Scope
In this project we make observations of actual uses of the fibre palm to compare actual practise with the picture obtained through interviews. Here the obvious questions is: Do people do what they say they do? Or refrased: is the intellectual knowledge which is reflected in how people answer questions reflected in their practical actions? Is indigenous knowledge of plants mirrored in their uses?
An additional objective is to support the local research community at Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana (UNAP). Professor Cesar Grandez at that university has done the initial work of locating the west Amazonian piassaba in Peru, and he is the local counterpart in this project.
		Adriana, Narel and Ulrik interviewing worker at a factory.
The project will also contribute specimens of palms to the Herbarium Amazonense of UNAP.
Finally it is an important objective of this project to make the insight obtained available to those people who are the subject of the study. We intend to produce a popular guide to west Amazonian piassaba fiber and include information that will make it more easy to use the resource in a sustainable way. This guide will also be directed to local administrators in the environmental sector so that knowledge about west Amazonian piassaba will be included in the background information for adminsitrative decissions that may affect the resource and the peoples possibilities for using it.