Guatemala

Anything but a story foretold: multiple politics of resistance to the agrarian extractivist project in Guatemala

Background

Open access copy available

Vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate change in Central America and Mexico: current knowledge and research gaps

Background

This article recognizes that smallholder farmers are both critical to the global agricultural sector yet are one of the most vulnerable populations to climate change. Specifically, farmers in Central America and Mexico are experiences particularly high threats, thus the authors focus on this subgroup.

Open access copy available

Arboles Utiles de la Region Tropical de America del Norte (Useful Trees of the Tropical Region of North America)

English

background

This article describes 20 species of tropical trees that grow natively or have been introduced to tropical North America.

research goals & methods

This publication aims to provide essential information on silvis and silviculture of select forest tree species for their adequate establishment, culture and management.

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Actitudes de los productores ganaderos de El Petén, Guatemala, respecto a la implementación de sistemas silvopastoriles (Cattle farmers’ attitudes toward the implementation of silvopastoral systems in El Petén, Guatemala)

 

Español

antecedentes

Hay evidencia que sugiere que los sistemas silvopastoriles son ecológicamente sustentables, económicamente rentables y contribuyen a la mitigación de riesgos a nivel finca. No obstante, productores ganaderos en Centroamérica han tardado en adoptar e implementar estos sistemas. Este estudio presenta la interrogativa y explora las razones por las cuales ganaderos no han adoptado sistemas silvopastoriles de manera más amplia.

Open access copy available

Mapping Priority Areas for Forest Landscape Restoration and Improvement of Rural Community Livelihoods in Guatemala's San Marcos Highlands

background

This study maps priority areas for forest landscape restoration in three watershades of south-western Guatemala. This rural region has received attention from local government and international socio-economic development projects.

Research Goals & Methods

This study used GIS and Multi-criteria decision analysis to generate maps. These tools enabled the integration of a wide variety of complex information to evaluate different contexts and dynamics of the landscape.

Open access copy available

Drug Policy as Conservation Policy: Narco-Deforestation

Background

Central America exploded into prominence as a drug trafficking corridor in the last decade. The authors document that an unprecedented flow of cocaine into Central America “coincided with a period of extensive forest loss”. The authors discuss the evidence that supports the idea that "trafficking of drugs (principally cocaine) has become a crucial—and overlooked—accelerant of forest loss” in Central America.

Open access copy available

Neotropical Secondary Forest Succession: Changes in Structural and Functional Characteristics

Background

This paper reiviews the main biotic and abiotic factors that influence patterns of secondary forest succession in the Neotropics after complete forest clearance due to human activities.

Research Goals & Methods

The authors look at patterns of species replacement and various processes that occur during succession and suggest that the sequence of processes may be predictable even if species composition is not.

Open access copy available

Moringa oleifera (Moringaceae): ethnobotanical studies in Guatemala

Background

This article reviews an ethnobotanical survey and a prelimary agronomic study in order to understand the popular uses and viability of Moringa oleifera, a widely-used and well-known plant in Guatemala. 

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Sistemas silvopastoriles como una herramienta para el mejoramiento de la productividad y restauración de la integridad ecológica de paisajes ganaderos

Español

Antecedentes

Open access copy available

Coffee Agroforestry Systems in Central America: II. Development of a Simple Process-Based Model and Preliminary Results

Background

Globally, coffee (Coffea arabica, L.) is an important cash crop. In past decades, there was  a growing trend  in Central America towards  high-input monocultures, but most recently, agroforestry is again becoming a common system. However, it is difficult to optimise the selection of shade tree species in an agroforestry system. This article provides information on a simple dynamic model for coffee-agroforestry systems in Central America.

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