657.4 Communitarian strategies of environmental control and adaptation: The experience of Mexican indigenous groups

Saturday, August 4, 2012: 11:45 AM
Faculty of Economics, TBA
Oral Presentation
Gustavo D'AVILA NETO , Design Engeneering, Papaloapan University, Oaxaca, Mexico
Nídia Perez LOBATO , Design Engeneering, Papaloapan University, Oaxaca, Mexico
Gabriel DE SENA JARDIM , Social Psychology, Doctorate Candidate in Psychosociology of Communities and Social Ecology at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Global warming and climate change have brought new challenges to the daily life of communities. In addition to the gender and racial discrimination - the main factors that drive poverty and inequality in Latin America, producing social disadvantage and economic policies for women, blacks and indigenous groups – the access to some natural resources are equally important in setting up a scenario increasingly hierarchical, where poverty, hunger and misery lead the vulnerability of life. This article aims to analyze some of the strategies of community control on the use of natural resources, climate adaptation and migration in situations of environmental risk. We present a case study of the alternative lifestyle of indigenous communities in Mexico. It is a participatory research project conducted by the University of Oaxaca in partnership with the Mexican Federal Government. Emphasis is on reducing consumption and recycling natural resources, the use of vernacular architecture as a coping strategy for climate and political commitments in face of alarming situations where migration becomes an imperative for survival. Finally, since pollution has no boundaries, we present a discussion on global environmental governance as a political project towards climate justice.