Changing women's roles, changing environmental knowledges: evidence from Upper Egypt

The aim of this paper is to investigate the ways in which changing gender roles in a Bedouin community in Upper Egypt, brought about by settlement over the last 20 years on the shores of Lake Nasser, have impacted on the accumulation and development of indigenous environmental knowledges by Bedouin women. The research was carried out among four groups of Ababda Bedouin in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and involved in-depth monthly conversations carried out over a period of 12 months. The main conclusions of the study are that the women of the study area have had to develop new knowledges which, in some cases, are now different from those held by men because of the different economic circumstances in which many find themselves; that these knowledges are fluid, dynamic and ever-changing with their own internal dynamism; and that socially constructed notions of gender are vital in the development process, notions that are sensitive to both men's and women's interests and their interrelationships.     

Traditional cattle-husbandry systems in Eritrea: cattle–man relationships

Through surveys and participatory rural appraisal methods, the study documents the traditional cattle-husbandry systems in both the mixed crop–livestock system in the highlands and the pastoral system in the lowlands in Eritrea. Herding, grazing, breeding strategies, heat detection, milking letdown, food habits, marketing, housing and traditional veterinary practices are described in each system. The pastoral system is based on large, mobile, predominantly female herds that go for long-range grazing and cattle are mainly kept for milk and milk products. In the highland farming communities, cattle are sedentary, relatively fewer, predominantly male and are mainly kept to provide energy for agricultural purposes.     

冰冻圈微生物学：回顾与展望

冰冻圈是地球上的负温圈层。冰冻圈各个要素中生存的微生物是地球上生命多样性的重要组分,对这些生命体及其生长繁殖和起源演化规律的揭示,不仅极大地丰富着生命科学和冰冻圈科学,还为深入了解全球变化和地外生命提供重要线索。冰冻圈微生物学的发展也将造福于人类。在回顾冰冻圈微生物研究的基础上,提出冰冻圈微生物学的概念,为冰冻圈科学和微生物学发展提供新视角。     

THE HARVEST OF RAIN–FOREST BIRDS BY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN PANAMA*

In this article I attempt to shed light on the relationships between indigenous communities and bird populations through research on hunting in five neighboring villages in western Panama. Over eight months, 59 households captured 1,584 birds using rifles, sling‐shots, traps, and other methods, resulting in a total yield of 252 kilograms. Although hunters captured more than 125 avian species, just four species account for more than half of the total harvest. The most important game bird is the great curassow (Crax rubra), followed by the great tinamou (Tinamus major) and crested guan (Penelope purpurascens). The type and quantity of avifauna captured varies significantly according to habitat and hunting strategy. The spatial distribution of bird kill sites is highly concentrated, with 62 percent of the harvest by weight captured within just 1 kilometer of the participating households. Even the more vulnerable species are encountered close to home, suggesting that overhunting has not occurred.     

轮牧传统衰退:滇西北藏区亚高山草地退化的人文因素

滇西北藏区亚高山草地退化是个有目共睹的现实,有自然的原因也有人文的原因。以实地调查为基础,从藏民生计出发的研究发现,滇西北藏族的畜牧生产特点是6～9月位于3800m以上的高山草甸地带,11月至翌年3月位于3200m左右的亚高山草甸地带,属于轮牧作业;轮牧传统适应了气候和植物生长的季节性变化,有效地维持草地生产和传统围栏农业。轮牧传统的衰退,使牲畜集中在亚高山草甸地带,导致了草地退化。充分挖掘和尊重民族传统知识有助于退化草地恢复。     

Exposure of smelting workers to mercury vapor with indigenous method for mercury smelting in Wuchuan areas, Guizhou Province, China

Small-scale mercury smelting activities with indigenous method are always extensive in the Wuchuan area, northeastern Guizhou Province, China. Because of the simple processes without any environmental protection, a large amount of mercury vapor released to the ambient air during the processing of cinnabar roasting. So the health of the workers may be negatively affected through inhalation of the mercury-polluted air. Mercury, creatinine and β2-MG contents in urine among the workers in the study areas and the residents in the control site （Changshun County） were determined to discuss the health impact of mercury vapor exposure to the workers in the study areas. Health examinations also were carded out to identify clinical symptoms of mercury poisoning for the smelting workers. Results indicated that the geometric mean value of urinary mercury for the smelting workers was g/g Cr μg/g Cr （N=22）, significantly higher than 1.24 μg/g （N=54） for residents in the control site. β2-MG as a renal biomarker can be used to study human nephrotoxicity at an early stage and it is most useful to define effects for assessing re-absorption function to indicate tubular injury. The results showed a serious adverse effect on renal system for the smelting workers due to mercury exposure. Several workers have already manifested some clinical symptoms of lightly chronic mercury poisoning and the symptoms include finger and eyelid lightly tremor, gingivitis and blue mercury line in mouth. The study illuminated that the workers in gaged in indigenous mercury smelting in the Wuchuan area were seriously exposed to mercury vapor,     

Adaptive Strategies to Displacement and Environmental Change Among the Kaiabi Indigenous People of the Brazilian Amazon

Environmental change, geographical displacement, and disputes over land and resources have increased around the world. This article focuses on strategies developed by the Kaiabi indigenous people to cope and adapt to environmental change after development-forced displacement and resettlement in the Brazilian Amazon. A mixed methods approach was adopted, combining ethnographic and quantitative methods. Semistructured interviews were performed among 214 individuals in a study on the dynamics of indigenous knowledge (IK) and natural resource management across three Kaiabi lands. We identified seven main coping and adaptive strategies developed by the displaced group: leadership and reciprocity networks, mobility, maintenance and innovation of native language, knowledge articulation, substitution of strategic resources, transmission across genders, and revitalizing diversity. These strategies have helped to enhance social–ecological resilience at different scales. Policies for resettlement and adaptation to environmental change must be developed with indigenous communities based on local knowledge and institutions.     

Oil Extraction and Benefit Sharing in an Illiberal Context: The Nenets and Komi-Izhemtsi Indigenous Peoples in the Russian Arctic

ABSTRACT

How can indigenous communities in illiberal regimes benefit from oil production? This paper compares the experience of two indigenous peoples in the Russian Arctic, the Nenets and the Komi-Izhemtsi, in their quest for environmental protection and the development of benefit-sharing arrangements with Lukoil, a Russian oil company. The Nenets people, recognized by the Russian state as indigenous, are marginalized political actors who identified a route to receiving compensation for loss of land and damage to the environment as well as economic benefits under the auspices of Russian law and Lukoil’s corporate policies. In contrast, the Komi-Izhemtsi, despite indigenous status in global institutions including the United Nations and the Arctic Council, are unrecognized as indigenous domestically and initially received no compensation. Their path to benefit sharing was more challenging as they partnered with local nongovernmental organizations and global environmentalists to pressure Lukoil to sign a benefit-sharing agreement. Ultimately, the comparison illustrates how transnational partnerships can empower indigenous people to gain benefits from natural resource exploitation even in illiberal political systems.     

Damming Knowledge Flows: POWER as a Constraint on Knowledge Pluralism in River Flow Decision-making in the Saskatchewan River Delta

Rivers and dams are increasingly contested venues where knowledge pluralism is critical for effective governance. To navigate change, decision-makers can adopt culturally-sensitive interventions to address the needs of diverse stakeholders and rights holders. Calls for Indigenous flows have become important as dam operators seek to renew their legal and social licenses to operate. Knowledge pluralism is needed to enhance decision-making about flows that better address complexity and change to Indigenous livelihoods and cultural practices. However, leveraging diverse knowledge types to inform these interventions is not simply a matter of changing management practice. Power relations can constrain knowledge pluralism. We contribute an empirical example that links power in a decision-making process about a dam in Saskatchewan, Canada, to the losses experienced by downstream Indigenous communities. This paper operationalizes power to illustrate its methodological utility and documents the interconnected losses, experienced by resources users, resultant from the marginalization of Indigenous knowledge.     

Co-Governance and Local Empowerment? Conservation Partnership Frameworks and Marine Protection at Mimiwhangata,New Zealand

This study examines the conservation partnership activities conducted as part of the Mimiwhangata marine reserve project. This project involved the formation of a partnership between the Department of Conservation (DOC) and an indigenous Maori community, who sought to establish and co-govern a marine reserve at Mimiwhangata, New Zealand (NZ). Drawing on the discourse of contemporary Treaty of Waitangi politics, the article argues that participatory processes can be effective means through which to pursue both positive conservation and social outcomes. However, unless the appropriate legislative framework exists in which meaningful ongoing community involvement and control can be constituted, partnership-based conservation is unlikely to deliver substantial conservation or social gains. Fundamental issues concerning indigenous rights, authority, and control persist within the “partnership” framework, which existing marine reserve governance mechanisms in New Zealand do not resolve.