Pobreza y degradación ambiental en la agricultura del estado de Zacatecas a nivel municipal

In this study, relationship between poverty and environmental degradation in Zacatecas state agriculture was analyzed. Research was addressed from the John B. Foster developed Marxist standpoint, based on the concepts of production social relationships, metabolism between society and nature, coevolution and metabolic rift, assuming a social explanation of the current environmental crisis. Methodological procedure was as follows: at first, from five ecological indicators, state municipalities were classified, obtaining three different strata in accordance with their environmental degradation level. Next, values of four social indicators were analyzed for each stratum, including patrimony poverty, capability poverty and food poverty. The study showed a significant statistical correlation among environmental degradation, patrimony poverty and capabilities poverty rates. The most ecologically degraded region coincides with the most important municipalities for state agriculture, excluding the case of food poverty. Meeting the most basic human needs seems no to be correlated with environmental degradation. We conclude that agricultural sustainability depends not only on the improvement of ecological environment, but on the social conditions of population as well, in particular regarding to reduction of poverty for people who live in rural areas. However, environmental problem will not be solved while production social relationships remain. More studies are needed for better understanding causal relationships between social conditions and natural environment.