Oliver T . Coomes
McGill University, Geography, Faculty Member
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Mercury is a global contaminant with toxic, persistent effects on human health. Petroleum extraction is an important source of elemental mercury; little is known about human exposure levels near oil fields in the Amazon basin. To... more
Mercury is a global contaminant with toxic, persistent effects on human health. Petroleum extraction is an important source of elemental mercury; little is known about human exposure levels near oil fields in the Amazon basin. To characterize mercury levels in people living near oil production sites in the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon, controlling for fish consumption, occupation, source of water and socio-demographic characteristics. Analyze mercury levels in urine samples using cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry from 76 indigenous men and women in eight riverine communities situated near oil wells or pipelines. Subjects answered a questionnaire soliciting socio-demographic, occupational and dietary information. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression modeling. The mean value of U-Hg was 2.61μg/g creatinine (95% CI: 2.14-3.08), with 7% of the sample recording values above the global background standard suggested by The World Health Organization (5μg/g creatinine). Women who used water from a surface source had two and a half times the amount of mercury in their urine (mean=3.70μg/g creatinine, 95% CI: 2.26-5.15) compared with women who used other water sources (mean =1.39μg/g creatinine, 95% CI: 0.51-2.25). Men who were involved in an oil clean-up operation had twice as much mercury in their urine (mean =3.07μg/g creatinine, 95% CI: 1.97-4.16) as did those who worked on other tasks (mean =1.56μg/g creatinine, 95% CI: 1.48-2.65). Mercury levels were not associated with the number of fish meals per week. Indigenous peoples of the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon living near oil production sites generally had urine mercury levels within the global background standard suggested by the World Health Organization. Increased levels of mercury in urine were detected for men involved in oil spill remediation and for women who relied on surface water for household needs. These findings signal the need for strict safety measures to limit the amount of oil entering the waterways in Andean Amazonia so as to protect the health of indigenous people.
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Shifting cultivation remains an important land system in many tropical landscapes, but transitions away from shifting cultivation are increasingly common. So far, our knowledge on the social–economic and environmental drivers and... more
Shifting cultivation remains an important land system in many tropical landscapes, but transitions away from shifting cultivation are increasingly common. So far, our knowledge on the social–economic and environmental drivers and consequences of such shifting cultivation transitions is incomplete, focusing on certain transitions, drivers, consequences or regions. Here, we use an archetype approach, validated through systematically identified literature, to describe eight archetypes encompassing the transitions from shifting cultivation to (1) perennial plantation crops, (2) permanent agroforestry, (3) regrown secondary forest, (4) permanent non‐perennial crops, (5) pasture, (6) wood plantation, (7) non‐cultivated non‐forested land and (8) restored secondary forest (ordered in decreasing prevalence). We then discuss social–economic and environmental factors favouring and disfavouring each archetype. This reveals that higher expected land rents, resulting from increased market access,...
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Monitoring the status of species is crucial for biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource management in tropical forests, but conventional in situ monitoring methods are impractical over large scales. Scientists have resorted to... more
Monitoring the status of species is crucial for biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource management in tropical forests, but conventional in situ monitoring methods are impractical over large scales. Scientists have resorted to two potentially complementary approaches: local ecological knowledge (LEK) and remote sensing. To gauge the potential of combining LEK and remote sensing for assessing species status at landscape scales, a large-scale assessment of the reliability of both measures is critical but hampered by the lack of ground-level data. We conducted a landscape-scale assessment of LEK and remote sensing, using a survey of over 900 communities (a near census in our study area) and nearly 4,000 households in 235 randomly selected communities in the Peruvian Amazon—the largest LEK survey as yet undertaken in tropical forests. The survey collected LEK data on the presence of 20 indicator species from both community leaders/elders and randomly sampled households. We as...
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Environmental change is significantly altering hydrological systems worldwide, with substantial impacts for the people who live on floodplains and depend on rivers for their livelihoods and lifeways. Amazonia is a region significantly... more
Environmental change is significantly altering hydrological systems worldwide, with substantial impacts for the people who live on floodplains and depend on rivers for their livelihoods and lifeways. Amazonia is a region significantly affected by these changes, particularly more severe flooding. This paper proposes a multi-scalar approach to vulnerability, applying it empirically to the analysis of household vulnerability to the 2011 flood—the second largest flood event along the Ucayali River in 30 years—in terms of exposure, impacts, and responses. Locally relevant indicators for assets, social identity, and social networks at the community and household levels are used to examine their role in shaping flood vulnerability, the interplay of community-level and household-level factors, and differential vulnerability across exposure, impacts, and responses to the same hazard event. We find that the most common impacts of severe flooding in rural Amazonia are on agriculture and that fishing is the dominant response strategy. This study suggests that covariate shocks, like floods, can have distinct idiosyncratic impacts and responses among households. We demonstrate that more integrated approaches to vulnerability analysis offer potential for better understanding differential vulnerabilities within populations as well as for drawing comparisons across hazard events and different settings.
Research Interests: Geography, Risk and Vulnerability, Amazonia, Vulnerability, Global Environmental Change, and 15 moreEnvironmental Change, Multidisciplinary, Social vulnerability, Livelihood, Flooding, Rural Livelihoods, Amazon, Floodplain, Environmental Hazards and Disasters, Floodplains, Vulnerability assessment, Amazon rainforest, Peruvian Amazon, Ucayali, and Flood Myth
Background Health risk communication plays a key role in promoting self-protective measures, which are critical in suppressing COVID-19 contagion. Relatively little is known about the communication channels used by rural poor populations... more
Background Health risk communication plays a key role in promoting self-protective measures, which are critical in suppressing COVID-19 contagion. Relatively little is known about the communication channels used by rural poor populations to learn novel measures and their effectiveness in promoting self-protective behaviors. Behavioral change can be shaped by people’s trust in government institutions which may be differentiated by social identity, including indigeneity. Methods During an early phase of the pandemic, we conducted two telephone surveys with over 460 communities – both Indigenous and mestizo – without road access and limited communication access in the Peruvian Amazon. This is the first report on the association of information sources about self-protective measures against COVID-19 with the adoption of self-protective behaviors in remote rural areas in developing countries. Results People mainly relied on mass media (radio, television, newspapers) and interpersonal sour...
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Biochar offers potential for enhancing the agricultural productivity of degraded lands in the humid tropics. This paper reports on charcoal and biochar production among peasant farmers who practise shifting cultivation in the Peruvian... more
Biochar offers potential for enhancing the agricultural productivity of degraded lands in the humid tropics. This paper reports on charcoal and biochar production among peasant farmers who practise shifting cultivation in the Peruvian Amazon. Using wood from secondary forest fallows, farmers produce charcoal for market in earthen mound kilns, also yielding biochar, as charcoal fines, which becomes incorporated into kiln site soils. Data were collected in a riverside community near Iquitos through interviews with farmers/charcoal producers, an inventory of kiln sites, a kiln audit of the charcoal production process, and soil sampling of kiln sites and adjacent paired control sites (depth: 15 cm). Our results indicate that kilns incorporate substantial quantities of biochar into local soils (Ultisols), as much as 30 tonnes each year on 0·4–0·8 ha of kiln sites. Additions of biochar and ash significantly enhance soil fertility by increasing organic C content, raising P and other nutrie...
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Uno de los principales impedimentos en la aplicacion exitosa de estrategias de manejo de recursos a nivel comunal, tanto en Peru como en otros lugares de la Amazonia, es la falta de conocimiento sobre la microeconomia de la extraccion... more
Uno de los principales impedimentos en la aplicacion exitosa de estrategias de manejo de recursos a nivel comunal, tanto en Peru como en otros lugares de la Amazonia, es la falta de conocimiento sobre la microeconomia de la extraccion forestal en las familias campesinas. En este documento se presentan los resultados de un estudio basado en una encuesta sobre extraccion de recursos forestales en los hogares campesinos de la Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria. El objetivo principal fue establecer si la extraccion forestal obedece a presiones del mercado y en que medida este ha modificado las costumbres ancestrales de explotacion del tropico humedo. One of the primary impediments to successful implementation of community-based resource management schemes in Peru and elsewhere in Amazonia is a pervasive lack of understanding of the microeconomics of traditional rainforest extraction by peasant households. In this paper we present the results of a study based on a recent survey data on reso...
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Understanding COVID-19 contagion among poor populations is hampered by a paucity of data, and especially so in remote rural communities with limited access to transportation, communication, and health services. We report on the first... more
Understanding COVID-19 contagion among poor populations is hampered by a paucity of data, and especially so in remote rural communities with limited access to transportation, communication, and health services. We report on the first study on COVID-19 contagion across rural communities without road access. We conducted telephone surveys with over 400 riverine communities in the Peruvian Amazon in the early phase of the pandemic. During the first wave (April–June, 2020), COVID-19 spread from cities to most communities through public and private river transportation according to their remoteness. The initial spread was delayed by transportation restrictions but at the same time was driven in unintended ways by government social assistance. During the second wave (August, 2020), although people’s self-protective behaviors (promoted through communication access) helped to suppress the contagion, people responded to transportation restrictions and social assistance in distinct ways, lead...
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We assess the importance of publisher conduct and journal quality in determining the price and cost-effectiveness of journals in geography. Drawing on a database of 136 journals in which geographers publish, we examine the price of... more
We assess the importance of publisher conduct and journal quality in determining the price and cost-effectiveness of journals in geography. Drawing on a database of 136 journals in which geographers publish, we examine the price of journals, publishers' market share, the determinants of journal prices, and the cost-effectiveness of journals. We find that commercial presses charge 2.3 times more for journals than society and university presses and 50 percent more for journals published on behalf of universities and societies. Journals in physical geography are almost twice as expensive as those in human geography and 43 percent of them can be considered “overpriced.” Four commercial presses hold 72 percent of the titles and 93 percent of the value of subscriptions, enabling them to exercise oligopolistic market power over pricing. Our multivariate analysis shows that the price of journals, of articles, and of citations in geography is driven by publisher conduct rather than journal quality as measured by citations accrued to articles. Geographers can further the transition underway in scientific publishing by self-archiving their published work, disseminating their findings through social networks, and paying closer attention to journal cost-effectiveness in choosing where to publish and review.
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Abstract A key issue in understanding tropical forest disturbance is what drives farmers practicing customary shifting cultivation to clear crop fields in old-growth forest over secondary forest fallows. These farmers typically hold a... more
Abstract A key issue in understanding tropical forest disturbance is what drives farmers practicing customary shifting cultivation to clear crop fields in old-growth forest over secondary forest fallows. These farmers typically hold a stock of secondary forest fallows that can be used for cropping in rotation, built up over time in part through initial clearing of old-growth forest. In this paper we examine the most recent field cleared by 2046 indigenous and folk peasant households in 138 communities along three major rivers of the Peruvian Amazon to identify the factors that influence their choice of field location (upland or lowland forests) and type of forest cleared (old-growth or secondary). Data are drawn from a large-scale household and community surveys and remote sensing analysis of Landsat and ArcGIS Worldview imagery. We find that rates of old-growth forest clearing are low and that such land quickly returns to secondary forest cover: about 31% of households cleared forest on the upland (terra firme) but only 8% of households cleared upland old-growth forest. Regression modeling results identify the contextual, historical and household factors that influence the choice to clear upland forest (old-growth or secondary). Access to lowland for floodplain agriculture is associated with lower rates of old-growth forest clearing and higher educational attainment of household heads with increased clearing. Analysis of household land portfolios points to the importance of the size of land holdings, the degree of upland orientation, and the number and age of fallows held at the time of the forest clearing decision in clearing old-growth forest on the upland. Measures to reduce old-growth forest loss around Amazonian communities are discussed.
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ABSTRACT Reflecting on the 2019 Open Science Meeting of the Global Land Program and on commentaries since, we argue that the time is ripe for the land system science community to fully embrace the thorny issue of land ownership and... more
ABSTRACT Reflecting on the 2019 Open Science Meeting of the Global Land Program and on commentaries since, we argue that the time is ripe for the land system science community to fully embrace the thorny issue of land ownership and control. Beyond land governance and institutions, the issue of who actually owns and controls land, and how land holding and rents are distributed across society, is central to the future of sustainability initiatives, biodiversity protection, social justice, climate change mitigation, and long-term food security and sovereignty. By explicitly tracking and visualizing just Who Owns the Earth, the land system science community could provide much-needed data and insights to inform public debate and advance political action in these arenas.
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We describe a new minimum extent, persistent surface water classification for reaches of four major rivers in the Peruvian Amazon (i.e., Amazon, Napo, Pastaza, Ucayali). These data were generated by the Peruvian Amazon Rural Livelihoods... more
We describe a new minimum extent, persistent surface water classification for reaches of four major rivers in the Peruvian Amazon (i.e., Amazon, Napo, Pastaza, Ucayali). These data were generated by the Peruvian Amazon Rural Livelihoods and Poverty (PARLAP) Project which aims to better understand the nexus between livelihoods (e.g., fishing, agriculture, forest use, trade), poverty, and conservation in the Peruvian Amazon over a 35,000 km river network. Previous surface water datasets do not adequately capture the temporal changes in the course of the rivers, nor discriminate between primary main channel and non-main channel (e.g., oxbow lakes) water. We generated the surface water classifications in Google Earth Engine from Landsat TM 5, 7 ETM+, and 8 OLI satellite imagery for time periods from circa 1989, 2000, and 2015 using a hierarchical logical binary classification predominantly based on a modified Normalized Difference Water Index (mNDWI) and shortwave infrared surface refle...
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Recent studies point to a rapid increase in small-scale deforestation in Amazonia. Where people live along the rivers of the basin, customary shifting cultivation creates a zone of secondary forest, orchards and crop fields around... more
Recent studies point to a rapid increase in small-scale deforestation in Amazonia. Where people live along the rivers of the basin, customary shifting cultivation creates a zone of secondary forest, orchards and crop fields around communities in what was once was old-growth terra firme forest. Visible from satellite imagery as a narrow but extensive band of forest disturbance along rivers, this zone is often considered as having been deforested. In this paper we assess forest disturbance and the dynamics of secondary forests around 275 communities along a 725 km transect on the Napo and Amazon rivers in the Peruvian Amazon. We used high-resolution satellite imagery to define the ‘working area’ around each community, based on the spatial distribution of forest/field patches and the visible boundary between old-growth and secondary forests. Land cover change was assessed between ca. 1989 and 2015 using CLASliteTM image classification. Statistical analyses using community and household...
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Indigenous Territories (ITs) and Community Managed Protected Areas (PAs) with less restriction on forest use than integral PAs may represent cost-effective natural climate solutions to meet the Paris agreement. However, the literature has... more
Indigenous Territories (ITs) and Community Managed Protected Areas (PAs) with less restriction on forest use than integral PAs may represent cost-effective natural climate solutions to meet the Paris agreement. However, the literature has been limited to examining the effect of ITs and Community Managed PAs on deforestation, despite the influence of anthropogenic degradation. Thus, little is known about the temporal and spatial effect of allocating ITs and Community Managed PAs on carbon stocks dynamics that account for losses from deforestation and degradation. Using Amazon Basin countries and Panama at the national level, and Petén (Guatemala) and Acre (Brazil) at the subnational level, this study aims to estimate the temporal and spatial effects of ITs and PAs on carbon stocks. To estimate the temporal effects, we use annual carbon density maps, matching analysis, and linear mixed models. Furthermore, we explore the spatial biases derived from matching analysis and use geographic...
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The importance of seed provisioning in food security and nutrition, agricultural development and rural livelihoods, and agrobiodiversity and germplasm conservation is well accepted by policy makers, practitioners and researchers. The role... more
The importance of seed provisioning in food security and nutrition, agricultural development and rural livelihoods, and agrobiodiversity and germplasm conservation is well accepted by policy makers, practitioners and researchers. The role of farmer seed networks is less well understood and yet is central to debates on current issues ranging from seed sovereignty and rights for farmers to GMOs and the conservation of crop germplasm. In this paper we identify four common misconceptions regarding the nature and importance of farmer seed networks today. (1) Farmer seed networks are inefficient for seed dissemination. (2) Farmer seed networks are closed, conservative systems. (3) Farmer seed networks provide ready, egalitarian access to seed. (4) Farmer seed networks are destined to weaken and disappear. We challenge these misconceptions by drawing upon recent research findings and the authors’ collective field experience in studying farmer seed systems in Africa, Europe, Latin America and Oceania. Priorities for future research are suggested that would advance our understanding of seed networks and better inform agricultural and food policy.