An Essay on Sustainable Use: Harnessing the Market for Con- servation and Development1

Introduction Exclusion of local communities from the ecosystems on which their livelihoods and lifeways depend, in the interest of ecosystem protection, always results in poverty and very often in ecosystem degradation. People cannot and should not be alienated from their traditional uses of natural resources. Rather, they should be encouraged to make sustainable use of these resources, and they should be authorized to manage their local ecosystems toward that end. These statements concede a marketoriented development, but one characterized by local control over the ways and the extent to which community resource managers interact with markets. At the same time, the ambiguity inherent in the term “sustainable development” should be exploited such that local users possessing ecosystem knowledge can help define it. What must be sustained, at what levels, and for whose benefit? Therefore, contrary to arguments against “sustainable development,” it is its imbiguity which contains both its conceptual and practical strength. In a recently published article, Willers (1994) refers to the “chameleon” quality of the term “sustainable” as it is used opportunistically by those who would propagandize perpetual growth for profit. Likewise, my own observations in Florida include this cynical use of sustainable development rhetoric. Yet , where terms are negotiated between local populations and resource managers, other meanings and agendas can join the discourse to work for a different outcome. Indeed, research