it was being developed at the
meeting. After this discussion, the meeting was adjourned.
Date:
Saturday, June 17, 2000
Meeting
Site:
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus
Chihuahua
The
meeting resumed with a call by William
Merrill on the participants from the Sierra to express their reflections as
to whether they were willing to continue discussing the possible development of
a project. The delegates from the Ódami
group indicated that they considered the previous day’s discussion very
important, that the presentations had given clear examples of the importance of
conservation, and that the general objectives of the possible project were very
clear. They added that the Ódami have already started working on these issues,
but with little or no resources and training. They appreciated the invitation to
the meeting and were interested in starting to collaborate with the scientists
to develop study areas and methodologies. Rafael Herrera Rivas (the Captain
General) stressed the need for the authorities to start working with their
people to conserve what is theirs. The Rarámuri participants from San
Rafael said that they had found the meeting very interesting and
informative, and that the alarming situation in the Sierra made it important for
local people to get help in caring for plants and animals. The Rarámuri
from Norogachi expressed their interest in working with the scientists to
seek solutions to the Sierra’s grave problems, to find out how to work
together to care for the environment. They stressed the need for local
communities to start taking charge of dealing with the problems, since the
external authorities are often part of the problem rather than of the solution.
They invited the scientists to go to the communities to help improve the Rarámuri’s
ability to care for the environment by forming teams of researchers and local
people in each community.
In
his response, Merrill summarized and
stressed the main points made by Sierra residents and scientists the previous
day, noting in particular that Sierra people had indicated their willingness to
work to solve the problems but had pointed to their lack of resources and
technical training, although they have extensive knowledge of local plants and
animals and what is happening in the environment. Merrill also pointed out that
the problems are difficult ones, and that while there may be quick solutions to
some, others require a long-term approach, while others still may be beyond
anyone’s control. He added that the scientists were willing to support Sierra
people in seeking solutions, but they needed to know how they could help. Joint
projects could be developed, but they should be community-initiated; therefore,
Merrill invited people from the Sierra to propose any specific projects they
might have in mind, perhaps beginning with small projects as a way of developing
collaboration between the local communities and the scientists. He also
indicated that, in order to foster this collaboration, the scientists needed an
official invitation to visit the communities for additional meetings. Once
concrete ideas should take form, it would be possible to seek funding for the
projects and for local people to be paid to participate in the projects, as well
as seek opportunities for them to get trained, including at the level of higher
education. It would also be important to work to improve interdisciplinary and
intercultural communication among project participants.
After
this exchange of ideas, the remaining three presentations by scientists were
given. Laura Arriaga (CONABIO)
explained her organization’s activities for the knowledge, conservation, and sustainable use of Mexico’s biodiversity.
CONABIO promotes research on flora and fauna and develops guidelines for
conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It then provides
information to various government agencies, including SEMARNAP (Secretaría para
el Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca). Arriaga described CONABIO’s
national information system on biodiversity (SNIB), a database on biological
species with maps, satellite images, evaluation of fire danger, and biosafety
information, which is publicly available. CONABIO offers funding to academic
institutions or environmental NGOs to conduct research that enriches the
database. Initially the support was mostly for taxonomic work and less for
ecological research; currently, however, there is an interest in supporting
conservation. Another way in which CONABIO seeks to expand the database is
through repatriation of information on Mexican biodiversity found in other parts
of the world. CONABIO has mapped Mexico’s 47 ecoregions and has identified
priority areas for conservation, which forms the basis for SEMARNAP’s
establishment of protected areas. Information in the database is also used for
fire detection and prevention; evaluation of climate change and of how different
areas will be affected; reforestation; species conservation; public health;
publications and other forms of dissemination; and consulting. Arriaga indicated
that the database contains scarce information on northern Mexico. She suggested
that part of the prospective project might be identifying which parts of the
priority areas in Chihuahua are good candidates for being conserved and made
into protected areas. There was only a brief discussion of this presentation,
since biodiversity and conservation issues had already been dealt with
extensively, and in order to leave enough time for the last two presentations,
on linguistics and anthropology.
Zarina
Estrada
(University of Sonora) introduced the goals and methods of linguistics.
She presented the discipline of linguistics as arising from curiosity about how
humans speak and communicate, and linguistic diversity--the variety of languages
that human societies around the world have developed--as the object of
linguistics. According to official records, in Mexico there are 56 different
languages, but for linguists there are many more, since many of these languages
have a lot of variants that are very distinct from one another. Each form of
speech is a full expression of human language, regardless of whether it is
written or not and of whether it does or does not have a written grammar and
dictionary. Estrada indicated that what linguists can do to support community
efforts to maintain their languages is to help in devising good reading and
writing programs for the Indigenous languages, but the initiative and the
decision-making must come from the community itself, with linguists acting only
as consultants. She stressed that the best way to educate people is to speak
their own language to them, to transmit the values and world view of their
culture through the language. She noted that Indigenous people need to be able
to become fully bilingual, but unfortunately the bilingual programs in Chihuahua
are being closed down. Furthermore, these programs did not really foster
bilingualism, but were mostly meant to move children toward the exclusive use of
Spanish as soon as possible. Estrada described some of the work she has done in
collaboration with the Coordinadora Estatal de la Tarahumara preparing Ódami
and Pima educational materials. In discussion, some of the other linguists
present stressed that the concern for language preservation is closely linked to
the concern for biodiversity conservation. Each language community develops
words and ways of speaking about a place, conveying knowledge about it,
including plants and animals, and if the language is lost this knowledge is at
risk of being lost, too. There was also discussion by Sierra residents of how
linguists could be of concrete help in the Sierra, according to local needs, in
particular by providing bilingual teachers with training in linguistics, so that
they will be better able to standardize the orthography for their languages
while taking into account the great number of variants of each language. Sierra
participants agreed on the importance of language maintenance, indicating that
it should be given the same importance as the conservation of plants and
animals, that pressure needs to be put on the government for the resumption of
bilingual education, and that the local authorities should take action on this
issue. A caution was raised that, while communities have to take charge on
educational issues, it is necessary to remember that languages are not only, or
even not mainly kept alive in books, but through oral transmission at home and
in public.
Luisa
Maffi
(Terralingua) explained the purposes and methodology of anthropology,
the study of the variety of cultures--world views, systems of knowledge,
beliefs, and practices. Anthropologists believe that only by understanding the
full variety of human cultures is it possible to reach an understanding of what
it means to be human. They also strive to demonstrate and defend the equal value
and dignity of every culture in the world, and particularly to support minority
cultures that tend to be marginalized and oppressed. Anthropologists look at all
aspects of culture, from religion and ceremonial life to everyday practices;
they are also interested in language, as the main tool for the creation and
transmission of cultural knowledge, and in the relationships between humans and
the environment. They carry out their work by living in a given community for a
period of time and by employing two main means: direct observation of what
people do, and asking questions of the members of the community where they are
doing research. They take notes on what they see and hear, as well as often
recordings, photos, or videos, and sometimes objects. They use these materials
to write books or to make films to try and explain to others the way of life of
the people they have lived with. The materials are often conserved in archives
and museums, where they are available for further research, and can be accessed
by members of the communities where they were gathered for their own
documentation and study. Sometimes these materials can be returned to the
communities from which they originated. Maffi concluded by describing the
activities of the organization she represents, the NGO Terralingua: Partnerships
for Linguistic and Biological Diversity. Terralingua is devoted to promoting
research on the relationships between biological and linguistic diversity, and
to protecting and fostering linguistic and cultural diversity along with
biodiversity. In their comments, Rarámuri participants noted that often
anthropologists come and go without obtaining permission or taking leave, do not
come back to the communities after finishing their research, and do not make the
results of their research available or give people an opportunity to comment on
what they write. They lamented that, by so doing, many anthropologists do not
contribute anything to the communities in which they work. At the same time,
outsiders often speak for the locals as if they were the experts, and do not let
local people speak for themselves. They pointed to the need for outsiders to
respect local people and earn their respect. Maffi acknowledged that these have
been problems in the profession, and that for this reason stricter codes of
professional ethics have been developed. She stressed that any anthropologists
not respecting these rules are behaving unprofessionally, and that any
anthropologists who should be involved in the prospective project in the Sierra
would be held accountable in this respect. She also pointed out that it is
desirable that local people themselves become more involved in doing research on
their own cultural traditions.
In
summarizing the two days’ proceedings, Merrill
observed that culture, language, and environment are linked and need to be
looked at jointly, and that this requires working together cross-culturally and
cross-disciplinarily. He then asked Sierra participants whether there was an
invitation to visit their communities in the Sierra, in order to be able to talk
to more people in each place, devise concrete projects, and then seek financial
support to develop the projects. Delegates from the Sierra gave an affirmative
answer,while at the same time requesting that each institutional or
organizational representative or individual scholar declare his or her
commitment to participate in the process and come to the communities. This
commitment was expressed by representatives of CIESAS, CONABIO, the Instituto de
Biología of UNAM, the Instituto de Ecología, A.C., the Mexico-North Research
Network, the National Museum of Natural History, Terralingua, and the
Departments of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and the Universidad de
Sonora. The commitment of WWF-Mexico had been obtained by Merrill and Maffi the
previous day from Felipe Chávez, who had to leave the meeting early, and it was
communicated in absentia. A commitment as individual researchers rather than on
behalf of their institutions was expressed by Joaquín Arroyo (INAH), Martha
Graham (AMNH), Celia López (IPN), and Toutcha Lebgue (UACH). After this mutual
expression of commitment between Sierra people and scientists, Merrill indicated
that steps would then be taken to set up a new meeting in the Sierra. It was
agreed that the scientists and representatives from the Sierra communities would
meet the following day to begin to make concrete plans for the development of
the project. Certificates of participation and group photos were distributed to
all participants. The meeting was then adjourned to allow participants to tour
the city and attend a closing dinner and maize beer drinking party.
Date:
Sunday, June 18, 2000
Meeting
Site:
Hotel Casa Grande, Chihuahua City
The
participants in this session were representatives of the institutions that were
considering serving as co-sponsors of the STDP, representatives of the Eastern
Rarámuri and Ódami delegations (Carlos Palma and Alejandro Rivas
respectively), and several scholars who had expressed an interest in
participating in the project as individual researchers.
The
session was opened by Merrill, who
invited questions and comments on the previous days’ proceedings and
suggestions on ways to move forward. Sheridan
suggested that the researchers should begin to focus more closely on specific
projects, and for this purpose would need to read materials on the region.
Therefore, she added, one important initial step would be to gather the relevant
materials, putting together bibliographies on the various topics. Bye
agreed, stressing the importance of having a central place where the information
would be available, to both researchers and Sierra people. In this connection,
he went back to his earlier proposal of a research center in the Sierra. Merrill pointed out that a good location for such a center might be
Guachochi, since this municipio is located between the Rarámuri area of
Norogachi and the Ódami area of Baborigame, and the infrastructure available
there would support the needs of this center. He also noted that, if all the
collaborating institutions should join forces, setting up this center might not
be too demanding of any of them. Bye
also suggested institutional collaboration to repatriate copies of research
materials (plant specimens and others) gathered by early Sierra explorers Carl
Lumholtz and Edward Palmer, materials currently held by NMNH and AMNH.
Langendoen
supported the idea of a research center in the Sierra also as a place where
Sierra people could come to train in linguistics, getting credits for it as in a
community college, and prepare needed linguistic materials. He noted that
linguistic description so far has mostly been done by non-native speakers of the
language being described, and written in languages other than the language under
analysis, adding that instead he would like to see descriptions done from within
the study language itself and by native speakers of the language.
Darling
described a plan that he had developed in collaboration with Eiselt
for the establishment of a Center for Biocultural Diversity Studies as a joint
undertaking of the Mexico-North Research Network and the Instituto Tecnológico
y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Chihuahua. Although the creation
of this Center had not yet taken place, Darling suggested that ideas about its
organization and operation might be useful in designing a center in the Sierra
Tarahumara and he made copies of the project plan available to interested
participants.
The
issue of time frames of research was raised by Reynolds. He pointed out that the initial phases of a project can be
time-consuming and yield limited products, so that responses to local people’s
practical concerns may not come right away. He stressed the need to ensure that
local communities understand this process and do not develop false expectations
for immediate solutions. Carlos Palma
acknowledged that research proceeds slowly and that researchers first of all
need to focus on getting to know the whole environment, then on trying to
determine what interventions are feasible. At the same time, they can bring in
needed information and convey local needs to outside institutions. Meanwhile,
people in the communities have striven to learn more by themselves and to work
more among themselves. Palma also pointed out that if a long-term project is set
up, then it should be carried out in such a way that local people, especially
children, can see and learn what it is about. Children should be involved in
learning about the environment and how to care for it, creating a bridge between
generations and between scholars and the community. In the case of linguistic
studies, researchers should focus on how the language was used and why it is
being lost, as well as on the variation in forms of speaking in order to prepare
educational materials according to the variation. Palma indicated that such
long-term projects require making information systematically available to the
community, regular consultation with the community, and periodic evaluation from
multiple perspectives.
Gamboa
summarized the main points of the discussion: 1) research projects in the Sierra
can be expected to be long-term; 2) they should involve monitoring and periodic
re-evaluation, as well as 3) education and training; 4) they should focus on the
conservation, recovery, and consolidation of natural resources and cultural
heritage; and 5) be interdisciplinary. He then asked what kinds of projects
participants had in mind and how they could be coordinated. Merrill
addressed the question by suggesting that the following key issues be discussed:
1. Who the institutional sponsors of the emerging STDP will
be (granting that researchers may also be involved individually rather than as
institutional representatives).
2. How the next steps in project development should be
handled. Merrill noted that up to that point he had served as coordinator of
this planning effort, but that a joint decision should be made on how to carry
the planning forward. He indicated that if he should be asked to continue as
project coordinator, he would need support in terms of human resources for
project planning.
3. Who will be nominated as representative by each
sponsoring institution and by the Sierra communities to form a working group as
well as an oversight committee to steer the project, examine specific project
proposals, and monitor and evaluate research results.
4. What needs to be done to obtain collecting perrmits from
the Mexican government, a necessary requisite for the botanists and zoologists
to be able to legally carry out their research.
5. What the project’s code of ethics should be, to be
followed by all project participants and to be enforced by the oversight
committee.
6. How to develop initial small, shorter-term projects that
could start in the near future.
Turning
to the first point above, Merrill
asked which institutions intended to be sponsors of the project. It was stressed
that Sierra residents needed to hear what commitment the participating
institutions were willing to make at this point. Franco
and Sheridan indicated that CIESAS
was willing to participate as a sponsor. Franco added that it might be possible
to establish in the northwest of Mexico a program similar to the Maestría de
Lingüística Indoamericana existing at CIESAS in Mexico City, and that this
process might ultimately lead to the establishment of an Indigenous Academy of
Languages. Estrada spoke as director
of the Maestría de Lingüística at University of Sonora, indicating her
commitment to the project in that capacity, while she could not speak for the
University as a whole, although she would explore the interest of her
institution in participating in the project at a higher level. Estrada added
that links with CIESAS and with University of Arizona’s Linguistics Department
could be established. Aguilar spoke
for CONABIO on behalf of Arriaga, who had had to leave the previous day. She
stressed that she could not officially designate a CONABIO representative, since
she would have to consult with Arriaga on this, but indicated that CONABIO would
most likely support specific projects within the overall framework of the
project, such as biotaxonomic inventories, and probably support small pilot
conservation projects, as well as act as a bridge to funding institutions.
At
this point there was some discussion of the issue of permits. Bye
explained that Mexico is revising its statutes concerning permits, which should
be simplified and make it easier for foreigners to collect, although exporting
specimens for storage outside Mexico will remain difficult, posing a serious
obstacle for foreign biologists. It was suggested that CONABIO might facilitate
discussion with SEMARNAP and the National Institute of Ecology about this
project and the need for exporting specimens. Aguilar stated that she would
discuss with Arriaga, as well as Jorge Soberón and José Sarukhán, the
possibility that CONABIO organize such a meeting. Another suggestion by Bye was
that Mexico-North might act as an umbrella organization under which to obtain
permits, having Sierra communities make requests for the documentation of
specific species, and that Mexico-North might be registered with CONACYT.
Going
back to the point about sponsoring institutions,
Arroyo indicated that INAH would not at this stage participate
institutionally, but that he would have access to the institutional resources
available for INAH researchers. Gamboa
spoke as an INAH-Chihuahua researcher, again expressing individual commitment to
focus on archaeological projects and the conservation of cultural patrimony,
both pre-hispanic and contemporary. In this connection, Maffi suggested exploring a link with political scientist Paul
Friesema of Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research, who had
expressed an interest in collaborating with the STDP on precisely this kind of
issues. Bye spoke as director of the
Botanical Garden at UNAM, specifying that he cannot make commitments for the
whole institution, although he can seek to involve other UNAM researchers in the
project and bring in extramural funding from his own projects in Chihuahua. Bueno
spoke as another UNAM researcher, with the same caveats. He indicated that his
goal is to carry out an inventory of invertebrate zoology in the Sierra, filling
in taxonomic gaps, and disseminating results as soon as possible. He could also
contribute to environmental impact studies in collaboration with local people,
for whom CONABIO might be able to provide support.
Furth spoke as representative of NMNH’s Department of Entomology,
explaining that its task is to produce taxonomic inventories and that the
results from this work can be used to elaborate producs useful for the local
communities. He also indicated that he can help coordinate research through his
Department, in collaboration with Bueno on the UNAM side, and that both of them
can look for additional collaborators. He stressed that at present he does not
have any additional NMNH resources to commit to the project. Merrill,
speaking as representative of NMNH’s Anthropology Department, commented that
this is the case for all participating NMNH researchers, and that therefore each
researcher should initially develop specific individual projects, but that all
of them also must seek Smithsonian Institution support for the project as a
whole. As representative of Mexico-North, he expressed the organization’s
commitment to continue to play a central organizational role in the project.
Lebgue spoke as an individual UACH researcher, saying that UACH’s interest
in participating as an institution might be explored after a new Rector takes
office toward the end of the year. López
spoke again individually as an IPN researcher, pointing out that she had not yet
discussed the project officially with IPN. She said that she intends to work on
vertebrate zoology with Arroyo and Reynolds, and offered to be the vertebrate
zoology project contact in Mexico. She indicated that the objective of this
research is again taxonomic inventories. López stressed that specific projects
in this domain should be developed and carried out in collaboration with Sierra
people, and that they should be an opportunity for mutual learning. Graham spoke individually as an AMNH researcher, specifying that she
could only speak for the Anthropology Department and the Library, and that the
Museum as a whole is interested in doing research in Mexico but has not yet made
decisions. Maffi spoke as
representative of Terralingua, stressing the full commitment of her organization
to developing a project of this nature. She indicated that Terralingua’s
contributions to the STDP will relate both to the subject matter of the project,
and to facilitating interdisciplinary and intercultural collaboration,
contributing to project planning and fund-raising, working on the code of
ethics, and offering access to its international network of experts. The
institutional commitment of WWF-Mexico was reported in absentia on behalf of Chávez.
At
this point, Ybarra-Frausto,
representing the Rockefeller Foundation, gave a few comments after introducing
the Foundation and presenting his own interest in cross-border issues, with
special reference to the US-Mexico border. He expressed the hope that the STDP
group would develop a project the Foundation might consider funding, especially
if it will involve Indigenous peoples’ participation in global processes.
Ybarra-Frausto pointed out that numerous foundations internationally (e.g., in
France and The Netherlands) are also interested in funding projects of this
nature. He also indicated that the project for a research and education center
in the Sierra might be eligible for Rockefeller funding. He further recommended
that the group use the project development process as an opportunity to foster
mutual knowledge and understanding and develop a network, and offered to provide
feedback based on his experience with processes of this kind.