Cutting management of multipurpose tree legumes: effects on green herbage production, leaf retention and water-use-efficiency during the dry season in Timor, Indonesia

Edible herbage production and water-use-efficiency of three tree legumes (Leucaena leucocephala cv. Tarramba, L. pallida x L. leucocephala (KX2) and Gliricidia sepium), cut at different times of the year (February, April, June and uncut) were compared in a semi-arid area of Timor Island, Indonesia. Cutting in the early and mid dry-season (April and June) resulted in higher total leaf production (P< 0.05) and water-use-efficiency (P< 0.05), than cutting late in the wet-season (February) or being left uncut. For the leucaena treatments removing leaf in the early to mid dry-season reduced transpiration, saving soil water for subsequent regrowth as evidenced by the higher relative water contents of leaves from these treatments. This cutting strategy can be applied to local farming conditions to increase the supply of feed for livestock during the dry season.

DOS DILEMAS À ESPERANÇA: OS DESAFIOS PARA A FORMAÇÃO E ATUAÇÃO DOS PROFESSORES DE TIMOR-LESTE

Esta pesquisa de mestrado analisa a educação de Timor-Leste, tendo como principal foco os professores, procurando identificar os principais desafios por eles enfrentados para a sua formação e atuação e suas implicações para o futuro educacional do país. Timor-Leste é um país do sudoeste asiático, que se tornou independente em 1999; deste então tem procurado se estabelecer como um país livre e democrático. Sua história pregressa é marcada por dominações, tendo sido colônia portuguesa por mais de quatro séculos e posteriormente invadido pela Indonésia. Esses distintos períodos históricos marcaram profundamente todas as instâncias da nação, sobretudo a educação, que sempre foi produto dos povos dominantes. Esta pesquisa, portanto, traz um panorama histórico, considerando sua importância para compreensão dos desdobramentos do sistema educacional hodierno, especialmente no que se refere à formação de professores diante dos dilemas herdados, tais como: evasão dos professores, que eram na sua maioria do país invasor, infra-estrutura precária, limitações linguísticas, entre outros. O método utilizado para a realização da pesquisa foi uma aproximação da etnografia, tendo uma abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa. As fontes foram diversificadas; utilizei documentos escritos, orais e iconográficos, alguns já existentes e outros produzidos no processo de pesquisa. Paulo Freire e António Nóvoa são as principais referências teóricas neste estudo, na reflexão sobre a formação de professores. Pude constatar que o caminho para a autonomia e para que haja uma boa qualidade no sistema educacional de Timor, dentro de uma visão realista e plausível, pode ser longo, há muito trabalho a fazer, e isto depende de muitos aspectos para que possa se concretizar. Ações conjuntas do governo, sociedade e organismos internacionais são extremamente necessárias, principalmente para o planejamento de uma política séria, significativa e contextualizada que servirá de base para o que se tornará a educação do país.

Appropriate wage rate and related issues for employment intensive public works programmes in Timor Leste

Employment generating public works (EGPW) are an important part of GoTL’s strategy to reduce unemployment, underemployment and poverty and contribute to social stability. The term EGPW is used in this report as a generic term to encompass labour intensive (LI) and labourbased (LB) approaches. The distinction between these approaches is made below. SEFOPE is being supported by a number of international agencies to develop and implement employment generating public works programmes (EGPWPs). Other government ministries and agencies and NGOs offering different wage rates are also engaged in such programmes and projects. In setting wage rates for such programmes, it is necessary to take account of (a) the nature of benefits they offer (e.g. the balance between employment creation and effective use of labour); (b) the beneficiaries to be targeted, and (c) any adverse impacts on other economic activities. The purposes of this assignment are: (a) to make recommendations on appropriate wage rates for unskilled casual employment on public works programmes, and (b) make a broad assessment of the labour supply response to the employment opportunities created by employment intensive programmes. The latter would help in gauging the scale of such activities required.

Multi-proxy record of planktonic and benthic foraminiferal d18O, and Mg/Ca-derived surface and lower thermocline temperatures in sediment core SO18471 (GIK18471), Timor Sea

Paleostudies of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) are largely based on temperature and salinity reconstructions of its near surface component, whereas the variability of its lower thermocline flow has rarely been investigated. We present a multi-proxy record of planktonic and benthic foraminiferal d18O, Mg/Ca-derived surface and lower thermocline temperatures, X-ray fluorescence (XRF)-derived runoff and sediment winnowing for the past 130 ka in marine sediment core SO18471. Core SO18471, retrieved from a water depth of 485 m at the southern edge of the Timor Strait close to the Sahul Shelf, sits in a strategic position to reconstruct variations in both the ITF surface and lower thermocline flow as well as to investigate hydrological changes related to monsoon variability and shelf dynamics over time. Sediment winnowing demonstrates that the ITF thermocline flow intensified during MIS 5d-a and MIS 1. In contrast during MIS 5e, winnowing was reduced and terrigenous input increased suggesting intensification of the local wet monsoon and a weaker ITF. Lower thermocline warming during globally cold periods (MIS 4 - MIS 2) appears to be related to a weaker and contracted thermocline ITF and advection of warm and salty Indian Ocean waters.