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Conserving copalillo: The creation of sustainable Oaxacan wood carvings

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  • Michael Chibnik
  • Silvia Purata

Abstract

Most accounts of the effect of the global marketplace on deforestation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America emphasize the demand for timber used in industrial processes and the conversion of tropical forests to pastures for beef cattle. In recent years, numerous scholars and policymakers have suggested that developing a market for non-timber forest products (NTFPs) might slow the pace of habitat destruction. Although increased demand for NTFPs rarely results in massive deforestation, the depletion of the raw materials needed to make particular products is common. Many rural households in the Mexican state of Oaxaca have prospered over the past three decades through the sale of brightly-painted, whimsical wood carvings (alebrijes) to international tourists and the owners of ethnic arts shops in the United States, Canada, and Europe. This paper examines a promising project aimed at providing Oaxacan alebrije-makers with a reliable, legal, and sustainable supply of wood. The ecologists, artisans, merchants, and forest owners involved in the project face formidable obstacles. Gaining permission to harvest wood from land belonging to Oaxacan communities requires the negotiation of a complex social, legal, economic, and political landscape. Artisans’ decisions about where to obtain wood rest largely on price, quality, and reliability of the supplier; they are willing to pay a premium for ecologically sustainable wood only if the additional cost can be passed on to consumers. Nonetheless, a group of carvers has begun to buy sustainably harvested wood. This arrangement has economic advantages for both the alebrije-makers and the owners of the forests where the wood is produced. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Chibnik & Silvia Purata, 2007. "Conserving copalillo: The creation of sustainable Oaxacan wood carvings," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 24(1), pages 17-28, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:24:y:2007:i:1:p:17-28
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-006-9033-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Belcher, Brian & Ruiz-Perez, Manuel & Achdiawan, Ramadhani, 2005. "Global patterns and trends in the use and management of commercial NTFPs: Implications for livelihoods and conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1435-1452, September.
    2. Arnold, J. E. Michael & Perez, M. Ruiz, 2001. "Can non-timber forest products match tropical forest conservation and development objectives?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 437-447, December.
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