Transborder Food Systems: Prospects for Regional Coordination in the Paso Del Norte

This project aims to discover how policies around food security circulate. It seeks to understand what makes certain policies attractive and other not. The relevant literature ackowledges that local territories react differently to projects, because every locality has a unique configuration of actors which influence policy outcomes. Because of the bi-national context of the regional economy of the Paso Del Norte (El Paso/Ciudad Juarez and Las Cruces), it offers opportunities to discover what factors are helping or hindering the implementation of “best practice” policies. This requires an analysis of local networks of actors and their spheres of influence, the linkages between these actors and the physical territory. Research will be primarily qualitative, involving interviews, ethnographies and both participant and non-participant observations. Databases of relevant contacts will be created to map out actor networks and to help promote collaboration and coordination between stakeholders seeking to inprove regional food security planning initiatives.

Faculty Supervisor:

Norma Rantisi

Student:

Jeremy Tessier

Partner:

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

University:

Concordia University

Program:

Globalink Research Award