A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING LOCAL LIVELIHOODS
After close to a century of overgrazing and slash and burn agricultural practices, the soil is extremely depleted and many rural residents can no longer effectively sustain a livelihood based on agricultural or ranching practices. Individuals and communities throughout the region are seeking inclusive options for economic development and the growth of alternative forms of tourism in the region during the last decades is seen as an area for hope. More than 80% of the Aysén region consists of public lands, including the Northern and Southern Patagonia Icefields, which are the largest in the world after those in Antarctica and Greenland. The Andes run through the center of the region and are comprised of mixtures of temperate rainforests, deciduous hardwood Lenga forests, volcanoes, and dramatic peaks, rising to 12,000 feet. General Carrera lake, the second largest in South America, sits within the region, and the most powerful river in the country, the Baker, is one of many that carry some of the most pristine water in the world between the icefields and the ocean. Study Methods This study sought to explore meaning and context from a livelihood perspective and bounded itself in the individual, the relationships of the individual within his/ her household, and the relationships the individual had through the organizations to which they and their household belonged. An interpretive, qualitative approach was applied that facilitated an understanding of the world, from the unique terms of the participants (Atkinson & Hammersley, 1998; Denzin & Lincoln, 1998; Huberman & Miles, 2002; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam, 2002; Patton, 2002). From November 2005 through May 2006, fieldwork examined the livelihoods of sixteen individuals in the Aysén region who had demonstrated the choice to incorporate forms of alternative tourism as an important part of their livelihood strategy. Cases of interest were purposely chosen, based on a desire for maximum variation in terms of human, natural, social, cultural, and produced capital scenarios, demographics (sex, age, life stage, family composition), and geographical dispersion within the region and its ecosystems. Cases were drawn from the applications for a regional tourism capacity building program, entitled The Guide’s School of Patagonia”. Consistent with Institutional Review Board mandates, informed consent and principles of confidentiality were employed, whenever data was collected beyond a public setting. All names have been changed to respect individual privacy and confidentiality. Analysis explored the process and system of developing and evolving a tourism-based livelihood in the Aysén region of Chile, during the period of this study. Data collection for each of the 16 cases studied typically consisted of interviews with the subject, participant observation of their product offerings, interviews with members of their family, interviews with competitors and community members of interest, collection of local marketing and promotional, and interviews with agencies and government employees that managed programs which could support and assist the individual’s success. Each of the 16 bounded
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