Indigenous Population Growth in the Lowland Neotropics: Social Science Insights for Biodiversity Conservation

Conservationists have expressed concern over the possibility that growth of indigenous populations in Latin America's tropical lowlands may compromise local biodiversity and undermine alliances between natives and conservationists. Through a review of demographic data and theory, I show how social science insights can offer conservationists a much‐needed new perspective on the issue of indigenous population growth. For example, recent surveys offer a baseline of actual demographic trends to replace the suppositions and impressions that have dominated conservationists' discussions to date. They show that Neotropical indigenous populations are growing rapidly: fertility is high, infant mortality rates are declining, and populations are correspondingly young. New insights from anthropological demography highlight, in turn, how indigenous population growth need not inevitably lead to resource degradation. Rather, indigenous peoples' demographic resurgence can be tied in unexpected ways to the improved defense of their homelands and the management of associated resources. Although much future research is needed to establish the strengths of these links in particular landscapes, some initial recommendations for ongoing conservation initiatives in native homelands go beyond the standard prescription (fertility reduction programs) to include monitoring of target populations' vital rates, closer attention to women's indirect contributions to conservation, and a renewed focus on the enforcement of indigenous territorial rights.