Analysis of ecosystem services provision in the Colombian Amazon using participatory research and mapping techniques

Over the last two decades indigenous peoples in the lower Caquetá River basin in Colombia have experienced detrimental changes in the provision of important ecosystem services in ways that have significant implications for the maintenance of their traditional livelihoods. To assess these changes we conducted eight participatory mapping activities and convened 22 focus group discussions. We focused the analysis on two types of change: (1) changes in the location of ecosystem services provisioning areas and (2) changes in the stock of ecosystem services. The focal ecosystem services include services such as provision of food, raw materials and medicinal resources. Results from the study show that in the past two decades the demand for food and raw materials has intensified and, as a result, locations of provisioning areas and the stocks of ecosystem services have changed. We found anecdotal evidence that these changes correlate well with socio-economic factors such as greater need for income generation, change in livelihood practices and consumption patterns. We discuss the use of participatory mapping techniques in the context of marginalized and data-poor regions. We also show how this kind of information can strengthen existing ecosystem-based management strategies used by indigenous peoples in the Colombian Amazon

Policy Solutions to Realize the Right to Food of Children in Colombia: An Integrative Approach

openThe traditional analysis of hunger focuses on food supply. Nonetheless, several scholars and human rights practitioners prove this analysis defective. However, many public policies at the national and local level are still based on a reductionist food supply and food security approach. By means of a literature review, a review of the legal framework on the right to food as well as a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with experts, this thesis examines the public policy obstacles to overcome early malnutrition and the features that such public policies need to be effective. The main findings are that obstacles in realizing the right to food are linked to outsourcing states’ obligations towards the right to food, corruption derived from outsourcing aid, centralization of food supplies, pricing, and decision-making. Results also indicate links between these obstacles and the food-security-centered approach to public policy that tends to understand the resolution of hunger as charity rather than a legal obligation of states under international human rights law. By the same token, the thesis highlights how policies can be effective as long as they are based on an understanding of food as a process and the right to food as the entitlement to that process. That is, beyond food security, which concerns household/individual supply, the right to food entails the dignified conditions for the groups that produce, transform and exchange food. Finally, the thesis proves that the model ‘Food Process and Standards of Social Realization of the Right to Food’ is a useful tool in developing policy guidelines to: (i) uphold the rights of individuals, homes, communities, and ensure the country to sustainably procure adequate food and decide the system to do so; and (ii) redress the elements of the food process that are infringed by each of the obstacles identified.The traditional analysis of hunger focuses on food supply. Nonetheless, several scholars and human rights practitioners prove this analysis defective. However, many public policies at the national and local level are still based on a reductionist food supply and food security approach. By means of a literature review, a review of the legal framework on the right to food as well as a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with experts, this thesis examines the public policy obstacles to overcome early malnutrition and the features that such public policies need to be effective. The main findings are that obstacles in realizing the right to food are linked to outsourcing states’ obligations towards the right to food, corruption derived from outsourcing aid, centralization of food supplies, pricing, and decision-making. Results also indicate links between these obstacles and the food-security-centered approach to public policy that tends to understand the resolution of hunger as charity rather than a legal obligation of states under international human rights law. By the same token, the thesis highlights how policies can be effective as long as they are based on an understanding of food as a process and the right to food as the entitlement to that process. That is, beyond food security, which concerns household/individual supply, the right to food entails the dignified conditions for the groups that produce, transform and exchange food. Finally, the thesis proves that the model ‘Food Process and Standards of Social Realization of the Right to Food’ is a useful tool in developing policy guidelines to: (i) uphold the rights of individuals, homes, communities, and ensure the country to sustainably procure adequate food and decide the system to do so; and (ii) redress the elements of the food process that are infringed by each of the obstacles identified

A Comprehensive Analysis on the Healthcare Systems in Latin America

This comprehensive report summarizes and analyzes the current state of healthcare in Latin America, specifically in the countries of Mexico, Brazil, the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras), the Andean Region (Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia) and the Rioplatense Region (Uruguay, and Argentina). Each country's healthcare system is examined in depth, in terms of health infrastructure, the healthcare providing industry, and the effects of healthcare on the countries' respective populations.Mosser, Michael W.International Relations and Global Studie

A quasi-cohort trend analysis of adult obesity in Colombia

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABIn Colombia, the prevalence of obesity has been increasing in recent years due to changes in dietary and nutritional patterns. While previous studies have focussed on describing obesity and its associated factors, they have mainly used a cross-sectional methodology. Accordingly, this study aims to conduct a descriptive quasi-cohort analysis to capture age-specific cohort trends in body mass index (BMI) according to sex and ethnicity (indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and the remaining population). The study utilised data from the National Survey of the Nutritional Situation in Colombia (ENSIN) conducted in 2005, 2010, and 2015 that included 214,136 individuals aged 20-64 years after screening. Data on ethnicity were only available from the 2010 and 2015 surveys. Overall, the prevalence of obesity increased by 6.1 percentage points (from 15.2% to 21.3%) between 2005 and 2015 (men from 10.4% to 15.7%; women from 18.2% to 25.7%). Among Afro-Colombians, obesity rose 6.6 percentage points (from 19.4% to 26.0%), again more so in women than in men (2015: 35.2% versus 17.8%). Among indigenous people, the proportion increased by 5.3 percentage points (from 13.5% to 18.8%), with women reporting highest rates (2015: 23.7% against 12.6% in men). Age- and cohort-specific results also indicate that recent adult cohorts are experiencing sharp increases in BMI, for example, while 25-29-year-old males born in 1975-1979 had a BMI of 24.2 kg/m2, among 40-44-year-olds of the same cohort, this equalled 26.8 kg/m2. In the case of women, these age differences in BMI among the same cohort are even greater (24.4 and 28.0 kg/m2). In summary, the results of this study indicate that Colombia is still in the early stages of the obesity transition, urging the need to monitor obesity trends in Colombia from both an age and cohort perspective. To achieve this, longitudinal surveys or repeated cross-sectional surveys like the ENSIN could be utilised

Family-planning education project : a teaching model through home economics

This study was an attempt to develop a motivational approach to family-planning education through the teaching of home economics. The rationale for a motivational approach lies in the need to inculcate high fertility groups with the idea that family planning is a necessary condition for the family, if it is to attain the desired quality of life. The three major components of the study were: 1. To design a model for teaching family planning through the following areas of home economics: nutrition and health, housing, clothing, and child development and family relations. The model seeks to introduce motivational appeals for family planning through these areas of home economics, and to introduce effective teaching methods appropriate to the educational level of the audiences and facilities of the educational settings. 2. To evaluate the usefulness and applicability of the family-planning teaching model. 3. To revise the teaching model and introduce the necessary changes suggested in the evaluation

Social science perspectives on managing agricultural technology

TechnologyAgricultural researchResource managementFarmer participationEvaluation

INFLUENCES OF HOST SIZE AND HOST QUALITY ON HOST USE IN A SEED-FEEDING BEETLE

For insects that develop inside discrete hosts both host size and host quality constrain offspring growth, influencing the evolution of body size and life history traits. This dissertation examines the effects of host size, host quality, and intraspecific competition on life history and associated traits of populations of the seed-feeding beetle S. limbatus adapted to different host plants, and quantifies population differences in phenotypic plasticity. Populations of the study correspond to divergent clades of the species phylogeography (Colombia and United States). Clades compared differ genetically for all traits when beetles were raised in a common garden. Contrary to expectations from the local adaptation hypothesis, beetles from all populations were larger, developed faster and had higher survivorship when reared in Acacia greggii, the larger host. Two host-plant mediated maternal effects were found: offspring matured sooner, regardless of their rearing host, when their mothers were reared on Pseudosamanea guachapele and females laid larger eggs on Ps. guachapele. These results also show that this species in addition to be a smaller is a low quality host. Females also laid more eggs and sooner on A. greggii than in Ps. guachapele and, laid more eggs on P. guachapele when A. greggii seeds were small than when they were large. Eggs were larger when laid on Ps. guachapele and Parkinsonia florida, two hosts that reduce survivorship in all populations. However, Colombia females laid eggs of similar size on Ps. guachapele and Pa. florida, while USA females laid the largest eggs on Pa. florida. Larger beetles were most affected when larval competition was increased and seed size decreased. The responses of different body sized females were asymmetrical showing significant variation in plasticity. Although differences between populations in growth and life history traits appear to be adaptations to the size and quality of their host plants, host-associated maternal effects, partly mediated by maternal egg size plasticity play an important role in the evolution of S. limbatus’ diet breadth. More generally, phenotypic plasticity mediates the fitness consequences of using novel hosts, likely facilitating colonization of new hosts but also buffering herbivores from selection post-colonization

Social science perspectives on managing agricultural technology

Experiences of 15 social science research fellows who recount their roles in particular research projects at the International Agricultural Research Centers they were appointed. In addition to highlighting the contributions social scientists can make in the field of agricultural research, their papers offer a candid look at the kinds of work in which the Centers currently are engaged.Technology, Agricultural research, Resource management, Farmer participation, Evaluation, Farm Management, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Análisis del comportamiento fisiológico y productivo de seis cultivares de quinua de Colombia bajo condiciones controladas

The great diversity of quinoa allows variations in physiological, production, and compositional performance. This study aimed to evaluate six quinoa cultivars through the physiological and nutritional responses of their seeds. Different dynamics were identified in the plant height, and the number of leaves was adjusted to sigmoidal models with R2 greater than 0.97 and 0.77, respectively. The chlorophyll concentration varied through the phenological phases, as did the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II. Differences in the quinoa grains were found between CIEL*a*b* colorimetric coordinates and protein, carbohydrate, and fat contents. In this sense, quinoa cultivars manifest different biological behaviors associated with their genetic nature. Besides, a relationship between cultivars and seed composition was recognized. These results will allow researchers to study other significant differences between the precocity expressed by the Puno, Nariño, and Titicaca cultivars and those with a longer phenological cycle such as the Soracá cultivar.La gran diversidad de la quinua permite variaciones en el desempeño fisiológico, productivo y composicional. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar seis cultivares de quinua a través de las respuestas fisiológicas y nutricionales de sus semillas. Se identificaron diferentes dinámicas en la altura de las plantas y en el número de hojas que se ajustaron a un modelo sigmoidal con R2 mayor a 0,97 y 0,77, respectivamente. La concentración de clorofila varió a través de las fases fenológicas, al igual que el rendimiento cuántico máximo del fotosistema II. Se encontraron diferencias en los granos de quinua entre las coordenadas colorimétricas del CIEL*a*b* y el contenido de proteínas, carbohidratos y grasas. En este sentido, se determinó que los cultivares de quinua manifiestan diferentes comportamientos biológicos asociados a su carácter genético. Además, se reconoció una relación entre cultivares y la composición de semillas. Estos resultados permitirán a los investigadores estudiar la diferencia significativa entre la precocidad expresada por los cultivares Puno, Nariño y Titicaca y aquellos con un ciclo fenológico más largo como el cultivar Soracá