This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the indigenous management of geographically diverse small-scale agricultural production environments in Africa by investigating the effects of customary land allocation on the use of the land and sustainable agricultural development in Swaziland. This study addresses two questions: (a) to what extent has the heterogeneity of the natural environment been considered in the allocation of land for agricultural purposes; and (b) what are the implications of the existing land allocation system and current land allocation pattern on the development and sustainability of agricultural land use. The study focuses on semi-arid land. The land allocation efficiency is determined by comparing the spatial heterogeneity of the land with the pattern of land allocation. The analysis is carried out at a sub-regional scale, and a local scale in twelve study areas. Changes over time are studied by comparing current land allocation patterns with those at Independence (1968). This study has identified two apparent weaknesses in the customary land management system. The frrst is in the capacity to ensure an efficient land resource distribution at a subregional level. The second is in the ability to ensure consistent land allocation practices at a local level. The study provides evidence that these shortcomings are now affecting the production environment and opportunities for development, and that changes in the tenure system are required. The study findings partly support a recent land po licy initiative proposing a gradual devolution in land management responsibilities to local level management systems, but also raise two major concerns. First, the land policy initiative does not address the shortcomings in sub-regional land management. Second, the inconsistent land distribution found at a local level does not support the notion that devolution will necessarily lead to more sustainable levels of land use within communities. In the wider debate on the agrarian transformation in Africa, this study adds to the body of knowledge in identifying specific shortcomings of indigenous management systems in land distribution, and their effects on sustainable agricultural development and land management. The study thus extends the more critical strand of thought on the role of local and indigenous land management systems in this process, and thus on the effectiveness of the devolution of resource management to community levels. The study also demonstrates that land sufficiency and quality are important issues in the process of sustainable intensification in small-scale land use systems, and question the wider applicability of the optimistic development model, which is primarily based on economic considerations. Lastly, the fmdings support the critical view on the applicability of the evolutionary theory of land rights in conditions similar to those in Swaziland. The fmdings of this study confIrm the importance of considering spatial scale and diversity in land use related studies, and show that any inference from one level of scale to another can be highly misleading.

Land use change is one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity, and agricultural intensification has severely affected farmland birds in Europe. As a rapidly declining long-distance migrant and obligatory brood parasite, the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus is an interesting species on which to investigate the impacts of land use on birds. My thesis focuses on understanding the causes and mechanisms behind cuckoo declines in Britain by exploring relationships between land use, cuckoos, their hosts and adult cuckoo prey. Cuckoo population trends vary between habitat types, resulting in changes to cuckoo-habitat associations. There was little evidence of preference for semi-natural or agricultural habitats where cuckoos were widespread before their declines began, but they were strongly selective of semi-natural grass, heath and woodland by the 2000s while avoiding farmland. This suggests that female cuckoos specialised in parasitizing dunnocks (Prunella modularis) are now scarce while meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis) cuckoos have been retained in semi-natural habitats. However, as habitat cover had a consistently stronger statistical effect than host abundance on the presence or retention of cuckoos, the availability of other resources may limit current cuckoo distribution. The probability of cuckoo presence increased with the abundance of known cuckoo prey, predominantly large, hairy moth caterpillars. These species have undergone greater declines than other moths and their population trends also vary by habitat: abundance has increased in semi-natural habitats but declined in improved grassland and woodland. Therefore changing prey abundance may be a key driver of cuckoo declines in farmland. Although fundamental questions on the causes of cuckoo declines remain unanswered, maintaining semi-natural habitats as a stronghold for cuckoos in Britain might be an effective conservation strategy in the immediate future. However, measures adopted under agri-environment schemes which increase moth abundance may offer long-term mitigation of cuckoo declines while benefiting other insectivorous species.

No description available.

No description available.

The implementation of Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) in 2000 generated polarised debates across academia and in the media. Some commentators dismissed the FTLRP as a politically motivated ‘land grab’, which ruined a vibrant agrarian structure and contributed to food shortages. Landless peasants, who were the major beneficiaries of the land reform, were dismissed as inefficient and lacking the skills to work the land productively. However, empirical data gathered across Zimbabwe indicate that the outcomes of Zimbabwe’s FTLRP are diverse and require a nuanced analysis. This thesis explores the outcomes of land reform in terms of its impact on the livelihoods of peasant households who were resettled under the FTLRP. The thesis utilises empirical data to argue that, despite its shortcomings, the FTLRP has allowed peasant households to access land and other natural resources which were previously enclosed under a dualistic land tenure structure which had persisted after Zimbabwe’s independence from colonial rule in 1980. Data gathered in Mhondoro Ngezi District indicate that in the aftermath of land reform, resettled farmers now have access to better quality land and opportunities for employment at mines and through gold panning which have generally enhanced livelihoods. The thesis also argues that the benefits of land reform are broad and go beyond the utility of land as a means of production. Fast track land reform allowed people to recover ancestral lands lost during colonial era forced removals; it also allowed people to be reunited with ancestral graves and other symbols of spiritual significance. Overall, this has helped to address the diverse aspects of land which had remained largely unresolved due to the failure of Zimbabwe’s market driven land reforms of the early 1980s. The thesis is based on a case study of 185 households who were allocated land under the A1 Scheme (villagised model) in the Mhondoro Ngezi District in Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe.

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Geography / Master / Master of Arts in China Development Studies

Management decisions taken on one 80,000 acre estate over the course of a century, are examined to determine the extent to which architectural and other environmental improvements corresponded to a consistent strategic plan. Inconsistencies and departures are shown to be largely those of innovation prompted by wider social and economic forces, and to a lesser extent prompted by the personal whims and interests of successive owners. The specific strategic plan examined is that of the four generations of the Earldom of Findlater in Northeast Scotland. The selected period begins with relative impoverishment in 1707, and ends in 1793 with the transformation of the estate and the lives of the more than 6,000 people comprising it, into a prosperous condition through the creative force of technological and social innovations which were on balance deliberately and carefully imposed. Crucial decisions in this process were at first made by visionary proprietors, but authority, was later delegated to professional administrators and eventually to the larger community. Decisions have been firmly placed within the context of the larger world. Chapter two presents the evolution of national and regional conditions favorable to a spirit of improvement. Chapter three analyzes the estate's organization as though it were a contemporary corporate entity. Chapter four explores changing corporate attitudes towards innovation resulting in diversification of capital investment and in new architectural forms. Chapter Five examines the impact of innovative land use policies upon the 20,000 acres immediately surrounding the estate nucleus at Cullen. Chapters six and seven provide a detailed stylistic analysis of Cullen House as a corporate headquarters; the chapters are divided between the stylistic objectives achieved over a long term and those attempted by the last Earl. The effectiveness of the estate's long term management is evaluated within the final chapter. Although it will be argued that a strategic plan existed, it was not explicitly articulated as a document for public scrutiny, nor was it a conventional planning process. Much of the evidence of a strategic plan providing management continuity from one generation to the next is apparent only as assumed personal confidence between father and son, and husband and wife, unrecorded, but strongly inferred by the details of the estate records.

No description available.