A pilot implementation study has been planned to make a practical test of the VITEK assessment methodology in real-life field situations. The main purpose of the pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility, practicality, efficiency, and reliability of the method defined in section 6 of this report. This type of exercise will be useful for identifying and correcting any errors, weaknesses or problems with the different operations that make up the protocol. The first phases of the pilot study will be financed with annual research funds that are granted to the project's PI by his home institution, the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC). Application for additional funding will be made to the Ley Orgánica de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (LOCTI) program sponsored by the Ministerio del Poder Popular para Ciencia y Tecnología, República Bolivariana de Venezuela.

Ideally, the pilot study should be done among a sample of diverse groups located in different ecoregions in different countries. However, due mainly to economic and logistical constraints as well as prior commitments, we are proposing to do a first phase of testing entirely in Venezuela, which is the country of residence of the project's PI. The plan is to implement it among four different biocultural groups that represent a range of variation in terms of bio-ecological setting, economic orientation, ethnic composition, degree of acculturation, and linguistic situation. The four groups tentatively chosen for the study include: (1) the Yabarana, (2) the Jotï, (3) the communities of Cuyagua and Chuao, and (4) the communities of Apure and Acequias. Besides the fact that they encompass a considerable range of socioecological variation, a primary criterion used for their selection is that the PI of this report or members of his research group at IVIC have had previous contacts and/or field experience with all of them, which should facilitate access and receptivity. A brief description of each group is provided below.

1) The Yabarana are an indigenous group living in the Manapiare and Parucito River Basins of Amazonas State. The Yabarana population comprises approximately 300 persons distributed in seven ethnically mixed communities (besides Yabarana, these are mainly Piaroa, Panare, Yekuana and mestizo).The local environment consists of a mosaic of seasonally flooded savanna, lowland tropical forest, premontane forest, tepuy table mountains, blackwater rivers and creeks, and lagoons. The main economic activities include shifting cultivation, fishing, hunting, collection of nontimber forest products, cattle ranching, and occasional placer gold mining. According to written as well as oral history, the land area currently occupied by the Yabarana is considered to be their ancestral territory but both the population as well as their geographical range has been reduced during the last three centuries of colonization and state expansion. The Yabarana suffered demographic and economic shocks during the rubber boom period: some subgroups were coerced into debt-peonage extractive labor while others fled the collection zones and hid from the rubber bosses and their gangs. Other indigenous and nonindigenous groups have moved into this region, especially during the past 50 years, and the Yabarana have experienced a high degree of interethnic marriage and diffusion of foreign cultural elements. One result of this history of cultural and biological assimilation is that the Yabarana language is no longer spoken actively by the majority of the population; the main languages spoken in Yabarana communities today being Spanish and Piaroa. Despite these changes, the Yabarana maintain a strong sense of ethnic identity and have formed a tribal organization which has undertaken activities aimed at recuperating some of their lands occupied by outsiders and revitalizing their cultural and linguistic traditions.

2) The Jotï are an indigenous group numbering about 800 individuals among 25 communities located in the Upper Cuchivero watershed in Bolívar State, and the Asita, Iguana, and Upper Parucito River basins in Amazonas State. The local environment is mainly tropical forest that varies in terms of structure and composition along an altitudinal gradient from basimontane to premontane to montane levels. The Jotï were totally isolated and uncontacted by the western world until the 1970's due to the difficult access and rugged mountainous terrain of their home territory. At that time, they were very nomadic and subsisted mainly by hunting-gathering but also practiced an incipient form of shifting cultivation. In the last three decades, some of them have expanded their contacts with neighboring indigenous groups and foreign missionaries, acquired western trade goods and tools, and been exposed to foreign cultural beliefs and practices. However, not all local groups are equally affected by these changes. Some groups continue to live a traditional nomadic lifestyle and have virtually no contact with nonJotï and even those who have settled around current or former mission bases still have very limited contact and interaction with outsiders and continue to depend heavily on foraging and trekking activities for their livelihood. As a result, the Jotï are rightly considered to be one of the least acculturated indigenous groups living in Venezuela today. Most members of their group are monolingual speakers of the Jotï language and relatively few people have learned Spanish as a second language.

3) The residents of Chuao and Cuyagua municipalities constitute a criollo (i.e. mestizo) population of mixed Indian, African, and European ancestry occupying a coastal habitat. These communities are located in fluvial valleys on the northern coast of Aragua State, bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and on the south by the Cordillera de la Costa (coastal mountain range). Besides the sea, beach and littoral scrublands, this region encompasses humid premontane forest, low montane forest, and dry tropical forest life zones. Chuao and Cuyagua were founded as colonial plantation settlements in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries respectively in an area occupied by Carib and Arawakan Indians. African slaves were brought in from the XVIIIth century on to supply labor for agricultural works, mainly cocoa, indigo and coffee production, and intermarried over the years with the Indian population. This area was only accessible by boat or foot travel until the 1960's and, partly as a consequence of its relative isolation, the inhabitants developed a distinctive regional expressive culture characterized by syncretic religious beliefs, cycle of Catholic-based fiestas, cofradía (brotherhood) organizations, herbal- and faith-based healing, and African-rooted music and dance. The main economic activities practiced in both localities are: commercial silviculture dominated by cocoa or coffee, family subsistence gardens, maritime fishing, tourism-related businesses, construction, and government-sector jobs. A fairly large number of young adults have moved to cities in the northern states in order to perform wage labor, and send periodic remittances home to older as well as younger relatives still living in the communities. Everyone in both communities speaks Spanish as their mother tongue.

4) The agricultural peasant communities of Apure and Acequias, located in the Sierra Nevada of Mérida State, comprise a mestizo group with European and Indian biological and cultural roots. The local environment corresponds to high mountain ecosystems between 2,000 and 4,000 m asl, including cloud forest, subparamo, and paramo life zones, in addition to substantial human-altered expanses. This region was originally inhabited by the once numerous but now-extinct Timoto-Cuica Indian group but it was converted into a major wheat- and dairy-producing region by the colonial authorities beginning in the XVIIth century. Over a period of centuries, the native population and culture either declined or merged with incoming European settlers. Today the region's inhabitants resemble in many respects other peasants throughout the Andean mountain region of Venezuela except that they are notorious for their cultural conservatism and insularity. Agriculture continues to be the economic mainstay, of which different types of crop farming are practiced (e.g. maize, wheat, potato, carrots, dairy - varying mainly according to altitude and topography) for home consumption as well as for sale. Numerous wild plant species are also collected for medicinal and technological purposes. No one in this area speaks an Indian language anymore, although a number of indigenous words still survive, especially the names of plants, animals, and places.

Community members will have an active role for implementation of the proposed methodology. First, they will be responsible for determining the specific content of the local corpus of TEK that they consider to be valid, viable, and valuable (section 6.2). Second, certain members will be trained to administer the testing instrument, to code the data collected, and to report the results to designated data managers (section 6.3). Following implementation of the methodology and collection of data, indices will be produced for all four groups (section 6.4). Based on the results of this experience, the methodology will be critically evaluated and necessary modifications will be made at that time.