<p>The objectives of this thesis are to assess: to what degree have natural resources deteriorated in a grazing area in northern Namibia, how do perceptions of environmental change held by local stakeholders there, correspond to scientific assessments, and how do these relate to national estimates? Analysis of the process of developing national indicators for monitoring of land degradation concluded that specific indicators should be developed on national level, and in some instances even on local level as there are no universal causes of land degradation. According to farmers overgrazing and low rainfall since the early 1990s cause negative environmental changes in the study area, partly confirming findings from national monitoring. Results also suggest that: less grazing outside the study area, improved access, permanent water supply, and fencing of large areas, also contributed. Results show that improved water supply was the most important factor. Investigation of the influence of permanent water points on grazing resources showed that perennial grasses are replaced by less palatable annual grasses as far as 6 km from water points along a water pipeline. No significant grazing induced changes in grass composition were observed around privately owned wells. Private ownership seems to be a key factor preventing over-utilization of grazing resources around the latter. A remote sensing study using Landsat TM imagery identified bare ground, saltpans and grassland with a fair accuracy. Separation of woodland from shrubland and shrubland from grassland was less accurate using supervised classification. The results show that the soil adjusted vegetation index provides valuable information about variations of green biomass over time in semi-arid environments. However, it is suggested that satellite based investigations should be supported by thorough ground based assessment due to the influence of underlying soil in this environment.</p>

This thesis primarily discusses the development of late Iron Age Saami settlement patterns in greater Norrland's forest area, from the establishment of the Settlements through to historical times. The Settlements are chiefly characterised by hearths, but it is also important to study Saami sacrificial sites when trying to understand the significance of the settlement patterns. Central to the thesis is how the archaeological material can be applied to questions concerning the introduction of reindeer herding. During the early Viking period a significant change in the settlement pattern of greater Norrland's inland occurs. New niches start to be exploited, moving away from the earlier shore-bound model. The Settlements are relocated to areas with good reindeer grazing land, by small streams, bogs and small lakes. The principal features are concentrations of hearths, which arise in large numbers, most often in groups of three to ten. A number of the artefacts found at the settlement sites are also found at Saami sacrificial sites from between 800 to 1350 AD, suggesting that the hearths should be studied in the context of Saami culture. A wide range of artefacts have been discovered during excavation of the Settlements, which suggests extensive contacts, mainly to the east and the Ladoga area, but also with Norway to the west. The artefacts display a continuity from the Viking period into the 1700's, and the dating of the hearths show a similar chronological spread. The study area has supported a reindeer herding forest Saami society during historical times, the settlement pattern of which has close similarities to that found under the Viking period. This implies that the settlement pattern that emerged during the Viking period can probably be related to an emergent reindeer herding system. Reindeer herding was undertaken in combination with hunting and fishing - so called semi-nomadism. It is suggested that the forest land Saami society become so dependent on reindeer herding during the Viking period, that it controlled the settlement pattern. / digitalisering@umu

The objectives of this thesis are to assess: to what degree have natural resources deteriorated in a grazing area in northern Namibia, how do perceptions of environmental change held by local stakeholders there, correspond to scientific assessments, and how do these relate to national estimates? Analysis of the process of developing national indicators for monitoring of land degradation concluded that specific indicators should be developed on national level, and in some instances even on local level as there are no universal causes of land degradation. According to farmers overgrazing and low rainfall since the early 1990s cause negative environmental changes in the study area, partly confirming findings from national monitoring. Results also suggest that: less grazing outside the study area, improved access, permanent water supply, and fencing of large areas, also contributed. Results show that improved water supply was the most important factor. Investigation of the influence of permanent water points on grazing resources showed that perennial grasses are replaced by less palatable annual grasses as far as 6 km from water points along a water pipeline. No significant grazing induced changes in grass composition were observed around privately owned wells. Private ownership seems to be a key factor preventing over-utilization of grazing resources around the latter. A remote sensing study using Landsat TM imagery identified bare ground, saltpans and grassland with a fair accuracy. Separation of woodland from shrubland and shrubland from grassland was less accurate using supervised classification. The results show that the soil adjusted vegetation index provides valuable information about variations of green biomass over time in semi-arid environments. However, it is suggested that satellite based investigations should be supported by thorough ground based assessment due to the influence of underlying soil in this environment.

This thesis deals with a medieval material from Rounala in Karesuando parish, Norrbotten county, Lapland. The aim is to reconstruct the diet and mobility patterns. It is through carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotopes and radiocarbon that both pastoralist traits and whether which part Christianity played in the burial traditions of these human remains is being studied. Another aim is to discuss the repatriation issue as these remains are subjected to. The results mainly show that all individuals had a mixed diet and no pastoral way of living has been established. Furthermore, individual 3 is suffering from pathological changes. With radiocarbon dates ranging from 1300 to 1720 AD, two groups can be distinguished as to whom had been buried before and after the construction of the church. And repatriation is being discussed as an issue to who have ownership over ancient remains.

Subsequent to the impounding of the Pongolo river in the 1970's, development of irrigated agriculture on the Makatini flats has been reducing the area of vegetation available for grazing, and flooding patterns on the seasonally inundated Pongolo River Floodplain have been determined by the controlled release of water from the Pongolapoort dam. About 50 000 people live along the 10 000 ha floodplain within the 63 000 ha northern region of the flats which was studied. This population includes 2 970 registered cattle owners who own a total of 19 300 cattle. The objectives of this study were: to gain an understanding of the Makatini pastoral system which would facilitate prediction of the effects of potential developments, including agricultural expansion, modification of floodplain hydrology and changed cattle management practices on the utility value of cattle; and to provide guidelines for the management of pastoral resources on the Makatini and other traditional African pastoral systems. It was established that the value of cattle cannot be determined without understanding the importance of the subsistence utilities provided and that the value of utilities relative to each other influences the way in which the system is stocked and managed by the local people. The value of all marketed and non-marketed utilities was determined and the implications of the economic evaluation for the identification of management options in African pastoral systems assessed. Despite the "low productivity" of the Makatini system compared to western style ranches, cattle owners receive annual returns worth approximately 100 % of the asset value of their stock. This explains low market offtake rate in this and other subsistence systems. Non-marketed utilities, particularly milk production provide most of the returns to cattle owners. The mean stocking density on the floodplain vegetation was estimated to be three times that of dry-land areas, but only 23 % of all grazing time is spent on the floodplain. Although floodplain forage provides an important supplement to winter grazing, its use is not vital to maintenance of animal condition. The coincident occurrence of an annual "stress period"; greater acceptability of Echinochloa pyramidalis vegetation as forage; the absence of floods; and the reduced use of floodplain fields, results in increased floodplain use in winter to a stocking density approximately ten times that of dry-land areas. How the floodplain hydrology, rainfall and grazing interact with the crop growth rate and quality of E. pyramidalis stands was examined. The forage production potential of E. pyramidalis was found to be higher than that of other floodplain vegetation types and stocking densities of up to 4.5 AU/ha in summer and 2.5 AU/ha in winter are considered possible on the Pongolo floodplain. Echinochloa pastures may become wet and cause scouring if grazed exclusively, but grazing reduces plant moisture content and makes the forage more acceptable. Local pastoral management was found to depend on the collective activities of cattle owners in pursuit of personal needs in a dynamic socio-economic context. Motivation for the manipulation of cattle numbers and herd composition is dictated by a cattle owner's perception of his needs for utilities and his ability to access those benefits. Because of this, the pastoral practices were found to be closely linked to other socio-economic activities such as agriculture and migrant labour. stock owners have a narrow perspective of pastoral resource management and use strategies developed on small spatial and temporal scales. In contrast development planners tend to identify objectives on a regional scale and on long-term (10 - 50 year) time scales and to orient management towards maximising the value of marketable utilities and preventing long-term overstocking. Management of pastoral resources in traditional African systems requires that the needs of local people be met, that the resource base be maintained; that pastoral policy be developed as a component of regional development planning and that close liaison between interest groups be maintained. Failure to establish or maintain this liaison is considered the main reason for the failure of many African pastoral development programmes. It was recommended that local pasture management committees be established on the Makatini and that extension officers, trained specifically to understand management problems of Third World pastoral systems, be used to maintain liaison between stock owners and development planners. It was also suggested that formal cattle camps be established and managed by local people and that at least one flood (river flow> 200 cumecs) be released from the Pongolapoort darn each summer. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1988.

Les régions subarctiques font face aux effets interconnectés et pluri-scalaires du changement global (amplification des extrêmes bioclimatiques et intensification dans l’utilisation des sols). Le renne, Rangifer tarandus est un grand herbivore qui migre annuellement sur de grands espaces pour ses besoins biologiques. L’ongulé cristallise de nombreux enjeux paysagers pour les pastoralismes saamis. Plusieurs populations de rennes seront étudiées dans un suivi multi-scalaire. Nous évaluons les effets directs du changement global (fragmentation paysagère et changements climatiques) sur les paysages culturels de Scandinavie en lien avec la démographie des rennes. Par la suite, la descente en échelle géographique nous permet de caractériser via satellite et relevés floristiques les effets du changement global sur les paysages végétaux de la communauté montagnarde d’éleveurs Gabna, dans le nord de la Suède. Nous étudions ensuite les comportements migratoires des rennes sauvages norvégiens, pour appréhender les liens entre variabilité bioclimatique et écologie spatiale de l’herbivore. Les résultats principaux rejoignent ceux de la littérature scientifique, appliqués aux espaces étudiés : régionalement, changement des climats et pertes significatives en pâturages ; localement, boréalisation et embroussaillement des paysages migratoires. Les liens forts entre une partie des effets cumulés du changement global et la biogéographie scandinave de Rangifer tarandus sont ainsi discutés. L’approche paysagère dans les problématiques environnementales complexes (revendication territoriale) a révélé l’importance de l’éthique dans le dialogue science/minorités. / Les régions subarctiques font face aux effets interconnectés et pluri-scalaires du changement global (amplification des extrêmes bioclimatiques et intensification dans l’utilisation des sols). Le renne, Rangifer tarandus est un grand herbivore qui migre annuellement sur de grands espaces pour ses besoins biologiques. L’ongulé cristallise de nombreux enjeux paysagers pour les pastoralismes saamis. Plusieurs populations de rennes seront étudiées dans un suivi multi-scalaire. Nous évaluons les effets directs du changement global (fragmentation paysagère et changements climatiques) sur les paysages culturels de Scandinavie en lien avec la démographie des rennes. Par la suite, la descente en échelle géographique nous permet de caractériser via satellite et relevés floristiques les effets du changement global sur les paysages végétaux de la communauté montagnarde d’éleveurs Gabna, dans le nord de la Suède. Nous étudions ensuite les comportements migratoires des rennes sauvages norvégiens, pour appréhender les liens entre variabilité bioclimatique et écologie spatiale de l’herbivore. Les résultats principaux rejoignent ceux de la littérature scientifique, appliqués aux espaces étudiés : régionalement, changement des climats et pertes significatives en pâturages ; localement, boréalisation et embroussaillement des paysages migratoires. Les liens forts entre une partie des effets cumulés du changement global et la biogéographie scandinave de Rangifer tarandus sont ainsi discutés. L’approche paysagère dans les problématiques environnementales complexes (revendication territoriale) a révélé l’importance de l’éthique dans le dialogue science/minorités.

abstract: The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae), a small burrowing lagomorph that occupies the high alpine grassland ecosystems of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in western China, remains a controversial subject among policymakers and researchers. One line of evidence points to pikas being a pest, which has led to massive attempts to eradicate pika populations. Another point of view is that pikas are a keystone species and an ecosystem engineer in the grassland ecosystem of the QTP. The pika eradication program raises a difficult ethical and religious dilemma for local pastoralists, and is criticized for not being supported by scientific evidence. Complex interactions between pikas, livestock, and habitat condition are poorly understood. My dissertation research examines underpinning justifications of the pika poisoning program leading to these controversies. I investigated responses of pikas to habitat conditions with field experimental manipulations, and mechanisms of pika population recovery following pika removal. I present policy recommendations based on an environmental ethics framework and findings from the field experiments. After five years of a livestock grazing exclusion experiment and four years of pika monitoring, I found that grazing exclusion resulted in a decline of pika habitat use, which suggests that habitat conditions determine pika population density. I also found that pikas recolonized vacant burrow systems following removal of residents, but that distances travelled by dispersing pikas were extremely short (~50 m). Thus, current pika eradication programs, if allowed to continue, could potentially compromise local populations as well as biodiversity conservation on the QTP. Lethal management of pikas is a narrowly anthropocentric-based form of ecosystem management that has excluded value-pluralism, such as consideration of the intrinsic value of species and the important ecological role played by pikas. These conflicting approaches have led to controversies and policy gridlock. In response, I suggest that the on-going large-scale pika eradication program needs reconsideration. Moderation of stocking rates is required in degraded pika habitats, and Integrated Pest Management may be required when high stocking rate and high pika density coexist. A moderate level of livestock and pika density can be consistent with maintaining the integrity and sustainability of the QTP alpine steppe ecosystem. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biology 2016

Depuis le milieu des années 2000, le champ lexical du discours public de défense et de légitimation du pastoralisme pyrénéen s’est enrichi de notions « empruntées » aux sciences économiques et aux arènes de discussion internationales. Le pastoralisme est depuis lors qualifié de producteur « d’externalités » par certains agents de développement pastoral et représentants de la profession agricole. Le cœur de ce travail de recherche-action est d’interroger l’irruption de ce nouveau paradigme à une échelle locale, en analysant la manière dont les usagers de l’espace montagnard eux-mêmes appréhendent les effets multiples du pastoralisme sur leurs espaces de pratiques. Malgré son utilité potentielle pour la justification d’une action publique dirigée spécifiquement vers l’activité pastorale, l’utilisation de la notion d’externalités en tant que catégorie analytique ne permet pas d’appréhender la réalité des rapports entre la multiplicité d’acteurs investis dans l’utilisation et dans la gouvernance des estives pyrénéennes. En revanche, le recours à une approche relationnelle des effets du pastoralisme permet de reconnecter ces phénomènes à leur contexte spatial, social et temporel d’émergence, mais aussi de faire apparaître la place des acteurs et des organisations locales dans la régulation de la coprésence et des nouvelles proximités. A l’échelle locale, l’étude des effets multiples du pastoralisme renvoie ainsi aux thématiques du multi-usage de l’espace montagnard et à l’action collective des acteurs divers impliqués dans sa gestion et dans son utilisation. La capitalisation et l’interprétation des modalités de gestion collective innovantes des estives ainsi que le transfert des connaissances fondamentales et méthodologiques peuvent alors inciter les acteurs du développement à une prise en compte plus intégrée de l’élargissement et de la complexification de l’espace social constitué par les estives pyrénéennes. / Since the early 2000’s, the political discourse about defense and legitimization of pastoralism has contained economical terms. Some agriculture representatives and development agents qualify pastoralism as an « externalities producer ». This action-research aims at questioning the appearance of this new paradigm on the local scale by studying the manner by which mountain space users themselves consider the multiple effects of pastoralism on their spaces and practices. Despite their potential utility to justify a specific public action directed to pastoral activity, “externalities” used as an analytical category don’t allow to understand the links between the multiple stakeholders invested in pastures utilization and governance. On the other hand, relational approach of pastoralism multiple effects enables to reconnect these phenomena to their spatial, social and temporal context of emergence. This theoretical approach also reveals the position of local stakeholders and organizations in the proximity regulation. Studying pastoralism multiple effects on the local scale refers to multiple-use of mountain areas and to collective action of those who use and manage Pyrenean pastures. Capitalization and interpretation of innovative forms of governance, but also transfer of scientific and methodological knowledge can lead development agents to a better consideration of the enlargement and the complexification of the social space constituted by Pyrenean pastures.

The relationship between environmental change and violent conflict has increasingly received attention in recent years. Most of the research has focused on fast-onset environmental disasters, rather than slow-moving environmental processes, however. This thesis aims to contribute to filling that gap by assessing the effect of decreasing land productivity on the intensity of violent conflict by theorizing that pastoralists and farmers affected by decreasing land productivity must turn to drastic measures to provide for themselves, increasing the intensity of violent conflict in the process. This is done through a structured, focused comparison that assesses four states in South Sudan, Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Warrap and Lakes in the period of 2014 through 2019. Due largely to the lack of data, no clear and systematic support for the hypothesis or the causal mechanism is found. The thesis suggests that future research should focus on interviewing affected people on the ground or to attempt to study decreasing land productivity through more quantitative methods.

This diploma thesis traces the changing human, animal and technology assemblage after the recent emergence of wolf packs in Broumov region. As the return of wolves coincides with ecological transformations gaining in strength, the central research focus are the possibilities - and impossibilities - of local multispecies coexistence in the conditions of Anthropocene. The research draws upon methods of multispecies ethnography, building on the literature that examines the ontological aspects of multispecies coexistence, including primarily the work of Donna Haraway, Eduardo Kohn, Annemarie Mol, Anna Tsing and Rane Willerslev. The thesis analyzes several modes of situated multispecies coexistence which have been reconfigured or made possible by the return of wolves: administrative and sensual practice of shepherds, methods of mimetic empathy of wolf trackers, emergence of new actors interfering with local events (satellites, subsidy programmes, drought) and the translation of processes on pastures into politically engaged activities of local farmers. The thesis develops the employed concepts in such a way that they enable analyzing the situation in Broumov region as situated making of more-than-human sociality. Key words: multispecies ethnography, wolfs, pastoralism, trackers, more-than-human sociality