Complex Communities and Emergent Ecologies in the Regional Agroforest of Zambrana-Chacuey, Dominican Republic

Global economic change and the discourses, models and practice of international sustainable development are major forces of ecological construction and restructuring. The paper illustrates how the social and ecological co-construction of forests in the Zambrana-Chacuey region in the Dominican Republic has material consequences for distinct groups of people and for other species in rural landscapes. The introduction of the Acacia mangium - a fast growing tree - as a timber cash crop for smallholder farmers in the region between 1984 and 1994 had major social, economic and ecological consequences. A rural federation collaborated with ENDA-Caribe, an international non-government organization, in a ten-year social forestry experiment to develop and promote economically and environmentally viable timber cash cropping systems for smallholder farmers. The experience of the federation members provides a window on the workings of gender, class and popular organization in the making of forest ecologies, and demonstrates the influence of transnational sustainable development models and organizations in the social and biological transformation of rural life. The encounter between the complex social and ecological context with an apparently simple project yields insights into the social, political and material construction, destruction and transformation of biotic assemblages in forests, fields, pastures and gardens in this forest/farm matrix. The research findings also illuminate the distinct effects of the resulting restructured ecologies on the diverse interest groups and plant communities within the regional agroforest.