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.