Multi-causal and integrated assessment of sustainability: the case of agriculturization in the Argentine Pampas
By David Manuel-Navarrete, G. Gallopin, Mariela Blanco, M. Diaz-Zorita, D. Ferraro, Hilda Herzer, P. Laterra, M. R. Murmis, Guillermo P. Podestá, J. Rabinovich and 3 more. 2009
117 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Assessing the sustainability of complex development processes requires multi-causal and integrated analyses. We develop a system-based methodology, rooted in interdisciplinary discussion and consensus building between 15 experts, to construct a multi-causal diagram which examines the sustainability of the Argentine Pampas´ process of agriculturization. The resulting diagram includes 25 factors and provides a big-picture of the multiple dimensions and interrelations affecting sustainability. According to this examination, the increasing concentration of production and the incorporation of technological innovations, triggered by economic and institutional factors, are the cause of environmental distresses and social changes, whose consequences for sustainability are still highly disputed. Nevertheless, the symptoms of both environmental and social unsustainability are more evident in the case of the extra-Pampean regions than in the Pampas. This suggests that the Pampean agriculture model should not be transferred to these regions without substantial modifications. The experts did not reach consensus on whether the agriculturization process is overall sustainable or unsustainable. Lack of consensus revolved mainly around opposing perspectives regarding the significance of the threats to environmental sustainability. The magnitude of socio-distributive unbalance and loss of rural jobs were also contentious. Yet, the paper shows how the exercise of building a joint causal diagram was undoubtedly helpful for linking piece-meal disciplinary facts, brought in from all fronts, into a comprehensive and coherent picture.
Subfields: Environmental Chemistry, Plant Science, Strategy and Management
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/97fbb25bbf0124f17233a6cef31e36cbe1bb77c6
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In Plant Science
In Strategy and Management
Citations in the corpus
- Accumulation by Dispossession and Socio‐Environmental Conflicts Caused by the Expansion of Agribusiness in Argentina (2015, background): “These are speculative investment funds for large-scale farming, which means that the production process is governed by the administration of these funds, a task performed by contractors (Manuel-Navarrete et al. 2009).”