| What brought you to Mexico?
In the early 1960s, I was offered a unique opportunity to work
in Michoacán on problems of regional development. I published
a book on that experience that became a text book in the field,
and the rest is history.
And what made you stay?
The extraordinary hospitality of the people I worked and lived
with. This gave me a fabulous opportunity to work on problems
that might make a difference in the quality of people's lives.
I should also mention the great food, which is always a reflection
of an alluring culture.
The field of environmental economics is rather new and often
seems rather cold. How is this field developing in Mexico?
Most of the professional work is in the narrowest accounting
areas. Experts are concerned with making markets work better.
There is a great deal of effort in exploring some alternative
tax systems to make producers and people behave "more responsibly"
but little effort in thinking about the structural problems that
are polarizing society and causing decay.
These problems have limited our ability to provide positive
opportunities for people to actively become involved in creating
attractive alternatives for their communities. Our experience
demonstrates that many such options would contribute towards significant
environmental improvements
You divide your time between Mexico City and the rural countryside.
Has living in Michoacán redirected your academic work?
Having "landed" in Michoacán and established our family home
there, it is clear that the biodiversity and ethnic diversity
go hand in hand with other remarkable qualities that the region
and its people share. Living in Michoacán impressed upon me the
opportunities that this wealth offers to construct viable sustainable
alternatives that would improve the quality of life for all of
us.
In Michoacán, we discovered that Hass Avocados can reduce LDL
cholesterol in people. The results were amazing And are being
applied clinically. With funds from CONACYT (the National Council
for Science and Technology) and direct community participation
we have organized a project to fatten pigs with surplus avocados
so that the indigenous population can produce "pork lite" in their
own back yards. The product will be exported at premium prices.
This, in turn, contributes to the communities and improves socio-economic
conditions and environmental management in the region.
What are your current projects or interests?
I am interested in developing alternative strategies that permit
people who are left out of the present process of globalization
to create viable productive opportunities for themselves while
strengthening local social structures and mechanisms for the sustainable
management of the environment.
For example, in Huatulco, Oaxaca, we are working with indigenous
highland communities to rebuild a watershed. By creating new opportunities
that involve reforestation and the implantation of a forest products
industry as well as locally controlled ecotourism, and other activities
that create jobs and contribute to better landscape management.
This project is essential because the coastal aquifer is being
exhausted And without this work, the hotels would require much
more costly solutions. Thus, a project that involves indigenous
participation in regional resource management will contribute
to reinforcing a sector of Mexico's global economy.
What is your new book about?
It is a bilingual edition titled "Wealth, Poverty and Sustainable
Development" published this fall by Editorial Jus and is available
in many book stores and at some Sanborns outlets.
The book follows an analysis of the way in which the global
economy closes off opportunities for a large part of humanity.
The book offers a strategy for an alternative strategy for these
groups -- at least 35 percent of the population in Mexico!
We look at three fundamental principles: autonomy, self-sufficiency
and productive diversification. Associated principles include
broad based participation and local self-management. It's exciting
to see the reactions of people who are now contacting me to improve
their projects in line with the guidelines offered in the book!
How do you collaborate with other scholars?
As an academic, my publications, teaching and lecturing are
a platform for sharing ideas and building mechanisms for extending
this work by joining with others in finding new approaches to
design and promote sustainable approaches.
I also coordinate ELAN -- the Environment Latin America Network
-- an international internet discussion group on the environment
in Latin America that now incorporates more than 1,400 people
in forty countries. This is a significant vehicle for interchange
and joint projects.
What was the impetus for the creation of this internet forum?
ELAN was an outgrowth of informal communication among people
and a formal organization within the Latin American Studies Association.
The group "Communications for A Sustainable Future" at the University
of Colorado provided the advice and the internet service. This
network is truly a felicitous gathering of VERY generous people
Can you tell me about the beginning of the Center for Ecology
and Development (CECODES) and your role as a founding member?
CECODES reflected a genuine concern of its original director,
Ivan Restrepo, and contacts with Ignacy Sachs (France) and the
foresight of the director of CONACYT, Gerardo Bueno. Ivan invited
me to be part of the founding group along with a very committed
and expert group of social and natural scientists in mexico. The
center was closed in 1992 as an official organization, but was
soon after reorganized as a non-profit group and it continues
today.
What are your thoughts about the Environment Secretariat
(SEMARNAP)'s work with ejitarios in the conservation of protected
areas?
Unfortunately, the current structure of the Secretaria limits
its ability to facilitate their direct participation in a productive
and sustainable management of these areas, or even of their own
communities.
Unless the new management programs permit informed community
initiatives to stimulate new activities and gainful employment,
many of these areas will succumb to the same stresses that currently
afflicts the area of the Monarch Butterfly, about which we wrote
a book - Monarcas y Campesinos - three years ago.
It is heartening that there is growing sensitivity to these
problems, but important institutional changes are need to overcome
the present difficulties.
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