Letras Verdes. Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Socioambientales

Characterization of solid waste in the Los Roques Archipelago National Park, Venezuela

2024-07-25T08:16:21-05:00

Introduction: Solid waste can have significant environmental and public health impacts, especially in protected areas such as the Los Roques Archipelago National Park (LRANP), where tourism is intense. Objective: To characterize the solid waste generated by households, hostels, and businesses in LRANP. Methodology: A stratified random sampling was carried out during one week in November 2022. Waste was classified by type, volume, and loose density, following the method proposed by Cabañas-Pinedo, Díaz-Sánchez & Oliva (2019). Results: A total of 823.25 kg of solid waste was recorded, with organic matter as the dominant category (58%), followed by plastic, paper/cardboard, and glass. Hostels were the largest contributors (19.76 kg/day), followed by households (13.18 kg/day) and businesses (5.44 kg/day). Plastic had the highest volume, while glass had the highest loose density (0.93 kg/m³). Waste generation increased on days with higher tourist activity (Thursday to Saturday). Conclusions: Waste generation is strongly influenced by tourism. The results underscore the need for an integrated waste management strategy tailored to island conditions, with emphasis on prevention, recycling, and community education.

Agrobusiness issues and CRISPR crops: Where is the technological change headed?

2024-07-17T10:44:22-05:00

Introduction: Most of the strategies to face agribusiness problems come from biotechnological development. The persistence and aggravation of problems, the growing social rejection of transgenic crops and the constant need for innovation, lead to the need to look for alternative solutions. In this context, CRISPR technologies emerged and, with them, a new way of developing modified plants for cultivation, full of great promise and positive evaluations regarding their productive and economic potential. Objective: In this work, we will evaluate how CRISPR technologies respond to the agribusiness problem complex, taking into account the persistence, aggravation or eradication of recognized problems and the emergence of new problems. Methodology: The proposed methodology consists of the compilation of bibliographic sources through key words and a critical analysis of the recognized agribusiness problems in the context of the emergence of a significant technological change. Conclusions: Our analysis shows that CRISPR technologies replicate the model that today works with transgenics, without questioning it and increasing the possibilities of aggravating problems such as contamination with agrochemicals.

Territorial planning and climate change: design of public policies and their effectiveness in Ecuador

2024-09-18T16:47:26-05:00

Introduction: In Ecuador, territorial planning as a State policy in the current Constitution—constitutes a cross-cutting axis for land management and development planning. Given its direct impact on both urban and rural areas, this process requires a strategic approach that incorporates, among other aspects, the variable of climate change, whose effects significantly alter territorial dynamics. These impacts range from the loss of productive capacities and temperature variations to increased flooding and the emergence of new risk scenarios. Objective: This research analyses the articulation between territorial planning and climate change in Ecuador, with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of public policies that integrate this relationship into territorial planning instruments. Methodology: The study is based on a nested analysis of policy design, focused on the coherence and consistency between objectives and instruments, in order to assess their effectiveness. To this end, the current territorial planning instruments are reviewed, evaluating the extent to which the climate variable is incorporated, as well as the alignment between the stated goals and the tools used to achieve them. Conclusions: The incorporation of climate change into territorial planning was found to be limited. Additionally, the lack of technical calibration of the instruments, together with inconsistencies between objectives and the means employed, reveal a structural failure in public policies. This disconnect undermines the capacity of territorial planning to anticipate and mitigate the effects of climate change in the Ecuadorian territory.

Impact of a non-formal environmental education sequence on Secondary school students

2024-11-05T12:08:11-05:00

Introduction: Education is one of the key factors in the fight against the ecosocial crisis and the climate emergency. Objective: This paper evaluates the effect of a non-formal environmental education sequence on climate emergency. Methodology: The questions of the CAFTAN questionnaire were compared using pre-test and post-test to secondary school students in the province of Huesca (Aragon, Spain) after an EE sequence (n=56). The dimensions of Knowledge, Attitudes and emotions and Behaviours were also compared together with the determination of the degree of Environmental Awareness. The statistics used were the Mann-Whitney U for quantitative analysis and Chi-square or exact multinomial test for nominal variables. Conclusions: After the environmental education sequence, students understood the finiteness of natural resources (p<0.05), recognised the concept of degrowth (p<0.05), rethought a future with fewer products and more quality of life (p<0.001), and feelings such as indignation and responsibility prevailed (p<0.01), significant differences between pre-test and post-test. Attitudes behaved inelastically, unlike knowledge.

Perception of impacts associated with Harmful Algal Bloom in Quellón, Chiloé: A multidimensional view

2024-07-11T16:17:24-05:00

Introduction: previous studies have identified multiple impacts associated with harmful algal bloom events in coastal territories, mainly related to the risks of intoxication and economic losses. Southern Chile is no exception; however, few studies have understood this phenomenon from the perspective of coastal communities. Objective: to explore and analyze how different stakeholders from Quellón, Chiloé, Chile, perceive and have responded to the red tide, a recurrent issue in an area highly dependent of marine activities. Methods: we designed a qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, which were applied to 36 people. Conclusions: among the main results, negative effects are recognized on people's health, the economic, social and cultural sphere of coastal communities, highlighting life experiences and knowledge associated with this phenomenon. Further than the risk of intoxication, the study allowed us to dig deeper into the health, economic and social impacts that occur in a highly isolated area. Also, the need to understand the negative consequences of the red tide as impacts chains is highlighted, proposing an integrated understanding of these events. Qualitative studies show the importance of considering the voices of local stakeholders regarding the understanding and preparation of future red tide events to build more resilient coastal communities.

Environmental education as a conservation strategy for the Orange-fronted Parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis) in the Central Pacific, Mexico

2024-10-25T14:18:00-05:00

Introduction: The implementation of environmental education as a conservation strategy for birds is a key element in the preservation of biodiversity. In Mexico, the Orange-fronted Parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis) is endangered due to habitat loss and poaching. Objective: The aim of the study was to raise environmental awareness among students (n = 52) from two primary schools through environmental education activities on the ecological importance of conserving the Orange-fronted Parakeet. Methodology: From September to November 2022, environmental education workshops were implemented for primary school students in two locations on the coastal plain of Oaxaca. The activities were divided into three stages: The three fundamental components of the programme are as follows: firstly, the dissemination of information; secondly, the provision of training; and thirdly, the promotion of awareness. Furthermore, a 5-item questionnaire was administered, and the responses of the students were compared prior to and following the environmental education workshops. Conclusions: It was demonstrated that the knowledge of the habitat, diet and reproduction of the Orange-fronted Parakeet among students was successfully improved. It has been demonstrated that dynamic activities, such as games, are more popular among students.

Green and Anti-Green Grabbing: De-patrimonialization Policies in two Patagonian National Parks in Argentina

2025-01-10T12:20:26-05:00

Introduction: A process of national patrimonialization involves a public policy that transforms an area into a protected zone. When these areas obstruct capital accumulation, processes of de-patrimonialization are generated that allow legal and environmental difficulties to be avoided so that other agents, normally tourist agents, can develop their own projects. These processes can be understood within the frameworks of green and anti-green grabbing. Objective: this article analyses two cases in Argentina that present analogous processes of deregulation and re-commercialization of territory: the Cerro Catedral ski resort in Nahuel Huapi National Park and the península de Magallanes loaned area in Los Glaciares National Park. Methodology: A critical theoretical framework and a qualitative methodology based on a literature review and archival work was applied. Conclusions: In both cases, the initially protected areas were de-patrimonialized through various forms of transfer of responsibilities and territorial management. Among the main conclusions, it is clear that nature conservation did not help to halt the advance of commercialization; on the contrary, it formed part of processes that in the long term benefit the increase in profits of the concessionary companies, that is to say, that guarantee the accumulation, commercialization, and privatization.

Seeds in the Amazon. Cultural knowledge and biocultural memory for their care and reproduction

2024-08-14T17:26:20-05:00

Introduction: In the crops (chagras) of Native peoples in the Amazon, seeds play a crucial role in maintaining agrobiodiversity and represent a valuable repository of knowledge that reveals essential aspects for the reproduction of sociocultural life, such as kinship relations, history, territory, and memory. With the urbanization of the Amazon, seed care, traditional knowledge systems, and chagra management face transformative factors that affect their richness and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge. Objective: This study presents an approach to understanding the cultural systems of knowledge and seed management, and their relationship with biocultural memory. Methodology: This qualitative research, based on the collaborative ethnographic method, was conducted with indigenous families who have migrated to the peri-urban area of Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia. The fieldwork, carried out from August to December 2023, included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and a review of documentary sources. Conclusions: It was found that seeds have a robust social dimension, the care of which is part of cultural knowledge, specialized between women-chagreras, who, through their roles, they form part of a body-territory that guarantees the maintenance and reproduction of indigenous life.

The protest for water on social media: digital ethnographic approach to the mobilization in Querétaro, Mexico

2025-02-24T21:05:12-05:00

Introduction: Residents of the semi-desert of Querétaro, Mexico, walked 140 kilometers over five days, from Maconí, in Cadereyta de Montes, to the state capital to denounce the state government's use and appropriation of the area's water supply to urban areas. Objective: This article shows how social media became spaces for public deliberation for the Water protest, a historic mobilization in the area. Methodology: In this context, digital ethnography was used to identify the call for the March, through social media, the progress and end of the protest in Plaza de Armas. Conclusions: Through observation, actors, discourses, social constructions of water, and repression are identified. It also shows that the March for Water was formed as a collective and community action that arose from the need to defend the state government from exploiting and using what is its own.