Thresholds of resistance: agroecology, resilience and the agrarian question

A growing body of literature supports agroecology as a pathway to climate resilience - a claim steadily being adopted by development institutions. However, agroecology's agrarian limitations are often overlooked. Politically contested understandings of resilience introduce further confusion. Agroecological claims of superior climate resiliency cannot be understood in isolation from the socially unsustainable conditions of many smallholders, especially women. Reviewing agroecological resilience at different scales, we find that the theoretical approach to resilience in development discourse poorly accounts for agrarian vulnerability/resilience. We revisit the birthplace of the Campesino a Campesino movement in Guatemala where resilience intersects with agroecology and longstanding agrarian demands.

Automated summary

A growing body of literature supports agroecology as a pathway to climate resilience, which is being adopted by development institutions. However, agroecology's agrarian limitations are often overlooked, leading to confusion in politically contested understandings of resilience. The claim of superior climate resilience in agroecology cannot be understood in isolation, as it is necessary to consider the socially unsustainable conditions of many smallholders, particularly women.