PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICACIONES
REVEALING LAND CONTROL DYNAMICS IN EMERGING AGRICULTURAL FRONTIERS
Olivia del Giorgio, Matthias Baumann, Tobias Kuemmerle, Yann le Polain de Waroux
In Review - PNAS
The expansion of commodity agriculture into tropical and subtropical woodlands degrades ecosystem functionality, biodiversity, and the livelihood base of millions of people. Understanding where and how agricultural frontiers emerge is thus important. Yet, existing monitoring approaches typically focus on mapping deforestation and do not capture the shifts in land access and ownership that lay the ground for agricultural expansion, thereby missing critical early stages of frontier development. We develop an approach that captures these early dynamics and apply it to the entire 1,1 million km² of the Gran Chaco, a global deforestation hotspot. Through the detection of linear features indicative of land claims and the analysis of their spatial-temporal dynamics, we reveal that the footprint of agricultural frontiers in the region extends far beyond that of deforestation. Most of the Chaco shows signs of land claiming, especially close to areas of active deforestation. We also found a suspended state of land claiming across much of the Argentine Chaco and clusters of emergent claiming, indicative of a rapidly growing interest in land, in remote parts of the Bolivian and Paraguayan Chaco. Finally, there was a clear spatial correlation between the disappearance of smallholder homesteads and land claiming, highlighting the social impacts of agricultural frontier expansion in the Chaco. By offering a transferable template to map land-control indicators at scale, our approach enables a better understanding of frontier processes and more accurate targeting of policy interventions in emerging agricultural frontiers globally.​
IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION ON THE RESOURCE AVAILABILITY OF FOREST-DEPENDENT INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN THE DRY CHACO
María Vallejos, Anna Álvarez, Olivia del Giorgio, Tobias Kuemmerle
In Review - AMBIO
Agricultural expansion into tropical and subtropical forests threatens forest-dependent communities by disrupting their access to vital resources. This study focuses on the Argentine Dry Chaco, a deforestation hotspot, to assess the impact of agricultural expansion on over 400 Indigenous communities. Using participatory mapping, we estimated resource collection footprints for plants and animals, and integrated these with forest-loss data. By 2021, communities had lost an average of 21.4±2.0% of their forests. An ecosystem services supply index revealed that 36% of communities saw 10-30% reductions in resource availability between 2001 and 2021. We also found an average increase of 41.6±2.2% in access restrictions, and that communities had to travel over 10 km further to reach permanent water sources. These findings highlight the severe consequences of agricultural expansion and suggest similar impacts in other dry forest regions, emphasizing the need for sustainable planning and protection to prevent the ecological marginalization of forest-dependent communities.
SYSTEMIC SEXISM IN ACADEMIA - AN EARLY CAREER PERSPECTIVE
Olivia del Giorgio, Gabriela Fontanarrosa, Silvia Lomáscolo, María Piquer-Rodríguez
Accepted (in prep) - BioScience (Viewpoint column)
The added trials we face as female early career researchers are seriously debilitating, and having to build, inflate, and constantly patch up our own lifeboat as we navigate these challenges is a systemic injustice. Ending misogyny in academia requires, first and foremost in our opinion, that we openly denounce (so as to ultimately remove) the setbacks that we face, by virtue of our womanhood, starting at the very headwaters of our careers. To that end, we share what we see as some main hurdles women face in the throes of their growth as researchers. Only when these are eliminated will women reach senior positions, empowered rather than already depleted.
Stay tuned for an upcoming BioScience Talks podcast episode on the piece!
A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK FOR ADDRESSING HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICTS: THE CASE OF SMALLHOLDER LIVESTOCK DEPREDATION BY THE PUMA (PUMA CONCOLOR) IN THE ARGENTINE DRY CHACO.
Anna Sofía Nanni, Olivia del Giorgio, Ana Dip, Andrés Regolin
In review - Conservation Biology
Negative impacts of wildlife on livelihoods, such as livestock depredation by carnivores, often lead to human-wildlife conflict, which threatens wildlife populations and affects human well-being. However, few studies have assessed the effectiveness of interventions to mitigate such impacts. This study presents a participatory framework for selecting, implementing, and evaluating interventions to address wildlife-related impacts, grounded in robust baseline research. It applies this framework to a case study in a community of the Argentine Dry Chaco, specifically addressing livestock depredation by pumas (Puma concolor). The approach led to the first test and deployment of a community-selected intervention in the region to mitigate livestock attacks: studded leather collars. The proposed framework includes two stages for characterizing (“mapping”) the conflict: (1) Regional Characterization – assessing the broader social-ecological context of the impact through interviews, and (2) Local Screening – understanding local patterns of wildlife-related impacts through focus group discussions.
The framework also includes three actionable stages for “managing” the conflict: (3) Selecting the Intervention based on three criteria: effectiveness, feasibility, and cost, with leather collars chosen as the preferred intervention; (4) Testing the Intervention through a randomized controlled trial to evaluate its effectiveness, which showed that depredation in the uncollared group was 10 times higher than in the collared group; and (5) Fully Deploying the Intervention across all experimental units and continuing to monitor its success, which resulted in approximately half the depredation rate observed in the randomized control trial in this particular community. This study highlights the importance of local engagement in selecting interventions aimed at mitigating wildlife-related impacts, ensuring their acceptance and effectiveness. The participatory framework can inform effective and context-sensitive strategies, grounded in scientific evidence, for mitigating livestock depredation (or other wildlife-related impacts) and promoting coexistence.
‘PARTICIPATORY’ CONSERVATION RESEARCH INVOLVING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES: FOURTEEN PRINCIPLES FOR GOOD PRACTICE
Helen Newing, Arash Ghoddousi, Stephanie Brittain, Ana Buchadas, Olivia del Giorgio, Catherine Grasham, Robert Fallon, Jaime Ferrito, Ricardo García Márquez, Munib Khanyari, Apoorva Kulkani, Ranjini Murali, Siyu Qin, Judith Rakowski, Bettina König, Fleur Winn
Published - June 2024
Good practice in ‘participatory’ research in conservation, especially where it involves Indigenous peoples and local communities, has become especially topical following the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022. The Framework sets out three cross-cutting stipulations that have implications for conservation research: (i) that the important role that Indigenous peoples and local communities play in global conservation should be recognised; (ii) that conservation should be rights-based, and (iii) that implementation needs to be based on traditional knowledge as well as scientific evidence. This will require a paradigm shift towards more equitable, inclusive approaches to conservation that support local environmental stewardship. Conservation researchers can play a significant role in supporting this shift, and we see this as a rational next step in the advancement of conservation science as a meta-discipline. Here, we explore these issues from our perspective as a group of researchers who work with Indigenous peoples and local communities. We briefly review the history of ‘participatory’ research in conservation and discuss three cross-cutting themes relating to conservation research that involves Indigenous peoples and local communities: participation across the different stages of the research process; data collection methods and their relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of participation; and ethical issues related to Indigenous and community participation. Finally, we present fourteen broad principles for good practice, which together provide a novel framework to build greater equity into the development and implementation of conservation research involving Indigenous peoples and local communities.
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Check out the Nature India news feature spotlighting the paper:
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How do we study resilience? A systematic review
Yann le Polain de Waroux, Marie-Claude Carignan, Olivia del Giorgio, Leandro Díaz, Lucas Enrico,
Pedro Jaureguiberry, María Lucrecia Lipoma, Flavia Mazzini, Sandra Díaz
Published - February 2024
1. The concept of resilience has gained immense popularity as a way to frame social and environmental challenges. However, its empirical operationalization and the integration of social and ecological dimensions continue to present difficulties.
2. In this paper, we conduct a systematic review of existing empirical studies of re silience in social, ecological and social-ecological systems (SESs) and examine how and to what extent these studies have achieved the operationalization of the concept of resilience.
3. We evaluate the operationalization of resilience in 463 papers based on whether they define the system of interest and disturbances, whether they define resilience, whether they evaluate resilience, and for papers focusing on SESs, whether that evaluation integrates social and ecological dimensions.
4. We find that 51% of empirical studies do not meet at least one of these operation alization criteria, and that even those that do often lack key features for effective operationalization, such as clear system boundaries and baseline state or an effective integration of social and ecological dimensions. Of the papers examining SESs and evaluating resilience, only 54% integrate social and ecological dimensions in that evaluation.
5. Building on these findings, we propose some design guidelines for operationalizing future empirical studies of resilience.​​
A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING LAND CONTROL TRANSFER IN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY FRONTIERS
del Giorgio, Olivia
Published - August 2023
Across the globe, the expansion of large-scale commodity agriculture is occurring not into empty space but over existing social systems. An understanding of the dynamics of expansion and associated impacts of commodity agriculture thus fundamentally requires examining how existing control regimes are dissolved and, simultaneously, how novel ones are assembled in order to make way for the changes in resources use that characterize these transitional moments. With this in mind, in this article, I provide a broad review of the strategies used to secure control over land prospected for agricultural commodity production, distinguishing between the tactics that are applied by agro-interested actors in order to ‘break down’ forms of existing land control, those they apply in parallel to ‘build up’ new control structures, and those strategies that are applied by actors (often smallholders) wishing to ‘hold on to’ the control that they have. I then present a framework for examining the dynamics of control transfer that builds on this analytical structure of ‘breaking down’, ‘building up’, and ‘holding on to’ control.
IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY FRONTIER EXPANSION ON SMALLHOLDER LIVELIHOODS: AN ASSESSMENT THROUGH THE LENS OF ACCESS TO LAND AND RESOURCES IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO
Olivia del Giorgio, Brian E. Robinson, Yann le Polain de Waroux
Published - May 2022
The global restructuring of productive systems in the last few decades has led to the rapid expansion of large-scale, industrial agriculture. This agricultural expansion has occurred by means of the acquisition and consolidation of vast tracts of land by agribusinesses, fundamentally changing the dynamics of land control. In order to secure access to resources, agribusinesses employ tactics of privatization and enclosure, which are supported by state-led processes of legalization and territorialization, as well as tactics of intimidation and violence. For smallholders faced with such pressures, maintaining access to land and resources is of critical importance. Here, we examine how changing access to land and resources influences what livelihood strategies smallholders are able to pursue in the Argentine Gran Chaco, a region that is experiencing high rates of deforestation for the expansion of large-scale soybean and cattle production. Our findings indicate that the ability of smallholders to engage in activities critical to their livelihoods has been impacted by changes in access brought about by the expansion of commodity frontiers in the Gran Chaco, leading to a restructuring of these activities. In particular, we found that cattle and goat herding were constrained by the spatial conditions and relational pressures associated with frontier expansion, possibly leading to a greater reliance on pig rearing, but that smallholders who deployed access mechanisms, such as working with lawyers to obtain land titles, were better able to maintain these activities. Our results demonstrate the value of adopting a disaggregated view on the different dimensions of smallholder access, and more generally highlight the need to assess smallholders’ access to land and resources, rather than merely the availability of resources, in order to better understand the impacts of agricultural commodity frontier expansion and properly target policy to reduce smallholder vulnerability.​
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La reestructuración global de los sistemas productivos en las últimas décadas ha llevado a la rápida expansión de la agricultura industrial a gran escala. Esta expansión agrícola ha ocurrido por medio de la adquisición y consolidación de vastas extensiones de tierra por parte de los agronegocios, cambiando fundamentalmente la dinámica del control de la tierra. Para asegurar el acceso a los recursos, los agronegocios emplean tácticas de privatización y cercamiento, que están respaldadas por procesos de legalización y territorialización dirigidos por el Estado, así como tácticas de intimidación y violencia. Para los pequeños productores que enfrentan tales presiones, mantener el acceso a la tierra y los recursos es de vital importancia. Aquí, examinamos cómo el cambio en el acceso a la tierra y los recursos influye en las estrategias de subsistencia que los pequeños productores pueden emplear en el Gran Chaco argentino, una región que está experimentando altas tasas de deforestación por la expansión de la producción de soja y de ganado a gran escala. Nuestros hallazgos indican que la capacidad de los pequeños productores de participar en actividades vitales para sus medios de vida se ha visto afectada por los cambios en el acceso provocados por la expansión de las fronteras agropecuarias en el Gran Chaco, lo que ha llevado a una reestructuración de estas actividades. En particular, encontramos que el pastoreo de ganado vacuno y caprino se vio limitado por las condiciones espaciales y las presiones relacionales asociadas con la expansión de la frontera, lo que posiblemente condujo a una mayor dependencia de la cría de cerdos, pero que los pequeños productores que desplegaron mecanismos de acceso, como trabajar con abogados para obtener tierras tituladas, eran más capaces de mantener estas actividades. Nuestros resultados demuestran el valor de adoptar una visión desagregada sobre las diferentes dimensiones del acceso de los pequeños productores y, de manera más general, resaltan la necesidad de evaluar el acceso de los pequeños productores a la tierra y los recursos, en lugar de simplemente la disponibilidad de recursos, para comprender mejor los impactos de la expansión de las fronteras agropecuarias y orientar adecuadamente las políticas para reducir la vulnerabilidad de los pequeños productores.​
(Por favor, cite el artículo original)
FENCED OFF: MEASURING GROWING RESTRICTIONS ON RESOURCE ACCESS FOR SMALLHOLDERS IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO
Olivia del Giorgio, Mathis L. Messager, Yann le Polain de Waroux
Published - August 2021
The rapid expansion of commodity agriculture worldwide has led to land use changes that are threatening forest ecosystems and the millions of people worldwide that are dependent on them. Forest-dwelling smallholders are facing pressures due to changes in land control, notably through the privatization and enclosure of natural resources. Consequently, the impacts of agricultural expansion go well beyond the limits of deforested areas. Yet the spatial extent of agricultural impacts on smallholders has been mostly measured through deforestation. We propose a novel approach for capturing the complex livelihood impacts of gradual changes in resource control dynamics along commodity frontiers. We apply this approach in the Argentine Gran Chaco, a region that has experienced amongst the highest global rates of deforestation for agriculture. Our findings suggest that access to natural resources has been reduced far beyond what would be expected if only looking at deforestation, and that the degree to which access has decreased differs between livelihoods. As such, this study highlights the fact that forest smallholders are likely facing pressures to shift livelihood strategies well in advance of the actual conversion of forest in their immediate vicinity.
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La rápida expansión de la agricultura intensiva al nivel global amenaza no sólo a ecosistemas forestales, si no también al sustento de millones de personas que dependen de éstos. En regiones donde la expansión de cultivo agrícola fronteriza con los bosques, una gran presión es ejercida sobre los pequeños productores, quienes se enfrentan a cambios importantes en el uso de la tierra a causa de la privatización y el confinamiento de los recursos naturales. El impacto de la expansión agrícola sobre los pequeños productores a menudo se aproxima midiendo los niveles de deforestación. Sin embargo, los cambios en el control de la tierra y las presiones relacionadas al sustento diario, van más allá de las zonas deforestadas. Proponemos un enfoque novedoso para la evaluación de cambios en el acceso a la tierra por parte de pequeños productores, los cuales resultan de cambios graduales en el control de la tierra en fronteras agropecuarios. Aplicamos este enfoque en el Gran Chaco argentino, una región que en los últimos años ha experimentado una de las mayores tasas de deforestación por cultivo intensivo a nivel mundial. Nuestros resultados sugieren que el acceso a los recursos naturales por parte de los pequeños productores se ha reducido mucho más de lo que cabría esperar si sólo se tuviera en cuenta la deforestación, y que el grado de disminución del acceso difiere entre las distintas actividades de sustento. Por ello, este estudio pone de manifiesto que los pequeños productores probablemente se enfrentan a presiones para trasladarse o cambiar sus estrategias de sustento, mucho antes de la conversión de los bosques en sus inmediaciones.​
(Por favor, cite el artículo original)
BUILDING CAPACITY THROUGH INTERDISCIPLINARY GRADUATE COLLABORATION
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment - Guest Editorial
Olivia del Giorgio, Morgan A. Crowley, Luci X. Lu, Kerstin Schreiber
Published - November 2020
As graduate students, and despite having vastly different backgrounds, we share a common goal: to positively impact society by producing actionable, social–ecological science. Making the leap from student to impactful researcher, however, was harder than we had each anticipated... In steps interdisciplinary graduate collaboration, which has empowered us as graduate researchers.​
RIPPLES IN THE FRONTIER: IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION ON SMALLHOLDER LIVESTOCK HERDING IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO
Baumann, Mathias; del Giorgio, Olivia; Fernández, Pedro; Gasparri, Ignacio; Kuemmerle, Tobias; le Polain de Waroux, Yann; Levers, Christian
In progress