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L’écologie politique latino-américaine est un cadre théorique pour penser les relations société-nature et la transition écologique qui a émergé au cours des 25 dernières années et représente aujourd’hui un véritable courant de référence dans le monde luso- hispanophone. Cet article présente la trajectoire et les ramifications de ce cadre théorique, et montre comment il s’est développé dans le sillon de la littérature anglophone de la political ecology, tout en affirmant ses propres influences et objets d’étude en s’appuyant sur des paradigmes plus globaux – tels que le post-structuralisme et le tournant ontologique – mais aussi sur des références épistémologiques propres, notamment la pensée critique latino-américaine, les études décoloniales et divers concepts clés développés depuis cette géographie spécifique et dans une proximité étroite entre les sphères universitaires et militantes. Nous montrons que ce cadre, dans lequel l’émancipation joue un rôle clé, offre des pistes conceptuelles intéressantes pour aborder les crises sociales et écologiques actuelles et spécifiquement pour l’analyse des transitions écologiques des systèmes alimentaires.

Urban gardens are a prominent part of agricultural systems, providing food security and access within cities; however, we still lack sufficient knowledge and general principles about how to manage pests in urban agroecosystems in distinct regions. We surveyed natural enemies (ladybeetles and parasitoids) and conducted sentinel pest removal experiments to explore local management factors and landscape characteristics that influence the provisioning of pest control services in California, USA, and Chiapas, Mexico. We worked in 29 gardens across the two locations. In each location, we collected data on garden vegetation, floral availability, ground cover management, and the percentage of natural, urban, and agricultural land cover in the surrounding landscape. We sampled ladybeetles, Chalcidoidea, and Ichneumonoidea parasitoids with sticky traps, and monitored the removal of three different pest species. Ladybeetle abundance did not differ between locations; abundance decreased with garden size and with tree cover and increased with herbaceous richness, floral abundance, and barren land cover. Chalcicoidea and Ichneumonoidea parasitoids were more abundant in Chiapas. Chalcicoidea abundance decreased with herbaceous richness and with urban cover. Ichneumonoidea abundance increased with mulch and bare ground cover, garden size, garden age, and with agriculture land cover but decreased with tree richness and urban cover. Predators removed between 15-100% of sentinel prey within 24 h but prey removal was greater in California. Generally, prey removal increased with vegetation diversity, floral abundance, mulch cover, and urban land cover, but declined with vegetation cover and bare ground. Although some factors had consistent effects on natural enemies and pest control in the two locations, many did not; thus, we still need more comparative work to further develop our understanding of general principles governing conservation biological control in urban settings.

Different authors from academia and social movements point to agroecology as a path to food sovereignty and as a way out of multiple social-ecological crises. Peasant feminism (feminismo campesino) informs the daily practice of women, and has contributed to broaden the meanings of food sovereignty as a political framework. Vinculación y Desarrollo Agroecológico en Café (VIDA) is a Mexican coffee growers' organization that is centrally guided by principles of agroecology, food sovereignty, and peasant feminism. A transdisciplinary study held with VIDA members shows how food sovereignty is based on more dimensions than the official ones. In this paper, we use the Mexican art of embroidery as an integrating metaphor to analyze how female coffee growers' practices around integral health, food gathering, and bartering contribute to food sovereignty. Our intention is also to analyze how these activities expand from the family unit to the territory, as well as from human to more than human beings. Based on their agroecological knowledge and practice, VIDA's feminist peasant women invite us to consider agroecology and food sovereignty as key dimensions of Earth stewardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory certification, also known as Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS), used to assess the compliance of organic or agroecological production systems, has been widely disseminated worldwide in the last ten years. In this study, we seek to analyze, based on the case of the Red de Productores y Consumidores "Comida sana y cercana" [Network of Producers and Consumers "Healthy and Local Food"], whether participatory certification can contribute to the territorialization of agroecology in the critical perspective of transforming agrifood systems. The researched network is located in the municipality of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, and has been using participatory certification for over 12 years. We analyzed published bibliographies about the network and documents generated by the Network, in addition to conducting observations and interviews. The experience of "Comida sana y cercana" shows that participatory certification is a methodology capable of intersecting the five levels of agroecological transition, from technical issues to social organization and the solidarity economy. The participatory certification is an instrument for the territorialization of agroecology, as it brings farmers closer to agroecological principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)