Vulnerability and response capacity to drought of cattle producers in the Sierras del Este (Lavalleja-Uruguay)

Doctoral thesis abstract

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the drought vulnerability of cattle producers located in the Sierras del Este. The main drivers and controls that determine vulnerability were evaluated by integrating different dimensions, scales and various methodological approaches. It was analysed: i) the spatio-temporal behavior of the aboveground net primary productivity of the grasslands and its relationships with the geophysical and productive varibles of the farms, ii) the controls that determine vulnerability by analyzing the behavior of the producers’ response capacities to face the drought, iii) the behavior of vulnerability based on the variability of its main drivers, and iv) the interactions between actors and agents, and the collective and dynamic vulnerability component. The main results show that the vulnerability responds to the interaction of drivers (with high variability and zero control) and complex internal controls. Producers adopted strategies that generated notorious impacts, which are maximized during the drought. The capacity of the producers to respond to the drought is low and depends on the biophysical conditions of the farm, and economic-productive and financial conditions of the producers. It was found that vulnerability is largely dependent on structural conditions, but there is a margin of possibilities to reduce the vulnerability of each producer. These possibilities are variable among the producers and depend on the specific context generated by the combination of the main drivers. Interactions between actors and agents reveals the existence of rigidity and poverty traps and difficulties hindering the propagation and consolidation of adaptative practices. The generation of response capacity and with the reduction of structural vulnerability, is crucial to not compromise the sustainability of a group of producers that present a growing drought vulnerability. The methodological proposed in this thesis made it possible to operationalize and evaluate the vulnerability, and presents a provide a framework that could be applicable to other productive sectors, threats and geographical contexts.