The Environmental Legacies of Colonialism in the Northern Neotropics: Introduction to the Special Issue

Wallman, Diane; Wells, E. Christian; Rivera-Collazo, Isabel

doi:10.1080/14614103.2017.1370857

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…While accurate, modern DEMs alone are not equitable to past topographic and bathymetric surfaces as they do not address the island's long history of human activity and high population density along the coast nor the tectonic and sedimentary processes that have influenced the island's coastlines. We acknowledge that better resolution will be achieved with sediment coring and assessment of the deep impacts of modern development and of large scale agriculture, particularly since the 17th Century (Rivera-Collazo et al, 2021;Wallman et al, 2018), which still remain to be conducted. To slightly mitigate the error of modern land use, we filtered out areas of modern human activity that were identified in the latest available National Land Cover Dataset for Puerto Rico (Homer et al, 2004(Homer et al, , 2007.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Holocene coastal ecosystem availability and site distribution patterns for Borikén, Puerto Rico

2022

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Coasts are dynamic environments prone to the physical and social impacts of climate change. Examining the archaeological and environmental records of coastal areas can deepen our understanding of how humans respond to changing environmental conditions. In this article we consider how sea-level rise impacted coastal environments through time, and how these changes could pose opportunities or challenges to local indigenous populations. We present new findings of coastal zone transformations and past settlement patterns for Borikén, the largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, during the Holocene. We use paleogeographic modeling to reconstruct ecosystem availability for six discernible coastlines at 1000-year resolutions that accounts for past relative sea-level (RSL) heights and paleotidal ranges. We then compared ecosystem availability trends with the spatiotemporal distributions of available archaeological data to demonstrate the localized impacts of climate-related RSL rise across the island’s coastal ecosystems and suggest a consideration of habitat availability in past decision-making strategies. We observe a strong presence of Archaic Period sites in the island’s southwest coast where high coastal ecosystem availability and stability were present during this period. We also observe a significant expansion of intertidal ecosystems beginning at 3 kya for the north-central, north-eastern, south-central, and south-eastern coastlines that correspond to the appearance of materials associated with Early and Late Ceramic Periods cultures in these areas. This comparison of differential coastal transformations and site distributions conveys a deeper understanding of factors involved in past decision-making strategies and contributes to the emerging picture of human adaptations amidst changing environmental conditions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Holocene coastal ecosystem availability and site distribution patterns for Borikén, Puerto Rico

2022

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“…Central America has historically suffered from poverty and inequity and the long-term consequences of colonialism, especially for Indigenous Populations (Wallman et al, 2018). The most vulnerable populations of the region, including Indigenous Peoples, are characterized, amongst others, by having a lack of access to basic services and infrastructure, accompanied by poor governance.…”

Section: Socioeconomic Determinants Of Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Central America urgently needs to reduce the growing adaptation gap to climate change

Ley,

Guillén Bolaños,

Castaneda

et al. 2023

Front. Clim.

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Central America is highly impacted by current extreme events associated with climate variability and the adverse effects of climate change, showing high vulnerability compounded by its historical context and socioeconomic structure. In light of the important findings published by the WGII of the IPCC AR6 in 2022 on the adverse effects of climate change on the Central American region, there is still a clear need to improve data availability and to increase the number of studies on projections of changes in the climate, risks, impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation from the region to inform decision-makers and practitioners. The region has seen an increase in the number of adaptation projects implemented; however, there is limited information about their success or failure, and there are few case studies and reviews of lessons learned, highlighting an important gap in the implementation of effective adaptation measures. This article presents a current review of the literature on climatology, hydrology, impacts and vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation responses, action plans, and potential losses and damages in the region. It also proposes actionable recommendations based on the main gaps found and presents a case study of the Central American Dry Corridor, one of the climate change and underdevelopment hotspots of the region. We finish with a discussion highlighting the importance of considering system transitions perspectives and the need to plan and implement more transformational adaptation approaches to reduce further losses and damages and to further address adaptation gaps in Central America.

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“…Our microbiomes are intimately linked at cellular scales to our physical and mental well-being and intrinsically linked to public health and social justice within a sociopolitical context ( 1 , 2 ). Settler colonialism and neocolonialism substantially and permanently alter how humans interact with each other and with the environment ( 3 – 7 ). This includes land use change and dispossession, disruption of local food systems, erasure of Indigenous knowledge, forced migration and labor, and displacement of people, plants, and animals.…”

Section: Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Reciprocal Inclusion of Microbiomes and Environmental Justice Contributes Solutions to Global Environmental Health Challenges

Choudoir

Eggleston

2022

mSystems

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The Environmental Legacies of Colonialism in the Northern Neotropics: Introduction to the Special Issue

Cited by 10 publications

References 13 publications

Modeling Holocene coastal ecosystem availability and site distribution patterns for Borikén, Puerto Rico

Modeling Holocene coastal ecosystem availability and site distribution patterns for Borikén, Puerto Rico

Central America urgently needs to reduce the growing adaptation gap to climate change

Reciprocal Inclusion of Microbiomes and Environmental Justice Contributes Solutions to Global Environmental Health Challenges

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