Evaluación de la sustentabilidad de sistemas agrícolas de fincas en misiones, argentina, mediante el uso de indicadores
22 Apr 2008-Vol. 1, Iss: 1, pp 19-28
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a set of indicators to evaluate the sustainability of traditional agroecosystems in Misiones, Argentina, based on five farms dedicated to self-production.
Abstract: The evaluation of agroecosystems sustainability requires to transform complex aspects in another more simple, objectives and generals that allow to detect tendencies at a system level, called indicators. The aim of this paper was to develop a set of indicators to evaluate the sustainability of traditional agroecosystems in Misiones, Argentina. Five farms, dedicates to self-production were analysed. A set of indicators was constructed to evaluate the fulfi lled of Economics, Ecological and Socio-cultural objectives. The indicators were standardized and weighted according to its importance. The use of indicators allowed to detect clear tendencies in general sustainability index and in the ecological, economical and sociocultural dimensions. The ecological sustainability of these agroecosystems was associated to economical and sociocultural aspects. The system were ecologically sound, based on low external inputs, compatible with farmer conscience and provide an adequate diet for the family. This system fulfi lled ecological and sociocultural objectives, but only partially the economical ones. Then, farmers have to produce tobacco crop that responds to a technological model based on high inputs use to obtain economical benefi ts. It is concluded that the development of indicators is adequate to detect critical point to sustainability, to understand its causes and to propose solutions on a long time.
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01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, a methodology consisting in a series of steps leading to obtain a set of indicators to assess the sustainability of agroecosystems is proposed, which is necessary to provide technicians, agricultures, and politicians, reliable and understandable information on the impacts and costs of technology adoption.
Abstract: Despite its acceptance, sustainability has not been made operational, due, among other reasons, the difficulty of translating philosophical and ideological aspects in the ability to make decisions. This paper proposes a methodology consisting in a series of steps leading to obtain a set of indicators to assess the sustainability of agroecosystems. The use of simple and practical indicators is necessary to provide technicians, agricultures, and politicians, reliable and understandable information on the impacts and costs of technology adoption. The scope and limitations of this proposal are discussed.
64 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a selection of indicators based on the theoretical concept of sustainability that request to integrate the three system's dimensions: economic, social, and environmental, which is applied to the viticulture sector in Mendoza.
Abstract: The concept of sustainability implies a long-term relationship between human been and nature. Sustainable production systems are those systems capable of remaining in the time since they promote the conservation of natural resources, social capital and generate enough economic rents to support themselves. Growing vine and wine activities in Mendoza (Argentina) provide numerous benefits to the agricultural sector which is responsible for the use and pollution of natural resources. There are several indicators that show information of the viticulture sector, but most of them focus on physical and economic aspects. This work consists in the selection of indicators based on the theoretical concept of sustainability that request to integrate the three system's dimensions: economic, social and environmental. This was applied to the viticulture sector in Mendoza, therefore indicators were designed which are able to characterize it following the concept of sustainability. The selected indicators resulted appropriate to describe the grade of sustainability in every dimension (social, economic and environmental) aspects and were easy to obtain and to understand.
17 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the initiatives of value enhancement and the promotion of local agri-food products in Argentina and Spain to address some of their limitations and contradictions, based on processes of participatory action research, data and knowledge were produced dialectically with the actors, linking the research process to rural development processes.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the initiatives of value enhancement and the promotion of local agri-food products in Argentina and Spain to address some of their limitations and contradictions.,Based on processes of participatory action research, data and knowledge were produced dialectically with the actors, linking the research process to rural development processes.,Value enhancement and promotion of local agri-food products is a complex system where values, preferences and availability of resources converge, allowing to consume products of higher quality, “heritage” products or products differentiated by the production mode. This consumption is not only aimed at tourists who are willing to pay something more for a “certified” local product, but also for the estrategic allies who appreciate the taste of the food of their territory: local consumers. These processes develop strategies such as the “fairs” of each product, or the classic “quality seals.” In the comparison between experiences of both countries, the controversies raise with the high prices of the products as a synonym of value enhancement instead of the right to quality food and the seeking of food sovereignty.,Problematizing the recovery and valorization of local products reveals the necessity, awareness and inclusion of consumers as actors in the innovation processes and not simply as buyers of luxury products. The originality is also based on specific intervention experiences with territorial actors (social, economic, scientific and political) that shape new forms of intervention, based on strategies that link patrimonialization, knowledge systems and territorial development.
15 citations
26 Dec 2015
TL;DR: In this paper, a pregunta about the riqueza de especies, tanto de lasestructuras vertical and horizontal of un Huerto Fruticola Tradicional (HFT) atipico in Coajomulco, as well as intercambios de materias primas entre las subunidades del huerto, were investigated.
Abstract: El norte del Estado de Morelos forma parte del Eje Volcanico Transversal de Mexico donde se localiza el Area Natural Protegida Corredor Biologico Chichinautzin cuya cubierta vegetal se encuentra en proceso defragmentacion por el crecimiento urbano. Los pueblos originarios que lo habitan conservan saberes sobre el manejo de los recursos naturales como base material de sus actividades productivas que aplican en mitigar la profunda escasez de agua que padecen. Particularmente en el pueblo de Coajomulco practican la agricultura de temporal y ganaderia extensiva pero sobresalen los huertos de traspatio como ejemplo de agroecosistemas con produccion sostenida. Con base en lo anterior, de planteo la pregunta ?son la riqueza de especies, tanto de lasestructuras vertical y horizontal de un Huerto Fruticola Tradicional (HFT) atipico en Coajomulco, indicadores de sostenibilidad? Con el supuesto que dichos atributos agroecologicos son resultado del manejo tradicional. Para contrastarlo se utilizaron tecnicas de ecologia de comunidades y etnobotanica con el proposito de describir el manejo de dichas variables y su referente con los costos de insumos y mano de obra. Los resultados en los valores de importancia (IVI) demuestran que el manejo de la riqueza de especies prioriza las plantas con valor de cambio con destino al mercado, sin embargo, conservan los vegetales con importancia cultural destinados al autoabasto que son toleradas ampliamente. El manejo define que en la estructura horizontal se traslapen las coberturas mientras que en la vertical se conformen los estratos. Finalmente otros indicadores de sostenibilidad entendida como la produccion de bienes durante todo el ano, son los intercambios de materias primas entre las subunidades del huerto porque optimizan el aprovechamiento del espacio, resuelven la no disponibilidad de agua y reducen los costos de produccion.
15 citations
03 Sep 2018
TL;DR: In this article, surveys were applied to 92 quinoa producers, standardizing the responses by transforming them to a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest sustainability value and 1 being the lowest.
Abstract: In recent years, high prices and increased demand from the domestic and international markets have led to an increase in the quinoa-growing area and the introduction of technologies with external inputs that increased yields and resulted in changes in the cropping system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the levels of economic, environmental and social sustainability of the quinoa production Systems. Surveys were applied to 92 quinoa producers, standardizing the responses by transforming them to a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest sustainability value and 1 being the lowest. Four production Systems were identified, with the Systems having sustainability being the organic, mixed and conventional ones, with a sustainability Index equal to or greater than the average value of the scale. The traditional production system did not reach the minimum threshold of 3 in the economic dimension, so it was categorized as non-sustainable by the multidimensional analysis. In order to determine internal consistency, the Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) factorial method was used, with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.814 and 0.797 that confer reliability to the analysis.
12 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this paper, a minimum necessary condition for sustainability is the maintenance of the total natural capital stock at or above the current level, to be relaxed only when solid evidence can be offered that it is safe to do so.
Abstract: A minimum necessary condition for sustainability is the maintenance of the total natural capital stock at or above the current level. While a lower stock of natural capital may be sustainable, society can allow no further decline in natural capital given the large uncertainty and the dire consequences of guessing wrong. This “constancy of total natural capital” rule can thus be seen as a prudent minimum condition for assuring sustainability, to be relaxed only when solid evidence can be offered that it is safe to do so.
We discuss methodological issues concerning the degree of substitutability of manufactured for natural capital, quantifying ecosystem services and natural capital, and the role of the discount rate in valuing natural capital. We differentiate the concepts of growth (material increase in size) and development (improvement in organization without size change). Given these definitions, growth cannot the sustainable indefinitely on a finite planet. Development may be sustainable, but even this aspect of change may have some limits. One problem is that current measures of economic well-being at the macro level (i.e., the Gross National Product) measure mainly growth, or at best conflate growth and development. This urgently requires revision.
Finally, we suggest some principles of sustainable development and describe why maintaining natural capital stocks is a prudent and achievable policy for insuring sustainable development. There is disagreement between technological optimists (who see technical progress as eliminating all resource constraints to growth and development) and technological skeptics (who do not see as much scope for this approach and fear irreversible use of resources and damage to natural capital). By maintaining natural capital stocks (preferably by using a natural capital depletion tax), we can satisfy both the skeptics (since resources will be conserved for future generations) and the optimists (since this will raise the price of natural capital depletion and more rapidly induce the technical change they predict).
1,510 citations
"Evaluación de la sustentabilidad de..." refers background in this paper
...Marco conceptual de la sustentabilidad Para la evaluación de la sustentabilidad se consideró que los sistemas debían mantener constante el capital natural, entendido como las reservas ambientales que proveen bienes y servicios en el futuro (Costanza & Daly 1992, Harte 1995)....
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...Una de las condiciones para considerar un sistema ecológicamente sustentable fue la conservación del capital natural, (Costanza & Daly 1992, Harte 1995)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the effect of between-and within-group diversity on ecosystem services in a co-evolved community and found that, under some conditions, the de-linking of the diversity-function relationship can result in impairment of other services.
654 citations
"Evaluación de la sustentabilidad de..." refers background in this paper
...La diversidad vegetal es la base de la diversidad heterotrófi ca (Swift et al. 2004)....
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...En este sentido, el mantenimiento de niveles mínimos de biodiversidad puede ser importante, entre otros aspectos, para la regulación de plagas que, de lo contrario, deberá ser lograda a través del uso de insumos (Swift et al. 2004)....
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TL;DR: This paper compares and analyses 12 indicator-based approaches to assessing environmental impact at the farm level, in order to propose a set of guidelines for the evaluation or development of such methods.
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TL;DR: In this paper, an integrated economic-environmental accounting framework was applied to three case study farms in Tuscany (Italy) covering different farming systems (FSs) and different spatial scales.
345 citations
"Evaluación de la sustentabilidad de..." refers background in this paper
...…al. 1998, Sepúlveda et al. 2002), como en el de fi nca (Gómez et al. 1996, Bockstaller et al. 1997, Lefroy et al. 2000, Tellarini & Caporali 2000, Pacini et al. 2003, Sarandón et al. 2003), en general, se coincide en que no existe un conjunto de indicadores universales que puedan ser utilizados…...
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...…incluso en el ámbito de fi nca, (Gómez et al. 1996, Bockstaller et al. 1997, Lefroy et al. 2000, Tellarini & Caporali 2000, Van der Werf & Petit, 2002, Pacini et al. 2003, Sarandón et al. 2003) no existe un conjunto de indicadores preestablecidos que permitan su utilización en forma universal....
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TL;DR: Key methodological issues in the selection, transformation and aggregation of economic, environmental and social indicators for sustainability analysis are examined.
329 citations