Wik, Wik-Way and Kugu people (Wik people) in Aurukun Shire on Cape York Peninsula (CYP) are among the most socio-economically disadvantaged groups in Australia. While Wik people are presently reliant on government work for welfare programs for income, elders have a vision of economic independence and self-reliance. The large area of native Darwin stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) forest on traditional Wik land is a potential engine for economic development, which could provide meaningful employment, and contribute to other Wik socio-economic objectives, including facilitating population decentralisation and consolidation of cultural obligations to manage country through provision of on country employment, reducing welfare dependency and expenditure on timber purchases from outside CYP, and increasing income and skill levels in the community. A large proportion of the higher-quality timber resource on traditional Wik land is situated on bauxite mining leases and the current practice is to clear, windrow and burn this timber prior to commencement of mining. A Wik native forest timber industry could make use of this wasted high-quality timber resource. The objectives of this thesis were to: determine the property rights of Wik people to the timber resource on their traditional land; assess whether forestry operations in Darwin stringybark forests in the study area are likely to be financially viable; and generate a suite of optimal timber utilisation strategies for Wik people, subject to cultural, ecological and economic constraints. This required economic research in the areas of indigenous property rights, private and social costs and benefits of forestry, timber markets, and evaluation and application of economic analysis techniques for appraisal of forestry development opportunities. A social cost-benefit analysis of the privately optimal timber utilisation policies has also been performed to support the decision-making of government policy-makers. This research project was a demanding and complex undertaking, not least because the research was being performed in a unique and diverse indigenous cultural environment where there is a need to respect cultural and research ethics protocols, where formal participatory research methods are inappropriate and where gatekeepers are particularly zealous about ‘protecting’ Wik people from ‘outsiders’. In addition, the property rights of Wik people to timber resources had never previously been analysed methodically, timber inventory and timber market information was lacking for CYP, and there are difficulties in transferring parameter estimates from the industrial hardwood timber industry of Australia to culturally appropriate indigenous operations on CYP. A critical research step was to develop a rapport with Wik people and gain an insight into their forestry objectives, through a number of visits to Aurukun Shire and informal discussions with elders on country. The property rights of Wik people to timber resources have been assessed by reviewing Federal and State Government legislation, court rulings, regional development policies and the Queensland Code of Practice for Native Forest Timber Production on State-owned lands. A timber inventory was conducted over 580,000 ha of Darwin stringybark forest, individual-tree volume and taper models were developed, and a geographical information system was used in estimation of harvestable timber volume and its spatial distribution. To facilitate information transfer to Wik people, expertise was gained in the use of forest visualisation software to pictorially display timber inventory data. A review of literature and discussions with experts identified technically feasible timber processing opportunities for CYP timbers. An informal telephone and in-person survey of 46 businesses, local councils and government agencies in north and south Queensland and the Northern Territory provided market information about CYP timbers. Concepts of a culturally appropriate working week and culturally appropriate rate of production were developed to assist the estimation of cost structures for a Wik timber industry, based on cost estimates for non-indigenous Australian hardwood forestry enterprises that had been obtained from discussion with forestry experts and ‘grey literature’. Generation and evaluation of a suite of privately optimal timber utilisation strategies for Wik people has been supported by the development of a mixed-integer goal programming (GP) model using the GAMS software package. The social analysis of the privately optimal strategies has been performed by adjusting private net present values (NPV) estimated by the GP model with shadow prices and transfer payments. In particular, a carbon model has been developed to estimate the value of carbon emitted by the Wik timber industry. The GP model analysis suggests that a Wik timber industry can generate a positive financial NPV if seed funding of at least $0.5 M is available. In general, privately optimal forestry strategies for Wik people generated by the GP model utilise relatively low-technology equipment, including portable sawmills and air-drying sheds, and produce undressed timber products such as structural timber. This contrasts strongly with Wik visions of an industry selling mostly unprocessed logs or woodchips and non-indigenous representatives of Wik people favouring the manufacture of high-value strip-flooring and furniture. The social analysis of privately optimal timber utilisation strategies reveals that social NPVs are much higher than financial NPVs, even when accounting for the costs of ecosystem services foregone by logging native forest. The establishment of a culturally appropriate Wik timber industry can be expected to generate net social benefits for Australia.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Adelmo Magalhaes de Franca.pdf: 2077527 bytes, checksum: 89bf46c98b38d6c82f89ff0ade453f8d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-10-04 / The main goal of this work was to propose means to the sustentable economic development and growth of the Vale do Ribeira region. At this way, the work in question was based on empiric researches that resulted on the analysis of the main economic, socials, politics and environment problems, experienced by the municipal districts located at Vale do Ribeira, more specifically, the ones that belong to Registro Administrative Region. It has chosen the defense of the growth and the sustentable development, keeping the environment preservation as the principal mean for jobs and gains generation, associated to others economic activities with less environment impact and, at the same time, searching the competitive advantages and the positives externalizes of the region, such as the carbon kidnap, considering the difficulties and the environment obstructions to the installation of industries on the region. The work has concluded by the necessity of the formation of a new human capital, capable to create proper economic and politic conditions and enough to modify the economic and social situation on the Vale do Ribeira Region, through the strengthening of the Vale do Ribeira Social and Economic Development Fund - FVR, aiming the attraction of new investments routed to the agribusiness, tourism or environment / O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi propor alternativas para o crescimento e desenvolvimento econômico sustentável do Vale do Ribeira. Neste sentido, o trabalho em questão se valeu de pesquisas empíricas, que resultaram na análise dos principais problemas econômicos, sociais, políticos e de meio ambiente, vividos pelos municípios localizados na região, mais especificamente, os que pertencem à Região Administrativa de Registro. Optou-se pela defesa do crescimento e desenvolvimento sustentável, mantendo a preservação do meio ambiente como alternativa principal para a geração de emprego e de renda, associada a outras atividades econômicas com menor impacto ambiental e, ao mesmo tempo, explorando-se as vantagens competitivas e as externalidades positivas da região, entre elas o seqüestro de carbono, considerando-se as dificuldades e os impedimentos ambientais para a instalação de indústrias na região. O trabalho concluiu pela necessidade da formação de um novo capital humano, capaz de criar condições políticas e econômicas próprias e suficientes para modificar o quadro social e econômico da região, via fortalecimento do Fundo de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social do Vale do Ribeira - FVR, visando à atração de investimentos voltados ao agronegócios, turismo ou meio ambiente

Geographical indications (GIs) are one form of protective labelling used to indicate the origin of food and alcohol products. The role of protected geographical indicators as a promising sustainable rural development tool is the basis for this research. The protection of geographical indications is a rather controversial subject and much research is still required for both sides of the debate. The research method employed for this study is qualitative critical social science. Two Case studies are used to investigate the benefits brought to rural areas through the protection of GIs. The case studies include the GIs Jersey Royal and Welsh Lamb both from the United Kingdom a member of the European Union (the EU is in favour of extended protection of GIs for all agro-food products under the 1994 WTO/TRIPS agreement on geographical indications). Twenty-five indepth interviews were conducted for this study the duration of the interviews was approximately one hour. The study identifies predominantly indirect links between GIs and sustainable rural development, through economic and social benefits bought to rural areas by the GIs investigated - less of a connection was found to ecological elements. No considerable cost for GI protection was discovered. This finding suggests that GIs are worthwhile for implementation in New Zealand as a rural development tool.

Organizzata in tre saggi, questa tesi si pone l’obiettivo di consentire una migliore comprensione del legame tra crescita e istituzioni, e dei meccanismi attraverso cui gli assetti istituzionali possono condizionare i sentieri economici. Riconoscendo, sulla base di considerazioni storiche, il potere esemplificativo delle ex Repubbliche Socialiste Sovietiche e della loro comune esperienza passata, questo lavoro fornisce, da un lato, una struttura empirica di riferimento per esaminare l’impatto sulla performance economica di un insieme di istituzioni, concretamente legate al funzionamento dell’attività economica; dall’altro, approfondisce lo studio degli effetti e delle determinanti delle azioni di policy. Il primo saggio offre una disamina della letteratura riguardante il legame crescita e istituzioni, fornendo un quadro esaustivo degli sviluppi teorici ed empirici, e illustra diversi aspetti che possono essere concepiti come obiettivi per la ricerca futura; il secondo, attraverso la costruzione di un modello statico e di un modello dinamico, quantifica l’impatto delle istituzioni economiche sui sentieri di crescita di questi paesi, impiegando e analizzando numerose tecniche di stima; il terzo saggio formula diverse specificazioni e affronta il tema rilevante del ruolo degli interventi di policy sullo sviluppo economico e dell’effetto delle istituzioni politiche su comportamenti e decisioni del governo. / Organized in three essays, this thesis aims at achieving a better understanding of the link between growth and institutions, and of the mechanisms through which the institutional arrangements affect the economic paths. Exploiting the past common experience of the Former Soviet Union economies, this work provides an empirical framework to examine the impact on the economic performance of a set of institutions concretely related to the “functioning” of the economic activity and offers a first attempt to include in this research program the study of the consequences of the government actions. The first essay offers a thorough review of the literature researching on the link between economic growth and institutions, and elucidates several issues that deserve further attention; the second develops a static and a dynamic approach to assess, using multiple estimation techniques, the impact of a set of economic institutions on the growth paths of these countries; the third essay, through several formal specifications, deals with the relevant issue of the role of policy measures and of the effect of the political institutions on the governments behaviour.

This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. This study is the most recent rigorous scholarly work of IED on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. The focus of this research is on Indigenous commercial enterprise development at a communal and individual level. Indigenous enterprise development is said to be different from other forms of enterprise development because of the legal rights of Indigenous peoples and because of particular cultural attributes, such as different perceptions of property rights in the Indigenous context and an emphasis on values like collectivism and sharing. These differences are found to shape notions of success and approaches to development. The research reviews literature in the international and domestic context on Indigenous economic development and Indigenous entrepreneurship. It also draws from internal and external documents of relevant institutions and news sources. These sources and findings are then built upon with fifty six in-depth, face-to-face interviews of selected participants who are experts or opinion leaders on IED in the region. These participants represented a variety of interest groups such as the government, academia, the Indigenous community and businesses from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures in the Northern Territory. This study used a qualitative research approach for data collection and analysis. The researcher utilized a qualitative data analysis method, including the reporting of field notes, preparation of field notes into transcripts, coding of data, display of data, the development of conclusions, and creation of a report. This study identified five categories of barriers to successful enterprise development on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. These barriers are: high levels of conflict and mistrust, socio-cultural norms and values that can work against success, a lack of human capital, a poor institutional framework and economic and structural factors. There were four categories of factors found that support the development of successful Indigenous enterprise: developing business acumen, integrating culture within the enterprise, separating business from community politics and greater independence from government. While definitions of success varied across the region there were common objectives for Indigenous enterprise, such as eliminating welfare dependency and maintaining a link to land. Ultimately, success for Indigenous enterprise was deemed to be business survival, but in ways that are congruent with each Indigenous community?s values. The findings in this research emphasize that certain cultural attributes may act to constrain successful enterprise development, but can be integrated into an enterprise through changes in enterprise structure, or practice, to support successful economic outcomes. The research also emphasizes the importance of institutional settings on human capital and successful enterprise development in the region. This study?s findings can potentially guide and inform further research in this field. The research develops a number of policy recommendations which offer potential support to policymakers in addressing the important social problem of Indigenous disadvantage through enterprise development initiatives. / This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. This study is the most recent rigorous scholarly work of IED on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008

This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. This study is the most recent rigorous scholarly work of IED on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. The focus of this research is on Indigenous commercial enterprise development at a communal and individual level. Indigenous enterprise development is said to be different from other forms of enterprise development because of the legal rights of Indigenous peoples and because of particular cultural attributes, such as different perceptions of property rights in the Indigenous context and an emphasis on values like collectivism and sharing. These differences are found to shape notions of success and approaches to development. The research reviews literature in the international and domestic context on Indigenous economic development and Indigenous entrepreneurship. It also draws from internal and external documents of relevant institutions and news sources. These sources and findings are then built upon with fifty six in-depth, face-to-face interviews of selected participants who are experts or opinion leaders on IED in the region. These participants represented a variety of interest groups such as the government, academia, the Indigenous community and businesses from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures in the Northern Territory. This study used a qualitative research approach for data collection and analysis. The researcher utilized a qualitative data analysis method, including the reporting of field notes, preparation of field notes into transcripts, coding of data, display of data, the development of conclusions, and creation of a report. This study identified five categories of barriers to successful enterprise development on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. These barriers are: high levels of conflict and mistrust, socio-cultural norms and values that can work against success, a lack of human capital, a poor institutional framework and economic and structural factors. There were four categories of factors found that support the development of successful Indigenous enterprise: developing business acumen, integrating culture within the enterprise, separating business from community politics and greater independence from government. While definitions of success varied across the region there were common objectives for Indigenous enterprise, such as eliminating welfare dependency and maintaining a link to land. Ultimately, success for Indigenous enterprise was deemed to be business survival, but in ways that are congruent with each Indigenous community?s values. The findings in this research emphasize that certain cultural attributes may act to constrain successful enterprise development, but can be integrated into an enterprise through changes in enterprise structure, or practice, to support successful economic outcomes. The research also emphasizes the importance of institutional settings on human capital and successful enterprise development in the region. This study?s findings can potentially guide and inform further research in this field. The research develops a number of policy recommendations which offer potential support to policymakers in addressing the important social problem of Indigenous disadvantage through enterprise development initiatives. / This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. This study is the most recent rigorous scholarly work of IED on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008

The intent of the thesis is to ascertain whether mitigation of political risk to the IT industry in Panama can be of value to the country by improving the economy and standard of living.

This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. This study is the most recent rigorous scholarly work of IED on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. The focus of this research is on Indigenous commercial enterprise development at a communal and individual level. Indigenous enterprise development is said to be different from other forms of enterprise development because of the legal rights of Indigenous peoples and because of particular cultural attributes, such as different perceptions of property rights in the Indigenous context and an emphasis on values like collectivism and sharing. These differences are found to shape notions of success and approaches to development. The research reviews literature in the international and domestic context on Indigenous economic development and Indigenous entrepreneurship. It also draws from internal and external documents of relevant institutions and news sources. These sources and findings are then built upon with fifty six in-depth, face-to-face interviews of selected participants who are experts or opinion leaders on IED in the region. These participants represented a variety of interest groups such as the government, academia, the Indigenous community and businesses from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures in the Northern Territory. This study used a qualitative research approach for data collection and analysis. The researcher utilized a qualitative data analysis method, including the reporting of field notes, preparation of field notes into transcripts, coding of data, display of data, the development of conclusions, and creation of a report. This study identified five categories of barriers to successful enterprise development on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. These barriers are: high levels of conflict and mistrust, socio-cultural norms and values that can work against success, a lack of human capital, a poor institutional framework and economic and structural factors. There were four categories of factors found that support the development of successful Indigenous enterprise: developing business acumen, integrating culture within the enterprise, separating business from community politics and greater independence from government. While definitions of success varied across the region there were common objectives for Indigenous enterprise, such as eliminating welfare dependency and maintaining a link to land. Ultimately, success for Indigenous enterprise was deemed to be business survival, but in ways that are congruent with each Indigenous community?s values. The findings in this research emphasize that certain cultural attributes may act to constrain successful enterprise development, but can be integrated into an enterprise through changes in enterprise structure, or practice, to support successful economic outcomes. The research also emphasizes the importance of institutional settings on human capital and successful enterprise development in the region. This study?s findings can potentially guide and inform further research in this field. The research develops a number of policy recommendations which offer potential support to policymakers in addressing the important social problem of Indigenous disadvantage through enterprise development initiatives. / This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. This study is the most recent rigorous scholarly work of IED on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008