Ganadería y cambio climático: Avances y retos de la mitigación y la adaptación en la frontera sur de México

Abstract

Southeastern Mexico (SM) is not exempt from the effects of climate change (CC), for this the importance of seeking alternatives of mitigation and promote the adoption of participative adaptation strategies. This paper has the objective to review progress on mitigation and adaptation to climate change in the livestock sector in the SM and highlight the contributions of agro-silvopastoral systems (SS) and good farming practices (BPG). In recent decades, in the SM the main emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) has been the change in land use and forestry (USCUSS), with over 50% of emissions from deforestation and transformation of agriculture areas of basic grains, cash crops and pastures for cattle. The second sector in the range of emissions was agriculture (including livestock), emitting between 18-20%. In this sector, the livestock production has contributed more than 80% of GHG emissions, which are caused by enteric fermentation. In this context, the SS and BPG are a strategic option to mitigate and adapt the CC. In a review of previous research and development projects in southeastern of Mexico has been found that agroforestry systems, BPG and use of silvopastoral practices have high potential to sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the complexity of certain system. Regarding the enteric methane, it shows that strategies more viable mitigation are those who consider the handling of animal diet with local forage tree resources and / or silvopastoral systems because they are more accessible to the livestock producer and are inexpensive. Don’t exist studies of nitrous oxide in the SM. It requires promoting the construction of social alliances and technical and social strategies that strengthen local capacities of the population and allow the massification of SS and adapt to CC in the context of the global agenda for sustainable farming.