Rik Thwaites

Property rights, social change, and grassland degradation in Xilingol Biosphere Reserve, Inner Mongolia, China

Dramatic economic growth and policy reform in China have resulted in great changes in resource use patterns. Pastoral areas in the north and northwest are among the areas affected by these changes, with grassland degradation identified as a major and increasing problem. We report here on a study undertaken in Xilingol Biosphere Reserve, Inner Mongolia (focused on Baiinxile Farm) where socioeconomic factors, including property rights reforms and open access to grazing land, have combined to promote unsustainable exploitation of the grassland resource by local herders. The study shows that, although biosphere reserves aim to establish sustainable development at a landscape scale, the current property rights regime in Baiinxile Farm associated with social change is driving local resource users toward greater degradation of the grasslands. The opportunity exists to build on existing village‐level institutions to develop a participatory communal resource management system to help protect the grasslands biodiv...

Trust and trustworthiness: conceptual distinctions and their implications for natural resources management

Few natural resource management (NRM) studies discriminate between trust and trustworthiness. However, this approach, which combines the attitude of one actor with the characteristics of another actor, is common in the organisational management literature. Our case study, set in a wildfire management context in Australia, sought to explore: (1) how community members and NRM staff defined trust and described trustworthiness; (2) how these trust definitions did, or did not, reflect conceptualisations in the literature; and, (3) whether explicitly differentiating between trust and trustworthiness is useful in an NRM context. Our findings suggest that participants defined trust in three main ways: as ‘having a good relationship’; as ‘being able to rely on others’ in a one-way manner; and, as ‘a relationship where parties rely on one another’ in a reciprocal manner. Our findings also suggest that participants differentiated these trust definitions from trustworthiness, that is, from the characteristics and actions which made an individual or agency worthy of trust. These findings suggest that it is useful to differentiate trust from trustworthiness, because it allows NRM managers and researchers to better understand both the trusting intentions of community members and the characteristics of the agency which contribute to that trust.

REDD+ and community forestry: Implications for local communities and forest management-a case study from Nepal

SUMMARY The REDD+ policy proposes to deliver multiple outcomes including emissions reduction, livelihood support and sustainable forest management, and thus appears largely compatible with Community Forestry (CF). However, the addition of a new value (carbon sequestration) to traditional values of CF (local livelihoods and ecological resilience) may have implications for communities and CF management approaches at local level. Based on primary data collected from three Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) in Nepal, this paper explores local effects of REDD+ in pilot sites, where the program has been implemented since 2009. Data from in-depth interviews, focus groups and household survey indicates that REDD+ has generated both positive and negative outcomes. CF condition, CFUGs activities and network, and sources of CFUGs income appeared to be improved, whereas autonomy of CFUGs as independent decision making institutions and customary access rights to forests are both limited, and external political agendas are seen to be replacing the needs and interests of forest users.

Ecotourism implementation in the Kakum Conservation Area, Ghana: administrative framework and local community experiences

In principle ecotourism should support environmental conservation and local development; however, achieving success in delivering on frequently competing objectives of conservation and development has often proven difficult in many ecotourism destinations in Africa. This paper focuses on the implementation of ecotourism in the Kakum Conservation Area (KCA), the most popular ecotourism destination in Ghana. It examines the current administrative framework for implementing ecotourism, and the involvement and experiences of ecotourism by communities around the KCA. A case study research method was adopted using in-depth interviews with local residents and relevant park and non-governmental organisation agency staff. Findings indicate that the implementation of ecotourism is not recognised by the park officials as a process requiring negotiation between stakeholders with different agendas. Thus, the current ecotourism administrative framework does not acknowledge community involvement and participation as relevant to the implementation of ecotourism in the KCA which has generated mixed experiences among the local residents.

Household and community responses to impacts of climate change in the rural hills of Nepal

The research was designed to answer how households and local communities in rural Nepal are responding to the impacts of climate change. Using four villages as case study units, a mixed method approach was adopted in a multi-scaled process carried out at community, district and national levels. The research found that adaptation practices being adopted differ according to household well-being and are largely governed by access to education, information and resources within the community. Responses such as livelihood and income diversification, internal migration, share cropping, taking consumption loans, use of alternative energy and use of bio-pesticides were found to mostly vary according to well-being status of the interviewees. Development of adaptation plans, strategies and support mechanisms should take account of the different adaptation practices and needs of households. If such individual situations are not considered, adaptation responses may be ineffective or even be maladaptive and increase vulnerability. The research also found that the autonomous, unplanned and reactive nature of adaptation practices chosen by rural communities can contribute to further inequity and unequal power relations. The knowledge generated from this research contributes to understanding of how climate change contributes to vulnerability, but also how local practices and lack of an effective climate policy or response measures may magnify the effects of many existing drivers of vulnerability in terms of maladaptation and increasing social inequalities.

An ambivalent landscape: the return of nature to post-agricultural land in South-eastern Australia

Abstract Urban, peri-urban, post-industrial and post-agricultural landscapes are transforming throughout the world due to changes in human use. Spontaneous growth of vegetation (regrowth) that may be part of this transformation is sometimes viewed negatively because of perceived threats to human agency and well-being. In many cases, however, societies experiencing regrowth appear to ignore it. This is problematic as scientists are increasingly finding ecological values in regrowth landscapes. Fostering positive biodiversity outcomes in these areas requires knowledge of how the regrowth is perceived by stakeholders. This paper draws upon 53 semi-structured interviews and document reviews exploring perceptions, views and management of abundant and extensive regrowth by stakeholders in a post-agricultural landscape in central Victoria, Australia. Through discourse analysis, the research highlights the social ambivalence to regrowth and illuminates the underlying causes of that ambivalence. We indicate how this understanding can be used to foster social recognition and acceptance of regrowth and its role in landscape restoration.

Migration drivers in mountain regions in the context of climate change:A case study in Shangnan County of China

Climate change has become widely accepted as a challenge that humans will face in the not-too-distant future. Mountain ecosystems and their inhabitants are among the most vulnerable to climate change. This paper seeks to explain migration drivers in specific mountain regions in the context of climate change based on Foresight’s conceptual framework. A climate change sensitive field named Shangnan County in southern Shaanxi Province is chosen as the case study area to investigate local migration drivers. A series of qualitative research methods is employed in the case study including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions. The evidence of survey suggests that migration decisions are not only shaped by macro factors in aspects of environmental, economics, demographic, social, politics and psychological, but also influenced by placed-related barriers and facilitating mechanisms and personal characteristics.