• Refine Query
  • Source
  • Publication year
  • to
  • Language
  • 286
  • 40
  • 15
  • 6
  • 1
  • Tagged with
  • 420
  • 138
  • 122
  • 113
  • 75
  • 63
  • 59
  • 55
  • 52
  • 52
  • 49
  • 47
  • 47
  • 43
  • 41
  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
331

Protected Areas, Tourism and Rural Community Livelihoods in Botswana

January 2013 (has links)
abstract: Firstly, this study uses community asset mapping guided by the Community Capitals Framework (CCF) to explore the linkages between Protected Areas (PAs), tourism and community livelihoods. Secondly, it assesses changes in community needs facilitated by community participation in wildlife-based tourism in a protected area setting. Thirdly and finally, the study assesses whether the introduction of community wildlife-based tourism in a protected area as a sustainable management tool has led to the spiraling up or down of community capitals. The study adopted qualitative research method approach and made use of data collected through community asset mapping supplemented by data from focus group discussions, households, key informants, and secondary data materials that were analyzed and interpreted in light of community capital framework. The Chobe National Park (CNP) and Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust (CECT); a community living adjacent to CNP in Botswana provides the context on which this study's discussion focuses. Results indicate that the accession of Botswana from colonialism through post colonialism era intertwined considerable institutional arrangement changes in the field of protected area governance that reflects evolutionary management styles. Protected areas, tourism and community livelihoods linkages are based on many inter-dependents of community capitals relationships which are dependent on community socio-economic activities. In assessing changes in community needs, the results indicate that participation in wildlife-based tourism has brought both positive and negative changes that have implications on both the status quo for community livelihoods and protected areas, namely; the influence of changes in community capitals dynamics, mechanization and commercialization of agriculture, government funded infrastructural development, income generation, and the commodification of some of the community capitals. Finally, the increased livelihoods options and diversification dynamics, fragile wildlife-livestock co-existence, heightened human-wildlife conflicts, environmental education and awareness are the emerging themes that explain how the introduction of tourism in a protected area setting affect the spiraling up and down of the community capitals dynamics. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Community Resources and Development 2013
332

Wetland Conversion to large-scale agricultural production; implications on the livelihoods of rural communities, Yala Swamp, Lake Victoria basin, Kenya.

Kinaro, Zachary January 2008 (has links)
Wetlands in most parts of the world are under threat of over-exploitation, loss and/or degradation partly due to agriculture and urban land uses. Yala swamp, the largest fresh water wetland in Kenya measuring about 17,500 ha supports a large biodiversity and is source of livelihoods to communities around it. This study addresses the situation where part of this wetland is converted into large-scale agriculture by a multinational company, Dominion Farms (K) Ltd resulting into a conflict and controversy amongst key stakeholders. The study sought to investigate livelihood impacts this transformation has for the local community. It employs the concepts Stakeholder Analysis (SA) and Sustainable Livelihood Approaches (SLA) to asses the livelihood situation in terms of socio-economic conditions, rural infrastructure, income diversification, food security and environmental issues. Data and information have been obtained from primary and secondary sources through field survey at the Yala wetland, in which randomly sampled small-scale farmers, fisher folk, Dominion employees, local leaders and informants, traders and other stakeholders were interviewed using questionnaire and other participatory methods. The main questions were designed to gain information about historical use of the wetland, changes in livelihoods and wetland before and after entry of Dominion Company into the area. From the study, it is evident that assessment of the key stakeholders in relation to this natural resource is of utmost importance for mapping out an acceptable management strategy for the wetland. Besides being cause to a conflict and controversy over control of and access to the swamp, the conversion has resulted into both negative and positive short-term and long-term livelihood impacts to the local community. The wetland being a contested resource with multiple users who claim a stake on it requires a holistic approach in its management that caters for divergent needs and views of key stakeholder groups. The study identifies management issues and proposes abroad vision for the future including recommendations for planning as well as suggestions for specific research needs that should form the basis of action
333

Transferências condicionadas de renda e modos de vida no Vale do Ribeira paulista: o programa bolsa família afeta a diversidade de recursos naturais que domicílios rurais dependem? / Conditional cash transfers and livelihoods in the Ribeira Valley: does the Bolsa Família Program affect the diversity of natural resources that rural households depend on?

Jordano Roma Buzati 09 October 2017 (has links)
A diversidade é uma característica central dos modos de vida rurais campesinos. As explicações para tal são principalmente duas. Por um lado, porque a diversificação de produtos e atividades pode promover ganhos econômicos e, por outro, porque reduz os riscos. A teoria de escolha racional prediz que unidades domésticas semiautárquicas buscariam maximizar uma função utilidade e, para isso, ao se integrarem ao mercado, tenderiam a se especializar nos produtos e nas atividades com maior retorno econômico. Contudo, em contextos de incerteza, como aqueles rurais remotos, estas unidades tenderiam a diversificar os produtos e as atividades de que dependem para tamponar eventuais flutuações no consumo e na renda. A esse respeito, resultados de estudos prévios que avaliaram o efeito da introdução de novas fontes de renda monetária sobre a diversidade de produtos e atividades baseados em recursos naturais que unidades domésticas rurais dependem são inconclusivos. Parte mostra que incrementos nas fontes de renda estão associados à redução na diversidade de atividades e produtos que as unidades domésticas dependem, enquanto outros indicam manutenção ou mesmo aumento da diversidade. Há, contudo, poucas evidências sobre os efeitos das transferências condicionadas de renda sobre o uso de recursos naturais por unidades domésticas rurais. Portanto, este estudo teve por objetivo investigar se as transferências de renda do Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) estavam associadas à diversidade de produtos e fontes de renda baseados em recursos naturais que os domicílios rurais do Vale do Ribeira dependem. Para isso, o estudo baseou-se em um survey por entrevistas presenciais aos chefes (homem ou mulher) de 123 domicílios rurais. Os domicílios foram amostrados em oito setores censitários com concentração de pobreza e variabilidade no nível de cobertura florestal. Para a análise dos dados, foram adotados procedimentos descritivos, testes não paramétricos de Wilcoxon e o método de Pareamento por Escore de Propensão. Os resultados indicaram que o PBF não teve efeitos significativos na diversidade de produtos agropecuários ou ambientais que os domicílios dependeram no último mês, ou no número de fontes de renda baseadas em recursos naturais. Possíveis explicações da ausência de efeitos passam por motivadores na base de tomada de decisão, limitações do delineamento adotado ou particularidades da localidade. A conclusão é que o PBF não afeta as decisões quanto à diversificação do uso de recursos naturais que dependem os domicílios rurais nos locais do estudo. / Diversity is a central feature of peasant rural livelihoods. The enlightenments for this are mainly two. On the one hand, the diversification of products and activities can promote economic improvements and, on the other hand, it can reduce risks. The theory of rational choice predicts that semi-autonomous domestic units would aim to maximize a utility function and, in order to do so, once market-integrated, would tend to specialize in the products and activities with the highest economic return. However, in contexts of uncertainty, such as in remote rural areas, these units would lean towards the diversification of products and activities they rely on, in order to overcome possible fluctuations in consumption and income. In this regard, results from previous studies that have evaluated the effect of introducing new sources of monetary income on the diversity of products and activities based on natural resources, which rural households depend on, are inconclusive. Part shows that increases in sources of income are associated with a reduction in the diversity of activities and products that households rely on, while others indicate maintenance or even an increase in diversity. There is, however, little evidence on the effects of conditional cash transfers on the usage of natural resources by rural households. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether income transfers from the Bolsa Família Program (PBF) were associated to the diversity of products and sources of income based on natural resources that rural households in the Ribeira Valley depend on. In order to do so, the study was based on a survey, applied by interviews held personally to family leaders (man or woman) of 123 rural households. Households were sampled within eight census tracts according to poverty concentration and variability at the level of forest cover. For the data analysis, were applied descriptive procedures, non-parametric Wilcoxon tests and the Method of Propensity Score. The results indicated that the PBF had no significant effect on the diversity of agricultural or environmental products that households relied on in the last month or on the number of natural resource-based sources of income. Possible explanations to this absence of effects go through motivators based on decision-making, limitations on the adopted proposal design, or particularities of the locality. The conclusion is that the PBF does not affect decisions regarding the diversification of the usage of natural resources that rural households at these study sites depend on.
334

Resiliência de modos de vida na Praia do Aventureiro, Ilha Grande (RJ) : uma trajetória de mudanças socioecológicas / Livelihoods resilience at Praia do Aventureiro, Ilha Grande (RJ) : a pathway of social-ecological changes

Prado, Deborah Santos, 1988- 23 August 2018 (has links)
Orientador: Cristiana Simão Seixas / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T17:38:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Prado_DeborahSantos_M.pdf: 4539004 bytes, checksum: 00ac403fb11bb6fbee316a66f55a9ed8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: O resumo poderá ser visualizado no texto completo da tese digital / Abstract: The abstract is available with the full electronic document / Mestrado / Ecologia / Mestra em Ecologia
335

’The site strikes back’: multi-level forest governance and participation in northern Finland

Sarkki, S. (Simo) 09 December 2011 (has links)
Abstract New forms of environmental governance are implemented with promises associated with more flexible and participatory decision-making. However, resistance towards these ways of doing decisions occurs also in relation to forests in northern Finland. This thesis seeks to explain this resistance and to discuss how participation in the context of multi-level environmental governance can be enhanced. A combination of anthropological fieldwork methods and concepts from environmental politics is used to create a bottom-up research strategy to examine forest governance. Based on theme interviews, planning documents and press releases of various actors, this thesis identifies problems for hybrid forest governance modes, which combine State, market, and civil society actors in decision-making processes. Based on selected topical case studies regarding state-owned commercial forests in Inari, Forest Lapland, Muonio, and Liperinsuo three different governance modes are identified: a State-based mode with a participatory dimension and two ‘pressure’ modes taking place via market-based campaigns of environmental NGOs and local protests. Concerning the protected areas, namely Malla Strict Nature Reserve and the Pallas-Ylläs and Oulanka national parks, one governance mode is identified as taking place on the vertical park managements – international conservation agencies – local resource users axis. A major explanation for resistance towards the different governance modes is that decision-making processes neglect site-specifics. Related problems include missing stakeholders, lack of site-specific discussions in planning processes, generalised concepts used in standardisation practices, engagement of ‘faraway’ stakeholders in decision processes, and lack of transparency. As a result, ‘the site strikes back’ responses, i.e. pressure campaigns, protests, opposition, and rumours have emerged. In order to mitigate resistance, this thesis proposes ways to enhance participation and deliberation in forest governance. However, the utility of these suggestions is challenged by polarised views and a lack of trust between the different parties. Finally, hypotheses explaining resistance towards decision-making are formulated. Also, contributions to environmental anthropology are outlined, and further questions relevant for research on environmental governance are posed. / Tiivistelmä Uudet ympäristöhallinnan muodot lupaavat parempaa kansalaisosallistumista ja joustavuutta päätöksentekoon. Kuitenkin näitäkin hallinnan muotoja vastustetaan myös Pohjois-Suomen metsiin liittyen. Tässä väitöskirjassa pyritään selittämään vastarintaa metsien hallintaa kohtaan valtion omistamissa talousmetsissä ja suojelualueilla. Väitöskirjassa yhdistetään antropologisia kenttätyömenetelmiä ja ympäristöpolitiikan käsitteitä. Pohjaten teemahaastatteluihin, suunnitteludokumentteihin, lehdistötiedotteisiin ja www-sivuihin tämä väitöskirja määrittää ongelmia hybrideille hallinnan ja päätöksenteon muodoille, jotka koostuvat valtioon, markkinoihin ja kansalaisyhteiskuntaan liittyvien toimijoiden vuorovaikutuksesta. Pohjaten ajankohtaisiin metsäkiistoihin Inarissa, Metsä-Lapissa, Muoniossa ja Liperinsuolla kolme erilaista hallinnan muotoa erotellaan: valtiovetoinen hallinnan muoto, johon kansalaisyhteiskunta linkittyy osallistavien prosessien kautta sekä kaksi ”painostusmuotoa”, jotka koostuvat ympäristöjärjestöjen markkinapohjaisista kampanjoista sekä paikallislähtöisistä protesteista. Mallan, Pallas-Ylläksen ja Oulangan suojelualueisiin liittyen määritellään yksi hallinnan muoto, joka muodostuu puistojen hallinnoista, kansainvälisistä suojelutoimijoista sekä paikallisista luonnonkäyttäjistä. Näitä hallinnan muotoja yhdistää se, että niiden kohtaama vastarinta johtuu paikkakohtaisen päätöksenteon puutteista. Ongelmat liittyvät päätöksentekoprosesseista puuttuviin intressiryhmiin, suunnitteluprosesseissa käytyjen keskustelujen yleisluonteisuuteen, yleispätevien käsitteiden käyttöön standardoimisprosesseissa erityisesti suojelualueilla, läpinäkyvyyden puutteeseen sekä kaukaisten toimijoiden osallistumiseen paikallisiin päätöksiin. Näiden ongelmien seurauksena paikkakohtaisuutta ei huomioida riittävästi hallinnassa, mistä seuraa ’paikan vastaisku’ protestien, huhujen, vastustuksen ja kampanjoiden muodossa. Vastarinnan syntymistä voitaisiin ehkäistä parantamalla osallistumista ja neuvottelua, joskaan parannusehdotuksetkaan eivät ratkaise luottamuksen puutteeseen ja osapuolten näkemysten napaistumiseen liittyviä ongelmia. Väitöskirjassa luodaan hypoteeseja, jotka selittävät ympäristöhallinnan kohtaamaa vastarintaa. Lisäksi väitöskirja tarjoaa antia sekä uusia tutkimuskysymyksiä erityisesti ympäristöantropologialle.
336

Walking the tight rope : Informal livelihoods and social networks in a West African city

Lourenço-Lindell, Ilda January 2002 (has links)
Trends towards ‘informalization’ are looming large in the world today. African cities have long been characterised by the presence of an ‘informal sector’ but are now experiencing new waves of ‘informalization’. Policies of liberalisation and structural adjustment are both changing the conditions under which urban dwellers make a living and encouraging states to abdicate from responsibilities for popular welfare. In this context, urbanites increasingly rely on informal ways of income earning and of social security provisioning. This book is about processes of ‘informalization’ in the West African city of Bissau in Guinea-Bissau. It begins with a historical account of the way conditions of informality have evolved through the encounter of locally specific forms of informal relations with colonialism and the socialist era. This is followed by an analysis of how disadvantaged groups who rely on informal ways of provisioning are faring in the context of contemporary changes. The study looks at both the informal income-generating activities and the social networks that urbanites engage in to sustain their income activities and their consumption. It seeks to assess whether these groups are coping with these wider changes or are becoming marginalised from networks of assistance and from activities that provide sufficient incomes. The social relations pervading access to support and livelihood resources as well as the informal rules governing such access are in focus. Forms of regulation in the informal sphere are also discussed. / <p>This thesis won the prize of “Best doctoral thesis in the Social Sciences at Stockholm University in 2001-2002”. Författaren är numera verksam vid Nordiska Afrikainstitutet</p>
337

Women and land: acces to and use of land and natural resources in the communal areas of rural South Africa

Arends, Ursula F. January 2009 (has links)
Magister Artium - MA / The typical face of poverty in South Africa is African, rural, and female. As the primary users of rural land, women engage in farming and subsistence activities. Despite this pivotal role played by rural women, they experience grave problems under communal tenure, most notably in relation to access to and use of land and productive resources. Research has shown that the majority of rural households in South Africa derive significant proportions of their livelihoods from land-based activities, and that the value of common property resources associated with land, for example livestock production, crop production, and natural resource harvesting is often overlooked as an important asset of poor rural communities. The importance of these landbased livelihoods sources is even greater for female-headed households, female members of rural households, and the very poor or 'marginalised' members of rural communities, since they tend to be more reliant on landbased livelihoods than those with secure income from pensions, wageearning activity or remittances from migrant labourers. The importance of security of land tenure to the sustainability of rural livelihoods, particularly insofar as rural women are concerned, is the central focus of this study. / South Africa
338

Allocation and use of water for domestic and productive purposes: an exploratory study from the Letaba river catchment

Masangu, T.G. January 2009 (has links)
Magister Economicae - MEcon / In this thesis, I explore the allocation and use of water for productive and domestic purposes in the village of Siyandhani in the Klein Letaba sub-area, and how the allocation and use is being affected by new water resource management and water services provision legislation and policies in the context of water reform. This problem is worth studying because access to water for domestic and productive purposes is a critical dimension of poverty alleviation.The study focuses in particular on the extent to which policy objectives of greater equity in resource allocation and poverty alleviation are being achieved at local level with the following specific objectives: to establish water resources availability in Letaba/Shingwedzi sub-region, specifically surface and groundwater and examine water uses by different sectors (e.g. agriculture, industry, domestic, forestry etc.,); to explore the dynamics of existing formal and informal institutions for water resources management and water services provision and the relationship between and among them; to investigate the practice of allocation and use of domestic water; to investigate the practice of allocation and use of irrigation water.The study concludes that there is a problem of water scarcity in the study area and that the water scarcity is caused by the growth in the population, specifically in the Giyani area; these problems are exacerbated by financial and institutional obstacles within local institutions of governance. The water scarcity is not, therefore, natural but anthropogenic in nature.The water scarcity is not felt by all sectors, however: some farmers have access to water for irrigation, while many others face great challenges in their farming activities.Overall, people in Siyandhani and surrounding villages surrounding villages in the Letaba Catchment do not have access to water because of human action, hence the use of the concept of manufactured scarcity. The lack of access to water, it is argued,leads to the violation of the human right to water. This study concludes that water reform, which is widely seen as a priority for South Africa, has not yet reached the villages of the Klein Letaba.
339

Ideologies and discourses underpinning paradigms of small-scale farmer development: a critical analysis of state and non-governmental extension support programmes in uPhongolo, KwaZulu-Natal

Yeni, Sithandiwe January 2013 (has links)
Magister Scientiae - MSc / As a means to reduce poverty particularly in rural areas, the South African government has placed great emphasis on the development of small-scale farmers into becoming commercial farmers. Central to this effort is the provision of agricultural extension support, as reflected in the 1995 White Paper on Agriculture (DOA, 1995), African National Congress (ANC) policy resolutions of 2007 (ANC, 2007) and a 2011 extension recovery plan (DAFF, 2011). Parallel to this policy process, a growing role of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in supporting small-scale farmers, and criticising the governmental approach is observed. Biowatch is one example of this kind of NGO that, aside from its direct support to farmers, advocates for an alternative approach that embraces ‘subsistence’ farming. The academic literature suggests that existing agricultural policies are too generic and therefore fail to accommodate the different types of small-scale farmers that are found in rural areas, resulting in poor policy impact. This thesis seeks to establish the ideological thinking underpinning two paradigms of small-scale farmer development in South Africa and explores what they look like in practice, while analysing how they produce and reproduce class differentiation, and the emergence of various livelihood trajectories. Through qualitative research conducted in one case study site (the village Emagengeni in Northern KwaZulu- Natal) the views of farmers (beneficiaries of extension support as well as non-receivers) have been elicited and so contribute to a clear picture of what is happening there. In addition, experiences and perceptions of government extension officers, provincial officials and a Biowatch official are taken into account. Theoretically, the study is framed using Cousins’ (2011) class analytical perspectives on smallscale farming in South Africa which distinguish between three types of ‘petty commodity producers’, i.e. (i) petty commodity producers that produce to meet most of their social reproduction needs, (ii) petty commodity producers producing to partially meet their social reproduction needs and (iii) petty commodity producers producing enough to sell and make profit and start to accumulate capital. In addition, the categories described by Dorward et al (2009) in the ‘stepping up’, ‘hanging in’ ‘stepping out’ and ‘dropping out’ theory, are used to analyse the broad types of strategies pursued by poor people. The sustainable livelihoods framework is used to classify the various types of farming households observed. The main argument is that since 1994 the nature of public agricultural support has not met the needs of the majority of farmers in the country, i.e. poorly resourced farmers mostly located in the former homelands. This is because it is trying to make them into something they are not, i.e. commercial farmers and is focused on on-farm productivity and does not address wider market conditions. Although Biowatch demonstrates a more effective response to farmers’ needs, it is limited in its approach to agrarian transformation. The conclusion is that government’s fixation on the commercialisation of small-scale farmers perpetuates the existing and already problematic dualism within the agricultural sector.
340

Relations and agency in a transnational context : the Afghan diaspora and its engagements for change in Afghanistan

Fischer, Carolin January 2015 (has links)
This thesis is about the lives and civic engagements of Afghans in Germany and the UK. It shows how Afghans living in these two countries relate to Afghanistan, and to what extent they engage in transnational action aimed at promoting change there. In particular, it explores the emergence of diasporic communities and how members exercise agency as development actors in Afghanistan. The research rests on a qualitative case study conducted among Afghan populations in Germany and the UK. Semi-structured interviews and participant observation were primary methods of data collection. Relational sociology is used to capture emerging social identities, patterns of social organisation and forms of social engagement. A first notable finding is that Afghan populations abroad are fractured and cannot be seen as a united diaspora. People tend to coalesce in narrowly defined subgroups rather than under a shared national identity. Second, Afghanistan remains a crucial reference point, notwithstanding fragmented social organisation. Home country attachments tend to be tied to a desire for change and development in the country. Third, despite these shared concerns, transnational engagements are typically carried out by small groups and directed towards confined social spheres. Although people may take action in the name of an imagined Afghan community or an imaginary Afghanistan, this imagined community does not provide a basis for social mobilisation. Thus Afghans do not act as a cohesive diaspora. Fourth, transnational engagements are often a response to the specificities of the social environments in which people are embedded, notably their host countries. The findings show that a relational approach can specify how different dimensions of people’s social identities drive social action and are shaped in interaction with various elements of their social context. Such an actor-centred perspective helps to improve our understanding of how members of diasporas come to engage with their countries of origin.

Page generated in 0.0848 seconds