Andreas Neef

Better than their reputation: enhancing the validity of contingent valuation mail survey results through citizen expert groups

Although contingent valuation is the dominant technique for the valuation of public projects, especially in the environmental sector, the high costs of contingent valuation surveys prevent the use of this method for the assessment of relatively small projects. The reason for this cost problem is that typically only contingent valuation studies which are based on face-to-face interviews are accepted as leading to valid results. Particularly in countries with high wages, face-to-face surveys are extremely costly considering that for a valid contingent valuation study a minimum of 1000 completed face-to-face interviews is required. This paper tries a rehabilitation of mail surveys as low-budget substitutes for costly face-to-face surveys. Based on an empirical contingent valuation study in Northern Thailand, it is shown that the validity of mail surveys can be improved significantly if so-called Citizen Expert Groups are employed for a thorough survey design.

Collaborative market development as a pro-poor and pro-environmental strategy.

Litchi growers of the Hmong ethnic minority in hillsides of northern Thailand have received consistently low prices for their fresh litchi fruits in past years. Concerns over sustainable livelihoods and land use have prompted a group of academics from University of Hohenheim, Germany, and two institutes from Chiang Mai University, Thailand, to collaborate and invite farmers to initiate talks with a large supermarket chain that aims to buy directly from growers, thus bypassing middlemen and guaranteeing higher prices. The prospect of higher financial benefits has incited a group of farmers from several villages to comply with Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) guidelines, reduce the use of hazardous agrochemicals, form a cooperative and adapt cultivation methods. Drawing on qualitative research methods and an action-research approach, this pilot case study provides key insights into how collaboration between academics, smallholder farmers and large business actors can be fostered towards market relationship...

Traditional Land Tenure among the Black Thai and its Implication on the Land Allocation in Yen Chau District, Son La Province, Northwest Vietnam

Since the mid-1950s Vietnam has experienced a number of changes in its land policy. After the French quit the country, the North Vietnamese government started a collectivisation process following the socialist model. After the reunification, the Government of Vietnam (GOV) extended the collectivisation process to the south. This resulted in serious food shortages in the late 1970s (Pingali and Vo Tong Xuan 1992). As a reaction, the de-collectivisation process started in 1981 with the Directive 100 which gradually shifted responsibility for production from the agricultural cooperatives to farm households. Land allocated to co-operatives could be subcontracted to individual households. By the end of 1987, 30% of the agricultural land in Vietnam was already under private use (Nguyen Van Tiem 1992). The second step began with the Resolution 10 issued in 1988. It restored the farm household as the main unit of agricultural production, which led to a large-scale decollectivisation in most parts of the country (Tran Thi Van Anh & Nguyen Manh Huan 1995). In the third stage, land use rights were allocated to farm households with the Land Law, enacted in 1993, providing long-term tenure security of 20 years for annual crops and aquaculture and 50 years for forest and perennial crops. The concomitantly issued so-called red book certificates (RBC) guarantee the rights to exchange, transfer, inherit, mortgage, and lease land use rights. The land allocation process was complemented by additional reforms in the institutional sector ranging from improved supply with and access to high-yielding varieties, fertilisers and pesticides to the development of a rural credit system (Neef et al. 2000).

Environmental livelihood security in Southeast Asia and Oceania: a water-energy-food-livelihoods nexus approach for spatially assessing change. White paper

This document addresses the need for explicit inclusion of livelihoods within the environment nexus (water-energy-food security), not only responding to literature gaps but also addressing emerging dialogue from existing nexus consortia. We present the first conceptualization of ‘environmental livelihood security’, which combines the nexus perspective with sustainable livelihoods. The geographical focus of this paper is Southeast Asia and Oceania, a region currently wrought by the impacts of a changing climate. Climate change is the primary external forcing mechanism on the environmental livelihood security of communities in Southeast Asia and Oceania which, therefore, forms the applied crux of this paper. Finally, we provide a primer for using geospatial information to develop a spatial framework to enable geographical assessment of environmental livelihood security across the region. We conclude by linking the value of this research to ongoing sustainable development discussions, and for influencing policy agendas

Diversity of Water Management Systems: Examples from Hmong and Thai Communities in Mae Sa Watershed, Northern Thailand

Abstract In Thailand water is widely perceived as an open access resource. It is also common belief that organization of highland irrigation in northern Thailand is characterized by a relatively simple structure, and that local communities are not able to adjust their management practices to new realities. The existence of diverse forms of control, ownership and rights of use relating to water resources is widely ignored. This goes along with a stereotypical and static picture of highland people—and ethnic minorities in particular—as being environmentally destructive and culturally backward. These misperceptions fail to recognize that economic, institutional and social conditions are rapidly changing in the highlands of northern Thailand. These changes bring about a range of cultural and economic adjustments at the local level, which is also reflected in the management of water resources. The present article argues that cultural identities and social norms in the highlands are fluid, that local communities continuously adapt their water management practices to new circumstances, and that the outcomes of this process are not always beneficial to sustainability and distributional equity.

Post-Tsunami Recovery and Rehabilitation of Small Enterprises in Phang Nga Province, Southern Thailand

In Southern Thailand, tourism-related businesses and small-scale fisheries were among the sectors that were hardest hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Drawing on an extensive literature review, conversational-style interviews and an innovative recovery profiling methodology used in the most affected province Phang Nga, this chapter discusses the factors that enabled or constrained small enterprises in the tourism, fishery and farm sector in the process of recovering from the disastrous impact of the tsunami. We find that small businesses benefitted from individual support systems in their social networks and from a diversification of their business strategies rather than from government support and large-scale donations by international organizations. The second part of the chapter looks into the particular case of the expanding birds’ nest business in one coastal community that had suffered from nearly complete destruction by the tsunami. Our results show that the production of birds’ nests in specially designed buildings has primarily benefitted the wealthier and politically well-connected families in the village and outside investors who own more than half of the birds’ nest houses. We conclude that post-disaster economic recovery can deepen income disparities and may disrupt the sense of community if local elites and absentee business owners are able to take advantage of the lack of sound governance structures in the aftermath of a major natural disaster.

The role of social capital in post - flood response and recovery among downstream communities of the Ba River, Western Viti Levu, Fiji Islands

Abstract Floods are among the most significant and frequent hazards to affect communities in the downstream part of the Ba River in Western Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. They often leave in their wake displacements and death putting thousands at risk of sliding into poverty. Using the recent 2009 and 2012 floods, we examine how social capital aids in post-disaster response and recovery among residents in five selected villages in the downstream communities of the Ba River. Data were collected from a questionnaire survey administered to 97 households and semi-structured interviews with a further 20 respondents. It is conventionally believed that moving supplies, aid and expertise into flood-affected areas offers the best path to effective response and recovery. By contrast, our results indicate that residents of downstream communities in Ba District are using four approaches to create and deploy social capital among them to facilitate disaster response. The patterns of social capital used for effective response include practices of search and rescue, information, mutual assistance and commercial cooperation. Such strategies help to build resilience at household and community levels and reduce risks of loss of life and costly damage to property. The findings can be used to generate policies concerning the integration of social capital as a component of flood disaster response and recovery mechanisms.

Local responses to natural disasters: Issues and challenges

The aftermath of natural disasters poses numerous challenges for communities, organizations, businesses, households, and individual citizens at the local level. Essential infrastructure may be destroyed, basic services are often disrupted, numerous livelihoods are endangered, and the local economy may be in shatters (Berke, Kartez, & Wenger, 1993; Smith, 2001). When natural hazards strike, community organizations have a pivotal role to play in the face of disaster (King, 2007). Prior to the arrival of external assistance, local people have to engage in search and rescue efforts, local organizations need to deploy various types of collective action, and families and individuals have to rely on their social networks to get immediate assistance. Family and community networks tend to be the primary source of disaster relief, whereby “[p]ersonal trust, shared suffering, physical proximity, and long-standing social ties offer a ready-made foundation for cooperation” (Duus, 2012, p. 179). In short, communities, local officials, and ordinary citizens take various measures during and after disasters to reduce disaster risks and ensure quick response and recovery.

Ethiopia’s Challenge to Egyptian Hegemony in the Nile River Basin: The Case of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

ABSTRACT Home to more than 160 million people, the Nile River Basin has become one of the hotspots of the global quest for food, water and energy security. Moving closer to its completion, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) highlights the interplay between the food, water, and energy sectors and their implications on geopolitical power relations in the region. Despite Ethiopia having the highest volumetric contribution to the Nile river flow, Egypt has maintained hydro-hegemony over the basin for several decades on the basis of historical claims and colonial agreements. Egypt has stated that its volumetric share of the Nile’s water is not sufficient to sustain its growing population, declaring water availability a matter of national security. However, for Ethiopia, the GERD represents a crucial moment in its development agenda, acting as both a counterhegemonic power play, as well as a means to improving the hydropower capacity of the country, and ensuring future food security. This paper explores the various hegemonic and counter-hegemonic strategies employed by Egypt and Ethiopia respectively, highlighting the various ways in which food, water, and energy concerns are intrinsic components of the asymmetric power configurations of the Nile River Basin. By navigating the debate surrounding the GERD, this paper highlights the necessity of incorporating the food, water, and energy nexus into studies of hydro-hegemony and counter-hegemony. This allows the future policy direction for nexus management and governance in the Nile River Basin to move beyond benefit sharing, instead steering towards power sharing.

Interaktive Methoden: Erfahrungen mit der Verwendung von „Participatory Rural Appraisal“ (PRA) in der Forschung

Qualitative Methoden haben innerhalb der Praxis empirischer Sozialwissenschaft in den letzten Jahren eine bemerkenswerte Entwicklung durchlaufen. Die schon lange gefuhrten Debatten uber Methoden empirischer Sozialforschung haben inzwischen die empirische Praxis erreicht und insbesondere bei der Auswertung qualitativen Materials wird ein umfangreiches und sehr differenziertes Instrumentarium herangezogen. Dies erfordert nicht nur umfangreiche Kompetenzen, sondern zugleich ein hohes Mas an Erfahrung, was zu einer entsprechenden methodischen Professionalisierung fuhrt. Die Folge dieser Entwicklung ist, dass der Einsatz qualitativer Methoden nicht zuletzt wegen der komplexen und aufwandigen Auswertung zunehmend anspruchsvoller und schwieriger wird. Zugleich haben sich die verschiedenen Formen von offenen und halbstrukturierten Interviews als dominante Erhebungsmethode in der Entwicklungssoziologie und anderen sozialwissenschaftlichen Teildisziplinen durchgesetzt.