Over the past decade, various strategies have emerged to address critical habitat losses through agricultural expansion. The promotion of shade-grown, premium-priced coffee has been highlighted as one alternative. Our research, based on interviews with farmers in Chiapas, disputes some of the assumptions made by shade coffee campaigners. Results revealed a predisposition to converting forest to shade coffee production due to the socioeconomic challenges farmers face and the potential for increasing incomes. To ensure that their well-being is improved at the same time as reducing environmental impacts, there is clearly a need to provide more detailed information on who is responsible for enforcing certification criteria and how this should take place.
Zuelania guidonia is a tree species of cultural importance in Totonac society. This tree is a central element of the Los Voladores (the "flying men") pre-Hispanic ritual ceremony. However, the populations of Z. guidonia have decreased due to anthropogenic activity. This study aimed to codesign an agroforestry model for the recovery of Z. guidonia populations by combining scientific and traditional agroforestry knowledge at the El Tajín archaeological site in Veracruz, Mexico. We assessed the abundance of Z. guidonia and analyzed plant species richness and diversity in forest fragments. Species were classified according to plant regeneration modes (light-demanding and shade-tolerant) and to the local uses of secondary forests and conserved forest fragments. In addition, we worked collaboratively in a project that consisted of workshops, focus groups, open interviews, drawings, and field walks with community members. We studied a small population of Z. guidonia and recorded 116 woody species. Our findings showed that conserved forests were more diverse than secondary forests. Seventy-four percent of the species are useful to people. The Totonac people chose traditional vanilla plantations as a guiding model to shape their agroforestry system for restoring native vegetation. The results of our collaborative work revealed the Totonac extensive Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the need for the Voladores' group to strengthen alliances with other government and nongovernment organizations. They designed a model of a diversified traditional agroforestry vanilla system enriched with multipurpose plants as the outset of local well-being and regional agrobiodiversity restoration. This study reveals a distinct heterogenous land management scheme that provides the necessary conditions for preserving plant diversity, which will be used by local people for different purposes. We argue for studies that build on the relationship between scientific knowledge and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in transformed landscapes as a step forward for the long-term conservation of biocultural diversity.
No abstract
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.