Livelihoods In Areas Research Articles

Stories from the Global South: the interplay of climate science, ‘action’ and the implications for development

ABSTRACT Calls for humanity to act on environmental changes are becoming increasingly critical. The growing polycrisis including the impact of ongoing conflicts in contested geopolitical spaces and the struggles for ways to sustain a livelihood in areas of precarity and poverty, are just some of the intersecting challenges which have given rise to a Code Red alarm by the United Nations surrounding issues related to climate change. Rich narratives and stories of climate actions from Africa offer examples of potential paths. This paper explores how such narratives inform local development and climate action. A key message is that stories and narratives, created by various peoples, disciplines, and systems of knowledge, can all be powerful genres and sources for agentic change that can inspire and embolden development practice and action.

Community perceptions towards the impacts of ecotourism development in the central highlands of Ethiopia: the case of Lake Wanchi and its adjacent landscapes

Scientific studies harmonizing biodiversity conservation, ecotourism development, and local livelihoods in areas of natural endowments have significant importance in the welfare of society. The objective of this study was to investigate the local community's perception of the impacts of the Wanchi Ecotourism Association (WETA) and test the relationship between these perceptions and some socio-demographic predictor variables. Data was collected using household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, field observations, and document analysis. Simple statistical analysis, such as descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, multiple response sets, and chi-square tests were used to analyze the socio-demographic characteristics and opinions on ecotourism development. Multinomial logistic regression was used to analyze the local community's perceptions towards the impacts of ecotourism using socio-demographic variables as predictors of the community responsiveness. The non-quantifiable information was analyzed using qualitative descriptions. There was enough evidence for the high resident's support for ecotourism development and perceptions of its positive impacts, while there was limited community participation, less economic benefit, and inequitable sharing of the revenues generated from WETA. The examination in the distribution of observed and expected perception responses on the impacts of ecotourism showed statistically significant differences (x2 = 110.833, df = 3, P = 0.000). The multinomial logistic regression revealed that the variables of educational level, duration of stay in the study landscape, ecotourism benefit, and place of residence from the ecotourism attraction center have a significant association with respondents' perception toward impacts of ecotourism. The study supported the social exchange theory, in that those who benefited from ecotourism viewed it as a development preference, and so are more likely to have positive attitudes concerning ecotourism.

Community Perceptions Towards the Impacts of Ecotourism Development in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia: The Case of Lake Wanchi and Its Adjacent Landscapes

Scientific studies harmonizing biodiversity conservation, ecotourism development, and local livelihoods in areas of natural endowments have significant importance in the welfare of society. The objective of this study was to investigate the local community’s perception of the impacts of the Wanchi Ecotourism Association (WETA) and test the relationship between these perceptions and some socio-demographic predictor variables based on the social exchange theory. Data was collected using household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, field observations, and document analysis. Simple statistical analysis, such as descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, multiple response sets, and chi-square tests were used to analyze the socio-demographic characteristics and opinions on ecotourism development. Multinomial logistic regression was used to analyze the local community’s perceptions towards the impacts of ecotourism using socio-demographic variables as predictors of the community responsiveness, based on the social exchange theory. The non-quantifiable information was analyzed using qualitative descriptions. There was enough evidence for the high resident's support for ecotourism development and perceptions of its positive impacts, while there was limited community participation, less economic benefit, and inequitable sharing of the revenues generated from WETA. The examination in the distribution of observed and expected perception responses on the impacts of ecotourism showed statistically significant differences (χ2 = 110.833, df = 3, P = 0.000). The multinomial logistic regression revealed that the variables of educational level, duration of stay in the study landscape, ecotourism benefit, and place of residence from the ecotourism attraction center have a significant association with respondents’ perception toward impacts of ecotourism. The study supported the social exchange theory, in that those who benefited from ecotourism viewed it as a development preference, and so are more likely to have positive attitudes concerning ecotourism.

Ecosystem Guardians or Threats? Livelihood Security and Nature Conservation in Maluku, Indonesia

This article addresses the challenge of combining ecosystem protection with economic development. The setting is societies living near a national park in a poor and peripheral part of Indonesia. Data from our household survey are used to answer the following questions: Do local communities find secure and sustainable livelihoods in areas surrounding the park? To what extent do communities close to the park contribute to ecosystem protection? We use cluster analysis to group households based on a mapping of livelihood means and outcomes. In-depth interviews complement the statistical data. The study reveals prevailing and widespread poverty combined with non-sustainable livelihoods. It shows that people’s traditional lives may pose a risk, rather than the solution, to ecosystem protection, and that sustained biodiversity and pristine forests may not be consistent with maintaining an economic resource base for an increasing population. Further, that ecosystem degradation does not necessarily evoke traditional social mechanisms for nature protection.

Farm diversification as an adaptation strategy to climatic shocks and implications for food security in northern Namibia

Abstract Limited non-farm opportunities in the rural areas of the developing world, coupled with population growth, means agriculture will continue to play a dominant role as a source of livelihood in these areas. Thus, while rural transformation has dominated recent literature as a way of improving welfare through diversifying into non-farm sectors, improving productivity and resilience to shocks in smallholder agricultural production cannot be downplayed. This is especially so given the changing climatic conditions affecting agricultural production, and thus threatening many livelihoods in rural areas. Farm diversification is an important strategy for creating resilience against climatic shocks in farm production. Using cross-sectional data from northern Namibia, the study assesses the barriers and success factors related to effective crop and livestock enterprises diversification and the effect of these on food security outcomes. A Seemingly Unrelated Regression model is used to assess the joint factors explaining total farm diversification, while a step-wise error correction model is used to evaluate the conditional effect of diversification in each of the two farm enterprises on two measures of food security: food expenditure and dietary diversity. We find that past exposure to climate shocks informs current diversification levels and that access to climate information is a key success factor for both livestock and crop diversification. In terms of food security, greater diversification in either crop or livestock production leads to higher food security outcomes, with neither crop nor livestock diversification showing dominance in affecting food security outcomes. However, an overall higher level of diversification in both livestock and crop enterprises is dominant in explaining food security outcomes.

Does Participatory Forest Management Save the Remnant Forest in Ethiopia?

Forest resources play a critical role in supporting the livelihood of poor people worldwide, particularly in meeting daily subsistence needs. It should be managed sustainably. Conventional forest management has alienated local communities from participating in forest conservation and protection in Ethiopia, which has led to illegal and unsustainable resource utilization; hence, a resulting paradigm shift is necessary in forest management to involve local community in management of natural resources. Currently, the Ethiopian government is working to protect the remnant natural forests for their various social, economic and environmental values, with a belief that participatory forest management (PFM) can play a great role in saving natural forests. PFM was introduced in Ethiopia in the mid of 1990s, by International Non-Governmental Organizations, with the objective of promoting sustainable management and conservation of forest ecosystems and improving the livelihood of people living in or around these resources. In the present paper, researches on several forests undergoing PFM in Ethiopia were reviewed. Comprehensive review of previous studies on PFM in Ethiopia confirmed that there is an improvement in forest condition and livelihood in areas under PFM though the success is claimed to be mixed.

Violence Against People and the Land: The Environment and Refugee Migration from China's Henan Province, 1938-1945

Abstract This article examines interrelationships between environmental change and refugee displacement in North China's Henan province during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. Henan had a larger displaced population than any part of China during World War II, with most refugees migrating due to war-induced disasters that were the second-order effects of warfare. The Chinese Nationalist military's blasting of the Yellow River dikes to block a Japanese military advance in June 1938 displaced millions, forcing them to seek livelihoods in areas away from their home villages. In 1942-1943 Yellow River flooding combined with inclement weather conditions and heavy military grain exactions to create a famine of massive proportions in Henan, leading millions more residents to flee. The most severe ecological damage took place in areas of Henan that flood and famine refugees left, as labour shortages led to neglect and decline of human-constructed environments. Hydraulic infrastructure collapsed, agricultural cultivation came to a standstill and previously settled areas became desolate wastelands. Environmental degradation occurred on a more limited scale in areas of in-migration, as refugees heightened pressure on resources. In Shaanxi province, China's wartime state resettled refugees and mobilised them to reclaim land, leading to deforestation and accelerated soil erosion. The article engages with previous literature on the environmental consequences of refugee migration, questioning the notion that refugees have an unmediated impact on the environment. It is argued that refugee migration is impossible to isolate from other factors that lead to ecological damage in wartime settings.