O extrativismo apresenta-se como uma oportunidade de ação que contribui para o desenvolvimento rural sustentável. O extrativismo do jaborandi representa um recurso de natureza comum, governado por diversos atores e sob influência do mercado. O jaborandi, Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Wardlew, é um arbusto que ocorre no sub-bosque de florestas na região de transição entre os biomas Amazônia, Cerrado e Caatinga. Das suas folhas, é extraída a pilocarpina, usada, principalmente, no tratamento do glaucoma. As folhas do jaborandi são oriundas, em sua maioria, do extrativismo, no Piauí, Maranhão e Pará. O objetivo deste estudo foi compreender o sistema socioecológico (SES) e a governança do extrativismo do jaborandi e sua influência sobre a sustentabilidade da atividade na Amazônia e áreas de transição com o Cerrado e Caatinga. Já os objetivos específicos foram: 1) descrever os SESs do extrativismo do jaborandi; 2) caracterizar a governança dos SESs; 3) analisar a relação da governança dos diferentes SESs com a sustentabilidade do extrativismo do jaborandi. Para tanto, utilizou-se o Institutional Analysis & Development - IAD framework e os princípios de governança dos SESs robustos, analisando a governança e a sustentabilidade do SES do extrativismo do jaborandi. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como um estudo de análise institucional multiescalar, sendo a maior escala o Sistema Socioecológico “extrativismo do jaborandi”, considerada como toda a área de ocorrência do extrativismo. A escala mediana, regional, os dois subsistemas que correspondem à região amazônica e transição. O nível local foi caracterizado por quatro subsistemas socioecológicos: SES Agroextrativista Cocais, SES Agroextrativista Pluriétnico Transição, SES Expedicionário Pluriétnico Amazônia e SES Expedicionário Flona Carajás Amazônia. Os métodos constaram de análises qualitativas de dados secundários e dados primários - coletados em entrevistas realizadas com os atores do extrativismo do jaborandi. Observou-se a influência das políticas desenvolvimentistas sobre a devastação de parte da matriz florestal de ocorrência do jaborandi. Além disso, o mercado de pilocarpina teve larga influência sobre o extrativismo, com destaque para a domesticação da espécie e o desenvolvimento da pilocarpina sintética. Desde o ano de 2009, o Projeto de Valorização do Jaborandi também influencia o extrativismo, em busca de tornar a atividade mais sustentável. Identificou-se diferença de capacidade de suporte das populações de jaborandi entre o Subsistema Socioecológico Transição, que apresenta baixa capacidade, devido às condições edafoclimáticas mais severas, ao Subsistema Amazônia, onde as condições são mais favoráveis. Na região de transição, os extrativistas são agricultores familiares e residem próximos ao recurso, enquanto que, na Amazônia, os extrativistas, em sua maioria, são urbanos e, para acessarem o recurso, precisam organizar-se em equipes e fazerem uma expedição até as áreas de manejo, que são distantes e são áreas protegidas. Ao caracterizar a governança multiescalar dos SESs, encontrou-se um complexo arranjo institucional, composto por regras formais e informais de múltiplos níveis. Muitas das regras não são colocadas em uso, atribui-se esse fenômeno a não participação dos extrativistas na formulação dessas regras, à falta de monitoramento e sanções efetivas. Percebeu-se que quando os extrativistas participam de arenas de escolha coletiva, eles têm maiores ganhos. Evidenciou-se que onde há participação governamental, há maior governança. Ao analisar a relação da governança dos diferentes SES com a sustentabilidade, ficou evidente que o SES Expedicionário Flona Carajás Amazônia é mais sustentável do que os SES Agroextrativista Cocais e SES Agroextrativista Pluriétnico Transição, onde a capacidade de suporte e os arranjos institucionais são frágeis. Enquanto que o SES Expedicionário Pluriétnico Amazônia é parcialmente sustentável, por fragilidades de acesso ao recurso. Conclui-se que a governança, através das organizações e arranjos institucionais, bem como os SES, principalmente no que se refere à capacidade de suporte, atores envolvidos e organização social, influenciam na sustentabilidade das múltiplas escalas do extrativismo do jaborandi. / Forest management of non-wood products has the potential to contribute to sustainable rural development. The forest management of jaborandi is a common-pool resource, governed by different actors and under the influence of market. Jaborandi, Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Wardlew, is a scrub that occurs in the forest floor of forests in the transition region between the biomes of Amazon, Cerrado and Caatinga. Pilocarpine, which is extracted from its leaves, is used mainly in the treatment of glaucoma. The jaborandi leaves come, mostly, from forest management in Piauí, Maranhão and Pará. The objective of this study was to understand the socio-ecological system (SES) and the governance of jaborandi’s management and its influence on the sustainability of the activity in the Amazon and transition areas of the Cerrado and Caatinga. The specific objectives were: 1) to describe the SES of jaborandi´s management; 2) to characterize the governance of the SESs; 3) to analyse the relationship of the governance of different SESs with the sustainability of jaborandi´s management. For this purpose, the IAD framework and the principles of governance of robust SESs were used, analysing the governance of SESs and the sustainability of jaborandi´s management. This research is a study of multiescalar institutional analysis, in which the major scale is the socio-ecological system “jaborandi´s management”, which covers the entire area of leaves collection. The median scale, regional, are the two subsystems that are the Amazon and Transition region. The local level was characterized by four socio-ecological subsystems: Agroextractivist Cocais, Agroextractivist Multiethnic Transition, Expeditionary Multiethnic Amazon and Expeditionary Flona Carajás Amazon. The methods consisted of qualitative analysis of secondary data and primary data - collected in interviews with the actors of the jaborandi´s management. The influence of developmentalism policies was observed over the devastation of part of the forest area of the jaborandi´s occurrence. In addition, the pilocarpine market had wide influence on the jaborandi´s management, highlighting the domestication of the species and the development of synthetic pilocarpine. Since year 2009, Projeto de Valorização do Jaborandi (Jaborandi Enhancement Project) has also influenced the management, seeking to make the activity more sustainable. There was a difference in the support capacity of populations between jaborandi Subsystem socioecological Transition, which has low capacity due to the most severe climate and soil conditions, and the Amazon subsystem, where conditions are more favorable. In the transition region, the leaves collectors are family farmers and reside near the resource, while in the Amazon, the leaves collectors are mostly urban dwellers and to access the resource they need to organize themselves into teams and make an expedition to the harvesting areas, which are distant and protected areas. To characterize the multiescalar governance of SES, a complex institutional arrangement has been identified, consisting of formal and informal rules of multiple levels. Many of the rules are not applied, which phenomenon is attributed to the non-participation of leaves collectors in the formulation of these rules, the lack of monitoring and effective sanctions. It has been observed that when the leaves collectors participate in collective choice arenas, they have greater benefits. It has been perceived that where there is government close participation, there is greater governance. By analysing the relationship of the governance of different SESs and sustainability, it became clear that the SES Expeditionary Flona Carajás Amazon is more sustainable than the SES Agroextrativist Cocais and SES Agroextrativist Multiethnic Transition, where the support capacity and institutional arrangements are fragile. While the SES Expeditionary Multiethnic Amazon is partially sustainable, there are weaknesses in access to the resource. The conclusion points out that the governance, through organizations and institutional arrangements, as well as the SES, especially with regard to support capacity, stakeholders involvement and social organization, influence the sustainability of multiple scales of jaborandi´s management.

abstract: Consideration of both biological and human-use dynamics in coupled social-ecological systems is essential for the success of interventions such as marine reserves. As purely human institutions, marine reserves have no direct effects on ecological systems. Consequently, the success of a marine reserve depends on managers` ability to alter human behavior in the direction and magnitude that supports reserve objectives. Further, a marine reserve is just one component in a larger coupled social-ecological system. The social, economic, political, and biological landscape all determine the social acceptability of a reserve, conflicts that arise, how the reserve interacts with existing fisheries management, accuracy of reserve monitoring, and whether the reserve is ultimately able to meet conservation and fishery enhancement goals. Just as the social-ecological landscape is critical at all stages for marine reserve, from initial establishment to maintenance, the reserve in turn interacts with biological and human use dynamics beyond its borders. Those interactions can lead to the failure of a reserve to meet management goals, or compromise management goals outside the reserve. I use a bio-economic model of a fishery in a spatially patchy environment to demonstrate how the pre-reserve fisheries management strategy determines the pattern of fishing effort displacement once the reserve is established, and discuss the social, political, and biological consequences of different patterns for the reserve and the fishery. Using a stochastic bio-economic model, I demonstrate how biological and human use connectivity can confound the accurate detection of reserve effects by violating assumptions in the quasi-experimental framework. Finally, I examine data on recreational fishing site selection to investigate changes in response to the announcement of enforcement of a marine reserve in the Gulf of California, Mexico. I generate a scale of fines that would fully or partially protect the reserve, providing a data-driven way for managers to balance biological and socio-economic goals. I suggest that natural resource managers consider human use dynamics with the same frequency, rigor, and tools as they do biological stocks. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Applied Biological Sciences 2014

abstract: Though cities occupy only a small percentage of Earth's terrestrial surface, humans concentrated in urban areas impact ecosystems at local, regional and global scales. I examined the direct and indirect ecological outcomes of human activities on both managed landscapes and protected native ecosystems in and around cities. First, I used highly managed residential yards, which compose nearly half of the heterogeneous urban land area, as a model system to examine the ecological effects of people's management choices and the social drivers of those decisions. I found that a complex set of individual and institutional social characteristics drives people's decisions, which in turn affect ecological structure and function across scales from yards to cities. This work demonstrates the link between individuals' decision-making and ecosystem service provisioning in highly managed urban ecosystems. Second, I examined the distribution of urban-generated air pollutants and their complex ecological outcomes in protected native ecosystems. Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), reactive nitrogen (N), and ozone (O₃) are elevated near human activities and act as both resources and stressors to primary producers, but little is known about their co-occurring distribution or combined impacts on ecosystems. I investigated the urban "ecological airshed," including the spatial and temporal extent of N deposition, as well as CO₂ and O₃ concentrations in native preserves in Phoenix, Arizona and the outlying Sonoran Desert. I found elevated concentrations of ecologically relevant pollutants co-occur in both urban and remote native lands at levels that are likely to affect ecosystem structure and function. Finally, I tested the combined effects of CO₂, N, and O₃ on the dominant native and non-native herbaceous desert species in a multi-factor dose-response greenhouse experiment. Under current and predicted future air quality conditions, the non-native species (<italic>Schismus arabicus</italic>) had net positive growth despite physiological stress under high O₃ concentrations. In contrast, the native species (<italic>Pectocarya recurvata</italic>) was more sensitive to O₃ and, unlike the non-native species, did not benefit from the protective role of CO₂. These results highlight the vulnerability of native ecosystems to current and future air pollution over the long term. Together, my research provides empirical evidence for future policies addressing multiple stressors in urban managed and native landscapes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Plant Biology 2014

O extrativismo apresenta-se como uma oportunidade de ação que contribui para o desenvolvimento rural sustentável. O extrativismo do jaborandi representa um recurso de natureza comum, governado por diversos atores e sob influência do mercado. O jaborandi, Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Wardlew, é um arbusto que ocorre no sub-bosque de florestas na região de transição entre os biomas Amazônia, Cerrado e Caatinga. Das suas folhas, é extraída a pilocarpina, usada, principalmente, no tratamento do glaucoma. As folhas do jaborandi são oriundas, em sua maioria, do extrativismo, no Piauí, Maranhão e Pará. O objetivo deste estudo foi compreender o sistema socioecológico (SES) e a governança do extrativismo do jaborandi e sua influência sobre a sustentabilidade da atividade na Amazônia e áreas de transição com o Cerrado e Caatinga. Já os objetivos específicos foram: 1) descrever os SESs do extrativismo do jaborandi; 2) caracterizar a governança dos SESs; 3) analisar a relação da governança dos diferentes SESs com a sustentabilidade do extrativismo do jaborandi. Para tanto, utilizou-se o Institutional Analysis & Development - IAD framework e os princípios de governança dos SESs robustos, analisando a governança e a sustentabilidade do SES do extrativismo do jaborandi. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como um estudo de análise institucional multiescalar, sendo a maior escala o Sistema Socioecológico “extrativismo do jaborandi”, considerada como toda a área de ocorrência do extrativismo. A escala mediana, regional, os dois subsistemas que correspondem à região amazônica e transição. O nível local foi caracterizado por quatro subsistemas socioecológicos: SES Agroextrativista Cocais, SES Agroextrativista Pluriétnico Transição, SES Expedicionário Pluriétnico Amazônia e SES Expedicionário Flona Carajás Amazônia. Os métodos constaram de análises qualitativas de dados secundários e dados primários - coletados em entrevistas realizadas com os atores do extrativismo do jaborandi. Observou-se a influência das políticas desenvolvimentistas sobre a devastação de parte da matriz florestal de ocorrência do jaborandi. Além disso, o mercado de pilocarpina teve larga influência sobre o extrativismo, com destaque para a domesticação da espécie e o desenvolvimento da pilocarpina sintética. Desde o ano de 2009, o Projeto de Valorização do Jaborandi também influencia o extrativismo, em busca de tornar a atividade mais sustentável. Identificou-se diferença de capacidade de suporte das populações de jaborandi entre o Subsistema Socioecológico Transição, que apresenta baixa capacidade, devido às condições edafoclimáticas mais severas, ao Subsistema Amazônia, onde as condições são mais favoráveis. Na região de transição, os extrativistas são agricultores familiares e residem próximos ao recurso, enquanto que, na Amazônia, os extrativistas, em sua maioria, são urbanos e, para acessarem o recurso, precisam organizar-se em equipes e fazerem uma expedição até as áreas de manejo, que são distantes e são áreas protegidas. Ao caracterizar a governança multiescalar dos SESs, encontrou-se um complexo arranjo institucional, composto por regras formais e informais de múltiplos níveis. Muitas das regras não são colocadas em uso, atribui-se esse fenômeno a não participação dos extrativistas na formulação dessas regras, à falta de monitoramento e sanções efetivas. Percebeu-se que quando os extrativistas participam de arenas de escolha coletiva, eles têm maiores ganhos. Evidenciou-se que onde há participação governamental, há maior governança. Ao analisar a relação da governança dos diferentes SES com a sustentabilidade, ficou evidente que o SES Expedicionário Flona Carajás Amazônia é mais sustentável do que os SES Agroextrativista Cocais e SES Agroextrativista Pluriétnico Transição, onde a capacidade de suporte e os arranjos institucionais são frágeis. Enquanto que o SES Expedicionário Pluriétnico Amazônia é parcialmente sustentável, por fragilidades de acesso ao recurso. Conclui-se que a governança, através das organizações e arranjos institucionais, bem como os SES, principalmente no que se refere à capacidade de suporte, atores envolvidos e organização social, influenciam na sustentabilidade das múltiplas escalas do extrativismo do jaborandi. / Forest management of non-wood products has the potential to contribute to sustainable rural development. The forest management of jaborandi is a common-pool resource, governed by different actors and under the influence of market. Jaborandi, Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Wardlew, is a scrub that occurs in the forest floor of forests in the transition region between the biomes of Amazon, Cerrado and Caatinga. Pilocarpine, which is extracted from its leaves, is used mainly in the treatment of glaucoma. The jaborandi leaves come, mostly, from forest management in Piauí, Maranhão and Pará. The objective of this study was to understand the socio-ecological system (SES) and the governance of jaborandi’s management and its influence on the sustainability of the activity in the Amazon and transition areas of the Cerrado and Caatinga. The specific objectives were: 1) to describe the SES of jaborandi´s management; 2) to characterize the governance of the SESs; 3) to analyse the relationship of the governance of different SESs with the sustainability of jaborandi´s management. For this purpose, the IAD framework and the principles of governance of robust SESs were used, analysing the governance of SESs and the sustainability of jaborandi´s management. This research is a study of multiescalar institutional analysis, in which the major scale is the socio-ecological system “jaborandi´s management”, which covers the entire area of leaves collection. The median scale, regional, are the two subsystems that are the Amazon and Transition region. The local level was characterized by four socio-ecological subsystems: Agroextractivist Cocais, Agroextractivist Multiethnic Transition, Expeditionary Multiethnic Amazon and Expeditionary Flona Carajás Amazon. The methods consisted of qualitative analysis of secondary data and primary data - collected in interviews with the actors of the jaborandi´s management. The influence of developmentalism policies was observed over the devastation of part of the forest area of the jaborandi´s occurrence. In addition, the pilocarpine market had wide influence on the jaborandi´s management, highlighting the domestication of the species and the development of synthetic pilocarpine. Since year 2009, Projeto de Valorização do Jaborandi (Jaborandi Enhancement Project) has also influenced the management, seeking to make the activity more sustainable. There was a difference in the support capacity of populations between jaborandi Subsystem socioecological Transition, which has low capacity due to the most severe climate and soil conditions, and the Amazon subsystem, where conditions are more favorable. In the transition region, the leaves collectors are family farmers and reside near the resource, while in the Amazon, the leaves collectors are mostly urban dwellers and to access the resource they need to organize themselves into teams and make an expedition to the harvesting areas, which are distant and protected areas. To characterize the multiescalar governance of SES, a complex institutional arrangement has been identified, consisting of formal and informal rules of multiple levels. Many of the rules are not applied, which phenomenon is attributed to the non-participation of leaves collectors in the formulation of these rules, the lack of monitoring and effective sanctions. It has been observed that when the leaves collectors participate in collective choice arenas, they have greater benefits. It has been perceived that where there is government close participation, there is greater governance. By analysing the relationship of the governance of different SESs and sustainability, it became clear that the SES Expeditionary Flona Carajás Amazon is more sustainable than the SES Agroextrativist Cocais and SES Agroextrativist Multiethnic Transition, where the support capacity and institutional arrangements are fragile. While the SES Expeditionary Multiethnic Amazon is partially sustainable, there are weaknesses in access to the resource. The conclusion points out that the governance, through organizations and institutional arrangements, as well as the SES, especially with regard to support capacity, stakeholders involvement and social organization, influence the sustainability of multiple scales of jaborandi´s management.

A literatura que descreve os efeitos locais de empreendimentos hidrelétricos tem recebido contribuições importantes nos últimos anos. Esses trabalhos, contudo, lançam perspectivas disciplinares sobre essa problemática. O presente estudo busca compreender tais efeitos de maneira integrada, partindo de uma perspectiva sistêmica associada à teoria da resiliência em sistemas socioecológicos. Para tal, adota o caso da usina hidrelétrica de Barra Grande, analisando de que forma a dinâmica do sistema socioecológico local diretamente afetado pela barragem transformou-se na época de sua implantação. Assim, o sistema socioecológico local fora conceitualmente modelado e caracterizado para todo o ciclo de implantação da usina de Barra Grande, por meio da coleta de dados e informações primários e secundários. Como principais resultados, estão a concentração de alterações mais significativas nas proximidades do eixo da barragem, a criação de novos atratores para o sistema econômico local, a profunda alteração de aspectos do sistema social e a depleção da resiliência dos ecossistemas afetados pela barragem. / The literature that describes the local effects of undertaking hydropower plants has received important contributions in the past few years. These efforts, however, are based on disciplinary approaches. His study aims to understand the local effects of undertaking hydropower plants in an integrated way, following a systemic approach related to the theory of social-ecological systems resilience. O accomplish that, it is adopted the case of the Barra Grande dam, analyzing the changes in the dynamics of the local social-ecological system directly affected by the dam. The local social-ecological system was conceptualy modeled and designed for the entire projects lifecycle. It was made through collecting primary and secondary data. As maisn results, there are the concentration of significant alterations in the surroundings of the dams axis, the creation of new attractors for the economic system, a deep change in the social systems aspects and the depletion of the resilience of the ecosystems directly affected by the dam.

The practices related to the growing, harvesting, preparation, and celebration of food over millennia have given rise to diverse biocultural landscapes the world over. These landscapes – rich in biological and cultural diversity – are often characterised by persistent poverty, and, as such, are often the target of development interventions. Yet a lack of understanding of the interdependencies between human well-being, nature, and culture in these landscapes means that such interventions are often unsuccessful - and can even have adverse effects, exacerbating the poverty they were designed to address. This thesis investigates different conceptualisations of persistent poverty in rural biocultural landscapes, the consequences of these conceptualisations, and the ways in which development interventions can benefit from, rather than erode, biocultural diversity. The thesis first reviews conceptualisations of persistent poverty and specifically, the notion of a poverty trap (Paper I), and examines the consequences of different conceptualisations of traps for efforts to alleviate poverty (Paper II). Paper I argues that the trap concept can be usefully broadened beyond a dominant development economics perspective to incorporate critical interdependencies between humans and nature. Paper II uses multi-dimensional dynamical systems models to show how nature and culture can be impacted by different development interventions, and, in turn, how the degradation of both can undermine the effectiveness of conventional poverty alleviation strategies in certain contexts. In the second section, the thesis focuses on the effects of, and responses to, trap-like situations and development interventions in a specific context of high biocultural diversity: the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. Paper III advances a typology of responses to traps based around the mismatch of desires, abilities and opportunities. Observing daily practice provides a way to study social-ecological relationships as a dynamic process, as practices can embody traditional and tacit knowledge in a holistic way.  Paper IV examines the diverse effects of a development intervention on the coevolution of biocultural landscapes and the ways in which everyday practice – particularly around food – can be a source of both innovation and resilience. Papers I-IV together combine insights from diverse disciplines and methodologies, from systematic review to dynamic systems thinking and participant observation. Paper V provides a critical analysis of the opportunities and challenges involved in pursuing such an approach in sustainability science, underscoring the need to balance methodological groundedness with epistemological agility. Overall, the thesis contributes to understanding resilience and development, highlighting the value of viewing their interrelation as a dynamic, coevolving process. From this perspective, development should not be regarded as a normative endpoint to be achieved, but rather as a coevolving process between constantly changing ecological and social contexts. The thesis proposes that resilience can be interpreted as the active and passive filtering of practices via the constant discarding and retention of old and new, social and ecological, and endogenous and exogenous factors. This interpretation deepens understanding of resilience as the capacity to persist, adapt and transform, and ultimately shape new development pathways. The thesis also illustrates how daily practices, such as the growing, harvesting, and preparation of food, offer a powerful heuristic device for understanding this filtering process, and therefore the on-going impact of development interventions in rural landscapes across the world. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

Magister Artium - MA / Recent research has indicated a significant increase in the crystal methamphetamine abuse in the Western Cape. The study aimed to provide an understanding of the interaction of the social and historical contexts in relation to the life experiences and perceptions of a young person residing in the Cape Flats. Primarily the study aimed to explore the factors that influenced the participant to use crystal methamphetamine. It adopted a social constructionist epistemological perspective and employed Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory as the theoretical framework. The subsystems of the ecological systems theory include the individual who is influenced by the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem and the chronosystem. This was a qualitative research study that employed an intensive case study. Data was obtained through series intensive semi-structured interviews that were approximately 40 - 70 minutes in duration. The participant is a coloured female, aged 28 years from a high-risk community in the Cape Flats. Prior to the interview process, relevant permission was obtained from the participant, which allowed the interviews to be conducted and recorded. The data was then analysed using a narrative analysis. The themes that emerged from the research findings include: childhood trauma; sexual abuse during childhood; social milieu and norms; adolescent delinquency; the cycle of abuse; understanding crystal methamphetamine use and the consequences of crystal methamphetamine use. Findings with regard to the individual factors included psychological well-being, depression and negative affectivity, feelings of hopelessness, suicidal ideations, loneliness, past abuse of legal substances, adolescence, delinquency and childhood sexual abuse. The influential factors that emerged within the microsystem were lack of family support, dysfunctional family dynamics, childhood abandonment, uninvolved parents, several custodial parents, childhood disequilibrium, parental modelling and family drug use. Further findings within the microsystem included peer influence viz. direct persuasion of drug use, peer exposure of drugs, experimentation, delinquent behaviour, gang-related involvement and peer group acceptance. The mesosystemic findings included, lack of emotional support or attachments, social support, lack of structure as well as relocating to numerous schools and homes. Findings located in the exosystem were the availability and accessibility of drugs in all the communities in which the participant lived. Findings in the macrosystem included the social environment of the individual, including the social norms of the community and the home setting as well as the norm of violence, crime and gangsterism. The information and knowledge accumulated would optimistically contribute to addressing the paucity of qualitative literature and present knowledge to improve intervention and prevention strategies. / South Africa

The main research question guiding this study is: “What strategies can be established to enhance parental involvement in primary schools in disadvantaged communities in the Northern Areas of Port Elizabeth”? To answer this question, this study examines parents’ and teachers’ practices concerning parental involvement in the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan. Parents and teachers were purposely selected from participating schools. In this qualitative study, the researcher proposed strategies to enhance parental involvement at primary schools. Qualitative research methods, associated with phenomenological inquiry were employed to explore the life-world of the participants who have had personal experience with the phenomenon of parental involvement. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with parents and teachers. This allowed the researcher to gather in-depth information about opinions, beliefs, practices and attitudes concerning the involvement of parents in their children’s education. Bronfenbrenner’s ecosystemic theory served as the theorectical framework of this investigation. Since this study is about parental involvement in primary schools educational policies like inclusive education as well as different models of parental involvement were investigated in the literature study. The results of the study indicated several barriers to the enhancement of parental involvement for instance communication barriers between parents and teachers. The researcher established four strategies for the enhancement of parental involvement and recommended that these strategies should be employed by schools and other stakeholders. She also made further recommendations for parents, teachers, school principals, Department of Basic Education and professionals in the community.

This qualitative study was designed to explore the experiences and perceptions of a group of mothers whose elementary school-aged children met the criteria for intellectual giftedness in an Ontario school board. Guided by Beach and Mitchell’s image theory and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the study sought to identify (a) the meanings mothers ascribed to the concept of giftedness, (b) their experiences of the assessment, identification and placement process, and (c) the factors deemed important to educational decision making. A postpositivist orientation and rigorous qualitative research methods were employed. Data were collected in two phases: an internet-based survey comprised of demographic items and open ended questions, followed by in-depth interviews with five purposefully selected participants. Resultant data from 45 surveys and 15 interviews were coded and organized according to the survey questions and central elements of the theoretical framework. Eight research findings revealed that the experience of mothering gifted children was complex, challenging, emotional, and at times, isolating. Many mothers struggled with the concept of giftedness and how it pertained to their children. As mothers navigated the assessment, identification and placement process, the lack of accessible, timely, and consistent information from the school board posed a considerable barrier, prompting many to reach out to other parents of gifted children for information and support. Factors deemed important to decision making about educational placement included maternal perceptions related to the various options, child specific and practical considerations, and the attainability of specialized gifted programming. Educational decision making was identified as the most difficult aspect of the maternal experience. Given that the study participants were unusually well educated and well resourced, the findings were particularly revealing. The study findings add to a small but growing body of research that furthers our understanding of image theory in real life decision making. In addition, the findings give voice to the experience of mothering children identified as gifted, thus making a valuable and original contribution to the literature.

Beekeepers help to secure the pollination capacity of bees by mediating bee-stressors. This study argues that beekeeper strategies are best conceptualized as a series of specialized practices for bettering bee-health, which are mobilized by a variety of actors, including those who are not traditionally considered ‘beekeepers’. The aim of this paper is to explore those human beliefs and practices which are most relevant for gaining insight into the current pollinator problem. Farmers, bee-conservationists, bee-researchers and honeybee-keepers all play an important role in securing bee health. The paper draws on the social-ecological perspective to consider alternative definitions of caring for bees, what shapes these conceptualizations and how these are reflected in beekeeper strategies, which inevitably contribute to the overall functioning of human-bee constituted systems. In the context of rising honeybee colony losses in Canada and of wild bee decline around the world, understanding the diversity of approaches for bettering bee-health is exceedingly important for initiating long-term, sustainable and multi-level bee-pollinator conservation.