Trawick, Paul. "Review: Going with the Flow: The State of Contemporary Studies of Water Management in Latin America." Latin American Research Review 40 (2005). http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/stable/pdfplus/3662851.pdf?acceptTC=true (accessed February 21, 2011).
In this piece by Paul Trawick, the discussion is focused on contemporary water management in Latin America. Trawick goes on to talk about the effect water management plays in the international devolvement of the Latin American region, as well as a focus on irrigation as a major factor in water management. Quite importantly, this text gives recognition to irrigation problems as being something that isn’t a matter of technological prowess, but instead a much more complicated social, political, and moral issue. Then, the policies and approaches taken beneath these social, political, and moral topics are further critiqued, including their effectiveness. The scramble to find a compromise within water management is characterized by big names such as the World Bank and privatization. This text further analyses all of the aspects of the water dilemma in the Latin America region by summing up the problems with water management, as well as the negative effects people see now. Effective local management is brought up as a key feature for Latin American governments, in an effort to disregard water as a business, and more like a resource.
This is a peer-reviewed scholarly source derived from the University of Texas Press.
(Jake DeHart)
Carr, David, Anna Lopez, and Richard Bilsborrow. "The Population, Agriculture, And Environment Nexus In Latin America: Country-Level Evidence From The Latter Half Of The Twentieth Century." Population and Environment 30 (2009). http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/content/6h80qg41602j250w/fulltext.pdf (accessed February 21, 2011).
This paper is about the possible correlation between migration, population growth, and land degradation in Latin America - directly based upon gathered statistics on the matter. Specifically population increases are based on information gathered from 1961 to 2001, and land degradation is focused on agriculture and forest cover. This report has concluded that there has been an increase in deforestation during this time; however the population growth in correlation to deforestation isn’t as clear. These findings indicate that it isn’t as clear as to what influenced deforestation. The point of debate is what contributes more to deforestation: a high population holding a high workforce that is able to produce larger amounts of food to sustain itself (Boserupian theory), or a population growing so fast that it cannot keep up with agricultural demands to sustain itself (Malthusian theory). However either way, it’s clear that the steady population growth taking place is having effects such as increased urban consumption and future land use constraints. All of these issues place an ever increasing weight on Latin American policy makers to create sustainable population and agriculture management for the future.
Published by Springer, is a peer-reviewed journal written by three university professors.
(Jake DeHart)
World Bank."Visualizing Future Climate in Latin America: Results from the Application of the Earth Simulator." World Bank. siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLAC/Resources/SDWP_Future_Climate.pdf (accessed February 21, 2011).
This report is an examination of the results of the Earth Simulator in hopes of gaining further insight on what climate to expect in the future of Latin America. The document starts by stating observations on climate change in the South American region – with data beginning to be gathered at around 1997. The results concluded that already “unhealthy” ecosystems hold a grim future with the observed trends. Throughout the rest of the report, outcomes from the Earth Simulator are discussed which pertain to certain areas where the World Bank is supposedly to have assisted in adaptation to the changing climate. Overall, this piece lists potential and specific outcomes of climate change in Latin America – such as warming of high mountain ecosystems and the resulted flooding. The Earth Simulator is implemented as support for the substantial claims being made, and also acts as a “looking glass” into the future, which is vital if we are to combat the issues at hand, and assess the problems looming around the corner.
This research document was published by a well-known world organization that bases itself off of dissolving poverty.
(Jake DeHart)
Southwick, Charles H. Global Ecology In Human Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Throughout this text, Charles Southwick carves away at the immense topic of global ecology. Different sections of the book address topics differentiating in scale and variety. Examples of topics include human interaction, and the ecological components of the earth. Each topic is described in enough depth to inform the reader about many aspects of global ecology, in order to give the reader the knowledge to assess larger implications and responsibilities. During Southwick’s analysis, he takes a look at specific regions which includes Latin America. Specifically, he talks about land degradation taking place in particularly in highlands and hilly country, which much describes a Latin American country such as Brazil. He continues on to point out a downward tumble of soil erosion. As the higher altitude land is deplinished due to overgrazing, overcropping, and ecological destruction, lower land and alternative spaces are heavily relied upon. Because these low lands already have problems of their own, they cannot always support a large migrated population, thus continuing the instability.
Charles Southwick’s book was published from a reputable source, and he is a distinguished and well known modern ecologist.
(Jake DeHart)
Diamond, Jared Collapse (Penguin, 2005).
Jared Diamond gives a very interesting historical account of one of Latin America’s most famous indigenous people, the Mayans, and their preventable collapses. Diamond highlights four factors that led to their numerous falls including: damage to environment, climate change, hostility between classes and people with more resources, and political/cultural practices. While these collapses happened over a thousand years ago, the dimensions of their collapse are still practiced by not only Latin America, but in many other places of the world. This advanced civilization and these dimensions are very important to study if we expect any country in Latin America, or any other country in the world to avoid the same pitfalls.
The story of the Mayan Collapse itself is one thousand years old, however lessons of their demise will continue to be learned for generations thanks to scientist, Jared Diamond. His own story as an award-winning author for books like Gun, Germs, and Steel shows him to be a reliable source of information in this field of study. Penguin, the press that published this book is considered a reputable press among academia; therefore, the combination of the work of this author, and the work of this publishing press demonstrates a reliable source.
Hardoy J., and Pandiella G. 2009. "Urban poverty and vulnerability to climate change in Latin America". Environment and Urbanization. 21 (1): 203-224.
In this paper, Jorgelina Hardoy and Gustavo Pandiella give important points on the fatal thinking brought on by many in society and in government that have kept Latin America vulnerable to climate change, and its damaging effects. They look at six aspects of vulnerability, concerning infrastructure, where there’s a lack of data, power, and concern, which areas are the most vulnerable and least able to adapt, and where there’s a lack of resources keeping many in poverty, and in harm’s way. This article reminds us that many times, disasters are not natural or accidental, and puts a heavy emphasis on the lack of governmental support that need to be addressed if we ever want to solve the climate crises of this world.
This peer-reviewed article was written by two action-researchers who improve environmental conditions in low-income neighborhoods in Latin America. Their paper was found on sagepub.com, a reputable source for academic publishings.
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