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Climate variability and climate change have become important research topics also in economics. The objective of this thesis is not to forecast the future but to learn from the past by studying how two important climate change-related topics have affected Indonesian households. Delayed monsoon onset, El Niño, will become more frequent with climate change whereas palm oil production is a contributor to climate change. The first essay examines how variability in monsoon onset affects rural households' welfare in terms of household expenditure and farm profits. Using the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) data I find that households in the middle tercile of the expenditure distribution face the biggest albeit temporary losses from delayed monsoon onset. Half of the expenditure decline is due to increase in household size. Conditional on onset, rainfall intensity has only minor effects. The second essay uses the IFLS data to study how schooling and child labour are affected by delayed monsoon onset. The probability of continuing from primary to secondary school is reduced when a delayed onset coincides with the transition year. In other respects, monsoon onset does not affect education of rural children. However, riskier distribution of rain postpones school entry for young children. Moreover, delayed onset increases child labour. Using district-level data on palm oil production and area planted and national household survey (SUSENAS) the third essay studies the impact of oil palm expansion on household expenditure and health. Instrumental variable estimates exploit the historical production and district forest area as an exogenous source of variation. I find that smallholder production has a weak negative impact on household expenditure but this effect is not present among rural households. More, total production increases incidence of asthma in Kalimantan. The findings suggest that palm oil is not a panacea to increase rural welfare.

This thesis presents a critical reflection on what is meant by a 'Green Revolution' within the current, narrow 'productivity-technology fix' paradigm. It shows the current focus on productivity is creating a limited view of technology as the principal means to address food insecurity in Africa, as opposed to a more comprehensive view that takes into account economic, social and political factors. The research combines a socio-technical systems approach with an actor-oriented analysis to examine two input-support programmes in Kenya. It focuses on input-support programmes due to the current interest in subsidies as the mechanism to address food insecurity and deliver agricultural technologies to smallholder farmers. It examines the political, social and institutional factors that influence the creation, design and implementation of these programmes. A multi-level approach (global, national and local) is used to map out the key narratives and actor networks operating in and across the different levels to highlight the dynamic interactions as they come together through these programmes. The thesis demonstrates how intermediary factors (institutions, policy and social networks) significantly affect programme outcomes. The two case studies show that policy and practice often diverge through changing actors, networks and funding flows. Each programme implementation is mediated through socially differentiated beneficiaries, creating interactions that unfold in numerous ways due to distinct social, political and economic factors, as well as to unique institutional and delivery mechanisms. The evidence suggests that technology-based programmes that fail to take account of these critical factors will encounter difficulties in uptake. Therefore, policymakers must consider context-specific approaches that appreciate the diversity of local conditions and the importance of socio-economic, institutional and political factors. The underlying message is that the impact of agricultural technologies on the practices and perceptions of smallholder farmers cannot be understood in isolation; end users constantly adapt technologies through complex social interpretations, local institutions and political processes.

While it is clear that urban food systems need to be made resilient so that broader sustainability goals can be maintained over time, it has been a matter of debate as to how resilience should be conceptualised when applied to social-ecological systems. Through a case study of peri-urban Wuhan, this research develops and applies a resilience based conceptual framework for periurban food systems analysis in order to explore the potential for an enhanced understanding of resilience that can contribute to promoting sustainability in urban food systems. The evidence of this thesis suggests that the current approach to governance of Wuhan's periurban vegetable system is building an increasingly exclusionary pattern of resilience. It is a form of resilience building which is likely to undermine broader normative sustainability goals around social justice and environmental integrity and have mixed future implications for food system resilience as a whole, particularly in relation to livelihood outcomes for peri-urban farmers and food safety outcomes for urban consumers in general. The key lessons from this research are that the concept of resilience can be used to support either a narrowing down or an opening up of normative framings of system outcomes and can contribute to obscuring or revealing the multiple processes of change unfolding across the levels of system context, structures and actors. These dualities in the way that resilience thinking can contribute to normative and analytical framings need to be explicitly acknowledged if serious unintended consequences of resilience building interventions are to be avoided. Six important principles for conceptualising resilience in urban food systems are suggested: to 1) disaggregate system outcomes, 2) differentiate function and structure, 3) analyse positive and negative resilience, 4) identify external and structural shocks and stresses, 5) analyse resilience in relation to multiple and multi-scale processes of change and 6) recognise the impacts of those processes on marginalised system actors. Finally, a heuristic framework is presented for guiding the design of resilience analyses of human dominated social-ecological systems.

This study aims to measure the effect of designed environmental education lectures that is based on general environmental problems on primary school students&rsquo / attitudes toward environment. The participants of this study obtained from a governmental school in Y&uuml / z&uuml / nc&uuml / Yil districts of Ankara and consists of 51 (18 fourth grade and 33 fifth grade) students. In the study that is held in 2006-2007 education year students implemented to environmental education lectures for one month. The lectures included the &ldquo / sustainable development&rdquo / and &ldquo / ecological footprint&rdquo / concept, as well as the general environmental problems, their reasons and recycling as solution for reducing environmental problems, and student-centered teaching methods such as discussion, role playing, cooperative learning and questioning were used during the lectures in addition to the traditional teaching method. The data concerning the effect of the lectures was obtained by the environmental attitude questionnaire implemented to the students before and after the treatment as pre-test and post-test. Independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were conducted for data analysis and the result of the study indicated that environmental education lectures increased the environmental attitudes of the students.

Univ., Diss.--The Hague, 2006. / Literaturverz. S. [261] - 275.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury,1994. Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean,1994. / A thesis submitted to the School of Agriculture and Rural Development, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, and The Faculty of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Western Sydney Nepean, in part fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliography - leaves 310 - 328 and appendices.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Environmental Science))--Rhodes University, 2006.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Linz, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 244-256).

Orientador: Lucia da Costa Ferreira / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T00:23:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rabinovici_Andrea_D.pdf: 2575044 bytes, checksum: f7bf469fb475ebf02e95888cca55944b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: O Turismo Sustentável (TS) é reconhecido por diversos atores sociais e políticos como uma possibilidade ambientalmente correta de uso dos recursos naturais. O que se observa é que o aumento da prática do TS no Brasil não tem sido proporcional à sustentabilidade ambiental e à melhoria da qualidade de vida nos locais onde ocorre, o que deveria ser uma consequência teórica direta do Turismo realmente sustentável. Uma constante verificada é o aumento de conflitos sociais causados pela maior pressão sobre o uso dos recursos naturais que, por sua vez, provoca a atenção e interferência do ambientalismo, através das Organizações Não Governamentais (ONGs) nacionais e transnacionais. Estas interferências promovem a articulação entre diversos segmentos políticos. A criação e/ou acirramento dos conflitos socioambientais decorrentes das práticas conservacionistas e do TS coloca em questão a legitimidade, representatividade, nível e forma de participação das ONGs e suas ações. A busca de diálogo tem forçado a participação dos envolvidos em organizações de caráter político especialmente criadas. Este estudo objetiva verificar e analisar os conflitos socioambientais, em escala local, gerados a partir da implementação de projetos e programas de TS feitos por ONGs nacionais e transnacionais, selecionadas para este estudo, nas diversas localidades do Brasil, onde atuam. Tem como objetivos específicos diagnosticar, conhecer e compreender o momento atual de programas e projetos de TS realizados por ONGs no Brasil; verificar a influência das práticas destas ONGs na governança dos recursos naturais e nas políticas públicas locais; e verificar e analisar os conceitos de sustentabilidade e participação que moldam os programas e projetos de TS promovidos. Esta pesquisa focaliza ONGs diversas com experiências relevantes em programas e projetos de TS. A hipótese norteadora é a de que as ONGs influenciam fortemente o debate local sobre sustentabilidade ambiental podendo gerar novas desigualdades, enclaves e conflitos regionais, bem como novos graus de participação e empoderamento dos atores sociais envolvidos. A pesquisa foi realizada, em sua maior parte, através de investigação bibliográfica e documental, observação direta com registro em diário de campo, complementadas pela pesquisa empírica, com entrevistas semiestruturadas e gravadas a membros de ONGs / Abstract: The Sustainable Tourism (ST) is recognized by various social and political actors as an opportunity for environmentally correct use of natural resources. What is observed is that the increased practices of ST in Brazil is not proportional to the environmental sustainability and to the improvement of the quality of life where it occurs, what should theoretically be a direct consequence of the Tourism which is really sustainable. A verified constant is the increase of social conflicts caused by more pressure on the use of natural resources which, in turn, causes the attention and interference of environmentalism, through the national and transnational Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). These interferences promote the articulation between different political segments. The creation and/or worsening of socio-environmental conflicts arising from practice's conservation and ST bring to light the question of the legitimacy, representativeness, level and the form of participation of NGOs and their actions. The search for dialogue has forced the participation of those involved in organizations of a politics especially created. This study aims to verify and analyze the socio-environmental conflicts locally, resulting from the implementation of projects and programs of ST made by national and transnational NGOs, selected for this study, in different locations in Brazil, where they act. Its specific objectives are to diagnose, know and understand the current moment of programs and projects of ST made by NGOs in Brazil, as well as the influence of the practices of NGOs in relation with natural resources and local public policies, and to monitor and analyze the concepts of sustainability and participation that shape the programs and projects of ST promoted. This research focuses on Miscellaneous NGOs with relevant experience in programs and projects of ST. The guiding hypothesis is that the NGOs strongly influence the local debate on environmental sustainability and are likely to generate new inequalities, enclaves and regional conflicts, and new levels of participation and empowerment of social actors involved. The research, in its most part, was done through direct observation recorded in a field diary, documental and literature search, supplemented by empirical research, drawn from semi-structured and recorded interviews with members of NGOs / Doutorado / Aspectos Sociais de Sustentabilidade e Conservação / Doutor em Ambiente e Sociedade