Coffee, Migration and Climatic Changes: Challenging Adaptation Dichotomic Narratives in a Transborder Region

Celia Ruiz- de-Oña, Patricia Rivera-Castañeda and Yair Merlín-Uribe
Additional contact information
Celia Ruiz- de-Oña: Multidisciplinary Research Center on Chiapas and the Southern Border (CIMSUR), National Autonomous University of Mexico, Calle Ma. Adelina Flores # 34-A, Barrio de Guadalupe, San Cristóbal de Las Casas C.P. 29230, Mexico
Patricia Rivera-Castañeda: Departamento de Estudios Urbanos y Medio Ambiente, Colegio de La Frontera Norte, Tijuana C.P. 22560, Mexico
Yair Merlín-Uribe: Department of Agriculture, Society and Environment, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Carretera Panamericana y Periférico Sur S/N, Barrio María Auxiliadora, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas C.P. 29290, Mexico

Social Sciences, 2019, vol. 8, issue 12, 1-26

Abstract: The narratives of migration as adaptation and in situ adaptation are well established in mainstream adaptation policy and are usually presented as independent and opposing trends of action. A common and fundamental element of such narratives is the depoliticized conception of both migration and adaptation. Using a trans-scalar approach, we address the migration–coffee–climate change nexus: first at a regional scale, at the conflictive border of Guatemala–Mexico, to show the contradiction between the current Central American migratory crisis and the narrative of migration as adaptation; second, at a local scale and from an ethnographic perspective, we focus on the process of in situ adaptation in shade-grown coffee plots of smallholder coffee farmers in the Tacaná Volcano cross-border region, between Chiapas and Guatemala. We argue that the dichotomy “in situ adaptation” versus “migration as adaptation” is not useful to capture the intertwined and political nature of both narratives, as illustrated in the case of the renovation of smallholders’ coffee plots in a context of climatic changes. We provide elements to contribute towards the repolitization of adaptation from an integral perspective.

Keywords: migration-climate change-coffee nexus; migration as adaptation; in situ adaptation; coffee leaf-rust; transborder region; narratives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/12/323/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/12/323/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:8:y:2019:i:12:p:323-:d:290573

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().