Resource entitlements of indigenous minorities, their poverty and conservation of nature: Status of Australian Aborigines, comparisons with India's tribals, theory and changing policies globally

Considers the relevance of A.K. Sen’s theory of entitlements to the situation facing indigenous tribal people, its relationship to institutionalism, and to theories of property rights. Changing world views about the resource entitlements that should be given to local communities are outlined concentrating on the views expressed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). These changing views have relevance for the resource entitlements of indigenous tribal communities and are reflected in differences in the policy approaches inherent in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the more recent Convention on Biological Diversity. The latter embodies the view that provision of greater resource entitlements to local communities can provide economic incentives for nature conservation. There is a case for Indigenous Australians to be given greater rights to market the natural produce from their lands. Despite progress with land rights, they are not entitled to market much of the natural produce from their land. The socioeconomic status of Australian Aborigines is outlined. Their standard of living and their life expectancy are low by world standards and in comparison to other Australians. This is partly a result of historical events that have restricted their rights. These events are outlined briefly. Views differ about the appropriate development paths for Indigenous Australians and these are assessed. Concern on environmental and economic grounds is expressed about the view that the economic development of Australian Aboriginal communities would be accelerated by replacing their communal land titles by private land titles and encouraging Western-style agriculture and commercial development of their lands. Some comparisons are also made with the situation of India’s Tribals.

The effect of resource aggregation at different scales: Optimal foraging behavior of Cotesia rubecula

Resources can be aggregated both within and between patches. In this article, we examine how aggregation at these different scales influences the behavior and performance of foragers. We developed an optimal foraging model of the foraging behavior of the parasitoid wasp Cotesia rubecula parasitizing the larvae of the cabbage butterfly Pieris rapae. The optimal behavior was found using stochastic dynamic programming. The most interesting and novel result is that the effect of resource aggregation within and between patches depends on the degree of aggregation both within and between patches as well as on the local host density in the occupied patch, but lifetime reproductive success depends only on aggregation within patches. Our findings have profound implications for the way in which we measure heterogeneity at different scales and model the response of organisms to spatial heterogeneity.

Domestic objects and the taste epiphany - A resource for consumption methodology

The presentation of an aesthetic identity involves the accomplishment of a coherent, plausible narrative which links one's choices to desired characteristics of the self. As symbolic evidence of a person's taste, material culture is a vital component of a successful narrative. Via case studies of pivotal household objects, this paper uses face-to-face interview data as a way of investigating processes of aesthetic choice. Household objects are interpreted as material elements imbricated in the presentation of a socially plausible and internally consistent aesthetic self. Narrative analysis, and the concept of the epiphany-object, are proposed as useful ways of accounting for tastes in domestic material culture. Methodological questions of truth-telling and authenticity in the face-to-face context are considered, and the sociological problem of taste is scrutinized in light of ideas about social accountability and textual identity.

Perceived constraints and social support for active leisure among mothers with young children

Evidence suggests that women who are mothers of young children have lower levels of physical activity than women of similar age who do not have children (Brown, Lee, Mishra, & Bauman, 2000). The purposes of this study were to explore the factors that constrain mothers of young children from being more physically active, and the relationship between physical activity and levels of social support available to the women. The empirical basis for this examination was provided through a study of activity levels and barriers to physical activity experienced by a sample of 543 mothers of young children from differing socioeconomic backgrounds. The data indicate that: (a) more than two-thirds of the mothers were inadequately active in their leisure time for health benefit; (b) while the vast majority of mothers expressed a desire to be more active, they were inhibited in their ability to act out their leisure preferences by a combination of structural (e.g., lack of time, money, energy) and ideological influences (e.g., sense of commitment to others); (c) access to social support (from partners, family, and friends) was seen to place some women in a better position than others to negotiate constraints that inhibit leisure participation; and (d) within groups of varying socioeconomic status (SES) there was wide variation in the amount of time spent each week in active leisure.

Let your feet do the walking: constraints on the stability of bipedal coordination

In this paper we consider whether the behaviour of the neural circuitry that controls lower limb movements in humans is shaped primarily by the spatiotemporal characteristics of bipedal gait patterns, or by selective pressures that are sensitive to considerations of balance and energetics. During the course of normal locomotion, the full dynamics of the neural circuitry are masked by the inertial properties of the limbs. In the present study, participants executed bipedal movements in conditions in which their feet were either unloaded or subject to additional inertial loads. Two patterns of rhythmic coordination were examined. In the in-phase mode, participants were required to flex their ankles and extend their ankles in synchrony. In the out-of-phase mode, the participants flexed one ankle while extending the other and vice versa. The frequency of movement was increased systematically throughout each experimental trial. All participants were able to maintain both the in-phase and the out-of-phase mode of coordination, to the point at which they could no longer increase their frequency of movement. Transitions between the two modes were not observed, and the stability of the out-of-phase and in-phase modes of coordination was equivalent at all movement frequencies. These findings indicate that, in humans, the behaviour of the neural circuitry underlying coordinated movements of the lower limbs is not constrained strongly by the spatiotemporal symmetries of bipedal gait patterns.

Estimating economic relationships subject to firm- and time-varying equality and inequality constraints

Applied econometricians often fail to impose economic regularity constraints in the exact form economic theory prescribes. We show how the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) Theorem and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods can be used to rigorously impose time- and firm-varying equality and inequality constraints. To illustrate the technique we estimate a system of translog input demand functions subject to all the constraints implied by economic theory, including observation-varying symmetry and concavity constraints. Results are presented in the form of characteristics of the estimated posterior distributions of functions of the parameters. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Sea turtles as a non-consumptive tourism resource especially in Australia

There is substantial economic potential for exploiting wildlife resources for non-consumptive wildlife-oriented recreation (NCWOR) tourism and this type of tourism if well managed, can result in the long-term conservation of wildlife resources. This is especially important in cases where wildlife resources are declining due to habitat destruction, poaching and other human threats, as is so for sea turtles. In this paper, relevant ecotourism literature outlining the economic values of NCWOR activities is reviewed to show that a significant potential exists for developing sea turtle-based tourism. Duffus and Dearden's (1990. Biological Conservation, 53, 213-231) conceptual framework for the development of wildlife tourism and its extension and application by Higham (1998. Tourism Management, 19 (6), 521-531) is analysed to see if it might be applied to sea turtle-based ecotourism in Australia at Mon Repos Conservation Park. Threats to sea turtle populations are growing especially as a result of human activities and these underline the importance of finding an economic rationale to conserve the remaining species. Economic benefits from turtle-based tourism can provide such a rationale. However, such tourism must be managed appropriately if it is to be sustained. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has adopted management strategies at Mon Repos Conservation Park with this in mind and these strategies are outlined. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.