U.S.-Mexico Dissertation Enhancement Research: Indigenous Natural Resource Management and Food Production in Southern Mexico

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Proposal # 0431230P.I. MartinThis Americas Program award will support dissertation research by Mr. Steward Diemont under the supervision of Dr. Jay Martin of Ohio State University, in collaboration with Dr. Samuel Levy-Tacher and scientists from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Mexico. The researchers aim to discover how land management methods used by the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas, Mexico result in sustainable production of food and raw materials as well as conservation of soil fertility without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. By identifying practices leading to these and other beneficial processes, organic methods will be found that reduce the fallow times and increase the production of tropical agricultural systems. While past research has qualitatively explored Lacandon agroforestry systems, the next phase of understanding these systems should focus on quantitative examinations of their ecological processes and management techniques. The first objective of the research will characterize and compare the plant community, soil ecology, and soil chemistry of the successional stages of the system for non-traditional and traditional Lacandon farmers. The second objective will link specific management practices and ecological processes to physical characteristics that result in sustainable agroforestry. To fulfill the objectives of this project, sampling will be conducted in six previously identified agroforestry systems in Lacanja, Chiapas, Mexico every three months between November 2004 and May 2005.