Clemens M. Grünbühel

Socioeconomic Metabolism and Colonization of Natural Processes in SangSaeng Village: Material and Energy Flows, Land Use, and Cultural Change in Northeast Thailand

Conceptualizing environmental problems as sustainability problems contributing to local and global environmental change requires an understanding of how societies cope with their natural environment. Indicators for society–nature interactions are fairly well developed for national-level analyses. This study adapts some of these indicators to the local level and relates them to a qualitative assessment of economic and cultural change in a single community. Indicators are derived from material and energy flow accounting methods and address two major objectives: Firstly, to identify mutual influences between the global and the local level. Secondly, to assess future potentials of environmental pressures and impacts that can be expected to occur as such communities follow a path of further modernization. This study of a small rice-farming community in Northeast Thailand deals with physical as well as sociocultural aspects in order to produce a broad picture of society–nature relations. The indicators developed portray a society in the midst of transition and rapid modernization. This becomes apparent when comparing the results to those of similar studies in traditional and industrial societies. What we see is a community struggling to adapt to global influences, while at the same time maintaining subsistence with traditional coping mechanisms.

Social Metabolism and Labour in a Local Context: Changing Environmental Relations on Trinket Island

From a material and energetic perspective, this paper outlines the patterns of society-nature interactions of a local horticultural, hunter-and-gatherer population that lives on a remote island between India and Indonesia. Based on empirical research, we present several indicators to show an economic portfolio of a local society that combines horticulture, hunting and gathering activities with elements of industrialisation and market economy. In describing these environmental relations, the study narrows its focus to the use of three socio-ecological concepts, namely socio-economic metabolism, colonising natural processes, and the energetic return on investment. Using these concepts, we show the dynamics of social and environmental transformation at a local level and the consequences this may have for sustainability.

Global Environmental Change and Historical Transitions

What do transition processes in rural areas in Thailand, biomass consumption in nineteenth-century Austria and the ecology of hunter-gatherers have to do with the appropriation of plant production and global environmental change? More than one might think of in the first place. They are part of a scholarly discourse on our changing relations with the environment. We argue that global change can be analysed in terms of transitions between major modes of subsistence and try to document this with several case studies.

Using land-time-budgets to analyse farming systems and poverty alleviation policies in the Lao PDR

This paper applies the method of Land-time-budget analysis to a rural subsistence community and to the national economy of the Lao PDR. The analysis is conducted to meet two ends: to identify the communitys/the nations resource use profile in terms of land and time use - the analysis identifies biophysical constraints of socio-economic development and trade-offs in resource use patterns; to contrast the results of the analysis with national poverty alleviation policies and visualise their effects on local communities. Results show that shifting cultivation, a traditional socio-economic strategy in Laos, is doomed for extinction as a practice for securing subsistence. Little, if any, provisions are made by the planners to persuade shifting cultivators to leave their trade and moving to the lowlands and urban areas. Policies are shown to actually decrease the rate of subsistence, which is risk-averse, and increase market participation, which is unstable.

Conceptualising Long-Term Socio-ecological Research (LTSER): Integrating the Social Dimension

In order to support the emerging network of long-term ecological research (LTER) sites across Europe, the European Union has launched ALTER-Net, a network aiming at lasting integration of long-term socio-economic, ecological and biodiversity research. Due to its high population density and long history of human habitation, however, Europe’s ecosystems are generally intensively used. Social and natural drivers are so inextricably intertwined that the notion of ‘socio-ecological’ systems is appropriate. Traditional natural science-based approaches are insufficient to understand these integrated systems, as they cannot adequately capture their relevant socio-economic dimensions. This is particularly relevant because the EU launched ALTER-Net has an explicit aim to support sustainability, a goal that requires integration of socio-economic and ecological dimensions. As such, LTER is challenged to significantly expand its focus from ecological to socio-ecological systems, thus transforming itself from LTER to long-term socio-ecological research or LTSER. In order to support this transformation, this chapter explores several approaches for conceptualising socio-economic dimensions of LTSER. It discusses how the socio-economic metabolism approach can be combined with theories of complex adaptive systems to generate heuristic models of society–nature interaction which can then be used to integrate concepts from the social sciences. In particular, the chapter discusses possible contributions from the fields of ecological anthropology and ecological economics and shows how participatory approaches can be integrated with innovative agent-based modelling concepts to arrive at an integrated representation of socio-ecological systems that can help to support local communities to move towards sustainability.

Environmental Relations and Biophysical Transition: The Case of Trinket Island

ABSTRACT To what extent is an island economy cut off from the rest of the world? Defined as a mass of land bounded by water, island societies connect and exchange with their surroundings rather intensely. Based on empirical research, this paper explores the role of a ‘remote’ island society on Trinket in generating or sheltering itself from the process of globalisation in which con‐textually given borders are transgressed and displaced. To this end, we apply the concepts of societal metabolism and colonising natural processes operationalised by Material and Energy Flow Analysis (MEFA), and Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) respectively. Using these biophysical indicators, we describe the transition from a metabolism based upon the natural environment to metabolism based on exchange with other societies. Data presented in this paper further reveal a process of industrialisation and integration into the global market of a so‐called ‘closed’ and ‘inaccessible’ island society.

Household types as a tool to understand adaptive capacity: case studies from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Bangladesh and India

Supporting smallholder households to adapt to climate variability is a high priority for development agencies and national governments. Efforts to support climate adaptation in developing countries occur within highly dynamic contexts. Macro-level changes in national and regional economies manifest in dynamic local conditions, such as migration, changing household labour dynamics, market access and land-use options. Research aimed at developing adaptation options is often focused on particular activities or industries and struggles to take into account the broader, interrelated suite of household livelihood activities or the non-climate stressors driving change and adaptation. This paper explores the use of household types to (a) understand the diversity of household circumstances and (b) place agricultural adaptation options within the broader context of household livelihoods. Results from application in four countries are discussed, which highlight the utility of the method and identify broader level trends and drivers that are common challenges (experienced differently) across multiple contexts.

Critical challenges to consultants in pursuing quality of Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) in Cambodia

The challenges faced by consultants in improving ESIA quality in Cambodia are discussed in this paper. Despite progress since its introduction in 1996, ESIA practice and the role of stakeholders in Cambodia remain inconsistent, resulting in assessment reports that show significant gaps in critical information. Based on interviews, observations and report reviews, the role of the consultant is found to be vital. Certain shortcomings need to be addressed: consultancy roles are legislatively mandated; there is undue political influence; the socio-economic and environmental databases and amount of time for assessment are restricted; there is limited expertise among hired assessors; financial constraints; and a lack of serious regard by project proponents for ESIA and its consultants. Resolving these issues would greatly improve the potential contribution consultants toward good practice in ESIA.