Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The objective of the analysis was to identify the level of compliance with the climate change policy of Mexican states through a review and analysis of the progress and lags in state policy. The results will be used to propose strategies to promote the implementation of national climate policy, and therefore, the reduction of climate change impacts. The methodological process involved reviewing state climate change policy instruments by 1) examining government websites, 2) submitting requests through the National Transparency Platform, and 3) using search engines on the Internet. Once the documents had been obtained, they were organized and assigned an arithmetical score according to the number of instruments. The sum equaled 100 % compliance and was divided into five rankings (very low, low, medium, high and very high). Most states have a low or very low level of compliance (63 %), eleven states have medium compliance and one has very high compliance. It was observed that although progress has been made in certain states, there is still a need to develop and further promote climate change policy at the state level. The main contribution of this analysis was the determination of the level of compliance, and its particularities, in each state.

The objective of the research from which this article is derived was to document the traditional knowledge of maguey and mezcal producers in the state of Guerrero, Mexico: their agricultural practices, the ecological practices involved in the latter, and traditions and customs and their alternatives they have implemented to recover traditional knowledge, to explore the possibilities of combining them with contributions from scientific research. The research was carried out in the Centro (five locations with two municipalities) and Norte (three locations, two municipalities) regions of the state of Guerrero, from January 2017 to March 2018. Semi structured interviews were administered to key informants (agave-mezcal farmers), and field walks and participant observation were conducted. Although maguey cultivation and mezcal production are essential to the economy of many rural families in these regions, these activities are under threat due to unfavorable environmental conditions and overexploitation of the once abundant wild agave plants. The respondents considered it crucial to implement practices to conserve agave plants, involving their families into this dynamic, and to preserve their knowledge and community values to maintain the age-old tradition of maguey-mezcal production. The scientific community could play a key role in this effort.

This research contributes to the discussion on the future of the Payment for Hydrological Ecosystem Services (Spanish acronym PSAH) federal program, and its possible transition towards Local Payment Mechanisms for Environmental Services through Matching Funds (Spanish acronym MLPSA-FC). An analysis of social perceptions was undertaken of stakeholders involved in its application process (providers, users and intermediaries), concerning the social, economic and environmental effects created in a forest community in Oaxaca, Mexico. Based on semi-structured interviews applied in 2016-2017, it was found that users show a preference for MLPSA-FC, whereas intermediaries and providers prefer PSAH. The transition apparently was not based on a voluntary decision, but rather on a context of high competition and the lack of a budget to support the federal PSAH program through the National Forestry Commission (Spanish acronym CONAFOR). It is therefore necessary to undertake assessments of the effects, using an integral approach, of PSA schemes in Mexico, as well as comparison studies of the effects created by federal programs and local mechanisms from inter- and trans-disciplinary perspectives.

In this article, we examine how cities can be better managed to ensure their resilience to cope with adverse events. We specifically analyze the network of relationships between organizations involved in the management of crises derived from volcanic phenomena (risk reduction, management and recovery). We study the case of Bariloche, Argentina, a city with high vulnerability to various events (natural, economic, health, etc.) and undertake an analysis of social networks. We found that in the volcanic emergency of 2011, due to the eruption of the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex, awareness, prevention and preparedness policies were ineffective. Coordination and communication problems existed between the official bodies, while coping strategies were more of a reflection of individual capacity for adaptation, than preexisting planning. More recently, the local government worked on the coordination of social and institutional actors to deal with natural phenomena and increase urban resilience, within a logic of polycentric governance and interconnected action between public, private and civil society organizations.

Lack of access to safe water sources is a problem in the Mexican Caribbean, particularly in small communities with irregular services. Accordingly, rainwater harvesting (Spanish acronym CALL) could represent an alternative to satisfy basic needs. However, implementation schemes are often vertical and hierarchical. In this study, we provide knowledge on the perceptions and ways of using rainwater, to contribute to decision-making. The information was obtained through ethnographic observations and surveys of 60 household representatives from a sample of 253 houses in the community of Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo. Ninety-five per cent of respondents were foreign, so their perceptions and ways of handling water were heterogeneous, ranging from simple systems (buckets and drums) to complex systems integrated into homes. In general, CALL is positively perceived by the population studied, which would allow its implementation in more structured projects to improve techniques of rainwater catchment in the locality.

Contemporary ecological policy has shown a growing interest in the relation between local knowledge and cultural transmission in various crisis scenarios. The aim of this paper is to show that local knowledge in the face of disasters includes strategies whose social reproduction is not a result of the influence of tradition, or adaptive schemas, but is transmitted in terms of cultural and ecological legacy. On the one hand we will critique the concept of resilience and on the other, we will point out that typological perspectives on disasters at the level of communities fail to do justice to the capacity of the latter to deal with catastrophic events. Drawing on the anthropological notion of culture as practice, we will establish an approach to local knowledge through the coordination of the perception of the environment and risk perception. We will argue that the genesis of this local knowledge is based on the notion of ecological and cultural legacy as a mechanism of intergenerational transfer. This characterization of teaching-learning dynamics not only has implications for understanding conservationist perspectives but also for understanding how processes of innovation arise in terms of cultural change.

This study is set in Mexico City. The research problem of this article begins with the premise that in the urban periphery, conservation policies have a territorial expression interpreted in different ways by some of the actors involved in its management. A series of interviews were conducted with two focus groups: landowners and public officials. Among the key results of this study, in the group of ejidatarios and comuneros, the main problem is the lack of consultation with the owners of the land in the territory called conservation areas. Whereas for public officials the main problem is the absence of policies able to compete with speculation and land selling. Whereas landowners see the problem in terms of their relationship with the authorities and from a territorial logic focused on the local environment, for most officials the difficulties are institutional (lack of policies, overwhelmed juridical instruments, lack of coordination) and are expressed on a scale that tends to omit the inhabitants of indigenous villages.

The objective of the study is to review the current state of legality in social participation and forest ownership recognized in the National Strategy for the Reduction of Emissions due to Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Spanish acronym ENAREDD+), in order to identify the main legal and political challenges that could constitute areas of opportunity in the success of REDD+ principles in Mexico. A review of the literature, ENAREDD+, and the legal framework associated with social participation and forest ownership was conducted. The main findings show that there is a different recognition of stakeholders in social participation and the scope of forest ownership in ENAREDD+ as well as the current legal framework, which could question forest legality in Mexico.

This paper shows how the construction of the Malpaso dam in Chiapas produced territorial dynamics unforeseen by the institution that sponsored its construction. Based on interviews with the inhabitants of Raudales Malpaso, and the consultation of archives and reports mainly from the Grijalva River Commission, we observed that each of the stakeholders involved had very particular territorial appropriation dynamics. The article analyzes the way the vision of each group of actors of the territory serves to intervene and appropriate it. The socio-cultural approach to the construction of territory is used to analyze the voluntary arrival of people associated with hydraulic works. Their territorial dynamics are expressed in space and time particularly through labor activities and the creation of a permanent settlement. The paper demonstrates how state actions can create multiple dynamics for the appropriation of territory, a different phenomenon from the displacement traditionally studied in relation to dams.

This paper analyzes social perception of the installation of the Chicxulub wind farm in the municipalities of Ixil and Motul, in the state of Yucatán. A mixed research method was used. Quantitative data was obtained through questionnaires, and qualitative information through unstructured interviews. The results show negative responses by the population to the wind farm project, due to its distrust of the state and municipal authorities, and environmental policy regulating authorities, as well as the company that will develop the project. The article concludes that there is low acceptance of this project due to the perception of problems of inequality, discrimination, corruption and power relations in the implementation of Mexican energy policy, which has led the population to consider that transnational corporations exploit the vulnerability of ejido owners.