Publications
from FRIDA database
Subject
area:
- Inter-disciplinary
approaches for studying natural resources use and management, and
land use change
- Natural resources
management and development
- Special interest
on the Convention on Biological Diversity CBD
Background:
Biologist from Universidad de San Carlos, Biology school, Guatemala,
1991.
MSc, Rural Development and Natural Resources, El Colegio de la Frontera
Sur (ECOSUR), Mexico, 2001.
Geographical focus
Central America and Mexico
Doctoral Project
The working title of my doctoral project is: “Gardens in the forest: use and management of plant diversity in an agro-landscape of Mexico”
The interest on tropical forest has increased notably during the last decades probably due to two main reasons; on the one hand the rates of deforestation are alarmingly high in these forests and on the other, tropical forest are important for the livelihoods of a large number of people
It has been suggested that the loss of forest cover in Latin America is in part due to agro-deforestation in the coffee sector. In Mexico, coffee is produced under a wide range of cultivation technologies; one of them the so-called “rustic-system” is an agro-forestry system that maintains many of the environmental functions of forests. This type of agro-forest can also be conceptualized as a “forest-garden system”. Forest-garden systems in general and coffee forest-garden systems in particular were developed by local communities as part of their livelihood strategies and not necessarily to protect or conserve forest cover, even when this type of management favors conservation of biodiversity.
It has been hypothesized that one of the conditions leading to the abandonment of forest-garden systems is related to the decrease in the commercial value of the main product extracted from the forest-garden system, in this case, coffee. Furthermore, some authors have observed that as a result of the crisis in the coffee sector, some small coffee producers in Latin America chose to abandon their rustic coffee farms or convert them to subsistence crops or cattle pasture. This is however not the situation in a village known as Santa Elena, Mexico. It is thus possible to ask why -despite the falling prices of coffee- farmers have not converted their farms into something else. It has been hypothesized that the maintenance of forest garden systems require some level of tenure security and that diversified production systems are important to spread household risk so that with increased risk it is possible to expect an increase in the importance of forest garden systems.
In my doctoral project I seek to answer the following questions:
1. What are the driving forces behind the establishment and maintenance of the coffee-forest garden in Santa Elena?
2. What are the specific features of the production landscape in Santa Elena and how does land tenure and management of the different land-use types affect biodiversity?
3. What are the drivers and consequences of changes in land-use for this particular system?
Teaching
I do some teaching for the course “NATF320 - Ecology and Management of Natural Resources in the Tropics” for the Masters in Tropical Ecology at the University of Life Sciences.
In addition I have co-supervised 5 MSc theses (3 from UMB and 2 from CATIE, Costa Rica)
Selected
publications:
Aguilar-Støen, M. and Moe, S. in press Medicinal plant conservation and management: distribution of wild and cultivated species in eight countries. Biodiversity and Conservation xx:xx
Dhillion, S.S., Aguilar-Støen, M. and Camargo-Ricalde, S.L. 2004. Integrative ecological restoration and the involvement of local communities in the Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Valley, Mexico. Environmental Conservation 31(1):1-3.
Aguilar Støen, M. & Dhillion, S.S. 2003. Implementation of
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Mesoamerica: environmental
and developmental perspectives. - Environmental Conservation,
30: 131-138.
Støen, M.A. & Dhillion S.S. 2002. The Convention on Biodiversity
(CBD) in Mesoamerica: implementing activities related to Articles 6,
7 and 8. - Center for Development and Environment SUM, UiO, Working
Paper 2002.1.
Dhillion, S.S. & Støen M.A. 2002. The Convention on Biological
Diversity Triggers Biodiversity Research Programms? - Proceedings
from Symposium: Government Responses. Seventh International Congress
of Mycology (IMC7), Oslo, Norway. 12-16 August 2002.
Dhillion, S.S., Støen M.A. & Camargo-Ricalde S.L. 2003 Integrative
ecological restoration and local involvement in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán
Valley, Mexico. - Environmental Conservation.
Dhillion, S.S. & Støen M.A. 2003. Environmentally sound use
in bioprospecting – Towards a definition. - Proceedings from
Conference: Medicinal plants access, use and benefit sharing in light
of the CBD. Oslo, Norway.
Dhillion, S.S. & Støen M.A. 2002. The Convention on Biological Diversity Triggers Biodiversity Research Programms? - Proceedings from Symposium: Government Responses. Seventh International Congress of Mycology (IMC7), Oslo, Norway. 12-16 August 2002.
