Agent-based modeling of hunting and subsistence agriculture on indigenous lands: Understanding interactions between social and ecological systems

• Published in: Environmental modelling & software : with environment data news Vol. 58; pp. 109 - 127
• Main Authors: Iwamura, Takuya, Lambin, Eric F., Silvius, Kirsten M., Luzar, Jeffrey B., Fragoso, José M.V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Agent-based modeling; Agriculture; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Amazon; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Biodiversity; Biological and medical sciences; Computer programs; Ecology; Exploitation and management of natural biological resources (hunting, fishing and exploited populations survey, etc.); Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agroecology; General agroecology. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development. Rural area planning. Landscaping; General agronomy. Plant production; General aspects; General aspects. Techniques; Generalities. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development; Human and natural systems; Hunting; Indigenous people; Land use change; Landscapes; Methods and techniques (sampling, tagging, trapping, modelling...); Natural resources; Socio-ecological systems; Sustainability; Synecology; South America; America; Amazon Basin; Guyana; Human and natural systems; Socio-ecological systems; Indigenous people; Land use change; Agent-based modeling; Biodiversity; Amazon; Human; Hunting; Tropical zone; Interaction; Modeling; Land use; Agriculture
• ISSN: 1364-8152; 1873-6726
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2014.03.008

Indigenous people of the Rupununi region of Amazonian Guyana interact with their natural environment through hunting and subsistence agriculture. To date the sustainability of indigenous livelihoods has been analyzed by modeling either hunting or forest clearing. Here we develop a holistic model framework with agent-based modeling to examine interactions between demographic growth, hunting, subsistence agriculture, land cover change, and animal population in the Rupununi. We use an extensive field dataset from social surveys, animal observation records and hunting kill locations along with satellite images. The model exhibits feedback loops between a growing human population and depletion of local natural resources. Our model can reproduce the population size of two different villages along with landscape patterns without further calibration. Our model can be used for understanding the conditions of sustainability for indigenous communities relying on subsistence agriculture and hunting, and for scenario analyses to examine the implications of external interventions. [Display omitted] •Our simulation model investigates socio-ecological systems of indigenous people.•Interactions in indigenous communities are examined with spatially explicit ABM.•Model parameters and validation were based on field data from Rupununi, Guyana.•The model could reproduce actual population sizes of two villages.•The model displays non-linear system dynamics relevant to indigenous land use.