Arid and semi-arid soils display low productivity due to abiotic stress associated with drought and salinity. Halobacteria can increase the yield of crops grown under these types of stress. These bacteria thrive across a wide salinity range (1–25% NaCl) and also in the absence of NaCl and have direct and indirect mechanisms that promote plant growth. This review summarizes studies conducted over the past five years that have assessed the effect of halobacteria on plants and soil fertility. The criteria used in the selection of halobacteria were also reviewed. Few studies have assessed the impact of halobacteria on soil fertility. The selection of halobacteria has been based on a qualitative criterion considering the morphology of colonies grown in media enriched with salts, mainly Na⁺. Not all bacteria growing in salt-enriched media are capable of capturing Na⁺ ions. Therefore, a quantitative criterion should be applied for the selection of halobacteria, which could be their ability to capture Na⁺ ions in vitro. This, together with the assessment of the effect of halobacteria on soil fertility, may largely contribute to the recovery of saline soils.

In this study, the relationship between environmental innovation and sustainability is analyzed in 168 handicraft businesses in the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Tlaxcala. The results show a direct, positive relationship between environmental innovation and sustainability in three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. In terms of determination, the variables that best explain sustainability are: organization type, product innovation, and process innovation. The age of the handicraft businesses was not a significant factor in explaining sustainability. This study concludes that handicraft businesses make sustainable choices more as a result of a desire for profit maximization than as a result of environmental consciousness, as can be explained by neoclassical view of economics.

Based on institutional theory, this study develops the understanding of how the institutional environment influences the propensity to adopt green practices. Taking into consideration the limitations of institutional theory, this research explores the mediating role of farmers’ environmental concern in the relationship between institutional pressures and green practices. Environmental concern is a factor that can explain why businesses are heterogeneous in their green practices and stances even though they are embedded in the same institutional environment. Data obtained from 130 small businesses in the agricultural sector in Oaxaca, Mexico, reveal that institutional pressures influence green practices directly. The results also reveal that farmers’ environmental concern partially mediates the relationship between these variables. This study tests the applicability of the theoretical framework of the institutional theory in this context and contributes to this theory by considering the role of the farmer. Specifically, it addresses environmental concern as a means through which businesses respond to institutional pressures, and how farmers implement green practices as a means for legitimacy. Environmental concern motivates environmental behavior in search of environmental conservation, but farmers mainly implement green practices to survive in the market in response to institutional pressures.

Water scarcity is a threat in San Andrés Ixtlahuaca, Mexico, that imperils the survival of farming households whose food and income depend on rainfed agriculture. This research extends the framework of socioecological systems to tourism to understand how community-based tourism flourishes: not spontaneously but as part of an adaptive response to the water crisis. A research model was constructed based on mixed methods. For the qualitative approach, interviews were conducted with 12 community leaders. Results show that different capabilities have been developed throughout the adaptive cycle: information capabilities at the Ω phase; involvement capabilities at the α phase; self-esteem capabilities at the r phase; and resource use capabilities at the k phase. These capabilities make it possible to face the water crisis, but they also favor the implementation of tourist activity. For the quantitative approach, a questionnaire was applied to 88 community participants directly involved in tourism activities to discover the current state of the tourism-related capabilities, their shaping, and relationships. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypotheses raised was used. The activity makes the community resilient because it seeks to conserve and improve community resources through tourism-related capabilities.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between different types of organizational culture (hierarchical, clan or group, market or rational and adhocratic) and sustainability through three dimensions (economic, environmental and social) in ecotourism businesses in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico.Design/methodology/approach: In this research 80 questionnaires were administered in the form of face-to-face interviews to ecotourism business owners'. Through a discriminant analysis and the theoretical support of the competing values framework (CVF), the prevailing types of culture were identified, and their influence was analysed through a regression analysis.Findings: The results show that ecotourism businesses which are driven by hierarchical culture tend to have a greater focus on economic sustainability, while those businesses with a market or rational culture show a positive and significant influence on environmental sustainability. Likewise, businesses with adhocratic culture achieve sustainability holistically; however, the data reveal that clan or group culture is not associated with social sustainability.Originality/value: This study offers empirical research that explains the relationship between organizational culture and sustainability. Additionally, it contributes to the study of environmental management issues in the ecotourism sector.