Biofuels

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 67-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda Cristina Massieu Trigo ◽  
Blanca Olivia Acuña Rodarte

The production of biofuels in Mexico is a fledging project. Lack of planning, the obstacles presented by PEMEX, and the resistance of small farmers have limited their production. Even at this stage, however, some of its effects are increasingly clear: its socio-environmental violence affects the natural resources of peasants and indigenous communities. In addition, Mexico’s trade relationship with the United States, characterized by strong dependency, has affected its food sovereignty in that corn imports have become more expensive because of the increase in U.S. production of corn-derived ethanol. La producción de agrocombustibles en México es un proyecto incipiente. La falta de planeación, los obstáculos por parte de PEMEX, así como la resistencia por parte de los campesinos han limitado su producción. Sin embargo, aún en esta fase incipiente se per-ciben claramente algunos de sus efectos, los cuales consideramos como violencia socio-ambiental, ya que en principio atentan contra los recursos naturales de territorios campesinos e indígenas. Por otro lado, la relación comercial de México con Estados Unidos, caracterizada por una fuerte dependencia, ha incidido en la soberanía alimentaria del primero, ya que las importaciones de maíz se han encarecido debido al incremento de la producción de etanol a partir de este cereal en la nación vecina.

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (s1) ◽  
pp. 413-423
Author(s):  
Zuzanna Kruk-Buchowska

Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyze how Indigenous communities in the United States have been engaging in trans-Indigenous cooperation in their struggle for food sovereignty. I will look at inter-tribal conferences regarding food sovereignty and farming, and specifically at the discourse of the Indigenous Farming Conference held in Maplelag at the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. I will show how it: (1) creates a space for Indigenous knowledge production and validation, using Indigenous methods (e.g., storytelling), without the need to adhere to Western scientific paradigms; (2) recovers pre-colonial maps and routes distorted by the formation of nation states; and (3) fosters novel sites for trans-indigenous cooperation and approaches to law, helping create a common front in the fight with neoliberal agribusiness and government. In my analysis, I will use Chadwick Allen’s (2014) concept of ‘trans-indigenism’ to demonstrate how decolonizing strategies are used by the Native American food sovereignty movement to achieve their goals.


Author(s):  
Jesús Moreno Arriba

Resumen: Esta investigación intenta demostrar la necesidad de analizar y reivindicar la oportunidad que significa la articulación estratégica de saberes locales indígenas y conocimientos científicos-técnicos (expertos) que se está generando en la última década dentro de los procesos de gestión de recursos naturales, agrosilvopastoriles, pesqueros y ecoturísticos en la Sierra de Santa Marta en Veracruz (México), como una alternativa sustentable posible para intentar mitigar los procesos de emigración de población indígena campesina en el Istmo Veracruzano hacia el norte de México para emplearse como jornaleros agrícolas o trabajadores de maquiladoras o a Estados Unidos en busca de oportunidades para su subsistencia. Para ello, partiendo de una metodología cualitativa sustentada en los métodos de la etnografía, definitorios de la investigación en Antropología Social y Cultural, y la aplicación de técnicas de investigación como las entrevistas abiertas o no estructuradas a los distintos actores sociales sujetos de estudio, esta investigación ha identificado, analizado y etnografiado diversas experiencias de gestión intercultural de recursos naturales en diversas comunidades indígenas campesinas de la región de la Sierra de Santa Marta. De este modo, los primeros resultados de este trabajo de investigación arrojan que este emergente diálogo de saberes, que tiene lugar dentro de estas novedosas e innovadoras experiencias integrales y sustentables de manejo de recursos naturales en la Sierra de Santa Marta, contribuye a mejorar la existencia de las personas que se encuentran en situación de resto o redundancia respecto a las necesidades del sistema económico capitalista hegemónico, evitando, en alguna medida, tener que recurrir a la emigración hacia los estados del norte de México (Baja California, Chihuahua o Sinaloa) o a cruzar la frontera con los Estados Unidos con la grave y compleja problemática que ello conlleva para los migrantes tanto en los lugares de partida como de destino. Abstract: This research is to demonstrate the need to analyze and defend the opportunity that the strategic articulation of indigenous local knowledge and scientific-technical knowledge (experts) that is being generated in the last decade in management processes the natural resources, agroforestry, fisheries and ecotourism in the Sierra de Santa Marta in Veracruz ( Mexico ), as a potential sustainable alternative to try to mitigate the migration processes of indigenous peasant population in the Isthmus Veracruz to northern Mexico to work as agricultural day laborers or maquiladora workers or the United States in search of opportunity for survival. To do this, based on a qualitative methodology supported on the methods of the ethnography, defining research in Social and Cultural Anthropology, and the application of research techniques such as open or unstructured interviews to different social actors study subjects, this research been identified, analyzed and conducted an ethnography on various experiences the intercultural management of natural resources in different rural indigenous communities in the region of the Sierra de Santa Marta. Thus, the first results of this research result in that this emerging dialogue of knowledge, generated within these new and innovative experiences integrated and sustainable management of natural resources in the Sierra de Santa Marta, contribute to improving the lives of people who are in a position to rest or redundancy to needs of the hegemonic capitalist economic system, preventing, to some extent, have to resort to migration to the northern states of Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua and Sinaloa) or cross the border into the United States with severe and complex problems that entails for migrants in both the places of departure and destination.


2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah K.M. Rodriguez

Between 1820 and 1827 approximately 1,800 U.S. citizens immigrated to northern Mexico as part of that country’s empresario program, in which the federal government granted foreigners land if they promised to develop and secure the region. Historians have long argued that these settlers, traditionally seen as the vanguard of Manifest Destiny, were attracted to Mexico for its cheap land and rich natural resources. Such interpretations have lent a tone of inevitability to events like the Texas Revolution. This article argues that the early members of these groups were attracted to Mexico for chiefly political reasons. At a time when the United States appeared to be turning away from its commitment to a weak federal government, Mexico was establishing itself on a constitution that insured local sovereignty and autonomy. Thus, the Texas Revolution was far from the result of two irreconcilable peoples and cultures. Moreover, the role that these settlers played in the United States’ acquisition of not just Texas, but ultimately half of Mexico’s national territory, was more paradoxical than inevitable.


2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-191
Author(s):  
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja

Abstract:While Africans are generally satisfied that a person of African descent was reelected to the White House following a campaign in which vicious and racist attacks were made against him, the U.S. Africa policy under President Barack Obama will continue to be guided by the strategic interests of the United States, which are not necessarily compatible with the popular aspirations for democracy, peace, and prosperity in Africa. Obama’s policy in the Great Lakes region provides an excellent illustration of this point. Since Rwanda and Uganda are Washington’s allies in the “war against terror” in Darfur and Somalia, respectively, the Obama administration has done little to stop Kigali and Kampala from destabilizing the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and looting its natural resources, either directly or through proxies. Rwanda and Uganda have even been included in an international oversight mechanism that is supposed to guide governance and security sector reforms in the DRC, but whose real objective is to facilitate Western access to the enormous natural wealth of the Congo and the Great Lakes region.


Author(s):  
William R. Burch ◽  
Gary E. Machlis ◽  
Jo Ellen Force

This chapter demonstrates how the Human Ecosystem Model (HEM) offers a unity of understanding with shared concepts, a framework, and a model for resolving complex human ecosystem problems. With it, decision-makers from different organizations—public and private—may coordinate their work with that of local citizens. The emphasis is on the whole system, which combines issues such as trends in crime, housing, education, health, natural resources, and community stability into an integrated network. The chapter illustrates how the framework and model was applied in a major city in the United States: Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore story emphasizes that certain universal problems and solutions confront all human societies. The universality of problems and the search for integrated solutions required a framework like the HEM to identify, apply, and store learning.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
SeaPlan

As more ocean plans are developed and adopted around the world, the importance of accessible, up-to-date spatial data in the planning process has become increasingly apparent. Many ocean planning efforts in the United States and Canada rely on a companion data portal–a curated catalog of spatial datasets characterizing the ocean uses and natural resources considered as part of ocean planning and management decision-making.Data portals designed to meet ocean planning needs tend to share three basic characteris- tics. They are: ocean-focused, map-based, and publicly-accessible. This enables planners, managers, and stakeholders to access common sets of sector-speci c, place-based information that help to visualize spatial relationships (e.g., overlap) among various uses and the marine environment and analyze potential interactions (e.g., synergies or con icts) among those uses and natural resources. This data accessibility also enhances the transparency of the planning process, arguably an essential factor for its overall success.This paper explores key challenges, considerations, and best practices for developing and maintaining a data portal. By observing the relationship between data portals and key principles of ocean planning, we posit three overarching themes for data portal best practices: accommodation of diverse users, data vetting and review by stakeholders, and integration with the planning process. The discussion draws primarily from the use of the Northeast Ocean Data Portal to support development of the Northeast Ocean Management Plan, with additional examples from other portals in the U.S. and Canada.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Alvin L Young

In 1994, the United States Congress established 35 Colleges or Universities on Reservation Lands of the Native Americans throughout the Midwest and Western United States. These new institutions were provided annual funds from the United States Department of Agriculture for education, research and extension, components of the Land-Grant system. Today, issues related to risk assessment and risk management confront tribal decision-makers as they cope with risks, both real and perceived, that include the transportation of hazardous materials through the reservation, the clean-up of contaminated sites within the reservation, the environmental restoration of Federal facilities, the siting of waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, the development of tribal mineral and other natural resources, and the construction and operation of industrial and commercial facilities within the reservation. Tribal decision-makers lack Indian-specific epidemiologic, genetic, and cultural information that impact current risk assessment models needed to incorporate tribal cultural issues. There is a need to enhance the science skills of tribal college faculty in assisting tribal councils and tribal colleges in the long-term planning and stewardship of natural resources on their reservations.


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