Abstract
Over the coming decades, the level of urbanization in Latin America (LA) is expected to increase nearly 90%, with unwanted consequences such as accentuated socio-economic inequalities, food insecurity, violence, and environmental and health crises. In LA countries, urban agriculture (UA) has been adopted as one of the major strategies to address urban poverty and food insecurity, which have increased for different drivers, such as population growth, economic crises, or forced migration. Nevertheless, experience in these countries has demonstrated that urban agriculture is a complex activity that involves multiple benefits, risks, actors, processes, scales, and interactions. In this review, I analyse urban agriculture in LA countries using the ecosystems services framework as a tool to integrate UA functionalities and the four sustainability dimensions. I considered five issues derived from plant production: (1) ecosystem services, benefits, assets, drivers, and stakeholders in UA; (2) ecosystem services bundles; (3) economic and socio-cultural factors associated with the ecosystem services bundles; (4) research progress in LA countries; (5) issues and possible strategic directions in decision-making of UA in the LA region. Using proxy variables, a total of 17 ecosystem services, six benefits, six assets, and six indirect drivers were recognized. Projections of the 17 variables over the four dimensions of sustainable development showed that the environmental dimension was most studied than the social, economic, and governance dimensions. Most of strengths of UA in LA were related to ecosystem services, benefits, and beneficiaries; main weaknesses were related to the misuse of inputs, and human and environmental health; threats were related to regulation, governance and land tenure issues, and opportunities to several topics related to the four dimensions of sustainability. The concepts, frameworks, and methods used in this study may be effective tools to make scientific information available to managers and decision makers.
Highlights
Urban agriculture (UA) is an activity with a long tradition in the Latin American (LA) region, which, by the end of the twentieth century, exhibited a mix of farming systems shaped by pre-Columbian practices combined with European and Asian models (Smit et al, 2001)
After removing duplicates and reports in which it was not possible to use proxy variables, a total of 147 were eligible among which 60 were written in English, 55 in Spanish, and 32 in Portuguese (Appendix 2). Since some of these included study cases from different countries, the final database gathered a total of 205 study cases of UA belonging to 18 LA countries
UA literature in the region is abundant, it is mainly found in non-scientific sources, such as technical reports, bulletins, or projects (Wadumestrige Dona et al, 2021), being in the public domain but effectively unavailable to the broader community
Summary
Urban agriculture (UA) is an activity with a long tradition in the Latin American (LA) region, which, by the end of the twentieth century, exhibited a mix of farming systems shaped by pre-Columbian practices combined with European and Asian models (Smit et al, 2001). Cities have traditionally been seen as places for social progress and economic growth, the fast urbanization in LA countries has brought unwanted consequences, such as accentuated socio-economic inequalities, food insecurity, violence, and environmental and health crises (Orsini et al, 2013). Facing these contexts, to achieve greener, healthier, and more equitable cities, global agencies, such as the FAO, RUAF, IDRC, UNDESA, or UN-Habitat/UNDP, urged the inclusion of UA in the public policy agendas (Mougeot, 2005; van Veenhuizen, 2006; Hearn et al, 2020). It uses urban resources, produced for urban citizens; it is strongly influenced by urban conditions and impacts the urban socioecosystem (Mougeot, 2005; van Veenhuizen, 2006)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
