Meg Huby

Local perceptions of risk to livelihood in semi-arid Tanzania

This paper examines variation in local perceptions of risk in semi-arid Tanzania, identifying factors that influence local perceptions of problems and testing the feasibility of risk mapping as a technique. Twelve villages in six districts were visited between February and April 2001. Villagers were asked about their worries and concerns in providing for themselves and their families using a risk questionnaire. The responses were grouped into 21 categories of problem and incidence and severity indices were calculated for each category. Most problems were associated with the availability of natural resources on which livelihoods depend but others related to human and social capital assets. In addition to environmental factors, livelihood strategy and gender both influenced peoples perceptions of risk. Problems of irrigation and weather, for example, were important for agricultural communities while problems relating to livestock diseases, access to land and hunger were more important in pastoral communities. The risks cited by men and women generally reflected their traditional roles in society. Very broadly, the risks associated with natural capital tended to be seen as higher by men while women mentioned more problems relating to human and social capital. However, this was not always the case. Problems linked to finance, traditionally the concern of men, were ranked similarly by men and women. In projects designed to facilitate community management and control over common pool resources, the identification of common interests is particularly important. Risk mapping can provide a cost-effective way of gaining insights to help improve research design and to inform policy development.

Ecological Citizenship and Ethical Investment

There has been very little debate about the practical forms that ecological citizenship might take. Ethical investment, which seeks to influence companies to adopt responsible policies that benefit society and the environment, has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly in the UK. Dobson has identified four defining characteristics that are used in this article to assess whether ethical investment is an example of ecological citizenship. The evidence demonstrates that individual ethical investors are engaged in an activity that displays all the characteristics of ecological citizenship. However, the case for regarding institutional investors as ecological citizens is weak, although citizenship arguments have the potential to strengthen the case for corporate social responsibility.

Measuring Inequality in Rural England: The Effects of Changing Spatial Resolution

The sustainability of rural development depends on the distribution of the social and environmental resources needed to maintain and improve the vitality of rural areas. Here we examine the complexity of measuring patterns of distribution using examples of socioeconomic data on rural poverty and affluence as well as data on environmental quality and species richness. We demonstrate how changes in the base spatial units used for analysis have different effects on different measures of inequality. The effects of such changes in spatial resolution also depend on the underlying processes that generate the data. The results of our investigations into the effects of scale on the assessment of inequality suggest that, where data come from both the social and natural science sources, the most appropriate level for analysis is that of the finest common resolution. This may result in redundancy of effort for some types of data but any such disadvantage is offset by the benefits of identifying inequalities that are masked at coarser resolutions.

Bureaucrats and Budgeting Benefits: How do British Central Government Departments Measure Up?

Many economics-based theories of bureaucracy build on the assumption that public bureaucrats reap utility from a large budget. This article examines what evidence may be marshalled for bureaucratic appropriation of budgetary funds, by reference to measurable changes in British central government departments from the early 1970S to the early I98os, both at the civil-service-wide level and at the level of departments taken separately and severally. This evidence indicates that, while the budget/ utility approach cannot be dismissed entirely, the link between budgetary increases and bureaucratic utility is neither clearly demonstrable nor universally applicable. At the least, a more refined type of budget/utility

Water poverty in england and Wales

Water poverty is conventionally defined as households spending more than 3% and 5% of their net income after housing costs on water. Water bills have risen faster than general prices and faster than earnings since privatisation. In 2009/10, 23.6% of households paying for water in England and Wales were spending more than 3% of their income on water and sewerage and 11.5% were spending more than 5% of their income. The article explores variation in water poverty and prospects for the future. If water bills rise 1% per year faster than household income, water poverty will increase to 35% by 2033 based on a 3% definition. Policy options are discussed.

life in prison: perspectives of drug injectors

Although there is a considerable literature on peoples lives in prison, little is known about drug injectors inside prison. Drug injectors with prison experience were invited to discuss prison life during qualitative in-depth interviews and small group discussions. Drug injectors were recruited in the community in England and 24 people participated. Analysis of responses identified the following broad themes as important entering prison and early experiences; prison conditions; prison regimes; days in the lives of drug injectors; relationships and social networks; and informal rules and attitudes. This article draws on drug injectors descriptions to illustrate these findings, in an attempt to help sensitize researchers and policy makers to some of the issues that are at the heart of the problems of responding to drug injectors in prison.

Contracting‐out in health and local authorities: Prospects, progress and pitfalls

Wholesale privatisation through contracting‐out raises general issues both for the Departments and authorities responsible for the services and for central government in its role as guardian of the public interest in respect of fair trading and competition. A recent survey conducted from York University and published here for the first time, reveals that a number of such issues have not yet been faced.

Dealing with pollution from conflict: analysis of discourses around the 2006 Lebanon Oil Spill

In July 2006 a war between Lebanon and Israel resulted in severe environmental damage in Lebanon from Israeli bombing raids. An attack on the Lebanese Jiyyeh Power Plant released 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea. Remarkably, a clean-up operation was effected despite a continued state of war and lack of capacity in the Lebanese government. Civil society environmentalists played a key role in dealing with the pollution and complying with pollution-control legislation. In this study we use Q-methodology to analyse discourses on the effectiveness of pollution legislation during times of conflict using the Jiyyeh oil spill as an example. We interviewed 35 people from eight different stakeholder groups involved in environmental issues. Five distinct discourses were generated covering compensation schemes, need for new legislation, role of stakeholders during wartime and strengthening government ministries.

Interdisciplinarity and participatory approaches to environmental health Reflections from a workshop on social, economic and behavioural factors in the genesis and health impact of environmental hazards

This paper reviews a workshop discussion postulated on the notion that social, economic and behavioural factors are responsible for the creation of environmental hazards and benefits that, in turn, can affect human health, with concomitant effects on future social well-being. The workshop case study centred on environmental health investigations, public engagement and partnership work undertaken following the death of two neighbouring children in Cheshire. Discussion included questions of causality and generalisability. It revealed how the attribution of responsibility for environmental damage to health is fraught with difficulties. It may often militate against an informed and open debate among interested parties, with concomitant implications for reducing the danger from environmental hazards. To improve communication, vocabulary needs to be free from jargon and acronyms, and differences in conceptual approach between different disciplines need to be better understood. The definition of the ‘community’ is itself far from clear-cut, yet questions of how to involve this community in intervention processes are important ones. The workshop identified a clear need for better, more considered forms of communication with communities and the public if fears are to be allayed, but recognised the additional costs that this would incur.

Is the New Deal for Transport really better for everyone? The social policy implications of the UK 1998 White Paper on transport

The authors examine, from a social policy perspective, the UK governments 1998 transport White Paper, which aims to reduce the environmental and social costs of growing traffic congestion and pollution. Data from the British Social Attitudes Survey are used to analyse the implications of the governments new transport policy for the relative welfare of different social and demographic groups. The results suggest that car dependency, which the government is hoping to tackle, is widespread and is particularly strong among men, people with higher incomes, those aged between 25 and 59 years, people with children, the nonmanual social classes, and those living in rural areas. These classes and groups share most of the responsibility for the negative impacts of motor transport, and are often the least concerned about them. They are also the people most opposed to the idea of government intervention to ameliorate the problems.