Birds and bioenergy within the americas: A cross‐national, social–ecological study of ecosystem service tradeoffs

Although renewable energy holds great promise in mitigating climate change, there are socioeconomic and ecological tradeoffs related to each form of renewable energy. Forest‐related bioenergy is especially controversial, because tree plantations often replace land that could be used to grow food crops and can have negative impacts on biodiversity. In this study, we examined public perceptions and ecosystem service tradeoffs between the provisioning services associated with cover types associated with bioenergy crop (feedstock) production and forest habitat‐related supporting services for birds, which themselves provide cultural and regulating services. We combined a social survey‐based assessment of local values and perceptions with measures of bioenergy feedstock production impacts on bird habitat in four countries: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the USA. Respondents in all countries rated birds as important or very important (83–99% of respondents) and showed lower enthusiasm for, but still supported, the expansion of bioenergy feedstocks (48–60% of respondents). Bioenergy feedstock cover types in Brazil and Argentina had the greatest negative impact on birds but had a positive impact on birds in the USA. In Brazil and Mexico, public perceptions aligned fairly well with the realities of the impacts of potential bioenergy feedstocks on bird communities. However, in Argentina and the USA, perceptions of bioenergy impacts on birds did not match well with the data. Understanding people’s values and perceptions can help inform better policy and management decisions regarding land use changes

Rituales de la x-táabentun (Turbina corymbosa) y de los mayas yucatecos

La Turbina corymbosa se distribuye por toda Mesoamérica, es ampliamente conocida en Yucatán y no tiene nombre en español. Se le conoce por su nombre maya como xtabentun o, con su correcta ortografía: x-táabentun.1 Se han propuesto muchas hipótesis sobre su uso ritual, pero los mayas yucatecos han sido especialmente reservados al respecto. Basándonos en la tradición oral contemporánea, podemos ahora distinguir dos tipos de manejo ritual: uno tiene que ver con rituales realizados por la propia x-táabentun junto con otras plantas de la familia de las Convolvulaceae; el otro, son rituales entre humanos. Por testimonios recogidos en Pixoy, Yucatán, sabemos que se conocen las propiedades alucinógenas de las semillas (cuando es colonizada por un hongo de la familia Clavicipitaceae), así como lo que parece ser el manejo terapéutico de los alcaloides por las parteras mayas. A partir de estos saberes, de relatos sobre plantas, bebidas y semillas conservados en la memoria colectiva, de referencias a sustancias usadas por “adivinos” en fuentes coloniales, y de la identificación de la planta en una vasija maya del periodo Clásico, retomamos las hipótesis de Thompson [1998] y de De la Garza [1990] sobre la existencia de un saber de esta planta nativa entre la élite maya y su uso como enteógeno en la antigüedad

Sustainable Development for Whom and How? Exploring the Gaps between Popular Discourses and Ground Reality Using the Mexican Jatropha Biodiesel Case

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York. In the last decade, jatropha-based bioenergy projects have gotten significant attention as a solution to various social, economic, and environmental problems. Jatropha’s popularity stemmed out from different discourses, some real and some perceived, in scientific and non-scientific literature. These discourses positioned jatropha as a crop helpful in producing biodiesel and protecting sustainability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels and increasing local, rural development by creating jobs. Consequently, many countries established national policies that incentivized the establishment of jatropha as a bioenergy feedstock crop. In this paper, we explore the case of jatropha bioenergy development in Yucatan, Mexico and argue that the popular discourse around jatropha as a sustainability and rural development tool is flawed. Analyzing our results from 70 semi-structured interviews with community members belonging to a region where plantation-scale jatropha projects were introduced, we found that these projects did not have many significant social sustainability benefits. We conclude from our case that by just adding bioenergy projects cannot help achieve social sustainability in rural areas alone. In ensuring social sustainability of bioenergy projects, future policymaking processes should have a more comprehensive understanding of the rural socioeconomic problems where such projects are promoted and use bioenergy projects as one of the many solutions to local problems rather than creating such policies based just on popular discourses

Policies for the Sustainable Development of Biofuels in the Pan American Region: A Review and Synthesis of Five Countries

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York. Rapid growth of biofuel production in the United States and Brazil over the past decade has increased interest in replicating this success in other nations of the Pan American region. However, the continued use of food-based feedstock such as maize is widely seen as unsustainable and is in some cases linked to deforestation and increased greenhouse gas emissions, raising further doubts about long-term sustainability. As a result, many nations are exploring the production and use of cellulosic feedstock, though progress has been extremely slow. In this paper, we will review the North–South axis of biofuel production in the Pan American region and its linkage with the agricultural sectors in five countries. Focus will be given to biofuel policy goals, their results to date, and consideration of sustainability criteria and certification of producers. Policy goals, results, and sustainability will be highlighted for the main biofuel policies that have been enacted at the national level. Geographic focus will be given to the two largest producers—the United States and Brazil; two smaller emerging producers—Argentina and Canada; and one stalled program—Mexico. However, several additional countries in the region are either producing or planning to produce biofuels. We will also review alternative international governance schemes for biofuel sustainability that have been recently developed, and whether the biofuel programs are being managed to achieve improved environmental quality and sustainable development

A Three-Dimensional Sustainability Evaluation of Jatropha Plantations in Yucatan, Mexico

This paper presents a unique sustainability analysis of one of the first attempts to establish a biodiesel industry in Mexico. From 2008, several companies established medium to large-sized Jatropha curcas plantations in Yucatan, hiring local peasants to carry out the agricultural work. After five years, the plantations were abandoned due to poor seed yields and a lack of key knowledge for large-scale cultivation. Based on a multidisciplinary approach, we performed a three-dimensional sustainability evaluation of the potential biodiesel production chain, which included household interviews, a socioeconomic survey, and a life-cycle assessment (LCA). We identified both negative and positive effects in the three dimensions analyzed. Socially and culturally, the local peasant families understood sustainability as their ability to preserve their traditional lifestyle, and associated environmental services with their sense of identity. They therefore considered the jatropha plantations to be positive for sustainability, since they brought income, even though some perceived damage to the natural resources of the surrounding areas. Economically, peasants’ annual household income increased by approximately $1080 USD due to the increased salaries paid by the jatropha companies. The LCA predicted large savings of greenhouse gas emissions (>50% compared to fossil diesel), but also potential negative impacts in some categories (human/ecological toxicity and eutrophication potentials) associated with the use of mineral fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides applied during the cultivation stage. Biodiesel production would be potentially energetically self-sufficient, in addition to producing a 40% energy surplus. Finally, even though the sustainability indicators suggested a positive overall assessment, the reality was that the jatropha projects failed because they were predicated on unrealistically optimistic projections and poor agronomic knowledge of the plant

Community perceptions of socioecological stressors and risk-reducing strategies in Tabasco, Mexico

© 2018, AESS. Rural inhabitants in many parts of the world face multiple stressors associated with socioecological and climatic change, yet their risk-reducing strategies have rarely been linked to these stressors. Extant studies present unclear and often unspecific definitions of adaptation or focus on just one type of stressor rather than acknowledging that there can be multiple responses to myriad stressors. In an attempt to overcome some of these gaps, we utilize a typology of adaptation strategies that addresses deficiencies in the current adaptation literature. This research draws on qualitative interview data to examine resident perceptions of water-related socioecological and climatic changes and potential risk-reducing strategies within small rural communities in Tabasco, Mexico. The increased frequency of drought and flooding in low-lying areas near the Usumacinta River has reduced local community members’ ability to sustain their livelihoods. Results from interview analysis show that residents are using four major strategies that they perceive as helping them respond to water-related problems. They are mobility, diversification, communal pooling, and environmental management. Our findings contribute to understandings of rural community risk reduction strategies that may be shared by other rural communities in places around the world experiencing negative climate change impacts

From Kyoto to Paris: Measuring renewable energy policy regimes in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States

There are numerous strategies to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or to mitigate global climate change. One of them is to promote polices for developing renewable energy sources. There has been a growth in such policies but not enough is known about their effectiveness. We use a revised version of Schaffrin et al.’s (2015) Index of Policy Activity (IPA) to examine the historical development (1998–2015) of federal and state/provincial renewable energy policies across five federal countries in the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States. Here the focus is on “policy output,” which is defined as a function of policy density and intensity. Policy density is measured by counting the number of policies in each country relating to a particular goal during our time frame, while policy intensity, or the strength the policy has toward meeting specific goals, is measured by summing scores for six indicators: objective, scope, integration, budget, implementation and monitoring. The higher the policy score for a country, the more likely the country will be able to meet its intended goals. Our results show that the U.S. has the densest renewable energy policy output followed by Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and finally Argentina has the least-dense policy output. Overall, Brazil and Canada’s renewable energy policies were the most intense, followed by Argentina’s and the U.S.’s, with Mexico’s policies receiving the lowest intensity scores. These countries differ in how long they have supported renewable energy policies and the levels of government that implement them. These findings show that countries may be spending resources on producing myriad renewable energy policies, but without coordination between different levels of government or a concerted effort to ensure that the policy instruments are effective, those resources may be wasted while GHGs continue to rise. This research contributes to the understanding of how individual federal and state/provincial government make efforts toward implementing or enforcing energy policies to influence long-term policy change

Programas gubernamentales y respuestas campesinas en el uso del suelo: el caso de la zona oriente de Tabasco, México

En el presente artículo se examinan las estrategias productivas instrumentadas por los campesinos del oriente de Tabasco, para responder a las reformas estructurales. Al analizar los patrones de cambio de uso del suelo en sus parcelas, de 1988 a 2004, se identificaron dos tipos de sistemas productivos: a) agricultura de autoconsumo y b) ganadería de cría alternada con cultivos básicos. Más que tratar de ser competitivos, las estrategias campesinas buscan minimizar los riesgos para mantener su condición de productores y asegurar la subsistencia de la unidad familiar en el corto plazo. La disyuntiva campesina es continuar con la ganadería, que conlleva costos elevados para el medio ambiente y de la cual parecen condenados a ser excluidos, o incursionar en opciones forestales que pueden ser rentables a futuro. Se concluye que las políticas públicas deben fortalecer los medios de vida de las comunidades, según un enfoque amplio de desarrollo rura

Programas gubernamentales y respuestas campesinas en el uso del suelo: el caso de la zona oriente de Tabasco, México

En el presente artículo se examinan las estrategias productivas instrumentadas por los campesinos del oriente de Tabasco, para responder a las reformas estructurales. Al analizar los patrones de cambio de uso del suelo en sus parcelas, de 1988 a 2004, se identificaron dos tipos de sistemas productivos: a) agricultura de autoconsumo y b) ganadería de cría alternada con cultivos básicos. Más que tratar de ser competitivos, las estrategias campesinas buscan minimizar los riesgos para mantener su condición de productores y asegurar la subsistencia de la unidad familiar en el corto plazo. La disyuntiva campesina es continuar con la ganadería, que conlleva costos elevados para el medio ambiente y de la cual parecen condenados a ser excluidos, o incursionar en opciones forestales que pueden ser rentables a futuro. Se concluye que las políticas públicas deben fortalecer los medios de vida de las comunidades, según un enfoque amplio de desarrollo rura