The Peruvian government seeks to stop deforestation in its primary forest in the Amazon. It alleges that the main culprit of deforestation is smallholders who practice swidden farming. However, this is a simplified view, concealing the main reasons for deforestation and the complexity of land use changes. By studying land and forest use through the lens of the indigenous Kechwa-Lamas people, who live along forest covered mountain slopes in the region San Martín, we attempt to show the complex and intertwined reasons for deforestation, as well as how the indigenous people try to cope with this development. We identify and discuss three “ideal” types of land use—the swidden and tree based systems of the Kechwa-Lamas people, agricultural intensification practices (particularly perennial cash crops), and state conservation approaches. In practice these uses overlap spatially and have synergistic and antagonistic aspects. Kechwa-Lamas may clear land for tree cash crops, but they also manage forests and seek to conserve them for particular needs. Migrants from the Andes clear forests to plant perennial crops, penetrating the ancestral territories of the Kechwa-Lamas, while large scale capital intensive agriculture often intrudes into primary forest and jeopardizes existing subsistence systems. The opening up of forest areas in San Martín and its gradual integration into the nation’s market economy, together with the local government’s division of the region into zones intended for different purposes, have had both intended and unintended consequences. There is a need to develop a more nuanced understanding of the forms and complexity of forests and their transitions, particularly where secondary and managed forests replace previous rainforest areas. The findings draw on field observations and interviews with households, key NGO informants and a detailed case study of 13 Kechwa-Lamas villages.

中文翻译：

---

秘鲁亚马逊河中的森林动态：了解变化过程

秘鲁政府试图阻止其亚马逊河原始森林中的森林砍伐。它声称毁林的主要罪魁祸首是从事轮耕的小农。但是，这是一个简化的视图，掩盖了森林砍伐的主要原因以及土地用途变更的复杂性。通过研究土著人Kechwa-Lamas人（他们生活在圣马丁地区的森林覆盖的山坡上）的视角研究土地和森林利用，我们试图说明造成森林砍伐的复杂而相互交织的原因，以及土著人如何尝试应对这一发展。我们确定并讨论了三种“理想”的土地利用类型— Kechwa-Lamas人的湿地和树木化系统，农业集约化实践（尤其是多年生经济作物）和州保护方法。在实践中，这些用途在空间上重叠，并具有协同作用和对抗作用。Kechwa-Lamas可能会砍伐土地来种植树木经济作物，但他们也管理森林并寻求为特殊需要而保护它们。安第斯山脉的移民砍伐森林种植多年生作物，渗透到凯奇瓦-喇嘛的祖传领土，而大规模的资本密集型农业则常常侵入原始森林，并危及现有的生存系统。圣马丁森林地区的开放及其逐步融入国家市场经济，再加上当地政府将该地区划分为不同用途的区域，既有预期的后果，也有意料之外的后果。有必要对森林及其过渡的形式和复杂性有更细致的了解，特别是在次生和人工林代替以前的雨林地区的地方。调查结果基于对家庭，非政府组织关键人物的实地观察和访谈，以及对13个Kechwa-Lamas村庄的详细案例研究。