ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers commonly use fire for land clearing and agricultural maintenance in ... more ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers commonly use fire for land clearing and agricultural maintenance in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. The southern Yucatán Peninsular Region (SYPR) has experienced increasing fire frequency since the 1960s due to expanding smallholder agriculture and recurrent droughts. Beginning in January 2019, a government-subsidized programme named Sembrando Vida encouraged further smallholder agricultural development throughout Mexico, resulting in increased burning for cropland preparation. This study uses the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 6 1 km Active Fire product to characterize agricultural burning trends in the SYPR between 2010 and 2019, focusing on the impacts of the Sembrando Vida programme. Comparison of MODIS Active Fire locations to visible agricultural burns in coincident Landsat imagery showed a 29.5% (21/71) agreement. MODIS Active Fire time series data exhibited a biennial trend in fire frequency that was caused by interannual rainfall variability. An inverse relationship was found between total rainfall in the burning season and annual fire frequency. A combination of low rainfall and the implementation of Sembrando Vida in 2019 caused a 98% increase in state-authorized burn permitting compared to the 2015–2018 average, and MODIS Active Fire data exhibited a 33% increase in agricultural burns in 2019 compared to previous years that had >1000 fires.
ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers commonly use fire for land clearing and agricultural maintenance in ... more ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers commonly use fire for land clearing and agricultural maintenance in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. The southern Yucatán Peninsular Region (SYPR) has experienced increasing fire frequency since the 1960s due to expanding smallholder agriculture and recurrent droughts. Beginning in January 2019, a government-subsidized programme named Sembrando Vida encouraged further smallholder agricultural development throughout Mexico, resulting in increased burning for cropland preparation. This study uses the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 6 1 km Active Fire product to characterize agricultural burning trends in the SYPR between 2010 and 2019, focusing on the impacts of the Sembrando Vida programme. Comparison of MODIS Active Fire locations to visible agricultural burns in coincident Landsat imagery showed a 29.5% (21/71) agreement. MODIS Active Fire time series data exhibited a biennial trend in fire frequency that was caused by interannual rainfall variability. An inverse relationship was found between total rainfall in the burning season and annual fire frequency. A combination of low rainfall and the implementation of Sembrando Vida in 2019 caused a 98% increase in state-authorized burn permitting compared to the 2015–2018 average, and MODIS Active Fire data exhibited a 33% increase in agricultural burns in 2019 compared to previous years that had >1000 fires.
Borderlands can be places of socio-economic tensions, development challenges, and ecological risk... more Borderlands can be places of socio-economic tensions, development challenges, and ecological risks, now exacerbated by climate change. We investigate the border-development-climate change nexus using research from Calakmul, Mexico and Petén, Guatemala, to detail the lived experiences and vulnerabilities of campesinos in the Selva Maya cross-border region. Our mixed methods approach combines historical analysis and ethnographic interviews with 70 campesinos. We demonstrate how large scale development approaches result in local and specific policy interventions, but produce mixed outcomes for campesinos, neglecting the most marginalized. Despite the absence of any major border crossings, a porous border in this area allows flows of people, goods, and services to connect the region, but there are differential national outcomes. In Petén, many campesinos suffer from ‘irregularity’ (lacking rights to the lands where they live and cultivate), preventing access to state development benefit...
The interplay among conservation, agricultural policy, and rainfall variability can intensify har... more The interplay among conservation, agricultural policy, and rainfall variability can intensify hardship for those practicing smallholder agriculture, especially in tropical developing countries. This article addresses these challenges as faced by the municipality of Calakmul, Mexico. Forty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with smallholders, governmental agents, and NGO representatives, all conducted between July and November 2018, are paired with quantitative precipitation analyses. Interviews cited changes in the production system and in smallholders' livelihoods, including the intensification of production across a smaller area coupled with shorter fallow periods and a greater reliance on agricultural subsidies and inputs, which are driven both by agricultural policies and conservation policies to decrease deforestation rates. Precipitation analyses demonstrated that, even though annual and seasonal rainfall trends in Calakmul are slightly positive during the study period, the onset of the rainy season and the intensity of rains have been changing. Results indicate an increased intensity of rainfall events, with delayed onset of precipitation and considerable interannual variability. Though conservation in the area is a widely cited priority, results showed that agricultural policies and precipitation changes are dominant influences on smallholders' agricultural decisions. Therefore, any
In Mexico’s contempor a ry ejidos , modes of n a tur a l resource a ccess, distribution of govern... more In Mexico’s contempor a ry ejidos , modes of n a tur a l resource a ccess, distribution of government support, a nd l a nd tenure regimes a re problems a ssoci a ted with neoliber a l policies. In this a rticle, we explore the different forms of tension a nd conflict between ejid a t a rios (offici a l ejid a l members with rights b a sed on this membership) a nd pobl a dores (residents without these rights) in three ejidos in the municip a lity of C a l a kmul, C a mpeche, Mexico. We a ddress different interpret a tions a nd f a ctors th a t ch a r a cterize Mexico’s current a gr a ri a n problem. B a sed on ethnogr a phic work, including in-depth interviews a nd focus groups, we a n a lyze the conflicts a mong different kinds of ejid a l residents. We find a situ a tion of tension a nd r a ncor th a t a rises from the decisions a nd risks a ssumed by the different groups in their struggle for m a rket p a rticip a tion or just surviv a l. We conclude th a t it is urgent to rethink...
A failure to address social concerns in biodiversity conservation can lead to feelings of injusti... more A failure to address social concerns in biodiversity conservation can lead to feelings of injustice among some actors, and hence jeopardise conservation goals. The complex socio-cultural and political context of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, has historically led to multiple biodiversity conflicts. Our goal, in this case study, was to explore perceptions of justice held by local actors in relation to biodiversity conflicts. We then aimed to determine the following: 1) people's definitions of their feelings of justice; 2) the criteria used in this assessment; 3) variability in the criteria influencing them; and 4) implications for environmental management in the region and beyond. We worked with five focus groups, exploring three examples of biodiversity conflict around forest, water and jaguar management with a total of 41 ranchers, farmers and representatives of local producers. Our results demonstrated that people constructed their feelings of justice around four dimensions of justice: recognition (acknowledging individuals' rights, values, cultures and knowledge systems); ecological (fair and respectful treatment of the natural environment), procedural (fairness in processes of environmental management), distributive (fairness in the distribution of costs and benefits). We identified a list of criteria the participants used in their appraisal of justice and sources of variation such as the social scale of focus and participant role, and whom they perceived to be responsible for resource management. We propose a new framework that conceptualizes justice-as-recognition and ecological justice as forms of conditional justices, and procedural and distributive justices as forms of practical justice. Conditional justice allows us to define who is a legitimate source of justice norms and if nature should be integrated in the scope of justice; hence, conditional justice is salient to other dimensions of justice. On the other hand, procedural and distributive address the daily practices of fair processes and distribution. We propose that the perception of justice is a neglected but important aspect to include in integrative approaches to managing biodiversity conflicts. Addressing demands of justice in environmental management will require us to consider more than the distribution of costs and benefits among actors. We also need to respect the plurality of fairness perspectives and to recognise the benefits of dialogical approaches to achieve more successful environmental management.
Este estudio analiza la variabilidad espacial y temporal de la precipitación en el sur de la pení... more Este estudio analiza la variabilidad espacial y temporal de la precipitación en el sur de la península de Yucatán, a través de anomalías y tendencias de la precipitación anual y estacional y la ocurrencia de sequías meteorológicas, empleando datos de lluvia de nueve estaciones meteorológicas para el periodo de 1953-2007. Utilizando tendencias de regresión lineal anuales y estacionales se analizó el aumento o la disminución de las precipitaciones durante este periodo. Las anomalías de precipitación permitieron evaluar la estabilidad, el déficit o superávit de precipitación para cada año, y el método quintil permitió la clasificación de la intensidad de las sequías meteorológicas. Los resultados muestran una considerable variabilidad espacial y temporal, con mayores valores de precipitación y anomalías en la costa, que van disminuyendo gradualmente hacia el Centro-Oeste del área en estudio. Durante este periodo hay una disminución de la precipitación anual y de la estación húmeda, en ...
Food flow data provide unique insights into the debates surrounding the sustainability of land ba... more Food flow data provide unique insights into the debates surrounding the sustainability of land based production and consumption at multiple scales. Trade flows disguise the spatial correspondence of production and consumption and make their connection to land difficult. Two key components of this spatial disjuncture are land use displacement and economic regional decoupling. By displacing the environmental impact associated with food production from one region to another, environmental trajectories can falsely appear to be sustainable at a particular site or scale. When regional coupling is strong, peripheral areas where land based production occurs are strongly linked and proximate to consumption centers, and the environmental impact of production activities is visible. When food flows occur over longer distances, regional coupling weakens, and environmental impact is frequently overlooked. In this study, we present an analysis of a locally collected food flow dataset containing agricultural and livestock products transported to and from counties in Quintana Roo (QRoo). QRoo is an extensively forested border state in southeast Mexico, which was fully colonized by the state and non-native settlers only in the last century and now is home to some of the major tourist destinations. To approximate land displacement and regional decoupling, we decompose flows to and from QRoo by (1) direction; (2) product types and; (3) scale. Results indicate that QRoo is predominantly a consumer state: incoming flows outnumber outgoing flows by a factor of six, while exports are few, specialized, and with varied geographic reach (Yucatan, south and central Mexico, USA). Imports come predominantly from central Mexico. Local production in QRoo accounts for a small portion of its total consumption. In combining both subsets of agricultural and livestock products, we found that in most years, land consumption requirements were above 100% of the available land not under conservation in QRoo, suggesting unsustainable rates of land consumption in a ´business as usual´scenario. We found evidence of economic regional decoupling at the state level.
Ecosystem management regularly requires bridging diverse cultural perspectives. As a result, rese... more Ecosystem management regularly requires bridging diverse cultural perspectives. As a result, researchers commonly assert that including local ecological knowledge in conservation strategies is essential to crafting enduring environmental solutions. Using the case of the king vulture (Sarcoramphus papa), we take preliminary steps in asking how ethnoecology and field biology might be combined in conservation practice. The paper reports on a questionnaire applied to sixty-six local experts in southern Yucatán, home to Mexico’s largest expanse of tropical forest and the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Local experts included forest workers, i.e. hunters, loggers, and gum tappers, some of whom worked as guides for field biologists. The research results point to the possibility of a cultural consensus among these experts regarding the bird’s natural history. After outlining this preliminary consensus and contrasting it with academic findings, the paper considers the implications of a consensus...
This study explores the temporal and spatial variability and change in rainfall across southeaste... more This study explores the temporal and spatial variability and change in rainfall across southeastern Mexico and the mechanisms by which smallholder farmers adapt to this variability, especially droughts. Members of 150 households in 10 communities were interviewed to investigate adaptation strategies among swidden maize smallholders, linked to their perceptions of climate changes. Precipitation data from seven weather stations were analyzed for the 1973–2012 period. Precipitation anomalies were estimated to evaluate the annual and seasonal stability, deficit, or surplus; and linear regressions were used to evaluate trends. Then, these anomalies were linked to variation in reported agricultural practices. Weather station data show a considerable decline in precipitation in most of the study area, coupled with increased drought frequency and an increase in negative anomalies in recent years. Surveys revealed several mechanisms of adaptation, including adjustment of the agricultural calendar (e.g. delaying planting, combined with planting a greater number of varieties of maize), water storage, and livelihood diversification both within and outside of agriculture. These adaptive mechanisms are responsive to demonstrated climatic change over the past 40 years, though globalization affects Mexico's agrarian economy, and farmers likely respond to a combination of economic and climatic factors. Understanding how resource- and climate-dependent swidden farmers respond to co-occurring climatic and economic changes is essential for effective adaptation policy design.
This study investigates impacts and implications of recent landscape change in rural Mexico, thro... more This study investigates impacts and implications of recent landscape change in rural Mexico, through a case study in the Usumacinta Valley of eastern Chiapas. It addresses types of livelihood diversification strategies associated with changing land cover from 1984-2013, and the processes and roles that vary by actors and their scales of influence. After widespread forest loss and the expansion of extensive cattle ranching during the twentieth century, the region has exhibited several new economic and livelihood strategies in recent decades. Results from a combination of satellite imagery analysis and individual interviews from a wide range of land use decision makers demonstrate the dynamism of this landscape. The introduction of new crops, including teak, rubber and oil palm, as well as off-farm work, continue to shape the social and physical landscape and differentially impact the adaptive capacities of residents. Results indicate that small landholders often need to incorporate more crops into their agricultural portfolio and increase off-farm activities, leading to an atomization of livelihood strategies. By contrast, large landholders are able to pursue more specialized and lucrative agricultural opportunities.
empleando datos de lluvia de nueve estaciones meteorológicas para el periodo de 1953-2007. Utiliz... more empleando datos de lluvia de nueve estaciones meteorológicas para el periodo de 1953-2007. Utilizando tendencias de regresión lineal anuales y estacionales se analizó el aumento o la disminución de las precipitaciones durante este periodo. Las anomalías de precipitación permitieron evaluar la estabilidad, el déficit o superávit de precipitación para cada año, y el método quintil permitió la clasificación de la intensidad de las sequías meteorológicas. Los resultados muestran una considerable variabilidad espacial y temporal, con mayores valores de precipitación y anomalías en la costa, que van disminuyendo gradualmente hacia el Centro-Oeste del área en estudio. Durante este periodo hay una disminución de la precipitación anual y de la estación húmeda, en gran parte de la zona la cual alcanza una disminución de 12 mm anuales (estación Chachobben). Estaciones como Zoh Laguna Campeche muestran claramente un aumento en los años de sequía (desde leve hasta extrema) a partir de 1985 principalmente. Este estudio contribuye a un mejor conocimiento de la variación regional de la precipitación y sus posibles vínculos con el Cambio Climático a escala regional y global.
In this paper, we examine how Mexico's 1992 counter‐reforms reinforced social hierarchies bet... more In this paper, we examine how Mexico's 1992 counter‐reforms reinforced social hierarchies between two ‘classes’ of residents within three ejidos in an agricultural frontier in Campeche. We carried out qualitative research with 94 ejidatarios, 92 pobladores and 13 government officials. Our research shows that the reforms cemented the second‐class status of pobladores, as their access to land, natural resources such as firewood and governmental subsidies is now even more contested. Ejidal residents have responded to these tensions by invoking various conceptions of citizenship to press for different forms of justice. Ejidatarios seek to enforce their legal prerogatives by advocating a tiered citizenship, inflected with aspects of ‘market citizenship’, in which pobladores have less access to resources and voice. Pobladores seek inclusion in the ejido via a cultural model of citizenship built around a ‘civil sociality’. Despite this generalization, both groups also selectively move ...
Resumen. Los huracanes son disturbios comunes en el Caribe, pero se desconocen sus efectos sobre ... more Resumen. Los huracanes son disturbios comunes en el Caribe, pero se desconocen sus efectos sobre los carnívoros. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la presencia y la abundancia relativa de los carnívoros respecto al daño en la vegetación debido al paso del huracán Dean (2007) en la península de Yucatán, 18 meses después del evento. Mediante fototrampeo, se muestrearon 4 sitios afectados en diferentes intensidades por el huracán. Se exploraron las respuestas de los carnívoros a 4 escalas espaciales. Los daños a la vegetación se estimaron mediante imágenes de satélite MODIS como la diferencia en el Índice de Vegetación Mejorado (dEVI) antes y después de que el huracán tocara tierra. En la mayoría de las escalas, la relación entre presencia y abundancia relativa de los carnívoros y el daño a la vegetación fue poco o nada significativa, probablemente debido a su poca especificidad de hábitat. Sin embargo, la aparente resistencia de estas especies al paso de un huracán debe confirmarse con un mayor esfuerzo de muestreo y un enfoque temporal.
ABSTRACT We investigated how patterns of hurricane damage were related to windspeed, stand charac... more ABSTRACT We investigated how patterns of hurricane damage were related to windspeed, stand characteristics, and land use in a region where forest composition and structure have been strongly influenced by human activities. In 2007 Hurricane Dean hit the biological corridor between the two largest biosphere reserves on the Yucatán Peninsula as a category 5 hurricane. Land use in the corridor has altered both landscape and forest stand structure. Compared to the upland protected areas, forests in the study area were significantly shorter and characterized by smaller stems. Nine months after the hurricane we assessed the damage in a set of 91 plots to test the effect of local stand structure on hurricane resistance. For each 5 × 100 m plot, we calculated the proportion of both stems and basal area damaged using 7 classes (no damage, small branch, major branch, stem bent, stem snapped, tree uprooted and tree death). Interviews with land- owners provided recent land use histories for the past 30 years for most study plots. For the two dominant forest types analysis of variance found that canopy height, median dbh and basal area all varied significantly with land use history and forest type. We tested the effect of median stem diameter, canopy height, stem density, basal area and tree species density on damage. Despite the strength of the storm, on average 27% of stems at the stand level showed no signs of damage and only 5% across the study were killed by the hurricane. In step-wise linear regression models, 13–52% of the variation in damage frequency was accounted for by windspeed and stand structure. Canopy height, basal area and median dbh were significant predictors. For moderate to severe damage classes, measures of stand size were generally positively correlated with damage frequency suggesting that stands with higher canopies and/or greater basal area or median dbh suffered the most during this storm event.
We describe conservation built on local expertise such that it constitutes a hybrid form of tradi... more We describe conservation built on local expertise such that it constitutes a hybrid form of traditional and bureaucratic knowledge. Researchers regularly ask how local knowledge might be applied to programs linked to protected areas. By examining the production of conservation knowledge in southern Mexico, we assert local expertise is already central to conservation. However, bureaucratic norms and social identity differences between lay experts and conservation practitioners prevent the public valuing of traditional knowledge. We make this point by contrasting 2 examples. The first is a master's thesis survey of local experts regarding the biology of the King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) in which data collection took place in communities adjacent to the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The second is a workshop sponsored by the same reserve that instructed farmers on how to monitor endangered species, including the King Vulture. In both examples, conservation knowledge would not have existed without traditional knowledge. In both examples, this traditional knowledge is absent from scientific reporting. On the basis of these findings, we suggest conservation outcomes may be improved by recognizing the knowledge contributions local experts already make to conservation programming.
ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers commonly use fire for land clearing and agricultural maintenance in ... more ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers commonly use fire for land clearing and agricultural maintenance in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. The southern Yucatán Peninsular Region (SYPR) has experienced increasing fire frequency since the 1960s due to expanding smallholder agriculture and recurrent droughts. Beginning in January 2019, a government-subsidized programme named Sembrando Vida encouraged further smallholder agricultural development throughout Mexico, resulting in increased burning for cropland preparation. This study uses the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 6 1 km Active Fire product to characterize agricultural burning trends in the SYPR between 2010 and 2019, focusing on the impacts of the Sembrando Vida programme. Comparison of MODIS Active Fire locations to visible agricultural burns in coincident Landsat imagery showed a 29.5% (21/71) agreement. MODIS Active Fire time series data exhibited a biennial trend in fire frequency that was caused by interannual rainfall variability. An inverse relationship was found between total rainfall in the burning season and annual fire frequency. A combination of low rainfall and the implementation of Sembrando Vida in 2019 caused a 98% increase in state-authorized burn permitting compared to the 2015–2018 average, and MODIS Active Fire data exhibited a 33% increase in agricultural burns in 2019 compared to previous years that had >1000 fires.
ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers commonly use fire for land clearing and agricultural maintenance in ... more ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers commonly use fire for land clearing and agricultural maintenance in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. The southern Yucatán Peninsular Region (SYPR) has experienced increasing fire frequency since the 1960s due to expanding smallholder agriculture and recurrent droughts. Beginning in January 2019, a government-subsidized programme named Sembrando Vida encouraged further smallholder agricultural development throughout Mexico, resulting in increased burning for cropland preparation. This study uses the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 6 1 km Active Fire product to characterize agricultural burning trends in the SYPR between 2010 and 2019, focusing on the impacts of the Sembrando Vida programme. Comparison of MODIS Active Fire locations to visible agricultural burns in coincident Landsat imagery showed a 29.5% (21/71) agreement. MODIS Active Fire time series data exhibited a biennial trend in fire frequency that was caused by interannual rainfall variability. An inverse relationship was found between total rainfall in the burning season and annual fire frequency. A combination of low rainfall and the implementation of Sembrando Vida in 2019 caused a 98% increase in state-authorized burn permitting compared to the 2015–2018 average, and MODIS Active Fire data exhibited a 33% increase in agricultural burns in 2019 compared to previous years that had >1000 fires.
Borderlands can be places of socio-economic tensions, development challenges, and ecological risk... more Borderlands can be places of socio-economic tensions, development challenges, and ecological risks, now exacerbated by climate change. We investigate the border-development-climate change nexus using research from Calakmul, Mexico and Petén, Guatemala, to detail the lived experiences and vulnerabilities of campesinos in the Selva Maya cross-border region. Our mixed methods approach combines historical analysis and ethnographic interviews with 70 campesinos. We demonstrate how large scale development approaches result in local and specific policy interventions, but produce mixed outcomes for campesinos, neglecting the most marginalized. Despite the absence of any major border crossings, a porous border in this area allows flows of people, goods, and services to connect the region, but there are differential national outcomes. In Petén, many campesinos suffer from ‘irregularity’ (lacking rights to the lands where they live and cultivate), preventing access to state development benefit...
The interplay among conservation, agricultural policy, and rainfall variability can intensify har... more The interplay among conservation, agricultural policy, and rainfall variability can intensify hardship for those practicing smallholder agriculture, especially in tropical developing countries. This article addresses these challenges as faced by the municipality of Calakmul, Mexico. Forty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with smallholders, governmental agents, and NGO representatives, all conducted between July and November 2018, are paired with quantitative precipitation analyses. Interviews cited changes in the production system and in smallholders' livelihoods, including the intensification of production across a smaller area coupled with shorter fallow periods and a greater reliance on agricultural subsidies and inputs, which are driven both by agricultural policies and conservation policies to decrease deforestation rates. Precipitation analyses demonstrated that, even though annual and seasonal rainfall trends in Calakmul are slightly positive during the study period, the onset of the rainy season and the intensity of rains have been changing. Results indicate an increased intensity of rainfall events, with delayed onset of precipitation and considerable interannual variability. Though conservation in the area is a widely cited priority, results showed that agricultural policies and precipitation changes are dominant influences on smallholders' agricultural decisions. Therefore, any
In Mexico’s contempor a ry ejidos , modes of n a tur a l resource a ccess, distribution of govern... more In Mexico’s contempor a ry ejidos , modes of n a tur a l resource a ccess, distribution of government support, a nd l a nd tenure regimes a re problems a ssoci a ted with neoliber a l policies. In this a rticle, we explore the different forms of tension a nd conflict between ejid a t a rios (offici a l ejid a l members with rights b a sed on this membership) a nd pobl a dores (residents without these rights) in three ejidos in the municip a lity of C a l a kmul, C a mpeche, Mexico. We a ddress different interpret a tions a nd f a ctors th a t ch a r a cterize Mexico’s current a gr a ri a n problem. B a sed on ethnogr a phic work, including in-depth interviews a nd focus groups, we a n a lyze the conflicts a mong different kinds of ejid a l residents. We find a situ a tion of tension a nd r a ncor th a t a rises from the decisions a nd risks a ssumed by the different groups in their struggle for m a rket p a rticip a tion or just surviv a l. We conclude th a t it is urgent to rethink...
A failure to address social concerns in biodiversity conservation can lead to feelings of injusti... more A failure to address social concerns in biodiversity conservation can lead to feelings of injustice among some actors, and hence jeopardise conservation goals. The complex socio-cultural and political context of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, has historically led to multiple biodiversity conflicts. Our goal, in this case study, was to explore perceptions of justice held by local actors in relation to biodiversity conflicts. We then aimed to determine the following: 1) people's definitions of their feelings of justice; 2) the criteria used in this assessment; 3) variability in the criteria influencing them; and 4) implications for environmental management in the region and beyond. We worked with five focus groups, exploring three examples of biodiversity conflict around forest, water and jaguar management with a total of 41 ranchers, farmers and representatives of local producers. Our results demonstrated that people constructed their feelings of justice around four dimensions of justice: recognition (acknowledging individuals' rights, values, cultures and knowledge systems); ecological (fair and respectful treatment of the natural environment), procedural (fairness in processes of environmental management), distributive (fairness in the distribution of costs and benefits). We identified a list of criteria the participants used in their appraisal of justice and sources of variation such as the social scale of focus and participant role, and whom they perceived to be responsible for resource management. We propose a new framework that conceptualizes justice-as-recognition and ecological justice as forms of conditional justices, and procedural and distributive justices as forms of practical justice. Conditional justice allows us to define who is a legitimate source of justice norms and if nature should be integrated in the scope of justice; hence, conditional justice is salient to other dimensions of justice. On the other hand, procedural and distributive address the daily practices of fair processes and distribution. We propose that the perception of justice is a neglected but important aspect to include in integrative approaches to managing biodiversity conflicts. Addressing demands of justice in environmental management will require us to consider more than the distribution of costs and benefits among actors. We also need to respect the plurality of fairness perspectives and to recognise the benefits of dialogical approaches to achieve more successful environmental management.
Este estudio analiza la variabilidad espacial y temporal de la precipitación en el sur de la pení... more Este estudio analiza la variabilidad espacial y temporal de la precipitación en el sur de la península de Yucatán, a través de anomalías y tendencias de la precipitación anual y estacional y la ocurrencia de sequías meteorológicas, empleando datos de lluvia de nueve estaciones meteorológicas para el periodo de 1953-2007. Utilizando tendencias de regresión lineal anuales y estacionales se analizó el aumento o la disminución de las precipitaciones durante este periodo. Las anomalías de precipitación permitieron evaluar la estabilidad, el déficit o superávit de precipitación para cada año, y el método quintil permitió la clasificación de la intensidad de las sequías meteorológicas. Los resultados muestran una considerable variabilidad espacial y temporal, con mayores valores de precipitación y anomalías en la costa, que van disminuyendo gradualmente hacia el Centro-Oeste del área en estudio. Durante este periodo hay una disminución de la precipitación anual y de la estación húmeda, en ...
Food flow data provide unique insights into the debates surrounding the sustainability of land ba... more Food flow data provide unique insights into the debates surrounding the sustainability of land based production and consumption at multiple scales. Trade flows disguise the spatial correspondence of production and consumption and make their connection to land difficult. Two key components of this spatial disjuncture are land use displacement and economic regional decoupling. By displacing the environmental impact associated with food production from one region to another, environmental trajectories can falsely appear to be sustainable at a particular site or scale. When regional coupling is strong, peripheral areas where land based production occurs are strongly linked and proximate to consumption centers, and the environmental impact of production activities is visible. When food flows occur over longer distances, regional coupling weakens, and environmental impact is frequently overlooked. In this study, we present an analysis of a locally collected food flow dataset containing agricultural and livestock products transported to and from counties in Quintana Roo (QRoo). QRoo is an extensively forested border state in southeast Mexico, which was fully colonized by the state and non-native settlers only in the last century and now is home to some of the major tourist destinations. To approximate land displacement and regional decoupling, we decompose flows to and from QRoo by (1) direction; (2) product types and; (3) scale. Results indicate that QRoo is predominantly a consumer state: incoming flows outnumber outgoing flows by a factor of six, while exports are few, specialized, and with varied geographic reach (Yucatan, south and central Mexico, USA). Imports come predominantly from central Mexico. Local production in QRoo accounts for a small portion of its total consumption. In combining both subsets of agricultural and livestock products, we found that in most years, land consumption requirements were above 100% of the available land not under conservation in QRoo, suggesting unsustainable rates of land consumption in a ´business as usual´scenario. We found evidence of economic regional decoupling at the state level.
Ecosystem management regularly requires bridging diverse cultural perspectives. As a result, rese... more Ecosystem management regularly requires bridging diverse cultural perspectives. As a result, researchers commonly assert that including local ecological knowledge in conservation strategies is essential to crafting enduring environmental solutions. Using the case of the king vulture (Sarcoramphus papa), we take preliminary steps in asking how ethnoecology and field biology might be combined in conservation practice. The paper reports on a questionnaire applied to sixty-six local experts in southern Yucatán, home to Mexico’s largest expanse of tropical forest and the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Local experts included forest workers, i.e. hunters, loggers, and gum tappers, some of whom worked as guides for field biologists. The research results point to the possibility of a cultural consensus among these experts regarding the bird’s natural history. After outlining this preliminary consensus and contrasting it with academic findings, the paper considers the implications of a consensus...
This study explores the temporal and spatial variability and change in rainfall across southeaste... more This study explores the temporal and spatial variability and change in rainfall across southeastern Mexico and the mechanisms by which smallholder farmers adapt to this variability, especially droughts. Members of 150 households in 10 communities were interviewed to investigate adaptation strategies among swidden maize smallholders, linked to their perceptions of climate changes. Precipitation data from seven weather stations were analyzed for the 1973–2012 period. Precipitation anomalies were estimated to evaluate the annual and seasonal stability, deficit, or surplus; and linear regressions were used to evaluate trends. Then, these anomalies were linked to variation in reported agricultural practices. Weather station data show a considerable decline in precipitation in most of the study area, coupled with increased drought frequency and an increase in negative anomalies in recent years. Surveys revealed several mechanisms of adaptation, including adjustment of the agricultural calendar (e.g. delaying planting, combined with planting a greater number of varieties of maize), water storage, and livelihood diversification both within and outside of agriculture. These adaptive mechanisms are responsive to demonstrated climatic change over the past 40 years, though globalization affects Mexico's agrarian economy, and farmers likely respond to a combination of economic and climatic factors. Understanding how resource- and climate-dependent swidden farmers respond to co-occurring climatic and economic changes is essential for effective adaptation policy design.
This study investigates impacts and implications of recent landscape change in rural Mexico, thro... more This study investigates impacts and implications of recent landscape change in rural Mexico, through a case study in the Usumacinta Valley of eastern Chiapas. It addresses types of livelihood diversification strategies associated with changing land cover from 1984-2013, and the processes and roles that vary by actors and their scales of influence. After widespread forest loss and the expansion of extensive cattle ranching during the twentieth century, the region has exhibited several new economic and livelihood strategies in recent decades. Results from a combination of satellite imagery analysis and individual interviews from a wide range of land use decision makers demonstrate the dynamism of this landscape. The introduction of new crops, including teak, rubber and oil palm, as well as off-farm work, continue to shape the social and physical landscape and differentially impact the adaptive capacities of residents. Results indicate that small landholders often need to incorporate more crops into their agricultural portfolio and increase off-farm activities, leading to an atomization of livelihood strategies. By contrast, large landholders are able to pursue more specialized and lucrative agricultural opportunities.
empleando datos de lluvia de nueve estaciones meteorológicas para el periodo de 1953-2007. Utiliz... more empleando datos de lluvia de nueve estaciones meteorológicas para el periodo de 1953-2007. Utilizando tendencias de regresión lineal anuales y estacionales se analizó el aumento o la disminución de las precipitaciones durante este periodo. Las anomalías de precipitación permitieron evaluar la estabilidad, el déficit o superávit de precipitación para cada año, y el método quintil permitió la clasificación de la intensidad de las sequías meteorológicas. Los resultados muestran una considerable variabilidad espacial y temporal, con mayores valores de precipitación y anomalías en la costa, que van disminuyendo gradualmente hacia el Centro-Oeste del área en estudio. Durante este periodo hay una disminución de la precipitación anual y de la estación húmeda, en gran parte de la zona la cual alcanza una disminución de 12 mm anuales (estación Chachobben). Estaciones como Zoh Laguna Campeche muestran claramente un aumento en los años de sequía (desde leve hasta extrema) a partir de 1985 principalmente. Este estudio contribuye a un mejor conocimiento de la variación regional de la precipitación y sus posibles vínculos con el Cambio Climático a escala regional y global.
In this paper, we examine how Mexico's 1992 counter‐reforms reinforced social hierarchies bet... more In this paper, we examine how Mexico's 1992 counter‐reforms reinforced social hierarchies between two ‘classes’ of residents within three ejidos in an agricultural frontier in Campeche. We carried out qualitative research with 94 ejidatarios, 92 pobladores and 13 government officials. Our research shows that the reforms cemented the second‐class status of pobladores, as their access to land, natural resources such as firewood and governmental subsidies is now even more contested. Ejidal residents have responded to these tensions by invoking various conceptions of citizenship to press for different forms of justice. Ejidatarios seek to enforce their legal prerogatives by advocating a tiered citizenship, inflected with aspects of ‘market citizenship’, in which pobladores have less access to resources and voice. Pobladores seek inclusion in the ejido via a cultural model of citizenship built around a ‘civil sociality’. Despite this generalization, both groups also selectively move ...
Resumen. Los huracanes son disturbios comunes en el Caribe, pero se desconocen sus efectos sobre ... more Resumen. Los huracanes son disturbios comunes en el Caribe, pero se desconocen sus efectos sobre los carnívoros. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la presencia y la abundancia relativa de los carnívoros respecto al daño en la vegetación debido al paso del huracán Dean (2007) en la península de Yucatán, 18 meses después del evento. Mediante fototrampeo, se muestrearon 4 sitios afectados en diferentes intensidades por el huracán. Se exploraron las respuestas de los carnívoros a 4 escalas espaciales. Los daños a la vegetación se estimaron mediante imágenes de satélite MODIS como la diferencia en el Índice de Vegetación Mejorado (dEVI) antes y después de que el huracán tocara tierra. En la mayoría de las escalas, la relación entre presencia y abundancia relativa de los carnívoros y el daño a la vegetación fue poco o nada significativa, probablemente debido a su poca especificidad de hábitat. Sin embargo, la aparente resistencia de estas especies al paso de un huracán debe confirmarse con un mayor esfuerzo de muestreo y un enfoque temporal.
ABSTRACT We investigated how patterns of hurricane damage were related to windspeed, stand charac... more ABSTRACT We investigated how patterns of hurricane damage were related to windspeed, stand characteristics, and land use in a region where forest composition and structure have been strongly influenced by human activities. In 2007 Hurricane Dean hit the biological corridor between the two largest biosphere reserves on the Yucatán Peninsula as a category 5 hurricane. Land use in the corridor has altered both landscape and forest stand structure. Compared to the upland protected areas, forests in the study area were significantly shorter and characterized by smaller stems. Nine months after the hurricane we assessed the damage in a set of 91 plots to test the effect of local stand structure on hurricane resistance. For each 5 × 100 m plot, we calculated the proportion of both stems and basal area damaged using 7 classes (no damage, small branch, major branch, stem bent, stem snapped, tree uprooted and tree death). Interviews with land- owners provided recent land use histories for the past 30 years for most study plots. For the two dominant forest types analysis of variance found that canopy height, median dbh and basal area all varied significantly with land use history and forest type. We tested the effect of median stem diameter, canopy height, stem density, basal area and tree species density on damage. Despite the strength of the storm, on average 27% of stems at the stand level showed no signs of damage and only 5% across the study were killed by the hurricane. In step-wise linear regression models, 13–52% of the variation in damage frequency was accounted for by windspeed and stand structure. Canopy height, basal area and median dbh were significant predictors. For moderate to severe damage classes, measures of stand size were generally positively correlated with damage frequency suggesting that stands with higher canopies and/or greater basal area or median dbh suffered the most during this storm event.
We describe conservation built on local expertise such that it constitutes a hybrid form of tradi... more We describe conservation built on local expertise such that it constitutes a hybrid form of traditional and bureaucratic knowledge. Researchers regularly ask how local knowledge might be applied to programs linked to protected areas. By examining the production of conservation knowledge in southern Mexico, we assert local expertise is already central to conservation. However, bureaucratic norms and social identity differences between lay experts and conservation practitioners prevent the public valuing of traditional knowledge. We make this point by contrasting 2 examples. The first is a master's thesis survey of local experts regarding the biology of the King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) in which data collection took place in communities adjacent to the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The second is a workshop sponsored by the same reserve that instructed farmers on how to monitor endangered species, including the King Vulture. In both examples, conservation knowledge would not have existed without traditional knowledge. In both examples, this traditional knowledge is absent from scientific reporting. On the basis of these findings, we suggest conservation outcomes may be improved by recognizing the knowledge contributions local experts already make to conservation programming.
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Papers by Birgit Schmook