maintaining bush islands in katoonarib village pakawan wataapan wa katonarun kida da'a'a...
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MAINTAINING BUSH ISLANDS IN KATOONARIB VILLAGE
PAKAWAN WATAAPAN WA KATONARUN KIDA DA'A'A WA WIZI'I KATONARUBA'A.
WHAT ARE BUSH ISLANDS?
A bush island is similar to having an island in the middle of the sea. In this case, the patches of bushes are surrounded and separated by savannah hence the name given as “BUSH ISLANDS”.
THE FIRST PEOPLE WHO CAME
How this Village started .I am Charles Alexander , I am one of the sons of great grandfather Alexander who came here to start a new living. The main reason for moving here was for new farming ground, hunting and fishing. As the area was full of bush islands and fertile for farming about 150 years ago.
THE NAME KATOONARIB
Katonaruba , a wapichan word meaning a lot of bush island : Katonaru means a single bush island and iriba means a lot .
• It is really Ktonaruiriba .
IMPORTANCE OF BUSH ISLANDS
Bush Islands are used mainly for: farming, hunting, extracting building materials, local medicines and fuel (fire wood) and gathering. The bush islands supports the existence of the people and the general wildlife
OTHER BENEFITS FROM BUSH ISLANDS
The bush island supports the community by providing medicine, shelter, food and fresh air. The domestic animals also seek refuge in the bush islands especially during the rainy season from the mosquitoes and sand flies. It supports life for everyone
It’s heavy but it’s good foodLocal medicine
plant
Wildlife used for Food
Eta leaves for shelter/house
WILDLIFE COMMONLY FOUND IN THE BUSH ISLANDS
Red footed tortoise
Amazon parrot
Screech owl
WILDLIFE FOUND IN BUSH ISLAND
These are some of the common wild life that can be observed in the bush islands. Many other life exist within the bush islands which are not commonly observed by the human eye.
Armadillo
butterfly
Red howler monkey
CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL THREATS TO BUSH ISLAND.
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The unnecessary burning of bush islands can destroy many local medicines and most of all destroy the habitat of the animals that live in it.The unauthorized establishment of farm in the bush islands that is put aside for special purposes by community members.Commercial logging in the bush islands.Establishing large scale farms in the bush islands by outsiders.
The way bush islands are maintained is by knowing how to cut your farm. And also by knowing how and when to burn new farms.Make full use of the wooden materials found within the farm before or after burning. Also by knowing how to cut timber trees for logging.By allowing useful trees to re-grow in the farms. And because of this practices, the bush islands are expanding gradually.
HOW ARE BUSH ISLANDS MANAGED?
MAJOR CROPS
The major crops that are planted in the farms are cassavas and peanuts. Other crops includes, pepper, banana, pumpkin, sugarcane, yam,corn and many other crops that are planted in a typical farm of a family.
Peanut farm
Cassava farm
HARVESTED FROM FARMS IN BUSH ISLANDS
Here are some of the produce that are harvested from the farms. In this pictures are shown some of the many crops whch produces and contributes to the livelihood of the people of Katoonarib
Dry Season Rainy Season
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TWO SEASONS
The farming practices are based on the two seasons of the year. During the dry season farms are prepared and planted in the beginning of the rainy season. Other activities such as housing also happens during the dry season. Knowing when to plant and when to harvest helps in proper management of the farming practices and that helps in managing the bush island properly
ALTERNATIVE PRACTICE OF FARMING
Savannah Framing is one of the means of easing pressure on our bush islands. In the savannah cassava, peanut and vegetables are mostly planted in the savannah farms
to supplement the farms in the bush islands. It also helps to ease pressure on the elderly persons from going to their
farms further and which takes more time
You can see toshau is in position of cutting the cassava sticks while others are taking rest after a long time of planting.
PLANTING SAVANNAH FARM IN THE COMMUNITY.
Practice Rotational Farming
No Unnecessary Burning Of Bush Islands
Pass On the Knowledge On the Importance And Ways Of Maintaining Bush Island To Youths
Practice Savannah Farming Avoid The Unnecessary
Killing Of Wildlife
When burning savannah it is important not to allow the fire to enter these bushes.
Also when hunting, do not kill animals that you will not make use of .
Key Steps For Maintaining Bush Island
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Special thanks to the community and village council for accepting this project to be carried out in this village, and for Charles Alexander and Marcus Alexander
who participated on the information sharing.Special thanks to the COBRA project ,NRDDB. And not forgetting others who contributed towards this
project especially Nicholas Cyril, Gordon Francis and others. And also for SCPDA for collaborating with the COBRA project which allowed us as a team and as community to learn new skills which will be used for the benefit of the community.
CREDITSPICTURE BY : KATOONARIB COBRA TEAM AND COBRA NRDDB. CREATED BY CLEMENTINA ALEXANDEREDITED BY KATOONARIB COBRA TEAM REVIEWED BY COBRA, NRDDB