Teleconnected vulnerabilities of Mexican and Vietnamese coffee systems
Case details
- Resource system
- The global coffee market, local biodiversity and land
- Resource units
- Coffee
- Location
- Veracruz, Mexico (Mexico)
Location map
Description
The case study of smallholder coffee producers’ vulnerability in Mexico and Vietnam was published in the journal Environmental Science and Policy in 2008. The authors Hallie Eakin, Alexanda Winkels and Jan Sendzimir explore cross-scale linkages and teleconnectons in the Mexican and Vietnamese coffee systems. This case study is an addition to the SES library and was entered in 2013 by Ashwina Mahanti at Arizona State University.
The original case study illustrates that vulnerability in a globalized world is no longer merely a place based construct. Adaptive responses too, are not contained within the location in which they originate and can in fact mould the vulnerability of households in distant locations via the global market. The robustness framework provides a novel conceptual lens to study these interactions as processes that involve a change in infrastructure providers and infrastructure over time, thus shaping the incentives and interactions between resource users and infrastructure providers. The frameworks also allows for a dynamic analysis enabling the study of local-global feedbacks across systems over time.
Institutional analysis
Institutional analysis document
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Coded institutional data
No coded case data available.
System representation
Resource system
Ejidos (communal land used for agriculture), share of the global market, local biodiversity
Resource users
Farmers and farmer cooperatives, consumers in developed countries
Public infrastructure
technical support, credit, tools and implements, knowledge, assured supply in the form of quotas under the International Coffee Agreement, social capital in the form of links to coffee roasters
Public infrastructure providers
Instituto Mexicano de Cafe (INMECAFE)
Relationship 1
Farmers own and cultivate a specific parcel of land in the larger ejido.
Relationship 2
The system of coffee cultivation has developed in relation to specific government Institutions and has grown dependent on the government to provide the necessary infrastructure.
Relationship 3
INMECAFE provides soft infrastructure in the form of quotas by negotiating the quota for Mexico in the ICA. They also organize farmers and farming systems to ensure that the supply is met. The provision of other soft infrastructure is done by building collaborations with local credit unions and field offices.
Relationship 4
The infrastructure enables the maintenance of the resource for example quotas help maintain Mexico's share of the global coffee market
Relationship 5
Infrastructure in the form of information allows farmers to make decisions. When price drops, farmers chose not to harvest coffee since its a labour intensive crop and harvesting is an expensive process.
Relationship 6
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (7) - Resource
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (7) - Infrastructure
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (8) - Users
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (8) - Providers
(none specified)Human infrastructure (users)
(none specified)Human infrastructure (providers)
(none specified)Resource system
Ejidos (communal land used for agriculture), share of the global market, local biodiversity
Resource users
Farmers and farmer cooperatives, consumers in developed countries
Public infrastructure
Standards, laws and rules for International trade, aid and support to local farmers, knowledge for conservation of biodiversity and for mainstreaming ecological concerns into coffee cultivation (technical support for organic cultivation)
Public infrastructure providers
World Trade Organization, Private sector (corporations and private roasting companies), NGOs like Oxfam and rainforest Alliance, local humanitarian organizations,
Relationship 1
Farmers own and cultivate a specific parcel of land in the larger ejido.
Relationship 2
Farmers who had organized their cultivation as per Government policies and requirements were now at a loss and didn't know where to turn. A number of new infrastructure providers with different agendas and values provided support for new production techniques such as organic coffee cultivation
Relationship 3
A range of providers tried to organize farmers to take advantage of the change in consumer preferences and the changing socio-economic environment.
Relationship 4
(none specified)Relationship 5
New institutional arrangements and certification schemes provided the incentives to reorganize and alter production practices.
Relationship 6
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (7) - Resource
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (7) - Infrastructure
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (8) - Users
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (8) - Providers
(none specified)Human infrastructure (users)
(none specified)Human infrastructure (providers)
(none specified)Sources
Contributors
- Ute Brady, Arizona State University
- Ashwina Mahanti, Arizona State University
Bibliography
- (2009). Nested Vulnerability: exploring cross-scale linkages and vulnerability teleconnections in Mexican and Vietnamese coffee systems. Environmental Science and Policy. 12 (4) : 398-412
- (2014). Governance Challenges in a Telecoupled Food System. 8th ECPR General Conference (Session 262).
- (2013). Framing Sustainability in a Telecoupled World. Ecology and Society. 18 (2) : 26
- (2013). Governing the Commons in a Globalized Epoch: A case study of telecoupled vulnerability of Mexican and Vietnamese farmers..