Tag: resource management

Sistema alimentario en peligro

La seguridad alimentaria es un tema que ha siempre interesado y preocupado a economistas, agrónomos y políticos. Desde 1800, algunos economistas predijeron la escasez alimentaria (la teoría de Malthus), que causaría hambrunas y muertes ya que la producción agrícola no sería suficiente. Aunque la teoría resultó ser equivocada, hoy en día es importante reconsiderar la …

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Retos agrícolas de Líbano

Líbano es un país relativamente rico en recursos naturales. No tiene desiertos, las tierras de cultivo son fértiles, tiene las cuatro estaciones del año y es el país árabe que tiene más agua. Pero a pesar de estos atributos naturales, Líbano es un país dependiente de las importaciones de alimentos, que representa 70% de su …

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Fumigacion Area en Colombia

En un esfuerzo de reducir el trafico de drogras, muchos paises han recurrido a la erradicacion forzada de cultivos ilegales. Existen dos principales maneras en las que la erradicacion forzada toma lugar: fumigacion aerea o eliminacion por tierra. En teoria, se assume que la erradicacion de estos cultivos permitira y detendra el trafico de drogas. …

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Lebanon’s agricultural challenges

Facing climate change and modernization Lebanon is a relatively resource rich country. It has no deserts, it has good arable land, it has four seasons and it is the most water-gifted country in the Arab world. But despite such natural attributes, Lebanon is a food import dependent country for 70% of its total food consumption. …

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Sustainable Agriculture (Part II)

Our agricultural and food system have many inefficiencies. Damages to the environment and promotion of an unhealthy food system are both causes and consequences of bad agricultural practices. We’ve previously studied the dangers of the monocrops. They’re apparently threatening our long-term agricultural sustainability (to learn more see posts). A change is needed, but how can …

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King Crops: The dangers of monocrops (part II)

2)Biofuels: a Trojan horse? In a previous post I discussed one of the reasons why some crops (such as corn and soybean) have gained so much importance in our agriculture. Our food system and our food quality are set up in a way that inevitably increases the demand of these two crops, and economical and …

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King crops: The dangers of monocrops (part I)

The food market is a difficult one. Production depends on weather and soil, prices are very volatile (they fluctuate a lot) and products are easily perishable. In spite of these difficulties, a few crops have managed to dominate the agricultural market. They have become the “king crops“ (in reference to the great documentary King Corn), …

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Smart Design, Better Solutions

A few weeks ago I was walking in New York City without direction nor destination. By a series of fortunate events, I unexpectedly came across a really good conference held at the New York Center for Architecture. The conferece was discussing the winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge (from the Buckminster Institute). The Buckminster Fuller …

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Conservation and development

Beyond the tragedy of the commons Very often the countries with abundant resources are the poorest and the least developed. Common wisdom assumes that development requires exploitation of these resources. But is there an alternative? In recent years, there has been an increase in sustainable and eco-friendly businesses that challenge this assumption. Eco-tourism is one …

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