published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

This study is about the place of traditional authorities in local level land administration and rural governance in contemporary Mozambique. It came about as a result of the publication of the Decree 15/2000 that recognised traditional authorities after their abolition more than 20 years earlier. This study seeks to examine four inter-related themes: the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration in Mozambique / why the government recognised traditional authorities in the year 2000 after having abolished them more than 20 years earlier / whether the recognition of hereditary traditional authorities is consistent with principles of democracy / and lastly to investigate whether the practices taking place on the ground are an expression of democracy as envisaged by the country&rsquo / s constitution.<br /> <br /> The study is based on documental research on the subject, as well as on fieldwork in the community of Chirindzene, Gaza Province in Southern Mozambique. It argues that generalisations about the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration may be misleading. Drawing from the case study in Chirindzene, it shows that it was only the lowest level of the traditional authority structure (the lineage level) that continued having influence in land allocation and distribution after independence in this area. With regard to the recognition of traditional authorities, the study argues that an appreciation of the changing global context is important to understand this dramatic shift. The study argues that the Decree 15/2000 and its regulations are weakening the democratic experience initiated in 1970s by allowing rural populations be ruled by hereditary rulers who are not elected. For this reason, the rural population does not enjoy full citizenship rights because they are ruled by both elected structures and appointed ones.

The central government has attached great importance to the development of rural enterprises in China. As a result, rural enterprises have developed rapidly and become an important part of the national economy. The primary aim of this study was to examine how public policy has influenced the development of rural enterprises. The changes in public policy since 1978 did play a positive role in developing rural enterprises. These positive roles have been manifested in the ideological base of policy, financial and tax policies, improving management and technological strategy.

This research is an ethnographic case study of the emerging ecotourism economies in the agricultural village of San Gerardo de Rivas, Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica. Due to the village’s location as the main entry point to climb the country’s tallest mountain within Chirripó National Park, the majority of households in San Gerardo now derive some income from tourism. I conducted twenty household surveys, followed by twenty-one semi-structured interviews with male and female heads of households and representatives of local organizations and tourism businesses. Drawing on local perspectives, I found that ecotourism was a complementary income source to agriculture and that men and women were engaging differently in ecotourism employment. Local organizations were involved in the participatory management of ecotourism activities within Chirripó National Park. Ecotourism has affected environmental practices and local people are strategically negotiating the direction of tourism development, including through using environmental discourses, to optimize the benefits to their community.

This thesis explores the innovation and development of the Canadian wine industry. The main objectives are to present the key development factors, innovation, and collaborations, with particular emphasis on collaborations with higher education institutes. It also empirically assesses the extent to which there are differences among the wine producing regions of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. The empirical analysis is based on a firm-level survey of 146 firms. The results show that the Canadian wine production is highly innovative and knowledge intensive. Despite that the wine industry in Canada has developed differently according to its regional context, the pattern of innovation is rather similar among firms.

The global political system forms the backdrop to the changing function of the state and the emergence of new governing systems. This thesis develops a particular governance narrative in relation to endogenous rural development within the South West of England through the European Union’s (EU) LEADER+ rural development programme. This programme is important because it sits firmly within a wider set of discourses on the ‘new governance’. This discourse spans wider debates over emerging forms of deliberative democracy, European governance and globalisation. The LEADER programmes approach to governance is framed as a means to facilitate enhanced deliberative practice through‘partnership’ arrangements at the local level, and in turn ensure ‘local people’ and their‘communities’ develop in line with their strengths. This approach to governance, developed through the regional studies literature, is seen as a means to meet those challenges presented by the global economic epoch. There is a strong rhetoric on the potential of the LEADER approach, but this rhetoric does not result in effective deliberative processes and outputs. The LEADER programme fails to break free from its wider political contexts and the governmentalities of the state. These enable powerful actors to manipulate the political system and its objectives. This is possible through the even wider context of global governance, which helps us understand that relations of power no longer follow linear channels, that gateways once closed are now open (and vice versa), and that policy networks now stretch both horizontally and vertically beyond the traditional confines of state power.

The biocultural heritage and diversity of localised food systems are resources that some communities, governments and other actors are mobilising to pursue their development objectives. However, further understanding is needed to determine how regimes of access and benefit surrounding this collectively held heritage are affected by its use in development projects. This dissertation examines rural development involving interventions in the food systems of the Central Valley of Tarija, Bolivia, and the ripple effects on the people who depend on these systems for their survival as producers, intermediaries and consumers. Core themes relate to personal histories and experiences of change and continuity in household economies and diet, and the role of biocultural heritage within localised food systems. These are examined in relation to processes of territorial construction and ordering through development programs and less planned processes of global and environmental change. Data were gathered through a food systems methodology, acknowledging the complex, interdependent relationships among production, transformation, exchange and consumption. The primary methods used were semi-structured interviews with local producers, intermediaries, consumers and government and non-governmental organisation key informants, complemented by participant observation, surveys, and document review. I found edible biocultural heritage to be a key resource in territorial projects seeking to alter current and future conditions of the Central Valley territory. From the 1970s onward, agricultural production possibilities available to research participant households have narrowed because of land enclosures, market integration, and other intersecting factors ultimately favouring transition towards commodity production (Chapter 2). Some smallholder viticulturalists, however, have incorporated grape production within multi-species agroecosystems to balance the risks and benefits of participation in the expanding commercial sector (Chapter 3). Edible biocultural heritage is being mobilised within multiple territorial projects in the Central Valley, including a gourmet project (Chapter 4) and an alternative food network around campesino gastronomic heritage (Chapter 5), with distinct ecological, economic and sociocultural implications. Whose heritage (or aspects of heritage) is carried forward and given precedence within development processes, and whose is rendered less viable and visible, has significant impacts on food systems’ form and function, the representations of local identity they manifest and the livelihood possibilities they entail. / February 2017

M.A. / Providing water services to a community takes careful planning and consideration. It is essential that communities are included from the onset in the processes of the project so that their needs, expectations and circumstances can influence decision-making as well as the activities required for the installation and subsequent delivery of the service. This type of involvement is referred to as community participation and it is a very important aspect when a new development takes place in any sector. This study investigated the nature of community participation that took place when a rural village in the Limpopo Province, South Africa, received a water service from the government. This study also assessed the impacts (beneficial and detrimental) on the needs and expectations of the new water system and the level of satisfaction with the service from the viewpoint of community residents. The methods that were used to gather data were focus group meetings, in-depth interviews and a satisfaction survey. The investigation revealed that community participation was not very extensive and was limited to community meetings and labour by community residents. Seven potential benefits of participation, namely, better health, quality of life, equal benefits, human rights, employment opportunities, affordability and sustainable development were identified, but most of the respondents claimed to have only experienced the health benefit from these positive outcomes. Concerns were mostly about the municipality’s insufficient consultation and the tap water not being easily accessible and constantly available. The satisfaction survey confirmed these complaints. Although the study could not show that the dissatisfaction of the community was related to low levels of community participation at the onset of the water service and the lack thereof afterwards, it was recommended that ongoing community participation can resolve the issues that the community might have with the water service and its provider.

M.A. / The study deals with the nature and problems of traditional leadership and the variables that influence the interface between traditional leadership in shared rural local governance within the context of an interactive government framework. Due to South Africa’s specific history and the power that the Apartheid regime instilled on traditional leaders, the country has somewhat of a unique situation. Therefore, the emphasis falls on the South African context. The general aim of the study is, therefore, to analyse the concepts and legislative requirements related to traditional leadership. Furthermore, it aims to determine how traditional leaders could help Government in its rural development effort to deliver more effective services to rural people. This enquiry is premised on the view that the institutionalisation of traditional leaders has been constitutionally and statutorily recognised and can make an important contribution to shared rural local governance on a political, economic, social and cultural level. It remains an important link between the local government and rural communities. As such, traditional leaders play a vital role in the development process. Furthermore, traditional leaders are important with regard to resource mobilisation, political stability and policy implementation in shared rural governance. In general, the study reveals that, despite modernisation, traditional leaders are still influential actors in the rural life of communities in South Africa. Furthermore, attempts to strip them of their formal powers, such as the allocation of land and jurisdiction in criminal cases, have not reduced their influence. In the light of the above argument, the institution of traditional leaders remains influential because it has been able and continues to adapt itself to the changing modern environment.

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