The Avocado Connection to Ecosystem Degradation, Violence and Migration

该项目审查农业商品繁荣的社会和环境影响，特别是有利可图的农业出口如何影响森林生态系统的完整性和有组织犯罪集团在生产国的参与。一种作物的“繁荣”扩张可能导致生产地区的森林迅速砍伐。此外，随着犯罪集团涉足这一行业，农村工人和小土地所有者往往被剥夺土地，被迫移徙。暴力、森林砍伐和被迫移民都分别与有利可图的商品有关，但它们之间的相互关系很少被全面考察。建立在一个跨学科的研究小组，这项研究解决了三个问题：什么类型的原生植被损失时，一个利润丰厚的农产品的耕地面积扩大？一种商品的高利润率是否与卡特尔存在的增加有关，妇女和儿童是否受到不利影响并被迫移徙？该项目的结果对商业、人权和国家安全都有影响。此外，它还为博士后研究人员以及本科生和研究生提供培训，指导和专业发展。随着土地变化科学家收集证据并制定分析方法以了解全球市场与生境丧失之间的关系，必须了解市场如何产生额外的社会外部性，因为在缺乏有效机构的情况下，犯罪和暴力猖獗。本研究采用综合地理空间技术、调查和口述历史访谈的混合方法，对全球市场与生物多样性退化的关系以及因有组织犯罪暴力而被迫迁移的个人的经历进行了分层分析。该项目是与政策有关的研究，将为商品的可持续生产和消费、保护生态上日益减少的重要地区、保护人类健康，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的支持。影响审查标准。

This project examines the social and environmental impacts of an agricultural commodity boom, particularly how a profitable agricultural export can influence the integrity of forest ecosystems and the involvement of organized crime groups in producing countries. “Boom” expansion of one crop can cause rapid deforestation in a producing region. Moreover, as criminal groups become involved in the industry, rural workers and small landholders are often dispossessed of land and forced to migrate. Violence, deforestation, and forced migration have each been associated with profitable commodities separately, but the interrelationship between them has rarely been examined holistically. Building on an interdisciplinary research group, this study addresses three questions: what type of native vegetation is lost when the cultivated area of a lucrative agricultural commodity expands? Is the high profitability of a commodity linked with increased cartel presence, and are women and children disproportionally impacted and forced to migrate? The project’s results have implications for commerce, human rights, and national security. Furthermore, it provides training, mentorship, and professional development to postdoctoral researchers and to undergraduate and graduate students. As Land Change scientists collect evidence and develop analytical approaches for understanding the relationship between global markets and loss of habitats, it is essential to know how markets create additional social externalities, as crime and violence flourish in the absence of effective institutions. Using a mixed-methods approach that integrates geospatial techniques, surveys, and oral history interviews, this study provides a layered analysis of how global markets relate to biodiversity degradation and the experiences of individuals forced to migrate due to organized crime violence. This project represents policy-relevant research that will result in science-based recommendations for sustainable production and consumption of commodities, conservation of ecologically dwindling important areas, and protection of human well-being both within the growing regions and at the US border with refugees.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.