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The socioeconomic determinants of timber use in the buffer zone of the Sumaco Napo Galeras National Park, Ecuadorian Amazon

Abstract:

This work assesses the determinants of timber harvesting, types of economic income and the dependence on timber harvesting at the household level in indigenous Kichwa and colonist/mestizo populations settled in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region (RAE). The data were obtained through a socioeconomic survey in 180 households, carried out in seven communities of the Hatun Sumaku parish. The results indicated that, on average, economic income is 12% higher for colonist / mestizo households (USD 2787.68) than for Kichwa households (USD 2445.45), for whom in this area their main economic income is the use of wood (33%), while for the colonists/mestizo 3% since their main income comes from activities outside the farm (43%) unlike the Kichwa (17%). The Probit regression model showed that the area in secondary forests and access to cellular communication positively influence timber harvesting, while areas under cultivation negatively influence the probability that a household decides to harvest wood from the forest.