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Food systems are in constant change. One of the main sources of change is the urbanization process, which affects household food consumption patterns, leading to possible health effects on its members. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between urbanization and household food consumption patterns in the different Peruvian territories, the differences between them and the changes they have experienced over time. The mechanisms to obtain food, sales formats and the relative weight of food expenditure compared to total expenditure are also analyzed, all this employing a territorial typology that recognizes the existence of a rurality/urbanity gradient. The effects of these changes on health are studied too. Results show a strong relation between urbanization and food consumption patterns. The more urban the territory, the higher the share of households that consume processed and elaborated food products, but the lower the relative weight of expenditure in those types of products. Following this, results also suggest that the more urban the territory, the greater the probability that at least one household member suffers from a chronic disease. This way, the degree of rurality/urbanity of the territory plays a determinant role in food consumption patterns. Finally, although these results are intuitive, their value lies in the fact that they provide rigorous evidence and allow to quantify the analyzed relationships

Humans place strong pressure on land and have modified around 75% of Earth's terrestrial surface. In this context, ecoregions and biomes, merely defined on the basis of their biophysical features, are incomplete characterizations of the territory. Land system science requires classification schemes that incorporate both social and biophysical dimensions. In this study, we generated spatially explicit social-ecological land system (SELS) typologies for South America with a hybrid methodology that combined data-driven spatial analysis with a knowledge-based evaluation by an interdisciplinary group of regional specialists. Our approach embraced a holistic consideration of the social-ecological land systems, gathering a dataset of 26 variables spanning across 7 dimensions: physical, biological, land cover, economic, demographic, political, and cultural. We identified 13 SELS nested in 5 larger social-ecological regions (SER). Each SELS was discussed and described by specific groups of specialists. Although 4 environmental and 1 socioeconomic variable explained most of the distribution of the coarse SER classification, a diversity of 15 other variables were shown to be essential for defining several SELS, highlighting specific features that differentiate them. The SELS spatial classification presented is a systematic and operative characterization of South American social-ecological land systems. We propose its use can contribute as a reference framework for a wide range of applications such as analyzing observations within larger contexts, designing system-specific solutions for sustainable development, and structuring hypothesis testing and comparisons across space. Similar efforts could be done elsewhere in the world. Copyright © 2022 by the author(s).

La actividad casta��era tiene el potencial para armonizar el desarrollo econ��mico de la regi��n Madre de Dios y la integridad de sus bosques, siempre y cuando los beneficios que la actividad conlleva sean distribuidos de manera justa entre los actores del sistema casta��ero. El dise��o colectivo de iniciativas empresariales y de investigaci��n es de suma importancia para garantizar su sostenibilidad, as�� como una distribuci��n de beneficios m��s equitativa. Es importante involucrar a un mayor y m��s diverso n��mero de personas, en particular a las mujeres y a los j��venes, en estos procesos. La participaci��n activa del gobierno es necesaria para la regulaci��n y control dentro de esta actividad; sin ��l, los procesos se hacen de manera informal e ineficiente, desincentivando as�� el crecimiento de la misma.

Frente al incremento de las presiones sobre los recursos naturales y de la informalidad que caracteriza muchas de las actividades extractivas en la Amazon��a peruana, las pol��ticas p��blicas actuales muestran su limitada eficiencia. Trabajar hacia una mayor coherencia de pol��ticas de conservaci��n ambiental y de desarrollo sostenible requiere formular pol��ticas que respondan a los problemas locales y a las necesidades de los diversos usuarios de los bosques y actores de la sociedad. Organizaciones estatales, no estatales y poblaci��n local deben identificar mecanismos, incentivos o estrategias participativas innovadoras, que permitan promover acuerdos comunes para la conservaci��n del medioambiente y la generaci��n de mejores condiciones de vida para las personas.

Frente al incremento de las presiones sobre los recursos naturales y de la informalidad que caracteriza muchas de las actividades extractivas en la Amazonía peruana, las políticas públicas actuales muestran su limitada eficiencia. Trabajar hacia una mayor coherencia de políticas de conservación ambiental y de desarrollo sostenible requiere formular políticas que respondan a los problemas locales y a las necesidades de los diversos usuarios de los bosques y actores de la sociedad. Organizaciones estatales, no estatales y población local deben identificar mecanismos, incentivos o estrategias participativas innovadoras, que permitan promover acuerdos comunes para la conservación del medioambiente y la generación de mejores condiciones de vida para las personas.

La actividad castañera tiene el potencial para armonizar el desarrollo económico de la región Madre de Dios y la integridad de sus bosques, siempre y cuando los beneficios que la actividad conlleva sean distribuidos de manera justa entre los actores del sistema castañero. El diseño colectivo de iniciativas empresariales y de investigación es de suma importancia para garantizar su sostenibilidad, así como una distribución de beneficios más equitativa. Es importante involucrar a un mayor y más diverso número de personas, en particular a las mujeres y a los jóvenes, en estos procesos. La participación activa del gobierno es necesaria para la regulación y control dentro de esta actividad; sin él, los procesos se hacen de manera informal e ineficiente, desincentivando así el crecimiento de la misma.

This transdiciplinary research aimed to establish the basis for a science-policy-society interface on behalf of environmental conservation and sustainable development in Madre de Dios, Peru by: (1) identifying and characterizing the stakeholders of biodiversity conservation and human well-being; (2) analyzing stakeholders' views on major development trends in the region; and (3) initiating a process of stakeholder engagement fromacademia, government, and civil society. The methods used included field visits, expert interviews, stakeholder mapping, stakeholder surveys, anda participatory multi-stakeholder workshop. Stakeholder mapping revealed 16 categories of key actors grouped among direct land-resource users,indirect land-resource users, the public sector, civil society, and research institutions. According to the actors surveyed, weak government institutionsand corruption are key underlying causes of environmental and social problems in Madre de Dios – particularly in connection with gold mining andother illegal or informal extractive activities. The research also highlighted the innovative potential that exists in the region, which has been home toseveral successful initiatives for nature and people in recent decades.

The main purpose of higher education is usually framed as research excellence, with a focus on systems knowledge and competitive publishing. This does not leave much room for preparing students to be refl ective and active practition-ers of knowledge-based change responding to societal needs. The biggest challenge of Edu-cation for Sustainable Mountain Develop-ment (ESMD) at tertiary level is conveyed in the preposition “for”: it must contain space for learning arrangements that foster change agency. Case study-based learning in real-world environments enables this (e.g. summer school).

Social learning tools that facilitate a process of knowledge co-production among diverse actors have proved useful to support resilience building and adaptation planning in highly vulnerable mountain areas. Can such tools be integrated in higher education to foster stu-dents’ capacities to contribute to more sustain-able development pathways in mountains?

Dedicated academic mountain journals emerged as of the beginning of the 20th century from a need to collect very diverse work focusing on mountains as a fascinating and challenging environment as well as a place of unique livelihood systems. We present a brief overview of the four peer-reviewed, indexed journals that exist today for mountain scholarship and show how strongly connected they are with an understanding of science linked to sustainable development. This specificity is confirmed by the fact that – as of the 1970s – a number of leading mountain scholars from around the world started engaging not only in research but also in policy action to ensure that mountains and mountain development are taken into account in key global sustainable development documents.