U.S.-Mexico Doctoral Dissertation Research: Chiles and Forest Conservation in the Southern Yucatan

Clark University, Worcester MA

Investigators

Abstract

9911911 Turner This U.S.-Mexico award will help to support doctoral dissertation work of Eric Keys in the southern Yucatan under the supervision of Prof. Billie Turner of Clark University. The research will study the expansion of commodity chile peppers production in the southern Yucatan peninsular region of Mexico and the idea that this activity increases small-holder welfare while reducing deforestation within a tropical forest and surrounding biosphere reserve. The study will focus on three elements: the environmental limits on chile peppers cultivation, the economic rewards of chile marketing, and how chile cultivation links to critical agents in development and conservation. The desire to preserve tropical environments and the realization that individuals depend on those environments for livelihood, leads to attempts to link conservation with development. Intensive agriculture is frequently proposed as a strategy that enables farmers to increase their economic welfare and, at the same time, limit the total amount of land cultivated and thus helps to save ecosystems high in biodiversity, carbon-storage potential, or archeological and historical remains. Using diverse methods such as ethnography, surveys, ecological research, and remote sensing, and in collaboration with researchers at the El Colegio de la Frontera Sur-ECOSUR, a Mexican research institute for southern border environmental research, this study will increase our understanding of conservation and development strategies. ***