Land Use and Land Right Dynamics—Determinants for Resource Management Options in Eastern Burkina Faso

The paper first examines established theories on the population-environmental nexus. Farmers' options in responding to declining soil fertility or shortage of land vary from village to village and even household to household. Responses are conditioned by social relations with neighboring villages and the labor availability of individual households. The example from the Boulgou Province in Burkina Faso shows that some farmers have been able to expand their acreage in other villages' territories on a virtually permanent basis, thereby compensating for increased population pressure and for land degradation. Currently, labor availability, social relations, and distance to the land seem to be the main constraints on land expansion. However, the pattern of land use changes is expected to be increasingly influenced by the existence of more formally established rights than at present. In the light of the empirical findings, the relevance of the Gestion des Terroir Villagois concept as a tool for planning for sustainable natural resource management at the village level is discussed. This approach seems imperfectly suited to address a reality in which social and physical environments are superimposed in a spatially complex way.     

CLUENaban—A land use change model combining social factors with physical landscape factors for a mountainous area in Southwest China

Land use modelling has used rural areas as object for a long time. Modellers start in general with physical landscape factors to determine the spatial distribution of land use, especially agricultural crops. An important factor defining rural areas is the dominance of livelihoods/economies based on agriculture combined with a strong relationship to tradition, high value of family ties, scales of social aggregation, and a framework given by nature. The inter-linkages among economic, social and environmental components determine both the complexity and dynamics of rural development. Both modellers and social scientists seek a better understanding of these complex rural systems in terms of their development paths, the underlying forces and the interactions between physical land use and rural society. In this paper, we use a combination of a land use change model and information about social relationship by referring both to the common spatial unit of villages for a rural region in south west China. We want to show how such a common unit can help to include social science information into a physically oriented land use model. The inclusion of social data results in a substantial improvement of the modelling results. In the model run we could show that land use patterns in the study area were closely related to socio-economic characteristics and governmental rules. In China, collective land and state land are distinguished. This land designation turned out to be the most important factor for the land use types rainfed, irrigated land, and rubber. All land use types were influenced by the ethnicity of village inhabitants because they had different land use traditions.     

基于生态经济分区的土壤质量及其变化与农户行为分析

通过1980年土壤普查数据和1999～2000年土壤质量调查和地下水调查数据进行对比和空间计算,看出土壤质量变化在空间上存在较大的空间变异性;在综合自然、社会经济信息,对曲周县进行的生态经济综合分区基础上进行农户调查,对各分区土壤质量状况及其变化以及不同分区之间农户行为差异的分析表明：农户主要通过种植行为选择和经营投人和资源利用等行为对土壤质量和环境产生影响。不同类型农户在种植行为选择和经营投入上有较大差别．     

Changing Ethnobotanical Knowledge of the Roviana People,Solomon Islands: Quantitative Approaches to its Correlation with Modernization

This study examines the acculturation of ethnobotanical knowledge in association with modernization by analyzing similarities and differences within a language group, the Roviana people of the Solomon Islands. Cultural consensus analysis and evaluation of either village-level or individual-level modernity were performed for seven villages. In one modernized and one less modernized village, detailed socioeconomic data at the individual level were collected. Intervillage variation of knowledge correlated with modernity only when the villages were referenced to the less modernized villages, while there was no correlation when the most modernized village was used as the base knowledge. An informant’s knowledge in the less modernized village was affected by socioeconomic factors, but this was not observed in the modernized village. From these results, I suggest that modern knowledge is easily integrated into the ethnobotanical knowledge system but is not directly related to the loss of indigenous botanical knowledge.     

Use patterns and value of Savanna resources in three Rural villages in South Africa

Rural communities in South Africa harvest a diversity of wild resources from communal woodlands for home consumption and sale. The contribution these resources make to the rural economy has been little recognized, and few studies have attempted to place a monetary value on this use. This paper describes three case studies which aimed to determine the value of savanna resources for the livelihoods of rural households. Use patterns and values of resources in three villages of differing socioeconomic status were determined using household interviews, PRA techniques and key informant interviews. Questions were designed to establish the types of products used, frequency of use, quantities used, seasonality of use, longevity of durable resources, local prices, and the extent of trade. All households were procuring at least some woodland resources, with the most frequently used being fuel wood, wood for implements, edible herbs and fruits, grass for brushes, and insects. Patterns of resource use varied across villages. The most “rural” village used the greatest diversity of resources and had the highest number of users for most resources. Gross value of resources consumed per household per year ranged from R28I9 to R7238. Total value was highest in the less obviously resource dependent village, primarily the result of higher local prices due to greater extraction costs and a larger market for traded goods. Values are comparable to those contributed by other land-based livelihood activities such as subsistence cultivation and livestock production.     

Distribution of Agrobiodiversity in Home Gardens along the Corrientes River,Peruvian Amazon

Distribution of Agrobiodiversity in Home Gardens along the Corrientes River, Peruvian Amazon. This paper examines crop species diversity in home gardens of traditional communities along a remote tributary in northeastern Peru. A large-scale survey was conducted of 300 gardens in 15 villages along a 150 km reach of the Corrientes River. Study villages vary notably in community size, ethnicity of residents (Achuar, Urarina, mestizo), and proximity to the regional town (Trompeteros) as well as to oil wells. Gardens were inventoried and interviews conducted with garden tenders to provide data on socioeconomic characteristics of the household and contextual conditions. Multiple regression analyses identified the determinants of species diversity. Results indicate high crop diversity—the highest yet reported for sites in the Amazon basin—particularly among the Achuar people. Garden species diversity is greatest in larger villages and, surprisingly, in those villages located nearer to the oil company. Within villages, households with larger land holdings (and gardens), more in-house labor, and garden tenders who are older and female tend to have more diverse gardens. A small number of households (15/300) were found to hold exceptional diversity, often older and land-wealthier households located on the outskirts of villages. These farmers held, on average, three times the number of species as a typical village garden and 60% of all species encountered in the study.     

A Landscape-based Model for Predicting <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mycobacterium ulcerans</Emphasis> Infection (Buruli Ulcer Disease) Presence in Benin,West Africa

Mycobacterium ulcerans infection (Buruli ulcer [BU] disease) is an emerging tropical disease that causes severe morbidity in many communities, especially those in close proximity to aquatic environments. Research and control efforts are severely hampered by the paucity of data regarding the ecology of this disease; for example, the vectors and modes of transmission remain unknown. It is hypothesized that BU presence is associated with altered landscapes that perturb aquatic ecosystems; however, this has yet to be quantified over large spatial scales. We quantified relationships between land use/land cover (LULC) characteristics surrounding individual villages and BU presence in Benin, West Africa. We also examined the effects of other village-level characteristics which we hypothesized to affect BU presence, such as village distance to the nearest river. We found that as the percent urban land use in a 50-km buffer surrounding a village increased, the probability of BU presence decreased. Conversely, as the percent agricultural land use in a 20-km buffer surrounding a village increased, the probability of BU presence increased. Landscape-based models had predictive ability when predicting BU presence using validation data sets from Benin and Ghana, West Africa. Our analyses suggest that relatively small amounts of urbanization are associated with a decrease in the probability of BU presence, and we hypothesize that this is due to the increased availability of pumped water in urban environments. Our models provide an initial approach to predicting the probability of BU presence over large spatial scales in Benin and Ghana, using readily available land use data.     

基于景观安全格局的嘉绒藏族传统村落形态研究——以马尔康市直波村为例

以优化土地利用、实现村落形态可持续发展为导向，以景观安全格局的理论为基础对高原传统村落形态进行定量化研究。运用最小累积阻力模型和信息量评价模型相结合的方法，选取坡度、坡向、高程差、距水体距离、距道路距离、土地资源和文化景观7个阻力评价因子，构建研究区景观格局体系并分析其村落形态与土地利用的适宜关系。以直波村为例，将之分为4种等级的景观安全水平，共104个"源"地，其由低到高的景观格局及"源"地分为乡土建筑遗产保护源、民俗风情影响源、自然景观影响源、开放空间影响源，占研究区面积的比例分别为29.44%、25.35%、32.41%、12.8%；通过各阻力评价因子的最小累计阻力值和信息量值的大小影响村落形态"源"地的分布概率，计算出研究区村落形态"源"地未来适宜用地范围在高程为2501-2522 m、坡度为9°-15°、坡向为南坡、西坡、西北坡；结合景观安全水平提出土地利用可考虑两种情景：一是根据村落形态重新赋予新的功能，二是采用渐进式更新。研究结果表明通过探究土地利用与村落形态的关系，既能够较好解决人地空间关系，推进川西北高原乡村振兴建设，同时实现嘉绒藏族传统村落形态的存续。     

Nontimber forest product gathering in Ritigala forest (Sri Lanka): Household strategies and community differentiation

Sri Lanka has a long tradition of forest product use. The relationship of people with a dry zone forest was studied using a sample of 48 households in two villages that varied in distance to the forest and access to the market. All households interviewed collected subsistence forest products and a majority of them also collected commercial products. The daily peak-season income from commercial gathering was 4.5 to 7.7 times the daily labor wage. There is a strong gender specialization, with commercial gathering dominated by men whereas subsistence gathering is almost exclusively the task of women. The average forest-derived household income in the village closer to the forest and with better market access was nearly double that of the other village. Family size as a proxy of labor availability was the main discriminating factor between those households who did and those who did not gather commercial products. A small inverse relationship between forest gathering and size of household agricultural land (particularly paddy rice) was observed. No clear relationship was found between total household income and forest derived income, contradicting the view that commercial forest gathering is an exclusive activity of the poorest households.     

Subsistence hunting and conservation issues in the game reserve of Gile, Mozambique

Ethnozoological research was conducted to gather information on the hunting activities and their relevance for the subsistence of local people in 8 villages around the game reserve of Gile, Mozambique. Two series of data were gathered by questionnaires to: (a) 510 householders from eight villages located in the outskirts of the Reserve; (b) 10 hunters from the village of Gile, the main centre of the study area. Several hunting techniques were recorded: spears, nets, traps (including gin-traps) and wildfires, while the use of guns did not appear relevant. The importance of subsistence hunting for local people was underlined by the high percentage of respondents who declared that they usually conduct this activity and sell bushmeat. The proportion of hunters per village was related to the village size but not to its geographical location of villages and the household composition. A positive relationship existed between the proportion of hunters, crop production and fishing activities, indicating that hunting is part of an integrated system of subsistence activities. Most animals harvested were mammals (89.5%, of which 46.7% were ungulates) and most were captured within the Reserve (96%). A higher percentage of animals was sold (56%), representing a relevant income source for the villagers. Small animals were mainly captured by traps during solitary hunting, medium-sized animals in collective net hunting; larger prey were captured by gin-traps adopted by both solitary and collective hunting. In the diet of the local people wild animals represented a higher protein source than domestic animals.     

Demographic Dimensions of an Intervillage Land Dispute in Nubri, Nepal

The demographic basis for a land dispute between two Tibetan villages in Nubri, Nepal, is examined in relation to family systems. Despite close proximity and sociocultural ties, the villages experience divergent population growth rates resulting from different frequencies of marriage. In one, old-age security concerns induce parents to retain female labor within the household by designating daughters to be nuns, a practice that has the unintended consequence of limiting aggregate population growth by barring many women from marriage and reproduction. In the other village the slightly different family system results in fewer nuns, faster population growth, and a need for more land. Comparisons with family systems and demographic outcomes in Europe and Asia reveal this to be a case in which preventive checks can exist in a context of early marriage and high marital fertility and demonstrate how concerns for old-age security can act as a restraint on aggregate fertility. [ Tibetans, family systems, demography, religious celibacy ]     

利用IKONOS卫星数据和分形方法研究南麂岛土地覆盖状况

研究南麂岛的土地覆盖类型及其空间分布和结构特征。利用具有1米空间分辨率的IKONOS卫星遥感数据,提取南麂岛的植被覆盖和土地利用信息,获得草地、灌木林地、庄稼地和居民地等主要土地覆盖类型及其分布图。然后利用分形几何方法建立南麂岛土地覆盖类型特性分析模型,从斑块的面积效应、覆盖类型的分形分析、单个斑块的分形分析和覆盖类型分形特征差异显著性等方面进行分析讨论。研究结果表明,南麂岛的草地和灌木林地的分形维数较大,而庄稼地和居民地的分形维数较小,说明草地和灌木林地的斑块的结构特征和边界比庄稼地和居民地更为复杂。进一步研究表明,斑块的分形特性与其受人类活动的干扰程度密切相关。     

Analysis of the effectiveness of control measures against Schistosoma mekongi using an intra- and inter-village model in Champasak Province, Lao PDR

Schistosomiasis mekongi is prevalent in the Khong district of Lao PDR, made up of one big island, Khong, and numerous small islands in the Mekong River. Schistosoma mekongi is spread by Neotricula aperta as the intermediate host along the Mekong River. Therefore, even if an epidemic of S. mekongi were stamped out in a certain village, infection may recur if the source of infection is a village located in the upper reaches of the Mekong River. The purpose of this study was to construct a mathematical model for the transmission of S. mekongi among villages from the upper to lower Mekong River to estimate the effect of control measures against it. The chief characteristic of the present model is competence in dealing with the spread of infection among villages through the Mekong River in consideration of the reduction in longevity of cercariae and miracidia and their diffusion in the river. The model also takes into account seasonal fluctuation in the water level of the Mekong River, which affects human behavior in terms of water contact. The results of simulations indicated that the prevalence of schistosomiasis mekongi would be suppressed to a low level for a long time in a village further downstream when universal mass treatment is performed in villages further upstream simultaneously.     

‘Land-use mixité’: Evaluating urban hierarchy and the urban-to-rural gradient with an evenness-based approach

This study illustrates an original approach to assess city hierarchy in metropolitan regions and to investigate urban gradients using local-scale socioeconomic data. By linking land-use to the diversification in the level of land imperviousness, we consider fragmentation and diversity in the use of land to distinguish urban from rural areas. We applied an entropy function to a map of land imperviousness in Athens' metropolitan region, Greece, with the aim to classify municipalities into urban and rural types based on Shannon diversity and Pielou evenness indexes. Urban areas are hypothesized to have higher diversification in the degree of imperviousness than rural areas. Principal Component Analysis and Canonical Correlation Analysis were used to verify the spatial coherency between land imperviousness and the distribution of urban land-use. Land imperviousness Pielou index increased linearly with both diversity in the use of land and ancillary variables assessing the urban gradient (population density and distance from the inner city). Our study identifies urban and rural municipalities respectively as the most and the less diversified in terms of land-use and imperviousness intensity, with suburban areas ranking in-between. Pielou evenness index applied to land imperviousness maps and the notion of land-use diversification are promising tools to monitoring city hierarchy along urban gradients.     

Role of non-timber forest products in the economy of peripheral communities of knuckles national wilderness area of Sri Lanka: A farming systems approach

The Knuckles range of forests has been identified as a unique biological resource in Sri Lanka with much biodiversity. It is also important as a watershed which feeds the Mahaweli reservoir system. Having considered the present hazardous land-use practices such as cardamum production and shifting cultivation, the Knuckles range has been declared a national wilderness area. The Forest Department is in the process of preparing the management plan for the area. There are about 48 villages in the vicinity of the forest. This study attempts to estimate the composition of income in the peripheral communities, ticularly the extraction of non-timber forest products (NTFP) from this range of forests. Data were collected using structured questionnaires from 60 households in three villages in the vicinity of the forest. The rural economy is described using a farming systems approach and the net income contributed by each activity in the farming system was estimated. Results show that nine components of the farming system use resources from the village and the forest, with at least 47 plant species used by the villagers for different purposes. Cardamum production and shifting cultivation contribute significantly to the total income of the household, but the majority of households in the study depend upon forest resources to supply some portion of their income. Nevertheless, the monetary value of the annual income generated by NTFP is much lower than income from either cardamum production or shifting cultivation. If cardamum production and shifting cultivation are to be restricted under the conservation program, there could be additional pressure put on NTFP. Therefore, we suggest a study of the natural regen-eration capacity of selected NTFP; such information should be used in finalizing the management plan in the Knuckles range of forests.     

An Event History Analysis of Parcel Extensification and Household Abandonment in Pays Basque,French Pyrenees, 1830–1958 AD

This paper examines local processes of agricultural abandonment, socioeconomic changes, and associated landscape transition in a Pyrenean mountain village. We analyze the effects of socioeconomic and demographic factors contributing to changes in parcel level land use and ownership from 1830 to 1958. We use an event-history analysis to examine how individual etxe (Basque households) influenced the pace and character of landscape transition through their internal composition and their mediation of market pressures. Contrary to conventional narratives of agricultural transitions, our analysis suggests that more rapid “abandonment” of the landscape was prevented by etxe that were able to both engage in markets and maintain higher fertility rates. We conclude that the capacity of agropastoral landscapes to absorb broad-scale change is directly tied to local institutions, such as the etxe, which ultimately mediate socioeconomic drivers of change.     

Promoting community knowledge and action for malaria control in rural Cambodia: potential contributions of Village Malaria Workers

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Cambodia has been investing in Village Malaria Workers (VMWs) to improve malaria case management in rural areas. This study assessed the quality of the VMWs' services compared to those by a government-run health center from the perspective of community members. We focused on VMWs' contribution to promote their action to control malaria. Methodology A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Kampot in 2009. Interviews were conducted at every accessible household in a village with VMWs (n=153) and a village with a health center (n=159), using interviewer administered questionnaire. Preference of the interview was given to female household head. Multiple regression analyses were run to compare knowledge about malaria, preventive measures taken, and time before first malaria treatment between the two villages. FINDINGS: The villagers perceived the VMWs' services equally as good as those provided by the health center. After controlling for confounding factors, the following indicators did not show any statistical significance between two villages: community members' knowledge about malaria transmission (AOR=0.60, 95% CI=0.30-1.22) and government-recommended antimalarial (AOR=0.55, 95% CI=0.25-1.23), preventive measures taken (Beta=-0.191, p=0.315), and time before the first treatment (Beta=0.053, p=0.721). However, knowledge about malaria symptoms was significantly lower in the village with VMWs than the village with a health center (AOR=0.40, 95% CI=0.19-0.83). CONCLUSIONS: VMWs played an equivalent role as the health center in promoting malaria knowledge, action, and effective case management. Although VMWs need to enhance community knowledge about malaria symptoms, the current government policy on VMWs is reasonable and should be expanded to other malaria endemic villages.     

Linking vegetation type and condition to ecosystem goods and services

Our focus here is on how vegetation management can be used to manipulate the balance of ecosystem services at a landscape scale. Across a landscape, vegetation can be maintained or restored or modified or removed and replaced to meet the changing needs of society, giving mosaics of vegetation types and ‘condition classes’ that can range from intact native ecosystems to highly modified systems. These various classes will produce different levels and types of ecosystem services and the challenge for natural resource management programs and land management decisions is to be able to consider the complex nature of trade-offs between a wide range of ecosystem services. We use vegetation types and their condition classes as a first approximation or surrogate to define and map the underlying ecosystems in terms of their regulating, supporting, provisioning and cultural services. In using vegetation as a surrogate, we believe it is important to describe natural or modified (e.g. agronomic) vegetation classes in terms of structure – which in turn is related to ecosystem function (rooting depth, nutrient recycling, carbon capture, water use, etc.). This approach enables changes in vegetation as a result of land use to be coupled with changes to surface and groundwater resources and other physical and chemical properties of soils.For Australian ecosystems an existing structural classification based on height and cover of all vegetation layers is suggested as the appropriate functional vegetation classification. This classification can be used with a framework for mapping and manipulating vegetation condition classes. These classes are based on the degree of modification to pre-existing vegetation and, in the case of biodiversity, this is the original vegetation. A landscape approach enables a user to visualise and evaluate the trade-offs between economic and environmental objectives at a spatial scale at which the delivery of ecosystem services can meaningfully be influenced and reported. Such trade-offs can be defined using a simple scoring system or, if the ecological and socio-economic data exist in sufficient detail, using process-based models.Existing Australian databases contain information that can be aggregated at the landscape and water catchment scales. The available spatial information includes socio-economic data, terrain, vegetation type and cover, soils and their hydrological properties, groundwater quantity and surface water flows. Our approach supports use of this information to design vegetation management interventions for delivery of an appropriate mix of ecosystem services across landscapes with diverse land uses.     

Mechanisms Explaining Variety Naming by Farmers and Name Consistency of Rice Varieties in The Gambia

Mechanisms Explaining Variety Naming by Farmers and Name Consistency of Rice Varieties in The Gambia. Understanding variety naming by farmers is important for better understanding crop genetic diversity in farmer fields and its management by farmers. This paper describes variety naming of rice by farmers in The Gambia and presents mechanisms that explain naming diversity and consistency. Three types of variety names can be distinguished, referring to common old varieties, common new varieties, and uncommon varieties. Interview and plant data suggest that variety exchange affects variety naming within villages. As a result, variety names give information on the period of time a variety is used in a village, and on the flow of varieties between and within villages. Name consistency within and between villages results from and illuminates the dynamics of variety exchange within and between villages.     

Livelihood Diversification in Tropical Coastal Communities: A Network-Based Approach to Analyzing ‘Livelihood Landscapes’

Background

Diverse livelihood portfolios are frequently viewed as a critical component of household economies in developing countries. Within the context of natural resources governance in particular, the capacity of individual households to engage in multiple occupations has been shown to influence important issues such as whether fishers would exit a declining fishery, how people react to policy, the types of resource management systems that may be applicable, and other decisions about natural resource use.

Methodology/Principal Findings

This paper uses network analysis to provide a novel methodological framework for detailed systemic analysis of household livelihood portfolios. Paying particular attention to the role of natural resource-based occupations such as fisheries, we use network analyses to map occupations and their interrelationships- what we refer to as ‘livelihood landscapes’. This network approach allows for the visualization of complex information about dependence on natural resources that can be aggregated at different scales. We then examine how the role of natural resource-based occupations changes along spectra of socioeconomic development and population density in 27 communities in 5 western Indian Ocean countries. Network statistics, including in- and out-degree centrality, the density of the network, and the level of network centralization are compared along a multivariate index of community-level socioeconomic development and a gradient of human population density. The combination of network analyses suggests an increase in household-level specialization with development for most occupational sectors, including fishing and farming, but that at the community-level, economies remained diversified.

Conclusions/Significance

The novel modeling approach introduced here provides for various types of livelihood portfolio analyses at different scales of social aggregation. Our livelihood landscapes approach provides insights into communities'' dependencies and usages of natural resources, and shows how patterns of occupational interrelationships relate to socioeconomic development and population density. A key question for future analysis is how the reduction of household occupational diversity, but maintenance of community diversity we see with increasing socioeconomic development influences key aspects of societies'' vulnerability to environmental change or disasters.