101
Although San Luis Potosí has registered an increase in investment in technified
agriculture, renewable energy, volume of production, and wealth generation, this
form of production and appropriation of resources deteriorates the socio-ecological
system and landscape, and therefore modifies the livelihoods that are consubstantial
to them. For this reason, according to Tudela (1989), it is fundamental to gain
knowledge of each one of the mechanisms of transformation and link them to the
processes of deterioration, as well to analyze the specific modalities of economic
activities that trigger their action, to critically analyze and rethink if there are actually development processes.
Livelihoods in the Altiplano Potosino
The socio-ecological system of this region was shaped by the occupation and forms
of natural resource appropriation carried out by hunter and gatherer groups during
the Late Postclassic period. These groups took advantage of the distribution and
phenological patterns of the wide diversity of species that have evolved in conditions of chronic droughts, infrequent rainfall, and even excessive thermal variation
on the surface of the soil, affecting the subsistence of plants and animals (Hernández
2006; Rodriguez-Loubet 2016).
From the sixteenth century, the productive activities of these places were suddenly reoriented, historically forming a landscape, and thus a socio-ecological system, that has resulted from juxtapositions and confluences between new productive
activities and diverse cultural interactions. The influence of the new modes of
appropriation of nature side-by-side with traditional ones accounts for the processes
of socio-ecological system transformation:
(a) Mining. The region is located in a metallogenic province abundant in silver,
lead, and gold, in addition to zinc, mercury, fluorite, and arsenic (SGM 2018).
The foundational origin of the settlements during the conquest was mining
extraction, which began in 1574 (SGM 2017). Later, new mining districts were
incorporated, some of which have mines in operation to this day. At the end of
the nineteenth century, a transition from artisanal mining to larger-scale mining
began, using dynamite for the first time, mechanical perforations with air, and
the movement of large volumes with winches, associated with the first power
plant (SGM 2017). The endemic presence of metallic and non-metallic minerals and their accumulation in soil and water because of extractive activities have
created risk scenarios for human health and for other exposed organisms
(Espinosa- Reyes et al. 2014; Jasso-Pineda et al. 2007; Monzalvo-Santos et al.
2016; Razo et al. 2004), whose magnitude of effects has not yet been sufficiently measured.
(b) Salt production. The “harvest of salt” in the saline lagoons initially depended
on knowledge of seasonal cycles and weather conditions. Afterwards, ponds
were built, in which the salt water extracted from the subsoil was deposited,
6 Forced Modernization in Drylands: Socio-Ecological System Disruption…
Although San Luis Potosí has registered an increase in investment in technified
agriculture, renewable energy, volume of production, and wealth generation, this
form of production and appropriation of resources deteriorates the socio-ecological
system and landscape, and therefore modifies the livelihoods that are consubstantial
to them. For this reason, according to Tudela (1989), it is fundamental to gain
knowledge of each one of the mechanisms of transformation and link them to the
processes of deterioration, as well to analyze the specific modalities of economic
activities that trigger their action, to critically analyze and rethink if there are actually development processes.
Livelihoods in the Altiplano Potosino
The socio-ecological system of this region was shaped by the occupation and forms
of natural resource appropriation carried out by hunter and gatherer groups during
the Late Postclassic period. These groups took advantage of the distribution and
phenological patterns of the wide diversity of species that have evolved in conditions of chronic droughts, infrequent rainfall, and even excessive thermal variation
on the surface of the soil, affecting the subsistence of plants and animals (Hernández
2006; Rodriguez-Loubet 2016).
From the sixteenth century, the productive activities of these places were suddenly reoriented, historically forming a landscape, and thus a socio-ecological system, that has resulted from juxtapositions and confluences between new productive
activities and diverse cultural interactions. The influence of the new modes of
appropriation of nature side-by-side with traditional ones accounts for the processes
of socio-ecological system transformation:
(a) Mining. The region is located in a metallogenic province abundant in silver,
lead, and gold, in addition to zinc, mercury, fluorite, and arsenic (SGM 2018).
The foundational origin of the settlements during the conquest was mining
extraction, which began in 1574 (SGM 2017). Later, new mining districts were
incorporated, some of which have mines in operation to this day. At the end of
the nineteenth century, a transition from artisanal mining to larger-scale mining
began, using dynamite for the first time, mechanical perforations with air, and
the movement of large volumes with winches, associated with the first power
plant (SGM 2017). The endemic presence of metallic and non-metallic minerals and their accumulation in soil and water because of extractive activities have
created risk scenarios for human health and for other exposed organisms
(Espinosa- Reyes et al. 2014; Jasso-Pineda et al. 2007; Monzalvo-Santos et al.
2016; Razo et al. 2004), whose magnitude of effects has not yet been sufficiently measured.
(b) Salt production. The “harvest of salt” in the saline lagoons initially depended
on knowledge of seasonal cycles and weather conditions. Afterwards, ponds
were built, in which the salt water extracted from the subsoil was deposited,
6 Forced Modernization in Drylands: Socio-Ecological System Disruption…