Maria J. Beltran | Universidad Pablo de Olavide (original) (raw)
Papers by Maria J. Beltran
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2021
This study presents an evaluation of the food-energy-water nexus (FEWn), complemented by a thorou... more This study presents an evaluation of the food-energy-water nexus (FEWn), complemented by a thorough life cycle assessment (LCA), of four young cacao production systems: two full-sun monocultures and two agroforestry systems under conventional and organic management. Land footprint (LF) for food production , non-renewable cumulative energy demand (NR CED) for energy, total water footprint (TWF) for water, and three efficiency indicators for the FEWn were all analysed. In addition, ten LCA impact categories were evaluated in relation to two functional units (kilograms of cacao output and kilograms of total crop output, i.e., cacao þ other crops). The integrated analysis of the FEWn and the LCA framework reveals how agroforestry systems and organic management report better environmental performances for almost all indicators and impact categories considered, except for the TWF. However, given that the systems analysed have no irrigation, between 96.3% and 99.8% of the TWF corresponds to green water, i.e., soil moisture from precipitation. Green water has lower environmental impacts and opportunity costs than the water used to manufacture inputs (WF input). Accordingly, when the efficiency of the nexus is measured in relation to the WF input , organically managed systems produce more food/energy per unit of water used. Our results show how production diversification and organic and cultural management practices can improve energy efficiency and reduce the use of water associated with the inputs and, consequently, improve the nexus, as well as the rest of the environmental impacts analysed. The design of agricultural policies focused on sustainability should strongly favour the establishment of agroforestry systems, particularly those that are organically managed.
There is an exhaustive literature on Israel, Palestine and water, which has documented how the as... more There is an exhaustive literature on Israel, Palestine and water, which has documented how the asymmetric power of Israel in the Oslo negotiations ensured its control of land and water over Palestine. Less attention however has been paid on the interface ofwater, trade and agriculture, and theways inwhich controlling trade, Israel controlled the virtual flows ofwater too. The concept of virtualwatermakes thewater-agriculture-trade relationship visible, shedding light on agricultural trade flows in terms of water. Applying a political ecology approach, this paper shows how socio-ecological conditions are sustained by and organised through both social and metabolic-
ecological processes. A biophysical analysis - the agricultural flows of virtual water from and to Palestine in the Post-Oslo period - is combined with the examination of the power relations that governed these flows. The analysis reveals that virtualwater flows are not static but instead evolvewithin the (geo)political-economic context
in which they are embedded, bringing to light Israel's control over the flow of Palestinian agricultural virtual water.We argue that a political ecology approach to virtual water offers a theoretical basis to move beyond the currently techno-managerialemphasis in the virtualwater literature, illuminating the link between the control of virtual flows and the consolidation of political and economic power.
This special issue presents findings and reflections of scholars who participated in the European... more This special issue presents findings and reflections of scholars who participated in the European Network of Political Ecology (ENTITLE). By mobilising conceptual frameworks from several strands of Marxist and post-structuralist theory—and empirically engaging with a range of historico-geographical processes—the articles in this issue contribute to debates in political ecology in two main ways. First, they critically analyse the political economy and ecology of contemporary capitalism, with an emphasis on accumulation strategies associated with the uneven expansion and crisis of neoliberalism. Specifically, they unpack and critically extend the frameworks of “accumulation by dispossession” and “nature's neoliberalisation” to engage with, among other cases, the political ecology of “austerity” in Southern Europe; historical and contemporary cases of “capital-driven disasters”; and political ecological dynamics taking place around relationships of “rent”. Second, the authors of this special issue analyse new and re-emerging forms of socio-ecological resistance and contestation, including both distributional struggles and movements against “commons' enclosures”. Moreover, they focus on how struggles can (and do) move from contesting capitalist forms of dispossession towards creating alternative “hegemonic” projects and blocs, by critiquing received “common sense” and constructing and performing alternative political ecological imaginaries informed by principles of solidarity and “commoning”. Taken together, the articles in this special issue present new ways of thinking and enacting political and ecological struggles outside established scholarly traditions and conventional disciplines.
In the field of Ecological Economics, the need of using physical indicators to analyse economic p... more In the field of Ecological Economics, the need of using physical indicators to analyse economic processes, at the same time they serve as tools in decision making, has been lately highlighted. Virtual Water (VW) and Water Footprint (WF) are two useful indicators in achieving this objective, the first one from the perspective of production, the second one from that of consumption. This difference between them is interesting inasmuch as it allows to identify the subjects who are responsible for water consumption, whether producers or consumers, and proves both indicators’ potential when designing water management policies. In this work, we consider a hypothesis according to which there is a clear difference between the two concepts—Virtual Water and Water Footprint—and this difference, although evident in their respective conceptualizations, is not reflected in their estimations and applications. This is true to the point that the two concepts are often used as synonyms, thus wasting the enormous potential associated to their difference. Starting from this hypothesis, our objective is, first of all, to highlight this evident but ignored difference between VW and WF through a deep and thorough literature review of the conceptual definitions and contributions, the methodologies developed and the applications made regarding the two concepts. Second, we intend to make a conceptual and methodological proposition aimed at underlining the differences already mentioned and to identify responsibilities in water consumption. We do it by broadening the context of analysis and by integrating the production–consumption binomial and water–energy nexus.
Working papers by Maria J. Beltran
Los proyectos mineros debido a su potencial riesgo de contaminación, en concreto a lo que se refi... more Los proyectos mineros debido a su potencial riesgo de contaminación, en concreto a lo que se refiere a los recursos hídricos, deben ser sometidos a un estricto control medioambiental. En esta investigación realizamos el estudio del metabolismo hídrico (MH) de la actividad minera Las Cruces que conlleva un análisis de los flujos de agua de la actividad en su contexto territorial, ambiental, social, institucional y tecnológico. Mediante el diseño de un marco de análisis para el estudio de los flujos hídricos desde una perspectiva más allá de la puramente contable, contribuimos al debate sobre el análisis de los flujos de agua en los procesos de producción-consumo. El MH explica por qué son esos flujos, y no otros, los que entran en el proceso minero, mostrando de esta forma la necesidad de contextualización en los análisis metabólicos.
Para estudiar las interdependencias biofísicas del sistema económico, Fischer-Kowalski (1997), pr... more Para estudiar las interdependencias biofísicas del sistema económico, Fischer-Kowalski (1997), propuso el concepto de metabolismo social, como analogía al metabolismo biológico, buscando la descripción y cuantificación de los flujos de materia y energía que se intercambian entre los sistemas económico, social, territorial, medioambiental, etc. Desde que se popularizara esta analogía tan útil para analizar las interdependencias citadas, la proliferación de trabajos, abordando el estudio del metabolismo desde diversas perspectivas, ha sido notable. Sin embargo, esta proliferación ha dado lugar a una confusión entre lo que es y no es metabolismo. En nuestra investigación, el objetivo principal es definir el metabolismo hídrico del sistema económico en base y como analogía al metabolismo social. No obstante, y detectado un interesante debate entre las diferentes visiones del concepto de metabolismo, creemos necesario analizar, ordenar y estructurar, como objetivo intermedio, estos diversos enfoques que hay del metabolismo social para así, determinar el concepto de metabolismo con el que trabajaremos y, a partir de él, definiremos nuestro objetivo principal. En este trabajo pues, presentamos el resultado del análisis del debate en torno al concepto de metabolismo y una primera aproximación al concepto propuesto de metabolismo hídrico. Partiendo del concepto de metabolismo social que presentan González de Molina y Toledo (2009), nuestra propuesta consiste en plantear el metabolismo hídrico como un marco de análisis, que engloba la imprescindible contextualización de las estimaciones hídricas.
Conference Papers by Maria J. Beltran
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2021
This study presents an evaluation of the food-energy-water nexus (FEWn), complemented by a thorou... more This study presents an evaluation of the food-energy-water nexus (FEWn), complemented by a thorough life cycle assessment (LCA), of four young cacao production systems: two full-sun monocultures and two agroforestry systems under conventional and organic management. Land footprint (LF) for food production , non-renewable cumulative energy demand (NR CED) for energy, total water footprint (TWF) for water, and three efficiency indicators for the FEWn were all analysed. In addition, ten LCA impact categories were evaluated in relation to two functional units (kilograms of cacao output and kilograms of total crop output, i.e., cacao þ other crops). The integrated analysis of the FEWn and the LCA framework reveals how agroforestry systems and organic management report better environmental performances for almost all indicators and impact categories considered, except for the TWF. However, given that the systems analysed have no irrigation, between 96.3% and 99.8% of the TWF corresponds to green water, i.e., soil moisture from precipitation. Green water has lower environmental impacts and opportunity costs than the water used to manufacture inputs (WF input). Accordingly, when the efficiency of the nexus is measured in relation to the WF input , organically managed systems produce more food/energy per unit of water used. Our results show how production diversification and organic and cultural management practices can improve energy efficiency and reduce the use of water associated with the inputs and, consequently, improve the nexus, as well as the rest of the environmental impacts analysed. The design of agricultural policies focused on sustainability should strongly favour the establishment of agroforestry systems, particularly those that are organically managed.
There is an exhaustive literature on Israel, Palestine and water, which has documented how the as... more There is an exhaustive literature on Israel, Palestine and water, which has documented how the asymmetric power of Israel in the Oslo negotiations ensured its control of land and water over Palestine. Less attention however has been paid on the interface ofwater, trade and agriculture, and theways inwhich controlling trade, Israel controlled the virtual flows ofwater too. The concept of virtualwatermakes thewater-agriculture-trade relationship visible, shedding light on agricultural trade flows in terms of water. Applying a political ecology approach, this paper shows how socio-ecological conditions are sustained by and organised through both social and metabolic-
ecological processes. A biophysical analysis - the agricultural flows of virtual water from and to Palestine in the Post-Oslo period - is combined with the examination of the power relations that governed these flows. The analysis reveals that virtualwater flows are not static but instead evolvewithin the (geo)political-economic context
in which they are embedded, bringing to light Israel's control over the flow of Palestinian agricultural virtual water.We argue that a political ecology approach to virtual water offers a theoretical basis to move beyond the currently techno-managerialemphasis in the virtualwater literature, illuminating the link between the control of virtual flows and the consolidation of political and economic power.
This special issue presents findings and reflections of scholars who participated in the European... more This special issue presents findings and reflections of scholars who participated in the European Network of Political Ecology (ENTITLE). By mobilising conceptual frameworks from several strands of Marxist and post-structuralist theory—and empirically engaging with a range of historico-geographical processes—the articles in this issue contribute to debates in political ecology in two main ways. First, they critically analyse the political economy and ecology of contemporary capitalism, with an emphasis on accumulation strategies associated with the uneven expansion and crisis of neoliberalism. Specifically, they unpack and critically extend the frameworks of “accumulation by dispossession” and “nature's neoliberalisation” to engage with, among other cases, the political ecology of “austerity” in Southern Europe; historical and contemporary cases of “capital-driven disasters”; and political ecological dynamics taking place around relationships of “rent”. Second, the authors of this special issue analyse new and re-emerging forms of socio-ecological resistance and contestation, including both distributional struggles and movements against “commons' enclosures”. Moreover, they focus on how struggles can (and do) move from contesting capitalist forms of dispossession towards creating alternative “hegemonic” projects and blocs, by critiquing received “common sense” and constructing and performing alternative political ecological imaginaries informed by principles of solidarity and “commoning”. Taken together, the articles in this special issue present new ways of thinking and enacting political and ecological struggles outside established scholarly traditions and conventional disciplines.
In the field of Ecological Economics, the need of using physical indicators to analyse economic p... more In the field of Ecological Economics, the need of using physical indicators to analyse economic processes, at the same time they serve as tools in decision making, has been lately highlighted. Virtual Water (VW) and Water Footprint (WF) are two useful indicators in achieving this objective, the first one from the perspective of production, the second one from that of consumption. This difference between them is interesting inasmuch as it allows to identify the subjects who are responsible for water consumption, whether producers or consumers, and proves both indicators’ potential when designing water management policies. In this work, we consider a hypothesis according to which there is a clear difference between the two concepts—Virtual Water and Water Footprint—and this difference, although evident in their respective conceptualizations, is not reflected in their estimations and applications. This is true to the point that the two concepts are often used as synonyms, thus wasting the enormous potential associated to their difference. Starting from this hypothesis, our objective is, first of all, to highlight this evident but ignored difference between VW and WF through a deep and thorough literature review of the conceptual definitions and contributions, the methodologies developed and the applications made regarding the two concepts. Second, we intend to make a conceptual and methodological proposition aimed at underlining the differences already mentioned and to identify responsibilities in water consumption. We do it by broadening the context of analysis and by integrating the production–consumption binomial and water–energy nexus.
Los proyectos mineros debido a su potencial riesgo de contaminación, en concreto a lo que se refi... more Los proyectos mineros debido a su potencial riesgo de contaminación, en concreto a lo que se refiere a los recursos hídricos, deben ser sometidos a un estricto control medioambiental. En esta investigación realizamos el estudio del metabolismo hídrico (MH) de la actividad minera Las Cruces que conlleva un análisis de los flujos de agua de la actividad en su contexto territorial, ambiental, social, institucional y tecnológico. Mediante el diseño de un marco de análisis para el estudio de los flujos hídricos desde una perspectiva más allá de la puramente contable, contribuimos al debate sobre el análisis de los flujos de agua en los procesos de producción-consumo. El MH explica por qué son esos flujos, y no otros, los que entran en el proceso minero, mostrando de esta forma la necesidad de contextualización en los análisis metabólicos.
Para estudiar las interdependencias biofísicas del sistema económico, Fischer-Kowalski (1997), pr... more Para estudiar las interdependencias biofísicas del sistema económico, Fischer-Kowalski (1997), propuso el concepto de metabolismo social, como analogía al metabolismo biológico, buscando la descripción y cuantificación de los flujos de materia y energía que se intercambian entre los sistemas económico, social, territorial, medioambiental, etc. Desde que se popularizara esta analogía tan útil para analizar las interdependencias citadas, la proliferación de trabajos, abordando el estudio del metabolismo desde diversas perspectivas, ha sido notable. Sin embargo, esta proliferación ha dado lugar a una confusión entre lo que es y no es metabolismo. En nuestra investigación, el objetivo principal es definir el metabolismo hídrico del sistema económico en base y como analogía al metabolismo social. No obstante, y detectado un interesante debate entre las diferentes visiones del concepto de metabolismo, creemos necesario analizar, ordenar y estructurar, como objetivo intermedio, estos diversos enfoques que hay del metabolismo social para así, determinar el concepto de metabolismo con el que trabajaremos y, a partir de él, definiremos nuestro objetivo principal. En este trabajo pues, presentamos el resultado del análisis del debate en torno al concepto de metabolismo y una primera aproximación al concepto propuesto de metabolismo hídrico. Partiendo del concepto de metabolismo social que presentan González de Molina y Toledo (2009), nuestra propuesta consiste en plantear el metabolismo hídrico como un marco de análisis, que engloba la imprescindible contextualización de las estimaciones hídricas.