Adaptation and biocultural conservation of traditional agroforestry systems in the Tehuac?an Valley: access to resources and livelihoods strategies
Por:
Vazquez-Delfin, Paola, Casas, Alejandro, Vallejo, Mariana
Publicada:
1 jul 2022
Categoría:
Multidisciplinary
Resumen:
Traditional agroforestry systems (TAFS) are important areas for
conserving biodiversity, ecosystems benefits and biocultural heritage,
outstandingly local knowledge, management techniques, and domestication
processes. These systems have adapted to environmental, social,
technological, and cultural changes throughout history. However,
contemporary drastic socio-environmental changes as climate variability,
economic inequality, migration, among others, have caused a productive
crisis, with several consequences as productive land abandonment,
threaten the sustainability of TAFS and vulnerating livelihoods. In such
context, the question arises of what kind of adaptations are needed to
face these changes, and how access to water and land, should be managed
to improve adaptation of TAFS? The study analyzes TAFS in the Tehuac
⠁an Valley, a region with high biological and cultural
diversity and early signs of agriculture in Mexico, where TAFS have
remained active until present. The study analyzes the capacity of TAFS
to conserve biodiversity and sustain local livelihoods, despite
socio-environmental threats. It is based on a political ecology
approach, which proposes that socio-ecological systems degradation is
linked to unequal access to land and natural resources. Looking for an
integral study of adaptations of TAFS to socio-environmental changes,
this study combines qualitative and historical research methodology with
quantitative methods evaluating plant diversity and spatial analysis.
The study findings show that differentiated access to resources, water,
land, and forest, is a key factor that limits adaptation of TAFS,
impacting livelihood strategies, changing management patterns, and
constraining social capacities for coping with socio-environmental
changes. TAFS have significantly higher species richness than forests
but lower diversity. The main contribution of the study is the
methodological approach looking for an integral analysis of natural
resources management and biocultural conservation in agroecosystems, and
the identification of the unequal access to resources, as a keystone to
understand and act for improving adaptive strategies of TAFS to
socio-environmental changes.
Filiaciones:
Vazquez-Delfin, Paola:
Posgrado en Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, C.P. 04510, Mexico
Casas, Alejandro:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua carretera a Pátzcuaro 8710, Morelia, Michoacán CP 58190, Mexico
Vallejo, Mariana:
Jardín Botánico-Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad de México, C.P. 04510, Mexico
gold, Green Published, Gold, Green
|