Political Ecology and Cultural Change: Impacts on Swidden-fallow Agroforestry Practices among the Mopan Maya in Southern Belize

Abstract

Little agroecological research examines indigenous agroforestry practices that appear to be unsustainable, and how such practices devolved from more environmentally sound land use strategies that have been documented by geographers and others. This paper discusses the political ecological factors that led the Mopan Maya to reject a diverse swidden-fallow management strategy for a system where an abandoned milpa provides few forest products. In doing so, this paper explains the process whereby cultural change, in this case rejection of certain agricultural traditions, leads to a less diverse agricultural landscape and ultimately a less diverse biological landscape.

Farm Households and Land Use in a Core Conservation Zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala

“…To the extent farmers are intensifying production, often through the adoption of the nitrogen-fixing legume, Mucuna pruriens or frijol abono, as opposed to more extensive land uses such as cattle ranching, farmers reduce pressures on forest resources (Shriar 2001;Carr 2004c). Authors have also examined whether Q'eqchí Maya exert a greater impact on forest conversion than do other ethnic groups (Atran et al 1999;Corzo-Márquez and Obando 2000;Carr 2004c; see also Steinberg 1998 for an example from western Belize). To protect the last vestiges of forest in the region, UNESCO and the Guatemalan government established the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) in 1989.…”

Barriers to the Adoption of Alley Cropping as a Climate-Smart Agriculture Practice: Lessons from Maize Cultivation among the Maya in Southern Belize

“…and (3) which activities affect adaptation and mitigation the most and do they coincide? Information to feed into this framework was located by a literature review e.g., [21,22,24,26,[28][29][30][31][32][33][50][51][52][53]. Information also included GIS layers (e.g., infrastructure, protected areas, settlements, hurricane tracks/damage, and land use) and population and agricultural statistics.…”

“…The Maya have a long history of being independent smallholders with extensive knowledge of local flora and fauna, hence hunting and gathering is widespread [21,22,28]. The extent of cultivated land, whether permanent or in cycles, has followed the trends in population growth, which has strained available land assets, causing declining fallow periods, declining crop production and seasonal out-migration [20,24,29].…”

“…However, the degree of change depends on the proximity to markets and roads [33]. The educational pattern in the villages has also changed dramatically, especially for women, since several development projects have focused on them, resulting in more empowered women postponing matrimony in favor of education, wage labor, or petty trade [29]. These changes have led to a turnover of the political, economic and religious hierarchy, and status is now associated with monetary wealth rather than age and experience.…”

Linking Mitigation and Adaptation in Carbon Forestry Projects: Evidence from Belize

“…Reservation land is only found in the Toledo District, where most Mayan population lives (SIB (Statistical Institute of Belize), 2011). Disputes over tenure are frequent and particularly acute in this district, where demarcating private land and reservations boundaries remains a contested process in many areas (Clark, 2000;Emch, 2003;Steinberg, 1998;Steinberg, 2002;Wilk, 1997).…”