Alec Thornton

Occupational transitions in three coastal villages in Central Java, Indonesia, in the context of sea level rise: a case study

The transition from one system to another as a mechanism of adaptation to an external disturbance is widely discussed in terms of ‘regime shifts’ in resilience research. But occupational transitions by communities due to coastal hazards such as coastal erosion and strong waves have not been studied in depth from a systems perspective. Such a perspective can contribute towards a better understanding of the process and pattern behind transformation among coastal societies. The present case study of coastal occupational communities in Central Java province, Indonesia, includes fishers, brackish pond farmers and labourers. It investigates the historical occupational transitions and the factors that drive them. The study draws on Participatory Rural Appraisal exercises such as historical timeline analysis and participatory discussions along with a socio-economic survey to study the factors and processes that led these communities to transitional pathways. Historical narratives of the community reveal the significance and influence of livelihood capitals such as social, human, financial, physical and natural capital in the transitions. Through the ‘Marble and Cup’ conceptual framework of the systems transitions, the irreversibility of occupational transitions due to the destruction of natural assets is outlined. This depicts a multi-locale and one-dimensional transition to a singular occupational mode (essentially labourers) in the face of a disturbance like sea level rise, necessitating transformation and building of the livelihood capitals across geographical scales.

Garden of Eden? The impact of resettlement on squatters' ‘agri-hoods’ in Fiji

Since the mid 1990s, squatter settlements in Fiji have been expanding at a phenomenal rate, largely due to the non-renewal of agricultural land leases and inadequate urban governance. In response to squatter growth, the government of Fiji has implemented a squatter-resettlement scheme. This scheme threatens the livelihoods of squatters engaged in urban agriculture, or ‘farming squatters’. In this article, interviews with key informants and squatter residents will reveal contrasting attitudes and approaches to the issue of ‘farming squatters’. The article suggests a more participatory process to address the needs of ‘farming squatters’.

“The Lucky country”? A critical exploration of community gardens and city–community relations in Australian cities

ABSTRACT Urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to expand beyond the grassroots level to meet the social, cultural, economic and food needs of urban dwellers. At its core, UA represents an alternative use of urban space that occurs with or without government support or approval. The experiences of community gardeners and their views of, and engagement in, community gardens as a form of UA, or local “alternative food networks”, is a focal point of this paper. Relying on Australian city case studies, this paper explores community gardens, using critical urban approaches concerning “rights to the city” and diverse economies. Findings from this study reveal how community gardeners understand and participate in diverse economies and extended local food networks. They also identify respondents’ views of local councils as barriers to the emergence of community gardens, and other forms of UA, as a local response to growing concerns over impacts of the global food chain on food security. In contrast to other Western cities, effective city–community relations for community garden growth have yet to emerge in Australian cities, as key policy areas for urban sustainability and social cohesion.

Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra Leone

An influential underlying driver of human-induced landscape change is civil war and other forms of conflict that cause human displacement. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) increase environmental pressures at their destination locations while reducing them at their origins. This increased pressure presents an environment for increased land cover change (LCC) rates and landscape fragmentation. To test whether this hypothesis is correct, this research sought to understand LCC dynamics in the Western Area of Sierra Leone from 1976 to 2011, a period including pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict eras, using Landsat and SPOT satellite imagery. A trajectory analysis of classified images compared LCC trajectories before and during the war (1976–2000) with after the war (2003–2011). Over the 35-year period, the built-up land class rapidly increased, in parallel with an increase in urban and peri-urban agriculture. During the war, urban and peri-urban agriculture became a major livelihood activity for displaced rural residents to make the region food self-sufficient, especially when the war destabilised food production activities. The reluctance of IDPs to return to their rural homes after the war caused an increased demand for land driven by housing needs. Meanwhile, protected forest and other forest declined. A significant finding to emerge from this research is that landscape fragmentation increased in conjunction with declining forest cover while built-up areas aggregated. This has important implications for the region’s flora, fauna, and human populations given that other research has shown that landscape fragmentation affects the landscape’s ability to provide important ecosystem services.

The Geography of Development Studies: Leaving No One Behind

Abstract Whereas the Millennium Development Goals sought reductions, the Sustainable Development Goals have set forth bold new objectives of leaving no one behind. This Commentary explores the continued geographic prioritization and exclusions within development studies research and some of the causes. The status quo is entrenching exclusion. A transformation of research, and the research community, is required to ensure that no one is left behind. Providing the evidence to support decision-making that is equitable and inclusive necessitates critical reflection of the exclusions that exist, along with innovation and creativity in how the research community can address gaps and support the more inclusive SDG agenda. Thought leadership and evidence will be the foundation that transforms our research and practice – if we, as a community of researchers, heed the call.

Beyond aid distribution: aid effectiveness, neoliberal and neostructural reforms in pacific island countries

In the South Pacific region, there are increasing concerns about aid effectiveness and the sustainability of aid projects. This is happening despite the various international agreements seeking aid effectiveness. The aid backdrop in the region suggests that these agreed principles have not been diligently adhered to. The region’s failure to generate meaningful or sustainable development can be attributed to the lack of adherence to principles on the one hand. The neoliberal and neostructural reforms channeled through the region’s aid agenda have impacted the kinds of aid modalities used in the region. These approaches hinge upon the effectiveness and sustainability of aid and severely affect the capacity of national governments to manoeuvre and manage large volumes of aid. This chapter will explore relationships between aid impacts in the South Pacific and the reforms imposed and regulated by donors and supported by governments.

Urban Agriculture: Overview of the Field and Early Models of Urban Food Governance

This chapter will present an overview of the field Urban Agriculture (UA) scholarship from the global North and South. Using an urban governance framework, this overview will focus on the relationship between UA and food security and the use of urban space for UA activities, from earlier periods of need, to the contemporary era of a globalising urban population, and to what extent UA is a solution to, or is symptomatic of, urban decline and a misunderstood fact of urban life. These issues are intertwined and pertinent, as social movements for urban food activism are clearly increasing in cities, globally, with multi-scalar impacts and policy outcomes that indicate the connected and disconnected nature of urban dwellers and their institutions.

City Case Studies in Urban Governance and Urban Activism

This chapter will present UA case studies in the global North and South, from my own research (previous and current), as well as others. These studies were selected on the basis of their direct relevance to the themes specified throughout this book, namely, urban governance, food security and the use of urban space for UA activities. This chapter will begin with an overview of UA practice in cities in developing and developed countries. It will then address the following questions, and apply these to the case studies: (1) are there existing frameworks or formal processes for city–community engagement in urban food space issues and (2) to what extent are they replicable to other cities (with due consideration for how geography, culture and history influence places and spaces)?