They have little or no surplus to sell by which to accumulate wealth. The size of their plot, the fertility of the land and the farming practices they use allow them to provide enough food for their own use. Subsistence farmers cultivate a single piece of land on a sustained basis. When it is practiced on a large scale with short or non-existent recovery periods, the forest may not recover. On a small scale its impact on the forest is minimal. This method of farming has been practiced by traditional forest people for thousands of years. When productivity drops they move to a new area where they repeat the process. Shifting farmers cut and burn sections of the forest on which they raise crops for two or three years. Since the early 1900s rubber plantations have been planted in Asia and Africa.įarmers can be divided into three main groups depending on how they cultivate the land. To supplement their income, they may gather and sell Brazil nuts. Rubber tappers may also tend small gardens, hunt, and gather forest plants for food, medicine and other household goods. In many areas they are unionizing to have a greater political voice. Since their livelihood is dependent upon the forest, they are strong advocates of rain forest preservation. They are not tribal or traditional cultural groups. Rubber tappers make their living from tapping and collecting latex from wild rubber trees. Their numbers have been in rapid decline for many years as the forests shrink.
They sustain their livelihood in the forest through hunting and gathering, small scale cultivation, fishing or extracting forest products for their own use, to sell or to trade. These cultures, such as the Kayapo and Yanomami of Brazil, the Lacandon of Mexico, the Efe Pygmies of Zaire or the Gimi of Papua New Guinea, have lived for many centuries in tropical rain forests. Following is a short list of some of the major groups that can be found in the forests. Some inhabitants are descendants of people who have lived in the forest for hundreds or even thousands of years. Tropical rain forests are home to millions of people. MBG ETT page18-19 People of the Tropical Rain Forests
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