Estudio exploratorio e interpretativo de ciertos aspectos medulares del abordaje conceptual de los territorios en general, y en particular los territorios rurales o rural-urbanos, que se construyen y transforman a través de las interacciones de grupos asentados en determinados lugares entre sí, y con un medio natural progresivamente artificializado por la acción humana. Metodológicamente, se basa en discusiones comparadas anteriores de contribuciones sobre cuestiones relacionadas con el desarrollo territorial iberoamericano, con atención particular a Brasil, Colombia y América Central. Las conclusiones y propuestas conceptuales se apoyan en lecciones aprendidas sobre el concepto de territorio a partir de dichas experiencias, previamente documentadas o sistematizadas y contrastadas entre sí. Para identificar aprendizajes relevantes, el autor interactuó durante varios años con personas conocedoras de esas y otras experiencias latinoamericanas durante procesos internacionales, nacionales o territoriales de formación y gestión de conocimiento asociados a la Estrategia Centroamericana en Desarrollo Rural Territorial 2010-2030 (Ecadert), así como en foros virtuales y módulos de interaprendizaje latinoamericanos asociados al Sistema de Gestión Estratégica para el Desarrollo Territorial y la Agricultura Familiar -SiGET, y durante la preparación de un conjunto de publicaciones y recursos de gestión del conocimiento.

Lowell Gudmundson's masterful work on Costa Rica during the latter stages of its coffee-based export growth explores the societal changes brought by the expansion of agricultural cooperatives from the mid- to the late twentieth century, alongside the relative decline and subsequent partial recovery of large-scale private coffee processing plants (beneficios) and the rise of smaller-scale ones (micro-beneficios) in a context of major socioeconomic and political reforms. His detailed study of coffee production and processing, livelihoods, and life stories in two key and contrasting regions, Heredia and Tarrazú, provides valuable insights into and suggestive interpretations of the recent social history of coffee and coffee farms both within and without the Central Valley, where commercial coffee growing began in Costa Rica in the early nineteenth century. These explorations and explanations are interwoven with the broader economic, social, and political history of Costa Rica, of the role of the Green Revolution in the country's export agriculture, and of the in-depth, progressive, yet anti-Communist reforms led by José Figueres and the social democrats, with support from a substantial number of middling coffee growers, especially in the mountainous region of Los Santos, which included Tarrazú (as well as Figueres's farm, La Lucha). It is perhaps fitting to recall here what Patricia Badilla Gómez found in her interviews with some of those farmers who joined or supported Figueres's revolt: they joined out of fear that the Costa Rican Communists' rather abstract and somewhat clumsy critique of private property meant that they would take away their farms.One of the apparent paradoxes of Costa Rican social and political history is the combination of continuity and discontinuity within successive, different, yet complementary reforms carried out by governments of very diverse ideologies, with power being transferred by either electoral means or civil war. For instance, the populist Calderonista alliance of social Christians and Communists in the 1940s, overthrown by the movement led by Figueres, did not—contrary to the wishes of its oligarchical sponsors—annul the labor code, social security, and other progressive institutional changes, although Figueres did outlaw the Communist Party. Likewise, earlier, temporary alliances, such as the one forged between Jorge Volio's Reform Party and Ricardo Jiménez's Republican Party, sought more progressive tax policies, vocational training, labor risk insurance, and other reforms. Other antecedents include public health and educational policies, some of them dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as early land distribution and, in certain cases, redistribution undertaken by several governments that were to a large extent classical liberal. The cumulative effect of these often-modest but not insignificant reforms, in the course of several decades, and their deepening and expansion from midcentury on, affected the characteristics of Costa Rican society, how social conflict was expressed, and the sociopolitical forces involved in shaping public debate and policy. Gudmundson's interpretation of economic, social, and political changes during the latter part of the twentieth century should contribute to an in-depth discussion of the scope, contradictory nature, and implications of these longer societal processes.Methodologically, this work creatively combines population and agricultural census rolls and databases, probate inventories and other archival sources, oral testimony and photographic interpretation, local monographs and academic theses, newspaper reports, and information from the internet. Gudmundson also resorts effectively to general studies on various aspects of Costa Rican history and well-selected references to international literature on coffee marketing and consumption abroad, as well as on populism and other related topics. Maps are used quite sparingly in the text and only for purposes of locating places discussed, despite references to the historical geography of coffee by Carolyn Hall and Gudmundson's clear understanding of the meaning of place and spatial relations in historical research and explanation.Publication of this valuable new contribution to the history of coffee in Costa Rican society, by a historian who has made many other valuable contributions on various topics in the course of several decades, should serve as an invitation to reassess prior studies and interpretations of history. Some of these are addressed specifically in the book, others mentioned in passing; a few more studies could perhaps be taken into account as part of a broader historiographical and political debate on issues raised directly or suggested by Gudmundson's excellent book. The converging efforts of Gudmundson and other foreign-born and foreign-trained scholars, together with the work of Costa Rican researchers at the country's two major universities—especially of the generation brilliantly represented by Gudmundson's colleague and collaborator Wilson Picado—should shed light on relevant aspects of a field of inquiry that still requires more substantive academic debate, encompassing both the history of coffee in Costa Rica and this country's twentieth-century sociopolitical history. This field also demands and deserves a collective effort to generate a better, more nuanced, and more relevant understanding of the questions raised, the explanations offered, and their implications for Costa Rican society. Once again, we must all be grateful for Lowell Gudmundson's generous, challenging, and timely contribution to this end.

Given its historical and present roles in Latin American societies, coffee has generated substantial interest and information. Documents up to the mid-20th century have been partly digitized by researchers or generated in electronic format by inter/national organizations after 1960. Digitized information at first primarily focused on time series, censuses, and other quantitative data to address economic and technological aspects, and on other primary and secondary sources for social and political ones. Historical and cultural geography and environmental and rural history of coffee-producing areas have resorted to scanned or digital maps and geographical information systems (GIS), together with aerial photography after mid-century and satellite images since the 1990s, as well as datasets on climate and diseases, and scientific or technical reports. Digital collections of audio/video recordings, paintings, and photographs expanded the range of sources and topics. Digitizing research involves critical and creative source work; it is also more than digitizing sources. Creating and linking databases containing nominal information, together with archival sources and oral history, has allowed researchers to further integrate quantitative and qualitative methods. Software for network or content analysis, genealogy, and timelines has been used increasingly. Machine-learning, exploration of big data, and historical/spatial data mining are still incipient for Latin American coffee. Digital resources—combined with other sources and methods, guided by appropriate research questions in a theoretical/epistemological framework—are key for meaningful and systematic comparative discussions of national/local processes within a regional/global context. However, many digital resources are not publicly accessible or require payment; historical datasets should be public goods. Much work is yet required to digitize documents such as accounting of coffee estates, customs records, and associations’ minutes, as well as multiple secondary sources. Digitalizing historical research on coffee is a learning process and requires additional expertise; convergent and cross-disciplinary methodological approaches are needed to comprehensively address the economic, environmental, social, political, and cultural history of coffee.

En las últimas dos décadas, el enfoque territorial fue introducido e incorporado en la formulación e implementación de políticas y programas de desarrollo territorial rural (DTR) en muchos países de América Latina. A partir de la revisión de investigaciones previas y de encuentros de expertos, este artículo presenta un balance de los logros y limitaciones de las políticas de DTR, y propone orientaciones para concebir a una nueva generación de políticas de desarrollo territorial. Si el análisis revela logros en términos de difusión del enfoque territorial y de fomento de procesos participativos, se han observado limitaciones en términos de intersectorialidad y multiescalaridad de los procesos, así como de multidimensionalidad de los resultados. Las orientaciones para una nueva generación de políticas de desarrollo territorial destacan, entre otras, la necesidad de aclarar y consensuar los objetivos (múltiples) de estas políticas, considerar las asimetrías de relaciones de poderes en los territorios y tener más flexibilidad y creatividad en los dispositivos de intervención. Esta nueva generación de políticas abre nuevas pistas de investigación para el entendimiento de las dinámicas y trayectorias territoriales y de los juegos de poderes, de las interacciones del conjunto de políticas que afectan estas dinámicas y del diseño metodológico de evaluación de las políticas.

En el marco de referencia del enfoque sistémico del desarrollo territorial, se exploran interrelaciones entre las agriculturas familiares, la conservación y valorización de la agrobiodiversidad local, y procesos de adaptación innovadora al cambio climático que contribuyan a su mitigación. Se recurre al concepto de sistemas territoriales de agricultura familiar (STAF), conjuntos complejos de sistemas de producción de base familiar, entrelazados mediante redes sociales y encadenamientos económicos, asociados a la base de recursos naturales del territorio y a prácticas culturales relacionadas con su aprovechamiento y transformación, así como a medios y modos de vida e identidades colectivas históricamente construidos. Dichos sistemas tienen grados variables de diversidad agroecológica, pero suelen ser menos especializados que la agricultura mecanizada o agroindustrial y estar asociados a paisajes heterogéneos, con mayor riqueza de especies cultivadas y silvestres. Algunos STAF son más adaptables a cambios climáticos tendenciales y tienen mayor resiliencia ante eventos extremos causados por la creciente variabilidad climática. El fortalecimiento de ciertos STAF como motores de desarrollo de territorios rurales en los cuales son o pueden llegar a ser relevantes, aunado a procesos de innovación acordes con sus características, requerimientos y potencialidades, puede contribuir a la sustentabilidad integral tanto de los STAF como de esos territorios. Se requiere de mecanismos de gobernanza relacional y gestión social del desarrollo territorial; un entorno político-institucional favorable; acompañamiento técnico, recursos apropiados, y redes o sistemas territoriales de innovación.

Coffee production has been a significant economic activity in Central America since the 19th century, and it has played an important role in shaping social relations, politics, and culture in various ways over time, both within coffee-producing areas and in each country. Coffee continues to be a major export crop, although the region’s economy has diversified, and the prospects of coffee as a commodity and a way of life will influence the fortunes of many in the highland areas of the isthmus. The Central American coffee commodity chain, from planting, care of the coffee groves, and harvesting through transportation, processing, and storage to shipping, roasting, and distribution abroad and within each country, has evolved in response both to internal dynamics and to changes in the world market for coffee and consumer demand, international trading systems, capital flows, and marketing systems. The supply of credit and the exchange of knowledge and information on the market as well as technical expertise and the provision of inputs, genetic material, and equipment have helped shape and reshape this value chain. Farmers’ strategies and cooperative endeavors, as well as local processing, gathering, and storage facilities and financing and regulations, have adapted to changing trends and to market downturns, recoveries, and segmentation. Vertical and horizontal integration of the various links in this chain have also evolved, in ways that differ from one country to another. While historically there has been a trend toward concentration especially in processing and export, there has also been fragmentation and greater involvement of small- or medium-scale producers in cultivation and in primary processing in specific countries or areas. Certain pests and diseases, whose geographical distribution and severity have been related to agro-ecological conditions and practices, have also contributed to modifications in productive systems. Climate change has had increasingly severe short-term impacts on the frequency of extreme events and variability of rainfall and temperature, while warmer average temperatures have begun to affect the altitudinal range of coffee cultivation. There is definitely a future for specific types of Central American coffee, but not necessarily for all current areas, farms, and firms specializing in this tropical product.

3. Los programas de desarrollo territorial han sido exitosos, particularmente, por promover el enfoque territorial en las agendas políticas rurales y el desarrollo de mecanismos de participación, pero han encontrado ciertas limitaciones en su operacionalización, así como en la generación de evidencias sobre sus impactos en términos de reducción de pobreza e inequidad entre poblaciones y territorios.

OBJECTIVES:To evaluate the impact of the recommendations of the SEMICYUC (2012) on severe influenza A. DESIGN:A prospective multicenter observational study was carried out. SETTING:ICU. PATIENTS:Patients infected with severe influenza A (H1N1) from the GETGAG/SEMICYUC registry. INTERVENTIONS:Analysis of 2 groups according to the epidemic period of the diagnosis (2009-2011; 2013-2015). VARIABLES:Demographic, temporal, comorbidities, severity, treatments, mortality, late diagnosis and place of acquisition. RESULTS:A total of 2,205 patients were included, 1,337 (60.6%) in the first period and 868 (39.4%) in the second one. Age and severity on admission were significantly greater in the second period, as well as co-infection. With regard to the impact of the recommendations, in the second period the diagnosis was established earlier (70.8 vs. 61.1%, P<.001), without changes in the start of treatment. Patients received less corticosteroid treatment (39.7 vs. 44.9%, P<.05), more NIMV was used (47.4 vs. 33.2%, P<.001) and more vaccination was made (11.1 vs. 1.7%, P<.001), without changes in mortality (24.2 vs. 20.7%). A decrease in nosocomial infection was also noted (9.8 vs. 16%, P<.001). Patients needed less MV with more days of ventilation, more vasopressor drug use and more ventral decubitus. CONCLUSIONS:The management of patients with severe influenza A (H1N1) has changed over the years, though without changes in mortality. The recommendations of the SEMICYUC (2012) have allowed earlier diagnosis and improved corticosteroid use. Pending challenges are the delay in treatment, the vaccination rate and the use of NIMV.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of the recommendations of the SEMICYUC (2012) on severe influenza A. Design: A prospective multicenter observational study was carried out. Setting: ICU. Patients: Patients infected with severe influenza A (H1N1 ) from the GETGAG/SEMICYUC registry. Interventions: Analysis of 2 groups according to the epidemic period of the diagnosis (20092011; 2013-2015). Variables: Demographic, temporal, comorbidities, severity, treatments, mortality, late diagnosis and place of acquisition. Results: A total of 2,205 patients were included, 1,337 (60.6%) in the first period and 868 (39.4%) in the second one. Age and severity on admission were significantly greater in the second period, as welt as co-infection. With regard to the impact of the recommendations, in the second period the diagnosis was established earlier (70.8 vs. 61.1%, P< .001), without changes in the start of treatment. Patients received less corticosteroid treatment (39.7 vs. 44.9%, P < .05), more NIMV was used (47.4 vs. 33.2%, P < .001) and more vaccination was made (11.1 vs. 1.7%, P< .001), without changes in mortality (24.2 vs. 20.7%). A decrease in nosocomial infection was also noted (9.8 vs. 16%, P< .001). Patients needed less MV with more days of ventilation, more vasopressor drug use and more ventral decubitus. Conclusions: The management of patients with severe influenza A (H1N1) has changed over the years, though without changes in mortality. The recommendations of the SEMICYUC (2012) have allowed earlier diagnosis and improved corticosteroid use. Pending challenges are the delay in treatment, the vaccination rate and the use of NIMV. (C) 2018 Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. y SEMICYUC. All rights reserved.

La autora recorre con maestría, solidez y perspicacia la evolución de los mercados del café costarricense y de la cadena de producción primaria y acopio, transformación y transporte interno, exportación, transporte y comercialización ultramarina, torrefacción, distribución y consumo del estimulante y apetecido grano de la fruta del cafeto en Alemania.

El proposito de la Red Politicas Publicas y Desarrollo Rural en America Latina, Red PP-AL es estudiar en America Latina y el Caribe (ALC), las evoluciones y transformaciones en los procesos de formulacion, elaboracion, implementacion y evaluacion de politicas publicas de desarrollo rural en el sentido amplio del termino (incluyendo politicas agricolas, ambientales, sociales, de innovacion, etc.). La Red ha realizado estudios comparados en la region, sobre politicas publicas de ganaderia, agricultura familiar, desarrollo rural territorial, circuitos cortos, agroecologia, promocion de servicios ambientales y respuesta al cambio climatico . Los programas e instrumentos de reduccion de pobreza rural no han sido el principal objeto del estudio comparativo de politicas de la Red PP-AL al nivel regional, sino mas bien a la escala de ciertos paises como Brasil. Pero algunos resultados de los analisis de politicas sectoriales o territoriales a nivel latino-americano pueden contribuir a las reflexiones al respecto. Los trabajos de la Red PP-AL han considerado tambien en el analisis de las politicas publicas, el foco y los efectos para la reduccion de las diversas formas de desigualdad (economica, social, politica, territorial, de acceso a derechos y ciudadania, etc.). Muchas veces, son esas desigualdades y situaciones de exclusion que llevan a la permanencia de la precariedad, de la pobreza y a la marginalizacion. Por lo tanto, para atacar las raices de la pobreza, es esencial que las politicas publicas, como las iniciativas del sector privado, asociativo y de las agencias de cooperacion internacional integren la dimension de la reduccion de las desigualdades. Politicas para la reduccion de la pobreza rural en ALC En America Latina y el Caribe, las politicas publicas de reduccion de la pobreza rural han utilizado cuatro tipos principales de instrumentos: - Programas sociales de transferencia de renta, mas o menos condicionada, de caracter universal, urbano y rural; - Politicas sectoriales de salud, educacion, vivienda, energia y acceso al agua de consumo humano y para la produccion, con instrumentos y programas especificos para el medio rural (vivienda como Mevir en Uruguay; Agua y Luz para todos y el programa de cisternas en Brasil, etc.); - Politicas de apoyo productivo o de acceso a mercados focalizadas en determinados grupos sociales, por ejemplo, categorias especificas de productores rurales: agricultores familiares, pescadores artesanales, comunidades indigenas, afrodescendientes y pueblos tradicionales; - Politicas tematicas mas globales y territoriales, no exclusivamente agricolas: politicas de seguridad alimentaria y nutricional, programas de desarrollo rural territorial, programas medioambientales y de adaptacion al cambio climatico. Estas politicas han logrado, en algunos casos, mejorar la satisfaccion de necesidades basicas en el medio rural y reducir en determinados periodos y paises los indices de pobreza rural. Al respecto, cabe hacer un balance de sus logros y limitaciones. (Resume d'auteur)