Skip to main content

A Latin American Perspective to Agricultural Ethics

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine ((LIME,volume 79))

Abstract

The mixture of political, social, cultural, and economic environments in Latin America, together with the enormous diversity in climates, natural habitats, and biological resources the continent offers, make the ethical assessment of agricultural policies extremely difficult. Yet the experience gained while addressing the contemporary challenges the region faces, such as rapid urbanization, loss of culinary and crop diversity, extreme inequality, disappearing farming styles, water and land grabs, malnutrition, and the restoration of the rule of law and social peace, can be of great value to other regions in similar latitudes, development processes, and social situations. This chapter will provide a brief overview of these challenges from the perspective of a continent that is exposed to the consequences of extreme inequality in multiple dimensions and conclude by arguing for the need to have a continuous South–South dialogue on the challenges of establishing socially and environmentally sustainable food systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Altieri, Miguel A. 2003. Dimensiones éticas de la crítica agroecológica a la biotecnología agrícola. Acta Bioethica 9 (1): 47–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altieri, Miguel A., and Parviz Koohafkan. 2008. Enduring Farms: Climate Change, Smallholders and Traditional Farming Communities. Penang: Third World Network.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altieri, Miguel A., and Victor Manuel Toledo. 2011. The Agroecological Revolution in Latin America: Rescuing Nature, Ensuring Food Sovereignty and Empowering Peasants. Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (3): 587–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altieri, Miguel A., Clara I. Nicholls, Alejandro Henao, and Marcos A. Lana. 2015. Agroecology and the Design of Climate Change-Resilient Farming Systems. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altieri, Miguel A., and Clara I. Nicholls. 2017. Agroecology: A Brief Account of Its Origins and Currents of Thought in Latin America. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 41 (3–4): 231–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Álvarez, Lina, and Brendan Coolsaet. 2018. Decolonizing Environmental Justice Studies: A Latin American Perspective. Capitalism Nature Socialism. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2018.1558272.

  • Arancibia, Florencia. 2013. Challenging the Bioeconomy: The Dynamics of Collective Action in Argentina. Technology in Society 35 (2): 79–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baquedano Jer, Sandra, and Sara Larraín. 2015. The Seeds of Liberation in Latin America. In Seed Sovereignty, Food Security, ed. Vandana Shiva, 333–344. New Delhi: Women Unlimited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barkin, David, and Blanca Lemus. 2016. Local Solutions for Environmental Justice. In Environmental Governance in Latin America, 257–286. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bott, Sarah, Alessandra Guedes, Mary M. Goodwin, and Jennifer Adams Mendoza. 2012. Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Comparative Analysis of Population-Based Data from 12 Countries. Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camacho, Luis. 2008. Agriculture Intensification from the Perspective of Development Ethics. In The Ethics of Intensification, ed. Paul B. Thompson, 97–110. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carro-Ripalda, Susana, Marta Astier, and Patricia Artía. 2015. An Analysis of the GM Crop Debate in Mexico. In Governing Agricultural Sustainability: Global Lessons from GM Crops, ed. Phil Macnaghten and Susana Carro-Ripalda, 33–73. Oxon: Routlegde.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • De Schutter, Olivier. 2011. The Right to an Adequate Diet: The Agriculture-Food-Health Nexus, Report Presented at the 19th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (A/HRC/19/59). Geneva: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Castro, Elisabetta. 2010. Desigualdad, exclusión y justicia global. Isegoría (43): 459–478.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Paola, Marcello. 2014. Climate Change: Who Does What, Why, and How. In Canned Heat: Ethics and Politics of Global Climate Change, ed. Marcello Di Paola and Gianfranco Pellegrino, 144–159. New Delhi: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dieterlen, Paulette. 2003. La pobreza: un estudio filosófico. México, DF: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Echeverri, Gómez, Luis Fernando, Leonardo Ríos Osorio, and María Luisa Eschenhagen Durán. 2017. Propuesta de unos principios generales para la ciencia de la agroecología: una reflexión. Revista Lasallista de Investigación 14 (2): 212–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Escalona-Aguilar, Miguel Ángel, María Teresa Leal-Ascencio, María del Rosario Pineda-López, Edgar Eduardo Ruíz-Cervantes, and Lázaro Rafael Sánchez-Velásquez. 2015. El papel de la universidad pública en la soberanía alimentaria. Revista mexicana de investigación educativa 20 (67): 1215–1231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Escobar, Arturo. 1998. Whose Knowledge, Whose Nature? Biodiversity, Conservation, and the Political Ecology of Social Movements. Journal of Political Ecology 5 (1): 53–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO. 2018. Food and Nutrition Security in Latin America and the Caribbean. FAO, accessed January 4, 2018. http://www.fao.org/americas/perspectivas/seguridad-alimentaria/en/.

  • Félix, Georges F., and Eric Holt-Giménez. 2017. Hurricane María: An Agroecological Turning Point for Puerto Rico? Food First Backgrounder 23 (4).

    Google Scholar 

  • García-Deister, Vivette, and Carlos López-Beltrán. 2015. País de gordos/país de muertos: Obesity, Death and Nation in Biomedical and Forensic Genetics in Mexico. Social Studies of Science 45 (6): 797–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giraldo, Omar Felipe. 2018. Ecología política de la agricultura. Agroecología y posdesarrollo. San Cristobal de las Casas: El Colegio de la Frontera Sur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gudynas, Eduardo. 2011. Buen Vivir: Today’s Tomorrow. Development 54 (4): 441–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, Anil K. 2006. From Sink to Source: The Honey Bee Network Documents Indigenous Knowledge and Innovations in India. Innovations (summer): 49–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holt-Giménez, Eric. 2002. Measuring Farmers’ Agroecological Resistance After Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua: A Case Study in Participatory, Sustainable Land Management Impact Monitoring. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 93 (1–3): 87–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt-Giménez, Eric, Raj Patel, and Annie Shattuck. 2010. Rebeliones alimentarias: crisis y hambre de justicia. Barcelona: El Viejo Topo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jahan, Selim. 2016. Human Development Report 2016: Human Development for Everyone. New York: United Nations Development Programme.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelbessa, Workineh. 2015. African Environmental Ethics, Indigenous Knowledge, and Environmental Challenges. Environmental Ethics 37 (4): 387–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kloppenburg, Jack. 2005. First the Seed: The Political Economy of Plant Biotechnology, 2nd ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolers, Avery. 2016. Resilience as a Political Ideal. Ethics, Policy & Environment 19 (1): 91–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korthals, Michiel. 2004. Before Dinner: Philosophy and Ethics of Food. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lara Cortés, Claudio. 2001. Moral de mercado versus seguridad alimentaria: una aproximación desde la ética del bien común. Acta Bioethica 7 (2): 233–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leff, Enrique. 2013. La geopolítica de la biodiversidad y el desarrollo sustentable: Economización del mundo, racionalidad ambiental y reapropiación social de la naturaleza. Cuaderno Interdisciplinar de Desarrollo Sostenible 10: 185–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leguizamón, Amalia. 2016. Disappearing Nature? Agribusiness, Biotechnology and Distance in Argentine Soybean Production. The Journal of Peasant Studies 43 (2): 313–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loewe, Daniel. 2013. El calentamiento global y la asignación de los costes de las políticas medioambientales. Dilemata 13: 69–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lolas, Fernando. 2014a. Ética y conducta alimentaria: la obesidad y sus desafíos. O Mundo da Saúde 38 (3): 349–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lolas, Fernando. 2014b. Latin American Perspectives. In Handbook of Global Bioethics, ed. Henk ten Have and Bert Gordijn, 311–325. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Loría, Eduardo, and Emmanuel Salas. 2014. Sobrepeso e integración económica en México. Economía Informa 389: 3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madrazo Lajous, Alejandro. 2011. Biocolonialismo. In Propiedad intelectual. Fundamento y crítica, ed. Martín Hevía and Facundo M. Rojo, 199–260. Bogotá: Universidad del Externado.

    Google Scholar 

  • Max-Neef, Manfred. 1992. Development and Human Needs. In Real-Life Economics: Understanding Wealth Creation, ed. Paul Ekins and Manfred Max-Neef, 197–214. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazloumian, Amin, Dirk Helbing, Sergi Lozano, Robert P. Light, and Katy Börner. 2013. Global Multi-Level Analysis of the ‘Scientific Food Web’. Science Reports 3 (1167). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep01167.

  • McIntyre, Beverly D., Hans R. Herren, Judi Wakhungu, and Robert T. Watson. 2009. International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD): Synthesis Report with Executive Summary: A Synthesis of the Global and Sub-Global IAASTD Reports. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, Anthony. 2017. Climate Change and the Health of Nations: Famines, Fevers, and the Fate of Populations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nyéléni Forum for Food Sovereignty. 2007. Declaration of Nyéléni. Sélingue: Nyéléni Forum for Food Sovereignty.

    Google Scholar 

  • ODEPA. 2018. Vinos. Accessed April 9, 2018. http://www.odepa.gob.cl/rubros/vinos-y-alcoholes.

  • Olivé, León. 2004. La exclusión del conocimiento como violencia intercultural. Polylog. Foro para la filosofía intercultural 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patel, Raj, and Jason W. Moore. 2017. A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet. Oakland: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollan, Michael. 2008. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramos, Delgado, and Gian Carlo. 2013. Cambio climático y la alimentación de las ciudades. Investigación Ambiental Ciencia Y Política Pública 5 (1): 76–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramos-Elorduy, Julieta. 2009. Anthropo-Entomophagy: Cultures, Evolution and Sustainability. Entomological Research 39 (5): 271–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raynolds, Laura T. 2014. Fairtrade, Certification, and Labor: Global and Local Tensions in Improving Conditions for Agricultural Workers. Agriculture and Human Values 31 (3): 499–511. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-014-9506-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rein Venegas, Tatiana. 2013. Participación política de las mujeres: Aspectos de confluencia entre la ética y los derechos humanos. Acta Bioethica 19 (2): 219–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robaey, Zoë. 2016. Gone with the Wind: Conceiving of Moral Responsibility in the Case of GMO Contamination. Science and Engineering Ethics 22 (3): 889–906.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosset, Peter Michael, Braulio Machin Sosa, Adilén María Roque Jaime, and Dana Rocío Ávila Lozano. 2011. The Campesino-to-Campesino Agroecology Movement of ANAP in Cuba: Social Process Methodology in the Construction of Sustainable Peasant Agriculture and Food Sovereignty. The Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (1): 161–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozzi, Ricardo. 2012. Biocultural Ethics: Recovering the Vital Links Between the Inhabitants, Their Habits, and Habitats. Environmental Ethics 34 (1): 27–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rydin, Yvonne, Ana Bleahu, Michael Davies, Julio D. Dávila, Sharon Friel, Giovanni De Grandis, Nora Groce, Pedro C. Hallal, Ian Hamilton, and Philippa Howden-Chapman. 2012. Shaping Cities for Health: Complexity and the Planning of Urban Environments in the 21st Century. The Lancet 379 (9831): 2079–2108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tendall, D.M., Jonas Joerin, P. Birgit Kopainsky, Aimee Shreck Edwards, Q.B. Le, Pius Kruetli, Michelle Grant, and Johan Six. 2015. Food System Resilience: Defining the Concept. Global Food Security 6: 17–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, Paul B. 2010. Food Aid and the Famine Relief Argument (Brief Return). Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 23 (3): 209–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, Paul B. 2015. From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for Everyone. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann, Cristian, and Georges F. Félix. 2015a. Adapting Food Production to Climate Change: An Inclusive Approach. In Climate Change and Human Rights: The 2015 Paris Conference and the Task of Protecting People on a Warming Planet, ed. Marcello Di Paola and Daanika Kamal. Durham: Global Policy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann, Cristian, and Georges F. Félix. 2015b. Agroecology as a Vehicle for Contributive Justice. Agriculture and Human Values 32 (3): 523–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann, Cristian, and Zoë Robaey. 2016. Agrobiodiversity Under Different Property Regimes. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 29 (2): 285–303. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-016-9602-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann, Cristian, Georges F. Félix, and Pablo Tittonell. 2018. Food Sovereignty and Consumer Sovereignty: Two Antagonistic Goals? Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 42 (3): 274–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2017.1359807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tittonell, Pablo. 2014. Ecological Intensification of Agriculture—Sustainable by Nature. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 8: 53–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tittonell, Pablo, Laurens Klerkx, Frederic Baudron, Georges F. Félix, Andrea Ruggia, Dirk van Apeldoorn, Santiago Dogliotti, Paul Mapfumo, and Walter A.H. Rossing. 2016. Ecological Intensification: Local Innovation to Address Global Challenges. Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 19: 1–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2016. World Drug Report 2016. New York: United Nations.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Urzúa Lecaros, and Juan Alberto. 2013. La ética medio ambiental: Principios y valores para una ciudadanía responsable en la sociedad global. Acta Bioethica 19 (2): 177–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vargas-Domínguez, Joel. 2018. De la Historia de los Alimentos a la Historia de la Nutrición: Reflexiones sobre América Latina en la Primera Mitad del Siglo XX. Revista Perfiles Económicos 6: 137–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Via Campesina. 1996. The Right to Produce and Access Land. Rome: Via Campesina.

    Google Scholar 

  • Villarroel, Raúl. 2013. Ética del desarrollo, democracia deliberativa y ciudadanía ambiental: El desafío global de la sustentabilidad. Acta Bioethica 19 (2): 189–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vivero-Pol, José Luis, and Pablo Ramírez. 2009. Hambre, derechos humanos y la consolidación del Estado en América Latina. In Derecho a la Alimentación, Políticas Públicas e Instituciones contra el Hambre, ed. José Luis Vivero-Pol and Ximena Erazo, 41–75. Santiago: Ediciones LOM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waldmueller, Johannes M. 2015. Agriculture, Knowledge and the ‘Colonial Matrix of Power’: Approaching Sustainabilities from the Global South. Journal of Global Ethics 11 (3): 294–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship (FONDECYT/CONICYT No. 3170068). I am thankful to Georges Félix and Eduardo Rivera-López for helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristian Timmermann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Timmermann, C. (2019). A Latin American Perspective to Agricultural Ethics. In: Rivera-López, E., Hevia, M. (eds) Controversies in Latin American Bioethics. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 79. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17963-2_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics