'A respectful friendship': salt production and mangrove preservation in Guinea

摘要

On the Guinean coast, development agencies regarded salt production as a wood-consuming activity. Salt is traditionally produced by the evaporation of a brine poured into basins set on fires which are fuelled by mangrove wood. In 1993, a French NGO decided to instal a solar alternative in order to check the deforestation of the mangrove ecosystem. According to the personnel involved with this project, this was a major problem for local people, too. At the same time, they requested an anthropologicalapproach to the problem. They were keen to have information about how to design a solar alternative based on the social and technical context. The ethnographic study shows how, year after year, local people have developed practices and know-how which help to reduce mangrove consumption.