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to consequences on environmental and social conditions. Likewise, research should also explore how the political and policy environment at local, national, regional and
global level can affect the attainment of food security in the region, an aspect that this study did not tackle into depth, but it will be worthwhile analyzing.
9.2. Possible policy pathways
This sub-section discusses some sustainable options that can guarantee the attainment of food security in the Amazon basin, without prejudicing the other
development goals,
such as
economic development
and environmental
sustainability. The options presented here are based on previous research in the region.
Land use change monitoring
In order to control deforestation rates in the Amazon, improved monitoring and evaluation systems to track forest loss are needed. Several initiatives to monitor
vegetation cover especially loss of forests and biodiversity in the Amazon have already been implemented at national level, in order to respond to high
deforestation rates. Such efforts represent a large potential for knowledge and information sharing for decision-makers and should be promoted in the entire
region, while better integrated, in order to ensure data are consistent.
Among governmental official and non-governmental initiatives to monitor vegetation cover via remote-sensing tools, we could identify: Terra-i the first
tracking system of land-use and land-cover change in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Amazon Geo-referenced socio-environmental Information Network
RAISG, MAPAZ developed by the Amazon Initiative, compiling different sources of land-use as well as the distribution of the main crops according to official sources
of each country and the PRODES initiative in Brazil which includes the DETER alert system that monitors deforestation monthly and the Terraclass project for
classifying the deforested areas in a land use map for the Brazilian Amazon. Such methods further help mapping and quantifying land-use changes, and for
visualizing and understanding how the agricultural frontier is spatially and temporarily evolving Arvor et al., 2011. Major field studies, such as the Anglo-
Brazilian Amazonian Climate Observation Study ABRACOS and the Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia LBA are also a way of addressing
deforestation and land use change processes in the Amazon.
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Carbon revenues
Smallholder payment schemes can induce smallholders to opt for managing land and forest resources in ways that will generate more ecosystem services in ex-forest
areas Börner et al., 2007. For example, Brazil has been using Proambiente to compensate smallholders who use agroforestry systems and keep carbon stocks in
their farms. However, as noted by Börner et al. 2007, Proambiente creates unwanted farm income-ecosystem service trade-offs because synthetic fertilizers
cannot be used to grow high profit perennial crops which need such inputs, instead of low-input annual crops that are less profitable to smallholders. They conclude
that any program that promotes ecosystem services should not reduce the ways farmers can provide them.
Payments for avoiding deforestation only for Brazil´s Amazon range from US 300 million to US 1 billion depending on how they are designed Börner and Wunder,
2008. It has been argued recently that the value of ecosystem services in Brazil´s Amazon may be bigger than a widely traded export commodity such as soybeans
Mann et al., 2012. However, as indicated by Hyman et al. 2008, Amazonian livelihoods depend on extraction of natural resources and agriculture, which shows
a low efficiency of the land use UNEP et al., 2009.
Carbon revenues alone will not give however enough incentives for the reforestation of Amazon rainforests Hofer, 2010. Environmental services payments may provide
further incentives for sustainable land-use systems and to stop moving further the forest frontier. In this regard, Stickler et al. 2009 suggest that the mechanism for
reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation REDD could slow clear- cutting of mature tropical forest, decrease the impact of selective logging, promote
forest regeneration and restoration, expand tree plantations and foster efforts to reduce forest fires. These authors conclude that by engaging a large pool of global
stakeholders who are willing to pay to maintain carbon in forests, REDD will provide a potential cascade of ecosystem services to local inhabitants who are not
capable of affording them. Likewise, as noted by Hofer 2010, “tradeoff will not just be pasture for forest, or beef for lumber, but instead for air, water, and soil; nothing
less than the foundations of human civilization and economic prosperity.”
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Small-scale managed forestry
Vosti et al. 2003 indicate that small-scale managed forestry adds value to forests held by smallholders, thereby slowing deforestation and boosting their incomes. By
using this sustainable system, smallholders extract using low-impact harvesting methods that are superior to mechanical methods up to 10 m
3
of timber from selected trees species per hectare per year, which is a rate and method judged by
local foresters to be sustainable over a 10-year forest production cycle. Small-scale managed forestry returns to land and labor appear to be far greater than those from
traditional forest extraction or traditional pasturecattle systems. Likewise, Brondizio and Siqueira 1997 point out that a review of the “extractivism stigma”
can help smallholders to build a new identity as forest farmers who intensify sustainably land-use.
Regulation of land tenure regimes
Past deforestation in the Amazon, as noted by Cattaneo 2002, was due to informal land tenure. Regulating tenure regimes may be one of the best options for reducing
it. Furthermore, intensifying sustainably smallholder agriculture in the Amazon will need land tenure security. Innovative policy will be therefore needed to ensure
smallholders invests in their lands and forests knowing that they will not be alienated from the profits to be made. Institutions’ weakness, the low land user
participation, poor governance and limited communication and information can however make policy changes ineffective, thereby slowing down the adoption by
smallholders of sustainable land-use systems.
Agro-ecosystem-livelihood approach to manage the Amazon forests.
Linking knowledge on natural resource use, land-use change, and human health will provide insights into the determinants of food security and nutrition, and into
how these are likely to contribute to human health Murray and Sánchez-Choy 2001. Likewise, knowledge about how inhabitants relate to their ecosystem allows
understanding the livelihood strategies they take up in order to adapt to any changes in their environments. These findings will guide community action plans
and could shape policy to sustainably ensure food security. For example, Roche et al. 2011 advocate that child health could be enhanced in Peru’s Amazon by
traditional foods. Hence, policy should protect access and availability of healthy,
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culturally appropriate animal and plant foods. Promoting traditional foods especially breast milk and animal source foods should be a must at a time that
market foods and commercial milks having few nutritional advantages are becoming available for local communities.
Siqueira et al. 2000 analyzed the relationships between land tenure, access to resources and food security in an Amazon estuary. They found that food availability
was not a direct outcome of land tenure security, nor it was positively affected by technology innovation. Their research noted that although sharecroppers do not
have land security, their access to markets guarantee food security in the short term, but it will be likely in jeopardy in the long term because lacking autonomy for
diversifying their farming. In this regard, land tenure security could provide them with autonomy for decision-making and portfolio diversification, which will lead to
guarantee the needed food intake in the long term. Likewise, Vadez et al. 2004 noted that although the linking to markets may lead to specialization and
intensification of selected cash crops, it does not erase completely agro-biodiversity in smallholders´ farms in Bolivia´s Amazon. These authors further hypothesized
that in spite of market expansion, smallholders retain agro-biodiversity because they know that markets do not provide means for protecting their food security at
time of shocks. Siqueira et al. 2000 also indicated that land security should not be seen as a warranty for intensifying sustainably agriculture.
Sustainable agricultural intensification
Cialdella et al. 2012 suggest the use of ecological intensification for conciliating food supply and forest preservation in the Amazon. Reduced deforestation and
increased agricultural production may happen simultaneously when enough land is available and policies promote the efficient use of already-cleared lands i.e.,
sustainable intensification while restricting deforestation Macedo et al., 2012. There has been an annual increase of 3.3 in total agricultural output in the last
two decades whereas only 0.3 on new land for agriculture was accounted by deforestation, which suggests a minor role of forest conversion for this human
activity Angelsen, 2010. Some authors also advocate for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in
tropical forests DeFries and Rozensweig, 2010; West et al. 2010, because this increase of yields on existing croplands rather than clearing new land will help
meeting both food security and climate mitigation. Likewise, enhanced pasture
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management could increase cattle density, thereby reducing the need for large areas for cattle ranching.
As mentioned in the previous sections, the discussion about the impacts of agricultural intensification is not straightforward and it also contains the view of
those who are skeptical about the direct relationship between intensification and social, economic and environmental sustainable development. For instance,
Angelsen and Kaimowitz 2001 pointed out that intensification makes cattle ranching more profitable, and therefore provides incentives for expanding pastures
into forests. Hence, intensification of agriculture can effectively spar forests but when coupled with incentives for practicing it into already cleared lands.
Agroforestry systems and silvo-pastoral systems
Lavalle et al. 2012 noted that agroforestry systems have higher eco-efficiency and productivity as well as greater biodiversity and offer more environmental services
than extensive livestock systems. They advocate for the restoration of deforested Amazon landscapes by developing systems that sustain livelihoods and natural
ecosystems, which will prevent further degradation of both biodiversity and environmental services. Agroforestry, conservation agriculture and recuperation of
pastures lands have been therefore spreading with the aim of re-establishing or maintaining soil fertility Barbosa et al. 2008. Some of these practices are
impacting favorably on food security, community empowerment, comfort and safety at work, involving youngsters in farming, and reorganizing rural landscapes.
Mateo and Ortiz 2012 suggest the use of agro-silvo-pastoral systems ASP because they are known to optimize resource use and protect the natural resource
base. These systems, which include crops, animals, and trees in various time and space combinations, diversify incomes and the time and spatial distribution of labor
throughout the year, which lessen risks, too. ASP systems can also be designed for optimizing agro-biodiversity and attaining production benefits without adding
pressure by converting natural habitats to farmlands. This knowledge-intensive innovation for managing agro-ecosystems sustainably will require more interactions
between Amazon farmers, extensionists and researchers Börner and Wunder, 2012.
Research has further shown that promoting agriculture in forest-rich areas e.g. by better technology, roads or tenure can be a risky strategy for forest conservation
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Angelsen, 2010. Instead, targeting low-forested areas, crops and production systems that are unsuitable at the agricultural frontier are likely to reduce pressure
on forests. Policy options for both types of strategies are complementary and will further increase the effectiveness of forest conservation initiatives.
Enabling environment to ensure food sustainably in the Amazon
Policy options will need to give priority to climate change adaptation and mitigation, ensuring sustainable smallholder agriculture while benefiting both
livelihoods and the environment, and promote participatory market chains of Amazon products to address poverty. For instance, researchers have called for
policy action to mitigate against the impacts of beef and soybean on the environment, suggesting a halting of subsidies for beef production and consumption,
and a much more rigorous control over the expansion of soybean – a major “diet input” for cattle and swine feedlots – and extensive grazing. In the same line of
thoughts, there have also been discussions on the importance of protecting and restoring forests in grazing lands, and of allocating resources to seek less-damaging
land uses McAlpine et al. 2009. However, predicting any effects of policy changes on land-use patterns is rather difficult, given the biophysical, socioeconomic, and
policy heterogeneity of the Amazon region, but also the distinct resource use strategies adopted White et al., 2005.
Any policy for sustainable food security in the Amazon needs also to benefit native inhabitants and poor smallholders in such a way that their incomes will also rise
faster than overall average income. This approach should reduce both food insecurity and inequality, enabling them to participate in, as well as benefit from,
the growth process by enhancing their ability to contribute to production and removing the causes of social and political tensions, which encourages investment
and improves their wellbeing.
Policy changes should further assist generating and rising incomes through encouraging agro-biodiversity conservation through its use and keeping in mind
that there could be a low correlation between the practical and the cultural values of species; Reyes-García et al., 2006 and promoting participatory value chains. For
example smallholders in Peru’s Amazon balanced traditional crop production with the adoption of new market-oriented crops White et al., 2000. Amazon farmers can
grow some crops in relatively small areas with intensive management and aiming
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“niche” markets. Giving the native inhabitants and poor smallholders better access to both assets and markets will indeed allow family farming systems to become
highly productive. In this way, Amazon inhabitants can have access to enough, highly nutritious and safe food that will meet their needs for an active and healthy
life. Improvements in public education, health and sanitation will further enhance food security and safety.
10. LITERATURE CITED
