Hallie Eakin - Research

CURRENT PROJECTS

Effective Adaptation Strategies and Risk Reduction towards Economic and Climatic Shocks: Lessons from the Coffee Crisis in Mesoamerica

P.I. Dr. Edwin Castellanos, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala

Collaborating institutions: Asociación Nacional del Café de Guatemala; Indiana University; Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica; Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico; Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP); University of California, Santa Barbara.

The project will study the evolving livelihood strategies of coffee growers in four countries, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica, in the face of multiple stressors: market shocks and price volatility; climatic variability and trends; and the rising incidence of pests in coffee producing regions. The project explores the factors that influence the decisions of growers in eight coffee regions (two in each country); the forms of livelihood adaptations that they are pursuing; and the implications of those strategies for the people and landscapes of each region.

Adaptive capacity and social-environmental change: Assessing the Future of Smallholder Coffee Systems in the Mesoamerican Pacific Rim

Hallie Eakin, University of California, Santa Barbara; Jeremy Haggar, Centro Agrónomo Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica; Edwin Castellanos, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala

The project involves an international workshop to synthesize methodological, theoretical and empirical findings concerning the analysis of socio-environmental change in the smallholder coffee sector in the region. A multicriteria decision model will be employed to facilitate the synthesis. The result of this workshop will be a synthesis research article, a series of policy briefs for coffee agencies in the region, the development of a strategy for increased interaction with policy-makers in the region, and the development of a research agenda for future collaboration.

Coffee Farmers’ Responses to the Impact of Hurricane Stan in Chiapas, Mexico: An Analysis of Social-Ecological Resilience

Implementing institutions: University of California, Santa Barbara (Dr. Hallie Eakin); The Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias in Mexico City (Dr. Gustavo Cruz-Bello); and the Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Dr. Helda Morales and Dr. Juan F. Barrera) in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas.

This project will document the impact of hurricane Stan on coffee farmers’ livelihood and land use choices in the municipio of Motocintla in the Sierra region of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. We aim to identify the range of strategies farmers are considering in their decision process, the factors driving farmers’ choices, and explore the initial outcomes of those decisions for the local landscape. The project entails two primary components: 1) A social component, evaluating the livelihood and land use choices of farmers, and the motivations for any changes that have taken place since the hurricane’s impact and 2) A remote-sensing component, evaluating changes in land use following the event. Together, the data collected in this case study will provide the basis for the development of hypotheses concerning the point at which social-environmental system subjected to multiple stressors will change its trajectory of development and the motivations for this change. We plan to use this research not only to complement other research on coffee in Mesoamerica but also to leverage funding for a broader research project on social and ecological resilience and adaptive capacity.

SELECTED PREVIOUS PROJECTS

"Disaster Preparedness and Response in Central Mexico: Towards an Adaptation Baseline" International Research Fellowship, United States National Science Foundation. (P.I.) In collaboration with Dr. Kirsten Appendini (Colegio de México) and Dr. Victor Magaña (CCA-UNAM). June 2004 – March 2006.

"Proyecto para la Evaluación del Programa del Fondo para Atender a la Población Afectada por Contingencias Climatológicas (FAPRACC)" (Co-P.I.). Disaster response policy evaluation for the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries (SAGARPA). Dr. Carlos Gay (P.I.), Center for Atmospheric Sciences, UNAM. May 2004 – October 2004.

"Integrated Assessment of Social Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change among Farmers in Mexico and Argentina" Project. (Co-P.I.) Grant LA29 of the Assessments of Impacts of and Adaptations to Climate Change in Multiple Regions and Sectors (AIACC), funded by the Global Environmental Facility/UNEP, START, and The Third World Academy of Sciences. March 2002 – March 2005.

"Vulnerability and Adaptation Support for Mexico: Case Study of Water and Climate Change in Hermosillo, Mexico" (Research Consultant for Stratus Consulting). Project supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Mexican National Institute of Ecology (INE). September 2001 – January 2004.

"Adapting to Market Shocks and Climatic Variability in Meso-America: The Coffee Crisis in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras." (Co-P.I.) Grant from Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. August 2002 – October 2003