Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz

International Institute of Tropical Forestry · USDA Caribbean Climate Hub

Se reportaron 2,975 muertes relacionadas al huracán María en Puerto Rico (P.R.) en el 2017. Este también devastó su agricultura. Dicho sector estaba viendo algunas mejoras, aun dentro de la crisis financiera que enfrenta P.R. El 80% del valor agrícola fue diezmado y los daños ascendieron a los $200 millones. Debido al cambio climático, se prevé que...

2017’s Hurricane Maria struck the United States unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico as a category 4 hurricane, causing 2,975 deaths. The archipelago’s agriculture, which was experiencing production improvement during Puerto Rico’s financial crisis, was decimated. Damages to production were estimated to reach approximately 200 million dollars, a...

El sector pesquero puertorriqueño ha sido afectado negativamente por la crisis económica, los embates del cambio climático, políticas públicas poco efectivas y marginación social. De igual manera, ha ido decreciendo en los pasados años. Eso es preocupante, pues ese sector es importante para salvaguardar la seguridad alimentaria de Puerto Rico y la...

Understanding how perceptions around motivation, capacity, and climate change’s impacts relate to the adoption of adaptation practices in light of experiences with extreme weather events is important in assessing farmers’ adaptive capacity. However, very little of this work has occurred in islands, which may have different vulnerabilities and capac...

Traducción de: Rodríguez-Cruz, L.A. & Niles, M.T. (2021) Awareness of climate change's impacts and motivation to adapt are not enough to drive action: A look of Puerto Rican farmers after Hurricane Maria. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244512. El artículo fue traducido por Sabrina Ramos Rubén.

Puerto Rico has experienced a decline in the number of farms since the 1990s which parallels trends in the broader Caribbean. The islands share characteristics that contribute to their frail food security, including limited land masses, small economies, isolation, and embeddedness in neocolonial dynamics. The aftermath of the 2017 category 4 Hurric...

Islands are uniquely vulnerable to extreme weather events and food insecurities, and have additional response challenges due to their limited territories and economies, isolation, colonial legacies, and high dependence of food imports. Domestic farmers have a key role in producing food for island communities like Puerto Rico, which can safeguard fo...

This research brief summarizes the main findings of the article, "Social-ecological interactions in a disaster context: Puerto Rican farmer households' food security after Hurricane Maria" (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6004)

Este informe resume los hallazgos del artículo, "Social-ecological interactions in a disaster context: Puerto Rican farmer households' food security after Hurricane Maria" (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6004), el cual ha sido traducido al español y está disponible en Research Gate.

Las islas son excepcionalmente vulnerables a los fenómenos meteorológicos extremos y la inseguridad alimentaria. Más tienen desafíos de respuesta a emergencias adicionales debido a sus territorios y economías limitados, aislamiento, legados coloniales y alta dependencia de las importaciones de alimentos. Los sectores agrícolas y pesqueros isleño ti...

Farmers across the globe are experiencing compounding shocks that make evident the need to better understand potential drivers and barriers to strengthen adaptive capacity. This is especially true in the context of a disaster, where a disruption in the natural and built environment hinders livelihood strategies and exposes the underlying dynamics t...

Traducción de, "Rodríguez-Cruz, LA., Moore, M., Niles, MT. (2021) Puerto Rican Farmers’ Obstacles Towards Recovery and Adaptation Strategies after Hurricane Maria: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Adaptive Capacity. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.662918." ++++ La traducción fue realizada por Luis Alexis Rodr...

Datos de 405 agricultores pueden señalar áreas que necesitan fortalecerse de cara a la nueva temporada de huracanes 2021. Entre mayo y junio del 2018 se entrevistaron 405 agricultores a través de Puerto Rico para comprender los impactos del huracán María. Los agricultores compartieron cuáles fueron los mayores obstáculos que enfrentaron para lograr...

Puerto Rican fisherfolks have been negatively affected by the ongoing fiscal crisis, climate change-related shocks, ineffective public policies, and social marginalization. Moreover, the sector’s population have decreased in the past years. This is worrisome, given fisherfolks’ role in safeguarding local food security and coastal communities. Thus,...

24 Strengthening farmers' adaptive capacity is important for decreasing their vulnerability to natural 25 hazards in this changing climate, and for safeguarding local food systems. One key step in 26 strengthening adaptive capacity is understanding the relationship between farmers' experience 27 with natural hazards and their perceptions of climate...

We wonder if food and agriculture will be an emer­gent theme in reclaiming the Taíno identity, the Indigenous people of the Caribbean. As we con­sider the emergent movement to decolonize our diets and utilize food as medicine alongside veganism and vegetarianism trends, we wonder how and if food, foodways, and agriculture are or will be tools to de...

Objective: To identify barriers that prevent healthy eating practices in Puerto Rican early adolescents (EAs). Design: Qualitative data collected via focus groups. A total of 7 focus groups were conducted: 5 with EAs and 2 with parents and caregivers (PCs). Setting: Urban and rural Puerto Rico. Participants: Early adolescents aged 12-14years...