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Perspectives on native maize conservation in Mexico: a public programme analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2020

Vladimir Pelcastre ,
Eduardo García-Frapolli Open the ORCID record for Eduardo García-Frapolli [Opens in a new window] ,
Bárbara Ayala-Orozco Open the ORCID record for Bárbara Ayala-Orozco [Opens in a new window]  and
Elena Lazos-Chavero Open the ORCID record for Elena Lazos-Chavero [Opens in a new window]
Vladimir Pelcastre
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Col. Ex-Hacienda San José de la Huerta, CP 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
Eduardo García-Frapolli*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Col. Ex-Hacienda San José de la Huerta, CP 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
Bárbara Ayala-Orozco
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Col. Ex-Hacienda San José de la Huerta, CP 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
Elena Lazos-Chavero
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Maestro Mario de la Cueva s/n, Ciudad de la Investigación en Humanidades, Ciudad Universitaria, CP 04510, Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, Mexico
*
Author for correspondence: Dr Eduardo García-Frapolli, Email: garcia.frapolli@gmail.com
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Summary

In any conservation programme, a variety of actors participate and interact in its different phases. They commonly have different perspectives and priorities regarding conservation, and diversity in the ensuing perspectives constitutes a barrier to effective conservation. In this paper, we analyse the different perspectives around the Programa de Conservación de Maíz Criollo (Programme for the Conservation of Native Maize in Mexico; PROMAC) in order to understand the possible causes that resulted in the programme not fulfilling its objectives. We used Q methodology and semi-structured interviews with farmers from a natural protected area to analyse the perspectives of the key actors who conceptualized, designed and implemented the programme and of the target population. Our research identified two different perspectives: (1) native maize can only be conserved with the support of community processes; and (2) the government, and not farmers, is responsible for the conservation of native maize. For farmers, native maize is key to their subsistence livelihoods, and they participated in the programme because of government monetary incentives. These differences contributed to dissimilar interpretations throughout the programme’s implementation phase, which, in turn, likely contributed to PROMAC failing to meet its objectives.

Keywords

discourse analysisnatural protected areaspolicy cyclepriority species
Type
Research Paper
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 33 - 40
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Foundation for Environmental Conservation

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