Sustainable Development Research and Practice in Mexico and Selected Latin American Countries

The purpose of this paper is to present a strategic approach which builds on the cultural identity of Puerto Progreso, Yucatan, in order to increase the destination competitiveness and differentness, increase the market share of the Caribbean cruise tourism, and increase the local profit. An applied research was carried out using a qualitative approach, first to determine the competitiveness state of Puerto Progreso and to define which cultural elements of its local culture could be leveraged, second, to propose a differentiation strategy that could increase the destination competitiveness. It was concluded that the cultural identity of a host community is an essential element of an effective strategy to differentiate the destination while integrating the local community in the attention of the cruise tourism. The proposed strategy could be replicated by following certain guidelines.

Recently, the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) stated that cities in Mexico are steadily expanding, sometimes outstripping the rise in population by two-fold due to urban sprawl, and that 85% of the Mexican population will live in towns and cities by 2050. México also has booming young populations, who are not only the inheritors of significant social and urban problems, but also the most promising source of solutions. UrBis is a technological platform that was developed to help people in México, particularly youth, document, characterize and reflect about the social and urban problems they face. The platform supports an integrative approach that combines mobile crowdsourcing, social technologies and community practices to effectively document, characterize, reflect about socio-urban issues, and to develop possible solutions through the combined effort of citizens. The purpose of this paper is to share our action-research experience with UrBis in engaging youth populations in the field, outlining our findings after analyzing collected data in an effort to determine how our technological-based approach supports the study of urban environments in five cities located across the country.

Naturalizing modernity has enslaved our thinking, our imagination, our actions and our proposals, subjecting them to their univocal rationality. Regions like Chiapas are essential to imagine and build sustainable realities and horizons for Humanity due to the biocultural diversity of its peoples and its powerful expressions of life, dignity, hope and intercultural dialogue. This paper does not present a research report but the epistemic construction achieved by the team of the Environmental Education and Sustainability Laboratory of the University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas during the journey with native and mestizo peoples oriented towards community sustainability between 1996 and 2017. Throughout this time, different modern theoretical and methodological positions were assumed and confronted with local realities, discovering their insufficiency to understand the space-time-symbolic complexity of human communities and their global-local biocultural processes, and to propose strategies of sustainability. We have observed that the disciplinary and rationalist epistemic framework does not correspond to the complex, intercultural, diverse, spiritual, loving and deeply alive universes of the Chiapas peoples. In their cosmogonies, gnoseologies, territories and social models we recognize fundamental references for the construction of a sustainable Humanity: respectful identities with life, solidarity, intercultural dialogue, understanding and loving understanding with the Earth and with the peoples, life. With this learning, we propose strategic lines towards the recovery of the University as a fundamental institution for the civilizational construction, in the key of sustainability.

The world population is facing significant changes in the supply of food, feed, fuel and fiber from agroindustrial byproducts. However, poverty, climatic and environmental effects, loss of productivity of major agroindustrial activities, low-use of byproducts, land-use change, biodiversity loss and high water consumption are among some of the factors that contribute to reducing the profitability of traditional agribusinesses. The development of sustainable low-cost technologies, which are simple for rural farmers to apply for byproduct valorization is, therefore, a key option to transform traditional agribusiness in sustainable value chain. This paper proposes, to develop in farms, three productive activities, to achieve the socioeconomic and environmental sustainability with byproducts, as raw material, from the sugarcane, coffee, banana, corn and citrus fruit agroindustries in Mexico, integrating innovative techniques reported in the literature, traditional knowledge, experience of farmers and analytical methods: (a) biodrying for removal of water in byproducts, causing a decrease in volume and an increase in calorific value, (b) production of compost, vermicompost and bocashi and (c) cultivation and harvest of edible mushrooms. These activities have had a positive impact on the sustainability and profitability of farmers in Mexico by reducing the amount of mineral fertilizers used in fields, obtaining rural fuel and generating income; additionally, food is generated for humans and livestock from the production of edible mushrooms.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategies used by community organizations dedicated to the sustainable development of urban areas in Monteria City. Three specific objectives were proposed in order to guide the designing of organization manuals capable of improving the functions and results obtained by these social institutions. The first was aimed at the diagnosis of current community organizations themselves and the perceptions that social and institutional actors had of these. The second was to determine the basic elements for designing organizational manuals of this type and the third was the elaboration of the manual itself. The diagnostic phase suggested that, on the one hand, the educational backgrounds of community leaders was very poor. Only 56% had primary studies. On the other hand, community organizations, in general, lacked focus and knowledge of local environmental management procedures. Perceptions among public and private areas of these institutions were not very favorable as well. For the most part, Community Action Boards (CABs) were considered to be only a part of the political machinery in the region. In addition, a major weakness of these was the lack of commitment and assumed responsibility by their members, towards sustainable development. Furthermore, among the main aspects of the manual, six basic elements were identified: two complementary ones (a Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle, and systemic, holistic, sustainable development approaches), and four central lines of thought (territorial profiles, existing community groups, the training of the members of these social organizations and their interaction in solving environmental problems). After analyzing those elements, we proceeded to elaborate an organizational manual which contemplated the different relationships required between each of these elements in order to develop successful strategies for community actions in sustainable development. It was concluded that non-formal environmental education projects should be the basis for successful interactions between community organizations, government agencies and non- governmental social institutions for effective sustainable development of urban areas.

This research focuses on the development of a pedagogic unit on hydrocarbons for the last year of high school students that links the contents of science with social, technological and environmental aspects using a global approach (STES). This proposal emphasizes an holistic view of school contents, selecting a controversial topic such as oil extraction by hydraulic fracture known as “fracking” that arouses a deep debate due to its social implications. This exploratory research uses a qualitative methodology focused on a case study. Empirical evidence is gathered using classroom observations, student surveys and teachers´ interviews. Due to the size of the sample limited to a small group of students, this study does not admit generalizations, it only shows a tendency. This paper is a contribution to future research on STES approach in High School.

The principle of solar water purification or solar distillation is one of the few feasible possibilities of drinking water treatment for many regions of the world, which suffer from groundwater contamination by fluorides and/or heavy metals. The implementation of an innovative low-cost, low-tech design of a modular solar distillation system is presented. It covers all aspects of sustainability, in the social, natural and economical dimensions: apart from facilitating dissemination by economic small scale production, which uses broadly available materials, the modularity of the described system permits its easy adaptation to the required drinking water output. It is completely user-serviceable and does not require additional energy sources. A distillate yield of up to 3.9 L per day and square meter is achieved. All analyzed contaminants of the raw water were effectively removed in the distillation process. Furthermore, a partial remineralization of the distillate is achieved by the use of a concrete trough in the module, thus making it suitable for human consumption.

On September 2013, hurricanes Ingrid and Manuel passed through the region of low Balsas causing great havoc. The region was also hit by the Chikungunya fever in 2015 and is considered a zone ruled by organized crime. Despite these prevailing circumstances, the present research was carried out. Following Beerman et al. (The role of institutions in the transformation of coping capacity to sustainable adaptive capacity, 2, 86–100, 2013), the present research was conducted trying to elucidate the coping strategies upon which the community had relied during the recovery from the 2013 flood and whether or not they had acquired adaptive capacities with special regard to the institutional role in it (Lebel et al. in Measuring vulnerability to natural hazards, United Nations University, Hong Kong, pp 359–379, 2006). The research highlighted social features and coping strategies of the Cuitaz, a community in Zirandaro, Guerrero which showed their strong dependence on external help to recover because of its marginalization. Results showed the lack of intervention of formal institutions to mitigate, prepare or prevent future similar scenarios. It was also found that during the reconstruction, the government could have left the population in dire need out of the programs contrary to international provisions which Mexico has signed.

The provision of ecological technology has been one of the strategies undertaken by the Government of Guanajuato, Mexico. Their ecotechnology programs include ecological artefacts that contribute to home improvement. The goals of program have been achieved (number of ecotechnology units installed); however, the impact has not been as high as expected due to high social rejection by the beneficiaries. Our hypothesis is that ecotechnology adoption failures are associated with the absence of a process that follows environmental education sustained in a process of transference of ecotechnology (TET) that would facilitate social adoption. The aim of this paper is to analyse the process of TET in two municipalities—Penjamo has a high rejection of ecotechnology and Tierra Blanca has a low rejection—and to determinate the factors that influence its social adoption. The results show that there are exogenous and endogenous factors that influence the social adoption of ecotechnologies. Hence, TET involves a social process of multilevel negotiation because its implementation depends on technical issues and on intervention strategies—these should consider social, cultural and political aspects. The challenge is to harmonize the vernacular knowledge of the region with the technical knowledge to improve socio-technical capabilities that promote development.

The results of this research bring the possibility to the universities and their professors to create a course based on a sustainability vision across environmental education and the notion of competencies. The research responds to the question: “What capacities should university graduates have with respect to the environmental and sustainability area, which allows them to understand and influence the world around them?” Three stages were carried out in the methodological design: (1) analysis of institutional, curricular and pedagogical conditions of the host institution; (2) interviews with university professors, environmental employers and student survey and (3) design of generic environmental competencies and a proposal for a sustainability action plan. This paper highlights the last two stages of a curriculum, describing how knowledge, skills, performance and contexts of action were identified, analyzed and integrated, according to the findings of the previous stages of the research. One of the main contributions of this paper is the possibility of having a Decalogue as a set of tools for higher education institutions interested in incorporating the sustainability perspective in a pre-graduate curriculum.

The purpose of this research is to identify how oil exploitation inside the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, affects the Ecuadorian government’s commitment to its sustainable development. The research is based on the bibliographic review of the reserve’s management plans, legislation regarding environmental protection and land management; as well as previous works on documenting key factors and their impacts in the reserve, focusing on oil exploitation. For this analysis, Yasuni has been considered as a complex system, in which key factors determine changes in four dimensions and their interactions, defined to represent sustainable development: social, environmental, political and economical. In the proposed analysis, components and actors are identified for each dimension, and their relationship is described at the different scale of their impact. By understanding these roles and their significance, it is determined which dimension is the most influential, therefore establishing if it supports sustainable development or not. In Yasuni, it is clearly established that the economical and political dimensions determine the future of the reserve, which is considered highly unsustainable and depicts an important dependence of the country and Yasuni on oil extraction in order to get financial resources. The identification of key factors and actors however, brings the possibility of promoting a more egalitarian distribution of power among these, in decision making, enabling a path towards sustainability and engaging the Ecuadorian government with it.

This text describes the methodology and first results of a case study on the community resilience of cities that are recurrently affected by floods in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. A problem arising from the changes in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones resulting from climate change which mainly affects populations in poverty and those settled in high risk areas. It has been documented that populations resist, recover and even transform themselves in the face of adversity, which has been called community resilience. Community resilience is based on individual resilience and the latter can be developed through education. For this, a significant figure is needed, among other things, to provide relevant models of resolution as well as leadership. The case study confirms that young people can play a determining role during the floods; therefore the significant figure can be originated with theirs teachers. So, teachers with resilient characteristics are necessary to strengthen resilience in their students. Then, students could share individual resilience with their friends, family and neighbors, to create a social belt of transmission of resilience permeated by environmental education for sustainability. For this it is necessary to have resilient teachers. Therefore, this research identifies the individual and community resilience of high school teachers to provide a diagnosis to be considered in actions that improve their capacities of prevention, recovery and transformation to floods.

Given a conceptual model of competencies for sustainability, such as the generic competency for sustainability established in the secondary education latest reform in Mexico, an assessment of competencies for sustainability was conducted in order to determine, in an exploratory way, the level of achievement of those competencies in the students of the main high school institution in the city of Matehuala. Within the assessment process, an analysis of the institution curriculum was required, and interactions with and teachers through interviews, focus groups, and workshops. An assessment framework was constructed in order to design an instrument that generates the learning evidence regarding those sustainability competencies and, thus, to infer their levels of achievement. The instrument consisted of a performance task, and a knowledge and attitudes questionnaire. It was applied to 60 students, divided in 3 groups according to their level of instruction. Despite the small differences among the three groups, the results showed that all students have good attitudes towards sustainability and understand the basic terms related to it; however, their performance in systemic thinking, prospective thinking and the ability to propose strategies are not developed well enough to face the challenges that the environmental and civilization crisis demand nowadays.

This work presents a methodological proposal based on a system of sustainability indicators through the Framework for the Evaluation of Natural Resource Management Systems Incorporating Sustainability Indicators, from which a comparative analysis of the Huasteca Potosina tourism systems was carried out, with the purpose of establishing interregional comparison standards. The indicators allowed the monitoring and evaluation of the degree of sustainability of the sub-basins by means of initiatives of citizen participation in the processes of planning of the main tourist destinations in the regional scope. In this way, it was possible to identify the conditions that limit and strengthen the development of sustainability in tourism, in order to foster a reflection on the commitments that can be adopted by tourism service providers to carry out actions that promote equity and improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of the local communities through the adequate conservation and restoration of the ecosystems from an ecological and social context that allows to develop an alternative model of sustainable tourism. The results generated criteria to formulate recommendations that contribute to the sustainable development of the region through the decision-making of the local population and the public administration; this is why this article is essential for the creation of measurement tools used to determine the evaluation methods for tourism activity in rural areas.

The study of mercury pollution has been intensified through the last decades due to the high toxicity of this heavy metal and its increasing availability in the environment; since mercury is produced by both natural and anthropogenic processes. Mercury is an element naturally present in air, water and soil, leading to its accumulation in all living beings without being essential for any biological process. The measurement of the corporal mercury load in humans is made through the use of different biological markers such as nails, teeth, bones, saliva, urine, blood and hair. Our objective was to quantify total mercury in hair of two populations: one rural population (miners of the region of San Joaquin, Queretaro, Mexico) and one urban population of the Metropolitan Area of Mexico, and to compare the results of a population potentially exposed by the explotation of mercury in mines and a community not affected by mercury emissions. Each participant provided a hair sample and completed a questionnaire assessing potential exposures and health outcomes. We found average mercury concentrations of 32.07 µg g−1 and 2.62 µg g−1 in the rural and urban population, respectively. The great difference between these values is probably due to a difference in the time of exposure for each population. In both cases, the populations studied exceeded the maximum allowable limit established in standards and by national and international agencies, mainly due to the direct exposure of mercury vapors in miners and by anthropogenic sources in the urban population.

This work aims to analyze the experience of a Nicaraguan rural community in the management of water for domestic use through the conformation of community committees, and the relationships that such committees have with the government and other relevant organizations. The research is conducted through the qualitative paradigm of social sciences; hence, the methodology is based on a case study where empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation. The community organization for local management has emerged in order to meet a specific need; in this case, the water supply for domestic use. According to the collective action theory, this work demonstrates that the internal rules and regulations have favored the economic sustainability, the empowerment and the active participation of the community organization in order to obtain autonomy in the management of its resources. This research is important for it shows that the state’s recognition of the community organizations has favored the cooperative effort between communities, government and non-governmental organizations, facilitating the management process and the access to financial, technical and training resources.

This text studies beliefs, attitudes and knowledge of environmental management and environmental education that were expressed by participants during a diploma course called Environmental Management and Community Participation. Overall, the purpose of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of the diploma course through the participants’ inputs and enrich the understanding on this type of educational programmes. The investigation focuses on learning evidence from four participants and presents data from the initial and final questionnaires. In addition, this study reflects upon the implications of the participants’ critical thinking and knowledge in relation to environmental management and environmental education, as well as the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a support for their professional performance. On one hand, the findings revealed that the participants used their professional background and notions of community participation during the planning of environmental management projects, which was enriched by the activities of the course. On the other hand, the findings show that student perceptions on community participation lacked specificity and critical analysis. This suggested that, in a second edition of the diploma course, the learning experience could be improved by exploring further about the professional background and practices of the participants during the development of the programme. It is argued that the latter would allow identifying substantial needs in the planning of environmental management projects (an activity in the diploma course) and assisting in the articulation of sustainable development principles in community participation.

Green areas help improve the living conditions for all inhabitants in cities. This study contributes to clarify the relationship between environmental justice and urban sustainability based on the analysis of the rate and distribution of urban green areas particularly in the case of the City of León, Guanajuato, Mexico. A systematic literature review related to the topic of study was conducted. In addition, spatial analysis of the rate and distribution patterns of urban green areas in the city was carried out and some of the basic principles that guide the planning of green areas in the city were discussed. The results showed that there is a rate of green areas in the City of León of 1.74 m2, which follows a dispersed pattern of urban growth, characterized by a socio-spatial fragmentation of the city. The rate of green areas in the priority polygons is about 1.86 m2, with unequal concentrations on each zone and an influence range that restricts an equitable access to the benefits of these areas. It has been identified that urban sustainability implies the habitability of the public space, which involves the guarantee of a more equitable, equal, and democratic use of the natural richness or of the one socially generated, where the green areas constitute a strategic element to reach the environmental, economic and social benefits of the sustainability.

This paper exposes the need to use an integrated landscape management approach for sustainable development through the co-responsible participation of all stakeholders based upon the analysis of the ecologic spatial planning of the municipality of Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The results of interviews with stakeholders are integrated by a set of indicators and translated into four participation levels and sustainability ranks. In Benito Juárez, most participation is done by government stakeholders and through mechanisms of citizen participation, such as public opinion polls, whereas the lowest result has been found in community participation. Furthermore, a high degree of social and economic development within the municipality, principally due to Cancun tourism, contrasts with a very low score for environmental sustainability. The paper seeks to achieve the understanding of an approach that claims for nothing new, but rather integrates the existing planning instruments and is based on inclusive and equitable decision-making processes.

This article reports the development and use of video materials for the mediating of learning in relation to indigenous knowledge practices in southern Veracruz, Mexico. The case study describes the production of a video on traditional livelihood practices with youth and how sharing the video took participants back to cultural experiences and environmental meaning-making. The dialogical work with video enabled in depth insights that exemplified the knowledge within the context of fishing practices in local wetlands, a practice done mainly by women that had receded and was being lost in modern times. The study found that it was the animated representations and dialogic education processes (discussions) amongst learners in Mother Tongue that surfaced much of the rich detail that then articulated into the local environment context and indigenous sustainability practices to enhance human wellbeing.

Nowadays, the conservation of water resources is one of the main challenges of sustainable development in Mexico. In the future, the expected climate change would increase the water supply issues in the country. This work shows the evaluation of the climate change impact on water resources as a tool for sustainable development at local scale. This research topic is important as the assessment of the expected changes in temperature, precipitation and streamflow provides valuable information for society and decision makers in order to be prepared for this challenge, especially in such regions with water scarcity conditions. The case study is the Valles River Basin, which is located in the Mexican Sierra Madre Oriental mountain chain. The Valles River Basin is a region that is already affected by water shortage and by the water stress caused by the inadequate management of its water resources. The methodology of this study includes the use of climate simulations to feed a hydrological model in order to estimate future streamflow. In this research, climate simulations were obtained from the Canadian Regional Model under two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) over a reference (1971–2000) and future (2041–2070) periods. The results indicate an important decrease on future streamflow, especially during the wet season. All in all, the estimation of the future conditions of the basin’s water resources would help local water managers in order to prepare adaptation strategies.

In Mexico and many other parts of the world, it is common practice since the late 19th century to pave riverbeds for public health and urban growth purposes. However, evidence suggests that costs associated with this practice outweigh the expected benefits, hindering the long-term environmental sustainability of growing cities. This case study undertaken in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, presents some urban, social and environmental problems resulting from paving one of the city’s river, the Rio Santiago, in the 1980s. We approached the Rio as a waterscape: a socially produced landscape where the presence and management of water is central. From this perspective, the paper’s main purpose is to analyze the Rio’s waterscape transformations within the context of the Metropolitan Region’s accelerated urban growth, including its watershed exploitation. We argue that the transformation of the Rio reflects a historical change insofar as waterways are presently perceived as a source of illness and pollution as opposed to a source of life and wellbeing. This paper concludes that the River’s transformations not only spatialized the conflictive relation society-nature but also the social inequities that yield from uneven urban growth.

In San Luis Potosí, México, there is environmental contamination in different places, produced as much by human activities, as by natural pollution. The characteristics of susceptibility and vulnerability in children, as well as their importance in Sustainable Development Goals, give them a priority in the considerations for measures to protect the population. An intervention strategy to improve children’s environmental health could be a Risk Communication (RC). In order for RC to be successful, it is essential to know children’s opinions, perceptions and concerns; give them voice to express themselves and be heard by researchers. Based on the above, the objective was to conduct an analysis of perception of exposure to environmental risks to health, in children living in sites with different risk scenarios, as a preliminary step for the design of RC programs according to each site, in order to improve the environmental health of the population. This study analyses risks perceptions using drawings as a data collection tool; research was conducted with 170 children from 4 schools located in the study sites. The activity was carried out during the “II Children’s Congress: Cuidando nuestra gran canica azul”, held in April 2012. Results showed that there is awareness in children about the dangers to which they are exposed in their environment; however, there was a lack of knowledge about some previously identified risks. Children’s risk perception was different according to their place of residence.

Children are the most vulnerable group to certain environmental risks, which is why this project focused on those children living in a marginalized area located north of the city of San Luis Potosí. It was found that in that area, children were exposed to multiple environmental health risks. The objective of this project was to design, implement and evaluate a Risk Communication Program (RCP) to improve children’s environmental health. Based on the health risk assessment and risk perception analysis, an RCP was designed. The topics of healthy eating and hygiene were addressed, as well as the risks of exposure to fluoride and lead. In the first stage, the target audience was made up of 62 parents and 10 teachers from two schools. The second stage, which had support and participation of parents and teachers, involved working with 338 students (3–15 years of age). Upon concluding the implementation of the program, knowledge integration and decrease in exposure to fluoride and lead were found in children in the area; as well as changes in habits in the participating families.

This paper contributes to the current debate on sustainability and interculturality, supported on practices carried out in community linkage, practices that were based on the model of intercultural education in Mexico, in which students and research teachers take part, building a dialogue of scientific knowledge and traditional insight, which converge towards a project that integrates communities and identities. We talk about a theoretical-methodological strategy that converges themes, approaches and problems related to return migratory processes, sustainable management of pests and diseases in coffee crops, and traditional medicine practices of native peoples (Totonac). The results include learning, strengthening of cognitive capacities and positions committed to provide answers that would benefit both the rural community environments and the generation and application of knowledge conducive to possibilities of social, scientific and humanistic transformation.

The United Nations definition of Agenda 2030 re-launched sustainable development as a planetary horizon for eradicating world poverty while at the same time preserving Earth life-support processes. Since the 90s many scholars, activists and politicians have critically assessed sustainable development and considered it an oxymoron in the context of current global capital accumulation. This paper takes the matter seriously and explores the limits and possibilities of researching water management towards Sustainable Development Goal 6: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. The analysis will touch upon three main fields of enquiry, namely the creation of a world water crisis regime, the encounter of diverse water ontologies while dealing with water management, and the raising of the human right to water and sanitation as a counter-point to the privatization of water resources. Sustainable development requires a stronger inclusion of human rights principles to become a more inspiring narrative for theoretical analysis and transformative interventions. It is argued that embedding sustainable development together with the political and cultural struggles of the human rights idiom, as exemplified in the case of the human right to water and sanitation, could provide a better framework to make sustainable development a useful tensional concept to reflect upon for building more equalitarian societies, and thus to care for life and the environment, within and outside universities.

This research focuses on the search for sustainable touristic services through the design of a participatory public policy proposal that prioritize business requirements and their social and environmental responsibility in the territory. The proposal goes for the municipalities of Xalapa, Xico and Coatepec, in order to enhance their tourism competitiveness under a sustainable framework, by using management systems based on the ISO 9001: 2008 and 14001: 2004 standards, to certify the processes under which tourism services are provided. The purpose of this is to encourage the tourism entrepreneurs to take on their involvement, in international quality standards, and commitment to adopt environmental oriented care protocols. Methodologically, the establishment of quality and environmental management systems based on ISO standards underwent testing by using three measurement tools, quantitative and qualitative, applied to the tourism industry in the three priority tourist destinations in central Veracruz. Findings show the inputs needed to create a touristic and sustainable public policy proposal that affects beneficially in the competitiveness and sustainability of the target region in the Ecological Corridor of the Sierra Madre Oriental of Veracruz, Mexico.

The development of farming technologies that allow the obtaining of agricultural products free of chemical compounds that are harmful to the agricultural environment as well as the consumers is a challenge that several research groups have addressed. In several case studies the effect of various treatments of organic fertilization on quality variables of the agricultural product to be produced has been analyzed. It is for this reason that the development of fertilization techniques that allow the obtaining of harmless agricultural products and of friendly production for the agricultural environment is very important for the sustainable development of a community. In this work a comparative study was carried out between two fertilization protocols (traditional/organic) in order to observe the effect of these on parameters of radish quality and in this way generate organic fertilization proposals for the development of sustainable agriculture in Mexico. The analysis of the effect on variables related to the quality of production of radish (Raphanus sativus L) which occurs in the northern region of the Guanajuato state was carried out. Treatments of traditional fertilization, organic fertilization and mixing of these were analyzed in ratios 1/0, 0.9/0.1, 0.8/0.2, 0.7/0.3, 0.6/0.4, 0.5/0.5, 0.4/0.6, 0.3/0.7, 0.2/0.8, 0.1/0.9, 0/1 (Traditional/Organic), the results show that in terms of yield, root length, equatorial growth, of the product of interest (bulb) there are significant differences in the treatments with greater fraction of organic compound. In terms of the difference between root length and equatorial growth, the control was the experiment that showed the lowest value. Regarding the number of true leaves and stem height of the radish plant the results show that there is no tendency towards traditional or organic treatment. The study revealed that when fertilization tends toward the organic protocol, the most adequate results are obtained in terms of quality parameters.

In contrast with its biological and cultural wealth, the community of Bienes Comunes de Santo Domingo Huehuetlán is characterized by high levels of poverty and marginality. The aim of this study was to analyze the history, organization and strategies which have enabled this community to defend and make sustainable use of its common pool resources. Participatory methodologies were used to create meeting and socialization spaces for the exchange of experiences and the documentation of the decision-making processes applied for resource management and social, cultural and economic activities. The processes of governmental intervention were observed, giving insight into the communal management of common pool resources, as well as traditional knowledge-based community organization, in which common pool resources are regulated by local rules and agreements. The community’s spatial planning takes into account areas of production, conservation, and use, and the defense of its land against multinational mining projects. While community development has its limitations, it is a viable and participatory guidance model which responds to unfavorable factors and secures the common pool resources for the community.

The aim of this work is to evaluate and detonate the sustainable tourism potential of the Wildlife Use and Management Unit, of the common assets of San Mateo Mimiapan, in the Mixteca Poblana (Puebla, Mexico, tropical lowlands) region, through a rural tourism development strategy. Participatory Workshops and field trips were done, as well as experience exchanges with other rural communities which engage in communal tourism in order to make an analysis of the potential for the development of rural sustainable tourism activities. The communal assets contain a high biological, cultural and territorial diversity, with tree and seed fossils which reflect the geologic and historical processes of the region. Therefore infrastructure was established for the creation of a community museum, flora and fauna interpretative tracks, as well as camping services for local public and students of different levels. Strategies are proposed for the development of tourist products in the rural environment, to be operated by local associations. It allows the creation of a business venture through promotion and commercialization plans in order to guarantee a market.

Transhumance is the seasonal migration of livestock in search of pastures and water. This migration allows for intensive, rotational, diversified and optimal use of the land. The functional value of this mobility is not exempt from certain confusion arising from a lack of knowledge of this thousand-year old system. Transhumance, as a livestock management system, has therefore generated debate due to the interest and controversy it provokes, particularly with respect to the environment, geography and cultural aspects of arid and semi-arid areas. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how the goat herders of the San Luis Potosí highlands plan their grazing practices based on a cyclical migration between two points with ecological complementarity: the mountains and the valley. The difference between these two points is caused by the cyclical combination of each point, which involves the climate, season, type of vegetation and topography. This system, called transhumance, has allowed the area’s goat herding families to survive, persist and resist. Due to the relationship between ecological complementarity, planned practices, and the tie between the animals and the land, there is a society and culture of sustainable transhumance in the region.

The objectives of this research are: to analyze the effects of the urban sprawl on spatial distribution and social accessibility to green spaces in the metropolitan area of San Luis Potosí, México and to assess the level of environmental justice in the Metropolitan Area of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The study evaluates the equity in the distribution of public green spaces and their accessibility. The research questions are: how accessible are public parks or green spaces to different social groups? and, which socio spatial areas need more public green spaces or parks? The methodology relies on the environmental justice approach, through a system of indicators which allows to assess the distribution, disposability and accessibility of the population to the green spaces. The analysis of this information allows to determine the extent to which the population of the metropolitan area of San Luis Potosí, benefits from equal access to the parks of the city, through its distribution, surface, disposability and accessibility. The paper concludes that the current distribution of green spaces in the city studied presents an unequal spatial distribution pattern, which benefits population of high-income brackets and excludes the population of lower income brackets. In Mexico there are few urban studies that analyze the problem of green areas and urban parks from the perspective of environmental justice and the connections between their spatial distribution and accessibility in time and distance, and the quality of life of the population. The contribution of this work is to advance in this line of research and to propose a methodology that could be applied in other Mexican cities. One of the limitations of the study is that it was not possible to analyze the interaction between the indicators and other concepts, like biophilic cities. This could be a line of future research that would allow to delve into the complex relationship between the human being and the environment.

In the context of the Comprehensive Reform for Higher Secondary Education, and the creation of a High School National System in Mexico, the establishment of a Common Curriculum Framework was decided, within which basic characteristics that secondary education graduates should achieve, outlined by eleven generic skills, are gathered together. One of these skills, aims for the graduate to be able to combine knowledge, abilities and attitudes in order to contribute to sustainable development. With the purpose to measure the achievement level of this skill for high school graduates, and if such skills are trasfered to the surrounding where students are growing, a group of new students to the University Center of Tonala of the University of Guadalajara, located in Jalisco, Mexico was taken as a case study and a 62-question survey took place. In this article, we show the results of the survey. Results show that these young scholars have enough knowledge for a sustainable development, however, shifting knowledge to action is differentiated according to each student intrinsic characteristics and their surroundings.

The phenomenon of the increasing violence has intensified the perception of urban insecurity, generating diverse manifestations ranging from social, economic, and institutional categories and those related to the urban environment. The concept of urban safety and its relationship with the quality of life has awakened interest and vision about the sustainability of cities, as seen in the sustainable development objectives of the United Nations Agenda 2030 which seeks to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, significantly reduce the forms of violence, and guarantee equal access to justice, among others. The study of the perception of insecurity is very important for the sustainable development of the cities as the perception of insecurity affects the coexistence and implications on the quality of life of the inhabitants of vulnerable areas because it constitutes an obstacle to the sustainable development of the city. According to the above, this research deals with the perception of insecurity to intra-urban scale in the city of San Luis Potosi, in order to know the current situation and trends of urban insecurity, and identify vulnerable areas as a basis for the design of preventive policies and urban design. The method applied is the model: Generation, Demonstration and Attention (GMA); It includes quantitative and qualitative indicators that make up the proposed information system and register according to the census information with reference to scale AGEB polygons, used as a unit of space. Different patterns of perception were obtained that exhibit a different reality in each sector of the city as data obtained do not correspond with official statistics on urban insecurity. Therefore, it may be concluded that there are gaps in the levels of inequality and attention to safety that reflect conflicts of social coexistence and generating areas of increased incidence of violence threatening the urban sustainability.