<p>This Bachelor Thesis investigates the inherent conflict of preservation and livelihood, and what can be done to avoid this problem. The purpose of the study is to investigate if there is an enhanced risk of overexploitation in areas in proximity to forest reserves. This assumption is based on the fact that people living in close contact with nature are directly dependent on ecosystem-services for maintaining their livelihood. Hence, preservation of an area could result in degradation, if unprotected areas will have to sustain more people with, for example, firewood and pastoral land. Based on a field study in Babati District, Northern Tanzania, I have seen signs that imply that preservation of Ufiome, the forest covering Mt Kwaraa, has had effects on areas in proximity to the gazetted forest. The method used to conduct this study was semi-structured interviews with local farmers living in closeness to Ufiome NR, but also with district officials. Finally, I think that the solution to many of the problems that come with preservation are possible to handle by the use of Participatory Forest Management (PFM); Joint Forest Management (JFM) and Community Based Forest Management (CBFM). The key to coming to terms with conservational problems lies on scale-related solutions that focuses on implementing management of natural resources on a local level, claiming that fine-scale ecological issues are best dealt with on fine-scale social levels.</p>

<p>This is a case study about the Maasai and their land rights. The Maasai are semi-nomadic pastoralists, living in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. It is said that they came to this area, now called Maasailand, about 300 years ago. In the beginning, they were independent and free to walk and graze their cattle without limitations and regulations. But when the British and German colonizers of these countries came to Maasailand, they discovered the advantages of its nature and started creating reserves. The Maasai were not strong enough to resist and it resulted in a land loss of two thirds for them. This has forced them to change their livelihood. They have to combine their pastoral lifestyle with other ways to make a living.</p><p>The main purpose with the study is to look at how the land loss has affected the Maasai and their livelihoods. The essay is mainly built on secondary sources, but also on a field work from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with qualitative interviews. This is used here, in order to give an example of a conservation area where the Maasai and the wildlife successfully coexist. To be able to understand the changes in Maasai livelihoods, the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach has been adapted. With this approach, a more holistic view of the changes can be made. The land losses have not always brought negative results for the Maasai. They have been able to adapt a multiple livelihood, including pastoralism, agriculture and tourist industry. The Maasai might benefit more by adapting different assets; instead of only rely on one.</p>

The question of agro/pastoral livelihoods adaptation is gaining attention in the rural development arena but little empirical evidence exists that has examined the performance and impact of diversified enterprises on agro/pastoral livelihoods and the environment in the ASAL, and on how to effectively support such initiatives. Additionally, there has been little evaluation of the type of behavioural patterns that agro/pastoral communities need to evolve in order to engage in such initiatives. This research study endeavours to bridge this knowledge-gap and assist the ASAL communities, NGOs, CBOs and government departments to understand the skills and resources required to develop climate-resilient, environmentally and economically sustainable bio-enterprises. This study examines the roles of bio-enterprise initiatives in enabling agro/pastoralists to develop more resilient livelihoods and incentivising positive community-led natural resource management and draws on different bio-enterprise initiatives located across the drylands of Kenya. In this study data was collected through interviews, focus group discussions and from secondary data. The analysis of four agro/pastoral bio-enterprise initiatives compares the level of success of specifically orientated development-funded support schemes. A more in-depth study was made of one of the initiatives, the BDP. Two surveys were made one year apart and secondary data was collected of the BDP impact. This highlighted the probable factors that influence the communities’ up-take of these bio-enterprises. Results show that this diversification requires stakeholders and support-actors to gain a greater understanding of business development approaches. Other factors such as capacity development to ensure production meets market standards, strong linkages with ethical commercial operators, access to trade-finance and ongoing mentoring proved to be the main drivers of success in these initiatives. The results show that the outputs of the BDP service-providing activities and the ethical trade facilities have been a major factor in the level of success achieved by the BDP. The main policy implications that this study has shown are: Agro/pastoralists realise that they can improve their resilience, food security and incomes by developing bio-enterprises. If conducted using conservation practices, this is an effective conservation and drought management tool. Communities do not possess the necessary skills and business acumen to diversify from traditional activities. Due to the lack of market knowledge, business acumen and technical skills many development and government instigated rural enterprise initiatives have failed. The commercial sector has strong transferable skills and will assist in developing bio-enterprises where commercial gains can be attained. This study has shown that where government, development and the private sector work in synergy projects are more socially, environmentally and economically successful. International standards and certification for sustainable harvesting of indigenous plant materials will effectively assist communities to manage their natural resource utilization and market their products more competitively. Women have shown that they have control over small-scale diversified activities and are able to choose how to use the revenue they have raised. Due to the orientation of agro/pastoralists to collective-action a wide ripple-effect can be seen from well-targeted business development assistance such as: mentoring, skills development, access to affordable trade finance/capital, improved market opportunities and value-addition.

This study aims to investigate the influence of livelihood strategies and gender structures for climate change adaptation among rural households in two mid-hills agrarian mountain communities in Nepal. The Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) framework has been used to provide a holistic and micro-level perspective of livelihood strategies. The method used was qualitative semi-structured interviews to reach respondents views, opinions and feelings of their reality and experiences. Findings suggest climate change may increase smallholder agriculture households’ vulnerability in rural mid-hills mountain areas of Nepal, where women as a group are disproportionately affected; the success of livelihood diversification as a autonomous adaptation strategy to climate change is dependent on local opportunities and socioeconomic aspects and must be understood in the broader context, not just related to climate change; and livelihood strategies do not necessarily present equal opportunities for sustainable livelihoods for men and women, as it may even increase existing structures of gender inequalities. / Den här studien syftar till att undersöka hushålls anpassningsstrategier och genus-strukturers betydelse för klimatförändringar, på landsbygden i två medelhöga bergssamhällen i Nepal. Ramverket hållbara uppehällen (Sustainable Livelihoods, SL) har använts i denna studie för att ge ett holistiskt- och mikronivå perspektiv på anpassningsstrategier för landsbygdshushåll. Kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer har använts för att nå respondenternas vardag och erfarenheter i form av tankar, känslor och åsikter. Studien visar att klimatförändringar förmodligen ökar småskaliga jordbrukshushålls sårbarhet i medelhöga bergssamhällen på landsbygden, där kvinnor som grupp påverkas oproportionerligt i förhållande till män; att diversifiering av uppehällen som anpassningsstrategi till klimatförändringar är beroende av lokala möjligheter och socioekonomiska aspekter och måste förstås i en bredare kontext utöver enbart klimatförändringar; att olika anpassningsstrategier inte nödvändigtvis skapar lika möjligheter för män och kvinnor, denna studie indikerar istället på att det kan öka redan existerande ojämställda strukturer mellan män och kvinnor i hushållet.

Against a background of ongoing and predicted climatic and environmental change facing humans on a global level, this thesis combines historical perspectives with theories of social resilience in a study of reindeer husbandry in Swedish Sápmi, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. The thesis includes four individual studies that examine the topic from different angles, connected together by reoccurring elements of social resilience. The first paper analyses the adaptive capacity of reindeer husbandry communities in the northernmost part of Swedish Sápmi during the 19th to early 20th century, using materials from the Sami bailiffs’ archives, governors’ reports and documentation from official committees. The second paper is based on similar materials and explores livelihood diversity of reindeer husbandry in southern and northern regions of Swedish Sápmi from 1860 to 1920. The third paper examines the social networks of reindeer husbandry and includes an analysis on how these are represented in demographic sources at the turn of the 20th century. The fourth and final paper examines taxation lands as objects of place-attachment in a south Sami reindeer husbandry context from 1740 to 1870. The thesis demonstrates that communities and families practiced highly flexible herding in terms of what pasture area they used, when and how they used it and with whom. In order to maintain this flexibility, communities needed authority to manage their own livelihoods and a diverse and interconnected landscape. The results further show that reindeer husbandry was a dynamic and diverse livelihood, well into the 20th century. Fishing, hunting, trapping or farming was part of many reindeer herding families’ livelihoods. By tethering aspects of diversity to norms and ideals within the communities included in the study, I argue that farming can be understood as both an enforced adaptation and as an adaptive capacity depending on the ideals within the community in question. The thesis supports the notions that reindeer husbandry since long has faced many challenges, including: border closings; competing land uses; disturbance from settlers; enforced regulations and laws concerning reindeer husbandry; and restrictions of livelihood diversity. Furthermore, these challenges were not only sources of disturbances in their own right, but they also restricted the adaptive capacity of reindeer herding communities.

La population rurale des Hautes Terres Centrales de Madagascar se caractérise par un mode de vie qui entretient une relation très étroite entre les pratiques culturales, les liens sociaux et l'économie domestique des ménages. Cependant, malgré l'introduction d'innovations, ces ménages ruraux font face à une insuffisance de la production agricole et à un faible accès aux services publics de base. Cette situation influence la gestion de l'économie du ménage et sa qualité de vie. Gestion des récoltes, mobilisation des liens sociaux et régime des nouvelles pratiques innovantes sont donc autant de paramètre à considérer. Cette thèse, qui porte sur la Commune Rurale d'Ambalavao, vise alors à savoir dans quelles mesures et de quelles manières les familles mobilisent ces paramètres dans leur stratégie productives et leur vision de développement. / The rural population of the Malagasy Central Highlands stands for by a lifestyle which maintains a very close relationship between cultural manners an customs, social links and household economy. However, despite the introduction of innovations, those rural household are suffering from a shortage of agriculture production, and a low access to basic public services. This situation has an impact on the household economic management and in its life quality. As a result, different parameters like harvest managing, mobilization of social links, new innovating practices system must be taken into consideration. In that case, this argument concerning the rural district of Ambalavao aims at bringing knowledge how much these families manage to gather those parameters in their productive strategy and their vision of development.

Energy poverty and lack of access to electricity is a global problem which is recognised in the sustainable development goal 7. Today 1.2 billion people live without access to electricity and most of them are situated in Sub-Saharan Africa where biomass still constitutes the main source of energy. Rural areas are unproportionally affected by this throughout SSA since grid-extension has been slow and most rural dwellers are not connected to any form of electricity grid. Extending the grid to more isolated rural areas may however be economically and politically infeasible which is why off-grid solutions is an attractive solution to close the energy poverty gap. Off-grid solar energy has during recent years been increasingly promoted as viable solution to provide clean, affordable and accessible energy to rural households in SSA. While there is extensive research available on the economic feasibility and socioeconomic impacts of off-grid solar energy, there has been limited research with explicit focus on how livelihoods of rural households in SSA have been impacted from a sustainable livelihood perspective. This case study on Tanzania argues that the sustainable livelihoods perspective is crucial in getting a holistic understanding of how off-grid solar energy has impacted rural households in SSA. Through qualitative interviews with a number of households, businesses and social services in three rural villages located in the Tanga region, this study found that off-grid solar energy overall seemed to have a positive impact on the communities and the livelihoods of individual households. However, some concerns are also raised with the sustainability of off-grid solar energy. While it has great recognised potential and direct impact, some key challenges were identified as issue of energy security for the household and concerns of economic feasibility in the solar energy sector.

Esta dissertação aborda o tema das estratégias de meio de vida à luz das mudanças climáticas. Nesse sentido, a pesquisa se propõe a combinar três temáticas: o modo de vida dos camponeses, a percepção ambiental e a estratégia de meio de vida. Assim, a pesquisa procurou responder quais estratégias de meio de vida, as famílias adotam para enfrentam a seca que afeta a vida dos camponeses do posto de administrativo de Mahel, no distrito de Magude, na província de Maputo, em Moçambique. O objetivo principal da pesquisa é compreender as estratégias de meio de vida (reação ou adaptação) que as famílias camponesas adotam em função dos ativos disponíveis na unidade produtiva familiar, numa situação de mudanças climáticas, neste caso da seca que aflige as famílias camponesas do posto administrativo de Mahel. Para tal, formularam-se três hipóteses: (1): as famílias elaboram estratégias de meio de vida; (2): as estratégias de meio de vida estão em função dos ativos disponíveis na unidade produtiva familiar e dos fatores sociodemográficos; e (3): A partir de percepção das mudanças climáticas, os homens elaboram estratégias de meio de vida para responderem o impacto das mudanças climáticas. Convém mencionar que em função da complexidade dos dados que se pretendia coletar, estabeleceu-se método qualitativo (estudo de caso), através de entrevistas semiestruturadas centralizadas nos chefes dos agregados de onze famílias. A escolha das onze famílias deriva de um conjunto de fatores, como dispersão da população em pequenos territórios e produção na propriedade. Portanto, estabeleceu-se metodologia por etapa, isto é, uma pesquisa a partir de um local específico para posteriormente expandir para outras áreas. Vale mencionar que a escolha dos chefes dos agregados deve-se ao fato destes influenciarem nas estratégias de meio de vida nas unidades produtivas familiares. As variáveis de análise foram os ativos: humanos, naturais, sociais, financeiros e físicos. Deste modo, estavam criadas as condições para a realização da pesquisa, a qual veio confirmar as hipóteses, porque as famílias estabelecem estratégias de meio de vida em função dos ativos disponíveis na unidade produtiva familiar, sendo as estratégias determinadas pelos fatores sociodemográficos da unidade produtiva familiar. Para o caso específico do posto administrativo de Mahel, os ativos humanos e naturais têm mais impactos que os demais ativos. Assim, as famílias elaboram estratégias de reação, garantindo assim a manutenção do modo e condição de vida campesina, neste caso em apreço, a sobrevivência, o que significa que satisfaz a demanda interna com menor penosidade. / This dissertation addresses the issue of the strategies of livelihood in the light of climate change. In this sense, the research aims to combine three themes: the way of life of farmers, environmental awareness and the strategy of livelihood. Thus, the research sought to address what livelihood strategies, families adopt to face the drought that affects the lives of peasants Mahel administrative post in the Magude district of Maputo province in Mozambique. The main objective of the research is to understand the livelihood strategies (reaction or adaptation) that peasant families adopt depending on the assets available in the family production unit, in a situation of climate change, in this case the drought afflicting the peasant families of the post administrative Mahel. For this, three hypotheses were formulated: (1): families prepare livelihood strategies, (2): living through strategies are depending on the assets available in the family production unit and sociodemographic factors; and (3): From perception of climate change, the men prepare livelihood strategies to respond the impact of climate change. It should be noted that due to the complexity of the data that was intended to collect, was established qualitative method (case study), through centralized semi-structured interviews in the heads of households eleven families. The choice of the eleven families derived from a set of factors such as dispersion of the population of small regions and the production property. Therefore, it was established methodology by step, that is, a search from a specific location to further expand into other areas. It is worth mentioning that the choice of the aggregates of the heads is due to the fact that these influence the strategies of livelihood in family production units. The analysis variables were assets: human, natural, social, financial and physical. Thus were created the conditions for the research, which confirmed the hypothesis, because families establish livelihood strategies depending on the assets available in the family production unit, and the strategies determined by sociodemographic factors of family production unit . For the specific case of the administrative Mahel post, human and natural assets have more impacts than other assets. Thus, families prepare response strategies, thus ensuring the maintenance of order and peasant living conditions, in this case, survival, which means it meets domestic demand with less painfulness.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2006

Development non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are under immense pressure to adhere to the programs and methods put forth by external donors, particularly if the NGOs rely on the funding to sustain their own organizations. Those external donors that represent neoliberal ideologies and enforce neoliberal practices, particularly in the area of microfinance, maintain a power that most recipient NGOs cannot evade. This becomes a difficult position for the NGOs to navigate as they try to accomplish good work in their communities. This research project is a study into the experience of one NGO, the Egyptian Development Organization (EDO), as it implemented microfinance programs in rural Egypt. The study revealed that EDO maintained an overall, structural orientation towards foreign donors and audiences, and employed discourses that appealed to neoliberal ideologies and practices. For the NGO, this orientation went beyond an accommodating lip-service and resulted in the institutionalization of demand-driven microfinance. Additionally, through decentralization EDO transferred risks and responsibilities to a more local level, and required the infusion of neoliberal ideologies into the practices and actions of microfinance borrowers even before their loans were disbursed. This thesis argues that a point of disjuncture occurs as the context of neoliberalism, specifically the aims of material accumulation through the mechanism of microfinance, meets the program participants practices of the development and preservation of social and human capital. This study found that microfinance program participants are both accepting and reproducing the rhetoric, often in ways that defy their own experiences within it. Their high rates of participation in microfinance, as evidenced by repeated and multiple loans, are pronounced considering that few have achieved the increased economic and financial gains promised by neoliberalism and microfinance. By conceptually conflating financial and non-financial capital gains, loan recipients were able to go beyond tolerating rhetoric that does not come to fruition, and justify continuous participation in the program. By perceiving investments into non-financial gains as valuable, the participants altered their livelihood strategies new ways that may or may not secure against vulnerabilities in the long run.