Satellite imagery activism: Sharpening the focus on tropical deforestation

Since the first land remote sensing satellite was launched in the early 1970s, government agencies, private companies and research institutions have used satellite imagery data for a growing range of civil and commercial applications focused on natural resource management and exploitation, and environmental monitoring. The global diffusion of remote sensing expertize, along with growing public access to satellite images, has created conditions for improving levels of global transparency. One aspect of this global transparency is the advent of new users of imagery data – or 'imagery activists'– including, among others, issue-oriented nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), media groups, multinational organizations and academic researchers who now are able to access satellite imagery in order to draw domestic and international attention to particular public policy concerns. This paper broadly surveys the contemporary phenomenon of satellite imagery activism and outlines the main challenges facing imagery activists, particularly in relation to deforestation and other forest monitoring issues.     

Contending with unequal and privileged access to natural resources and land in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

This paper reviews how state policy and regulatory instruments, including protected area alienations and concessions, have altered or denied the access to land and natural livelihood resources of the indigenous Basarwa and minority subsistence-oriented communities in the Okavango Delta (OD) in Botswana. Drawing on field research and guided by a sustainable rural livelihoods framework, the paper provides an overview of key institutional interventions – in particular the setting up of the Moremi Game Reserve, Wildlife Conservation Policy, Tourism Policy, Agricultural Development Policy and the erection of veterinary fences – that have served to privilege a foreign-owned and dominated commercialized wildlife and nature tourism sector and the export-oriented beef industry in the OD. The officially sanctioned barriers to customary and usufructory rights and access, and the non-recognition of historically embedded traditional land uses have decimated already marginalized resource-based subsistence livelihoods, and precipitated intergroup conflicts over preferential rights and access to resources and opportunities, notably wildlife, non-timber veld products, agriculture and community-based tourism schemes. Such outcomes, moreover, will have consequences for the longer-term sustainability of the OD both as a socioeconomic resource base and as a natural ecosystem.     

Resource Development and the Perpetuation of Poverty in Rural Laos

ABSTRACT

Government efforts to industrialise and modernise the Lao economy through intensive resource development are having adverse effects on rural livelihoods as resources are degraded and access to limited land and natural resources has intensified. In one of the country's key river basins, Nam Ngum, a series of resource developments including hydropower, mining and agricultural plantations have modified the landscape over the last four decades. Uncoordinated resource developments are putting intense pressure on increasingly scarce natural resources and affecting the lives of people who are dependent on them. Economic diversification of rural households in Feuang District in the Nam Ngum River Basin has created significant discrepancies between the rich and the poor, yet all households remain primarily dependent on agriculture. Land is of enduring importance to rural livelihoods. National development intervention has failed to secure basic livelihoods for rural households.     

Gendering Marine Conservation: The Politics of Marine Protected Areas and Fisheries Access

Drawing on ethnographic case studies from Madagascar, this research shows that multiple marine conservation projects have institutionalized inequitable access to marine recourses along gendered lines. Despite discursive and institutional shifts toward more “collaborative” and “community-based” conservation programing, there is a deficiency of women’s nominal as well as effective participation in community management organizations. This research shows that conservation organizations’ focus on proximate drivers of marine resource use, or a politics of picking the “low-hanging fruit,” over ultimate drivers such as global commodity chains, places disproportionate emphasis on marine spatial enclosures and restricting specific, and gendered, harvest methods. To address gender bias concerning access to and control over natural resources, we must go beyond the rhetoric of “community involvement” to address gendered inequalities in conservation decision making, and whose interests are served by conservation projects.     

Political Ecologies of Dynamic Wetlands: Hydrosocial Waterscapes in the Okavango Delta

Research within geography and related disciplines has directed much attention to the coupled interactions between social and ecological systems. These studies have usefully analyzed the multifaceted, temporal, and scalar dimensions of human–environment interactions and how future environmental change will continue to challenge human resource needs. Political ecology research has also made contributions in this regard, particularly by emphasizing livelihood systems, impacts of conservation and development, agricultural production, and environmental governance. Yet although political ecology research has contributed to socioecological systems scholarship, much of this work has been situated within dryland environments or marine ecosystems that have particular biophysical features. Comparatively, wetland environments that experience dynamic flooding regimes warrant further attention from political ecology. This article engages with the findings from an ongoing research project that is evaluating the impacts of flooding variability for rural livelihoods in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. We outline some of the main findings from this work by concentrating on two themes central to political ecology: access and governance. We conclude by arguing that the Okavango Delta should be understood as a hydrosocial waterscape that encompasses a variety of socioecological relationships within the region, as well as the power relations operating at a variety of scales that both produce and govern them.     

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Formal and Informal Institutional Synergy in a Case Study of Wildlife Governance in Ghana

Abstract

There has been the call to forge a synergistic relationship between local ecological knowledge and formal institutions in the governance of natural resources. How do informal institutions complement the efforts of formal state regulation of natural resources? How does this complementation foster a regularized human–wildlife interaction? Adopting an ethnographic design, this study assesses the role of institutional complementation in natural resource governance using the case of Boabeng–Fiema Monkey Sanctuary (BFMS) in Ghana, West Africa. We purposively selected 33 informants relevant to the BFMS governance process. The study observes that the synergy between formal and informal institutions strengthens wildlife protection in BFMS and the surrounding villages. The usefulness of informal rules is enhanced if appropriately complemented with a formal institutional arrangement. Over time, it becomes necessary for informal rules to grow in dynamism to depict the principles of collaboration, inclusivity, and benefit arrangements.     

Spaces of change: tribal authorities in the former KaNgwane homeland, South Africa

South Africa's democratic transition has had a significant impact upon localized governance systems in mediating development opportunities within the former apartheid homelands. This paper uses a case study from the former KaNgwane homeland to evaluate the role of the Matsamo Tribal Authority in shaping livelihoods and access to environmental resources. It is argued that although the colonial and apartheid empowerment of the tribal authorities continues to have symbolic and material meaning for rural populations, newly created democratic structures are challenging traditional governance systems in the post-apartheid era. The intersection between these contrasting, and historically situated, systems suggests a dynamic renegotiation is occurring that will continue to impact rural households within the former places of apartheid.     

Accessing Flexibility: A Historical Institutional Analysis of Water Use for Oil and Gas Development in Colorado

US Mountain West Water access and allocation institutions have a history of adapting policy and practice to increase flexibility for diverse water uses. We examine how flexible access has developed over time and space by operationalizing the historical institutional (HI) theoretical and methodological framework. We trace historical water access for oil and gas (OG) development in Colorado, working from contemporary water right data to examine historical critical events, policies, and political contexts. OG water use has iteratively shaped water governance institutions in the top OG producing regions of Colorado, Weld, and Garfield Counties. The analysis suggests that to more accurately capture institutional change and continuity in resource allocation systems, an analysis of informal institutions is an essential theoretical contribution to the HI framework. While increased flexibility makes multiple uses easier, policies favor the most economically lucrative beneficial uses and generate issues of transparency, an important consideration for the public’s resource. Future practices of flexibility are contingent on market structures and institutional access mechanisms shaped during previous government policy processes, illuminating the value of the HI framework to inform future water policy.     

南海渔业资源开发利用的时空特征及其治理

南海渔业开发为维护我国渔业利益和海洋权益发挥了重大作用,近年来急速衰退的渔业资源和不断升温的冲突态势亟须寻找治理革新的突破口。基于此,首先从南海渔业资源环境特点、南海渔业资源开发利用历史沿革与现状,辨析南海渔业时空格局,指出南海渔业资源环境具有跨越国家界线的互通性、整体性与相互依赖性,且周边国家和地区对南海渔业高度依赖,并已经造成资源环境严重衰退。其次通过对南海渔业冲突和南海渔业资源治理所面临的挑战的梳理,指出引发南海渔业冲突的条件今后很可能更加普遍,亟需南海各方共同面对渔业可持续性危机,而南海地区面临的渔业资源环境退化、系统认知不足、区域协作有限等共性挑战与利益诉求,可成为促进区域合作的纽带。最后以区域渔业资源治理为抓手,提出了构建南海命运共同体的建设思路：从推动绿色水产养殖、增强资源环境修复、深化科研共享等方面开展务实的渔业资源治理合作;在区域、国家、地方层面完善跨尺度的海洋治理措施落实体系,协同提升国家层面的顶层涉海涉渔政策设计,强化地方、私营部门和公民个人在南海区域共建中的作用;从建立健全区域组织和完善区域海洋法制推动构建区域层面合作治理体系。     

Linked Boundary Functions: Examining the Role of ‘Research for Development’ Organizations in Integrating Levels of Resource Governance

Natural resource management practices such as community-based resource management (CBRM) are well-established bottom-up approaches to developing adaptive governance systems. Less is understood about how communities involved in such processes can attract top-down support without compromising their credibility or salience. We tested the usefulness of the linked boundary functions concept – boundary chains – for explaining the role of “research for development” (R4D) organizations in the integration of bottom-up community resource governance and top-down policy and legislative governance. We used the Australian Centre for Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in the Solomon Islands as a case study to probe the role of R4D organizations in this regard. The linked boundary functions concept proved useful in exploring the active functions of R4D organizations as actors that lend credibility, salience, and legitimacy to community-based governance initiatives. The concept of linked boundary functions or boundary chains can contribute to the current discussion in the complexity-aware theory of change and open new avenues for boundary management that enable the development of integrated resource governance in complex development contexts. This article contributes to the existing literature on the boundary spanning activities of R4D organizations.     

The demonstration effect: Natural resources, ethnonationalism and the Aceh conflict

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami brought Aceh's long-drawn separatist conflict back to international attention. Yet, the precise way in which the different aspects of the conflict entangled with resource-related grievances have remained poorly understood. Taking a political ecology approach, this paper sets out to understand the role of natural resource grievances within the complex and shifting set of mutually implicated factors leading to and sustaining the conflict from the early days of Indonesia's independence. The paper argues that the management of Aceh's natural resources – especially the rich gas and oil reserves – was not the sole or primary causal factor. Rather, state managed exploitation of natural resources had a demonstration effect, exemplifying other grievances and supporting the articulation of a separatist discourse naturalizing 'Acehnese' conceptualizations of resource entitlement. Comparing Aceh with other separatist conflicts, the paper suggests that, as conflict unfolds at the intersection of a shifting set of concerns, it is increasingly difficult to separate the underlying issues of identity, resource entitlements and human rights.     

Assessing participatory GIS for community-based natural resource management: claiming community forests in Cameroon

This paper critically reviews and analyses participatory GIS (PGIS) and participatory mapping applications within participatory spatial planning for community-based natural resource management in developing countries. There is an often implicit assumption that PGIS use is effective, in that it meets content needs, satisfies underlying local stakeholder interests and therefore is a tool for better governance. The analytical framework looks at participatory spatial planning performance with respect to key dimensions of governance, especially the intensity of community participation and empowerment, equity within communities and between 'governed' and 'governing', respect for indigenous knowledge, rights, ownership, legitimacy, and effectiveness. Specific development focus is given by a case study using participatory mapping and PGIS in community forest legitimization, planning and management in Tinto, Cameroon. 'Good governance' criteria are applied ex-post to the implementation procedures, the geo-information outputs, and the longer-term outcomes of the PGIS processes. Impacts of incorporating PGIS were examined in terms of the types and degrees of participation in the process; access to, and the uses made of, the geographic information; whether the information outputs met stakeholders' requirements; and the overall changes in equity and empowerment in the community. It was found that PGIS/participatory mapping processes contributed – positively, though not comprehensively – to good governance, by improving dialogue, redistributing resource access and control rights – though not always equitably – legitimizing and using local knowledge, exposing local stakeholders to geospatial analysis, and creating some actor empowerment through training. PGIS promoted empowerment by supporting community members' participation in decision-making and actions, and by enabling land use planning decisions beyond community forestry itself.     

中国农户可持续生计研究进展及趋向

开展农户可持续生计研究,对于解决农村贫困问题,促进农村社会经济可持续发展具有重要意义。在查阅大量相关文献的基础上,本文首先阐述了可持续生计的概念,并对国外农户可持续生计研究概况进行了简介;然后从生计资产(资本)研究、生计脆弱性分析、生计策略研究、政策、机构和过程对农户生计影响研究、农户生计与生态环境的相互关系研究等5 个方面对近年来国内农户生计的主要研究进展进行了归纳总结。最后,提出了中国农户可持续生计研究的主要趋向:跨学科综合性、系统性研究,新技术方法的综合与动态研究,农户可持续生计与贫困问题研究,城乡转型期农户可持续生计研究,重点区域的农户可持续生计研究。     

Livelihoods in transition: transnational gold mining operations and local change in Cajamarca, Peru

This paper examines how transnational gold mining operations are transforming rural household livelihoods in the Cajamarca region of Peru. In particular, this paper evaluates how Newmont Mining Corporation's Minera Yanacocha (MYSA) mining operations are altering access to the produced, human, natural and social capital resources that households utilize to produce their livelihoods. The paper argues that while access to produced and human capital resources has increased in the past decade, albeit unevenly, access to natural and social capital resources has declined. The paper begins with a discussion of new frameworks for evaluating local livelihood change and household access to resources. Subsequently, the paper describes Peru's new transnational mining sector, livelihoods and livelihood change in the Cajamarca region. The paper then presents the results of case study field research evaluating the impacts of MYSA on household access to resources in three communities. Finally, the paper concludes with a critical discussion of livelihoods frameworks and how they can contribute to geographic studies.     

Wine trails as organizational pathway toward landscape coherence: the case of the Finger Lakes region,New York,USA

This paper explores the role of so-called wine trails as planners and managers of viticultural landscapes, using the case of the Finger Lakes region in New York, USA. Using key informant interviews, it assesses the current capacity and the future potential of these non-governmental, fee-based ‘clubs’ to mediate between global markets and the local agricultural landscape in the absence of policy frameworks designed for this purpose. Though it finds little evidence of such mediation today, the paper argues that the structure and institutional position of wine trails, organizations whose members’ livelihoods depend substantially on long-term landscape coherence, position them to play a more assertive role in doing so in the future, particularly in places marked by lax planning regimes and scarce resources.     

Nonprofit Foundations and Grassroots Organizing: Reshaping Urban Governance

Collaborative urban governance has increased the role of community organizations in local decision-making processes. These organizations need financial resources in order to participate in urban governance. In this article, I examine the impact of foundation grants on the relationships and agendas of four community organizations in one neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. Drawing on interviews, observations of organizations, and archival research, I demonstrate that in the 1990s, nonprofit foundations had a significant impact on the formation of new organizations and on their agendas in the neighborhood. Foundations are, therefore, an important player in urban governance, shaping a “neighborhood policy regime.”     

Nonprofit Foundations and Grassroots Organizing: Reshaping Urban Governance*

Collaborative urban governance has increased the role of community organizations in local decision‐making processes. These organizations need financial resources in order to participate in urban governance. In this article, I examine the impact of foundation grants on the relationships and agendas of four community organizations in one neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. Drawing on interviews, observations of organizations, and archival research, I demonstrate that in the 1990s, nonprofit foundations had a significant impact on the formation of new organizations and on their agendas in the neighborhood. Foundations are, therefore, an important player in urban governance, shaping a “neighborhood policy regime.”     

Understanding Causes of Conflict Over Common Village Pastures – A Comparative Analysis of Property Rights in Azerbaijan and Georgia

Abstract

Conflicts in the management of renewable natural resources are situations in which actors have diverging opinions on issues of natural resource use. In the literature, among the causal factors for conflicts discussed are resource wealth or scarcity and the role of governance. The evidence, however, is contradictory. In order to analyze the role of governance in more detail, we propose a combined analysis of property rights and conflicts. In this way, an improved understanding of the causes of local conflicts over renewable natural resources can be achieved. We use comparative case study data from pasture management in the Caucasus region, first, to classify conflicts according to the bundle of property rights approach and, second, to explore how the causal factors resource scarcity and current governance contribute to those conflicts.     

Climate change in the Arctic: current and future vulnerability in two Inuit communities in Canada

Climate change is already occurring in the Arctic and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment recently concluded that future climate change could be devastating for Inuit. This paper characterises vulnerability to climate change in two Inuit communities in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, focusing on the resource harvesting sector. In both communities, Inuit have demonstrated significant adaptability in the face of current changes in climatic conditions. This adaptability is facilitated by traditional Inuit knowledge, strong social networks, flexibility in resource use, and institutional support. Changing Inuit livelihoods, however, have undermined certain aspects of adaptive capacity and have resulted in emerging vulnerabilities. Global and regional climate projections indicate that climatic conditions which currently pose risks are expected to be negatively affected by future climate change. These projections are not without precedent and analysis of current vulnerability and identification of adaptation constraints by Inuit in the two communities indicate the continued importance of traditional coping mechanisms. The ability to draw on these coping mechanisms in light of future climate change, however, will be unequal and the research indicates that young Inuit and those without access to economic resources, in particular, are vulnerable.     

Research Progress on Farmers’ Livelihood Transformation and Its Ecological Effects—A Review

Farmers’ livelihoods and their impacts on the ecosystem are important indicators of human-land relationships. Appropriate livelihood strategies for farmers can meet the needs of human well-being and promote the sustainable use of natural resources, thereby maintaining the health and stability of natural ecosystems. Scholars have carried out a great deal of research on the changes in farmers’ livelihoods, as well as the driving mechanisms and ecological effects, but there are still many controversial issues about the ecological effects of farmers’ livelihood transformation. On the basis of collecting and sorting out the relevant literature, this paper analyzes the previous research results on the transformation mechanism and ecological effects of farmers’ livelihoods, and further explores the coupling relationship. Through the analysis and summary, we find that the choice of farmers’ livelihoods is affected by natural factors, subjective willingness and social policies. The transformation of farmers’ livelihood changes the ways of production, consumption and resource utilization, which in turn profoundly affects the evolutionary process of the natural ecosystems. This paper establishes a research framework for the livelihood transformation mechanism of farmers and its ecological effect, and finally summarizes two directions that need to be studied further in the future: (1) Exploring the interactions between the driving factors of farmers’ livelihood transformation; and (2) Exploring a win-win sustainable mechanism for farmers’ livelihood needs and natural resource utilization.