Leontine Visser

Scenarios for Resilient Shrimp Aquaculture in Tropical Coastal Areas

We contend there are currently two competing scenarios for the sustainable development of shrimp aquaculture in coastal areas of Southeast Asia. First, a landscape approach, where farming techniques for small-scale producers are integrated into intertidal areas in a way that the ecological functions of mangroves are maintained and shrimp farming diseases are controlled. Second, a closed system approach, where problems of disease and effluent are eliminated in closed recirculation ponds behind the intertidal zone controlled by industrial-scale producers. We use these scenarios as two ends of a spectrum of possible interactions at a range of scales between the ecological, social, and political dynamics that underlie the threat to the resilience of mangrove forested coastal ecosystems. We discuss how the analytical concepts of resilience, uncertainty, risk, and the organizing heuristic of scale can assist us to understand decision making over shrimp production, and in doing so, explore their use in the empirical research areas of coastal ecology, shrimp health management and epidemiology, livelihoods, and governance in response to the two scenarios. Our conclusion focuses on a series of questions that map out a new interdisciplinary research agenda for sustainable shrimp aquaculture in coastal areas.

Socio-Cultural Dispositions and Wellbeing of the Women Left Behind: A Case of Migrant Households in Nepal.

The concept of wellbeing is gaining popularity in the study of quality of life and cultural significance of living. The paper aims to contribute to our understanding of objective and subjective wellbeing by exploring the perceptions of women left behind by out-migrating husbands on their quality of life in a transnational social field. The paper uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Its primary focus is on the life stories of the four women left behind by their migrant husbands, complementing by quantitative data obtained from a survey among 277 households. Taking an example from Nepal’s eastern terai, the paper shows that additional income from remittances has increased the objective wellbeing of the women left behind, but it may not have increased their subjective wellbeing. Hence, it is concluded that improved objective wellbeing of a woman does not necessarily translate into her (improved) subjective wellbeing. The subjective experiences are rather complex, multi-faceted and context specific depending on the family situation, socio-cultural disposition and prior economic situation of the actors involved.

Shifting perceptions of food security and land in the context of labour out-migration in rural Nepal

This paper presents the results of a survey of the livelihoods of people living in the eastern part of the subtropical plains of Nepal, known as the terai. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in the survey and further data were obtained through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews with key informants and participant observations. Changes were recorded both in the perception of agricultural and residential land for a secure living and the meaning given to food security. The principal drivers causing these changes were voluntary out-migration for remunerative employment, urbanization and the reluctance of members of the younger generation to farm, which they regard as a “dirty job”. In consequence, people’s livelihood practices and access to food are gradually shifting from an agriculture-based economy to an economy that is based on other sources of income, including remittances from out-migrants. This development threatens not only the role of agriculture in rural livelihoods but also the food security of the country.

Can Patrons Be Bypassed? Frictions between Local and Global Regulatory Networks over Shrimp Aquaculture in East Kalimantan

Taking related concepts of friction and a simplified value chain analysis, this article focuses on interaction of three regulatory networks and their influence over sustainable shrimp aquaculture in East Kalimantan. The results show that while government and nongovernment organization (NGO) regulatory networks have focused on the standardization of best practices, it is artisanal trade networks, controlled by local patrons (or ponggawa), that hold most influence over production. By exploring the influence of these ponggawa over production and trade we demonstrate how patronage is key to regulating the conduct of farmers and constitutes a vital, but poorly understood element in the shrimp value chain. We conclude that while ponggawa hold a central position in these value chains they remain systematically ignored by state and NGO-market-led regulatory networks. As a result, many of the frictions inherent to local–global interconnections of shrimp aquaculture limit any externally led attempt to create change.

Challenges of a transition to a sustainably managed shrimp culture agro-ecosystem in the Mahakam delta, East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Around 1990, when in other countries mangrove protection took off, massive conversion of mangrove forest into shrimp ponds started in the Mahakam delta. To identify constraints to and options for sustainable management we analysed institutions and constraints with stakeholders. In 3 sites we used participatory tools and a complementary survey to assess the livelihood framework. Since 1970, ponds for shrimp farming gradually replaced 75% of mangrove forested area. After 2004, recovery of mangrove took off, as, mainly due to low shrimp yields, ponds were abandoned. In 2008, 54% of the delta was dedicated to ponds for shrimp production. Around 80% of livelihood activities of pond-farmers, pond caretakers, and fishermen was related to mangroves. The involvement of men and women in these activities varied between sites and types. Poor households depended more on mangroves. Most activities resulted in seasonal income peaks; only a few activities resulted in a full daily livelihood. Ponds, on the other hand, provide 50% of households’ livelihood, but this remains vulnerable in the context of the risky shrimp production. Skewed land holding, unequal sharing of benefits, competing claims and vested interests of stakeholders pose a great challenge to a transition to a more sustainable use of the mangrove area. In particular, ponds located on peat soils are non-sustainable and would require full restoration into mangrove; ponds on other soils could best be transformed into a mixed mangrove-pond system using a ‘green-water’ technology.

The Local Turn: an Introductory Essay Revisiting Leadership, Elite Capture and Good Governance in Indonesian Conservation and Development Programs.

The local turn in good governance theory and practice responded to critiques of the ineffectiveness of state management and the inequity of privatization alternatives in natural resource management. Confounding expectations of greater effectiveness from decentralised governance, including community-based natural resource management, however, critics argue that expanded opportunities for elite capture have become widely associated with program failures. This overview of theoretical controversies on leadership, patronage and elite capture is part of a themed section in this issue that challenges assumptions across a wide range of current policy literature. It introduces a set of Indonesian case studies that examine practices of local leaders and elites and seek to account in structural terms for appropriations both by (‘elite capture’) and of (‘captured elites’) these key figures. These studies explore the structural factors and co-governance practices most likely to promote effective participation of the full spectrum of local interests in pursuit of better local natural resource governance.

Institutional change and the quality of palm oil: an analysis of the artisanal processing sector in Ghana

In Ghana, most oil palm fruits are produced by smallholders and processed by female artisanal processors. However, the ensuing crude palm oil (CPO) is high in free fatty acids and therefore cannot be sold in remunerative local or export markets. An earlier diagnostic study indicated that two main factors cause the poor quality: the processing practice of leaving harvested fruits unprocessed for up to 21 days and the use of lorry tyres as fuel to cook the fruits. Furthermore, the tyre-burning practice affects the health of people working and living around the processing facilities. This study describes the effect of action research undertaken with processors and the creation of a stakeholder platform in which Chiefs, the District Assembly, and a Concertation and Innovation Group collaborated to address the issues. The emerging institutional changes are assessed against baseline information. Awareness was raised about the dangers of tyre-burning, and CPO quality was improved by establishing the optimal time to leave fruits before processing. However, the prevailing market circumstances led producers to opt to produce greater quantities of oil rather than better-quality oil.

Caught Between Mediation and Local Dependence: Understanding the Role of Non-government Organisations in Co-management of Coastal Resources in Eastern Indonesia

ABSTRACT Resolving contestations over resource management rights around coastal villages remains a focal challenge for co-management initiatives in remote coastal zones. Contemporary socio-political settings increasingly see local people having to negotiate between local long-standing (horizontal) relationships and new emerging (vertical) relationships which involve collaborations with outside actors who try to assume neutral mediating positions. Using two conflicts, this article examines the rise and fall of a participatory coastal resource management program in eastern Indonesia involving a fishing community engaged in a co-management arrangement with a conservation non-government organisation (NGO). An actor-oriented approach is applied to analyse how these conflicts shape, drive and direct collaborations across the community–NGO interface. We discuss how these impact the implementation of the conservation ethics and sustainable natural resource management practices, and show how particular mediating capacities of an NGO may overcome, and even build forth on, conflict in some contexts but fall short in others. We argue that local resource user groups and conservation teams operate according to strong local relationships that are entrenched in cultural–historical hierarchies of power. We moreover note that these local relationships significantly influence the extent of neutrality of external groups in their mediating, coordinating and technical advisory roles. The effectiveness of co-management partnerships hinges on the ability to balance actors’ mediating capacity with their local dependence for operation.

Capturing the Elite in Marine Conservation in Northeast Kalimantan

This article takes the existence of power networks of local elites as a social fact of fundamental importance and the starting point for the study of patronage in the governance of the coastal waters of East Kalimantan. We address the question of how to capture the elites for project implementation, rather than assuming the inevitability of elite capture of project funds. We analyze the multiple-scale networks of local power holders (punggawa) and the collaboration and friction between the political-economic interests and historical values of local actors and the scientific motivations of international environmental organizations. We describe how collaboration and friction between members of the elite challenge models that categorically exclude or co-opt local elites in foreign projects. In-depth ethnographic study of these networks shows their resilience through flows of knowledge and power in a highly volatile coastal environment. Results indicate the need for inclusion in decision making of local entrepreneurs, and – indirectly - their dependents in decentralized coastal governance.

In Memoriam E. K. M. Masinambow

Professor Dr Eduard Karel Markus (E. K. M.) Masinambow is well known to every Australian, European, American, Vietnamese or Japanese student of the social sciences and humanities who carried out research in Indonesia during the last three decades. He initiated many international research projects and he was highly instrumental in increasing the research capabilities and capacities of young Indonesian scholars. Eddy Masinambow died in Jakarta on 18 July 2005. To several generations of expatriate researchers Pak Eddy was the ‘gatekeeper’ at Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) in the process of obtaining a permit to carry out research in various parts of Indonesia. For almost fifty years he committed himself to the enhancement of the quality of scientific knowledge and methodology, especially in the field of linguistics and the social sciences. Being of Minahasan origin, Eddy Masinambow was conscious of the relative disadvantage of research and research implementation in Eastern Indonesia. His endeavour to establish and coordinate international scientific programmes for the Northern Moluccas and Irian Jaya/Papua in the 1970s and 1980s is proof of his pioneering role in the formation of the capacities and capabilities of the staff of the regional universities and government departments alike. Eddy Masinambow was born on 26 March 1931 in the village of Kakas, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. He attended the Mulo (secondary school) in Tomohon and continued at the AMS (Algemene Middelbare School or General High School) in Jakarta at the time that the latter was re-named SMA (Sekolah Menengah Atas or Senior High School). After graduation he became the first staff member of the Organisation of Natural Scientific Research (Organisasi Penyeledikan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam or OPIPA), which was re-named Majelis Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (MIPI) in 1956. In 1968 the MIPI was transformed into the now well-known Indonesian Institute of Sciences or LIPI. Dr Masinambow studied English language and literature at the Faculty of Letters of Universitas Indonesia (1952 1958). In 1961 he went to the United States to work with Professor Isidore Dyen who held a chair in Austronesian Languages at Yale