Agroecology on the periphery: A case from the Maya-Achí territory, Guatemala

Einbinder, Nathan; Morales, Helda; Cacho, Mateo Mier Y Terán-Giménez; Aldasoro, Miriam; Ferguson, Bruce G.; Nigh, Ronald

doi:10.1080/21683565.2019.1585401

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

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“…The Association for the Promotion and Development of the Community (CEIBA) is the Guatemalan branch of that global environmental network. These organizations are significant in that they are articulating a vision of system change where agroecology acts as the intersection and path to food sovereignty and environmental/climate justice [32][33][34]. A way of achieving these kinds of changes is targeted work with key global governance instruments-and the Tenure Guidelines are among the most relevant.…”

Section: Trajectories and Actors Of Land Politics In Guatemalamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Tenure Guidelines in Policy and Practice: Democratizing Land Control in Guatemala

Tramel

2019

Land

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This paper explores the challenges for democratizing land and natural resource control in Guatemala through use of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests (Tenure Guidelines). This international human rights instrument comes at a critical moment, in which the current global land rush has shaped contemporary agrarian transformation with serious implications for the right to food and control of natural resources. The Tenure Guidelines provide us with a unique opportunity to put land and natural resource tenure squarely under the prescriptions of international human rights law, rather than allowing tenure to be subsumed by a narrow understanding of property rights based on civil and merchant law. In Guatemala, we are witnessing a political opening, where the government has incorporated the language of the Tenure Guidelines into its regulatory framework unlike any other country in Latin America. At the same time, the world watches on while a slow-motion coup engulfs the Central American country, reflecting a global trend of gutting democracies and coopting the language and legislation meant to protect them. Thus, the implementation of the Tenure Guidelines is strongly contested by state and corporate actors seeking to use the instrument in order to gain political legitimacy for the expansion of agribusiness like oil palm and sugarcane, and other forms of extractive industry. This paper’s findings indicate that when applied together with a rights-based approach, the Tenure Guidelines are a powerful social and political tool. Such is especially true of the most marginalized populations who require protection and respect for their existing tenure rights, promotion of reforms for better access to and control over land and resources, and restoration of tenure rights resulting from displacement or dispossession.

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Section: Trajectories and Actors Of Land Politics In Guatemalamentioning

confidence: 99%