Abstract
This article proposes a conceptual and methodological framework for analyzing agroecosystem resilience, in which aspects such as agrarian structure and peasant community agency are included as determining factors. The methodology is applied to a comparison of two peasant communities in Latin America (Brazil and Colombia), emphasizing the capacity to transform unsustainable power structures in place of adapting to them. We find that when agrarian structure is more equitable and peasant agency is strongly developed through political formation, organization and women's participation, then there is a greater construction of resilience that improves peasant livelihoods and dignity. This application demonstrates that when agency is strongly developed, as in the case of Brazil, it is possible to transform structural conditions that restrict resilience. The inclusion and consideration of biophysical variables, management practices, agrarian structure and agency, through a participatory approach, allows for the identification of factors that inhibit or potentiate the resilience of agroecosystems.
Highlights
The concept of resilience has evolved from an ecological perspective to that of complex systems analysis
The methods applied in this research and the peasants and professionals interviewed were approved and a endorsed by the National University of Colombia, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, in the framework of the Ph.D
The findings reveal that the level of political organization and participation in decision-making processes regarding economic, productive, technical and political components of agroecosystems, as well as the acknowledgement of rights and the determination to organize to demand them, are factors that favor the transformation of structural aspects in the municipality of Varzelandia
Summary
The concept of resilience has evolved from an ecological perspective to that of complex systems analysis. Analysis and discussions in the context of socio-ecological systems challenged the idea of normality, adopting an understanding of multiple equilibriums and accepting the inevitability of change [2,4]. In this sense, many proposed that resilience is systems adaptation based on learning, planning and reorganization for the purpose of preserving function, structure and identity [5,6,7]. Socio-ecological systems such as agroecosystems, conceptualized from a perspective of “fully integrated system[s] of people and nature” [8], do not exhibit unique identities, functions or structures [9]. Agroecosystems are systems composed of physical, biological, socioeconomic and cultural subsystems that coalesce and interact within the framework of human-led
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