Latin American Cattle Ranching Sustainability Debate: An Approach to Social-Ecological Systems and Spatial-Temporal Scales

Daniela Figueroa, Leopoldo Galicia and Manuel Suárez Lastra
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Daniela Figueroa: Posgrado en Geografía, Circuito de Posgrados SN, Coyoacán. Edificio E. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Leopoldo Galicia: Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Manuel Suárez Lastra: Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-17

Abstract: The significance of Latin America (LA) in the global food supply is large and prominent. The livestock sector at this time faces social-ecological challenges that will be accentuated in the future and will be incredibly challenging for small and medium producers. We conducted a systematic literature review to understand the role of LA cattle ranching in the current sustainability debate. In addition, we identified the main components of cattle ranching social-ecological systems and evaluated the institutional and ecological interactions of livestock studies by identifying spatial and temporal scales. Our results show a broad debate on livestock sustainability in LA; nevertheless, efforts to measure sustainability and analyze cattle ranching systemically are scarce. The study of LA cattle ranching in the 21st century was geographically concentrated on the main producing countries (Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina) and was consistently promoted by government and academic institutions aiming to understand management strategies that improve yields. However, it less often focused on analyzing their impacts on ecosystems and climate. The complexity and dynamism of cattle ranching in LA make it necessary to address sustainable planning from a systemic approach to guide viable transformations through spatial scales.

Keywords: livestock; ecosystem services; multifunctionality; collective action; scales (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8924-:d:867733

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