Corinne Valdivia

Adapting to climate change in Andean ecosystems: Landscapes, capitals, and perceptions shaping rural livelihood strategies and linking knowledge systems

In the Bolivian Altiplano, indigenous systems for dealing with weather and climate risk are failing or being lost as a result of migration, climate change, and market integration. Andean rural communities are particularly vulnerable to changing social and environmental conditions. Changing climate over the past forty years and current forecast models point to increasing temperatures and later onset of rains during the growing season. Current meteorological models are coarse grained and not well suited to the complex topology of the Andes—so local-scale information is required for decisions. This article outlines a process for developing new local knowledge that can be used to enhance adaptive processes. This is a three-step process that includes assessment of local knowledge, the development of future scenarios, and the use of participatory research methods to identify alternative adaptation strategies. Initial analyses based on the survey of 330 households in nine communities indicate that northern Alitplano communities are more vulnerable than central Altiplano ones. In both areas, losses from climate shocks are high, but the types of hazards vary by location. The use of local knowledge indicators of climate is declining, and downscaling of climate forecasts is unlikely to occur due to the lack of data points and the large number of microclimates. Participatory mapping and research, where knowledge is shared, are processes that enhance adaptive capacity and are critical to building resilience. This article outlines a strategy for linking science-based and indigenous methods to develop early warning systems that are an important part of coping strategies. This approach combines science and indigenous knowledge to enhance adaptive capacity.

Gender and resource management: Households and groups, strategies and transitions

Rural families must constantly negotiate their livelihoods by obtaining access to natural resources, labor, capital, knowledge, and markets. Successful negotiation leads to enhanced family well-being and sustainable use of natural resources. Unsuccessful negotiation threatens family survival, threatens sustainable use of natural resources, and reduces bio-diversity. These negotiation processes are mediated by gender relations. The ideas of negotiation and of survival strategies outlined here provide a framework within which the articles of this issue can be situated. The articles are the result of research on gender and natural resource management conducted in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and North America. Each experience illustrates the consequences for natural resources and family well being when they have voice and when they do not have voice in household decisions.

Gender, livestock assets, resource management, and food security: Lessons from the SR-CRSP

North Sumatra and West Java in Indonesia, the Andes of Bolivia and Peru, Western Province, the Coast and Machakos in Kenya, were Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program (SR-CRSP) sites in which the role of small ruminants was studied and where technological interventions were designed. In all cases the target groups were poor rural households that could maintain sheep, goats, or South American camelids. The objective was to increase the welfare of families through the use of small ruminant technologies. Access to and control of resources, and intrahousehold dynamics were analyzed to understand if, how, and when, technological interventions help achieve this objective. The way in which the studied villages integrate into the market, the specific role that livestock and other productive enterprises play in the household economy, the risks faced by families in rural areas condition the role of livestock and other resource management technologies. As an asset, small and large stock are gendered, but this is qualified by the alternatives that household members have. Small ruminants under the domain of women, either through production or marketing, are shown to contribute to in-kind consumption or, as liquid assets, to household welfare purchases, in the case of Andean agropastoral households and households in Kenya. Women are also managers of the grazing areas, which are often fallow fields. The research experiences show the relationship between gender, resource management, and the ability to build livestock assets and security, in different houehold production systems.

Factors affecting farm operators’ interest in incorporating riparian buffers and forest farming practices in northeast and southeast Missouri

Interest in the incorporation of riparian buffers and forest farming were modeled following agricultural conservation and agroforestry adoption studies. Attitudes, individual characteristics, economic diversity of landowners’ household portfolio, and physical and ecological conditions were explanatory variables in Logit regression models of interest. Habitus and field, the values and institutions of farm operators, were included in the framework. Knowledge of the practice, perceived problems with the environment and attitude/habitus variables had a positive effect on the probability of being interested in riparian buffers. Knowledge of the practice was the most important factor in explaining interest in the case of forest farming, followed by attitudes about trees and concern for future generations, both habitus variables. Field variables like CRP payments representing familiarity with government programs that support conservation, had no significant effect on interest in riparian buffers. Older farmers were less interested in both practices, consistent with other findings. Existing economic diversification of the household portfolio had no effect on the probability of being interested in either practice.

Agricultural Landscape Preferences: Implications for Agritourism Development

This study examines residents’ preferences for agricultural landscape features when engaging in agritourism activities by addressing two objectives: (1) to identify the features of agricultural landscapes that are more appealing to current and potential agritourists and (2) to compare those perceptions across respondents from different genders, agritourism experience, and agricultural attachment. Data were collected through an online survey conducted among three nonrandom panels of residents from Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Texas (250 per state). Results showed that respondents liked most landscape features commonly found in an agritourism farm, especially natural and cultural ones. Among these, the most preferred features they would like to see are wildlife, water resources, historic elements, and farm animals, suggesting that these can serve as farm pull attractions. Multivariate analyses of variance showed significant differences in landscape preferences across gender, levels of agritourism experience, and agricultural attachment, suggesting critical marketing and managing implications for farmers offering agritourism opportunities.

LOCAL FORECAST COMMUNICATION IN THE ALTIPLANO

Forecasts play an important role in planting decisions for Andean peasant producers. Predictions of the upcoming cropping season determine when, where, and what farmers will plant. This research looks at the sources of forecast information used by farmers in three indigenous communities in the Bolivian and Peruvian Altiplano by examining networks used to access weather forecasts. The Altiplano is impacted by the ENSO phenomenon and by frequent droughts and frosts so weather- and climate-related risks are the greatest threats to food security. While both Peru and Bolivia have forecasting systems that widely broadcast forecasts via mass media, farmers do not take them into account when they make production decisions. Instead, they rely on traditional forecasting techniques even though confidence in these indicators is declining. Even though traditional forecast indicators are understood by most producers, few make their own forecasts. Instead they depend upon a few local experts who appear to have little co...

Making Sense of Twenty-First-Century Climate Change in the Altiplano: Observed Trends and CMIP3 Projections

A synthesis is presented of the first phase in regionalizing climate projections for the Altiplano, an elevated central Andean plateau in Bolivia and Peru. A prerequisite to downscaling is analysis of the large-scale forcing provided by global, multimodel climate scenarios. Global climate models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) archive are employed to qualitatively evaluate the direction of change in twenty-first-century projections of the annual cycle, indexes of extremes, and soil moisture. Analysis suggests the observed warming in the region is likely to accelerate in the coming decades under the high emissions scenario. Precipitation projections exhibit larger uncertainty but suggest an evolution toward a shorter, more intense wet season with weakened spring (September–November) precipitation and strengthened summer rainfall (January–March). These results are consistent with projections for the large-scale South American Monsoon, and station observations indicate trends similar to the projections. Extremes analysis suggests that precipitation may increasingly be experienced as intense storms, with more consecutive dry days. These results are consistent with soil moisture projections, which indicate drier conditions during the rainy season, despite the projected increase in precipitation. Our results suggest climatic changes in the Altiplano might have serious consequences for water management and indigenous agriculture. However, these climate model projections must be taken with caution, due to the relatively coarse grid scales employed and the model warm and wet biases. The results presented here will require further testing with improved, higher resolution climate models.

Non-operator landowner interest in agroforestry practices in two Missouri watersheds

Land tenure has long been considered a critical factor in determining the adoption and long-term maintenance of agroforestry practices. Empirical evidence from non-US settings has consistently shown that secure land tenure is positively associated with agroforestry adoption. In the US, over 40% of private agricultural land is farmed by someone other than the owner. Given the importance of land tenure in agroforestry decisions in other countries and the magnitude of non-operator landownership in the US, there has been surprisingly little focus on land tenure in the temperate agroforestry literature. Using data from a 1999 survey in Missouri, this study explores factors associated with non-operator landowner interest in agroforestry. Results suggest that differences in farming orientation are linked to interest in agroforestry. Closer ties to farming, stronger financial motivations for landownership, and higher proportion of land planted to row crops were negatively related to interest in agroforestry among non-operator landowners. Environmental or recreational motivations for landownership and contacts with natural resource professionals were positively associated with interest in agroforestry. These results, consistent with earlier qualitative research suggesting that farm operators who have a strong “conventional farming identity” were less interested in agroforestry, point to a divide between landowners for whom environmental and recreational values play an important role in ownership motivation and those for whom financial considerations take precedence. The findings imply that agroforestry development programs in the US should take non-operator landowners and their farming and ownership orientations into account when designing research and outreach efforts.

Factors Affecting the Job Satisfaction of Latino/a Immigrants in the Midwest

This study examined the job satisfaction of 253 Latino/a newcomers in three rural communities in the Midwest. Specifically, the authors explored the effects of ethnic identity, Anglo acculturation, Latino/a acculturation, perceptions of the community (social relations, discrimination/racism, and language pressures), job tenure, work hours, and salary on participants’ job satisfaction. Results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that ethnic identity and Anglo acculturation had a positive effect, while perceptions of the community related to discrimination/racism had a negative effect on job satisfaction. Latino/a acculturation, perceived social relations in the community, perceived language pressures in the community, job tenure, hours worked, and wages were not significantly related to job satisfaction. The regression model accounted for 16% of the variance in job satisfaction. The implications of the findings for career counseling practice are discussed, and suggestions for future research on Latino/a immigrants’ career development are provided.

Recreational Multifunctionality and its implications for agroforestry diffusion

Recreational Multifunctionality refers to those farms providing at least one recreational service to members of the farm household or the public. Based on the types of recreational services offered, two types of landowners have been identified: Productivists and Ruralists. They differ on their extent of Recreational Multifunctionality, farm household attributes and farm representation. Both types of landowners also have different behavior and understanding of agroforestry. This study builds on the Recreational Multifunctionality construct to identify message content, channels and agencies that can better facilitate the diffusion of agroforestry. In 2006, 353 randomly selected landowners from Missouri were interviewed and clustered in two groups: Productivists (38.0%) and Ruralists (62.0%). These groups were examined to identify differences regarding their perceptions of being a good farmer (i.e., message content); their preferred source of information (i.e., communication channel); and their preferred agencies for learning purposes (i.e., communication agencies). Study results show differences between Productivists and Ruralists in all three aspects of diffusion examined (i.e., message content, channels and agencies), suggesting that all landowners should not be approached in the same way when promoting agroforestry. Messages conveyed to Productivists should emphasize the economic benefits of agroforestry, while messages to Ruralists should emphasize the conservation benefits of agroforestry. Touring farms with active tree management is a good way to disseminate agroforestry practices among Productivists while state and federal extension agents appear to be more suitable to approach Ruralists. Both groups can effectively be reached using printed materials, especially through official conservation magazines.