By Georgia Jackson, College of Arts and Sciences
In the central highlands of Guatemala, cloud forests teem with life. The misty, high-altitude environment is home to a number of amphibians, reptiles, insects, mammals and birds, including Guatemala's national bird, the resplendent quetzal.
Guatemala's cloud forests are high-altitude, tropical forests known for their biodiversity. [Photo courtesy of Emily Christoff]
Beyond its unique flora and fauna, the land is also prized by corporate farmers for its valleys full of rich soil.
鈥淲hen I visited, a major monocrop was avocado plantations,鈥� said Jamie Sommer, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences whose research examines the ways in which institutional factors and internal governance constraints impact environment and development outcomes.
A large-scale farming practice that entails growing a single crop 鈥� like corn and black beans 鈥� year after year on the same land, monocropping can deplete soil health, decrease biodiversity and lead to an increase in pests and disease.
According to Sommer, monocropping is forcing local inhabitants out of the lush valleys and into other areas, including the surrounding mountains, where it is more difficult to grow food.
Sommer traveled to the region to speak with the Mayan women of San Juan Chamelco who are fighting to maintain their cultural heritage in the face of industrial agriculture, deforestation and rising temperatures that are disturbing the cloud forest with torrential rains and droughts, devastating traditional crops.
鈥淒roughts dry out the soil, increasing the amount of soil carried down the mountains during periods of torrential rains and leaving less soil and nutrients for those farming on the mountains,鈥� Sommer said. 鈥淭he soil being less fertile means that farmers must use more and more fertilizer to produce any crops, which is then also carried down by the rains into the rivers and streams used for drinking water and other activities.鈥�
Many of the women Sommer spoke with also mentioned the arrival of new bugs.
In Guatemala, Indigenous people of Maya descent make up about 40% of the population. [Photo courtesy of Emily Christoff]
鈥淚nsecticides can interrupt ecosystems either by killing natural predators that kept pest populations down, changing their behaviors or removing their food sources,鈥� said Sommer, who worked with her team at the Climate Knowledge Collective to collect oral histories from the local women. 鈥淚n the oral histories we collected, people discussed how they have had to use more pesticides over time to produce crops and to keep bugs and other dangers to crops under control.鈥�
Sommer鈥檚 trip was part of an ongoing collaboration with the Community Cloud Forest Conservation (CCFC), an organization that has worked alongside local communities for over thirty years to reforest the area, preserve traditional knowledge and organize educational opportunities. She also met with teachers associated with the Women in Agroecology Leadership for Conservation (WALC) program.
鈥淚 learned about their efforts to plant many different kinds of crops and plants together in particular ways to reduce soil erosion and the need to use agrochemicals,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am excited to continue to work with my research team and our partners at the CCFC and WALC program to further develop my understanding of the complexities between forest loss, agricultural issues, water insecurity and the responsibility and resilience folks are using to cope with globalization and change.鈥�