Agro-silvi-culturas meteorológicas urbanas y periurbanas de Morelia, Michoacán, México: análisis de la adaptación en los huertos ante el cambio climático.

Abstract

Cities have become essential sites due to the processes that develop in them: population growth, urban expansion, and utility demand, among others. Different relationships, practices, systems, and ways of life in cities and their metropolitan areas maintain combinations between crops, forests, or wild species and animals, called Urban and Peri-urban agrosilvicultures (UPA’s). UPA’s keep a close relationship with climate and weather, depending on factors such as rain (excess or lack of water), sun, and temperature (extreme heat or cold), among other phenomena (hail and winds) that put at risk implementation, development and maintenance of UPA’s. These relationships have been called meteorological cultures, which include traditional knowledge and adaptation strategies to face adverse phenomena and have not been addressed enough by scientific research in urban contexts. People from nine UPA's were interviewed based on a work of characterization and typology in Morelia City. People were asked about their perceptions of meteorological events that most affect them and inherited and acquired knowledge about climate and adaptation strategies they use. One of the incidence objectives was to provide information for adaptation to the climate phenomena, through the systematization of different adaptation strategies managed by different homegardens in Morelia, in addition to systematizing the information and presenting it in a visually attractive way to the participants through an agro-silvo-festive calendar. Results show people’s perceptions of climatic and meteorological elements, their empiric and inherited knowledge, and different adaptation strategies to face droughts, floods, frosts, heat waves, hail, and winds. Lastly, a collectively done festive agro-forest calendar is shown.