Socio-Environmental Regimes and Local Visions : Transdisciplinary Experiences in Latin America

This book presents oral histories, collective dialogues, and analyses of rural and indigenous livelihoods facing global socio-environmental regime change in Latin America (LA). Since the late twentieth century, rural and indigenous producers in LA, including agriculturists, coffee-growers, as well as small-scale farmers/fishers, and others, have had to resist, cope with, or adapt to a range of neoliberal socio-environmental regimes that impact their territories and associated resources, including water, production systems and ultimately their cultural traditions. In response, rural producers are using local visions and innovation niches to decide what, when, and how to resist, cope with uncertainty, and still be successful in using their customary laws to retain their land rights and livelihoods. This book presents a range of ethnically diverse case studies from LA, which addresses socio-environmental, educational, and law regimes’ effects using transdisciplinary research approaches in rural, traditional and indigenous production systems. Based on both, the results and insights gained into how producers are resisting and adapting to these regimes, as well as decades of research carried out in LA rural territories by the participating authors, the book puts forward a baseline for devising new public policies that are better suited to the real challenges of livelihoods, poverty, and environmental degradation in LA. These recommendations are rooted in post-development thinking; they promote territorial public policy with social inclusion and a human’s rights approach. The book draws on over 20 years of research carried out by LA’s academics and their undergraduate and graduate students who have addressed collaborative work, participatory research, and transdisciplinary approaches with rural commons and communities in LA. It features 19 case studies, with contributions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, and Mexico. Front Matter ....Pages i-xx Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Local Socio-Environmental Systems as a Transdisciplinary Conceptual Framework (Manuel Roberto Parra Vázquez, Minerva Arce Ibarra, Eduardo Bello Baltazar, Luciana Gomes de Araujo)....Pages 3-24 Front Matter ....Pages 25-25 Traditional Knowledge in the Colombian Amazon: Tensions Between Indigenous Territorial Autonomy and Environmental Governance (Pablo Emilio De La Cruz Nassar, Eduardo Bello Baltazar, Luis Eduardo Acosta Muñoz, Erin I. J. Estrada Lugo, Minerva Arce Ibarra, Luis Enrique García Barrios)....Pages 27-47 Education in Macehual Mayan Institutions (Axayácatl Segundo Cabello, Ma. Eugenia García Contreras, Abraxas Segundo García)....Pages 49-69 Ngô ndêt pá khre: Environmental Governance for the Future of the Xingu River (Mato Grosso, Brazil) (Rosely Alvim Sanches, Célia Futemma)....Pages 71-97 Synergy Between Innovation Niches and Transdisciplinarity: The Case of Coffee Producer Families and their Organizations (Southeastern Mexico) (Obeimar Balente Herrera, Cristina Guerrero Jiménez)....Pages 99-117 Front Matter ....Pages 119-119 The Milpero of the Macehual Mayan Normative System vis `vis with Global Laws and Policies of Agricultural Fire (Ma. Eugenia García Contreras, Axayácatl Segundo Cabello, Abraxas Segundo García)....Pages 121-143 The Interaction Between Mayan Honey Producers and the Global Agri-Food Regime (Lilia Betania Vázquez González)....Pages 145-157 The Environmental Regime for Climate Change and the Effects of Climatic Variability on Maya Livelihoods in Quintana Roo, Mexico (Karina N. Chale Silveira, Minerva Arce Ibarra, Laura Carrillo)....Pages 159-184 Front Matter ....Pages 185-185 Trindade and the Struggle for its Territory: A Trajectory of Community Empowerment and Self-Governance in Southeastern Coast of Brazil (Luciana Gomes de Araujo, Péricles Vinícius Gentile, Juliana Rezende Torres)....Pages 187-204 Burning Reasons: Traditional Land Management Using Fire and Environmental Conflicts in Serra da Canastra National Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil (Emmanuel Duarte Almada, Ana Beatriz Vianna Mendes, Aderval Costa Filho)....Pages 205-224 Interculturalism and Power at the Margin of Environmental Governance: An Approach from the Selva El Ocote Biosphere Reserve (Mexico) (Carla Beatriz Zamora Lomelí)....Pages 225-239 Territories for Conservation? Capitalist Strategies for Appropriating Nature in Los Glaciares National Park in the Argentinean Patagonia (Sabrina Elizabeth Picone, Iris Josefina Liscovsky, Alejandro Fabián Schweitzer)....Pages 241-252 Emancipatory Partnership and Advances in Citizenship: Struggles for a Sea-Land Territory in Brazil (Deborah S. Prado)....Pages 253-268 Front Matter ....Pages 269-269 Social Learning by Small Ruminant Farmers in Granma, Cuba (Isela Ponce Palma, Manuel La O Arias, José Nahed Toral, Francisco Guevara Hernández)....Pages 271-290 Socio-Environmental Regimes in Natural Protected Areas: A Case Study in La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve (Amayrani Meza Jiménez, Manuel Roberto Parra Vázquez, Luis García Barrios, Gerard Verschoor, Erin I. J. Estrada Lugo)....Pages 291-312 The Future of Food in Our Hands. Key Factors for Governance Learned from Committees of Food and Nutrition Security in Honduras (Jorge Urdapilleta Carrasco, María Raquel Zolle Fernández)....Pages 313-334 Governance of African Palm Production and Lifeways of Palm Producers in Two Municipalities of the Chiapas Jungle (Enrique de Jesús Trejo Sánchez, Guillermo Valdiviezo Ocampo, Manuel Roberto Parra Vázquez)....Pages 335-361 Community Responses to Historical Land Degradation: Lessons from São Luiz do Paraitinga, Brazil (Alice Ramos de Moraes, Camila Alvez Islas)....Pages 363-379 Effects of Public Agricultural and Forestry Policies on the Livelihoods of Campesino Families in the Bolivian Amazon (Pamela Cartagena, Carmelo Peralta)....Pages 381-408 Organic Agriculture, Agroecology, and Agroforestry: Small Farmers in Brazil (Célia Futemma)....Pages 409-433 Front Matter ....Pages 435-435 Lessons on Local Socio-Environmental Systems and Rural Producers’ Local Visions to Inform on Public Policy for Latin America (Eduardo Bello Baltazar, Minerva Arce Ibarra, Manuel Roberto Parra Vázquez, Luciana Gomes de Araujo)....Pages 437-461