Els beneficis ambientals i socio-culturals dels horts

Una investigació feta per científics de la UAB ha aprofundit en el paper dels horts en el medi ambient i en la societat agafant com a cas d'estudi la Vall Fosca, al Pirineu Català. Mitjançant una metodologia que incloïa entrevistes, qüestionaris, bibliografia i consultes a experts, aquests investigadors han identificat i caracteritzat els beneficis mediambientals que proporcionen els horts, així com, la importància social que tenen. De tot això s'en deriva que els horts resulten ser una bona eina per restaurar els serveis ambientals en zones degradades.Una investigación hecha por científicos de la UAB ha profundizado en el papel de los huertos en el medioambiente y en la sociedad escogiendo como caso de estudio la Vall Fosca, en el Pirineo Catalán. Mediante una metodologia que incluia entrevistas, cuestionarios, bibliografia y consultas a expertos, estos investigadores han identificado y caracterizado los beneficios medioambientales que proporcionan los huertos, así como, la importancia social que tienen. De todo esto se deriva que los huertos resultan ser una buena herramienta para restaurar los servicios ambientales en zonas degradadas

Les varietats locals dels horts del Pirineu català

Les varietats locals -hortalisses i altres plantes cultivades i conservades tradicionalment en un indret- han despertat un interès creixent en les últimes dècades, però la conservació d'aquests cultius ha estat poc estudiada en països temperats com el nostre. Investigadors de la UAB han avaluat l'estat dels cultius locals en els horts de la Vall Fosca, al Pirineu Català, i han trobat que tot i que les varietats que s'hi cultiven són principalment comercials, s'hi han pogut identificar 39 varietats locals. Això situa els horts de la Vall Fosca com a reservoris de diversitat biològica i cultural de valuós interès i posa de manifest la conveniència d'una col·laboaració d'investigadors i polítics amb la gent del territori per tal de conservar-la.Las variedades locales -hortalizas y otras plantas cultivadas y conservadas tradicionalmente en un lugar- han despertado un interés creciente en las últimas décadas, pero la conservación de este tipo de cultivos ha sido poco estudiada en países templados como el nuestro. Investigadores de la UAB han evaluado el estado de los cultivos locales en los huertos de la Vall Fosca, en el Pirineo Catalán, y han encontrado que aunque las variedades que se cultivan son principalmente comerciales, se han podido identificar 39 variedades locales. Esto sitúa a los huertos de la Vall Fosca como reservorios de diversidad biológica y cultural de valioso interés y pone de manifiesto la conveniencia de una colaboaración de investigadores y políticos con la gente del territorio para conservarla

La participació en les àrees protegides : estudi de la xarxa social de comunicació al parc natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Des de fa un temps es destaca la importància de la participació local en la gestió de les àrees protegides i en la presa de decisions respecte aquests espais. Un estudi dut a terme al parc natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt durant dos anys ha analitzat la seva xarxa social de comunicació per tal de proporcionar coneixements sobre l'estructura social dels actors i poder millorar els processos participatius. Els resultats mostren els problemes que té aquesta xarxa de comunicació i obren la porta a la millora de la situació actual.Desde hace un tiempo se destaca la importancia de la participación local en la gestión de las áreas protegidas y en la toma de decisiones respecto a estos espacios. Un estudio llevado a cabo en el parque natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt durante dos años ha analizado su red social de comunicación a fin de proporcionar conocimientos sobre la estructura social de los actores y poder mejorar los procesos participativos. Los resultados muestran los problemas que tiene esta red de comunicación y abren la puerta a la mejora de la situación actual

Traditional agricultural knowledge as a commons

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552In this chapter we explore the governance of traditional agricultural knowledge (TAK) under the commons framework, or the idea that knowledge can be governed as a commons, i.e., as a resource used by a group of people who have self-developed a set of rules to manage the social dilemmas derived from the resource collective use. To illustrate the governance of TAK under the commons framework, we present two case studies in which TAK is shared by communities of users who operate at different scales. The first case illustrates the local governance of TAK as commons by a close community with tight social bonds; the second case provides an example of how digitalized TAK could be governed by a peer-to-peer governance system and become part of the global digital commons. We conclude by exploring the degree to which a commons-based governance can be considered a contestation to commodification and enclosure movements that threaten the maintenance of TAK systems, and thus supports people's ability to sustain environmentally and culturally adapted food systems

Climate change in the Catalan Pyrenees intersects with socioeconomic factors to shape crop diversity and management

Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICUnidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MMost studies on climate change's impacts on agriculture focus on modeling techniques based on large-scale meteorological data, while few have investigated how farmer's perception of climate change's impacts can affect crop diversity and crop management practices, especially in industrialized contexts. To fill this gap, we conducted 24 semi-structured interviews in a study site located in the Catalan Pyrenees. Our results show for the first time in an industrialized context that farmers perceive multiple interrelated climate change impacts on local agroecosystems. For instance, snowfall and freeze events have decreased, which respondents associated with the increase of pests and diseases affecting both wild flora and cultivated plants. Similarly, changes in precipitation patterns lead to a perceived decrease in useful rain for agriculture. Farmers are also reporting changes in their management practices, such as increased irrigation or use of pesticides, which respond to these climatic factors but also to changes in the crops that are cultivated. Crop diversity is in decline in the area both at the species and landrace levels, especially in rainfed fields. This is mainly driven by socioeconomic factors such as agricultural abandonment or access to commercial seeds, although climate change factors such as increased pests or decreased rainfall can have an impact. Despite the crop diversity losses found, many landraces have been maintained, mainly due to their cultural value, and also new crop species have been introduced, which are now viable due to the increase in temperature. Although we focused on a specific case study, we found several trends that are also present in other contexts. Therefore, the results of this research are relevant at a global scale since they show that climate change is affecting mountain agroecosystems in industrialized contexts and may affect more drastically both agrobiodiversity and crop management practices in agroecosystems worldwide

Multi-actor networks and innovation niches : university training for local Agroecological Dynamization

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552The global environmental and social-economic crises of industrialized agriculture have led to the emergence of agroecology as an alternative approach aiming to increase the ecological, social and economic sustainability of agri-food systems. The 'multi-level perspective' is now a widely used framework to understand and promote the upscaling of local innovation niches, such as agroecology, to broader scales (e.g., regional, national, international), thus reconfiguring the dominant socio-technical regimes. Additionally, emergent 'hybrid forums' can provide a space between niche and regime where niche innovators can become important actors in scaling up and out emergent innovations. In this paper, we examine a university training program (Postgraduate Diploma in Local Agroecological Dynamization at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), to better understand its role as a 'hybrid forum'. Our analysis focuses especially on how the program, as an example of a hybrid forum, worked to reconfigure practices, concepts, and tools of local development practitioners. We also assess to what extent the program contributed to transitioning local development institutions toward agroecology. An online survey (n = 46) and in-depth interviews (n = 16) were carried out to determine how the training program has impacted the student's opinions and their respective institutions. The results show that most of the students consider that they have acquired new theoretical frameworks and useful methods to re-framing their local development projects, that new alliances with multi-actor networks have been perceived, and that some internal changes of the local development practices have taken place. We conclude that the training program, as a hybrid forum, is capable of outscaling niche innovations through linkages with different kind of actors both from the niche and the regime. Political changes in the socio-technical landscape level offer an opportunity to amplify the impact of the innovations which are being generated by those multi-actor networks, but with a limited multi-level impact as far as institutional regime-actors not aligned with agroecological transition keep the most of the competencies on agri-food systems

El coneixement agroecològic tradicional com a bé comunal

En socioecosistemes agraris, el Coneixement Agroecològic Tradicional (CAeT) agrupa el saber sobre el conjunt d'estratègies d'agricultors/es i altres experts/es per tal de produir aliments de manera ambiental i ecològicament sostenible i gestionar de forma compartida els paisatges agrícoles amb normes col·lectives. Prendre partit en aquest paradigma és una acció política que posa l'èmfasis en mantenir sistemes alimentaris adaptats a la cultura i no sotmesos a les regles del mercat. En aquest sentit, investigadores del grup laseg (Social-Ecological Systems Research Group) de l'Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) ha analitzat dos casos d'estudi a escala local (Vall Fosca) i global (CONECT-e) que apliquen aquest CAeT i s'interrelacionen.En socioecosistemas agrarios, el Conocimiento Agroecológico Tradicional (CAeT) agrupa el saber sobre el conjunto de estrategias de agricultores/as y otros expertos/as para producir alimentos de manera ambiental y ecológicamente sostenible y gestionar de forma compartida los paisajes agrícolas con normas colectivas. Tomar partido en este paradigma es una acción política que pone el énfasis en mantener sistemas alimentarios adaptados a la cultura y no sometidos a las reglas del mercado. En este sentido, investigadoras del grupo laseg (Social-Ecological Systems Research Group) del Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) de la UAB ha analizado dos casos de estudio a escala local (Vall Fosca) y global (CONECT-e) que aplican este CAeT y se interrelacionan

Seed exchange as an agrobiodiversity conservation mechanism : a case study in Vall Fosca, Catalan Pyrenees, Iberian Peninsula

Interest in landraces conservation has grown in the last decades with research on the topic focusing on in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity in the tropics. Researchers agree that home gardens play a key role in the maintenance of in situ agrobiodiversity, but few studies have analyzed how farmers actually maintain agrobiodiversity in home gardens and what mechanisms they use to avoid genetic erosion. We evaluate the functioning of a network of seed exchange and explore its contribution to agrobiodiversity conservation. We focus on the exchange of seeds and seedlings among 55 home garden keepers who grow a total of 62 home gardens in Vall Fosca (Catalan Pyrenees). Fieldwork included visits to gardens and surveys to register the frequency and management of local landraces. We also asked about the farmers' network of seed exchange. We identified 20 local landraces belonging to 17 species. People who were mentioned more often in the network of seed exchange (highest indegree) and who had a higher level of intermediation among other people in their personal network (highest egobetweenness) conserved more local landraces and had more local landrace knowledge than people who were less central in the network. Our findings suggest that local landrace conservation is strongly associated with individual position in the network of seed exchange

Trabajar el Conocimiento Ecológico Tradicional en las escuelas dentro del planteamiento de la Agroecología Escolar

El Conocimiento Ecológico Tradicional (CET) es uno de los pilares de la diversidad biocultural y también una de las tres epistemologías de la agroecología (y de la agroecología escolar). Con el fin de tratar el CET en los huertos escolares del municipio de Sant Cugat, se ha planteado un proyecto educativo basado en la metodología del Aprendizaje Servicio (ApS). Para desarrollar la propuesta se ha planteado una investigación con el objetivo de identificar el CET que poseen un grupo de personas mayores de una residencia del municipio a través de entrevistas semi-estructuradas. Los resultados muestran que el CET de las entrevistadas contiene elementos que permiten el desarrollo de propuestas educativas con los residentes. Paralelamente se ha implementado un espacio de plantas medicinales en un huerto educativo para que sirva de prueba-piloto