The Perception of Stress by Campesinos: A Profile from the Ecuadorian Sierra

Soil Erosion and Social (Dis)Courses in Cochabamba, Bolivia: Perceiving the Nature of Environmental Degradation

“…Because Worster did not examine the perceptions of local inhabitants, his study does not elucidate how Great Plains farmers explained the onset of extreme drought. In the Ecuadorian Andes, soil erosion is viewed by peasants as the "will of God" (Staedel 1989). 15 The anthropologist-priest van den Berg, for instance, writes that, in the peasants' eyes, "The earth produces according to how one handles her.…”

Exploring changes in Ecuadorian land use for food production and their effects on natural resources

“…These areas are delineated in Figure 6. Although such scenarios might not be realistic from the point of view that people will not stop cultivating land in the short term because of land degradation (Bebbington, 1993;Stadel, 1989), it illustrates the implications continuous land degradation in certain areas can have on other parts of the country. For Ecuador, it has, for example, been reported that drought and land degradation problems, especially in the southern Andes but also elsewhere, have forced farmers to look for other opportunities.…”

Sustainable Livelihood Development in the Andes: Local Institutions and Regional Resource Use in Ecuador

“…Thus, for instance, a recent study in the central Ecuadorian Andes showed that peasant farmers were far more concerned about inadequate community infrastructure and services, the high cost of agricultural inputs, poor technical assistance and lack of access to highways and market centres than they were about slope erosion (Stadel, 1989). Also in the Ecuadorian Andes, and from the area of the case study that follows, work with migrants has illustrated their preference for livelihoods that would spare them the social costs of the I.…”