Ciencia para la sustentabilidad: investigación, educación y procesos participativos

Abstract

La ciencia para la sustentabilidad plantea incluir en investigaciones y acciones los conocimientos y técnicas desarrollados por diversos sectores de la sociedad. Esta propuesta reconoce que la complejidad de los problemas ambientales rebasa los enfoques y ritmos de la investigación científica predominante y brinda la posibilidad de acortar tiempos para la acción, aprovechando integralmente la experiencia humana. Presentamos un panorama de nuestro trabajo en: 1) investigación participativa, 2) procesos educativos para la participación y 3) procesos institucionales de comunicación y participación. Se abordan estudios socioecológicos participativos que involucran innovación tecnológica e intercambios de experiencias técnicas y organizativas para atender problemas ambientales en el

Agroforestry Systems of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley: Land Use for Biocultural Diversity Conservation

“…These data indicate that all communities studied, and most likely the majority of the rural communities in the region, maintain most of their territories as forests, and local inhabitants obtain diverse forest products from them. This includes more than 2,000 plant species used for timber and non-timber products at a regional level, as documented by Casas et al [21,45]. No significant increase in agricultural area was recorded for the studied period, probably because of in 1998 the region was decreed as a biosphere reserve and strict regulations started to be implemented to stop clearing the forests.…”

“…The Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley is one of the sites known to have the earliest evidence of agricultural practices in Mesoamerica [19]. All these facts make the region one of the richest and oldest biocultural areas of North America and the New World [45].…”

Ecological, Cultural, and Geographical Implications of Brahea dulcis (Kunth) Mart. Insights for Sustainable Management in Mexico

“…Non-modern practices performed on individuals, populations, and ecosystems directed toward the use, maintenance or increase in the availability of resources are forms of traditional management [1][2][3]. Such actions are performed at different spatial and temporal scales and operate at different levels of social organization [4]. These practices and strategies are constructed from perceptions and knowledge of nature, as well as complex socio-historical processes influenced by the human-nature relationships of cultures [5]-a knowledge that is gradually improving and constantly built from experimenting in specific places [6,7].…”

“…These practices and strategies are constructed from perceptions and knowledge of nature, as well as complex socio-historical processes influenced by the human-nature relationships of cultures [5]-a knowledge that is gradually improving and constantly built from experimenting in specific places [6,7]. Traditional management has the purpose of establishing appropriate conditions for obtaining natural resources or environmental benefits to satisfy human needs [1][2][3][4]. Five general types of management practices are commonly recognized, namely, gathering (which may include the selection of phenotypes, as well as the regulations or social organization required to carry this out), tolerance, promotion, protection, and cultivation [1,2].…”

“…Five general types of management practices are commonly recognized, namely, gathering (which may include the selection of phenotypes, as well as the regulations or social organization required to carry this out), tolerance, promotion, protection, and cultivation [1,2]. These five actions may be performed in situ, in natural areas where the species occur, or may be extracted from the original distribution sites and manipulated ex situ, in areas such as home gardens and other agroforestry systems [4]. Although such practices are commonly directed to specific plant resources, with time, the continual practice of these actions results in progressive modifications of the environment that improve or reduce resource availability.…”