94 Agricultural Harm to the Environment
behind complex, multi-stakeholder, socio-environmental issues, such as pesticide
sales, spread and use.
The search for innovative practice less dependent on agrochemical markets
needs to focus on the diversity of farming and the socio-technical networks that
enable more socially and ecologically viable alternatives. Progress in this area would
require a new degree of political commitment from governments to support local-
ized farming diversity and the change of preconceived, externally designed inter-
ventions towards more flexible, locally driven initiatives. In addition, local
organizations representing the most affected people must aim to influence policy
formulation and implementation.
Our modern explanations are ultimately embedded in subtle mechanisms of
social control that can lead to destructive human activity. The social and ecosystem
crises common to modernity, evident in the people-pest-pesticide crises in the
Northern Andes, are not just a question of knowledge, technology, resource use
and distribution, or access to markets. Experience in Carchi demonstrates that
approaches to science, technology and society are value-laden and rooted in power
relationships among the diverse actors – such as farmers, researchers, industry rep-
resentatives and government officials – that can drive farming practice inconsistent
with public interest and the integrity of ecosystems. Solutions will only be success-
ful if they break with past thinking and more effectively empower communities
and broader civil society to mobilize enlightened activity for more socially and
environmentally acceptable outcomes.
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