Sustainability of biophysical soil and water conservation measures undertaken on communal land remains a challenge. This research was conducted in the two watersheds of Legambo district, Ethiopia, using a conservation project implemented as disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change. The study examined relevance and appropriateness of conservation measures and identified factors affecting sustainability. Findings show that population growth is high and crop production is the major source of income for all households. Crop income levels varied significantly (P<<0.01) with wealth status of households. Droughts, floods, crop diseases and frost are hazards that frequently occur in the area. Some conservation measures implemented were considered by communities as inappropriate. Low community participation, poor planning and unclear objectives and use rights, weak enforcement of by-laws and lack of maintenance of structures are the major challenges. Integrating family planning, enhancing participation of women, clarifying responsibilities and benefit sharing arrangements, enforcement of rules and building capacity are suggested to improve effectiveness and sustainability of conservation measures / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

This ethnography aims to identify the role of the Pentecostal beliefs that peasants in South Brazil use in justifying their life situations. Anthropological data were collected in the Sertão region of Jaguariaíva, in the Brazilian State of Paraná. An interpretative approach was used with concepts including the moral order of peasantness, moral economy, and multiple livelihood strategies. The core results indicated that Pentecostals in the countryside are not monolithic in terms of religion and have varying degrees of engagement with a variety of churches as well as their relations with the wider capitalism. Their economic and life-changing decisions are articulated by a moral order of peasantness expressed by dependence on Providence and the interpretation of events as a revelation of Divine will. The moral order is significant for maintaining viable peasant communities, orienting their relations to land, kinship, work, and consumption in a way that sets them apart from the “world.” Such findings question the Weberian explanations for the role of Pentecostalism in Latin American capitalism and confirm the repeasantization theory concerning the persistence of a distinctive peasant way of life. / Esta etnografia visa identificar o papel das crenças pentecostais com as quais os camponeses do sul do Brasil se expressam para justificar sua subsistência. O trabalho de campo antropológico no Sertão de Jaguariaíva, Paraná, serviu para a coleta de dados. Em uma abordagem interpretativa, a análise emprega conceitos de ordem moral da campesinidade, economia moral e múltiplas estratégias de subsistência. Os principais resultados são: o pentecostalismo rural não é monolítico e conta com diferentes graus de envolvimento com uma variedade de igrejas e com o capitalismo em geral. Não obstante, suas decisões econômicas, ou de grande impacto na vida, são articuladas por uma ordem moral campesina expressa pela espera na providência e pela interpretação de eventos como uma revelação da vontade divina. A ordem moral tem relevância para a manutenção de comunidades camponesas viáveis, orientando suas relações com a terra, o parentesco, o trabalho e o consumo, de modo a distingui-las do “mundo”. Tais resultados juntam-se ao debate das explicações weberianas sobre o papel do pentecostalismo no capitalismo latino-americano e confirmam a teoria do retorno do camponês como categoria e sua persistência como um distinto modo de vida.

Official statistics suggest that as many as 40 percent to 60 percent of people in South Africa are living in poverty, and the 15 percent poorest are in a desperate struggle for survival. Since 1994, Government has been making an effort to help smallholder agriculture through numerous programmes, including those that address land ownership and provide credit and grants for farms and households, but very little change has taken place. Understanding the sources of livelihood and opportunities to improve the contribution of farming within available food chains is therefore an important practical need. The study investigated sources of livelihood and mapped the livelihoods profile of the farming households in parts of the Eastern Cape. The study was conducted in the Alice and Peddie communities in the Amathole district municipality. A set of structured questionnaires were used to interview the sample of 80 farming households selected through a random process within two irrigation schemes and communities that were selected purposively in line with the focus of the larger project on which this study is based. The resulting data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The descriptive results indicated that members of most rural households were old, married, uneducated and unemployed. Farming was primary livelihood strategy employed in these areas. Rural households were also dependent on remittances, social grants and pension funds because the farming strategy could not meet all their household needs. The major crops that were grown for income and food security to sustain their livelihoods included maize, potatoes, onions and butternut. Factors that had significant influences on outcomes were extension services, grants, pension and remittances, land productivity, type of irrigation system, market accessibility, output price difference and value adding. The available opportunities were land productivity, irrigation facilities, government or NGO programmes and working as a group. For improved livelihood of rural communities in Alice and Peddie, government needs to strengthen agricultural activities and equip farmers with market information, improve their access to irrigation schemes, provide training on value adding and also improve access to extension services.

In South Africa and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, market participation of smallholder farmers are rapidly being advocated as a means to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda’s (SDGs): zero hunger and no poverty. Yet little is known about market participation in the sunflower industry. The study therefore, examine market participation of smallholder sunflower farmers in Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, North West Province, South Africa. A quantitative research approach was developed to address the research objectives, and a proportional stratified random sampling technique was used to select 177 sunflower producing households. Respondents information were captured using semi-structured questionnaires, data were then entered and coded using statistical software computer programs (MS Excel, SPSS, and Stata). Socio-economic characteristics, level of market participation, and factors influencing households market participation within the district were analyzed using descriptive statistics, household commercialization index, and probit regression model. Overall, the result indicates that respondents exhibited high level of commercialization (90.1 % market participants). While, the result of the probit regression model shows that eight (8) of the regressors were statistically significant. Variables such as age (Coef = 0.103, p<0.01), gender (Coef = 1.267, p<0.05), market outlet (Coef = 1.351, p<0.01), access to information (Coef = 1.298, p<0.05), and quantity sold in tons (Coef = 0.015, p<0.010) were found to have positive and statistically significant influence, while household size (Coef = -0.409, p<0.01), market distance (Coef = 0.618, p<0.010) and land tenure system (Coef = -1.541, p<0.05) were found to have a negative but statistically significant impact on market participation among respondents. The pseudo R2 of the probit model is 0.5199, indicating that the model matches the dataset and the regressors accurately explains 51.99 % of the variation. The overall goodness of fit measures of the probit model was determined using postestimation test for predictive margin. With a high significant chi-square value of (p<0.0001), the result correctly predicted a 90 % likelihood of respondents to participate in the market. The findings suggests that rural-based initiatives and intervention programs be developed to boost households' access to finance, grants, and diversified markets for effective market competitiveness, while there is a greater need for proper awareness, supports, and partnerships focused on promoting women and youth participation in the sunflower sector across the district. / Agriculture and  Animal Health / M. Sci. (Agriculture)

This ethnographic study investigates the experiences of those learning tailoring and trading in Freetown, Sierra Leone via apprenticeships, other on-the-job training or Technical and Vocational Education and Training programs (TVET). I examine these forms of occupational training by investigating the practices underway, how knowledge transmission occurs, as well as why learners engage with and what they get out of these activities. I consider how the job learners utilise occupational training as a manner of increasing social, cultural and economic capital in Bourdieu's sense of those terms to navigate the urban labour market.     I find that the learners aspire fundamentally to social mobility and a sense of self-worth. To achieve this, they use four main tactics: flexibility, reframing, co-operation and diligence. However, I find all tactics are developed in response to greatly circumscribed opportunities to obtain a good and stable income, and increased social status, due to structural inequality. Local political neoliberal discourse on youth unemployment emphasising diligence, belies these inequities and the limited ways in which social mobility is within the individual’s control. Hence, I argue, a focus on training without addressing structural inequality is inadequate.     As the training usually does not lead to paid and reliable employment, I argue it serves more fundamentally as a form of moral education and a vehicle for personal and social development. I argue it helps develop certain personal moral traits and alleviate society's concern about immoral "idle youth". Further, that it helps develop what I term resilience capital; that is, the hard-working and stubborn disposition developed by reframing previous experiences of adversity, which may later assist the individual in acquiring other forms of capital.     Although not its main focus, this study also seeks to contribute to academic scholarship through developing our understanding of knowledge transmission. I find that the process of knowledge transmission is fundamentally social and shaped by hierarchy, subjective positions of power, the inculcation of moral and ethical values, and more dependent for success on various forms of capital than it might at first appear.

The past decades witnessed that neither the private sector nor the government could provide an adequate socio-economic safety net for the poorest of the poor in the Third World. The community-based self-help approaches were hence widely used as alternative means to help the poor and marginalised to cope with livelihood shocks. This study examined the extent to which indigenous iddirs (local neighbourhood associations) and the externally-funded self-help groups (SHGs) could transform social capital into entrepreneurship thereby enhancing sustainable livelihoods. The study was conducted in three Southern Nation and Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) rural districts, namely, Shebedeno, Wonago and Humbo. Mixed (quantitative and qualitative) methods were used to collect field data. Accordingly, closed and openended questionnaires and interview schedules were developed in English and then translated into Amharic (the national language). Instruments were field tested for validity and thereafter adjusted. A total of 220 (166 male and 54 female) people participated in the study. Data were entered into an Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) database, and analysed by using basic descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were transcribed and analysed using Microsoft Office tools. The findings indicate that the SHGs’ members were relatively better educated than the rest of the population and some of them used this opportunity to pursue employment in government and the private sector. With regard to poverty status, iddirs members were poorer than those of SHGs (15.5% of the iddirs members reported that they are destitute compared to others in the community, as opposed to 3.3% of SHGs members). The study reveals that the livelihoods of some members of iddirs and SHG (particularly the latter) improved as a result of their involvement in these institutions although, at this point, the impact is insignificant. With regard to socio-economic decision making, more SHG members were involved in participatory decision making. However, iddirs leaders were still the dominant decision makers. The SHG level of participatory decision making could be the result of capacity building efforts by the promoting organisation, particularly, the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church (EKHC). The study also shows that some of the iddirs and SHGs members were involved in informal rural entrepreneurial activities. However, their involvement did not indicate the utilisation of micro loan taken from the iddirs and SHGs for business purposes (97% of the iddirs and SHGs respondents utilised microcredit loans for consumption and other related purposes). On the other hand, the empirical evidence reveals that the amount of loan that iddirs and SHGs respondents received was very small. The general practice is giving small loans particularly to SHG members with repayments expected to begin as quickly and frequently as possible. Transforming social capital into entrepreneurship requires a cooperative approach, i.e. the involvement of development actors so as to enhance communities’ endeavour to achieve their livelihood objectives. Despite the wide prevalence of social capital in Ethiopia, this study indicates that its effective utilisation in community empowerment and sustainable livelihoods remains a challenge. Social capital is found to have a limited role in social entrepreneurship development and promotion not because it does not have potential, but because of the limited role of promoting organisations. The study shows lack of strong linkage between iddirs and promoting organisation (NGOs and Government). The study thus underlines the need for improving network and links with iddirs and SHGs and promoting organisations so as to create an enabling environment for sustainable livelihoods in the three rural districts under scrutiny. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

The objectives of the study were to analyse rural youth poverty alleviation in the Zambezi Region, problems, and possibilities in order to determine how rural youth agricultural and non-agricultural livelihood activities have improved their livelihood and alleviated poverty. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework has helped the researcher to understand and explain rural youth poverty alleviation, problems, and possibilities in the study area. The study employed a mixed-method approach, with more emphasis on qualitative research. The study had a total size sample of 223, respondents, including focus group discussions. The findings indicate that no livelihood analysis was carried out for rural youth in agriculture and non-agricultural activities in the Zambezi Region. For this reason, agricultural and non-agricultural programmes and projects have not addressed rural youth poverty alleviation. The findings also show that rural youth in agriculture and non-agricultural activities are exposed to numerous factors affecting their livelihood, as most of them cannot efficiently affect the vulnerability context. Furthermore, rural youth depends on their families and friends for livelihood support since they lack access to most livelihood assets. Despite livelihood improvement, rural youth faces problems that impede poverty alleviation in both agriculture and non-agricultural livelihood activities; lack of participation in policy deliberations, access to markets, Information Communication Technologies, training in both agriculture and non-agricultural activities, limited access to financial services and limited access to land. The study demonstrates that successful agricultural and non-agricultural programmes need to take rural youth sincerely to influence rural youth poverty alleviation. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the limited literature on rural youth poverty alleviation and also provide a rural youth critique in agriculture and non-agricultural activities in Namibia. / Development Studies / D. Phil. (Development Studies)

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地球環境学) / 甲第24152号 / 地環博第230号 / 新制||地環||44(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院地球環境学舎地球環境学専攻 / (主査)准教授 落合 知帆, 教授 小林 広英, 教授 西前 出, 教授 勝見 武, 准教授 TRENCHER Gregory / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Global Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

Die Folgen des Klimawandels, sowie damit einhergehende Verluste und Schäden nehmen weltweit zu. Der damit verbundene globale Anstieg von Treibhausgasemissionen, zunehmende Verstädterung sowie ausufernder Konsum machen die Suche nach Anpassungsstrategien zur Vermeidung schädlicher Auswirkungen gegenwärtig wie zukünftig zu einer erheblichen Herausforderung. Diese erfordert ein tiefgehendes Verständnis der Komplexität vom Klimawandelfolgen für landwirtschaftsbasierte Existenzgrundlagen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es zu einem solchen Verständnis beizutragen. Die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit fragt daher danach, wie etwaige Umstellungsprozesse die Anpassungsfähigkeit sowie Resilienz der Bewohner_innen von Bagri, einem kleinen Dorf im Norden Ghanas, erweitern. Die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertationsschrift basieren auf empirischen Erhebungen, die zwischen Februar und Juli 2017 in Lawra District in Nordghana unter Heranziehung qualitativer Fallstudieninstrumente durchgeführt wurden. Zum Einsatz kamen semi-strukturierte Interviews, Fokusgruppendiskussionen, Umfragen sowie ethnographische teilnehmende Beobachtungen. Die so gewonnenen Daten wurden kodiert und mit SPSS (Version 20) kreuztabellarisch sowie anhand verschiedener Variablen ausgewertet. Außerdem wurden Häufigkeiten interpretiert und die Ergebnisse schließlich in Tabellen, Graphen und Prozentsätzen verarbeitet. Des Weiteren wurden inhaltlichen Analysen der qualitativen Daten vorgenommen, die es erlaubten, Muster und Themen aus den Interviews und Diskussionen weiter zu verfolgen. Die Resultate zeigen, dass die Bewohner_innen in der untersuchten Gemeinde über die letzten drei Jahrzehnte eine Reihe klimatischer Veränderungen mit negativen Folgen für die Landwirtschaft erfahren haben. Um sich beispielsweise an die klimawandelbedingte kürzere Dauer der Regenzeit sowie niedrige Niederschlagsmengen anzupassen, greifen Kleinbauern auf schrittweise Anpassungsstrategien wie verbessertes Saatgut und weitere unterstützende Maßnahmen zurück. Paradoxerweise, untergraben Klimawandelextreme derlei Strategien auf mehreren Ebenen und reduzieren Erträge um ein Vielfaches ihres Potenzials, was wiederum finanzieller Verschuldung Vorschub leistet. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie zeigen daher, dass die Überwindung nicht-klimatischer Barrieren landwirtschaftlicher Anpassungsstrategien eine notwendige wenn auch nicht ausreichende Bedingung für eine erfolgreiche Umstellung darstellt. Immer neu aufkommende Schwierigkeiten machen Anpassung zu einem langfristigen Prozess. Eine zweite Erkenntnis dieser Arbeit ist, dass die sich wandelnden klimatischen Verhältnisse zu einer Diversifizierung der Lebensgrundlagen weg von landwirtschaftlicher Produktion hin zu Aktivitäten jenseits der Höfe in Bagri geführt haben. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Prozess der Diversifizierung abhängig ist von der Einbindung der Haushalte in Gruppenaktivitäten sowie in formelle und informelle Netzwerke. Zusammenfassend gilt, dass Haushalte, die engmaschig in soziale Netze eingebettet sind eine höhere Resilienz gegenüber wahrgenommenen klimatischen Veränderungen aufweisen. Dies liegt darin begründet, dass sie zumeist über einen besseren Zugang zu kritischen – materiellen wie immateriellen – Ressourcen verfügen, welche Diversifizierung maßgeblich ermöglichen. Zudem deuten die Befunde an, wie Gruppenaktivitäten und soziale Netzwerke Marginalisierung und widersprüchlichen Ressourcenumgang befeuern können, die zugleich die Gefahr bergen, soziale und ökologische Resilienz im Dorf zu verringern. Darüber hinaus zeigt diese Arbeit die Mechanismen kollaborativer Anpassungssteuerung auf, indem sie den Fragen nachgeht, warum und wie diese Steuerungsformen Anpassungsfähigkeit befördern. Die Ergebnisse verweisen auf die Beziehungsdynamiken zwischen den relevanten Akteuren sowie Nutzen und Misserfolge und die Herausforderungen nachhaltiger kollaborativer Anpassungsstrategien in Nordghana. Ergänzend, stellt diese Studie heraus, wie machtvolle Akteure Agenden setzen, Problematisierungen generieren sowie Regeln und Anreize schaffen, die im Widerspruch zu den normativen Grundsätzen der kollaborativen Anpassungstheorie stehen können. Ausgehend von der Fallstudie in Nordghana stellt diese Arbeit auch Überlegungen dazu an, wie kollaborative Anpassungssteuerung erfolgreichen Umgang mit klimawandelbedingten Veränderungen weltweit befördern kann. Zusammenfassend, leistet diese Arbeit einen Beitrag zur Schließung theoretischer wie empirischer Wissenslücken im wachsenden Bereich der Forschung zur Anpassung an den Klimawandel. Sie illustriert darüber hinaus den unschätzbaren Wert qualitativer Fallstudien und zeigt auf, wie diese einen Beitrag leisten können zu oftmals abstrakten und schwer fassbaren Themen in der wissenschaftlichen Diskussion und damit ein Fundament für informierte politische Entscheidungen sowohl auf lokaler als auch globaler Ebene legen. / Climate change impacts, related losses and damages are increasing globally. When these consequences are coupled with increasing global greenhouse gas emission, urban expansion and unsustainable consumption, the pursuit of adaptation to avoid adverse outcomes is a present necessity and a significant future challenge. The overarching aim of this doctoral dissertation is to gain a better understanding of the complexity of climate change impacts on agricultural livelihoods and how adaptation processes enhance adaptive capacity and resilience in Bagri, a small village in northern Ghana. The results presented in this doctoral thesis are based on empirical data obtained between February and July, 2017 in the Lawra District of northern Ghana using qualitative case study research methods: semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, survey and ethnographic participant observation. Data from the survey were coded and inputted into Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20 and cross tabulation and analysis of different variables and interpretation of frequencies were done and processed into tables, graphs and percentages. Content analyses of qualitative data were done which allowed patterns and themes in interviews and discussions to be derived and interpreted. The findings show that, people in the studied community have experienced a range of climatic changes with negative impacts on agriculture in the last three decades. In order to adapt to the short duration of the rainy season and low rainfall amounts associated with climate change, smallholder farmers use incremental adaptation strategies such as improved crop varieties and other support strategies. Paradoxically, however, climate change extremes (CCEs) undermined these strategies in several instances, causing crop yields to fall short of their actual potential leading to financial indebtedness. The results therefore, showcase that surmounting non-climatic barriers to the uptake of agricultural adaptation strategies is a necessary but not sufficient condition to achieving successful outcomes, as new barriers in the adaptation process beyond uptake are constantly emerging with CCEs being one example. Secondly, the findings show that climatic changes have necessitated livelihood diversification away from crop production and into off-farm and non-farm activities in Bagri. The results highlight how the process of diversification is dependent on household participation in various group activities and formal and informal social networks. Generally, households in dense social networks were found to be more resilient to perceived climate changes because they had access to the critical resources (material and non-material) essential for diversification. Importantly, the findings shed light on how group activities and social networks can create marginalization and conflicting resource use with the potential of undermining social and ecological resilience in the village. Moreover, this dissertation explores the mechanics of collaborative adaptation governance (CAG) addressing questions of why and how this mode of governance facilitates adaptive capacity. The findings illuminate stakeholder relational dynamics, benefits and failures, and the sustainability challenge of collaborative adaptation governance (CAG) in northern Ghana. More importantly, this study unveils how powerful actors set the agenda, frame problems, and implement rules and incentives contrary to the normative tenets of collaborative governance theory. Ultimately, the results highlights the failures, successes and sustainability challenges of CAG in northern Ghana, while also providing insight into the extent to which CAG approaches can facilitate adaptation to climate change globally. In conclusion, this doctoral dissertation responds to both theoretical and emperical knowledge gaps in the burgeoning climate change adaptation research, and illustrates how invaluable, qualitative case studies can contribute to illuminate some of the elusive themes in the literature and provide evidence for policy making at both local and global levels.

Marine fish stocks are under serious threat of depletion due to increasing numbers of resource users with competing interests, resulting in degradation and the decline of fish catch. Using qualitative and quantitative techniques such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, household surveys and remote sensing and GIS, this study addresses: (1) the complex and inter-related nature of resource dependency, (2) the role of assets in determining survival strategies of households in artisanal fishing communities in Ponnani, India, (3) how asset degradation impacts resource-dependent households, (4) how households develop survival strategies, and (5) considers access to social, political, physical, human and financial assets. Information is organized using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) with modifications to suite the local complexities. Results show that households - engaged in diverse activities, including fishing, fish processing/marketing/culture and daily labour - evolved property rights of natural resources over generations. The Pathemari cargo business’s limited knowledge of fisheries compared to artisanal fishers, and the government led modernization resulted in resource degradation. Therefore, artisanal fishers living in coastal wards threatened by intense erosion, abandoned traditional occupations in pursuit of livelihood security. Results from image analysis and derived thematic maps indicate increased erosion of 0.35 sq km shoreline coinciding with government development initiatives. To improve livelihood options, the results indicate that 50% surveyed accessed political assets such as fishers’ cooperatives and only 20% accessed financial assets such as government sponsored schemes and loans. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions revealed many limiting factors of access, specifically marginalization and lack of financial assets: only 6% surveyed could raise enough money to migrate. With changes in technology, from harvesting to processing, gender roles are being radically altered. Women are losing jobs and income. Politically, the study revealed that local participation helped governing bodies prioritize on housing, roads, water and sanitation. Analysis of the information through the modified SLF suggests three strategies to enhance the asset base of coastal poor: strengthening grassroots organizations; transforming state relations; and developing new alternatives to conventional coastal development practice. Finally, the study suggests resource management policies to improve the households’ livelihood options and well-being.