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Risk coping strategies in tropical forests: floods, illnesses, and resource extraction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2004

YOSHITO TAKASAKI
Affiliation:
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan. Tel: 81-298-53-6280. Fax: 81-298-53-7440. E-mail: takasaki@sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
BRADFORD L. BARHAM
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. E-mail: barham@aae.wisc.edu
OLIVER T. COOMES
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 2K6, Canada. E-mail: coomes@felix.geog.mcgill.ca

Abstract

This paper examines coping strategies in response to covariate flood shocks and idiosyncratic health shocks among riverine peasant households in the Amazonian tropical forests. An assessment of coping strategies reveals that although precautionary savings (food stock and livestock) are important for both types of shocks, ex post labor supply responses in the form of upland cropping and resource extraction (fishing and non-timber forest product gathering) are more common to cope with the flood shock depending on local environments. A bivariate probit model examines what factors shape households' adoption decisions of gathering and fishing as a coping strategy. The analysis reveals an important insurance role of non-timber forest product gathering for the asset poor who have limited options for coping with flood risk. Targeted interventions and programs for the poor to promote sustainable forest resource use are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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