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P R C C
Researchers

19.1.2020

Report

Forefront Project

Collaboration between Wageningen y UNAM 2016-2020

FOREFRONT, was a six year long research and practical project initiated by WUR (Wageningen University) and UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) in the  area of Marqués de Comillas in Chiapas, Mexico and other tropical regions at the frontier of biodiverse and farmed landscape. The Dutch-Mexican scientific collaboration, will also worked with other local organisations as the Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas, and wants to open the collaboration to NGOs and civil groups, such as Cascoland, to help achieve their objectives.

The aim of FOREFRONT is to research social and environmental consequences of the advancing agricultural frontier in the Selva Lacandona rainforest in the area of Marqués de Comillas and to rethink and change agricultural practices to reconcile the maintenance of biodiversity and agricultural production. The Selva Lacandona is the rapidly diminishing rainforest stretching from Chiapas well into Guatemala and which is under threat due to deforestation and agricultural activity. Therefore it will be very important to communicate and translate the outcome of this research into accessible information in order promote awareness for the urgency of change with residents of Marqués de Comillas.

 

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The kitchen is a social place, a com­mon place to gather and connect. It is a place to share not only food, but stories, ideas, aspirations and initiatives. Colaboratory Kitchen is an ongoing mobile and on-site project that brings farmers, scientists, creatives and cooks together around the kitchen table to connect, exchange knowledge and prototype new trans-disciplinary solutions to farming; a test ground for ideas that conciliate land restoration, conservation, food production and better livelihood in farming communities. A response to the lack of connection between disciplines that are key for new alternatives towards more sustain­able and just futures.

The questions at stake are: How do we bridge scientific and local knowledge? What kind of interdisciplinary projects can we create towards a better livelihood and ecological resilience of farmer communities? How can we conserve the environment and its biodiversity in balance with sustainable food production and pair local consumption to global demand?

We create a space for a trans-disciplinary community to grow and take action, by sharing and cooking futures together.

The project was initiated in 2016 as a collaboration between Cascoland and the Forefront Project (WUR, UNAM), a joint effort to design spaces and tools of communication and action towards strengthening socio-ecological bonds, south of the Lacandona Jungle, Chiapas, México. Now a days the scheme is being developed in three rural locations in Mexico: Santo Domingo Tomaltepex, Oaxaca, Xochimilco, Mexico City and Loma Bonita, Chiapas, as a collaboration with UNAM, local organizations and a range of collaborations from professionals in different disciplines.