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Illegal Palm Heart (Geonoma edulis) Harvest in Costa Rican National Parks: Patterns of Consumption and Extraction. Illegal extraction of non-timber forest products in the tropics is widespread, and many protected areas face the challenge of balancing conservation needs with cultural practices related to the use and extraction of animals and plants. We studied the illegal wild palm heart extraction of Geonoma edulis, locally known as súrtuba, in Volcán Poás and Braulio Carrillo National Parks in Costa Rica. Through 96 questionnaires administered in three communities bordering these national parks, and by semistructured interviews with poachers and park managers, this study examined extraction and consumption motives, patterns, and frequencies. This palm is sought out by the communities for use during Holy Week to satisfy cultural traditions, for its associated nutritive value, and because of its unique bitter flavor, not comparable to domesticated palm heart. Whereas the majority of the respondents consume it during Holy Week (55.2%), a substantial number (27.1%) consume G. edulis palm heart at least once a month. The majority extract once a year (58%); however, a minority (2.1%) rely on G. edulis for economic subsistence. This accounts for 72.6% of the reported extraction (over 4,500 palms per year) and is supplying a year-round market for nontraditional use. Our results show that what most likely began as a cultural tradition has become an uncontrolled, nontraditional source of income. Additional efforts should determine the feasibility of limited extraction outside protected areas to satisfy traditional use. Such an effort entails the decentralization of biodiversity policies and innovative methods to implement protective measures, as well as incentives for community involvement in the management of this palm heart species.

The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the global food insecurity crisis, disproportionately affecting the consumers, farmers, and food workers (UN in Policy brief: impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition, 2020, https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_on_covid_impact_on_food_security.pdf ). The significant disruptions caused by Covid-19 have called international attention to food security and sparked conversations about how to better support food production and trade. Our paper contributes to a small but growing literature on the impacts and responses of agroecological farmers to Covid-19 in Costa Rica. Specifically, we interviewed 30 agroecological farmers about (1) livelihood disruptions during Covid-19, (2) the areas of food production and sales most affected during this pandemic, and (3) how farmers and consumers are adapting during this crisis. Our findings reveal multiple impacts on agroecological farmers including: economic hardships of lower incomes and inability to pay loans, changes in purchasing and consumption patterns, market disruptions, changes in sales, a decrease in agrotourism, and a shortage of farmworkers. Furthermore, we also report the following farmer adaptation strategies: (1) minimizing distance with consumers to facilitate direct delivery, (2) establishing e-commerce platforms. Based on our findings, we recommend the following: (1) building farmer networks for knowledge sharing, (2) increasing technological support for farmers, and (3) providing government support to ensure that such crises do not increase unemployment among farmers and exacerbate food insecurity.

ABSTRACT. Interaction, negotiation, and sharing knowledge are at the heart of indigenous response to global environmental change. We consider Anishinaabe efforts to devise new institutional arrangements in response to the process of colonialism and changing global markets. Our findings are based on collaborative research undertaken with Anishinaabe colleagues from Pikangikum First Nation, northwestern Ontario. We worked with elders to understand their knowledge, preferences, and opinions regarding appropriate institutional arrangements for the co-production of knowledge required to develop nontimber forest products. We began our research by asking about the values, institutions, and conditions that guide plant harvesting, and then the conditions necessary to coproduce new knowledge regarding plant products with external partners. Results were discussed during focus groups and community meetings, and were modified based on that feedback. This research resulted in a framework based on the values, institutions, and conditions that are necessary for the coproduction of new knowledge. In this framework, Pikangikum people-through Anishinaabe teachings and collaborative partnerships-guide knowledge coproduction through meaningful participation as research advisors in the development of knowledge, institutions, and technologies. Coproducing knowledge in response to environmental change requires new institutional arrangements that provide community control, meaningful collaboration and partnerships, and significant benefit sharing with Pikangikum people.

We estimated the magnitude of the total leaf area of the neotropical palm Euterpe oleracea and examined its allometry relative to the variation in stem height and diameter at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. The allometric relationships between frond leaf area and frond length (from tip to base), and between frond leaf area and number of leaflets, were determined by natural logarithmic regressions to estimate the total area of each frond. Palm total leaf area was then estimated by adding the area of the composing fronds. We fit 14 separate regression models that related one or more of the morphological variables (number of fronds, diameter at breast height, stem height) to the total leaf area. Our results show that palm total leaf area is directly proportional to the number of fronds and palm size as reflected in stem height and diameter. Eight out of the 14 models had r 2 values of[0.90 and incorporated a diverse combination of predictor variables. Simple linear regression models were more congruent with the observed values of total leaf area, whereas natural logarithmic models overestimated the value of total leaf area for large palms. Both approaches show a high degree of association among morphological characters in E. oleracea supporting the hypothesis that palms behave like unitary organisms, and are morphologically constrained by the lack of secondary meristems. To afford attaining canopy heights, woody palms need to show a high degree of phenotypic integration, shaping their growth and allometric relationships to match spatial and temporal changes in resources.

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Although there is a growing interest in Indigenous research, education regarding how to put Indigenous research into practice is not often part of academic training. To increase the awareness of how Indigenous methodologies can be applied to academic research, we describe how we used Bribri Indigenous teachings to develop a Ph.D. research methodology for a food security project in Costa Rica. Our research approach was based on a Bribri concept related to cooperation, ulàpeitök; this concept guided our work and helped to reduce the negative consequences associated with conventional research with Indigenous people (e.g., extractive practices, reinforcement of gender inequality, misrepresenting cultural information). We identified three considerations that may be useful for other scholars applying Indigenous teachings to academic research: 1) build flexibility into the entire research program, 2) ensure that community-level and university-level researchers are willing to play multiple roles beyond those associated with conventional research, and 3) proceed with an ethic of friendship. Our work is relevant to scholars working in Indigenous/non-Indigenous research teams that aim to transform conventional research approaches to ensure that they support human rights, equity, and cultural continuity. In Costa Rica, our research is specifically relevant to building wider acceptance of Indigenous methodologies in higher education.