Continuation and discontinuation of local institution in community based natural resource management

Currently the push toward frontier areas, which until twenty years ago were still largely untouched by commercial agriculture, is taking place on a massive scale. This push is being driven not the least by global economic developments, such as the price increase of agriculture commodities like coffee and cocoa. In most cases the indigenous communities become trapped between the state monopoly in natural resource management and the competition for resources by external actors. In this processes the indigenous communities start to lose their access to resources. Another victim in this process is the environment where the natural resources are imbedded. International and national organizations working to conserve environment have became conscious of the important role that indigenous people could fulfill as partners in this endeavour. This partnership in struggle has produced a new discourse on the relationship between indigenous people and their environment. As a further consequence, programs were set up to develop what became known as Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) with its numerous variations. Based on a case study in a village on the eastern border of the Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, this study questioned the basic assumption behind the concept of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). Namely the assumption that communities living at the margin of forest are socially and culturally homogenous, still more or less egalitarian, and basically living in harmony with their natural environment. This study was inspired by the persistent critique – although still a minority – on the basic assumption the CBNRM from academicians and practitioners working through the Entitlement perspective. Another inspiration was the mounting critique toward the participatory approach. In its effort the study explore further the usefulness of certain approaches. One of the approach much relied on in this study was the local history of the community studied, through exerting oral and local written documents on local history, legends and local stories. These sources proofed quite capable in bringing the local history into the light. Another was the actor oriented approach, which later came to be supported by the concept of Social Pool Resources. The latter concept proofed to be useful as analytical instrument to integrate social institutions and the common pool resources, as a field of action for the different actors as human agencies.

Multi-Scale Governance of Sustainable Natural Resource Use—Challenges and Opportunities for Monitoring and Institutional Development at the National and Global Level

In a globalized economy, the use of natural resources is determined by the demand of modern production and consumption systems, and by infrastructure development. Sustainable natural resource use will require good governance and management based on sound scientific information, data and indicators. There is a rich literature on natural resource management, yet the national and global scale and macro-economic policy making has been underrepresented. We provide an overview of the scholarly literature on multi-scale governance of natural resources, focusing on the information required by relevant actors from local to global scale. Global natural resource use is largely determined by national, regional, and local policies. We observe that in recent decades, the development of public policies of natural resource use has been fostered by an “inspiration cycle” between the research, policy and statistics community, fostering social learning. Effective natural resource policies require adequate monitoring tools, in particular indicators for the use of materials, energy, land, and water as well as waste and GHG emissions of national economies. We summarize the state-of-the-art of the application of accounting methods and data sources for national material flow accounts and indicators, including territorial and product-life-cycle based approaches. We show how accounts on natural resource use can inform the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and argue that information on natural resource use, and in particular footprint indicators, will be indispensable for a consistent implementation of the SDGs. We recognize that improving the knowledge base for global natural resource use will require further institutional development including at national and international levels, for which we outline options.

Neue Ansätze für die ökologische Milchrinderzucht

Die Milchrinderzucht hat im ökologischen Landbau kein deutliches eigenes Profil. Üblicherweise wird auf Biobetrieben mit konventionellen Zuchtlinien gearbeitet, die meistens die Veranlagung zu hohen Milchleistungen haben. Diese Kühe können nicht immer adäquat gefüttert werden, weil das betriebseigene Futter der Biobetriebe nicht immer dem Bedarf der Tiere entspricht, aber möglichst wenig Futter zugekauft wird und nur wenig Kraftfutter eingesetzt werden darf. Energiemangel und gesundheitliche Probleme der Kühe können daraus resultieren. Daher braucht es neue Ansätze für die ökologische Milchrinderzucht, die besser berücksichtigen, dass die Tiere und ihre Umwelt zusammenpassen müssen und die die Tiergesundheit besser fördern. In den vergangenen 100 Jahren wurde der Umweltbezug der Tiere in der konventionellen Milchrinderzucht immer mehr vernachlässigt. Die Zucht wurde auf Produktionsleistungsmerkmale ausgerichtet. Es widerspricht jedoch dem Leitbild des Biolandbaus, nur einzelne Merkmale der Tiere zu fördern, ohne das ganze Tier und den ganzen Betrieb mit zu berücksichtigen. Es gibt bereits einige Ansätze für eine ökologische Milchrinderzucht, die den Bezug der Tiere zu ihrer Umwelt und ein ganzheitliches Tierverständnis einbeziehen (z. B. das Konzept der Lebensleistungszucht und die Linienzucht mit Kuhfamilien). Diese Ansätze sind jedoch nicht weit verbreitet und mit hohem Forschungs- und / oder Beratungsbedarf verbunden. Ein in der konventionellen Milchviehzucht immer wichtiger werdender Ansatz, der auch gut mit den Ideen des Biolandbaus übereinstimmt, ist die stärkere züchterische Gewichtung von Gesundheitsmerkmalen (teilweise anstelle der Produktionsleistung). Da die direkte Erfassung der Tier-gesundheit als Merkmal aufwändig ist, werden häufig Hilfsmerkmale für Gesundheit züchterisch bearbeitet. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden neue Hilfsmerkmale für die Zucht auf Gesundheit gesucht. Der Schwerpunkt wurde auf ethologische Merkmale gelegt, welche einen eigenaktiven Bezug der Tiere zu ihrer Umwelt zeigen sowie auf Eigenschaften, die in einem Zusammenhang mit Verdauungs- und Stoff-wechselprozessen stehen. Das Ziel der Untersuchungen war, die individuelle Ausprägung der beobachteten Eigenschaften und deren Zusammenhang zur Tiergesundheit zu ermitteln, um neue Merkmale für die Zucht auf eine gute Tiergesundheit zu identifizieren. Die Beobachtungen wurden über einen Zeitraum von 13 Monaten in einer Milchviehherde mit 60 Kühen auf einem biologisch-dynamischen Betrieb in der Schweiz durchgeführt. In zwei Projekten mit 27 bzw. 34 Tieren wurden das Wiederkäuverhalten, das Liegeverhalten, das Temperament, die Körperkondition (BCS) und die Kotbeschaffenheit untersucht. Die Untersuchungen wurden unter für alle beobachteten Tiere gleichen Praxisbedingungen durchgeführt. Die Gesundheit der Tiere wurde kontinuierlich anhand des Behandlungs-journals, der Tierarztrechnungen, der Milchleistungsprüfungsdaten und der Abkalbedaten erfasst und für jedes Tier in einem Gesundheitsindex zusammengefasst. Zusätzlich wurde ein Euter-gesundheitsindex berechnet, in dem nur die Eutererkrankungen berücksichtigt wurden. Die individuelle Konsistenz der beobachteten Eigenschaften wurde anhand der Reproduzier-barkeit der wiederholten Beobachtungen berechnet. Korrelationen zwischen dem Gesundheitsindex und den beobachteten Parametern und lineare, multivariate Regressionsanalysen mit dem Gesundheitsindex bzw. dem Eutergesundheitsindex als abhängige Variable wurden berechnet. Das Wiederkäuverhalten, das Liegeverhalten, die Kotbeschaffenheit und das Temperament der Tiere waren individuell konsistent. Die Variation der Wiederkäugeschwindigkeit, die Anzahl Abliegevorgänge und die Höhe der BCS-Noten (1. Quartil) waren positiv und die Spannweite der BCS-Noten war negativ mit der Tiergesundheit korreliert. Zwischen einem ruhigen Temperament der Kühe und der Eutergesundheit zeigte sich eine positive Korrelation. Die Regressionsanalysen ergaben, dass die Variation der Tiergesundheit im Projekt 1 durch die Variation der Wiederkäugeschwindigkeit und die Anzahl Abliegevorgänge zu 23% und im Projekt 2 durch die Höhe und die Spannweite der BCS-Noten zu 32% erklärt werden konnte. Die Variation der Eutergesundheit konnte durch das Temperament zu 24% erklärt werden. Die Ergebnisse zum Temperament und zur Körperkondition sind für die Tierzucht im Biolandbau interessant, zumal sie einfach zu erfassen sind und in anderen Studien ihre relativ hohe Erblichkeit festgestellt wurde. Die beiden Merkmalskomplexe zeigen zudem, wie gut das Tier sich an seine Umwelt anpassen kann. Das ist unter nichtstandardisierten Umweltbedingungen, wie sie auf Biobetrieben üblich sind, wichtig. Für die Umsetzung in der Zucht auf Betriebsebene braucht es Beratung. Um diese Eigenschaften in Zuchtprogramme auf Populationsebene zu integrieren, sind weitere Forschungsarbeiten zur Methodik einer routinemässigen Erhebung von BCS- und Temperamentsdaten und zur Implementation nötig.

Human and Raptor Interactions in the Context of a Nomadic Society

This research project focuses on contemporary eagle-taming falconry practice of the Altaic Kazakhs animal herding society in Bayan Ulgii Province in Western Mongolia. It aims to contributing both theoretical and empirical criteria for cultural preservation of Asian falconry. This cultural as well as environmental discourse is illustrated with concentrated field research framed by ecological anthropology and ethno-ornithology from the viewpoint of “Human-Animal Interaction (HAI)” and “Human-Animal Behavior (HAB)”. Part I (Chapter 2 & 3) explores ethno-archaeological and ethno-ornithological dimensions by interpretive research of archaeological artefacts which trace the historical depth of Asian falconry culture. Part II (Chapter 4 & 5) provides an extensive ethnographic narrative of Altaic Kazakh falconry, which is the central part of this research project. The “Traditional Art and Knowledge (TAK)” in human-raptor interactions, comprising the entire cycle of capture, perch, feeding, training, hunting, and release, is presented with specific emphasis on its relation to environmental and societal context. Traditional falconry as integral part of a nomadic lifestyle has to face some critical problems nowadays which necessitate preventing the complete disappearance of this outstanding indigenous cultural heritage. Part III (Chapter 6 & 7) thus focuses on the cultural sustainability of Altaic Kazakh falconry. Changing livelihoods, sedentarisation, and decontextualisation are identified as major threats. The role of Golden Eagle Festivals is critically analysed with regard to positive and negative impact. This part also intends to contribute to the academic definition of eagle falconry as an intangible cultural heritage, and to provide scientific criteria for a preservation master plan, as well as stipulate local resilience by pointing to successive actions needed for conservation. This research project concludes that cultural sustainability of Altaic Kazakh falconry needs to be supported from the angles of three theoretical frameworks; (1) Cultural affairs for protection based on the concept of nature-guardianship in its cultural domain, (2) Sustainable development and improvement of animal herding productivity and herder’s livelihood, (3) Natural resource management, especially supporting the population of Golden Eagles, their potential prey animals, and their nesting environment.

Changes of traditional farming systems and their effects on land degradation and socio-economic conditions in the Inle Lake region, Myanmar

At many locations in Myanmar, ongoing changes in land use have negative environmental impacts and threaten natural ecosystems at local, regional and national scales. In particular, the watershed area of Inle Lake in eastern Myanmar is strongly affected by the environmental effects of deforestation and soil erosion caused by agricultural intensification and expansion of agricultural land, which are exacerbated by the increasing population pressure and the growing number of tourists. This thesis, therefore, focuses on land use changes in traditional farming systems and their effects on socio-economic and biophysical factors to improve our understanding of sustainable natural resource management of this wetland ecosystem. The main objectives of this research were to: (1) assess the noticeable land transformations in space and time, (2) identify the typical farming systems as well as the divergent livelihood strategies, and finally, (3) estimate soil erosion risk in the different agro-ecological zones surrounding the Inle Lake watershed area. GIS and remote sensing techniques allowed to identify the dynamic land use and land cover changes (LUCC) during the past 40 years based on historical Corona images (1968) and Landsat images (1989, 2000 and 2009). In this study, 12 land cover classes were identified and a supervised classification was used for the Landsat datasets, whereas a visual interpretation approach was conducted for the Corona images. Within the past 40 years, the main landscape transformation processes were deforestation (- 49%), urbanization (+ 203%), agricultural expansion (+ 34%) with a notably increase of floating gardens (+ 390%), land abandonment (+ 167%), and marshlands losses in wetland area (- 83%) and water bodies (- 16%). The main driving forces of LUCC appeared to be high population growth, urbanization and settlements, a lack of sustainable land use and environmental management policies, wide-spread rural poverty, an open market economy and changes in market prices and access. To identify the diverse livelihood strategies in the Inle Lake watershed area and the diversity of income generating activities, household surveys were conducted (total: 301 households) using a stratified random sampling design in three different agro-ecological zones: floating gardens (FG), lowland cultivation (LL) and upland cultivation (UP). A cluster and discriminant analysis revealed that livelihood strategies and socio-economic situations of local communities differed significantly in the different zones. For all three zones, different livelihood strategies were identified which differed mainly in the amount of on-farm and off-farm income, and the level of income diversification. The gross margin for each household from agricultural production in the floating garden, lowland and upland cultivation was US$ 2108, 892 and 619 ha-1 respectively. Among the typical farming systems in these zones, tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) plantation in the floating gardens yielded the highest net benefits, but caused negative environmental impacts given the overuse of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and spatial analysis within GIS were applied to estimate soil erosion risk in the different agricultural zones and for the main cropping systems of the study region. The results revealed that the average soil losses in year 1989, 2000 and 2009 amounted to 20, 10 and 26 t ha-1, respectively and barren land along the steep slopes had the highest soil erosion risk with 85% of the total soil losses in the study area. Yearly fluctuations were mainly caused by changes in the amount of annual precipitation and the dynamics of LUCC such as deforestation and agriculture extension with inappropriate land use and unsustainable cropping systems. Among the typical cropping systems, upland rainfed rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation had the highest rate of soil erosion (20 t ha-1yr-1) followed by sebesten (Cordia dichotoma) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) plantation in the UP zone. This study indicated that the hotspot region of soil erosion risk were upland mountain areas, especially in the western part of the Inle lake. Soil conservation practices are thus urgently needed to control soil erosion and lake sedimentation and to conserve the wetland ecosystem. Most farmers have not yet implemented soil conservation measures to reduce soil erosion impacts such as land degradation, sedimentation and water pollution in Inle Lake, which is partly due to the low economic development and poverty in the region. Key challenges of agriculture in the hilly landscapes can be summarized as follows: fostering the sustainable land use of farming systems for the maintenance of ecosystem services and functions while improving the social and economic well-being of the population, integrated natural resources management policies and increasing the diversification of income opportunities to reduce pressure on forest and natural resources.

Bridging Perspectives

People’s ability to change their social and economic circumstances may be constrained by various forms of social, cultural and political domination. Thus to consider a social actor’s particular lifeworld in which the research is embedded assists in the understanding of how and why different trajectories of change occur or are hindered and how those changes fundamentally affect livelihood opportunities and constraints. In seeking to fulfill this condition this thesis adopted an actor-oriented approach to the study of rural livelihoods. A comprehensive livelihoods study requires grasping how social reality is being historically constituted. That means to understand how the interaction of modes of production and symbolical reproduction produces the socio-space. Research is here integrated to action through the facilitation of farmer groups. The overall aim of the groups was to prompt agency, as essential conditions to build more resilient livelihoods. The smallholder farmers in the Mabalane District of Mozambique are located in a remote semi-arid area. Their livelihoods customarily depend at least as much on livestock as on (mostly) rain-fed food crops. Increased climate variability exerts pressure on the already vulnerable production system. An extensive 10-month duration of participant observation divided into 3 periods of fieldwork structured the situated multi-method approach that drew on a set of interview categories. The actor-oriented appraisal of livelihoods worked in building a mutually shared definition of the situation. This reflection process was taken up by the facilitation of the farmer groups, one in Mabomo and one in Mungazi, which used an inquiry iteratively combining individual interviews and facilitated group meetings. Integration of action and reflection was fundamental for group constitution as spaces for communicative action. They needed to be self-organized and to achieve understanding intersubjectively, as well as to base action on cooperation and coordination. Results from this approach focus on how learning as collaboratively generated was enabled, or at times hindered, in (a) selecting meaningful options to test; (b) in developing mechanisms for group functioning; and (c) in learning from steering the testing of options. The study of livelihoods looked at how the different assets composing livelihoods are intertwined and how the increased severity of dry spells is contributing to escalated food insecurity. The reorganization of the social space, as households moved from scattered homesteads to form settlements, further exerts pressure on the already scarce natural resource-based livelihoods. Moreover, this process disrupted a normative base substantiating the way that the use of resources is governed. Hence, actual livelihood strategies and response mechanisms turn to diversification through income-generating activities that further increase pressure on the resource-base in a rather unsustainable way. These response mechanisms are, for example, the increase in small-livestock keeping, which has easier conversion to cash, and charcoal production. The latter results in ever more precarious living and working conditions. In the majority of the cases such responses are short-term and reduce future opportunities in a downward spiral of continuously decreasing assets. Thus, by indicating the failure of institutions in the mediation of smallholders’ adaptive capabilities, the livelihood assessment in Mabomo and Mungazi sheds light on the complex underlying structure of present day social vulnerability, linking the macro-context to the actual situation. To assist in breaking this state of “subordination”, shaped by historical processes, weak institutions and food insecurity, the chosen approach to facilitation of farmer groups puts farmer knowledge at the center of an evolving process of intersubjective co-construction of knowledge towards emancipation.