Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in avocado farmworkers from Mexico.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected farmworkers in the United States and Europe, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. However, little is known about the specific impact of the pandemic on agriculture and food production workers in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and assess the mental health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic among avocado farmworkers in Michoacan, Mexico. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of adult farmworkers (n = 395) in May 2021. We collected survey data, nasal swabs and saliva samples for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection, and blood samples for immunoglobulin G (IgG) reactivity measurements. Results: None of the farmworkers tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. However, among unvaccinated farmworkers (n = 336, 85%), approximately one-third (33%) showed evidence of past infection (positive for IgG against SARS-CoV-2). Unvaccinated farmworkers who lived with other farmworkers (aRR = 1.55; 95% CI: 1.05, 2.05), had ever lived with someone with COVID-19 (aRR = 1.82; 95% CI: 1.22, 2.43), and who had diabetes (aRR = 2.19; 95% CI: 1.53, 2.85) had a higher risk of testing IgG-positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. In contrast, unvaccinated farmworkers living in more rural areas (outside of Tingambato or Uruapan) (aRR = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.96) or cooking with wood-burning stove (aRR = 0.75; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.96) had a lower risk of IgG-positivity. Moreover, 66% of farmworkers reported a negative impact of the pandemic on their lives, 29% reported experiencing food insecurity and difficulty paying bills, and 10% reported depression or anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the mental health and financial well-being of avocado farmworkers. Consequently, the implementation of interventions and prevention efforts, such as providing mental health support and food assistance services, is imperative.

Using people's perceptions of ecosystem services to guide modeling and management efforts.

Although ecosystem service (ES) approaches are showing promise in moving environmental decision-making processes toward better outcomes for ecosystems and people, ES modeling (i.e., tools that estimate the supply of nature's benefits given biophysical constraints) and valuation methods (i.e., tools to understand people's demand for nature's benefits) largely remain disconnected, preventing them from reaching their full potential to guide management efforts. Here, we show how knowledge of environmental perceptions explicitly links these two lines of research. We examined how a diverse community of people with varying degrees of dependencies on coastal and marine ecosystems in southern Chile perceived the importance of different ecosystem services (ESs), their states (e.g., doing well, needs improvement), and management options. Our analysis indicates that an understanding of people's perceptions may usefully guide ecosystem modeling and management efforts by helping to: (1) define which ESs to enter into models and tradeoff analyses (i.e., what matters most?), (2) guide where to focus management efforts (i.e., what matters yet needs improvement?), and, (3) anticipate potential support or controversy surrounding management interventions. Finally, we discuss the complexity inherent in defining which ESs matter most to people. We propose that future research address how to design ES approaches and assessments that are more inclusive to diverse world views and notions of human wellbeing.

Does external funding help adaptation? Evidence from community-based water management in the Colombian Andes.

Despite debate regarding whether, and in what form, communities need external support for adaptation to environmental change, few studies have examined how external funding impacts adaptation decisions in rural resource-dependent communities. In this article, we use quantitative and qualitative methods to assess how different funding sources influence the initiative to adapt to water scarcity in the Colombian Andes. We compare efforts to adapt to water scarcity in 111 rural Andean communities with varied dependence on external funding for water management activities. Findings suggest that despite efforts to use their own internal resources, communities often need external support to finance adaptation strategies. However, not all external financial support positively impacts a community's abilities to adapt. Results show the importance of community-driven requests for external support. In cases where external support was unsolicited, the results show a decline, or "crowding-out," in community efforts to adapt. In contrast, in cases where communities initiated the request for external support to fund their own projects, findings show that external intervention is more likely to enhance or "crowds-in" community-driven adaptation.

AGRO-ECOLOGICAL DRIVERS OF RURAL OUT-MIGRATION TO THE MAYA BIOSPHERE RESERVE, GUATEMALA.

Migration necessarily precedes environmental change in the form of deforestation and soil degradation in tropical agricultural frontiers. But what environmental factors may contribute to these migration streams in the first place? Identifying environmental characteristics related to this process is crucial for understanding how environmental change and migration may form recurrent feedback loops. Further understanding this process could be useful for developing policies to reduce both environmentally induced migration from origin areas and also to palliate significant environmental change unleashed by settler deforestation in destination areas. Evidently, apprehending this holistic process cannot be approached only from the destination since this ignores environmental and other antecedents to rural out-migration. This paper presents data from surveys conducted in areas of high out-migration to the agricultural frontier in northern Guatemala. Results suggest that land scarcity and degradation in origin communities are linked to out-migration in general and to the forest frontier of northern Guatemala in particular.

Space versus Place in Complex Human-Natural Systems: Spatial and Multi-level Models of Tropical Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) in Guatemala.

The relative role of space and place has long been debated in geography. Yet modeling efforts applied to coupled human-natural systems seemingly favor models assuming continuous spatial relationships. We examine the relative importance of placebased hierarchical versus spatial clustering influences in tropical land use/cover change (LUCC). Guatemala was chosen as our study site given its high rural population growth and deforestation in recent decades. We test predictors of 2009 forest cover and forest cover change from 2001-2009 across Guatemala's 331 municipalities and 22 departments using spatial and multi-level statistical models. Our results indicate the emergence of several socio-economic predictors of LUCC regardless of model choice. Hierarchical model results suggest that significant differences exist at the municipal and departmental levels but largely maintain the magnitude and direction of single-level model coefficient estimates. They are also intervention-relevant since policies tend to be applicable to distinct political units rather than to continuous space. Spatial models complement hierarchical approaches by indicating where and to what magnitude significant negative and positive clustering associations emerge. Appreciating the comparative advantages and limitations of spatial and nested models enhances a holistic approach to geographical analysis of tropical LUCC and human-environment interactions.

The effects of migrant remittances on population-environment dynamics in migrant origin areas: international migration, fertility, and consumption in highland Guatemala.

International migration impacts origin regions in many ways. As examples, remittances from distant migrants may alter consumption patterns within sending communities, while exposure to different cultural norms may alter other behaviors. This paper combines these insights to offer a unique lens on migration's environmental impact. From an environmental perspective, we ask the following question: is the likely rise in consumption brought about by remittances counterbalanced by a reduction in fertility in migrant households following exposure to lower fertility cultures? Based on ethnographic case studies in two western highland Guatemalan communities, we argue that the near-term rise in consumption due to remittances is not counterbalanced by rapid decline in migrant household fertility. However, over time, the environmental cost of consumption may be mitigated at the community level through diffusion of contraception and family planning norms yielding lower family size.