Assessing the ability of rural agrarian areas to provide cultural ecosystem services (CES): A multi scale social indicator framework (MSIF)

Assessing the ways in which rural agrarian areas provide Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) is proving difficult to achieve. This research has developed an innovative methodological approach named as Multi Scale Indicator Framework (MSIF) for capturing the CES embedded into the rural agrarian areas. This framework reconciles a literature review with a transdisciplinary participatory workshop. Both of these sources reveal that societal preferences diverge upon judgemental criteria which in turn relate to different visual concepts that can be drawn from analyzing attributes, elements, features and characteristics of rural areas. We contend that it is now possible to list a group of possible multi scale indicators for stewardship, diversity and aesthetics. These results might also be of use for improving any existing European indicators frameworks by also including CES. This research carries major implications for policy at different levels of governance, as it makes possible to target and monitor policy instruments to the physical rural settings so that cultural dimensions are adequately considered. There is still work to be developed on regional specific values and thresholds for each criteria and its indicator set. In practical terms, by developing the conceptual design within a common framework as described in this paper, a considerable step forward toward the inclusion of the cultural dimension in European wide assessments can be made

Measuring societal awareness of the rural agrarian landscape: indicators and scale issues

The work presented in this report is part of the effort to define the landscape state and diversity indicator in the frame of COM (2006) 508 “Development of agri-environmental indicators for monitoring the integration of environmental concerns into the common agricultural policy”. The Communication classifies the indicators according to their level of development, which, for the landscape indicator is “in need of substantial improvements in order to become fully operational”. For this reason a full re-definition of the indicator has been carried out, following the initial proposal presented in the frame of the IRENA operation (“Indicator Reporting on the Integration of Environmental Concerns into Agricultural Policy”). The new proposal for the landscape state and diversity indicator is structured in three components: the first concerns the degree of naturalness, the second landscape structure, the third the societal appreciation of the rural landscape. While the first two components rely on a strong bulk of existing literature, the development of the methodology has made evident the need for further analysis of the third component, which is based on a newly proposed top-down approach. This report presents an in-depth analysis of such component of the indicator, and the effort to include a social dimension in large scale landscape assessment.

Assessing the ability of rural agrarian areas to provide Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES): a Multi Scale Social Indicator Framework (MSIF)

Assessing the ways in which rural agrarian areas provide Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) is proving difficult to achieve. This research has developed an innovative methodological approach named as Multi Scale Indicator Framework (MSIF) for capturing the CES embedded into the rural agrarian areas. This framework reconciles a literature review with a trans-disciplinary participatory workshop. Both of these sources reveal that societal preferences diverge upon judgemental criteria which in turn relate to different visual concepts that can be drawn from analysing attributes, elements, features and characteristics of rural areas. We contend that it is now possible to list a group of possible multi scale indicators for stewardship, diversity and aesthetics. These results might also be of use for improving any existing European indicators frameworks by also including CES. This research carries major implications for policy at different levels of governance, as it makes possible to target and monitor policy instruments to the physical rural settings so that cultural dimensions are adequately considered. There is still work to be developed on regional specific values and thresholds for each criteria and its indicator set. In practical terms, by developing the conceptual design within a common framework as described in this paper, a considerable step forward towards the inclusion of the cultural dimension in European wide assessments can be made.

Testing alternative models for the conservation of koalas in fragmented rural-urban landscapes

Predicting the various responses of different species to changes in landscape structure is a formidable challenge to landscape ecology. Based on expert knowledge and landscape ecological theory, we develop five competing a priori models for predicting the presence/absence of the Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) in Noosa Shire, south-east Queensland (Australia). A priori predictions were nested within three levels of ecological organization: in situ (site level) habitat (< 1 ha), patch level (100 ha) and landscape level (100-1000 ha). To test the models, Koala surveys and habitat surveys (n = 245) were conducted across the habitat mosaic. After taking into account tree species preferences, the patch and landscape context, and the neighbourhood effect of adjacent present sites, we applied logistic regression and hierarchical partitioning analyses to rank the alternative models and the explanatory variables. The strongest support was for a multilevel model, with Koala presence best predicted by the proportion of the landscape occupied by high quality habitat, the neighbourhood effect, the mean nearest neighbour distance between forest patches, the density of forest patches and the density of sealed roads. When tested against independent data (n = 105) using a receiver operator characteristic curve, the multilevel model performed moderately well. The study is consistent with recent assertions that habitat loss is the major driver of population decline, however, landscape configuration and roads have an important effect that needs to be incorporated into Koala conservation strategies.

Crisis, endeudamiento y desposesión en el mundo rural catalán de finales del siglo XIX

Esta tesis doctoral examina las repercusiones de la llamada "Gran Depresión" de finales del siglo XIX sobre la sociedad rural catalana a partir del análisis del que puede ser visto como uno de los síntomas más característicos de cualquier crisis agraria: la pérdida de derechos de propiedad sobre la tierra o sobre otros inmuebles de carácter rural como consecuencia de reclamaciones de deudas, promovidas por particulares o por el Estado, que culminaron en subasta pública. El trabajo ha sido dividido en dos secciones. En la primera se analiza la desposesión causada por procedimientos ejecutivos impulsados por la Administración de Hacienda por impuestos impagados. En la segunda se ha estudiado la actividad judicial que concluyó en subasta pública de bienes inmuebles, y se han mostrado sus relaciones con la situación agraria, especialmente en los sectores del trigo y de la vid.

The EU societal awareness of landscape indicator: a review of its meaning, utility and performance across different scales

There is increasing recognition that agricultural landscapes meet multiple societal needs and demands beyond provision of economic and environmental goods and services. Accordingly, there have been significant calls for the inclusion of societal, amenity and cultural values in agri-environmental landscape indicators to assist policy makers in monitoring the wider impacts of land-based policies. However, capturing the amenity and cultural values that rural agrarian areas provide, by use of such indicators, presents significant challenges. The EU social awareness of landscape indicator represents a new class of generalized social indicator using a top-down methodology to capture the social dimensions of landscape without reference to the specific structural and cultural characteristics of individual landscapes. This paper reviews this indicator in the context of existing agri-environmental indicators and their differing design concepts. Using a stakeholder consultation approach in five case study regions, the potential and limitations of the indicator are evaluated, with a particular focus on its perceived meaning, utility and performance in the context of different user groups and at different geographical scales. This analysis supplements previous EU-wide assessments, through regional scale assessment of the limitations and potentialities of the indicator and the need for further data collection. The evaluation finds that the perceived meaning of the indicator does not vary with scale, but in common with all mapped indicators, the usefulness of the indicator, to different user groups, does change with scale of presentation. This indicator is viewed as most useful when presented at the scale of governance at which end users operate. The relevance of the different sub-components of the indicator are also found to vary across regions.

Utilidad de la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing en las empresas del sector agrícola

Los conceptos relacionados con el término comunidad y las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias en el sector agrícola son abordados en este documento. El énfasis que se hace es respecto a la posible unión entre los objetivos de las agroindustrias y de las comunidades donde estas operan. Se propone que las diferentes estrategias comunitarias ya sean coalición, empoderamiento o liderazgo comunitario son implementadas por empresas del sector agrícola para asegurar tanto desarrollo comunitario como la perdurabilidad de la empresa. A través de un estudio descriptivo y tomando una empresa del sector como unidad de análisis se estudiaron las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias implementadas por dicha empresa buscando encontrar la utilidad de las estrategias y el marketing en el sector. Se encontró que la información referente al sector es insuficiente, sin embargo al evaluar la empresa seleccionada como unidad de análisis fue posible percibir como las estrategias de coalición, liderazgo comunitario y empoderamiento permiten no solo el desarrollo de la comunidad local sino que aseguran la permanencia de una empresa competitiva en el mercado. Las estrategias comunitarias lograron una vinculación de valores, cultura e historia entre la empresa y la comunidad que a su vez permitió la unión de intereses y la responsabilidad compartida para el logro de los mismos. Además, hubo una transformación positiva del entorno social donde desempeña las operaciones la empresa del sector agrícola.

Segregação socioespacial em cidades pequenas

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Trajetória teórico-metodológica da geografia agrária brasileira: a produção em periódicos científicos de 1939-2009

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Campesinato e agrohidronegócio canavieiro no Pontal do Paranapanema: os desafios para a transição agroecológica

This paper appears in order to promote a discussion on the use and ways of working with the land. For this, we present a scenario of conflict initiated in Pontal do Parananema, São Paulo, Brazil, between the peasantry and the agrohidronegócio. The Pontal is a territory marked by agrarian and land conflicts, originated by the illegal occupation of land by the squatters, the decimation / expropriation of indigenous, and deforestation and environmental devastation. This conflict is represented today by the sugarcane agro-industrial capital companies on one side, and the other peasants. The expansion occurs agrohidronegócio strongly from 2005, due mainly to the change in the energy matrix of the country and state incentives with strong momentum in the production of flex-fuel vehicles. Rural agrarian reform settlements, made possible by the state under pressure from social movements, are spatialized in 16 municipalities with a total of 112 settlements, occupying an area of 139. 682 hectares, seating 5. 892 families. These families have seen their possibilities of social reproduction increasingly suppressed by the advance of sugarcane agrohidronegócio in the region, which suffocates the living spaces and work of these peasants. Front of it, agroecology is an alternative for these workers to ensure their reproductive possibilities. Agroecology also arises as a means of confronting agribusiness model, adding elements to the environment, such as the eradication of the use of pesticides and considering the dynamics of nature to promote agriculture, and social order, contributing food sovereignty and the production of healthy food and diversity to the population...

L'invention de l'Orthodoxie. Religion et Modernité dans le discours nationaliste roumain du XIX-ème et du XX-ème siècles

Our thesis entitled The Invention of Orthodoxy. Religion and Modernity in Romanian nationalist discourse from the XIXth to the XXth century is intended to be a history of the idea of “Romanianess” which brings together, in a structural as well as in a conceptual dimension, three major themes: Romanian Orthodoxy, Modernity and the Political. Having as premise for the study of the Romanian case the simultaneous genesis of the religious and political communities, from the Middle Ages to Modernity, the purpose of our inquiry is to formulate a theologico-political definition of ‘’Romanian Orthodoxy’’. Thus, within a main theoretical framework that values the contributions of Carl Schmitt, Michel Foucault and Reinhart Koselleck, our analysis of selected texts that go from the 1860’s to the 1940’s tries to answer the question regarding the relationship between Romanian Orthodoxy and Modernity, as well as its reflection upon the political identity and organisation of the Romanian society. Considering the political context of the events that underline our conceptual focus, we consider that the proper answer to our investigation lies within the logic of multiplicity; namely, we refer to a plural Romania which is divided, at the beginning of the XXth century, between Traditionalism and Modernity, between a massive rural, agrarian society and an urban minority elite, striving to single out, in an phenomenological approach, the “Romanian way”. Secondly, we refer to a plural Modernity, which is at the same time social, cultural, religious and political. Thirdly, the logic of multiplicity applies as well in the interpretation of the fractures present within the religious nationalist discourse; namely, the rejection of Orthodoxy during the XIXth century, as it was considered an impediment in Romania’s path to adopting western modernity and later on, starting with the 1930, the restoration of the “Orthodox ethos” as a source of cultural and political values of the Romanian nation.

Weeds and endangered herbs have unforeseen dispersal helpers in the agri-environment: gastropods and earthworms

Agri-environmental schemes involving organic farming or set-aside management aim at promoting biodiversity and restoring ecosystem functioning in agrarian landscapes. Application of pesticides in these crop fields is strongly regulated facilitating the spread of weeds but also allowing for the establishment of endangered herbs and a variety of animals.Recent studies found gastropods and earthworms to be legitimate dispersers of seeds of wild plants. We assumed that both groups also playa significant role in the spread and establishment of wild plants within crop fields. Therefore, we are conducting a series of experiments in three different study systems on (1) the role of earthworms and gastropods as dispersers of rare herbs and weeds in an organic rye field in Germany, (2) the seed feeding behavior of gastropods of plants sown in fallow ground in Switzerland, and (3) weed dispersal in irrigated rice fields by golden apple snails in the Philippines.

Ten Propositions on Rural Poverty and Agrarian Transition in Central Eurasia

The relation between agricultural development and rural poverty reduction in six Central Eurasian countries, namely Azerbaijan (South Caucasus) and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (Central Asia), is discussed by presenting and analyzing ten propositions. These propositions cover a broad range of issues that relate to rural poverty in this region, such as: the state of income and non-income poverty; the diverse processes of land reform and farm restructuring, and agricultural policy reform; and finally, the institutional and market framework that is needed for dynamic agricultural and rural development. The paper contends that rural poverty is not responding as robustly to rapid economic growth in these countries, and that agricultural growth, in particular in the newly emerging peasant farm sector, is necessary to promote rural poverty reduction.

Risk-based modelling of diffuse land use impacts from rural landscapes upon salmonid fry abundance

Research has demonstrated that landscape or watershed scale processes can influence instream aquatic ecosystems, in terms of the impacts of delivery of fine sediment, solutes and organic matter. Testing such impacts upon populations of organisms (i.e. at the catchment scale) has not proven straightforward and differences have emerged in the conclusions reached. This is: (1) partly because different studies have focused upon different scales of enquiry; but also (2) because the emphasis upon upstream land cover has rarely addressed the extent to which such land covers are hydrologically connected, and hence able to deliver diffuse pollution, to the drainage network However, there is a third issue. In order to develop suitable hydrological models, we need to conceptualise the process cascade. To do this, we need to know what matters to the organism being impacted by the hydrological system, such that we can identify which processes need to be modelled. Acquiring such knowledge is not easy, especially for organisms like fish that might occupy very different locations in the river over relatively short periods of time. However, and inevitably, hydrological modellers have started by building up piecemeal the aspects of the problem that we think matter to fish. Herein, we report two developments: (a) for the case of sediment associated diffuse pollution from agriculture, a risk-based modelling framework, SCIMAP, has been developed, which is distinct because it has an explicit focus upon hydrological connectivity; and (b) we use spatially distributed ecological data to infer the processes and the associated process parameters that matter to salmonid fry. We apply the model to spatially distributed salmon and fry data from the River Eden, Cumbria, England. The analysis shows, quite surprisingly, that arable land covers are relatively unimportant as drivers of fry abundance. What matters most is intensive pasture, a land cover that could be associated with a number of stressors on salmonid fry (e.g. pesticides, fine sediment) and which allows us to identify a series of risky field locations, where this land cover is readily connected to the river system by overland flow. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.