CIPEC - 2001 Summer Institute Abstracts

For a billion or more poor people in the developing world, life is highly insecure. Whether they are subsistence agriculturalists, relying on rain fed or irrigated agriculture, or urban-based workers in assembly industries or the informal sector, the basic needs for food, clean water, shelter, and clothing often go unfulfilled. This presentation examines the linkages among population dynamics, human security, and the environment at the household and community levels in the developing world, since this is where the dynamics of change manifest in people's lives. It begins by describing household livelihood strategies and the ways in which they mediate population-environment interactions. It then examines a popular framework, the population- poverty-environment spiral, and some of its theoretical and empirical underpinnings. Finally, it presents alternatives to the "downward spiral" perspective and ends with policy recommendations.

Population-environment linkages are complex; they vary from place to place, and are subject to multiple interpretations. The best understanding of how the linkages play out in any given place is usually found through in-depth research that takes into account the physical environment, the political and economic context, as well as local culture, institutions, population dynamics, and livelihood strategies. Nevertheless, it is possible to say that rapid population growth, like any rapid change, complicates the search for environmentally sustainable development and taxes the ability of often fragile economic, political, and ecological systems to adapt. Successful adaptations can and do occur, but the chances are less likely in contexts of rapid population growth, widespread poverty, and environmental stress.

In 1990, the extractive reserve model was created as a response to the increasing violence in the Brazilian Amazon region, which had been affecting both its forests and traditional peoples. A military government had developed policies in Amazonia that favored 'big projects,' starting large-scale cattle ranching, road-building and mining initiatives. Such policies have threatened the livelihood of traditional rubber tappers and extractivists throughout the region. In response to the plight of Chico Mendes and the National Council of Rubber Tappers, joined with a growing concern for deforestation linked to global environmental change, extractive reserves were created; here, extractivists could ensure their livelihoods, while simultaneously serving as 'protectors of the forests.'

Under the extractive reserve model, collective concessions are granted over the use of land. Land-use rules are created, enforced, and monitored by the local community-based institutions. From their onset, extractive reserves have been questioned for their economic and environmental sustainability. Economists suggest that, historically, extractivism has not been able to alleviate poverty. Furthermore, they argue that the extractive economy will slowly disappear. On the other hand, biologists often criticize the traditional extractivist lifestyle for their predatory impact on biodiversity.

While the debate continues about the economic and environmental sustainability of the extractive reserve system, minor attention has been given to the institutional aspects of the reserve system. This presentation argues that common property theory can provide those interested in the extractive reserve question with a different starting point from which to enter the debate. The presentation is divided into three main components: first, I will argue that the ecological and economic discussions often neglect to address the role of local institutions in predicting future environmental and economic outcomes. Next, I will discuss the pros and cons of the local institutional forms currently operating on the reserves. Lastly, I will explore the potential for incorporating remotely sensed imagery in order to assess implications of individual and institutional land-use decisions on land cover-change.

The "El Nino Southern Oscillation" (ENSO) phenomenon occurs every 4 years or so. The northern coast of Peru is the westernmost coast of South-America. This fact exposes it to direct effects of Equatorial Pacific. Maybe in not other place of the World the destructive effects and socio-economical impacts of this phenomenon are lived in such magnitude as in this region. It is strongly affected by this phenomenon and several historical facts relate have took place in this region. The most comprehensive compilation of El Nino events is anecdotal history by Quinn et al (1987), while extending the list to the early Spanish conquest when written records began.

Almost all human and productive activities are affected by an ENSO event. Many papers have reported the human implications of the ENSOs along the Peruvian north coast. The most common conclusion of these papers is that "the people of the arid northern Peruvian coast are not prepared to cope with sudden meteorological changes and their geomorphic and hydrological consequences". The houses of poor areas are not built to resist any rain at all. The modest adobe houses are easily worn down by rainwater running along the cracks or disintegrate in their foundations where rainwater either collects in ephemeral ponds or flows through unexpected channels. These heavy water runoff cause accidents, dead and destructions. On other hand ENSOs have incidence on people health. Standing water become breeding sites for Malaria mosquito vector and contaminated water become a source of Cholera transmission. In addition the life cost became expensive because the farm and transport activities are broken by the heavy rain and flooding.

An pertinent question is if global change such as the global warming have influence in the ENSO recurrence and its intensity and that the strong ENSO events become more common. If so this region can be one of most sensible and affected to global change. Is this arid region will became in a forest one?. This is a current matter of warning by the government and people. How they can facing this change?

Since 1996, an interdisciplinary research group, including biologists, agronomists and anthropologists, has studied the use of natural resources by the mayas who fought against the white domain (Spaniards and Creoles owners of "haciendas") in XIX century in Quintana Roo, México. The study area is the ejido Xhazil y Anexos, located at 19'13'07" and 19'30'36" N, and 87'52'40" and 88'06'55" W, in the central zone of Quintana Roo, Mexico, and nearby the Sian ka'an Biosphere Reserve.

Currently, the three communities that form the ejido Xhazil y Anexos: Chancah Veracruz, Uh-May, and Xhazil, cover an area of 550 km2, where live 1668 mans, women's and children's. The use of his natural resources is carried out at the different components of the landscape, and is related to social organization as household, affinity groups, the religious –militar hierarchy of Maya Church ––, and formal authorities. We have registered a wide variety of resources including wild flora as well as domesticated plants and animals at different landscape components like mature forest, secondary forest, sabana and inner water bodies like cenotes and water ponds.

Both, wild and domesticated resources have a very important role in maya subsistence and cosmogony, since they are the material and cultural base for the maya people, but the two conspicuous process are: the logging, and the cultivation of the "milpa maya". The main function of formal authorities is related with logging, the principal economic activity. In contrast, maya organization legitimates the subsistence activities: slash and burn agriculture, hunting, gathering and fishing.

The daily use of these resources has become the maya production system in Quintana Roo, but to understand the complexity of this production system is the first task towards the use and conservation of natural resources.

Deforestation and forest impoverishment in the moist tropics create heterogeneous landscapes composed of primary forests, logged forests, agricultural fields, pastures and secondary forests. One of the greatest challenges met by researchers in the Amazon is to understand the manner in which such changes in pattern of land use and occupation are acting on biological, climatic, biogeochemical and hydrological functions. The Bragantina region (in Pará, Brazil) has been subjected to slash and burn agriculture for almost one century, as it is one of the oldest farming frontiers of the Amazon, and may represent the future of other regions having similar histories. It is the only region allowing for a long term realistic inference of what is likely to follow the process of intensive fragmentation of Amazonian forests. A team of researchers from the Museu Emílio Göeldi (MPEG) and the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) has been conducting researches in this region, mainly on flora and fauna, for over 10 years. The aim of studying the influence of forest fragmentation in vitality of agricultural landscapes of eastern Amazon is to understand the fragmentation process and to suggest means of landscape management.

The presentation is based on a study conducted for preparation of the report "State of the Environment – Nepal 2001". The study was carried out by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Population and Environment with the financial assistance from the United Nations Environment Program, Environment Assessment Program for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP/EAP-AP). The study identified five key national environmental issues – (i) Forest Depletion, (ii) Soil Degradation, (iii) Solid Waste Management, (iv) Water Quality, and (v) Air Pollution. Each of these issues were studied with P-S-I-R (Pressure – State –Impact – Response) analytical framework based on the available data from secondary sources. The study clearly indicated that the environmental conditions in these five key issues are deteriorating despite several policy measures undertaken by the government. The rapid and uncontrolled growth of population and poor management of the available resources are identified as the major reasons, which are further supplemented by lack of public awareness, inadequacy of capital and a big gap in environmental database.

The Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) program aims to reconcile the twin challenges of continuing deforestation in the humid tropics and the persistent rural poverty found in forest margins. Researchers study sites in Indonesia, Cameroon and Brazil, Thailand, Peru and the Philippines, using common research protocols at each site. This enables cross-discipline and cross-site comparisons and analysis. At each site, a series of land use systems were analyzed along an "intensification" gradient from forest (low intensity) to monoculture crops or degraded land (high intensity). The ASB consortium evaluated each land use system according to a set of environmental, agronomic and socio-economic criteria, so as to encompass all aspects of sustainability. "Best-bet" systems were those which satisfied multiple criteria simultaneously. In order to have a greater impact on policy affecting land use, ASB needs to "scale-up" its findings to broader landscape levels such as communities or watersheds. However, certain aspects of the data collection protocols need to be re-designed and the analytical framework revisited. Then one can assess how resilient the indicators of social and environmental response are across time and space.

Ecuador is a small country. Due to its geographical position, topography and other natural factors, Ecuador has a large variety of climates, types of soils, vegetation and wild fauna. Its situation has resulted in a diversity of agro-socioeconomic regions and sub regions, each one thoroughly different from the other. The microclimates and soil variability lead to a diversification on crops, animal rising as well as the adaptation of thousands of vascular plants, among trees, shrubs which are part of the culture of each eco-region. It is important to point out that biodiversity is being affected by inappropriate land use and the inadequate management of renewable natural resources. This is reflected upon decreasing woodland areas, less natural vegetation and soil erosion. The adequate interpretation of social, cultural, land and climate conditions will help in the implementation of policies for the sustainable use of natural resources.

Conservation planners have long debated about whether to focus efforts on the needs of local people or on more traditional strategies of park management. Initiatives that envision the union of conservation and local development as a means to sustainable resource use have been accused both of being ineffective and of ignoring larger political and economic influences on local behaviors. Critics of the park management approach, which focuses on international conservation goals, accuse it of ignoring local resource needs and the impact that these people can have on protected areas. An approach that moves beyond this dichotomy, focusing on an intermediate level of analysis, suggests a fruitful way of mediating local and global concerns. The point of departure for this regional approach is not a single bounded protected area, but rather an ecological problem that may affect a broad landscape and even link rural and urban areas. In particular, it considers the relationship between protected areas and the regional patterns of resource use and regulation. With similar intellectual roots as the perspective of political ecology, the regional approach has the potential to negotiate between global and local imperatives, and to provide the framework for effective intervention.

Northern Madagascar provides a site for exploring the possibilities of such a regional approach. This analysis is particularly timely, since the second phase of the national Environmental Plan formally embraced the regional, or landscape ecology, model in 1997 (Gezon, 1997, 2000). I argue that this shift in conservation focus is fitting in the Mt. d'Ambre region of northern Madagascar. There, conservation strategies will benefit from expanding their focus beyond the narrow geographic range of both of the above approaches (conservation and development, and park management). An appropriate plan will take as its point of departure the regional problems of forest degradation related to charcoal production and construction wood extraction. With this problem-oriented approach, two things become apparent. First, effectively protecting parks depends on knowledge of the regional demand for forest products and the sources for them. This involves research into urban--and sometimes international-arenas as well as local rural ones. Second, establishing sustainable resource practices, capable for example of meeting urban demand in the long term, depends not only on protecting parks, but also on attention given to other sources of forest products, some of which come from less-well protected forests that are currently being over-exploited.

In this presentation, I will begin by placing the regional perspective within the context of western conservation efforts, particularly as they pertain to Madagascar. I then consider the regional conservation challenge of northern Madagascar, considering histories of land use in that area. I conclude by noting the ways that the techniques to be taught in the Institute (i.e. remote sensing, survey techniques, understanding of institutional factors, etc.) will enhance an understanding of these issues. My goal during the institute will be to formulate an appropriate research design for investigating these problems.

The Western Ghats of India, a chain of mountains spanned over 54,000 sq. kms is one of the Biodiversity Hot spots in the World. It is also known for its affiliation with the flora of south east asian forests. I present an outline of ongoing work to understand the plant diversity across various management regimes in two taluks in the central part of the Western Ghats in the Karnataka State.

I have asked questions with respect to different management regimes to understand the link between management and the existing woody flora. I have concerned following management regimes (MRs) –

MR –1 : People protected forests – Sacred groves (SGs) are considered as representative forests of this MR. SGs are the forest patches protected by local people in the name of local deity al over India. These patches are known for protection to near natural vegetation. But the SGs are facing threats due to various reasons ultimately depleting the vegetation. The questions asked are –

a) What kinds of management practices are associated with SGs owned by various stakeholders like individual family, local community, government, etc.
b) What is the role of rituals?
c) How unique these SGs are in terms of their flora?

MR – 2: Jointly managed forests – Current system of Joint Forest Management is assessed and compared with the historic system of joint management in terms of approach and conservation of evergreen species, levels of disturbances and potential of economically valuable non-timber forest produces.

MR – 3: State owned forests – The different management categories of forests owned by the state like Reserved Forest, State Forest, Minor Forest, etc. are assessed for the management prescriptions, species diversity, levels of disturbances.

Rural southwestern Kansas has received attention as a part of a project oriented toward gaining greater understanding of the interrelationship between human activities and attitudes, and global climate change. The greenhouse gas emissions in this area are largely tied to important rural land uses (Goodin et al. 1998). Greenhouse gas emissions in southwestern Kansas originate with four major sources, electricity generation, feedlot operation, natural gas extraction and transmission, and transportation. In 1998-99, the attitudes of decision makers in the major greenhouse gas emitting industries in a six-county study area in southwestern Kansas were investigated, along with the general public, to determine their attitudes toward climate change ideas and actions that might be taken to reduce emissions (Harrington 2001). This study included both mailed questionnaire and unstructured interview techniques, with quantitative and qualitative components. The information obtained from one method tended to corroborate data obtained from the other. Attitudes vary greatly in this rural area, both among the general public and representatives of local economic activities.

Some actions that can reduce emissions have been taken, though generally for economic purposes. In this area, most respondents in the best positions to take mitigative actions were unconvinced of human-induced climate change. In this region, it would appear that better communication of 'proof' of human climate impacts, as well as mitigative opportunities and economic co-benefits, would be a necessary part of encouraging industries to take action.

References Goodin, DG, JA Harrington, Jr, GI Holden, Jr, and BD Witcher. 1998. Local greenhouse gas emissions in southwestern Kansas. Great Plains Research 8:231-253. Harrington, LMB. 2001. Attitudes toward climate change: major emitters in southwestern Kansas. Climate Research 16:113-122.

The South American biome most transformed during the past thirty years is the Brazilian savanna, the Cerrado. Since the late 1960s, the rapidly expanding agricultural frontier has enveloped more than 50% (or 1,000,000 km2) of this species-rich environment, almost double the humid tropical deforestation estimated for the Brazilian Amazon. The conventional wisdom – that "modern agriculture" has caused Cerrado destruction? uncritically accepts the overgeneralized models of frontier development and neglects how rural institutions have specifically transformed the land-use and land-cover change. To counter this approach, I will examine how private colonization in eastern Mato Grosso initiated frontier land occupation in the Cerrado. I have chosen to focus upon land managers and endogenous rural institutions, transaction and information costs to reconsider the Cerrado agrarian development. This approach offers a more precise analysis into how private colonization, institutional-contractual arrangements, and agricultural research contribute to land occupation and farming strategies that continue to push the agricultural frontier further into the Cerrado. Central to my analysis is an examination of land conversion at the landscape scale and property level to describe patterns, intensity and composition of farm activities to further consider how agricultural strategies and land use may be associated with specific patterns of savanna conversion.

My research examined the influence of human settlement, population growth and the practice of shifting cultivation on the forest resource of the Pemón indigenous people of the Gran Sabana in southeastern Venezuela. Field work was conducted over a period of 14 months and provides a wide array of original and secondary data on local land use, population size, density and settlement patterns, environmental perceptions and the characteristics of soils, forests, agricultural fields, secondary vegetation and nearby savanna.

The practice of shifting cultivation (including crop inventory, field size, location, slope, surrounding vegetation and other site characteristics) and the impacts of agricultural use on the forest is contrasted between two study communities, one large community integrated into the regional economy and non-indigenous culture (Kavanayen), the other a more remote and more traditional community (Monte Bello).

Results indicate that the traditional agricultural practices of the once migratory Pemón -- under conditions of permanent settlement, rapid population growth and market integration -- are resulting in the steady replacement of forest with savanna. The concentration of agriculture within local forest fragments fosters specific biophysical conditions (i.e., clustering of fields, proximity to combustible savanna vegetation) that increases the risk of fires during the fallow period which appear to trigger the deflection of secondary forest succession to savanna.

While the Pemón are aware of their impact on the physical environment and the reduction of their primary resource, they face significant constraints on modifying agricultural practices.

Although the potential of indigenous knowledge in rural development has been recognized, methods of gathering and utilizing effectively still being developed and tested. This paper focuses on various methods used in gathering indigenous knowledge. The methods are;
i) a household survey to gather socio-economic data,
ii) semi-structured interviews with key informants to gather detailed information,
iii) tree inventory to collect quantitative data on the ecological status of trees and shrubs
iv) group consensus method to counter check information elicited from key informants.
Pros and cons of various methods are discussed.

Our understanding of property-rights regimes -- their form, function, and normative characteristics -- has matured in recent decades through the work of new institutional economists and common-property theorists (Bromley 1991; Feeny et al. 1998; North 1986, 1990; Ostrom 1990). Even so, the literature has yet to establish a clear connection between successful resource management, to a given property regime's sociospatial fit and temporal complementarity. In part, this void is accentuated by the absence of a well-grounded disciplinary theory that specifies and explains the conditions promoting institutional efficacy in resource management. Through examination of tropical forest use in India, this paper argues that property regime effectiveness hinges on appropriately reflecting particular sociospatial contexts and incorporating temporal flexibility into its normative structure. Central to this perspective is the concern with striking a balance between property regime design, and, embeddedness; wherein embeddedness, following Granovetter (1985), refers to contextualizing regimes such that they reflect larger social structures and pay attention to the relational links of involved social actors. This paper explores conditions that promote property regime effectiveness in resource management by looking at a long-standing state-managed regime which established the mode for people-forest interaction in Raigad district of India's Western Ghats. Combining a historical analysis of the state's role in forest management and property regime formation, with the study of local farmer and forester explanations for resource misuse, this paper identifies conditions under which regimes, and the institutions they represent, make effective resource managers.

Over the last five decades, the mountain communities of Nepal have witnessed remarkable land-use and land cover changes, specifically conversion and modification of structure and species composition of forests. These changes have serious implications on the livelihoods of the smallholders, leading to adverse impact such as land stress, long-term pressure of land scarcity, and poor performance of mountain agriculture despite cropped land intensification and livestock overstocking. Moreover, the changes in a fragile environment like in the mountains of Nepal involve serious environmental concerns, and several other socio-economic and political relationships, not only because the region has high-altitude and high-energy environments, but also because there are great physical and cultural diversity that are combined with the issues of social differences, complex institutional arrangements, and geopolitics.

Analyzing some of the competing perspectives focused on the interfacing of poverty, vulnerability, land-use change, and fragility of mountain environment in Nepal, I have realized that land stress is the prime concern in the region, which can be considered as a synergistic effect of sustained poverty, increasing population pressure, and changes in the rules of resource allocation. However, at the micro-level, both the issues of land-use and land-cover changes and their driving forces are found to be more complex than what are perceived at the meso-level, the regional scale. The issues related to institutional arrangements of resources allocation, mainly forests, shrub lands, and cropped lands, appear to be mediating other driving forces, such as population and technological change. This strongly suggests more careful examinations of the patterns of land-use and land-cover change with sensitivity toward the micro-climatic variations and the behavior and practices of people at both community and household levels governed by different property rights regimes. The application of ethnographic and other "ground truthing" techniques in that is essential to analyze the driving forces of the changes acting at different scales of the analysis (i.e., local, landscape, and regional). The integration of ethnographic knowledge and other human-ecological questions with GIS and remote sensing techniques is the ideal combination to improve the understanding of human dimensions of land-use and land-cover change, despite the fact that the application part will be more challenging in this type of mountain environment.

A conservation corridor is a strategy that is devoted to restoring ecosystem processes by developing connections between protected lands; thereby, stifling deleterious effects of habitat fragmentation. Empirical research has been conducted to support the corridor strategy and the precepts of landscape connectivity and linkages as an effective means of habitat conservation. The attributes of connectivity, and its counterpart fragmentation, are of great interest for studies regarding corridors. Connectivity and degrees of connectivity are factors that are drawn upon and quantified to describe the integrity of a corridor. If there is a high degree of connectivity throughout a corridor it can be assumed that the function of acting as a conduit is an important element. Connectivity relates to the number of nodes and linkages in the corridor. Nodes serve as gateways for linkages with other corridors and can be measured to provide an assessment of spatial extent and connectedness of a corridor. In many studies, the measure of connectivity is with regards to a specific habitat and the organism that occupies that habitat. Frequently, the human dimension is not examined. In the Talamanca Caribbean Biological Corridor, the organizations involved and the local activities, are what constitute the connectivity within a corridor. Local organizations and associations have formed networks of communication throughout the extent of the corridor and work together to carry out community based development. Reforestation efforts, organic cacao certification land titling, and environmental education are all activities associated with the corridor. The land use practices associated with this corridor project contribute to changes in land cover and social organization.

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2001 Summer Institute Participants Abstracts and Contact Information

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