Between cattle expansion and indigenous territorial protection in Nicaragua: A review of “Patrullaje”.

Abstract

The interrelationship between the preservation of natural resources and economic development is a permanent source of tension in the Latin American context; in Nicaragua, specifically, the proliferation of cattle ranching has generated a predictable environmental crisis, where deforestation - a direct consequence of the cattle boom - has put at risk not only native biodiversity, but also the very survival of Nicaraguan indigenous communities. This productive sector, responsible for 57% of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, represents one of the most significant land use activities in the country. Faced with this situation, the Nicaraguan government, through its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) for Cattle Ranching, has identified four critical factors that contribute to the problem: inadequate land management by small producers, insecure land tenure, extensive cattle ranching, and uncontrolled expansion of the agricultural frontier (Canu et al., 2018).