Conducting sensitive research in the present and past tense: Recounting the stories of current and former child domestic workers

In recent years, scholarship on children’s work has increasingly incorporated the perspectives of working children. Although laudable, this shift toward children’s inclusion in research has concentrated on those employed at the time of data collection. Former child workers have largely been overlooked as a source of information. This paper reflects on research conducted with current and former child domestic workers in Tanzania. The child domestic working experiences reported by those two groups diverged markedly: those who had already ceased employment reported far higher rates of dissatisfaction with child domestic work, and far more experiences of exploitation and abuse, than those who were still employed in the sector. This paper explores issues of memory, identity, representation and performance to propose explanations for such dissonance. It concludes that the (near) exclusive focus of the literature on children who are currently employed is of some considerable concern, as scholars often make practical and policy-oriented recommendations about children’s work on the basis of their findings. This paper makes a case that all ‘versions’ of a phenomenon offer (at best) partial insights into lived experiences and that researchers investigating sensitive issues, whether with adults or children, may benefit from conducting research in both the past and present tense.     

北京市北天堂生活垃圾场地的地质环境效应评价

通过对生活垃圾主要污染成分分析，选出污染评价因子；采用单因子和多因子评价法对垃圾场地周围的地下水和土壤进行污染程度评价；为防止地下水及土壤的污染，认为生活垃圾严禁随意堆放，选择垃圾场址时必须进行环境影响评价。     

AIDS-affected children,family collectives and the social dynamics of care in Ethiopia

Many programmes for AIDS-affected children pursue resource-intensive and external interventions of care, and often place such children at the receiving end of the care continuum. The aim of this article is to explore from a socio-spatial perspective the capacities of families and children experiencing orphanhood and the policy significance of empowering both to address the growing challenge of orphan care in rural and urban Ethiopia. Drawing on participatory research (involving in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, story writing, photo essays, ranking, observation and household visits), the complex social dynamics of care and spatial diversities in the manifestations of the vulnerabilities, capacities, strengths, and potentials of children and their families are discussed. It is argued that rather than the lack of biological parents it is the combination of the absence of a carer and the presence of acute poverty and economic marginality that explain various forms of vulnerability in orphans and non-orphans. The article further argues that effective and sustainable care needs to be informed by identification and empowerment of ‘family collectives’ as sites of interventions. In doing so, it draws analytical attention to the importance of examining the socio-temporal processes of orphanhood and care, children’s changing circumstances, and family collectives’ variances in the capacity to provide support for them. Strategies for sustainable care should recognise the specific needs of AIDS-affected children and the resourceful ways in which they contribute to enhance the care-giving capacities of family collectives in the light of broader socio-cultural and political–economic contexts.     

The Fuelwood Crisis in Southern Africa — Relating Fuelwood Use to Livelihoods in a Rural Village

The aim of the paper is to examine wood as a source of fuel energy in rural South Africa and factors influencing its usage. The analysis is based on household profiles and characteristics (e.g., gender, caste, population and income) in a livelihood framework. Fuelwood consumption was estimated to be 692 kg/capita, and 4343 kg/user household per annum, valued at $311 per household. Consumption was modelled in relation to informal and formal cash incomes, and population of children, female and male adults. However, only the population of female adults could significantly influence consumption of fuelwood. This implied that where there were more women in a household, consumption was likely to be high. This might be due to the majority of women doing the cooking and heating in the household. Any change in the value of cash income of households had no significant impacts on fuelwood consumed. Cash incomes might therefore not be strong determinants of the types of energy used by rural households. The average quantity of wood consumed for fuel energy in summer was not significantly different from consumption in winter. Some households perpetually used more wood than others. The study further showed that harvesting of wood for fuel energy is not opportunistic, but requires reallocation of time for other livelihood activities in times of shortage. The fuelwood crisis is not simple and not only about shortage of fuelwood and/or population growth but linked to household profiles and other livelihood strategies and subsequently vulnerability of households. These would require thorough investigation and understanding in relation to precise demand and supply data for fuelwood before the fuelwood problem can be sufficiently managed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Environmental aspects of child growth and nutrition: A case study from Ibadan,Nigeria

Protein-energy malnutrition, especially among young children, is a major health problem in many developing areas. Its causes are complex and inadequately understood. The paper outlines a pilot survey designed to investigate the impact of economic, demographic and socio-cultural factors on growth and nutrition among a small group of children aged between one and five years from urban poor families living in Ibadan, Nigeria. Field surveys were undertaken between July 1971 and August 1972 using 51 children from the Oje area of the city who formed part of a larger longitudinal study of child growth and development. Records of child growth patterns were compiled from monthly anthropometric measurements and enquiries made into the socio-economic and demographic status of the sample families.Basic analysis identified periods of growth retardation and seasonal fluctuations in somatic attainments. Multiple correlation analyses attempted to define statistically some of the aspects of the environment which significantly influenced somatic achievements. Relatively low levels of explanation were obtained, emphasising data deficiencies and the complexity of the nutrition problem, but small groups of economic and demographic causative variables were isolated.The research for this paper was funded by the Social Science Research Council, when the author was a postgraduate student, Department of Geography, University of Liverpool.     

Children in disasters: the role of household preparedness

To increase children’s resilience to disasters, it is important to expand our understanding of what increases their vulnerability. One household factor that has been tied to disaster resilience in general is the extent to which households have prepared themselves. In the context of wildfire preparedness, the current study examined whether households with very young, young, or teenage children differ in the extent to which they prepare their household compared to childless households. A two-wave survey study amongst Australian residents of wildfire-prone areas (N _wave1 = 998, N _wave2 = 514) found that households with young (under twelve years old) and very young (under six years old) children had prepared their properties less for wildfires compared to childless households at the start of the wildfire season, but they had caught up in property preparedness by the end of it. However, households with younger children also performed fewer disaster-planning actions than childless households. This difference remained significant throughout the season. The former group also reported lower motivation to prepare, greater perceived difficulty in preparing, and greater lack of time to prepare than childless households. The majority of these findings were explained by the younger age of the adult parents rather than the presence of younger children per se. An exception was that those with young and very young children reported a greater lack of time to prepare than childless adults of a similar age. We discuss practice and public policy implications that follow from this research.     

Towards household food security in Ghana: assessment of Ghana’s expanded forest plantation programme in Asante Akim South District

This study primarily presents a contribution analysis of the outcomes of the expanded forest plantation programme (EFPP) as a community-based forest governance intervention to enhance household food security. A cross sectional research design with simple random sampling technique was used to select the study sites and respondents. In all, four (4) out of ten (10) settlements implementing the EFPP in the Asante Akyim South District of Ghana were selected. Questionnaires were administered to 80 beneficiaries proportionally selected from the study sites and in-depth interviews were conducted with key stakeholders implementing the programme. The discussion of the results was informed by the theory of change analysis framework to assess the contribution of the programme to household food security. The theory of change tool helped to identify progress towards the achievement of potential and probable outcomes of the programme. The findings reveal that the availability of food crops at the household level and the district at large increased through the EFPP. Between the years 2011 and 2013, 2763.1426 Metric Tonnes (Mt) of food crops were produced from 444.4046 ha of land in the district from the programme. Also, an average of GH¢ 229 ($72) comprising both monthly allowances received for planting and nurturing trees and income derived from the sale of food crops produced increased the economic power and livelihood outcomes of beneficiaries. This has had a contributing effect on the physical availability and accessibility of food crops at the household level. Hence, scaling up the EFPP to cover many beneficiaries, and a budget allocation for the food crop production component of the programme through the provision of improved crop seeds for interplanting would promote food production and security at the household and district levels.     

A model of household preparedness for earthquakes: how individuals make meaning of earthquake information and how this influences preparedness

One way to reduce the risk from earthquakes is for individuals to undertake preparations for earthquakes at home. Common preparation measures include gathering together survival items, undertaking mitigation actions, developing a household emergency plan, gaining survival skills or participating in wider social preparedness actions. While current earthquake education programmes advocate that people undertake a variety of these activities, actual household preparedness remains at modest levels. Effective earthquake education is inhibited by an incomplete understanding of how the preparedness process works. Previous research has focused on understanding the influence individual cognitive processes have on the earthquake preparedness process but has been limited in identifying other influences posed by the wider social contextual environment. This project used a symbolic interactionism perspective to explore the earthquake preparedness process through a series of qualitative interviews with householders in three New Zealand urban locations. It investigated earthquake information that individuals are exposed to, how people make meaning of this information and how this relates to undertaking actual preparedness measures. During the study, the relative influence of cognitive, emotive and societal factors on the preparedness process was explored and the interactions between these identified. A model of the preparedness process based on the interviews was developed and is presented in this paper.     

A Review of the Scientific Assessment and Research on Household Carbon Emission

Household consumption represents an important proportion of all energy consumption,and it is an important source of CO₂ emission. But household consumption and carbon emissions are often overlooked in climate change policies and measures. Through literature review, the research status of household consumption and carbon emissions were reviewed. On this basis, the main aspects and directions of the research are summarized and the main research of household carbon emissions should focus on three aspects in the future: ①The impact of income, consumption levels and other factors on household carbon emission; ②The relationship between direct and indirect carbon emissions of household carbon emission; ③The structure and source of household carbon emission. In future research, there are four issues which need in-depth study: ①Index and models study of household carbon emissions;②Impact of demographic change on household carbon emissions; ③The path of how to achieve sustainable and green urban lifestyle;④The relevant policy research of household carbon emissions.     

Reaching the limits: a geographic approach for understanding food insecurity and household hunger mitigation strategies in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, USA

Research on hunger and food security in the Global South and the Global North has often emphasized different factors and scales of analyses. Unlike newer monitoring systems in the Global South, which evolved substantially following critiques by Amartya Sen, US food security research has rarely combined the two dimensions of food availability and food access. Furthermore, this research has paid scant attention to household coping strategies. This study responds to this lacuna in US hunger research by developing a spatial model for predicting risk to food insecurity based on proxy measures for access (three demographic variables) and availability (grocery store density). The study then employs qualitative methodologies (surveys and semi-structured interviews) to understand household coping strategies in two ethnically distinct areas in Minneapolis-Saint Paul at risk to food insecurity. One neighborhood is dominated by Southeast Asian and East African immigrants and the other by African-Americans. This approach should allow for better targeting of food aid and programs that help alleviate food insecurity.     

Family strategies in a neoliberal world: Korean immigrants in Winnipeg

South Korean immigration to Canada has increased since the East Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s. Korean immigrants in Winnipeg chose the city for many reasons: the introduction of the Provincial Nominee Program, structural changes in the home country, and individual family strategies to provide better educational opportunities for their children. This article examines how changes in the current wave of globalization, at both global and local scale, have affected the migration of Koreans to Winnipeg, Canada and how individual households chose their immigration destination. This study contributes to understanding of the less popular immigrant destinations of Canada using a multiscalar analysis that includes household level. In addition to economic purposes and children’s education, changes of life style can be an important reason for immigrant location choice. Overall, the neoliberal economy in South Korea has pushed many Koreans to move to other countries, and the globalization of the Canadian economy has pulled nomadic middle-class members from other countries.     

Flexible–inflexible: socio-demographic,spatial and temporal dimensions of flat sharing in Leipzig (Germany)

Flat sharers are one of the most distinct representatives of the ‘new’ household types, but have received only very limited attention from researchers. Back in the 1960s shared flats were usually founded with a strong ideological impetus, whereas flat sharing nowadays is just one household type among many others. Typically, this housing arrangement consists of at least two young adult individuals without children. Sharing the flat and the housing costs is the basis of their relationship but living with others is an additional motive. As a rule, flat sharing bridges two distinct events in the course of one’s life: the leaving of the parental home and the foundation of the first independent household. Thus for a restricted period in time, it is a flexible household type adapted to the situational needs of its members. Germany has one of the strongest and longest traditions of flat sharing in Europe, especially among university students. An explorative study was conducted in Leipzig to come to a deeper understanding of what flat sharing means in its ambivalence of being both an economic unit and a social arrangement. Based on qualitative and quantitative evidence from group discussions and Internet adverts, we shed light on the highly under-researched social practice of flat sharing. We will show that despite the structural flexibility of this household type, there is also evidence for its socio-demographic selectivity, spatial concentration and temporal limitation over the individual life courses.     

基于Logistic-ISM模型的喀斯特地区农户石漠化治理行为影响因素及调控研究

喀斯特地区农户的石漠化治理行为对保障我国长江、珠江流域生态安全极为重要。为了深入了解农户石漠化治理行为的影响因素,促进石漠化治理政策的落实和治理工作的有效开发,本文选取了贵州省3个典型的石漠化县,晴隆县、关岭县、 黔西县为研究区,应用参与性农户评估法对437位农户开展治理行为调查。以调查数据为基础,结合运用Logistic回归模型与ISM分析方法研究农户石漠化治理行为的主要影响因素及其层次结构,实现对石漠化治理行为的剖析。分析结果显示:距最近乡集镇距离、是否自愿选择技术、接触信息次数、交流信息次数是表层直接影响因素,石漠化面积是中层间接因素,家庭农业收入、是否有科研治理项目、专家走访次数是深层根源因素。因此,农户农业收入低、资金投入匮乏和石漠化治理相关技术缺乏是导致农户石漠化治理积极性不够的根本原因。建议多渠道增加农民收入,以推动农户参与石漠化治理的积极性;改善农村基础设施条件以降低石漠化治理的成本;完善石漠化治理技术推广体系,提高农户石漠化治理技能。      

It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures

Through their consumption behavior, households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, they are key actors in reaching the 1.5 °C goal under the Paris Agreement. However, the possible contribution and position of households in climate policies is neither well understood, nor do households receive sufficiently high priority in current climate policy strategies. This paper investigates how behavioral change can achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in European high-income countries. It uses theoretical thinking and some core results from the HOPE research project, which investigated household preferences for reducing emissions in four European cities in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The paper makes five major points: First, car and plane mobility, meat and dairy consumption, as well as heating are the most dominant components of household footprints. Second, household living situations (demographics, size of home) greatly influence the household potential to reduce their footprint, even more than country or city location. Third, household decisions can be sequential and temporally dynamic, shifting through different phases such as childhood, adulthood, and illness. Fourth, short term voluntary efforts will not be sufficient by themselves to reach the drastic reductions needed to achieve the 1.5 °C goal; instead, households need a regulatory framework supporting their behavioral changes. Fifth, there is a mismatch between the roles and responsibilities conveyed by current climate policies and household perceptions of responsibility. We then conclude with further recommendations for research and policy.     

It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures

Through their consumption behavior, households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, they are key actors in reaching the 1.5 °C goal under the Paris Agreement. However, the possible contribution and position of households in climate policies is neither well understood, nor do households receive sufficiently high priority in current climate policy strategies. This paper investigates how behavioral change can achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in European high-income countries. It uses theoretical thinking and some core results from the HOPE research project, which investigated household preferences for reducing emissions in four European cities in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The paper makes five major points: First, car and plane mobility, meat and dairy consumption, as well as heating are the most dominant components of household footprints. Second, household living situations (demographics, size of home) greatly influence the household potential to reduce their footprint, even more than country or city location. Third, household decisions can be sequential and temporally dynamic, shifting through different phases such as childhood, adulthood, and illness. Fourth, short term voluntary efforts will not be sufficient by themselves to reach the drastic reductions needed to achieve the 1.5 °C goal; instead, households need a regulatory framework supporting their behavioral changes. Fifth, there is a mismatch between the roles and responsibilities conveyed by current climate policies and household perceptions of responsibility. We then conclude with further recommendations for research and policy.     

It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures

Through their consumption behavior, households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, they are key actors in reaching the 1.5 °C goal under the Paris Agreement. However, the possible contribution and position of households in climate policies is neither well understood, nor do households receive sufficiently high priority in current climate policy strategies. This paper investigates how behavioral change can achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in European high-income countries. It uses theoretical thinking and some core results from the HOPE research project, which investigated household preferences for reducing emissions in four European cities in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The paper makes five major points: First, car and plane mobility, meat and dairy consumption, as well as heating are the most dominant components of household footprints. Second, household living situations (demographics, size of home) greatly influence the household potential to reduce their footprint, even more than country or city location. Third, household decisions can be sequential and temporally dynamic, shifting through different phases such as childhood, adulthood, and illness. Fourth, short term voluntary efforts will not be sufficient by themselves to reach the drastic reductions needed to achieve the 1.5 °C goal; instead, households need a regulatory framework supporting their behavioral changes. Fifth, there is a mismatch between the roles and responsibilities conveyed by current climate policies and household perceptions of responsibility. We then conclude with further recommendations for research and policy.     

It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures

Through their consumption behavior, households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, they are key actors in reaching the 1.5 °C goal under the Paris Agreement. However, the possible contribution and position of households in climate policies is neither well understood, nor do households receive sufficiently high priority in current climate policy strategies. This paper investigates how behavioral change can achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in European high-income countries. It uses theoretical thinking and some core results from the HOPE research project, which investigated household preferences for reducing emissions in four European cities in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The paper makes five major points: First, car and plane mobility, meat and dairy consumption, as well as heating are the most dominant components of household footprints. Second, household living situations (demographics, size of home) greatly influence the household potential to reduce their footprint, even more than country or city location. Third, household decisions can be sequential and temporally dynamic, shifting through different phases such as childhood, adulthood, and illness. Fourth, short term voluntary efforts will not be sufficient by themselves to reach the drastic reductions needed to achieve the 1.5 °C goal; instead, households need a regulatory framework supporting their behavioral changes. Fifth, there is a mismatch between the roles and responsibilities conveyed by current climate policies and household perceptions of responsibility. We then conclude with further recommendations for research and policy.     

It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures

Through their consumption behavior, households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, they are key actors in reaching the 1.5 °C goal under the Paris Agreement. However, the possible contribution and position of households in climate policies is neither well understood, nor do households receive sufficiently high priority in current climate policy strategies. This paper investigates how behavioral change can achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in European high-income countries. It uses theoretical thinking and some core results from the HOPE research project, which investigated household preferences for reducing emissions in four European cities in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The paper makes five major points: First, car and plane mobility, meat and dairy consumption, as well as heating are the most dominant components of household footprints. Second, household living situations (demographics, size of home) greatly influence the household potential to reduce their footprint, even more than country or city location. Third, household decisions can be sequential and temporally dynamic, shifting through different phases such as childhood, adulthood, and illness. Fourth, short term voluntary efforts will not be sufficient by themselves to reach the drastic reductions needed to achieve the 1.5 °C goal; instead, households need a regulatory framework supporting their behavioral changes. Fifth, there is a mismatch between the roles and responsibilities conveyed by current climate policies and household perceptions of responsibility. We then conclude with further recommendations for research and policy.     

It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures

Through their consumption behavior, households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, they are key actors in reaching the 1.5 °C goal under the Paris Agreement. However, the possible contribution and position of households in climate policies is neither well understood, nor do households receive sufficiently high priority in current climate policy strategies. This paper investigates how behavioral change can achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in European high-income countries. It uses theoretical thinking and some core results from the HOPE research project, which investigated household preferences for reducing emissions in four European cities in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The paper makes five major points: First, car and plane mobility, meat and dairy consumption, as well as heating are the most dominant components of household footprints. Second, household living situations (demographics, size of home) greatly influence the household potential to reduce their footprint, even more than country or city location. Third, household decisions can be sequential and temporally dynamic, shifting through different phases such as childhood, adulthood, and illness. Fourth, short term voluntary efforts will not be sufficient by themselves to reach the drastic reductions needed to achieve the 1.5 °C goal; instead, households need a regulatory framework supporting their behavioral changes. Fifth, there is a mismatch between the roles and responsibilities conveyed by current climate policies and household perceptions of responsibility. We then conclude with further recommendations for research and policy.