Non-timber forest product dependence among the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Jah Hut</Emphasis> subgroup of Peninsular Malaysia’s Orang Asli

Non-timber forest products (NTFP) represent key sources of cash and subsistence income for millions of rural and indigenous peoples living in tropical developing countries throughout the world. The current study investigates the use and significance of NTFP within a sample of Peninsular Malaysia’s Orang Asli (indigenous people). Data collected via household surveys across three sampling phases reveals that more than 75% of the population is actively engaged in NTFP collection. Household responses indicate diversity in both the types and uses of products collected. NTFP collection participation, frequency of collection, and collection reliance are found to be significantly negatively related to village proximity to the market, as well as to income level relative to the Malaysian poverty line. When collection variables are examined by different product categories, relationships with market access and income group are variable. Implications for different approaches to forest conservation and rural development are discussed.     

Heading for the hills: climate-driven community relocations in the Solomon Islands and Alaska provide insight for a 1.5 °C future

Whilst future air temperature thresholds have become the centrepiece of international climate negotiations, even the most ambitious target of 1.5 °C will result in significant sea-level rise and associated impacts on human populations globally. Of additional concern in Arctic regions is declining sea ice and warming permafrost which can increasingly expose coastal areas to erosion particularly through exposure to wave action due to storm activity. Regional variability over the past two decades provides insight into the coastal and human responses to anticipated future rates of sea-level rise under 1.5 °C scenarios. Exceeding 1.5 °C will generate sea-level rise scenarios beyond that currently experienced and substantially increase the proportion of the global population impacted. Despite these dire challenges, there has been limited analysis of how, where and why communities will relocate inland in response. Here, we present case studies of local responses to coastal erosion driven by sea-level rise and warming in remote indigenous communities of the Solomon Islands and Alaska, USA, respectively. In both the Solomon Islands and the USA, there is no national government agency that has the organisational and technical capacity and resources to facilitate a community-wide relocation. In the Solomon Islands, communities have been able to draw on flexible land tenure regimes to rapidly adapt to coastal erosion through relocations. These relocations have led to ad hoc fragmentation of communities into smaller hamlets. Government-supported relocation initiatives in both countries have been less successful in the short term due to limitations of land tenure, lacking relocation governance framework, financial support and complex planning processes. These experiences from the Solomon Islands and USA demonstrate the urgent need to create a relocation governance framework that protects people’s human rights.     

Monitoring and guiding development in rural Egypt: local sustainable development indicators and local Human Development Indices

This paper puts forward sustainable development indicators and an index appropriate for monitoring and guiding development planning in the villages of rural Egypt, as an improvement on the current approach which is informed by locally calculated Human Development Indices (HDI). This has two principal weaknesses. Firstly many of the issues of importance to villagers are not covered by the economic and social scope of the HDI. Secondly the HDI, along with international sustainable development indicator sets, fails to identify problems which are of importance in specific national or sub-national contexts. We have therefore worked from a simplified but holistic model of the socio-economic-environmental system of a rural Egyptian village, informed by the outputs of a participatory planning process. An indicator set based on a one-to-one correspondence between system components and indicators was created. This comprehensive set is detailed but consequently rather unwieldy, and a core set is selected and compared with the HDI indicators for a sample of villages to demonstrate the impact of considering environmental and institutional factors on establishing priority areas for government intervention. We conclude that a combination of a locally relevant index and an easily comprehended diagrammatic approach to presenting a small indicator set offers advantages to decision makers in comparison to local application of the HDI.     

Poverty alleviation as a pathway to sustainable forest management

In a major deviation from conventional joint forest management approaches where the emphasis of management is on provision of forest products to the participating villagers, the Tamil Nadu Afforestation Project (TAP) focused on poverty alleviation as the principal means to achieve sustainable forest management. This study assesses the effectiveness of TAP’s strategy in improving the ecology and socio-economic conditions of forest fringe villages using a diverse set of research methods. Results indicate that in a span of four to seven years, there was significant increase in forest cover, biodiversity, and agricultural productivity. The project villages have also shown considerable progress in various indicators of socio-economic development. The authors, however, suggest continued poverty alleviation and promotion of alternative livelihood opportunities to place the programme on a stable ground. Meeting the development needs of local villagers through strong and durable institutional linkages is also suggested for the programme to sustain and succeed.     

村镇路网通达性与空间出行研究——以武汉市李集镇为例

道路网络是乡村地区社会经济发展的基础。综合道路网络分析和通达性分析方法,构建路网密度、公路可达性、接近中心性、直达性等指标研究了武汉市李集镇村镇范围内各行政村路网通达性空间格局,并结合农户调查将路网通达性与村民空间出行进行关联分析。结果表明：（1）境内部分行政村道路密度低、断头路较多,导致局部地区通达性较差;（2）受地理区位和公路覆盖两方面因素影响,境内行政村接近中心性呈现出明显的核心-边缘分布模式;（3）高等级道路覆盖不足,未能形成完善的路网体系,极大限制村民的对外出行效率、出行范围,显著影响居民出行满意度,并阻碍地区农业机械化推广和农业产业规模化发展。最后,结合路网通达性特征和居民出行需求,提出李集镇道路网络整治建议,研究结果对完善农村地区道路体系研究、指导新农村建设有一定意义。     

The effectiveness of village bylaws in sustainable management of community-managed exclosures in Northern Ethiopia

Communities in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, have established exclosures on formerly degraded grazing lands and other land uses to promote natural regeneration of plants. Village bylaws devised by communities govern the management of exclosures. We analysed the effectiveness of village bylaws that are used to manage exclosures in addressing forest degradation, resolving conflicts among users over natural resource use, and meeting high expectations of users to realise economic benefits from exclosures through enhancing revenue from sale of grass and dry wood. We collected data using qualitative methods during July and November 2008 in two villages of Tigray. The village bylaws mitigated forest degradation by facilitating users to have common goals in the management of exclosures, and resolved conflicts among users by using monetary sanctions including penalties. The village bylaws were not effective in meeting the high expectations of users to realise economic benefits from exclosures. In some cases, the enforcement of village bylaws was constrained by high social capital, which resulted in the negligence among users in exposing free riders. This indicates that high social capital does not always enhance communal resource management. Moreover, recurrent drought, shortage of fuel wood, and the growing number of landless youths in both villages constrained the effectiveness of village bylaws and further expansion of exclosures. Village committees should focus on addressing the low level of rule enforcement and minimise negligence among users of exclosures through developing a sense of responsibility among users rather than focusing on penalties.     

压煤村庄搬迁对农业生产的影响——以兖州市为例

我国的煤炭资源开采大部分都是采取井下开采的方式,该种开采方式在进行过程中容易引起覆岩层的原始平衡状态遭受破坏,同时伴随冒落、断裂或者弯曲等移动变形的情况出现,并最终涉及地表。到目前为止,由采矿引起的地面塌陷和地表开裂,已经导致了大量建筑物被破坏,给农民的生产生活带来了极大的不便,对农业生产的发展造成了极大的阻扰,减少了耕地,形成了社会的不稳定因素,严重影响地区的社会的发展与稳定。压煤村庄搬迁能改善矿区居民的生活环境和基础设施建设,加快小城镇建设和城乡一体化发展的进程,但是由于村庄搬迁引起的耕作半径增加,改变了从居住区到田地的距离,引起机械化程度、耕种方式和农业劳动力需求等变化,从而将在一定程度上影响本地区的社会稳定性,也会增加整个社会的就业压力。山东省是重要的产煤发展基地,村庄搬迁后远离耕地,为农民的往返与出入带来了不便。本文以兖州市已搬迁的八个村庄为研究对象,采取调查问卷的形式进行了实地调研,并将调查后的数据进行了分类统计与回归分析,运用SPSS软件进行Logit模型回归分析,最终确定主要生活来源和田间道路修建两个因子与农民从事农业生产的意愿存在密切的相关性,交通工具的变更与大型机械的配备对其也有较大的影响作用,研究结果可为该政府相关部门制定村庄搬迁和农业生产有着重要的理论指导意义。     

农户参与村域生态治理行为分析 ——基于认同、人际与制度三维视角

利用湖北省603份农户微观调研数据,通过纳入农村熟人社会情境因素,构建人际信任、制度信任和群体认同的三维分析框架,探讨农户参与村域生态治理的行为逻辑和影响因素。研究结果表明：（1）人际信任、制度信任和群体认同均对农户村域生态治理参与行为有显著的正向影响。（2）人际信任在群体认同和农户村域生态治理参与行为之间起着中介作用;同时,群体认同在制度信任和农户村域生态治理参与行为间起着负向的调节作用。（3）在纳入群体认同的情况下,农户的人际信任和制度信任对其村域生态治理参与行为起着相反的作用,即人际信任和制度信任之间可能存在一种“替代”关系。基于此,通过营造一种互惠互利的社会风尚,让生态治理政策的内容和村集体行动更能够契合广大农户的意愿及体现村民的意志,可以提高农户村域生态治理的参与度。     

Arsenicosis status and urinary malondialdehyde (MDA) in people exposed to arsenic contaminated-coal in China

The current arsenic exposure condition, arsenicosis prevalence, urinary arsenic and MDA (malondialdehyde) concentrations in people were studied. The study area, a village in Xing Ren County in Guizhou Province, PR China, is a coal-borne arsenicosis endemic area that was identified several decades ago. The residents in Xing Ren have been using coal containing high arsenic levels all their life. Urinary arsenic levels of villagers were 192.2+/-22 microg/g creatinine (n=113) in the coal-borne endemic area (Xing Ren county) and were significantly higher than 63.6+/-5.9 microg/g creatinine (n=30) in a neighbouring control site (a village in Xing Yi county). The urinary MDA concentrations of villagers from the endemic area were also significantly higher compared to those of the control area. There was a strong correlation between age and urinary arsenic and MDA concentrations in the endemic area of Xing Ren; urinary arsenic and MDA levels decreased with age. Fifty out of 113 (44.3%) villagers in the endemic area had arsenicosis symptoms and the prevalence in villagers older than 40 y was 100% in male (92.2% overall). Urinary MDA concentration was significantly higher in people with arsenicosis symptoms in the endemic areas. Oxidative stress (urinary MDA concentration) was strongly related to arsenic exposure but not to the age and smoking habit. Higher urinary arsenic and MDA levels in younger villagers from the endemic area suggest that they are having a higher exposure to coal-borne emitted arsenic because they spend more time indoor. There is an urgent need to develop proper intervention methods in the Guizhou endemic areas in order to reduce the risk to the local communities who are still using arsenic contaminated-coal.     

Indigenous Knowledge of Natural Resource Management and Population Control for Dong Ethnic Group in Guizhou Province

Dong ethnic people have rich indigenous knowledge in terms of their daily life and production, which plays an important role in the sustainable development of their village. This paper aims to understand traditional knowledge of Dong ethnic people in resource management and population control, including traditional resource management, traditional medicinal knowledge and village regulations in Zhanli Village in Southeast Guizhou Province. The research methods include key informant interview, group discussio...     

A perspective on community and state interests in small-scale mining in India including the role of women

To achieve 8% growth of the Indian economy, the industrial sector must grow at 10% rate. The vision statements of various core sectors of the country show that the mining sector will have to expand greatly. India is among the top ten mineral producing nations in the world and the Indian mining industry indicates almost the full range of extractive mineral products. Small-scale mining is quite prevalent in India. Such mines constitute about 90% of total number of mines, 42% of the total non-fuel minerals and metals, 5% of the fuel minerals. Some 3,000 small-scale mines account for a work force of about 0.5 million people. Yet this sector is a neglected sector in Indian economy and still considered as an unorganized sector. This article examines the community and state interests in small-scale mining and the contribution of small-scale mines to employment, national mineral production, practices, and Indian policy on small-scale mining. It identifies drawbacks in the existing Government policy and discusses a possible role for the Government to upgrade the sector. This paper highlights the impacts of mining on women community, the socioeconomic characteristics of women as miners and on the productive roles that women play in mining. It also discusses how the pursuit of sustainable livelihoods, poverty alleviation, indigenous peoples right and gender equity in artesianal and small-scale mining be more effective when these communities are disadvantaged or neglected by government policies. The respective roles of the indigenous people and migrant workers in the social organization of ASM sectors in different parts of the country are discussed. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

All that glitters is not gold: the effect of top-down participation on conservation knowledge,attitudes and institutional trust in a Central Indian tiger reserve

Researchers and policymakers emphasize that people’s involvement in forest management can secure their support of conservation initiatives. However, the evidence on the effectiveness of top-down participation is weak. This study uses cross-sectional household data from 16 villages in the buffer zone of Pench Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh) in India to contribute to the evidence base of such assumption. Using a propensity score matching to control for observable bias, we evaluate the effects of two state-driven incentive-based participatory projects, i.e. the Joint Forest Management and Ecodevelopment, on selected social outcomes. Specifically, we measured local people conservation knowledge, biodiversity attitudes as well as trust in and satisfaction with the tiger reserve management authorities. We found that the effects of participatory management on conservation knowledge were positive, but negligible. We found no significant effects on local people’s biodiversity attitudes, trust and satisfaction with the tiger reserve management authorities. Top-down and externally induced participation may explain our results. Our findings clearly indicate that the effectiveness of participatory conservation interventions is conditional on the level and nature of local participation. Top-down participatory projects may not be sufficient to generate local support of conservation and in some cases, they may even exacerbate local conflicts.     

Forest income and dependency in lowland Bolivia

Forests contribute to livelihoods of rural people throughout the tropics. This paper adds to the emerging body of quantitative knowledge on absolute and relative economic importance, through both cash and subsistence income, of moist forests to households. Qualitative contextual information was collected in six villages in lowland Bolivia, followed by a structured survey of randomly selected households (n = 118) that included four quarterly income surveys. We employed a novel data collection approach that allows detailed estimation of total household accounts, including sources of forest income. We estimated the average forest income share of total annual household income (forest dependency) at 20%, ranging from 18 to 24%. Adding environmental income increased the average to 26%, being fairly constant across income quartiles at 24–28%. Absolute levels of forest income increased with total household income, while forest dependency was the highest in the best-off income quartile—the primary harvesters of forest products are better-off households. The pattern of high forest dependency among better-off households has also been reported from other countries, indicating that this pattern may be more common than advocated by conventional wisdom. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions, we found significant determinants of absolute forest income to be household size, sex of household head and area of cultivated land; the significant determinants for forest dependency were level of education, whether household head was born in village and whether household was food self-sufficient. Better-off households were able to realise cash income from forests, while poorer households—in particular if headed by women—were more reliant on subsistence forest income. We argue that the differential patterns of forest income across income quartiles should be considered in future development interventions and that findings indicate a potential for forests to contribute to moving households out of poverty.     

Human–carnivore conflict: ecological and economical sustainability of predation on livestock by snow leopard and other carnivores in the Himalaya

Human communities in the Trans-Himalayan region depend on the dynamics of the agro-pastoral system for survival. Humans, livestock and wild predators share common resources in the region, and this leads to human–wildlife interactions that have the potential to threaten the continued viability of this fragile ecosystem and impact the local economy. This study explored the interaction between livestock and predators in the upper Mustang region of Nepal in terms of economic and ecological impacts. A total of 1,347 km² of pasture land were grazed by 30,217 livestock belonging to local people from six village development committees. It was found that the seasonal movement patterns of livestock, from higher to lower elevations (closer to villages), coincided with elevation movements of wild ungulate prey and snow leopards into this smaller land area. The number of livestock reported to have been killed by predators during the study period was 706, 75 % of which was attributed to snow leopards. An estimated US$ 44,213 was lost between October 2009 and June 2011 due to livestock predation. These losses of livestock to snow leopards and other carnivores provoked retaliatory killings by villagers, and this in turn may significantly affect the viability of predator populations in this region. We suggest four approaches to mitigate human–carnivore conflict in the region: (a) introduce a livestock insurance policy, (b) promote the use of predator-proof livestock corrals and sheds, (c) involve local people in alternative income generating activities, and (d) increase conservation education in these regions.     

“You spoil everything!” Indigenous peoples and the consequences of industrial development in British Columbia

This article discusses the perspectives of two First Nations of Canada, northeastern British Columbia’s West Moberly First Nations, Halfway River First Nation, and Treaty 8 Tribal Council, regarding the impacts of industrial resource extraction in lands critical to their traditional cultures and subsistence activities. This collaborative project interviewed First Nation government officials and staff as well as community members and Elders, which created a complex picture of physical impacts of industrial development as well as psychological and cultural concerns. In addition, we briefly explore the impacts of First Nations being required to constantly participate in consultative processes, such as environmental assessment, designed to predict potential impacts. We conclude that recognizing and meaningfully addressing all types of impacts that First Nations experience is critical, both for ensuring environmental justice for indigenous peoples and for recognizing that some land and resources must remain for indigenous peoples to continue to practice their traditional culture. We note, as well, that if there is no room amidst industrial resource extraction activities for indigenous peoples, there is also no room for other environmentally critical values such as healthy ecosystems.     

怒江云南北段的村域土地利用及驱动力分析

驱动力分析是土地利用研究的重要内容。选择怒江流域北段高黎贡山自然保护区周边4个自然村为研究对象,应用高分辨率SPOT 5遥感影像数据,结合实地逐块核实,对土地利用/覆被进行分类,并建立土地利用类型分类系统,用Fragstats 33分析得到村域土地利用格局和特征;同时,采用入户调查、半结构访谈和问卷调查等方法,获得的村域详细社会经济数据,建立土地利用与社会经济之间的关联,分析村域土地利用的驱动力。结果显示：村域土地利用主要受自然条件、受教育程度、生活习俗等因子的驱动,且经济收入主要依赖于粗放的土地利用。研究结果能为怒江云南北段的土地资源合理利用和村域经济发展提供数据支持;研究方法可作为局域尺度土地利用研究的参考     

Writing about Everyday Beauty: Anthropomorphizing and Distancing as Literary Practices

In this paper two ways to communicate a relation to one's everyday life environment are discussed: anthropomorphizing and distancing. Both are often thought to convey hierarchically anthropocentric relations to nature and as such to be undesired. The basis of this paper is empirical research conducted in a small northern Finnish village. Four villagers participated in writing letters about beauty in their everyday lives. In this paper the letters of two participants are discussed in detail. I conclude that anthropomorphism and distancing serve as literary practices of negotiating a meaningful relation to one's everyday life environment by conceptually framing the interplay of one's perceived proximity to and distance from the not-her.     

Dynamics and determinants of land change in India: integrating satellite data with village socioeconomics

We examine the dynamics and spatial determinants of land change in India by integrating decadal land cover maps (1985–1995–2005) from a wall-to-wall analysis of Landsat images with spatiotemporal socioeconomic database for ~630,000 villages in India. We reinforce our results through collective evidence from synthesis of 102 case studies that incorporate field knowledge of the causes of land change in India. We focus on cropland–fallow land conversions, and forest area changes (excludes non-forest tree categories including commercial plantations). We show that cropland to fallow conversions are prominently associated with lack of irrigation and capital, male agricultural labor shortage, and fragmentation of land holdings. We find gross forest loss is substantial and increased from ~23,810 km² (1985–1995) to ~25,770 km² (1995–2005). The gross forest gain also increased from ~6000 km² (1985–1995) to ~7440 km² (1995–2005). Overall, India experienced a net decline in forest by ~18,000 km² (gross loss–gross gain) consistently during both decades. We show that the major source of forest loss was cropland expansion in areas of low cropland productivity (due to soil degradation and lack of irrigation), followed by industrial development and mining/quarrying activities, and excessive economic dependence of villages on forest resources.

     

Fuelwood consumption in two tribal villages of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve of the Indian Himalaya and strategies for fuelwood sustainability

Fuelwood is the only important source of energy in the mountainous region of the Garhwal Himalaya, India. Since the commercial source of energy is generally beyond the reach of ordinary people due to their poor socio-economic conditions and due to limited supply and lack of communication facilities for transport of LPG, the villages of the inner region of the Garhwal Himalaya depend on their fuel requirement from the forest. In the present study, two villages of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in Uttarakhand part of the Indian Himalaya i.e. Lata and Dunagiri located at 2,415 and 3,600 m altitudes, respectively, were selected for the study of socio-economic profile and vegetation and for estimation of per capita fuelwood consumption and the degree of disturbance. The study was conducted from 2002–2005. The population of these villages is migratory and belongs to the Bhotiya community, a scheduled tribe consisting of two subgroups known as Tolcha and Marchha. They grow traditional crops as well as cash crops. Important tree species used for fuelwood include Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Cupressus torulosa, Taxus wallichiana, Acer indicum, Quercus dilatata and Viburnum cotinifolium. Maximum density among trees was shown by Pinus wallichiana (169.6 trees ha⁻¹) in village Lata and by Cedrus deodara (89.6 trees ha⁻¹) in village Dunagiri. The average per capita consumption of fuelwood in villages Lata and Dunagiri was 4.03 and 4.77 kg capita⁻¹ day⁻¹. Maximum number of trees (29 and 31% lopping for Lata and Dunagiri, respectively) belonged to disturbance class 1 (1–20% lopping) followed by the disturbance class 2 (20–40% lopping). Due to location of these villages in the buffer zone of the biosphere reserve, the fuelwood consumption may cause an adverse impact on the ecological status of this reserve, which urgently requires employing strategies for the conservation and management of this biosphere in terms of fuelwood sustainability e.g. regulation of livestock stock and grazing, using alternative sources of fuels, plantation of multipurpose trees and adoption of ecotourism.     

Assessment of indoor radiation level in the environs of the uranium deposit area of West Khasi Hills District,Meghalaya, India

An estimation of the indoor background radiation dose distribution was carried out in dwellings of eleven villages located within and around the uranium mineralization area of Kylleng-Pyndensohiong, Mawthabah in West Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya, India. The ambient indoor gamma radiation level was monitored using Thermo Luminescence Dosimeters (TLDs) while the indoor radon and thoron concentration was measured using twin-cup dosimeters employing Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTDs). Results obtained from the study reveals that the local inhabitants of villages located close to the mining site receive higher doses than those inhabitants of villages located at a much farther distance from the mining site. The average total annual effective dose was found to be varying from 1.2 mSv y⁻¹ in the village of Langpa to 3.4 mSv y⁻¹ in the village of Nongbah Jynrin. The data obtained will serve as a reference in documenting changes to environmental radioactivity if mining is to be carried out in the future.