Sustainable environmental resource utilisation: a case study of farmers’ ethnobotanical knowledge and rural change in Bungoma district, Kenya

This paper examines farmers’ ethnobotanical knowledge, innovation and rural change, and indicates one way in which indigenous technical knowledge complementing scientific knowledge may be documented for use by development planners and agencies. This paper firstly identifies plant species recognised as resources by farmers, and considers the value of these resources. Secondly, the paper documents and assesses the ethnobotanical knowledge associated with the utilisation of plant species, before turning to examine how plant resources are defined by use and culture. It also demonstrates that some components of ethnobotanical knowledge have potential for the sustainable development of plant species. The study shows that farmers have started to domesticate some of the ‘traditional’ plants, and new crops have been introduced associated with corresponding innovations in local agricultural systems. Since the farmers have a relatively strong tradition in natural resources conservation, this study suggests that it will be possible to introduce community-based gene banks linked to formal or government facilities. The paper demonstrates that it is important to combine and interweave ‘modern’ and indigenous knowledges to produce a more realistic and sensitive understanding and management of natural environmental resources for sustainable development.     

Need and opportunity for a North American caribou knowledge cooperative

The importance of migratory caribou ( Rangifer tarandus ) to northerners, the increasing pressure to extract non-living resources, and predicted global climate change have led researchers, managers and resource users alike to focus on how to improve our knowledge of this unique northern ungulate. Unprecedented threats to caribou sustainability, along with the increasingly acknowledged value of indigenous hunters'contribution to caribou research, pose the additional challenge to innovate research methods that accommodate differing cultural perspectives and facilitate communication among groups. This paper surveys the state of scientific knowledge of the eleven major northern mainland herds of North America. We recommend an approach to improve our working knowledge of barren-ground caribou in order to assess better future impacts. The transfer of knowledge gained from years of research and indigenous experience on many aspects of caribou ecology should be evaluated and, where applicable, transferred to herds with more modest databases. The establishment of a North American Caribou Monitoring and Assessment System, based on a synthesis of local knowledge and research-based science, is recommended as a tool for improved communication and collective learning.     

Damming China’s rivers to expand its cities: the urban livelihoods of rural people displaced by the Three Gorges Dam

Over the next two decades, China, the country with the world’s largest urban population, is orchestrating the urbanization of some 300 million rural people. In its National New-Type Urbanization Plan (2014) the State Council has outlined a range of strategies to grow its cities not least of which is rural-to-urban migration. This plan will have significant effects on other types of displacement, particularly, the forced displacement and resettlement of those living in the path of large dams. This paper reviews what is known about New-Type Urbanization Approach to Reservoir Resettlement. Then, based on a longitudinal study of 145 resettled households at the Three Gorges Dam, the livelihood effects of rural-to-urban resettlement are unpacked to provide lessons for its use in advancing urbanization. It finds that rural-to-urban resettlers have lower incomes than their urban-to-urban and rural-to-rural counterparts, and higher rates of food and income insecurity.     

批判地缘政治学视角下原住民组织对北极事务的参与和影响

从自发组建的非政府组织到北极事务中颇具影响力的权力组织,原住民组织已经成长为北极事务中不可忽视的利益攸关方。在获取北极事务参与权及实施行动决策中,北极原住民组织展现了独特的思考和实践。基于批判地缘政治学的理论视角观察因纽特环北极理事会为代表的原住民组织的发展历程,发现：（1）北极原住民组织强调基于文本生产的知识权力获取方式;（2）制度性参与是原住民组织的主要行动路径。北极事务参与权的获取及针对性行动策略的实施帮助原住民组织成功影响和重塑了北极的治理理念、身份认同与地理空间,推动北极地区向着善治和良治发展。通过对因纽特环北极理事会案例的解析,可以为中国拓展自身在北极地区的合作空间提供参考。     

转型期城市居住用地更新的空间加密化研究——广州市金花街改造再考

选择具有代表性的广州市金花街改造项目（1988~2003年）为案例研究对象,分析了政府主导下改造方案的调整过程和改造空间特征,探讨居民诉求和政府旧改政策对旧城空间的影响。研究表明：金花街居民的原地安置诉求和城市政府依此设计的以民生为导向的改造安排,乃是影响旧城空间的重要原因;在准市场化融资方式和福利化拆迁安置方式下,城市政府提出的有关提供公共服务设施、解决居民临时安置问题和让居民原地安置的要求,使改造规划多次提高改造容积率,以保持改造经济平衡;改造后的金花街在房屋和人口两个维度呈现空间加密化的态势,即存在原地安置房叠加融资商品房、原地安置居民叠加购房迁入居民的社会空间现象,金花街改造并未出现以外来中产人口大规模替代原住低收入人口为基本特征的绅士化过程。最后,从引入转让开发权和鼓励微改造两方面对当前广州的旧城改造提出政策建议。     

Voluntary resettlement in land grab contexts: examining consent on the Ecuadorian oil frontier

Forced resettlement, central to state-led development throughout the twentieth century, still paves the way for agroindustrial, hydroelectric, urban, and other forms of development in much of the global South today. In response to pressures from social movements challenging human displacement, states, firms, and multinational institutions increasingly seek the consent of impacted communities, often offering monetary compensation and resettlement, along with development assistance. Some states obtain consent by offering resettlements with urban infrastructures and public services. In Ecuador, the state has planned 200 urban-like resettlements called “Millennium Cities” for communities on the Amazonian oil and mining frontiers. Although resettlement in this context transforms human–environment relations and generates new social ills by isolating residents from food supplies and market networks, many communities do consent to resettlement. In this paper, I call attention to voluntary rural–urban resettlement in land grab governance and I explore why communities might consent to their own displacement. This paper suggests the need to account for the material and social conditions that structure consent.     

Contested identities of indigenous people: Indigenization or integration of the Veddas in Sri Lanka

Traditionally, the identity of indigenous people was defined in relation to closeness to nature and use of wildlife resources. Such an identity has been put under pressure due to development programmes, neo‐liberal policies and increasing market economy, forcing these people to redefine their identity within new socio‐economic and geopolitical contexts. Based on ethnographic research, the situation of the Vedda people in Sri Lanka is analysed. First, we unravel how they define their identity through a ‘meaningful relationship’ with the place in which they used to live prior to their displacement because of a large scale development project. Second, we analyse how the Veddas (re‐)negotiate their identity in a context of limited access to land, lack of education, unemployment, and an increasing demand for indigenous tourism. It is found that the Veddas redefine their identity by pursuing two survival strategies: tourist development and re‐indigenization, and integration into mainstream Sinhalese society. Both strategies pose challenges and opportunities.     

Chukotkan reindeer husbandry in the post-socialist transition

Reindeer herding in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, as in many other regions across the Russian North, has been experiencing a progressive collapse since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The collapse is typically blamed on Russia's privatization programme, which broke up collectivized reindeer farms into supposedly privatized enterprises. While this process did indeed bring significant changes to the practice of reindeer herding in Chukotka, this paper argues that a more fundamental issue is the political and economic change at the local level that most likely makes the collapse irreversible. Áccording to the rhetoric of the new "democratic" framework, the majority rules, and their priorities take precedence. As a result, the indigenous peoples and their priorities - chief among which is reindeer herding - have been squeezed into the political margins. This has been exacerbated by the development of a relationship of internal colonialism between dominant urban Russians and village-dwelling indigenous reindeer herders, which has led to greater inequalities between the two groups as the Russians monopolize both resources and power in the region.     

Arctic climate change discourse: the contrasting politics of research agendas in the West and Russia

In this paper we explore how Western scientific concepts and attitudes towards indigenous knowledge, as they pertain to resource management and climate change, differ from the prevailing view in modern Russia. Western indigenous leaders representing the Inuit and Saami peoples are actively engaged in the academic and political discourse surrounding climate change, whereas their Russian colleagues tend to focus more on legislation and self-determination, as a post-Soviet legacy. We contribute to the debate with data from the Nenets tundra, showing how different research has employed the three crucial Western research paradigms of climate change, wildlife management and indigenous knowledge on the ground. We suggest that the daily practice of tundra nomadism involves permanent processes of negotiating one's position in a changing environment, which is why "adaptation" is woven into the society, and cosmology as a whole, rather than being separable into distinct "bodies" of knowledge or Western-designed categories. We argue that research agendas should be placed in their proper local and regional context, and temporal framework: for example, by collaborating with herders on the topics of weather instead of climate change, herding skills instead of wildlife management, and ways of engaging with the tundra instead of traditional ecological knowledge.     

Factors Influencing Indigenous Rice Protection in the Yuanyang Terraced Rice Fields of China

Indigenous rice has maintained the survival of local people for more than a thousand years in the Yuanyang terraced rice fields of southern Yunnan, China. It is the foundation for long-term stable development of local agriculture and food security and its unique and irreplaceable characteristics give the terraces value. The status of indigenous rice resources is threatened by serious loss, so a better understanding of rice diversity and the factors that influence rice variety protection is conducive to policy. Here, we investigate the planting and conservation situation of indigenous rice, analyze factors impacting the protection and loss of traditional rice varieties, and construct an indigenous rice protection influence index system. Controllable factors which have special meaning to the maintenance and management of local rice are identified and corresponding strategies for the protection and maintenance of indigenous rice are discussed.     

Environmental Refugees? A tale of two resettlement projects in coastal Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACT

Environmental change in small islands may be associated with migration as a means of adaptation. Both Manam and the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have experienced rapid- and slow-onset changes, respectively. These have been accompanied by the forced migration and ‘temporary’ resettlement of the Manam population and attempts at resettlement by Carteret Islanders. Neither has proved successful, thwarted by ‘host’ landowners, the impossibility of gaining adequate access to land and land rights, and government inactivity. Settlers have been perceived as outsiders and rival claimants to valuable coastal resources. Inability to resettle in national contexts raises issues of ambiguity, identity and citizenship. The problems experienced by quite small population groups moving short distances in similar cultural contexts are indicative of the potential future problems facing environmental migrants in other contexts.     

Development,Land-use Change and Rural Resettlement Capacity: a case study of the Three Gorges Project,China

Resettlement of people displaced by dam projects is an important development issue. Land lost due to the Three Gorges reservoir inundation and the adjustment of land-use policy in China resulted in land-use changes, and impacted on the human carrying capacity of the land and the land availability for resettlement. The Chinese government has implemented a ‘development-oriented resettlement’ policy and a ‘near resettlement’ approach to relocating rural dwellers affected by the Three Gorges Project (TGP). Based on recent land-use survey and population data of the case study area and using GIS-based multi-criteria analysis in land-use planning, this study analyses the characteristics and changes of land use in both the inundation and resettlement areas. Undeveloped land is scarce in both areas. The non-flooded cultivated land is distributed mainly on steep slopes (over 25 degrees). There is a discrepancy between the amount of land required by those being resettled and what is available in the designated resettlement communities. This study suggests that resettlement should consider the human carrying capacity of the land and, from a community standpoint, sheds light on the interplay between land-use planning and resettlement, and provides constructive suggestions for TGP resettlement strategies.     

汶川地震灾后重建地区的人口容量分析

Assessment of population carrying capacity is a key task in the reconstruction planning of areas struck by disasters, in which the precision of estimation is required. This study developed a decision-making model for estimating the population capacity of the involved townships and cities in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake based on the assessment of the suitability for reconstruction of the areas. Through analysis, arable land resources were argued to be the critical constraint of population capacity in these areas. Then, the spatial differentiations of the post-quake development conditions across different regions were analyzed with respect to their natural environments, socio-economic development and quake damages. The expected levels of urbanization, family incomes and income structures, output levels of land, and the reliance of agricultural population on arable land were estimated by different regions. With these parameters, the population capacities of the involved townships and cities in three scenarios were estimated. The total population capacity of the entire areas is abundant compared with the actual post-quake population; however, the status of over-population substantially varies across space. It was suggested to put the emphasis of post-quake resettlement policy on those counties where earthquake had been the main causes of over-population. In the Full Recovery Scenario, three mountain counties were identified including Wenchuan, Beichuan and Maoxian, with a total over-population of about 100,000 people.     

汶川地震灾后重建地区的人口容量分析

Assessment of population carrying capacity is a key task in the reconstruction planning of areas struck by disasters, in which the precision of estimation is required. This study developed a decision-making model for estimating the population capacity of the involved townships and cities in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake based on the assessment of the suitability for reconstruction of the areas. Through analysis, arable land resources were argued to be the critical constraint of population capacity in these areas. Then, the spatial differentiations of the post-quake development conditions across different regions were analyzed with respect to their natural environments, socio-economic development and quake damages. The expected levels of urbanization, family incomes and income structures, output levels of land, and the reliance of agricultural population on arable land were estimated by different regions. With these parameters, the population capacities of the involved townships and cities in three scenarios were estimated. The total population capacity of the entire areas is abundant compared with the actual post-quake population; however, the status of over-population substantially varies across space. It was suggested to put the emphasis of post-quake resettlement policy on those counties where earthquake had been the main causes of over-population. In the Full Recovery Scenario, three mountain counties were identified including Wenchuan, Beichuan and Maoxian, with a total over-population of about 100,000 people.     

论中国人地关系演进的新时代特征——“中国人地关系研究”专辑序言

人地关系是地理学科古老又年轻的话题,其内涵伴随人类社会发展不断丰富,具体表现形式也具有鲜明的时代特性。自吴传钧先生提出人地关系地域系统理论以来,人地关系在学科建设及国家重大发展战略制定研究中发挥着基础科学支撑作用,其作为地理学研究核心的地位逐步被强化。在人地冲突不断加剧的时代背景下,深化对人地关系的系统认知,基于人地关系地域系统理论探讨人地关系动态演进的理论基础,并从综合视角审视新时期中国人地关系的演进过程、核心特征及机制,继而探讨现代人地关系的协调路径。总的来说,人地关系演进的实质是人地要素之间围绕发展空间的博弈过程,新时期中国人地关系演变速度加快,人地要素的相互作用程度不断加深。通过技术进步、增加要素投入和调配资源等方式,中国基本已化解了“以量为主”的第一代人地矛盾,而进入“以质为主”的第二代人地矛盾期。典型表现是,粮食总量不再短缺,但在生产粮食过程中引发的土壤退化和水资源污染等问题加剧;区域性资源不再短缺,但在跨区域开发调配资源过程中引发的生态退化和环境污染等问题凸显。提升人的思想认知和加深对人地关系的综合认知是纠偏人地演进路径的关键。     

Reindeer Herders Without Reindeer. The Challenges of Joint Knowledge Production on Kolguev Island in the Russian Arctic

Kolguev Island in the Russian Arctic has a unique tundra ecosystem and an indigenous Nenets population whose livelihood is traditionally based on reindeer herding. The Nenets faced a major crisis in 2013–2014 when the reindeer population collapsed. Widely different explanations for this collapse were put forward. This lack of a shared perspective points at the failure of genuine joint knowledge production (JKP) in the island’s UNEP–GEF’s ECORA project (2004–2009). The ECORA project aimed to achieve integrated ecosystem management by stimulating dialog and mutual learning among indigenous people, state agencies, and scientists. This paper analyses the failure of ECORA’s JKP, using a recently developed framework of conditions for successful JKP. The results suggest that ECORA met none of these conditions. It failed at bringing the scientific and indigenous knowledge systems together, and the produced knowledge did not resonate with indigenous people’s perception of living in Kolguev.     

Evaluation of eco-economic effects in relation to resettlement policy in Shulehe River Basin

In the Shulehe River Basin, policy of resettlement was very effective in handling agricultural development and livelihood problems in regions of poverty limited by topography, climate, or infrastructure. Thus, since 1996–1997, the Shulehe River Basin resettlement project transferred roughly 7.5×104 people from areas of Dingxi, Longxi or Minxian which could not offer sufficient resources for the residents. Meanwhile, construction facilities such as the reservoir, which underpins the resettlement project, also triggered an internal migration of people away from the reservoir to other parts of the Shulehe River Basin. This large scale migration derived apparent effects in water resources, land use and cover change, agricultural structure as well as landscapes. Results show that total arable land expanded by 3.1×108 m2, cattle numbers maintained a stable level of 1×104, pigs declined to a low level due to market trends, and sheep numbers soared from 17.44×104 to 73.57×104. However, greening and afforestation increased while croplands maintained a rational tendency accompanying with greening area expansion. From the standpoint of integration, the Shulehe River Basin resettlement policy fulfilled its previous goals of improving the inhabitants' livelihood and the capacity of environment when spatial residues including environmental capacity and resources consumption for sustainable development are still positive conditions.     

基于活力特征分析的城市安置社区公共空间研究——以苏州城区6个安置社区为例

由“散居”到“集居”,安置社区面临社会关系重建的巨大压力。基于公共空间活力内涵,采用AHP-模糊综合评价法,构建了城市安置社区公共空间活力评价模型,以苏州市6个安置社区为例,对3种安置模式的社区公共空间活力特征进行定量评价和比较。发现：① 不同安置模式的社区公共空间活力存在明显差异。尽管异地安置社区的公共空间的设施完备、类型多样,但是其公共空间的社会活力度最低。对于公共空间活力提升,社区公共空间背后的社会属性比其物质属性更为重要。②公共空间因子活力度与关注度存在不匹配现象。基于“社会-空间”辩证互动逻辑,提出安置社区公共空间活力营造策略： 对于今后安置社区,适宜“村内小集居+跨村大聚居”的安置模式,通过最大程度维系原有“熟人社区”群体的社会边界,提升公共空间活力,减轻社区社会关系重建的压力;对于现有安置社区,可根据公共空间因子活力度和关注度的匹配关系,划分公共空间改造的优先级,采用差别化的改造策略,提升公共空间活力及其改造资金的使用效率。     

Research planning in the face of change: the human role in reindeer/caribou systems

Reindeer/caribou ( Rangifer tarandus ) constitute a biological resource of vital importance to the physical and cultural survival of Arctic residents since time immemorial. Recent and possible future economic, social and ecological changes raise concern for sustainability of these resources and the well-being of those who depend on them. In February 1999 eighty scientists, reindeer/caribou users and resource managers gathered in Rovaniemi, Finland, for an interdisciplinary workshop to develop a circumpolar research plan that addressed the sustainability of humanreindeer/caribou systems. Small working groups addressed six themes: hunting systems, herding systems, rengeland/habitat protection, minimizing industrial impacts, maintaining the strength of indigenous cultures, and responding to global change. The resulting Research Plan cells for interdisciplinary comparative studies, advancement of tools for assessing cumulative effects, implementation of regional and a circumpolar monitoring and assessment programmes, and cultural studies on the transmission of knowledge. Cross-cutting directives for future research include:
• improving humans'ability to anticipate and respond to change;
• understanding better the dynamics of human-reindeer/caribou systems;
• developing research methods that are both more instructive and less intrusive;
• facilitating open communication among groups with interests in reindeer/caribou resources;
• organizing researchers into a strong, coordinated network;
• re-framing the conventional research paradigm to be more inclusive of differing cultural perspectives.
Three follow-up initiatives are proposed: 1) development of a web-based resource on the human role in reindeer/caribou systems (www.rangifer.net); establishment of a Profile of Herds database to support comparative research; and 3) convening of working groups to address specific problems identified by workshop participants.     

Patterns of accessing variable resources across time and space: Desert plants,animals and people

Key resources in arid and semi-arid systems are highly variable in time and space. Biophysical variability is mainly driven directly or indirectly by rainfall. Arid-dwelling people are also exposed to variability – indirectly from their biophysical environments, and directly as a result of sparse, mobile populations and variable, distant signals from policy and markets. The tradeoffs between the benefits and costs of increasing the scale of resource use are comparatively more critical in shaping system dynamics in arid systems than mesic environments. Understanding the strategies employed to scale resource use is vital for arid-system management. We contribute to this discussion using a conceptual model, based on modern portfolio theory, to explore how variability is managed by diversifying access to resources across space and time. The model is developed using ecological ideas and our Australian case knowledge, but demonstrates general learning on how optimal investment in strategies changes with resource distribution, and with the physical characteristics of the entity (e.g. plant, animal) and resource (e.g. water, nutrients) in question. Using pastoral enterprise, arid-system administration and policy cases, we argue that people and organisations need variability-coping strategies that are comparable with biophysical responses, and that strategy behaviour needs greater acknowledgement in managing arid systems.