Guía - Introducción Al Desarrollo Sustentable
Guía - Introducción Al Desarrollo Sustentable
Guía - Introducción Al Desarrollo Sustentable
GUIA DE ESTUDIO:
Introducción al Desarrollo
Sustentable
Docente Responsable
MSc. Paulina Jiménez Quintana
06/02/2020
TEMAS
1. Conceptos básicos del desarrollo sustentable
1.1. González, H., Tamez, G., Hernández, A., Jiménez, P. (2016). Desarrollo
Sustentable: de la teoría a la práctica. Capítulo 1: Interpretando las perspectivas
del desarrollo sustentable. Ed. Ediciones de Laurel S. A. de C. V. Monterrey,
México. ISBN: 978-607-97056-6-4
2. Agotamiento de la biodiversidad, combustibles fósiles, crisis alimentaria y escasez de
agua potable.
2.1. González, H., Tamez, G., Hernández, A., Jiménez, P. (2016). Desarrollo
Sustentable: de la teoría a la práctica. Capítulo 1: Interpretando las perspectivas
del desarrollo sustentable. Ed. Ediciones de Laurel S. A. de C. V. Monterrey,
México. ISBN: 978-607-97056-6-4
2.2. R.M. Wise, I. Fazey, M. Stafford Smith, S.E. Park, H.C. Eakin, E.R.M. Archer Van
Garderen, B. Campbell (2014). Reconceptualising adaptation to climate change as
part of pathways of change and response. Global environmental change.
Published by Elsevier Ltd. Obtenido de:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.12.002 /
www.elsevier.com/locate/gloenvcha
3. Objetivos de Desarrollo Sustentable
3.1. Obtenido de sitio web oficial. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs
4. Relación entre cultura y naturaleza en la sociedad contemporánea
4.1. Santamarina, B. (2008). Antropología y medio ambiente. Revisión de una tradición
y nuevas perspectivas de análisis en la problemática ecológica. AIBR. Revista de
Antropología Iberoamericana, 3, (2), 144-184. Asociación de Antropólogos
Iberoamericanos en Red Madrid, Organismo Internacional. Madrid.
5. Economía del Desarrollo Sustentable y la presión del consumismo en la
biodiversidad. Consumo Colaborativo y emprendimiento social.
5.1. González, H., Tamez, G., Hernández, A., Jiménez, P. (2016). Desarrollo
Sustentable: de la teoría a la práctica. Capítulo 4: Una economía basada en el
desarrollo sustentable. Ed. Ediciones de Laurel S. A. de C. V. Monterrey, México.
ISBN: 978-607- 97056-6-4
6. Globalización en el desarrollo Sustentable, Adaptación y resiliencia en el cambio
climático. Diplomacia ambiental
6.1. González, H., Tamez, G., Hernández, A., Jiménez, P. (2016). Desarrollo
Sustentable: de la teoría a la práctica. Capítulo 1: Interpretando las perspectivas
del desarrollo sustentable. Ed. Ediciones de Laurel S. A. de C. V. Monterrey,
México. ISBN: 978-607-97056-6-4
6.2. Velázquez, R., González, S., García, D., Jiménez, P., (2018). Teoría y práctica de la
diplomacia en México: aspectos básicos. Cap. 12: Diplomacia ambiental. Ediciones
Laurel, UANL, AMEI, México.
DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE: DE LA TEORÍA A LA PRÁCTICA
DESARROLLO
SUSTENTABLE:
DE LA TEORÍA A LA PRÁCTICA
Abraham Hernández Paz
Héctor González García
Gerardo Tamez González
Coordinadores
Abraham Hernández Paz | Héctor González García | Gerardo Tamez González
LYG_CYELSA_HERNANDEZ_DESARROLLO-SUSTENTABLE-DE-LA-TEORIA-A-LA-PRACTICALYG_CYELSA_HERNANDEZ_DESARROLLO-SUSTENTABLE-DE-LA-TEORIA-A-LA-PRACTICA_FORROS.indd 1 16/06/16 10:48 a.m.
Desarrollo sustentable:
de la teoría a la práctica
Coordinadores
ISBN: 978-607-97056-6-4
RESUMEN
1
Paulina Jiménez Quintana, Licenciada en Administración Financiera por el Tec-
nológico de Monterrey y Maestra en Ciencias especializada en Emprendimiento
e Innovación para el Desarrollo Sustentable por SKEMA Business School, Fran-
cia. Realizó estudios referentes a Negocios Internacionales y Administración
Estratégica en École Superieure de Commerce á Clermont-Ferrand, Francia.
Actualmente se encuentra cursando un Doctorado en Filosofía con orientación
a Relaciones Internacionales, Negocios y Diplomacia en la Facultad de Ciencias
Políticas y Administración Pública de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León,
en donde colabora como Profesor-Investigador de tiempo completo y forma
parte del Cuerpo Académico de Investigación de Desarrollo Sustentable. Sus
principales líneas de investigación son la Economía del Desarrollo Sustentable y
el Emprendimiento e Innovación (paulinajq@gmail.com).
Capítulo 1 13
KEYWORDS
SUMARIO
1. INTRODUCCIÓN
14 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 15
16 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 17
18 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 19
20 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 21
22 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 23
24 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 25
26 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 27
28 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 29
30 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 31
32 Capítulo 1
Capítulo 1 33
Los retos ambientales son retos que enfrentan todos los paí-
ses sin importar su nivel de desarrollo económico, situación
geográfica, composición de su territorio o población, es decir
que son retos globales que implican acciones locales de ma-
nera coordinada. Nuevos problemas necesitan de nuevas so-
luciones que sean adaptadas a las nuevas necesidades. No es
lógico pensar que los problemas de ahora puedan resolverse
con soluciones que fueron eficaces en el pasado, debido a que
el mundo, junto con sus cuestiones, va evolucionando con-
forme al tiempo.
34 Capítulo 1
Birch, E., Lynch, A., Andreason, S., Eisenman, T., Robinson, J. y Steif, K.
(2011). Measuring U.S. Sustainable Urban Development. University of Penn-
sylvania, Department of City and Regional Planning. Philadelphia,
U.S.A.
Botsman, R.y Rogers, R. (2010). What’s mine is yours, the raise of Collaborative
Consumption. New York. Harper Collins.
Bowlig, S. y Gibbon, P. (2009). Counting Carbon in the Marketplace: Part I – Over-
view Paper. Paper presented at the OECD 2009 Global Forum on Trade:
Trade and Climate Change. OECD. Paris.
Davidson, D.J. (2010). “The Applicability of the Concept of Resilience to Social
Systems: Some Sources of Optimism and Nagging Doubts” Society and Natural
Resources 23(12): 1135–49.
Fresco, L. y Kroonenberg, S. (1992). Time and spatial scales in ecological sustain-
ability. Land Use Policy, p. 155-168.
Gassner, J. (2003). Defining and measuring macroeconomic sustainability. The sustai-
nable economy indices. Clean Tech Environ Policy 5. U.S.A.
Lynam, J. y Herdt, R. (1989). “Sense and Sustainability: Sustainability as an Objective
in International Agricultural Research.” Agricultural Economics, 3: 381-398.
Munro, D. (1991). Cuida la tierra: estrategia para el futuro de la vida. Internatio-
nal Center for Conservation Education. IUCN, UNEP, WWF.
Pearce, D. y Turner, K. (1990). Economics of natural resources and the environ-
ment. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, U.S.A.
Rogers, J., Simmons, E., Convery, I. y Weatherall, A. (2012). Social impacts
of community renewable energy projects: findings from a woodfuel case study. Ener-
gy Policy 42, 239–247.
Santamarina, B. (2008). Antropología y medio ambiente. Revisión de una tradición y
nuevas perspectivas de análisis en la problemática ecológica. AIBR. Revista de An-
tropología Iberoamericana, 3, (2), 144-184. Asociación de Antropólogos
Iberoamericanos en Red Madrid, Organismo Internacional. Madrid.
Smith, A. (1776). An Inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of wations. W.
Strahan & T. Cadell. United Kingdom.
Steiner, A. (2012). Measuring Progress Towards a Green Economy Report. United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Capítulo 1 35
RESUMEN
1
Paulina Jiménez Quintana, Licenciada en Administración Financiera por el Tec-
nológico de Monterrey y Maestra en Ciencias especializada en Emprendimiento
e Innovación para el Desarrollo Sustentable por SKEMA Business School, Fran-
cia. Realizó estudios referentes a Negocios Internacionales y Administración
Estratégica en École Superieure de Commerce á Clermont-Ferrand, Francia.
Actualmente se encuentra cursando un Doctorado en Filosofía con orientación
a Relaciones Internacionales, Negocios y Diplomacia en la Facultad de Ciencias
Políticas y Administración Pública de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León,
en donde colabora como Profesor-Investigador de tiempo completo y forma
parte del Cuerpo Académico de Investigación de Desarrollo Sustentable. Sus
principales líneas de investigación son la Economía del Desarrollo Sustentable y
el Emprendimiento e Innovación (paulinajq@gmail.com).
Capítulo 4 89
PALABRAS CLAVE
KEYWORDS
SUMARIO
1. INTRODUCCIÓN
90 Capítulo 4
Capítulo 4 91
92 Capítulo 4
Capítulo 4 93
94 Capítulo 4
Capítulo 4 95
96 Capítulo 4
Capítulo 4 97
98 Capítulo 4
3. LA TRANSFORMACIÓN DE LOS
INDICADORES SOBRE DESARROLLO
Capítulo 4 99
100 Capítulo 4
Capítulo 4 101
102 Capítulo 4
Capítulo 4 103
5. BIBLIOGRAFÍA
104 Capítulo 4
TEORÍA Y PRÁCTICA
DE LA DIPLOMACIA
EN MÉXICO:
ASPECTOS BÁSICOS
FCPyRI
FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS POLÍTICAS Y RELACIONES INTERNACIONALES
ISBN 978-607-27-0926-3
9 786072 709263 >
TEORÍA Y PRÁCTICA
DE LA DIPLOMACIA
EN MÉXICO:
ASPECTOS BÁSICOS
Coordinadores
SECRETARÍA ACADÉMICA
DIRECCIÓN DEL SISTEMA DE ESTUDIOS DEL NIVEL MEDIO SUPERIOR
FCPyRI
FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS POLÍTICAS Y RELACIONES INTERNACIONALES
Diplomacia
ambiental
1
Licenciada en Administración Financiera por el Tecnológico de Monterrey y Maestra
en Ciencias especializada en Emprendimiento e Innovación para el Desarrollo
Sustentable por SKEMA Business School, Francia. Realizó estudios referentes a
Negocios Internacionales y Administración Estratégica en École Superieure de
Commerce á Clermont-Ferrand, Francia. Actualmente cursa un Doctorado en
Filosofía con orientación a Relaciones Internacionales, Negocios y Diplomacia
en la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad
Autónoma de Nuevo León, en donde colabora como profesora-investigadora
de tiempo completo y forma parte del Cuerpo Académico de Investigación de
Desarrollo Sustentable. Sus principales líneas de investigación son la Economía
del Desarrollo Sustentable y el Emprendimiento e Innovación. Correo de contacto:
paulinajq@gmail.com.
Diplomacia ambiental
208
Instituciones referentes
Bibliografía
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Article history: The need to adapt to climate change is now widely recognised as evidence of its impacts on social and
Received 2 April 2013 natural systems grows and greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated. Yet efforts to adapt to climate
Received in revised form 24 November 2013 change, as reported in the literature over the last decade and in selected case studies, have not led to
Accepted 2 December 2013
substantial rates of implementation of adaptation actions despite substantial investments in adaptation
Available online 11 January 2014
science. Moreover, implemented actions have been mostly incremental and focused on proximate
causes; there are far fewer reports of more systemic or transformative actions. We found that the nature
Keywords:
and effectiveness of responses was strongly influenced by framing. Recent decision-oriented approaches
Climate change adaptation
Pathways
that aim to overcome this situation are framed within a ‘‘pathways’’ metaphor to emphasise the need for
Transformation robust decision making within adaptive processes in the face of uncertainty and inter-temporal
Framing complexity. However, to date, such ‘‘adaptation pathways’’ approaches have mostly focused on contexts
Uncertainty with clearly identified decision-makers and unambiguous goals; as a result, they generally assume
prevailing governance regimes are conducive for adaptation and hence constrain responses to proximate
causes of vulnerability. In this paper, we explore a broader conceptualisation of ‘‘adaptation pathways’’
that draws on ‘pathways thinking’ in the sustainable development domain to consider the implications
of path dependency, interactions between adaptation plans, vested interests and global change, and
situations where values, interests, or institutions constrain societal responses to change. This re-
conceptualisation of adaptation pathways aims to inform decision makers about integrating incremental
actions on proximate causes with the transformative aspects of societal change. Case studies illustrate
what this might entail. The paper ends with a call for further exploration of theory, methods and
procedures to operationalise this broader conceptualisation of adaptation.
! 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
0959-3780/$ – see front matter ! 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.12.002
326 R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336
A growing intensity of calls for more decision-oriented research effective adaptation decisions influenced in policy, planning and
has been evident in recent years, as priorities have moved from management (Tompkins et al., 2010; Berrang-Ford et al., 2011;
estimating impacts and vulnerabilities in order to make the case Ford et al., 2011). Additionally, and despite long-standing calls for a
for mitigation, to adaptation planning and action in a world that is focus on decision making (Willows and Connell, 2003), the
looking less and less likely to stay within 2 8C of global warming adaptation actions that have been implemented have tended to
(e.g., World Bank, 2012). Such calls emphasise the need to focus on be mostly incremental and focused on proximate causes, with
enabling decision makers to make the difficult and urgent choices limited reports of transitions and transformational change (cf. Park
between a range of alternative policy and management options in et al., 2012).
interconnected social and natural systems (Sarewitz et al., 2003; More recent efforts to address this situation have used ‘‘route
Pielke, 2007; Eakin and Patt, 2011). The factors behind these calls maps’’ or ‘‘pathways’’ as a metaphor for helping visualise a
are varied. They include perceptions of the limited usefulness of decision-centred approach to adaptation, as classically repre-
many assessments of impact, vulnerability and adaptive capacity sented in the Thames barrier study (Reeder and Ranger, 2011). The
for informing choices between adaptation options (Hinkel, 2011; concept of pathways focuses more on the processes of decision
Downing, 2012), as well as concerns that adaptation plans often making, rather than the outcome; emphasising the adaptive nature
seem to lack the links to implementation due to a diversity of of the decision process itself in the face of high uncertainty and
limitations and barriers relating to human behaviour and inter-temporal complexity. Fig. 1 (Andy Reisinger, pers. comm.)
governance (O’Brien and Wolf, 2010; Pelling, 2011). In addition, illustrates this ‘classic’ adaptation pathways metaphor for explor-
decision-oriented approaches are seen as more able to tackle ing and sequencing a set of possible actions based on alternative
difficulties in planning for future uncertain consequences of external, uncertain developments over time. This visualisation of
changing and unpredictable values, preferences and vulnerabilities the concept is complemented by Haasnoot et al. (2013) who
of at-risk populations (Fazey et al., 2010b; O’Brien and Wolf, 2010), instantiate the pathways metaphor with a proposal for a rigorous
and the challenges of accommodating many confounding issues syntax for illustrating the implementation of adaptation plans and
such as cross-scale effects over space and time and multiple forms policy. Both of these efforts focus on the individual decision-
of uncertainty (Dessai et al., 2007; Stafford Smith et al., 2011). making actor and climate change with the intended outcome
A critical consequence of such challenges is that the resulting comprising more and improved decisions. Where the goals of
loose coalition of research and practice that represents ‘adaptation adaptation are not ambivalent and the decision maker is in the
science’ has to date had a modest impact on the number of ‘adaptive space’ (white area, Fig. 1) with the power and agency to
Fig. 1. The current ‘classic’ conceptualisation of adaptation pathways – as a series of adaptive learning decision cycles over time (top left, cf. Willows and Connell, 2003;
Haasnoot et al., 2013) with their decision lifetimes (top right – the sum of lead and consequence times, cf. Stafford Smith et al., 2011), where some chains of decisions lead to
maladaptive outcomes over time, but there may be other alternatives that are adaptive (bottom, cf. Reeder and Ranger, 2011; Haasnoot et al., 2013). From the perspective of
the current decision point at the left, a currently satisfactory pathway can be plotted through the future (strongest colour), but this must be re-visited at each decision point
(Figure developed by Andy Reisinger, pers. comm.).
R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336 327
make decisions, these approaches are powerful tools for support- lessons from sustainable development. The Section justifies the
ing decision makers explore and sequence a set of possible specific need for further developing decision-oriented approaches to
actions under deep uncertainty about the future. adaptation. Our re-conceptualisation emphasises the perspective
There is, however, a need to make explicit the tensions between of adaptation as part of pathways of change and response, where
adaptation policies and actions aimed at proximate causes of the intent and outcome of adaptation are not risk reduction per se
vulnerability (i.e., supporting decision making within prevailing but rather addressing the systemic drivers of vulnerability in
governance arrangements), and those seeking broader and dynamic systems. Section 4 provides and discusses detailed
systemic change to social and political regimes – in other words, examples to explain and justify why this pathways approach is
transformation (Pahl-Wostl, 2009; Pelling, 2011; O’Brien, 2012). a more productive and effective approach for facilitating adapta-
The growing likelihood of a >2 8C warmer world will require tion. The paper concludes (Section 5) with a call for further
proactive adaptation that continually cycles between incremental exploration of this conceptualisation of adaptation and, impor-
and transformative actions (Park et al., 2012). Attention therefore tantly, some initial considerations for its application to the task of
now needs to be given to better understanding and informing the enhancing ongoing and dynamic adaptation action, noting the
‘‘when’’, ‘‘where’’ and ‘‘how’’ of complementing incremental contribution of other papers in this special issue.
actions on proximate causes with the more challenging and
long-lead time transformative aspects of societal change (Nelson, 2. The status of adaptation research and practice
2009; O’Brien et al., 2009; Pelling, 2011).
In this regard (Dovers and Hezri, 2010: 220), emphasise the To understand the current status of adaptation, we reviewed a
potential value of drawing upon decades of efforts in ‘‘cognate selection of international literature that directly and indirectly
sectors (i.e., emergency management, integrated natural resources assessed the status, barriers and opportunities to adaptation
management, and water resource policy) and sustainable devel- practice, those that reported empirical studies of adaptation
opment’’. Pertinent examples in the sustainable development decisions and on-ground actions, and those specifically with
domain are the contributions made by the STEPS (Social, ‘‘pathways’’ in the content. This literature was a small subset
Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) (about 10%) of the 1423 articles found published over the last
Centre – which they term ‘the pathways approach’ (Leach et al., decade with the term ‘climate change adaptation’ in the topic using
2010a) – as well as work on socio-technical transitions (Geels and Web of Knowledge. The purpose of this review was therefore to be
Schot, 2007) and steering for sustainability (Newig et al., 2007). more indicative of trends in the literature, rather than an
These efforts all emphasise the need to transform the social and exhaustive systematic evaluation. To provide further in-depth
political conditions that produce vulnerability and the challenges analysis, this review was supplemented with four case studies of
of dealing with the complex dynamics of social and ecological adaptation experiences (Table 1). The case studies draw on the
processes, and the high degrees of uncertainty in planning for practical experiences of the authors and case-specific literature;
sustainability in the current era. Leach et al. (2010a), for example, they were chosen to represent a diversity of adaptation contexts
argue that in the face of significant change and uncertainty, the that: (a) cover developing and developed country contexts; (b)
tendency has often been to ‘‘close down’’ too rapidly to a small set focus on different levels of decision-making, i.e. community
of decision alternatives by reconfiguring uncertainty into more adaptation to climate change (Solomon Islands), local government
manageable, but inappropriately narrow, calculations of risk and experiences (Australia and United States of America), national
cost-benefit equations. The STEPS centre advocates ‘‘opening up’’ decision making (national adaptation plans in developing coun-
policy processes to wider participation, thus increasing the tries, and biodiversity planning in South Africa), and (c) cover a
diversity of values and ideas, as well as equity in decision-making diversity of sectors/zones (biodiversity, agriculture, coastal zones).
(Stirling, 2006). In this approach, development pathways are Finally, important and impactful contributions in the sustainable
defined as the ‘‘alternative possible trajectories for knowledge, development literature, specifically focused on ‘‘pathways’’
intervention and change, which prioritise different goals, values perspectives to understand and inform societal responses to novel
and functions’’ (Leach et al., 2010a: p. 5). global changes, were also reviewed.
The concept of ‘‘pathways’’ has clearly gained traction in a
variety of discourses and policy domains. The purpose of this paper 2.1. The status of adaptation practice
is to propose a broader conceptualisation of the adaptation
pathways perspective that allows decision makers to explore the Three broad types of studies on adaptation practice are evident.
need for and the implications of societal transitions and First, there have been recent direct assessments of adaptation
transformation. In particular, this broadened pathways perspec- practice, with a primary focus on adaptation initiatives in
tive provides insights and guidance on diagnosing whether developed countries (Berrang-Ford et al., 2011; Ford et al.,
systemic change is needed and the role of incremental adaptation 2011). These found that, whilst there were considerable efforts
in achieving this; and raising awareness and understanding of the and studies to assess vulnerability, there was limited evidence of
interplay between knowledge, values, power and agency to inform actual adaptation action. Where adaptation action had occurred,
responses to change, particularly in dynamic, complex and this was typically in sectors sensitive or considered to be sensitive
contested contexts. to climate impacts (e.g., coastal zones, utilities, infrastructure and
In broadening this conceptualisation we first canvassed the transport) and action had most often been implemented at the
status and effectiveness of adaptation research and practice as local scale and facilitated by federal governments. Climate change
documented in the literature over the past few years (Section 2). was rarely the sole or primary motivator, and extreme events
This review revealed key insights into the factors contributing to tended to be important catalysts for many adaptation actions. The
the limited on-ground adaptation and the predominance of primary ‘‘adaptation mechanisms’’ were institutional (i.e., guide-
incremental over transformational change. The role that framing lines and policies) and financial (e.g., providing financial support)
plays in influencing the nature and effectiveness of adaptation was and there was limited reporting of adaptation efforts taking
identified as critical and is discussed in Section 3. Section 3 also advantage of climate change or focusing on marginalised groups,
provides the justification for a broadening of the prevailing IPCC such as women, the elderly, or children (Berrang-Ford et al., 2011;
vulnerability-impacts framing which is largely based on predict- Ford et al., 2011). A more recent analysis of ‘‘the adaptation
and-provide approaches (e.g., Adger et al., 2007) by drawing upon concept in the climate change literature’’ by Bassett and Fogelman
328 R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336
Table 1
Summary of the adaptation context, status of adaptation practice and key issues for five case studies, done by the authors drawing on their knowledge and experiences in
these contexts.
Case study Adaptation context Status of adaptation practice to date Key issues
Local governments in the US !Lack of national leadership and policy !Cities and local governments are !Little evidence of reform of social issues relating
framework to provide institutional emerging as centres of action for to resource access and opportunity
coordination across sectors. Limited climate change planning (Carmin !Broader structural concerns associated with
stakeholder participation. Absence of et al., 2012) urban design addressed in local planning
effective financing mechanisms (Poyar !Currently in the domain of ‘‘early
and Beller-Simms, 2010; Carmin et al., adopters’’ (Poyar and Beller-Simms,
2012) 2010)
!Local champions, extreme events
and participation in national and
international networks of
organisations are promoting action
(Anguelovski and Carmin, 2011)
Coastal local governments !Coastal ecosystems and built !Many Councils have undertaken !Adaptation action is limited and hampered by
in Australia infrastructure are at increasing threat vulnerability assessments and the non-binding nature of state-wide policies
of inundation due to sea level rise, evaluated adaptation options (Gibbs and Hill, 2011) which are ambiguous in
storm surge and flooding !A few councils have taken action their intent and provide little guidance for
!Capacity- and budget-constrained using land-use planning systems determining ‘coastal hazard zones’, weighting
local Governments are responsible for (Gibbs and Hill, 2011); largely to climatic and non-climatic risks, clarifying
making choices between protection limit legal liability (Baker and liability and compensation issues, and defining
and retreat of private assets and MacKenzie, 2011) and protect public roles and responsibilities
ecosystems assets
!Higher levels of government are !Responses have been incremental
providing little leadership and focused on proximate causes
(Herriman et al., 2012; Webb et al.,
under review)
Least-developing-country (LDC) !As of June 2012, 47 NAPAs had been !NAPAs have involved the synthesis !Urgency for adaptation has been balanced
National Adaptation completed by LDCs and lodged with of information, participatory against the urgency of actions in many other
Programmes of Action (NAPA) the UNFCCC secretariat (http:// assessments of vulnerability, and areas
unfccc.int/resource/docs/2012/sbi/ evaluation and prioritisation of !Many NAPA processes were overly narrowly
eng/15.pdf) activities focused. Marginalised and more vulnerable
!Despite a GEF-managed LDC Fund !Methods and processes have been groups (e.g. women) often excluded from
being established in 2002 to finance systems-based, participatory and participatory processes (Huq and Khan, 2006)
NAPAs, there remains a lack of clarity multi-disciplinary !Progress hindered by failure to build in-country
regarding who and how they will be !Few NAPAs have been implemented, capacity to plan & implement integrated
implemented (Huq and Khan, 2006; but successes are due to effective measures (Huq and Khan, 2006)
Paavola and Adger, 2006; Saito, 2012) inter-Ministerial mainstreaming of
adaptation into development
planning (Kalame et al., 2011)
Adaptation in the Solomon !Major challenges to governance exist !The NAPA (completed in 2008) !Current multiple trajectories of change (e.g.
Islands due to: limited capacity (i.e., chronic involved a broad assessment of erosion of social cohesion, climate and natural
lack of infrastructure and financial climate change vulnerability at the disasters) and response are often not addressing
capital) and a culturally and national level and of the marine underlying causes of vulnerability (Fazey et al.,
linguistically diverse population sector. (MECMH, 2008). More 2011)
(Connell, 2010) specific vulnerable locations were !While there may be greater recognition in
!National departments on disaster risk identified in the 2nd National government of the importance of adaptation
management and climate change to be Communication to UNFCCC measures actual on ground adaptation
amalgamated and climate change !Community-based adaptation has initiatives remain incremental, and the
mainstreamed (MECDM, 2012) been identified as a national strategy capacities to do anything significant are limited
!Civil society organisations are building to improve food security and well- !Current increasing population pressures and
capacity to support communities adapt being, and build adaptive capacity to their impacts on food security and health are
to climate change (MECDM, 2012) climate change in the context of more urgent issues than climate change
!Rural communities depend on natural other pressures
resources (Allen et al., 2006) which are !There is evidence of some effective
being compromised due to increasing community-based adaptation in the
population and resource use Solomon Islands (Schwarz et al.,
!Loss of social cohesion, increasing rates 2011) but in general subsequent
of alcoholism, disputes, and emphasis implementation of NAPAs has been
on cash crops are reducing adaptive limited
capacity and increasing vulnerability
(Fazey et al., 2011)
Adaptation planning in !Adaptation efforts have focused on !Some longstanding experiences in !Key weaknesses in support for adaptation exist
the biodiversity sector biodiversity (e.g., National Biodiversity EBA exist: vulnerability assessment at local and provincial government levels (on
in South Africa Assessment (Driver et al., 2012)) and processes informed a pilot EBA occasion, a support then provided by
future direction is provided in the project in the Namakwa region; and stakeholders such as civil society)
Climate Change Response White Paper in the Suid Bokkeveld area, civil !Significant, as yet inadequately realised
(Department of Environmental Affairs, society worked with local farmers to opportunities exist to scale up successful
2011)) adapt to climate change and approaches to provincial, national and regional
!Ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) is promote sustainable livelihoods, in concrete planning levels
being promoted as the best way to situ conservation and ecosystem
conserve biodiversity and ecosystems, restoration (Archer et al., 2008)
adapt to climate change, and generate !Successful adaptation initiatives
socio-economic benefits have had local support from civil
society and government
R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336 329
(2013) report that most (70%) of the 558 articles they surveyed facilitating social organisation and technological applications.
across four journals adopted ‘‘adjustment [incremental] adapta- Some of the latter are building the potential to transition prevailing
tion approaches, which view climate impacts as the main source of rules and decision processes. Examples include the provisioning of
vulnerability’’, only 3% ‘‘focus on the social roots of vulnerability information services (e.g., facilitating information flows such as
and the necessity for political–economic change to achieve seasonal forecasting to farmers and improved monitoring and
‘transformative’ adaptation’’, and 27% ‘located’ ‘‘risk in both feedback mechanisms); livelihoods management; trialling and
society and the biophysical hazard’’ which subsequently promoted replicating technical solutions (e.g., shifting to multi-species
‘‘reformist adaptation’’. cropping, agroforestry systems, farming to deliver ecosystem
Second, there are numerous studies that characterise the limits services, conservation agriculture, water-use efficiency, and
and barriers to, and opportunities from adaptation (e.g., Adger genetic research); promoting financial approaches (e.g., weather
et al., 2009; Burch, 2010; Moser and Ekstrom, 2010; Nielsen and derivatives, micro-finance); land-use zoning; and changing
Reenberg, 2010; Sietz et al., 2011; Marshall et al., 2012). These, and organisational structures and the rules governing decision making
others listed below, seek to develop the conceptual, theoretical and processes (e.g., water markets, boundary organisations to provide
knowledge foundations for understanding adaptation, assessing extension services and disseminating information, creating
the vulnerability of social and ecological systems to projected community networks, and supporting the role of communities
climate changes, and developing and implementing adaptation within public institutions) (Atwell et al., 2008; Rickards and
strategies. Many comment on how useful these efforts have been Howden, 2012).
for building understanding and awareness, measuring vulnerabili- Most of the ecosystem- and community-based adaptation
ty and adaptive capacity, identifying adaptation options, and, in examples have focused on rapidly realising improvements in
certain circumstances, creating opportunities for adaptation quality of life of resource-dependent communities through
(Burch, 2010; Eakin and Patt, 2011). Many also report that changes to livelihoods and natural-resource management strate-
thorough and reliable evaluations of adaptation options have been gies (e.g., Acosta-Michlik et al., 2008; World Bank, 2010; WRI,
undertaken and plans developed. However, actual on-ground 2011). In essence, all of these are focused on building the specific
implementations are reported in very few of these papers. The resilience (as opposed to general resilience, cf. Folke et al., 2010) of
detailed case studies presented in Table 1, for example, describe existing urban or rural ecosystems and the capacity of communi-
the status of adaptation practice to date to be limited or ‘in ties to cope, acclimate and adapt through strategies that ensure the
progress’, with few examples of what might be considered fully prevailing suite of ecosystem goods and services are sustained
fledged implementation. These examples also clearly show limited (Jones et al., 2012). There is often little recognition and
scope and planning for transformational change. In the cases of the acknowledgement that some of these ecosystems may transition
U.S. and Australian local governments, for example, the authors to entirely different states providing different goods and services
observe limited real reform. In the case of Least Developed Country as a result of climate change, and that adaptation will increasingly
National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPAs), translation to in- be needed to facilitate transitions of governance arrangements and
country planning and action remains limited, and NAPAs are transformations of societal processes, norms and values.
arguably not being written in ways that readily translate to real
action. Some successes in incremental adaptation actions are 2.2. Recent developments in adaptation research
evident, and provide lessons and potential options for future
direction. There are growing efforts by the research community to better
Literature that characterises barriers and opportunities also understand and develop methods and processes to support and
explores the reasons for the limited conversion of assessments and inform adaptation research and decision-making. These efforts
plans into action. These include behavioural and cognitive aspects have focused on developing techniques and tools for dealing with
(O’Brien and Wolf, 2010; Nelson, 2011), unconducive governance uncertainty, long time horizons, distributed decision making,
arrangements (Amundsen et al., 2010; Storbjörk, 2010), lack of or diverse knowledge types and contested values. Willows and
self-interested leadership (Anguelovski and Carmin, 2011; Moser Connell (2003), Dessai and van der Sluijs (2007), Ranger et al.
et al., 2012), competing planning agendas and lack of institutional (2010) and Weaver et al. (2013) have strongly argued for and
coordination (Moser and Ekstrom, 2010), insufficient financial and developed decision-centred approaches that provide comprehen-
human capital and mechanisms for enabling these (Bryan et al., sive and pragmatic guidance on scoping problems in complex
2009; Kabubo-Mariara, 2009), lack of information and data settings, identifying relevant information, interpreting uncertain
(Deressa et al., 2009; Hammill and Tanner, 2011), historical projections and selecting decision-making methods that are
determinacy and path-dependency (Chhetri et al., 2010; Abel et al., appropriate to the nature and level of uncertainty. Importantly,
2011), incorrect or incomplete diagnosis of problems (Gorddard they also provide practical tools and procedures for incorporating
et al., 2012), the widening science-policy gap associated with adaptation principles and heuristics developed by Fankhauser
wicked problems (Moser, 2010), and uncertainty and ambiguity et al. (1999), Hallegatte (2009) and others when developing
(Sarewitz, 2004; Dessai et al., 2007). While identifying potential context-sensitive, ‘no regrets’, robust and flexible adaptation
problems is important, shopping lists are not helpful: a key strategies.
challenge for adaptation research is to identify which barriers are The above decision-centred approaches have inspired the
likely to arise in which kinds of contexts to inform how to address recent developments in adaptation planning and decision support
them. mentioned earlier, which use ‘pathways’ as a metaphor to help
Third, there is a body of literature that reports actual and visualise what adaptation is about (i.e., Stafford Smith et al., 2011;
ongoing on-ground adaptation practices. The vast majority of these Haasnoot et al., 2013; Fig. 1), and provide an analytical approach
studies are in agricultural contexts and in community- or for exploring and sequencing a set of possible actions based on
ecosystem-based initiatives in rural, resource-dependent commu- alternative external changes over time. These developments build
nities of developing countries (WRI, 2011; Park et al., 2012; on earlier contributions and experiences such as the application of
Rodima-Taylor et al., 2012). In the case of adaptation in agricultural the pathways approach to adaptation planning in New York and
settings, the actions reported are mostly either addressing London (Yohe and Leichenko, 2010; Reeder and Ranger, 2011;
proximate causes of problems through incremental, no-regrets Rosenzweig and Solecki, 2013), and an extensive engineering
actions, or building the resilience of desired system functions by project management literature in other contexts (e.g., Wade,
330 R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336
1968). These initiatives provide a powerful and flexible analytical adaptation in both social and analytical senses. From an actor-
approach for decision makers in relatively closed, high-reliability oriented perspective, Haasnoot et al. (2013) explore how social
systems that are (largely) amenable to technical solutions (e.g., the groupings with different values or worldviews may choose
Thames barrier: Reeder and Ranger, 2011). A key strength of this different decision pathways from the set of available options.
approach for adaptation is that it explicitly considers the inter- Leach et al. (2010a) complement such analyses by offering specific
dependencies between the uncertain timing and magnitude of methodologies for eliciting the overarching framing and associated
climate-change impacts and the characteristics of responses in narratives that structure sustainability decision-making. A focus
terms of their costs, lead and lag times, and reversibility. In this on social framing – which Leach et al. (2010a) define as ‘‘particular
regard, the tool emphasises the need for flexibility and iterative contextual assumptions, methods, forms of interpretation and
management of immediate decisions, informed by a strategic values that different groups might bring to a problem, shaping how
vision of the future and a framework to inform future actions based it is bounded and understood’’ – is central to thinking through
on decision triggers and monitoring (Haasnoot et al., 2013). adaptation pathways.
These approaches, however, only partially consider (if at all) the
dynamic interactions between values, knowledge cultures, and 3. Current framings of adaptation and how these influence
institutions that enable and constrain all research and decision- action
making processes (Pahl-Wostl, 2009; Pelling, 2011; O’Brien, 2012).
These underpinning elements of societal decision-making are A key challenge to achieving greater implementation of
highly evolved, dynamic, interdependent and complex, and adaptation initiatives, especially in ways that are likely to address
difficult to change, yet in the context of climate and global change the more systemic causes of vulnerability, relates to how
may rapidly become anachronistic. The task of enabling decision- adaptation is framed analytically. UNEP (2012) demonstrates
making and adaptation thus requires understanding the inter- the potential range in perspectives on adaptation by identifying
dependencies between institutions, values and knowledge and seven different framings (Table 2). These reflect the diversity of
how to change these (Stern et al., 1999; Head, 2010; Gorddard contexts in which adaptation is required and the different world
et al., 2012). There are consequently a growing number of studies views, value systems, interests, and perspectives of adaptation
attempting to better understand and address these systemic researchers and decision makers (Juhola et al., 2011). Of particular
causes of vulnerability. These studies report on the specific relevance is how these actors, consciously or implicitly, view and
approaches, difficulties and experiences involved in recognising, define the relationships between humans and nature, the goals of
understanding and informing changes to the institutions and adaptation, and the role of knowledge in decision-making.
values that underpin research and decision processes. Important An important component of the adaptation framing, related to
but not exhaustive contributions here include: efforts focused on whether responses should be directed at proximate or root causes
the wider societal processes and institutions that govern the of problems, is the degree of contextual complexity. The contexts
interplay between actors and decision processes (van der Brugge within which adaptation is required are extremely diverse (Section
et al., 2005; Downing, 2012; Gorddard et al., 2012; Rodima-Taylor 2). Voß et al. (2007) presents a typology of contexts along a
et al., 2012); shifting the focus of adaptation from viewing climate gradient of increasing complexity based on different combinations
change risks as exogenous threats to development to accepting of the degrees of uncertainty in knowledge, ambivalence in goals
them as both products and drivers of development in an iterative and distribution of power. The simplest of these contexts is where
manner (Fazey et al., 2010a); viewing climate adaptation ‘‘as a knowledge of system functioning is relatively certain, a central
dynamic in social-ecological co-evolution’’ where processes of decision maker exists and is easily identifiable, and goals are
social learning and self organisation are key (Ensor and Berger, clearly defined and uncontested. Problems in these contexts are
2009; Pelling, 2011: 169); and improved understanding and ‘tame’ problems and are well-suited to the rationalist reductionist
development of approaches to bridge knowledge types and approach to decision making (Rittel and Webber, 1973; Stirling
decision hierarchies, particularly deliberative participatory learn- and Scoones, 2009). Equally, in relatively closed systems with a
ing by stakeholders (e.g., Reid et al., 2006; van Aalst et al., 2008; central locus of power and unambiguous goals (e.g., high reliability
Huntjens et al., 2012). These insights highlight the significant urban water supply systems) the problem is largely a ‘knowledge
impact that values and rules have on current framings of problem’ and can be tackled through capability building and tools
Table 2
Summary of seven analytical framings of adaptation (UNEP, 2012).
Livelihoods-based This approach emphasises the importance of existing social conditions, individual perceptions, local experiences and
informal institutions as critical aspects for determining how communities cope with current climate conditions as a
starting point for developing appropriate adaptation responses
Impact-analytical This approach of the IPCC views adaptation as a single (or few) decision(s) that is (are) taken on the basis of projected
future impacts, where it is assumed impacts and decisions can be singled out and formally quantified and evaluated
using multi-criteria, cost-effectiveness or cost-benefit analyses
Institution-analytical This framing emphasises the need for horizontal integration of policy to mainstream climate change adaptation
considerations into existing policy processes
Decision making under uncertainty In this framing, the analysis starts with a concrete decision (e.g., raise dikes) based upon all information on the range of
possible impacts, rather than with climate scenarios and projections of impacts
Social & institutional process This framing emphasises how in linked social-ecological systems the outcomes of actions can usually not be predicted as
they depend on actions of many agents as well as the social, cultural and natural context. The focal points of analyses thus
are institutions (formal and informal rules) that shape the interplay between the actors
Multi-level governance This framing emphasises how the cross-scale and systemic nature of climate impacts requires understanding and
creating multi-level institutions and organisations that promote vertical and horizontal integration
Social learning & adaptive management In this framing, the complexity and non-determinism of many resource management situations is recognised and
adaptive processes of improving management goals, policies and practices through learning are adopted to help bridge
the science-policy gap
R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336 331
for decision making under uncertainty (Ranger et al., 2010). and outcomes are problematic (Lempert et al., 2003; Stirling and
However, under climate change, many contexts have high degrees Scoones, 2009). By assuming adaptation decisions can be managed
of uncertainty in knowledge, distribution of power or ambivalence in a traditional risk framework, adaptation efforts have tended to
in goals. In such systems (e.g., coastal communities along beach- be problem-oriented and reductionist in approach. Additionally, in
dune systems and rural resource-dependent communities in many cases and particularly in developed-country contexts,
developing countries) problems are best diagnosed and solutions research and planning efforts to support adaptation have adopted
proposed through legitimate and fair processes of communication, approaches based on the assumption that a clearly identifiable
engagement, deliberation and negotiation (Stirling, 2006). A rational decision maker exists with the mandate to make decisions.
variety of approaches to facilitating learning, participatory The level of active participation of researchers and policy-makers
dialogue and action across decision levels and knowledge cultures in learning has varied depending on the framing; with the least
have been proposed. These include creating networks across levels participation in the ‘impact-analytical’ and ‘decision-making
of formal and informal governance (Ostrom, 2010), scenario under uncertainty’ framings, increasing for the institutionally
planning and visioning (Enfors et al., 2008), multi-criteria mapping oriented framings, and being prevalent in the ‘social process’
(Stirling, 2006), and conceptual mapping and soft modelling framings. The often problematic implications of such approaches
(Checkland and Poulter, 2006; Cundill et al., 2012). It is through to adaptation are listed in Table 3. Collectively, these favour
processes such as these that dominant narratives, which are based adaptation responses that are more incremental than transforma-
on mechanistic modes to research and decision making and which tional in nature.
promote responses to control and ‘stabilise’ the status quo, can be Despite their limitations, adaptation initiatives have helped
challenged (Leach et al., 2010a: Fig. 3.7, p. 59). For the sake of build the awareness and understanding of adaptation researchers
balancing investment efficiency and effectiveness with fairness and decision makers of climate change, vulnerability, adaptive
and legitimacy, it is essential to recognise contexts in which capacity and the barriers to making decisions in uncertain and
simpler, cheaper approaches are sufficient, as opposed to when complex contexts. However, such initiatives tend to be ill-
these are likely to fail so that more complex approaches are equipped to deal with multiple and deep uncertainties, dynamic
required. and inter-dependent values and institutions, a diversity of
Most adaptation efforts to date have, to varying degrees, perceptions and tolerances for global-change risks, positive
adopted the IPCC’s predict-and-provide or impact-analytical feedbacks and path-dependency across space and time, and high
approaches to the design and implementation of adaptation levels of distributed power and decision making (Funtowicz and
(Downing, 2012; UNEP, 2012; Bassett and Fogelman, 2013). These Ravetz, 1993; Voß et al., 2007). Proactive preparation for futures in
are largely based on a rationalist and linear approach to science- a >2 8C world will require responses that continually cycle
policy which focuses on the specific risks identified as ‘additional’ between incremental and transformative actions (Park et al.,
in the climate change context (and thus ‘‘close down’’ the problem 2012). Attention now needs to turn from incremental actions on
definition, sensu (Leach et al., 2010a)), rather than the generic, proximate causes, to more challenging and long-lead time
complex risks that characterise real-world decision-making. The transformative aspects (Nelson, 2009; O’Brien et al., 2009; Pelling,
latter risks are characterised by high uncertainty, ambiguity or 2011). This requires the social processes, institutions, organisa-
ignorance (also referred to as deep, severe, radical or fundamental tions, skills and capabilities necessary to guide, facilitate, and
uncertainty) in which knowledge about the likelihood of impacts manage the ‘‘when’’, ‘‘where’’ and ‘‘how’’ of adaptation for building
Table 3
Implications and consequences of the prevailing rationalist predict-provide and impact-analytical approaches to adaptation.
Considerable time and effort invested into explaining and justifying problem definitions in contexts where complexity, (Sarewitz, 2004)
uncertainty or ambiguous goals make polarised world views legitimate and largely unavoidable. Leads to science being
inappropriately used to try resolving contested problem definitions and solutions
The solution space being constrained to addressing symptoms and proximate causes (e.g. infrastructure planning, livelihoods (Pelling, 2011)
management, legal liability) thus largely unsuited to informing and initiating innovative transformational changes to
address root causes of problems
Focuses attention to static measures of vulnerability and adaptive capacity and on impacts at particular future dates, which (Fazey et al., 2011; Hinkel, 2011)
has promoted once-off actions without due consideration for the temporal interdependencies between these variables and
the general current and historical context in which adaptation is occurring
Research, decision-making and values-deliberation processes being undertaken in relatively discrete stages of adaptation (Gorddard et al., 2012)
planning leading to limited opportunities for triple-loop learning by all stakeholders, which are a prerequisite to
transformation
Emphasis on adaptation being about managing specific quantifiable or observable risks through increased control of the (Carter et al., 2007)
environment (i.e. assumed impacts and adaptation decisions can be singled out and formally quantified and evaluated
using multi-criteria, cost-effectiveness or cost-benefit analyses). Results in lack of consideration of the wider social,
political and normative elements of adaptation
Adaptation being promoted as a single or a few decisions to be made by the end of a project and largely unable to account (Abel et al., 2011)
for issues that play out over the long term such as cultural, institutional, political, technological and economic
path-dependencies
Expectations and beliefs being created or reinforced that more research will reduce uncertainty and make choices easier (Dessai et al., 2009)
leading to funds being allocated uncritically to scientific pursuits to ‘reduce uncertainty’
Insufficient integration of climatic drivers of change with other drivers of change and within broader development (Fazey et al., 2010a)
initiatives, particularly in developed nations
Tried-and-tested solutions (measured as the absence of the problem) are fitted to the status quo rather than novel solutions (Swenson and Anstett, 1997)
being generated to create desired conditions that may question or challenge the status quo
Governments contributing as independent providers of information, capacity and funding without sufficiently exploring their (Gorddard et al., 2012)
own institutional limitations and partnering in learning and innovation
Focus on scientists as the key producers of knowledge with the learning being framed by and associated with external (Fazey et al., 2010b)
researchers rather than those who are supposed to be implementing adaptation or are supposed to benefit from it
332 R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336
the resilience of desirable system functions and for transforming vulnerability outcomes within society: defining what is ‘‘more
values, decision-making processes and governance arrangements. desirable’’ and ultimately, more just and fair, thus requires new
Achieving this thus requires a paradigm shift in the framing of approaches to governance, and the use of specific tools in planning.
adaptation research and practice. Importantly, the perspective of adaptation as part of pathways of
Recognition that different ways of understanding adaptation change and response emphasises that both levels are required;
are needed is steadily entering science and practice discourses they are not mutually exclusive, and in fact need to be
(Fazey et al., 2010a, 2011; Pelling, 2011; Downing, 2012; Gorddard complementary and mutually informative. Making explicit this
et al., 2012; O’Brien, 2012). Such an evolution provides opportu- distinction in the levels of responses to change is important
nities for a new coalescence of adaptation science and practice that because each level implies different intentions, outcomes, and
is more effective and influential in helping decision-making and in planning horizons and therefore requires different capabilities,
guiding complex social-ecological systems. tools, and processes for its design and implementation.
Fig. 2 seeks to represent a broader conceptualisation of
4. Discussion – towards a new framing of adaptation as part of adaptation pathways as part of global change and response, by
pathways of change and response accommodating these complicating societal dimensions, with the
goal of allowing their implications for adaptation research and
We suggest that the paradigmatic shift required in adaptation practice to be more intuitively and explicitly considered. The
science and practice involves conceptualising adaptation as an relevant changes from Fig. 1 conceptualisation add to the ‘classic’
element of pathways of interacting global changes and societal view of adaptation pathways (Box A in Fig. 2), with an expanded,
responses. This broadens the existing conceptualisation and dynamic, and non-linear decision space, as well as adaptation
instantiation of adaptation pathways documented by Fig. 1 and contexts where the causes of vulnerability are systemic in nature
Haasnoot et al. (2013), discussed in Section 2, to emphasise the (Boxes B, C, and D in Fig. 2). Each of these is explored below,
societal change aspects of adaptation. This broader conceptualisa- drawing on case-study examples from this special edition, Table 1,
tion of ‘adaptation pathways’ particularly emphasises five critical and the broader literature.
dimensions to the adaptation challenge that are currently poorly The ‘classic’ view on adaptation pathways (Fig. 1, and Box A in
integrated in research and practice. The first is acknowledging that Fig. 2) is clearly a limited and partial conceptualisation of the
climate adaptation is not separable from the cultural, political, adaptation challenge. In particular it deals rather peripherally with
economic, environmental and developmental contexts in which it the risk that a series of relatively incremental steps, whether well
occurs and is therefore only part of a range of societal responses to intentioned or motivated by narrow political and economic vested
change. Second, and related, is the prevalence of changes and interests, may ultimately lead to maladaptation at some level of
responses that cross spatial scales, sectors and jurisdictional society as a whole (e.g., Barnett and O’Neill, 2010; Fazey et al.,
boundaries, which can lead to threshold effects and can be 2011). This may result because of: the adaptive landscape drifting
exacerbated if responses are not coordinated. A third dimension is away from current conditions due to climate change, other global
the inter-temporal aspects due to positive feedback loops and drivers of change, and the decisions of many distributed actors; the
system inertia. These intrinsic processes express themselves as misdiagnosis of the location of the system within the ‘adaptive
historical determinism, path-dependency, and lock-in; they mean space’ or its proximity to thresholds; or the capturing and closing
future pathways are contingent on historical pathways and down of the framing of the issues by powerful actors and
difficult to change. A fourth dimension relates to the difficulty institutions to maintain the status quo. The possible implications
of determining (i.e., measuring and monitoring) and understand- of these issues are visualised and explored in Box B of Fig. 2. For
ing where the system is, on what trajectory, due to the many example, a series of incremental decisions along ‘pathway 1’in
emergent properties of social-ecological systems as they adap- Fig. 2 seems adaptive but ceases to be so due to a changing adaptive
tively respond to change. The final dimension, which is related to landscape, such that by point e, a cycle of transformative change is
those above, is that societal processes are enabled or constrained needed to recover (pathway 7 ). However, through the application
by the prevailing rules, values and knowledge cultures, and their of various tools, this might be identified earlier (e.g. at decision
interdependencies, making it important to recognise and under- point d or even c), thus necessitating less rapid and more thorough
stand the influences of these interdependencies and how to change and considered re-direction. Such tools include deliberative,
them to better enable adaptation research and practice. This final participatory, long-term visioning and scenario-planning (e.g.,
dimension is particularly important in evaluating the potential for Butler et al., 2014; Vervoort et al., 2013), consideration of
adaptation to transform the wellbeing of disadvantaged and transformative cycles (Park et al., 2012), clear consideration and
politically marginalised populations whose vulnerability may be balancing of responses that adaptively and reflexively promote
perpetuated by existing power relations, norms and institutions stability, resilience, durability or robustness as appropriate to the
(Leach et al., 2010a; Pelling, 2011; Maru et al., 2014). nature of the dynamics (Leach et al., 2010a: Fig. 3.8; Maru et al.,
We return to more detail on these below, but their collective 2014), and decision-making forums that reveal and challenge
effect is to force researchers and decision makers to approach the dominant marginal-change narratives that lock decision-making
adaptation challenge at two levels. The first of these involves into reductionist modes that lead to maladaptation (Leach et al.,
continuing existing predominantly incremental actions (within 2010b). This broader perspective lends itself to a wider consider-
prevailing governance arrangements) that address proximate ation of the consequences of all responses to change (i.e., not only
causes of vulnerability or developmental needs but modifying adaptation actions), particularly those with an insidious nature;
these to ensure that they are informed by and inform systemic this can create awareness both of the various sources of decision
change. The second and more systemic level involves taking note of uncertainty and how to contextualise and manage these (Stafford
the intentions and outcomes of societal change; this level must put Smith et al., 2011), and of opportunities for more explicitly
a particular focus on understanding the influence of existing rules integrating adaptation with mitigation and development (Eriksen
and values on framing and decision making, and on how to change et al., 2011; van Vuuren et al., 2011).
these to better enable society to anticipate and proactively guide The ‘classic’ view on pathways also does not represent the
systems on to more desirable pathways in the context of global decision contexts where the current status of the system and its
change. As others have noted (e.g., Leach et al., 2010a; Pelling, future trajectory are heavily influenced by the past. The broader
2011), existing rules and values can translate into differential conceptualisation of pathways presented here acknowledges
R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336 333
Fig. 2. One decision-making actor’s adaptation pathways through an adaptive landscape, building on the metaphor of Fig. 1, where the boundaries between adaptive and
maladaptive responses are changing over time, due to biophysical changes, but also due to changes in social and institutional context, including the actions of other decision-
makers who may perceive different adaptation pathways. Circle arrows represent decision points, dark blue arrows represent pathways that are contemporaneously
adaptive, grey arrows lead to maladaptive dead-ends; dashed blue arrows represent more-or-less transformative pathway segments, and the green arrows show antecedent
pathways prior to the current decision cycle (a) faced by the decision-maker of concern. Boxes A–D highlight differences from Fig. 1 that are discussed in the text.
historical determinism and path-dependency (Abel et al., 2011; space (e.g., coastal local councils in Australia and the USA; Table 1),
Peters et al., 2012) and allows users to visualise and consider the as at decision point b, then all pathways may be maladaptive. In
implications for adaptation planning (Box C in Fig. 2). Here, this case, transformations of the institutional arrangements or
although pathways 1, 2, and 3 all seem open at decision point a, cultural values are needed, either through dramatic intervention
path contingencies may mean that antecedent pathway 3 is more (pathway 5) or through strongly directed incremental change
likely to result in the maladaptive decisions whereas antecedent (pathway 6 ) (Gorddard et al., 2012; Butler et al., 2014). In both
pathway 1 may pre-adapt decision making better for adaptive cases intervention from higher levels of governance is likely to be
pathways 1 and 2. It is thus critical to recognise the importance of needed, but is often only forthcoming in response to disasters or
historical context (i.e., the positive feedbacks associated with catastrophic events due to vested interests in the status quo
social and cultural practices, technologies, and institutional (Pelling, 2011).
arrangements (Dobusch and Schüßler, 2012)), and to have a There are numerous additional implications of this broader
reasonable idea of which pathway a social-ecological system is on, conceptualisation for adaptation research and practice, many of
to understand existing vulnerabilities and capacities to adapt and which are explored in the papers in this special section. For
to inform future planning and responses (e.g., the Solomon Islands example, this broader framing ensures decision makers more
case study, Table 1). readily recognise that various desirable and undesirable path-
Furthermore, we may not even be in the adaptive part of the ways can emerge from an intervention and that adopting a
decision space today. Governance arrangements and cultural narrow focus on simple cause-effect relationships, as when
values and practices evolve over time in response to the prevailing adapting to proximate causes of vulnerability, can lead to
and predominant forces and dynamics of socio-economic, techno- unintended or mal-adaptive consequences (Sterner et al., 2006).
logical, biophysical, ecological and climatic conditions (Young An often cited example of this is the response of building more
et al., 2008). In the context of climate and global change, however, flood defences which can affect perceptions of risk and lead to
the inertia in institutions and values means these can become greater problems, or can reinforce existing tendencies for people
anachronistic and fail to serve their purpose of enabling societal to look towards external agencies for solutions, thereby reducing
processes (such as research and decision-making) for realising fair, some opportunities for more transformative changes (Newell
legitimate, and effective allocations and uses of resources. The and Wasson, 2002). Instead, by allowing both the root and
broadened conceptualisation of adaptation proposed here allows proximate causes to be simultaneously considered, as this
for the implications of this to be visualised and explored (Box D in broader conceptualisation of adaptation pathways does, deci-
Fig. 2). If decision-makers are not even currently in the adaptive sion-makers can be open to direct and indirect pathways for
334 R.M. Wise et al. / Global Environmental Change 28 (2014) 325–336
achieving desirable outcomes (e.g., Butler et al., 2014; Maru et al., the required theory, as well as lessons from other case study
2014). experiences.
The pathways perspective implies an iterative and ongoing The capacities required to develop and implement this
approach, informed by a strategic vision, that enables experimen- broader conceptualisation of adaptation pathways will be
tation and learning so that choices along pathways can be altered heavily influenced by the extent to which stakeholders can
in response to predefined triggers (Rosenzweig and Solecki, 2013). learn from the experimentation of others via social and
This conceptualisation also implies a deeper consideration of how organisational networks. Hence, we also reiterate the calls of
adaptation can potentially reduce flexibility or limit opportunities Fischer et al. (2012) and Nelson (2011) not only to consider the
(e.g., by further commitment to a specific infrastructure design, ‘technical fix’ type solutions for responding to social and
power relations or distribution of rights, rather than complete environmental change, but also to conceptualise and use
reconsideration of it) and potentially lead to rigidity. It further exposure and responses of people to the current impacts of
implies the need for a shift to longer-term programmes of climate change as a way to reflect on and reconsider the social
integrated research and practice (which existing institutions and norms and societal values that underlie existing problems. This
organisations are not particularly well designed to do) that are should encourage greater responsiveness and reorganisation of
solution oriented and comprise multiple complementary projects institutional structures that are likely to lead to more sustainable
better designed to embed in the context and do the necessary trajectories. As Fischer et al. (2012) point out, focusing on such
monitoring and reflection (e.g., Future Earth, 2013). Key to delivery underlying issues is challenging and difficult and requires all
of such programmes is carefully designed processes of knowledge sectors of society to reflect on their behaviours and practices,
exchange, participation and negotiation that enhance ownership, including the research community. Reconceptualising adaptation
fairness and responsibility while empowering participants to take as part of pathways of change and response increases emphasis
action (Stringer et al., 2006). Such approaches are particularly on such vital underlying issues.
relevant for helping address the ‘key issues’ listed for the case
studies in Table 1 (column 4). Acknowledgements
Coupled with the analysis presented here, the framing of Fig. 2
highlights some key foci for adaptation research and practice Thanks to Andy Reisinger for discussions around Fig. 1. We are
efforts (Leach et al., 2010a; Smith and Stirling, 2010; Pelling, 2011; grateful for valuable comments by an anonymous reviewer.
Fischer et al., 2012): building the capacity for critical consciousness Funding was provided by the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship
and actor reflection (i.e., ‘‘reflexivity’’) on established institutions under the Enabling Adaptation Pathways project.
and power distributions; creating space and opportunities for new
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AIBR. Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana
ISSN: 1695-9752
informacion@aibr.org
Asociación de Antropólogos Iberoamericanos
en Red
Organismo Internacional
Resumen
Durante los últimos años la producción etnográfica sobre el conflicto medio ambiental ha
generado un volumen considerable de aportaciones. En este artículo se contextualiza, en la
tradición antropológica, las distintas perspectivas (la ecológica, la simbólica cognitiva y la
política) que se han ocupado del entorno, de la construcción de la naturaleza y del papel
otorgado a la naturaleza en la distribución de relaciones de poder. Todo para situar a las
perspectivas de la ecología simbólica y ecología política como los enfoques, desde nuestro
punto de vista, más pertinentes para abordar el conflicto medio ambiental. En un mundo
donde se imponen visiones hegemónicas y discursos ecológicos globalizados, basados en
una racionalidad político-económica que se pretende única, se hace necesario un análisis
crítico para descifrar las claves de nuestra práctica cultural y para poner en práctica todo el
conocimiento local aprendido, que permita sacar a la luz otros discursos practicables posibles
desde lógicas marginales.
Palabras claves
Ecología cultural, Ecología simbólica, ecología política, antropología medio ambiental
Abstract
In recent years, ethnographic work on environmental conflict has generated a considerable
amount of activity. This article contextualizes the different perspectives (ecological, symbolic-
cognitive and political) that have dealt with the environment, the construction of nature, and the
role given to nature in the distribution of power relations. The authors consider the perspectives
of symbolic ecology and political ecology to be the approaches that are most relevant for
addressing environmental conflict. In a world of imposed hegemonic visions and globalized
ecological discourses based on a political-economic rationality that claims to be unique, a critical
analysis is needed to decipher the code of our practice of culture and to put into practice all of
the acquired local knowledge, which will allow us to draw out other possible, viable discourses
from marginal logics.
Beatriz Santamarina 145
Key words
Cultural Ecology, Political Ecology, Symbolic Ecology, Environmental Anthropology
1. Introducción
D
esde la antropología, hacer una aproximación reflexiva al medio ambiente en
nuestra práctica cultural supone invitar a la consideración de un tema que ha
ocupado un importante volumen en la producción etnográfica. El medio
ambiente se presenta como una recapacitación entre dos polos tensionales tan
clásicos en la antropología como en nuestra sociedad: naturaleza-cultura. Nos es
imposible pensar el medio ambiente sin una referencia explícita a la Naturaleza, y con
ella se abre una reflexión sobre lo nuestro. Ahora bien, el fenómeno medioambiental y
la necesidad de abordarlo desde una visión concreta, exige una primera mirada sobre
cómo la antropología ha contribuido no sólo a la comprensión de nuestras relaciones
con la naturaleza, sino también a configurar el mundo de lo natural. Dicha reflexión
debe hacerse en dos sentidos. En primer lugar, podemos observar cómo la naturaleza
ha sido un eje de vital importancia en el desarrollo de la disciplina antropológica,
apareciendo como un polo fundamental en su constitución y distribución de sentidos.
Así, una aportación indiscutible de la antropología1 es haber definido la cultura frente a
la naturaleza; de hecho “la relación entre cultura y naturaleza (o entre población y
entorno, si prefiere utilizarse el vocabulario ecológico-técnico) ha ocupado una parte
sustancial del análisis antropológico” (Comas d’Argemir, 1998:124). En este sentido,
hasta la segunda mitad del siglo XX, la delimitación de la cultura era “negativa porque
hablar de cultura equivalía a hacer algún tipo de referencia, implícita o explícitamente,
a lo que se estimaba su contrapartida, la naturaleza” (Luque Baena, 1990:93).
Después de este largo periodo, asistimos a un reconocimiento de la complejidad y del
dinamismo para explicar ambos conceptos, pero las fronteras y las relaciones entre
ambos vendrán marcadas, de igual modo, por la delimitación de esferas. Hay que
esperar hasta mediados de los 80, con la aparición y el desarrollo de la ecología
simbólica, la ecología política y la antropología de la ciencia, para asistir a la
superación de esta dicotomía clásica. Sin duda, la reflexión sobre el medio ambiente,
1
Una característica que no es propia de la disciplina porque, como veremos más adelante, la constitución
moderna de la ciencia occidental se basa en la distinción ontológica entre mundo natural y mundo social (Latour,
1993).
146 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
2
Más bien, dicha descripción se ha utilizado como una doble estrategia: permitía ubicar y dar realidad a una
sociedad concreta. Eso legitimaba al antropólogo al reconocerse su conocimiento del terreno.
3
Seguiremos para este bosquejo las periodizaciones de Orlove (1980) y Valdés y Valdés (1996). Orlove (1980)
diferencia tres estadios en el desarrollo de la antropología ecológica: un primero caracterizado, por el trabajo de
Steward y White; un segundo ocupado por las teorías neofuncionalistas y neoevolucionistas; y un tercero, donde
se desarrollan las enfoques procesuales. Valdés y Valdés (1996) señalan tres etapas: una marcada por la
discusión de los argumentos posibilistas y la aparición de la ecología cultural, otra caracterizada por el afán de
fundar una disciplina más general, y que da lugar al enfoque sistémico y a la perspectiva individualista; y, por
último, la etapa actual, en la que se produce una síntesis de los enfoques anteriores (homeostático y procesual).
Por otro lado, hay que señalar que Milton (2001a) utiliza otro esquema para hablar del desarrollo de la
perspectiva ecológica, aunque hemos preferido utilizar estos porque se ajustan más, desde nuestro punto de
vista, a una visión global de las distintas etapas de la perspectiva de la ecología cultural.
Beatriz Santamarina 151
pasivo (el entorno tiene sólo un sentido delimitador, un papel negativo); es la cultura,
lo supraorgánico, quien cobra el protagonismo (lo social es lo que determina lo social).
En 1952, después de las fuertes críticas suscitadas por el valor otorgado a lo
superorgánico, ofrece una definición de cultura más elaborada; sin embargo, los
postulados no difieren de sus planteamientos anteriores. El esquema se repite: existe
una ‘natural’ naturaleza de la cultura. Esta es quizás la frase que mejor resume el
planteamiento de Kroeber.
Los planteamientos de Kroeber fueron muy atacados en su época, pero, como
ha señalado Harris, “el más decidido apoyo a lo superorgánico de Kroeber llegó de un
ángulo totalmente inesperado. En ‘The expansion of the scope of science’, Leslie
White defiende a Kroeber como uno de los pocos antropólogos que se han esforzado
por formular la filosofía de una ciencia de la cultura” (1987:287). La concepción de
White parte de unas premisas muy parecidas a las de Kroeber, pero radicalizando aún
más el determinismo cultural. Para él, la cultura sólo se explica a través de la cultura
([1959]1975b) puesto que la cultura tiene un desarrollo propio una vez se ha
desprendido de su origen en la evolución biológica. La delimitación entre la naturaleza
y la cultura queda establecida de forma precisa por la capacidad simbólica de los
seres humanos4. En su teoría cobra especial importancia la relación entre la energía,
la eficacia tecnológica y la evolución. Su modelo contempla tres subsistemas: el
tecnológico, el social y el ideológico. De ellos, el tecnológico es el principal y explica la
evolución de la cultura. Su esquema es sencillo: la evolución depende de la capacidad
para aprovechar la energía que hay en el entorno, y esto se consigue a través del
sistema tecnológico5. Dicha fórmula “contradice el postulado inicial de White. ¿Cómo
argumentar que la cultura sólo se explica por la cultura si hay al menos un elemento
exógeno que la determina?” (Luque Baena, 1990:98). Al definir la cultura le concede
una autonomía propia pero, al explicar el desarrollo de la humanidad en términos
tecnológicos-energéticos, da entrada al medio como un factor explicativo en la
evolución cultural. Para White, la clave está en controlar los recursos naturales. La
diferencia radica en que no es lo mismo apropiarse de ellos que aprovecharlos y
transformarlos. El factor tecnológico se convierte en fundamental para explicar el
4
La cultura es “la clase de las cosas y acontecimientos que dependen de simbolizar, en cuanto son
consideradas en un contexto extrasomático” (White, [1959]1975:139).
5
“La cultura se desarrolla según aumenta la cantidad de energía aprovechada per cápita al año, o según
aumenta la eficacia de los medios instrumentales que ponen la energía en funcionamiento” ([1949]1993b:325).
152 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
White lo expresa en la siguiente fórmula E x T = C, donde E es la energía per cápita, T la eficiencia para
aprovecharla y C el grado de desarrollo cultural.
6
“Los sistemas culturales, igual que los del nivel biológico, tienen capacidad para crecer. Es decir, el poder de
captar energía es también la capacidad de aprovecharla cada vez más. Así, los sistemas culturales, igual que los
organismos biológicos, se desarrollan, multiplican y expanden” ([1949] 1993: 366).
7
Para Steward, los aspectos de la cultura son interdependientes, pero varía el grado y el tipo. El concepto de
‘núcleo cultural’ permite ver cómo existen elementos que están más vinculados a la subsistencia y a la economía
(también en el núcleo se encuentran las pautas sociales, políticas y religiosas), aunque existen otros elementos
secundarios que dependen de factores histórico-culturales, y que pueden dar una imagen distinta entre dos culturas
que tienen un mismo núcleo. Así, “la ecología cultural presta especial atención a aquellas características con las
Beatriz Santamarina 153
que el análisis empírico muestra estar más estrechamente relacionado en la utilización del entorno de modos
culturalmente prescritos” ([1955]1993:339).
8
“A la naturaleza le da lo mismo que Dios sea un padre amantísimo o un sanguinario caníbal. Pero no le es
indiferente que el período de barbecho de un campo cultivado por el método de roza dure un año o
diez”(1982:73).
154 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
alimentos ‘buenos para comer’ son, sin duda, aquellos que tienen una relación
coste/beneficio más óptimo en comparación con los que son ‘malos para comer’. En
esta relación coste/beneficio, nos dirá Harris, las culturas no sólo tienen en cuenta el
valor nutritivo sino también el coste/beneficio9 de la producción y sus efectos sobre
el medio. Las cocinas serán más carnívoras o más herbívoras dependiendo de las
poblaciones, los hábitats y los recursos tecnológicos, de tal forma que todos los
rasgos culturales tienen un sentido ecológico. El determinismo ambiental de su
explicación es evidente al otorgar al ambiente un papel sobresaliente en el desarrollo
de las culturas y al considerar los rasgos culturales como expresiones de la
racionalidad adaptativa. En suma, el materialismo cultural enarbolado por Harris,
reduce la cultura a la naturaleza, la ideología a la práctica, lo ideal a lo material, y
todo desde un determinismo infraestructural que desvaloriza el orden cultural y que
reduce sus explicaciones a la adaptación al medio por parte de los sistemas. Las
críticas a esta perspectiva han sido numerosas, aunque el ataque más directo le
viene formulado por Sahlins y Godelier10.
Nada más contrario al materialismo cultural que la posición adoptada por
Sahlins, la cual queda bien recogida en Cultura y Razón práctica ([1976]1997). En su
comienzo advierte: “este libro contribuye a una crítica antropológica de la idea de que
las culturas humanas se formulan a partir de la actividad práctica y, subyacente a ella,
del interés utilitario” (Sahlins, [1976]1997:9). Frente a la razón práctica, Sahlins
propone la razón simbólica o cognitiva; frente al postulado de que los humanos nos
movemos en un mundo material adopta la consideración de que somos los únicos
seres que tenemos esquemas significativos. De ahí que parta de la premisa de que la
cultura debe explicarse en términos de ella misma. Para él, las culturas son órdenes
significativos sistemáticos y no pueden ser simplemente aleatorias invenciones de la
mente. La cultura no puede ser vista como una variable dependiente de la lógica
práctica, ni debe ser entendida a partir de las fuerzas materiales; más bien al
contrario, los efectos materiales dependen de la interpretación cultural. Su postura
frente a la naturaleza es justo la inversa a la de Harris, puesto que para él se produce
9
Estos costes/beneficios se traducirían en las economías de mercado en ‘bueno para comer, bueno para
vender’.
10
Las principales críticas de Godelier al materialismo vulgar se centran en subrayar el reduccionismo que
establece Harris de las relaciones entre economía y sociedad, en su definición histórica como una serie de
hechos con cierta frecuencia estadística y en su concepción del término adaptación. Volveremos a Godelier más
adelante.
Beatriz Santamarina 155
11
“Aunque la antropología ecológica comparte con el resto de la antropología cultural el objetivo de esclarecer la
cultura humana, difiere en una gran parte de aquella en que intenta explicar la cultura en términos de la parte que
juega en los aspectos de la existencia humana que son comunes a los seres vivientes” (Rappaport, 1975:268).
156 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
12
Tal enfoque será sustituido a finales de los setenta por la ecología evolutiva, una perspectiva individualista,
que bebe tanto de la teoría evolucionista y genética como de los modelos matemáticos. Las unidades de análisis
ya no serán las poblaciones sino los individuos, y el interés se centra en ver cómo un organismo individual es
capaz de desarrollar estrategias para resolver la adaptación al entorno. En los ochenta este enfoque conducirá a
un análisis procesual de las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras (Optimal Foraging Theory). El presupuesto de
esta teoría es que la conducta depredadora ha sido proyectada por selección natural como adaptación a las
situaciones cambiantes, y que las respuestas procuran el mayor beneficio posible. Es decir, se trata de observar
a qué problemas se enfrenta un depredador para ver qué estrategias pone en marcha el individuo para
asegurarse la supervivencia y la reproducción. Según Valdés y Valdés, “las últimas investigaciones ecológicas en
antropología apuntan a una síntesis de estos dos enfoques, el sistémico y el individualista [...] La tendencia es
abandonar la concepción monolítica tanto del entorno como del organismo que se adapta a él y considerar la
variabilidad tanto ambiental como individual” (1996:101).
Beatriz Santamarina 157
13
En su último libro, Ritual y Religión (1999), podemos ver claramente el cambio en los planteamientos de
Rappaport.
Beatriz Santamarina 159
14
“Existe una diferencia innegable entre las reacciones orgánicas y las respuestas humanas. En el caso primero,
una respuesta directa e inmediata sigue al estímulo externo, en el segundo la respuesta es demorada, es
interrumpida y retardada en un proceso lento y complicado de pensamiento” (1965:47)
160 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
modificándose a través del tiempo. Dicho eje atraviesa toda su argumentación en dos
sentidos: en primer lugar, el paso de la naturaleza a la cultura instaura la norma y el
orden; en segundo lugar, aparece como base para comprender los procesos mentales
y los principios organizativos de categorización y diferenciación social a partir de los
objetos naturales.
En Las estructuras elementales de parentesco ([1949]1981) podemos ver cómo
el puente entre naturaleza y cultura constituye el cimiento, no sólo de su teoría del
parentesco, sino también de toda su concepción antropológica. Para Lévi-Strauss, el
átomo de parentesco es la alianza, o en negativo, la prohibición del incesto y la función
de esta prohibición consiste en impulsar el intercambio recíproco de las mujeres. El
incesto se elevará a la expresión de un principio universal de reciprocidad y, aunque
éste no sea un principio explicativo, sí lo será orientativo. Además, el principio de
reciprocidad es remitido finalmente a la estructura mental subyacente. Lévi-Strauss
parte de formular una cuestión clave en su interpretación, “¿Dónde termina la
naturaleza? ¿Dónde comienza la cultura?” ([1949]1981:36). Él mismo dice que es
imposible saber dónde se produce el pasaje de una a otra. Sólo sabemos que, cuando
aparece la regla, estamos hablando de cultura y que, cuando tomamos como criterio
lo universal, hemos atravesado la frontera de la naturaleza. Así, pasa a demostrar que
la prohibición del incesto cumple los dos criterios que definen tanto a la cultura como a
la naturaleza: la regla y la universalidad. La regla del incesto es social pero, al mismo
tiempo, es presocial por la universalidad y por el tipo de relaciones que impone su
norma. La prohibición se encuentra en el umbral de la cultura, en la cultura y es la
cultura misma. No tiene un origen cultural o natural, constituye “el pasaje de la
naturaleza a la cultura (...) el vínculo de unión entre una y otra” ([1949]1981:59).
Supone el nacimiento de un nuevo orden al superarse ‘la naturaleza a sí misma’. De
modo que el incesto representa “el pasaje del hecho natural de la consanguinidad al
hecho cultural de la alianza” ([1949]1981:66)15. En este sentido, el incesto instaura la
regla (domestica el azar) al establecer un orden que inaugura la organización. La
prohibición del incesto es el estigma del principio de organización. Supone un sistema
de prestaciones y contraprestaciones que conecta a los miembros entre sí. La regla
15
La misma naturaleza actuaría bajo el doble principio de dar y recibir, que se traduce en la oposición de
matrimonio y filiación. La alianza está más libre puesto que la naturaleza no le fija su contenido; inversamente, la
filiación se halla determinada por la naturaleza. La alianza se presenta como el único fenómeno universal sobre
el que la naturaleza no ha acabado de decirlo todo, la impone pero sin determinarla. El papel desempeñado por
la cultura es el de sustituir el desorden por la organización.
Beatriz Santamarina 161
16
Lenguaje e incesto jugarán para el autor el mismo papel universal ([1949]1981:571), mientras que lenguaje y
exogamia cumplen la misma función de comunicación entre los hombres.
17
Según Malinowski o Radcliffe-Brown, todo animal totémico podía ser explicado por el principio de ‘bueno para
comer’; sin embargo, para Lévi-Strauss dicha teoría no deja de ser una imagen simplista del tótem que, en cierta
medida, se corresponde con las visiones tradicionales acerca de los pueblos salvajes o primitivos. En dicho
sentido aclarará “nunca y en ninguna parte, el ‘salvaje’ ha sido, sin la menor duda, ese ser salido apenas de la
condición de animal, entregado todavía al imperio de sus necesidades y de sus instintos, que demasiado a
menudo nos hemos complacido en imaginar y, mucho menos, esa conciencia dominada por la afectividad y
ahogada en la confusión y la participación” ([1962]1988:69).
162 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
18
“Se comprende que las especies naturales no sean elegidas por ‘buenas para comer’ sino por ‘buenas para
pensar’” ([1962]1997:131).Como ya vimos dicha permisa será contestada por el materialismo cultural (Harris,
[1985]1997).
19
La diferencia entre tipos de conocimiento (salvaje/científico) se diluye, según Lévi-Strauss, porque ambos
constituyen “los dos niveles estratégicos en que la naturaleza se deja atacar por el conocimiento científico: uno
de ellos aproximativamente ajustado a la percepción y la imaginación y el otro desplazado” (Lévi-Strauss,
[1962]1988:33).
Beatriz Santamarina 163
20
Existe “una tendencia natural a expresar determinado tipo de situaciones por medio de un estilo corporal
adecuado a ellas. Esa tendencia puede calificarse de natural en tanto que es inconsciente y se obedece a ella en
todas las culturas” (Douglas, [1970]1988:93).
164 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
expresan la cosmología de una sociedad, establecen las directrices, y con ellas, las
normas y el control social. Las categorías sociales se expresan por símbolos
‘naturales construidos’ pero, a su vez, parece como si existiera, en su explicación, un
‘natural’ sistema de ‘símbolos naturales’ que facilitaría la correspondencia de
categorías. Es preciso retener que Douglas, al igual que Turner, como veremos a
continuación, considera que se produce una culturización de la naturaleza.
En Turner ([1967]1980) podemos ver otro ejemplo de la utilización de la
dicotomía naturaleza-cultura como marco analítico para la interpretación. En cada
ritual, nos dice, podemos encontrar una teleología propia con unos fines
determinados, siendo los símbolos los vehículos a través de los cuáles se pueden
alcanzar esos fines. Los símbolos son representaciones sociales, hechos sociales.
Así, ve las celebraciones rituales “como fases específicas de los procesos sociales por
los que los grupos llegaban a ajustarse a sus cambios internos y adaptarse a su
medio ambiente” ([1967]1980:22). Para Turner, lo importante es establecer de partida
cuáles son las características propias de los símbolos rituales. Estos presentan tres
rasgos fundamentales: la propiedad de condensación; la capacidad de unificar
significados dispares; y la polarización de sentido. Este último está referido a los dos
polos de sentido: uno ideológico y uno sensorial. En el primero, los significados se
refieren a elementos de los órdenes moral y social, se encuentra en él una distribución
de las normas y valores de la sociedad, los principios de organización social; en el
segundo polo, los significados están referidos a fenómenos naturales o fisiológicos,
existe una correlación entre el contenido y la forma externa del símbolo. Los símbolos
son multirreferenciales, “su cualidad esencial consiste en su yuxtaposición de lo
groseramente físico con lo estructuralmente normativo, de lo orgánico con lo social”
(Turner, [1967]1980:33). Dicha culturización de la naturaleza, expresada a través de
los símbolos, es lo que para Turner hace posible la aceptación del sistema social. Los
símbolos rituales son medios para conducir la realidad social y natural ([1968]1990). El
ritual, a través de sus símbolos, pone de relieve elementos de su cultura y, a su vez,
los relaciona con regularidades naturales y fisiológicas. Es una ‘representación
económica’ de aspectos fundamentales, “en la medida en que representa la
destilación o la condensación de muchas costumbres seculares y de muchas
regularidades naturales” (Turner, [1967]1980:55). Los símbolos son capaces de
aglutinar, por un lado, referentes de carácter natural y, por otro, los principios que
Beatriz Santamarina 165
21
Turner pone, como ejemplo, la clasificación de los colores en el ritual ndembu, un sistema clasificatorio basado
en una tríada de colores. En el contexto ritual, los colores son símbolos que representan la experiencia humana
de lo orgánico, los productos del cuerpo humano, y esa experiencia física vinculada a los colores es, a su vez,
expresión de las experiencias de las relaciones sociales. Además, los colores no sólo manifiestan las
experiencias corporales, sino que suponen un esquema de clasificación fundamental de la realidad.
22
Biersack (1999a) reconoce que Descola fue el primero en utilizar el neologismo ‘ecología simbólica’, aunque
apunta que existieron numerosos antecedentes al mismo. Entre ellos destaca, como fundamental, el legado de
Rappaport por su distinción entre modelos cognitivos y modelos operativos y por la importancia que otorga a la
construcción de la naturaleza. No obstante, ve en la mitología de Lévi-Strauss, en la antropología simbólica de los
60 y 70, en la etnosemántica de los 50 y 60, y en el estudio de Mauss y Durkheim sobre la clasificación primitiva, los
primeros pasos hacia la misma. Además, considera que el trabajo de MacCormak y Strathern (1980) fue el primero
en explicitar que la naturaleza era una construcción socialmente variable. Por otra parte, señala que la ecología
simbólica también ha sido influenciada por diferentes disciplinas que van desde la geografía cultural o la historia del
arte, hasta la ecocrítica en literatura y los estudios de historia sobre la construcción histórica de la naturaleza.
23
Anteriormente, Strathern (1980) ya había insistido en la necesidad de no interpretar bajo nuestros esquemas
de naturaleza, cultura y sociedad a otras culturas, puesto que ‘naturaleza y cultura’ son productos culturales, no
realidades dadas.
24
Descola la define como “el estudio de las relaciones entre una comunidad de organismos vivos y su medio”
(1986:15)
166 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
naturaleza hay que combinar de forma indisoluble los aspectos materiales y los
simbólicos, es imposible separar las determinaciones técnicas de las mentales.
Su punto de partida es rechazar las dos concepciones dominantes sobre las
relaciones de los seres humanos con el medio, ya que una se caracteriza por el
énfasis puesto en las producciones mentales, y la otra por la reducción de la práctica a
la función adaptativa, ignorando todo significado. En contraste, Descola considera
que, para acceder a las relaciones ser humano-naturaleza, es necesario observar las
interacciones simbólicas entre las técnicas de socialización de la naturaleza y los
sistemas simbólicos que las organizan. Así, muestra cómo la práctica social de la
naturaleza se articula a la vez sobre la idea que la sociedad tiene de sí misma, sobre
la idea que se hace de su medio ambiente natural y sobre la idea que se forma de su
intervención sobre este medio ambiente. De su aportación, interesa resaltar, sobre
todo, la ruptura de la dicotomía naturaleza/cultura. A través de su etnografía,
demuestra la existencia de otros modelos culturales de aprehensión de la naturaleza
alejados del nuestro. Al analizar el orden antropocéntrico de los achuar pone en
evidencia que, en su construcción de la naturaleza, no existe división entre naturaleza
y cultura; los animales, las plantas y los humanos pertenecen a la misma comunidad y
están sujetos a las mismas reglas. La idea de la naturaleza como una realidad
independiente es totalmente extraña en dicha comunidad; para ellos existe una
continuidad entre los seres humanos y los seres de la naturaleza, entre el mundo
cultural de la sociedad humana y el mundo natural de la sociedad animal. No existe
una separación entre lo natural, lo humano y lo sobrenatural y esta continuidad es
patente en símbolos, rituales y prácticas. Las relaciones sociales engloban a un todo.
Como reconoce el propio Descola, ésta es una de las lecciones más importantes que
ha recibido: “La naturaleza no existe en todas partes ni es eterna; o más exactamente,
que esta separación radical establecida hace mucho tiempo por Occidente entre el
mundo de la naturaleza y el mundo de los hombres no tiene mucha importancia para
otros pueblos que confieren a las plantas y los animales los atributos de la vida social,
los consideran como sujetos antes que como objetos y no sabrían, por tanto,
expulsarlos a una esfera autónoma” (Descola, 1993:440). Y esta lección es, sin duda,
una contribución fundamental para acabar con una dicotomía tan fuertemente
instalada en nuestra práctica social y en la disciplina antropológica. La posibilidad de
reconocer otros modelos locales de naturaleza ha supuesto iniciar un nuevo
Beatriz Santamarina 167
25
“Una experiencia etnográfica en Amazonia me ha convencido finalmente de la idea que las ligaduras técnicas y
ecológicas no son informaciones que existen fuera del pensamiento, y que las lecciones económicas de una
sociedad son mayormente debidas a la manera en que sus miembros se representan la relación con los
componentes orgánicos e inorgánicos de su entorno” (Descola, 1999:118).
26
Como él mismo apunta, “comprender los mecanismos que hacen posible, en los diferentes contextos
históricos, la actualización de estos esquemas de la práctica me parece que constituyen la tarea prioritaria de
168 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
no existe ni una separación entre los seres humanos y los animales, ni entre el
cuerpo y la mente, ni entre el mundo natural y el cultural. No tienen una categoría
que haga referencia a lo que nosotros entendemos por naturaleza, las distinciones
entre seres, objetos y plantas las establecen en función de si son personajes o no.
Una frontera que, en cualquier caso, nos dice el autor, es fluida. Rival (1996), por su
parte, en su estudio sobre los huaorani, pone en evidencia cómo en su cosmología
no hay separación entre el mundo animal y humano, ambos se relacionan
activamente. Y, por poner otro ejemplo, Arhem (1996) señala que entre los makunas
no se da una división jerárquica entre la naturaleza y la cultura, sino un orden
integrado donde los seres (humanos, espíritus, animales y plantas) están
interconectados en una continuidad entre naturaleza y cultura.
En este sentido, la ecología simbólica ha permitido que lo simbólico y lo
material dejen de ser vistos como dicotómicos, reconociendo que interactúan y que
dicha interacción es la que tiene efectos en la realidad. Así, es posible descubrir que
las relaciones humano/naturaleza son dialécticas, siendo el medio ambiente tanto un
producto de esas relaciones como de sus sedimentaciones. Frente a las nociones
clásicas de nicho y medio ambiente (caracterizadas por lo físico, estático, ahistórico,
no relacional...), aparecen nuevas apuestas para definir el entorno. Tal es, por
ejemplo, el caso de Biersack (1999b) que nos propone la noción de ‘lugar’ para una
antropología de la naturaleza focalizada en la interacción de lo simbólico y la
realidad física27. El lugar entendido como una construcción discursiva y material, es
decir, como un producto de la imaginación humana y de la historia, pero también una
realidad material producida por las relaciones sociales28.
Para concluir, podemos decir que la dimensión simbólica de la naturaleza cobra
hoy un nuevo protagonismo, al poner en evidencia que existen muchos modos de
edificar las relaciones ser humano/naturaleza y al sacar a la luz las prácticas, las
instituciones y los discursos que condicionan nuestra percepción del medio. La
percepción dualista se sustenta, desde la época clásica, en la filosofía moral de
una ciencia social renovada que no hace más distinciones entre los objetos de la antropología, de la historia y de
la sociología” (1999:128).
27
Define el lugar como un término flexible que analice las articulaciones local/global y la dialéctica entre lo
simbólico/lo material.
28
Biersack (1999b) realiza un estudio sobre la minería de oro en Papúa Nueva Guinea siguiendo los modelos
cognitivos de Rappaport. En el mismo señala que, para poder interpretar la cosmología y mitología actual de los
paielas, es necesario entender que se trata de modelos cognitivos híbridos resultado del conjunto de las
relaciones entre lo simbólico y lo material.
Beatriz Santamarina 169
29
Siguiendo a Comas (1998), Wolf utiliza el concepto de ecología política, por primera vez, en 1972, en una
ponencia en la que se relaciona los sistemas de propiedad y transmisión con las formas de aprovechamiento de los
recursos, analizando los factores económicos y políticos globales que inciden en los sistemas locales.
30
Ahora bien, apunta que si tomamos como antecedentes los autores que han relacionado ecología y política
habría que incluir a muchos más, como F. Barth y J. Friedman.
31
De tal manera que “los nombres se volvieron cosas y a las cosas señaladas con una x se les podía considerar
como blancos de guerra” (1982:20).
Beatriz Santamarina 171
32
Frente a quien “sostiene que la Mente sigue un curso independiente y propio, yo sostengo que la construcción
de ideología no surge de la confrontación del pensar del Hombre Desnudo sobre la Naturaleza Desnuda; creo
que más bien ocurre dentro del ámbito determinado de un modo de producción cuyo fin es hacer que la
naturaleza se preste al uso humano” (Godelier,1982:469).
33
En “Cognizing ‘Cognized Models’ ” (1999), Wolf realiza una reflexión sobre las contribuciones de Rappaport; en él
podemos ver su insistencia en la necesidad de estudiar el poder estructural desde la perspectiva de la ecología
política y la historia ecológica.
172 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
34
Para Godelier es necesario tener presente que lo racional no es una búsqueda de optimización, sino más bien
una respuesta de conducta intencional que permite la adaptación.
35
El concepto de modo de producción difiere de Wolf a Godelier; de hecho, en este último, es un término más
impreciso.
36
“La intención y la acción de los hombres echa siempre sus raíces y encuentra los límites de sus efectos en las
propiedades y las necesidades no intencionales de las relaciones sociales y de las condiciones de existencia. La
historia, pues, no explica nada, puesto que ella misma precisa ser explicada” (Godelier, 1989:94).
Beatriz Santamarina 173
el desarrollo de una sociedad hay que tener en cuenta dos tipos de materialidades:
una que procede de los seres humanos y otra que procede de la naturaleza. Las
primeras han sido puestas en funcionamiento para actuar sobre las de las segundas.
Pero no siempre la acción humana tiene todo el control sobre la naturaleza. Los
efectos no intencionales nos recuerdan la imposibilidad de someterla por completo, ya
que ésta guarda un grado de independencia con respecto a nosotros.
Si la racionalidad económica de Godelier, entre otras, ha sido una contribución
fundamental, también es cierto que “la ecología política no tiene un corpus
homogéneo, por lo que podemos encontrar reflejados en ella distintos enfoques
teóricos” (Comas D’Argemir, 1998:144). El eclecticismo teórico, la
multidisciplinariedad, la heterogeneidad de su metodología son, sin duda, sus rasgos
más sobresalientes (Vaccaro y Beltran, 2007). Así, la ecología política tiene en común
con la economía política ciertos intereses, pero tiene tantas similitudes como
diferencias respecto a ella. Ambas comparten preocupaciones como las relaciones de
poder que determinan los usos del medio ambiente, la historia del capitalismo y su
crítica, y la desigualdad que ha generado el capitalismo a escala global. Pero la
ecología política se diferencia de la economía política al subrayar los impactos del
medio ambiente, las relaciones de poder que se establecen, no sólo entre clases, sino
entre los seres humanos y la naturaleza (la dominación de la naturaleza) y al
incorporar no sólo las complejas relaciones entre local-global, nacional-global,
nacional-regional, sino también las asimetrías de poder de género, etnia, raza, etc, es
decir, sobre cualquier ecoviolencia (Biersack, 1999a).
De este modo, la nueva perspectiva de la ecología política está generando
múltiples investigaciones, enfatizando el papel de las prácticas y los discursos, que
plantea nuevas interpretaciones sobre intereses clásicos de la antropología (como el
ritual), sobre temas tradicionales de las investigaciones sociales (como los
movimientos sociales) y sobre el conflicto medioambiental (como la construcción
política de la naturaleza en el discursos, las prácticas y las instituciones). El trabajo de
Gezon sobre los Antankarana37 (1999) es un ejemplo de cómo se puede analizar un
conflicto ecológico y un ritual desde la perspectiva de la ecología política38. Desde una
visión postestructuralista, se analiza cómo el simbolismo ritual es desplegado
37
Los Antankarana viven en el norte de Madagascar, en una región rica en recursos de importancia nacional e
internacional.
174 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
38
El estudio se centra en la industria de la pesca y en el papel que juega la posesión de los espíritus y la
innovación ritual como instrumento de lucha para reclamar los recursos territoriales
39
El contexto del análisis es el incremento, desde la década de los 70, de la pesca del camarón en
Madasgascar, lo que provocó la reacción de los Antankarana. Su líder político, reclamó la jurisdicción sobre las
aguas de la costa.
40
En este sentido, se separa de las nociones funcionalistas rappaportianas criticando sus conceptos de
homeostasis y equilibrio dinámico, y entendiendo que las perturbaciones son inherentes a los sistemas.
41
Dicho proceso habría despertado el interés por ellos por dos motivos. En primer lugar, porque los movimientos
están presentes en el contexto de investigación de los antropólogos. Y, en segundo lugar, por los nuevos
intereses de la antropología (Brosius, 1999a:37). Ahora bien, indica que muy pocos antropólogos han prestado
atención al campo de la institucionalización.
42
Brosius sigue los trabajos de Escobar (1995b) sobre la ‘institucionalización’, en los que crítica el desarrollo de
instituciones internacionales y sus manifestaciones locales. A través de un análisis de la construcción del tercer
mundo, pone de manifiesto cómo se han creado aparatos eficaces para edificar conocimientos, desplegándose
un régimen de gobierno sobre el mismo.
Beatriz Santamarina 175
a que la institucionalización puede ser vista, en algunos aspectos, como positiva (el
propósito es la conservación medio ambiental), es necesario atender al proceso por el
cual estas instituciones inscriben y naturalizan ciertos discursos, ya que al tiempo que
proponen alternativas para la preservación medio ambiental, excluyen otras
posibilidades, privilegian a ciertos actores y marginalizan a otros. Podemos ver esto en
el proceso de desplazamiento de las iniciativas y voces indígenas por las voces
nacionales e internacionales en la campaña internacional contra la destrucción de la
selva y los derechos indígenas en el estado de Sarawak (al este de Malasia), en los
años 90 (Brosius, 1999a). En su análisis muestra cómo los actores indígenas son
desplazados por ‘instituciones para la vigilancia y gobierno medioambiental local,
nacional y global’ (el gobierno malayo y las ONG medio ambientales del Norte43 y
malayas). Los acontecimientos hicieron que el domino moral y político se deslizara
hacia el dominio de la gubernamentalidad y la burocratización, a través de privilegios y
exclusiones, ya que las instituciones capacitan o limitan, concretan los espacios de
discurso y de praxis, definen o redefinen los espacios de acción, privilegian algunas
formas de acción y limitan otras. Esta dinámica representa el desplazamiento político
en el dominio del medio ambiente y debe ser leída como un proceso de
gubernamentabilidad en el sentido foucaultiano44. Brosius concluye que las
instituciones medio ambientales, lejos de ser liberadoras, son formas de intervención.
En este sentido, Benabou (2007) en su trabajo sobre el ecoturismo en la Reserva de
Nanda Devi, habla también del carácter paradójico de las ONG medioambientales al
constituirse en portadoras de reivindicaciones locales pero también en figuras
autoritarias. Asimismo algunos autores, como Lauer (2005) en su análisis sobre los
ye’kwana del Alto Orinoco, reconocen la visión idealista y reduccionista de las ONG
sobre los pueblos indígenas (visión naturalizada, podríamos añadir, que ha
impregnado no sólo a las ONG)45. Y otros como Arach (2002), en su investigación
sobre el movimiento originado por la represa de Yacyretá en Paraguay, apuntan que
43
“A la hora de hablar de ‘medioambientalistas del Norte’, imito el uso actual en el que se emplea el término
‘Norte’ para referirse a los países industrializados de Europa, Estados Unidos, Japón y Australia (frente al
término ‘Sur’ que se refiere al ‘Tercer Mundo’)” (Brosius, 1999a:51).
44
“Utilizo el término ‘gubernamentalidad’ en el sentido Foucaultiano de ‘racionalidad gubernamental’ (Gordon,
1991). Cuando hablaba de ‘gubernamentalidad’, Foucault se refería, no sólo al dominio civil/político del gobierno
en su acepción habitual, sino que aludía a un dominio más amplio de discursos y prácticas que crean y
administran a los sujetos mediante la presencia de una serie de aparatos creadores de conocimientos” (Brosius,
1999a:51).
45
Nos encontraríamos con el mito señalado por Milton (1996) de la ‘sabiduría ambiental primitiva’ o, como dice
Descola (1998), con la ‘figura filosófica del buen salvaje’ que convierte, bajo la mirada del mundo industrializado,
a los indígenas “en sagaces sociedades de botánicos y farmacólogos” (1998:221).
176 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
los intereses y perspectivas entre las ONG y las comunidades locales divergen,
aunque la acción puede converger.
En esta dirección, Kottak (1999) ha señalado que las etnoecologías locales, es
decir, las percepciones sociales del medio ambiente, se encuentran hoy en día
desafiadas, transformadas y reemplazadas por las propias transformaciones del
mundo actual. Las migraciones, la difusión de los mass-media, las tecnologías, la
industria, etc., han provocado la importación de valores y prácticas que entran a
menudo en conflicto con las representaciones indígenas. Los sistemas tradicionales
(sus valores, sus ideas, sus lugares) son atacados por todas partes. Pero los impactos
de las fuerzas externas no son uniformes, puesto que cada comunidad tiene su propia
historia y tradición; de ahí que la extensión del desarrollismo y medio ambientalismo
se vea influenciada siempre por las etnoecologías nacionales, regionales y locales, y
por sus poderes de adaptación y resistencia. Desde esta perspectiva, considera que la
existencia de discursos homogeneizadores, como el discurso del desarrollo
sostenible, está imponiendo una moral ecológica global al reemplazar las prácticas
locales por normalizaciones externas. Así, Brosius (1999b) habla del aparato
transnacional del desarrollo sostenible.
Pero la perspectiva de la ecología política no ha sido solamente aplicada en los
contextos postcoloniales. Pese a que su impulso en la disciplina, sobre todo, en la
década de los noventa, se centró en estos contextos por las propias condiciones de
producción (la sustitución de las teorías desarrollistas, la degradación ecológica y el
impulso de los estudios sobre el conflicto medioambiental, el aumento de las
desigualdades sociales, la correspondencia entre la crisis ecológica y el
empobrecimiento, las relaciones desiguales entre lo local y lo global, etcétera), durante
la última década vemos la pertinencia de incorporar dicha mirada en los países
industrializados. Escobar (1995a, 1996, 2000) ha puesto de manifiesto precisamente
cómo el desarrollo sostenible se fundamenta en los logros de la modernidad occidental,
asumiéndolos acríticamente. En dicho enunciado, la construcción histórica del
complejo económico no se pone en duda, ni tampoco su concreción ni su realidad, de
tal forma que la ‘economización de la naturaleza’ se presenta como dada (recursos,
valores, productos, mercados...). Así, denuncia que el juego establecido entre
economía y ecología oculta la creencia de que el sistema sólo necesita pequeños
ajustes en el mercado para lograr un desarrollo ecológico, cuando en realidad lo que se
Beatriz Santamarina 177
46
Las culturas a través de las distintas formas de colonialismo y de dependencia (bajo manifestaciones
ideológicas, políticas, económicas, religiosas, científicas...), la naturaleza a través del capitalismo y de la
explotación de los recursos (bajo manifestaciones ideológicas, políticas, económicas, religiosas, científicas...), y
las mujeres, por poner un ejemplo más, a través del patriarcado y del androcentrismo (bajo manifestaciones
ideológicas, políticas, económicas, religiosas, científicas...).
180 Antropología y Medio Ambiente
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