Papers by Constanza Monterrubio Solís
Journal of Environmental Management, 2024
There is concern that agrobiodiversity is being irreversibly eroded in the face of agricultural i... more There is concern that agrobiodiversity is being irreversibly eroded in the face of agricultural industrialization. While academic and policy debates stress loss of landraces, little attention has been paid to evaluating how agricultural knowledge systems endure in response to broader social-ecological changes (i.e., "system's resilience"). For being resilient, agricultural knowledge systems should incorporate new information (modern seed varieties) whilst maintaining its traditional components (landraces) and functions. However, the loss or continuing utilization of landraces may be influenced by several social-ecological filters, which are processes that selectively remove varieties according to their phenotype, local uses, or value. We examined the resilience of agricultural knowledge systems in the southern Andes. These systems include the knowledge of landraces and modern varieties by campesinos and lifestyle migrants. We further assessed the association of social-ecological filters with the knowledge of agrobiodiversity. Over four years (2018-2022), we used mixed-methods including semi-structured interviews with gardener experts and conducted knowledge exercises of seed varieties and surveys of gardeners (n = 132). We assessed the association of 'knowledge score on varieties' (general, landraces, and modern) with a priori-defined social-ecological filters. Gardeners with more proficient knowledge of landraces were more knowledgeable of modern varieties too. The general knowledge of agrobiodiversity and the knowledge of landraces, but not of modern varieties, was higher for campesinos than migrants. The main seed source of gardeners, the participation in seed exchanges, gardeners' origin, and gardeners' age were the social-ecological filters that influenced gardeners′ knowledge of agrobiodiversity. We highlight that socialecological, small-scale farming systems, are being resilient when they have the capacity of incorporating new information (knowledge of modern varieties) whilst maintaining their identity (knowledge of landraces) without undergoing a major shift in their basic structures and functions in this Important Agricultural Heritage Site and Global Biodiversity Hotspot, and beyond.
Journal of Environmental Management, 2024
There is concern that agrobiodiversity is being irreversibly eroded in the face of agricultural i... more There is concern that agrobiodiversity is being irreversibly eroded in the face of agricultural industrialization. While academic and policy debates stress loss of landraces, little attention has been paid to evaluating how agricultural knowledge systems endure in response to broader social-ecological changes (i.e., “system's resilience”). For being resilient, agricultural knowledge systems should incorporate new information (modern seed varieties) whilst maintaining its traditional components (landraces) and functions. However, the loss or continuing utilization of landraces may be influenced by several social-ecological filters, which are processes that selectively remove varieties according to their phenotype, local uses, or value. We examined the resilience of agricultural knowledge systems in the southern Andes. These systems include the knowledge of landraces and modern varieties by campesinos and lifestyle migrants. We further assessed the association of social-ecological filters with the knowledge of agrobiodiversity. Over four years (2018–2022), we used mixed-methods including semi-structured interviews with gardener experts and conducted knowledge exercises of seed varieties and surveys of gardeners (n = 132). We assessed the association of ‘knowledge score on varieties’ (general, landraces, and modern) with a priori-defined social-ecological filters. Gardeners with more proficient knowledge of landraces were more knowledgeable of modern varieties too. The general knowledge of agrobiodiversity and the knowledge of landraces, but not of modern varieties, was higher for campesinos than migrants. The main seed source of gardeners, the participation in seed exchanges, gardeners' origin, and gardeners' age were the social-ecological filters that influenced gardeners′ knowledge of agrobiodiversity. We highlight that social-ecological, small-scale farming systems, are being resilient when they have the capacity of incorporating new information (knowledge of modern varieties) whilst maintaining their identity (knowledge of landraces) without undergoing a major shift in their basic structures and functions in this Important Agricultural Heritage Site and Global Biodiversity Hotspot, and beyond.
Eziquio y tantos más que me abrieron las puertas de sus hogares y me permitieron tener el privile... more Eziquio y tantos más que me abrieron las puertas de sus hogares y me permitieron tener el privilegio de conocer a 'Los Chimas'. My deep gratitude to Dr. Helen Newing for all her support, thoughtful and encouraging advice on the numerous drafts of this thesis. This would not have been possible without you.
TEMAS DE LA AGENDA PÚBLICA, 2023
Reconocemos y agradecemos el trabajo conjunto con el Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Ru... more Reconocemos y agradecemos el trabajo conjunto con el Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural (Rimisp), a través de su proyecto apoyado por el Centro Internacional de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo (IDRC) de Canadá. También, a las decenas de organizaciones campesinas y sociales, agricultores independientes, cooperativas y ONG, y a los representantes de la academia y organismos públicos, que participaron de los encuentros propositivos por la agricultura familiar campesina. Agradecemos el apoyo de Cooperativa Trabajo Vivo, a través de su Comercializadora Solidaria Manos de Vuelta, Mongelechi Mapu y Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo-Rekvlvwun, Paolo Perasso, Julián Caviedes y Carla Marchant que apoyaron el proceso. Nuestro trabajo ha sido apoyado por el Centro de Estudios Interculturales e Indígenas-CIIR (ANID FONDAP/15110006), ANID/FONDECYT Regular 1200291, el Centro Internacional Cabo de Hornos-CHIC (ANID PIA/BASAL PFB210018) y el Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability-CAPES (ANID PIA/BASAL FB0002).
Montology Palimpsest
Mountains are commonly considered a rural or even wild counterpart to cities. But, is this view s... more Mountains are commonly considered a rural or even wild counterpart to cities. But, is this view still relevant in times of “planetary urbanization”? What is actually “wild,” “rural,” and “urban,” and how do these categories differ in structural and/or functional terms? Are there urban specificities in mountains? Drawing on the concepts of planetary urbanization and verticality, and introducing examples from the Global North and South, this chapter presents a central theme of urban montology, the sustainability-oriented, transdisciplinary study of urbanizing mountain environments: rural–urban linkages between altitudinal zones. Ecosystemic, infrastructural, demographic, economic, and sociocultural linkages in mountains present numerous peculiarities due to relief and altitude of the urbanizing environment. “Flows” of mountain ecosystem services, cable cars linking valleys and peaks, vertical spatial mobility of people, and the deliberate use of alpine environments and identities for ...
Springer eBooks, 2022
Family farming plays a fundamental role in food production. However, it faces rapid processes of ... more Family farming plays a fundamental role in food production. However, it faces rapid processes of social-environmental change, such as the application of hegemonic agrarian modernization policies and restrictions on the circulation of traditional seeds. Institutional changes are also altering practices and social relations, while climate change is the main factor in biodiversity loss and increased human vulnerability and the threat to livelihoods. The negative effects of these processes are particularly alarming in mountain territories. These systems are considered “biocultural refuges” since they often contain high levels of agrobiodiversity, complex systems of knowledge, and unique agricultural practices with identity value for local communities and indigenous peoples. This chapter examines the role of mountain family farming as a biocultural refuge and discusses the challenges it faces in a context of social-environmental crises, describing cases of mountain agricultural systems in nine of the world’s main mountain territories and showing that they are fragile spaces and highly vulnerable to certain processes of social-environmental change. For this reason, we urge the identification and promotion of strategies to foster the adaptation and resilience of mountain family farming as a way of contributing to the food security and sovereignty of the communities that inhabit these territories.
Ecology and Society, 2023
Food feeds knowledge and practices through generations, sustaining biocultural memories. However,... more Food feeds knowledge and practices through generations, sustaining biocultural memories. However, prevailing economic models and state policies have driven processes of accumulation by dispossession, defined as incremental social-ecological processes by which people lose their means of production and social reproduction. We conducted a cross-hemispherical study exploring food systems of Indigenous communities inhabiting forested landscapes in Latin America. We used mixed methods that included passive and participant observation, focus groups, free lists, food diaries, oral histories, and calendars in Mapuche communities from the Chilean Andes, and Tzotzil communities from Chiapas, Mexico. Food items and their preparations have changed in both locations. Both food systems show patterns of accumulation by dispossession associated with processes of colonial history, state policies, land privatization, soil depletion, and shifts in local food preferences. Despite these distant but comparable accumulation by dispossession processes, we advocate that biocultural memory remains linked to food-related experiences and sets the basis for dynamic and resilient local food systems going forward.
Ecology & Society, 2023
Food feeds knowledge and practices through generations, sustaining biocultural memories. However,... more Food feeds knowledge and practices through generations, sustaining biocultural memories. However, prevailing economic models and state policies have driven processes of accumulation by dispossession, defined as incremental social-ecological processes by which people lose their means of production and social reproduction. We conducted a cross-hemispherical study exploring food systems of Indigenous communities inhabiting forested landscapes in Latin America. We used mixed methods that included passive and participant observation, focus groups, free lists, food diaries, oral histories, and calendars in Mapuche communities from the Chilean Andes, and Tzotzil communities from Chiapas, Mexico. Food items and their preparations have changed in both locations. Both food systems show patterns of accumulation by dispossession associated with processes of colonial history, state policies, land privatization, soil depletion, and shifts in local food preferences. Despite these distant but comparable accumulation by dispossession processes, we advocate that biocultural memory remains linked to food-related experiences and sets the basis for dynamic and resilient local food systems going forward.
Becoming an international migrant in the context of an indigenous community in Chiapas creates te... more Becoming an international migrant in the context of an indigenous community in Chiapas creates tension with the normative systems that on behalf of the common good demand the participation of its members. Refusal to participate in civil duties can be accepted through the migrant paying a fine. This explains the existence of a community body regulating migration. In his or her return, the migrant and family engage in a complicated negotiation of the terms of reintegration. Besides, returning migrants are limited as far as the initiatives they may set forth. All the above occurs in communities in which community membership entails a bond of cultural identification.
EntreDiversidades. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 2019
Fuera de algunas tempranas investigaciones en la India, ha dedicado la mayor parte de su trayecto... more Fuera de algunas tempranas investigaciones en la India, ha dedicado la mayor parte de su trayectoria académica al estudio de los problemas ambientales y del desarrollo rural en el sureste mexicano, y en particular en Chiapas, donde reside desde hace más de 18 años. Actualmente es uno de los investigadores de mayor experiencia en la complejidad social y ambiental que caracterizan la historia contem
Summary This dissertation presents the first evaluation of a VCA in terms of its multi-scalar gov... more Summary This dissertation presents the first evaluation of a VCA in terms of its multi-scalar governance approach with reference to the principles of the ICCAs category and the CPR principles for institutional arrangements for sustainable natural resource management. The research techniques applied to develop this research included: (1) document revision on national legislation for protected establishment and management; (2) forty four semi-structured interviews with conservation practitioners at different administrative levels, as well as (3) direct observations, 32 semi-structured and unstructured interviews to conform an in-depth case study of the VCA of El Reten, in San Miguel Chimalapa, Oaxaca, Mexico. Devolution processes in El Reten were analysed in terms of the bundles of rights or powers that local community holds for natural resource management after the certification of El Reten and during its early implementation. The issues examined by these dissertation have explored f...
EntreDiversidades. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades
Community Action for Conservation, 2013
EntreDiversidades. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades
Langscape, 2018
Preparing and sharing food is one of the many nourishing activities that rural women carry out da... more Preparing and sharing food is one of the many nourishing activities that rural women carry out day by day. The diversity of grains used, cultivation methods, processing techniques, and preparation preferences are elements that tell us powerful stories about local biocultural traditions. The social and geographical contexts of food are a reflection not only of local systems, where women are important decision-makers, but also of a broader picture of regional and global processes. Rural women everywhere are shaping and adapting their practices in a constant dialogue with these larger dynamics, with the result that many traditional foodways are in a state of transition.
EntreDiversidades, 2019
Ante el rechazo social hacia el establecimiento de nuevas áreas naturales protegidas en ... more Ante el rechazo social hacia el establecimiento de nuevas áreas naturales protegidas en zonas habitadas y la necesidad de cumplir compromisos internacionales, la legislación actual en México reconoce la legitimidad de las Áreas Destinadas Voluntariamente a la Conserva-ción, ADVC. Este artículo explora la implementación temprana de una ADVC en la región Istmo-Sur. A partir del estudio de caso, se exploran las di-námicas entre las estructuras comunitarias de toma de decisiones, ins-tituciones y reglas externas para el manejo del área, así como el grado de devolución de poderes de manejo de recursos destinados al manejo y acciones de conservación en dichas áreas.
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Papers by Constanza Monterrubio Solís
varieties. However, and regardless of their origin, farmers who actively participate in seed exchange practices or “trafkintu” had a higher knowledge of agrobiodiversity. We found that seed exchange practices mobilize both agrobiodiversity and knowledge across scales while
nurturing local biocultural memory. While migrants are a source of agrobiodiversity and innovation, campesinos are a source of local expert knowledge and traditional varieties with adaptive potential to socio-environmental changes. We have implemented co-learning and educational actions to favor simpoiesis or collaboration among farmers, agrobiodiversity conservation, and food sovereignty in intercultural contexts of southern South America.
El objetivo es responder: ¿Cuáles han sido los efectos de la pandemia en la agricultura familiar campesina (AFC) y los sistemas agroalimentarios? Junto con esto, los diálogos (aún en curso) transitan desde el diagnóstico a la propuesta de política pública, mediante un proceso participativo vinculando distintos actores y representantes de la sociedad. La convocatoria a los diálogos tiene tres elementos centrales: (i) perspectiva colectiva; (ii) participación de organizaciones de AFC y (iii) perspectiva de género. Se han realizado cuatro encuentros, dos generales y uno por territorio. La participación promedio ha sido de 15 personas y/o representantes de organizaciones civiles, campesinas, cooperativas, así como productoras y productores independientes. La fase de diagnóstico ha permitido identificar los efectos de la pandemia en la AFC. Los principales impactos han sido el encarecimiento de los insumos requeridos para la producción, la falta de espacios de venta, la brecha tecnológica en el sector rural, la respuesta institucional tardía y/o limitada para garantizar la continuidad de la actividad campesina y, por tanto, el acceso desigual a apoyos e insumos para hacer frente a la crisis sanitaria. La pandemia ha impactado principalmente a las y los productores que no son parte de alguna figura asociativa, así como a miembros de pueblos originarios restringiendo puntos de encuentro y ceremonias. También ha impactado a las mujeres, incrementando su carga de trabajo e incluso teniendo que enfrentar mayor precariedad laboral y violencia doméstica.
Lo anterior pone de manifiesto la fragilidad de la seguridad alimentaria local. Y también ha hecho evidentes las fortalezas de la agricultura familiar campesina para hacer frente a esta y otras crisis actuales. La diversificación productiva, la reactivación de la huerta, la recuperación de formas tradicionales de manejar el suelo y la reactivación local y regional de redes de semillas y de productores-consumidores, son algunas de las respuestas emergentes desde los territorios para hacer frente a la crisis sanitaria. Estas se perfilan para generar iniciativas de política pública y sentar las bases para dar respuesta a las crisis económicas, sociales y ecológicas actuales.