Local Livelihoods

Increasing local capacities in rural Panama

Background 

While Panama continues to have high levels of biodiversity, the country loss large swaths of forest between 1950 to 2000 primarily due to the expansion and intensification of cattle ranching. Drawing from their work with local ranchers, the authors review the emergence of cattle ranching in Panama along with potential solutions and unique approaches to halting these trends.

Open access copy available

The Humid Tropics Cattle Ranching Complex: Cases from Panama Reviewed

Background

Available with subscription or purchase

The logic of livestock and deforestation in Amazonia

Background

In the late 1970s through the early 1990s, a majority of Latin America's would be tranformed to pasture lands, causing a multitude of social, economic, and ecological issues from the local to international scale. This article aims to examine why this transformation has occurred. It specifically analyzes the logic and economics of pursuing livestock in Amazonia and the financial gains that can be made through the land and natural resources. The author reviews common explanations and then provides an integrated approach to slow and even halt this trend. 

Open access copy available

Livestock and Deforestation Central America in the 1980s and 1990s: A Policy Perspective

Background

Open access copy available

Linking forest conservation and food security through agroecology

Background

This chapter, found in Forest Landscape Restoration: Integrated Approaches to Support Effective Implementation, focuses on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in the tropics. Specifically, the authors examine agroecology as an integrated approach for both gaining food security and restoring agro-forest landscapes in post-conflict Colombia.

Available with subscription or purchase

Green pretexts: Ecotourism, neoliberal conservation and land grabbing in Tayrona National Natural Park, Colombia

Background

Available with subscription or purchase

Economic and conservation potential of bird-watching tourism in postconflict Colombia

Background

Open access copy available

Silvopastoral Systems and their Contribution to Improved Resource Use and Sustainable Development Goals: Evidence from Latin America

Background

Of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015, livestock can contribute to the majority of them. Specifically, silvopastoral systems, which integrate cattle intensification and natural processes, is often promoted to achieve the joint economic, social, and environmental focus of the SDGs. Using three established silvopastoral systems in Latin American (Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia) as case-studies, this paper applies an analytical framework in order to determine the systems productivity and the socio-economic benefits. 

Open access copy available

Partnering with cattle ranchers for forest landscape restoration

Background

In order to address land degradation due to agricultural expansion and intensification throughout Latin America, silvopastoral systems are being promoted as a forest landscape restoration (FLR) approach. Yet, the success of these strategies rely on ranchers voluntary participation and full adoption at a regional scale. The author recognizes a knowledge gap in regards to why ranchers are driven to adopt silvopastoral systems and thus seeks to understand this issue through the examination of a cast study in Colombia. 

Open access copy available

Native trees and shrubs for the productive rehabilitation of tropical cattle ranching lands

Background

Latin America, much like the rest of the rest of the world, has experienced significant deforestation rates. In this region, the primary driver has been large-scale land conversion to unsustainable uses, like industrial cattle ranching and agriculture. This article recognizes the deep-rootedness of cattle in Latin American economies and cultures, yet stresses the need to shift the paradigm by adopting intensive silvopastoral systems (ISS) that utilize native species. 

Available with subscription or purchase
Subscribe to Local Livelihoods