title: Food sovereignty: an alternative paradigm for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation in Latin America.
abstract: Strong feedback between global biodiversity loss and persistent, extreme rural poverty are major challenges in the face of concurrent food, energy, and environmental crises. This paper examines the role of industrial agricultural intensification and market integration as exogenous socio-ecological drivers of biodiversity loss and poverty traps in Latin America. We then analyze the potential of a food sovereignty framework, based on protecting the viability of a diverse agroecological matrix while supporting rural livelihoods and global food production. We review several successful examples of this approach, including ecological land reform in Brazil, agroforestry, milpa, and the uses of wild varieties in smallholder systems in Mexico and Central America. We highlight emergent research directions that will be necessary to assess the potential of the food sovereignty model to promote both biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, MN, 55404, USA ; School of the Environment and The Center for Social and Environmental Justice, Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, WA, 14204, USA.
authors.forename: M Jahi
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chappell
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Land and Food Systems and Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wittman
authors.affiliation: Environmental Studies Institute, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, 95050-4901, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bacon
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Agroecología, El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, Carretera Panamericana y Periférico Sur s/n, Chiapas, CP 29290, Mexico.
authors.forename: Bruce G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Agroecología, El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, Carretera Panamericana y Periférico Sur s/n, Chiapas, CP 29290, Mexico.
authors.forename: Luis García
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Barrios
authors.affiliation: Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, CP 62210, Mexico.
authors.forename: Raúl García
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Barrios
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 97207-0751, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jaffee
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, Nazaré Paulista, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jefferson
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA.
authors.forename: V Ernesto
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Méndez
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Agroecología, El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, Carretera Panamericana y Periférico Sur s/n, Chiapas, CP 29290, Mexico.
authors.forename: Helda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Agroecología, El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, Carretera Panamericana y Periférico Sur s/n, Chiapas, CP 29290, Mexico.
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Soto-Pinto
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vandermeer
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Ivette
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Perfecto