Long-term effectiveness of sowing high and low diversity seed mixtures to enhance plant community development on ex-arable fields

Questions: How is succession on ex-arable land affected by sowing high and low diversity mixtures of grassland species as compared to natural succession? How long do effects persist? Location: Experimental plots installed in the Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Methods: The experiment was established on ex-arable land, with five blocks, each containing three 10 m x 10 m experiment tal plots: natural colonization, a low- (four species) and high-diversity (15 species) seed mixture. Species composition and biomass was followed for eight years. Results: The sown plants considerably affected the whole successional pathway and the effects persisted during the whole eight year period. Whilst the proportion of sown species (characterized by their cover) increased during the study period, the number of sown species started to decrease from the third season onwards. Sowing caused suppression of natural colonizing species, and the sown plots had more biomass. These effects were on average larger in the high diversity mixtures. However, the low diversity replicate sown with the mixture that produced the largest biomass or largest suppression of natural colonizers fell within the range recorded at the five replicates of the high diversity plots. The natural colonization plots usually had the highest total species richness and lowest productivity at the end of the observation period. Conclusions: The effect of sowing demonstrated dispersal limitation as a factor controlling the rate of early secondary succession. Diversity was important primarily for its 'insurance effect': the high diversity mixtures were always able to compensate for the failure of some species.

Community development in sustainable livelihoods approaches: an introduction

This article introduces sustainable livelihoods approaches, explaining what they are and how they have emerged. It examines how different organizations have taken up a sustainable livelihoods approach, and considers whether in so doing they have drawn on community development thinking and practice. It is found that community development is largely absent from sustainable livelihoods thinking and contended that part of the reason lies with the locally situated character of community development practice, which makes it difficult for externally driven sustainable livelihoods interventions to systematically incorporate community-level methods and practices. More fundamentally, sustainable livelihoods approaches embody a technocratic development drive, which is at odds with the principles, ethos and values that underpin much development work.

Developing a monitoring and evaluation system for Instituto Palmas: a network of community development banks in Brazil

Bancos comunitários de desenvolvimento no Brasil são instituições únicas que operam de acordo com os princípios da economia solidária em função da inclusão financeira de comunidades carentes. O Instituto Palmas, a instituição que assessora e coordena a rede destes bancos, pediu à Universidade de São Paulo e à Universidade de Columbia em Nova York para desenvolver um conjunto de indicadores que pudesse demonstrar o impacto social e o desempenho institucional dos bancos. Esse relatório apresenta os indicadores, a metodologia utilizada na sua formação, e recomendações para sua utilização. Na medida em que resultados e impacto estão analisados através do uso desses indicadores, a rede dos bancos comunitários e outros interessados terão mais clareza sobre suas funções, seu desempenho, e suas áreas que precisam ser melhoradas para cumprir sua missão – superar a pobreza urbana através da economia solidária.

La participación popular y los principios de desarrollo de la comunidad en el desarrollo económico y social = Popular participation and principles of community development in relation to the acceleration of economic and social development

Incluye Bibliografía

Conceptos y métodos de la programación por zonas para el desarrollo de la comunidad = Concepts and methods of area programming for community development

Incluye Bibliografía

Resolución 261(AC.58): Participación popular y desarrollo comunal = Resolution 261(AC.58): Public participation and community development = Résolution 261(AC.58): Participation publique et développement communautaire

Incluye Bibliografía

Aplicabilidad del desarrollo de la comunidad a las zonas rurales = Aplicability of community development to urban areas

Los documentos del Seminario fueron publicados por UNESCO en 1961 con el título: La urbanización en América Latina/Urbanization in Latin America

Some aspects of community development in the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Information Acceptance and ICT Resistance: Promoting the Role of Information in Rural Community Development

Rural community development is a major issue for developing countries. Much attention has been given Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects to connect rural communities with the global network. However, ICT resistance is a deterring factor in addressing the digital divide in developing countries. It is postulated that reversing the resistance to to ICT can be strategizedthrough "information acceptance." ICT can be accepted by rural communities by creating demand for information. The paper calls for the refocusing on the role of information in rural community development and ICT as a tool for change agent. Initiatives for rural community development must emphasize the importance of information in rural communities.

Livelihood and Community Development: LforS learning and simulation game

Up to 15 people can participate in the game, which is supervised by a moderator. Households consisting of 1-5 people discuss options for diversification of household strategies. Aim of the game: By devising appropriate strategies, households seek to stand up to various types of events while improving their economic and social situation and, at the same time, taking account of ecological conditions. The annual General Community Meeting (GCM) provides an opportunity for households to create a general set-up at the local level that is more or less favourable to the strategies they are pursuing. The development of a community investment strategy, to be implemented by the GCM, and successful coordination between households will allow players to optimise their investments at the household level. The household who owns the most assets at the end of the game wins. Players participate very actively, as the game stimulates lively and interesting discussions. They find themselves confronted with different types of decision-making related to the reality of their daily lives. They explore different ways to model their own household strategies and discuss risks and opportunities. Reflections on the course of the game continually refer to the real-life situations of the participants.

THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ON DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES IN HIMALAYAN INDIAN VILLAGES

A community development program operating in the mountains of North India was studied to assess its potential effects on mortality, fertility and migration patterns in the community which it served. The development program operated in Jaunpur Block, Tehri-Garhwal District, Uttar Pradesh State. Two comparable villages in the district were studied. The development program had been working in one for two years, and the other was completely untouched by the program.^ Since not enough time had elapsed since the beginning of the development program's work for any effects on demographic patterns to be visable in Jaunpur Block, this study looked to attitudes of village residents as indicators of future demographic trends. Existing demographic patterns and their interrelationship with socio-religious customs were examined in the test village. A questionnaire was then administered to ascertain attitudinal differences between the residents of the test village and the control village.^ The primary work of the community development program was to train women as village health workers. The results of the attitudinal comparison of the residents of the two villages showed a marked difference in attitudes relating to the position of women in society. The data showed a higher esteem for women in the test village than in the control village, and it is argued that this difference may be attributable to the work of the development program.^ Predicting future demographic trends in Jaunpur Block on the basis of the observed difference in villagers' attitudes toward the status of women is speculatory. Jaunpur Block appears to be in the demographic stage of pre-transition, maintaining relatively high rates of both mortality and fertility. Based on demographic transition theory the next significant change in demographic patterns in Jaunpur is predicted to be a decline in mortality, and an increase in the status of women is unrelated to this prediction.^ The community development program which was studied terminated unexpectedly during the time of this study. A case study of the program's final months is presented, and speculation on the future course of demographic trends in Jaunpur Block is related to the possible alternatives for future development in the area. ^

Mesozooplankton community development at elevated CO2

The increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere caused by burning fossil fuels leads to increasing pCO2 and decreasing pH in the world ocean. These changes may have severe consequences for marine biota, especially in cold-water ecosystems due to higher solubility of CO2. However, studies on the response of mesozooplankton communities to elevated CO2 are still lacking. In order to test whether abundance and taxonomic composition change with pCO2, we have sampled nine mesocosms, which were deployed in Kongsfjorden, an Arctic fjord at Svalbard, and were adjusted to eight CO2 concentrations, initially ranging from 185 µatm to 1420 µatm. Vertical net hauls were taken weekly over about one month with an Apstein net (55 µm mesh size) in all mesocosms and the surrounding fjord. In addition, sediment trap samples, taken every second day in the mesocosms, were analysed to account for losses due to vertical migration and mortality. The taxonomic analysis revealed that meroplanktonic larvae (Cirripedia, Polychaeta, Bivalvia, Gastropoda, and Decapoda) dominated in the mesocosms while copepods (Calanus spp., Oithona similis, Acartia longiremis and Microsetella norvegica) were found in lower abundances. In the fjord copepods prevailed for most of our study. With time, abundance and taxonomic composition developed similarly in all mesocosms and the pCO2 had no significant effect on the overall community structure. Also, we did not find significant relationships between the pCO2 level and the abundance of single taxa. Changes in heterogeneous communities are, however, difficult to detect, and the exposure to elevated pCO2 was relatively short. We therefore suggest that future mesocosm experiments should be run for longer periods.

Key Factors to Successful Community Development: The Korean Experience

The Saemaul Undong of the Republic of Korea has been world-widely recognized as a successful model of rural community development. The Saemaul Undong was a pure Korean way of community development program which was initiated by the political will of the top national leadership in order to escape from poverty. There are several key factors to the success of the Saemaul Undong. First, the national government's guidance and support for the movement played a very important role in the whole period of the movement. Second, there was a wide range of people's participation in the implementation process. Third, the Saemaul Undong could make a big success by nurturing community leadership which was selected by rural residents themselves. Finally, as a movement for the spiritual reform, the Saemaul Undong imbued the people with the spirits of diligence, the self-reliance, and cooperation.