Thomas Breu

Knowledge for Sustainable Development in the Tajik Pamir Mountains

Abstract Initiating a process of informed decision-making for sustainable development requires the following: a) the values and objectives to be pursued need to be negotiated among all concerned stakeholders of a specific territorial unit; b) these stakeholders should have access to a comparable level of knowledge; and c) the decisions taken and the subsequent actions initiated should have a positive impact on all dimensions of sustainability. In the remote Tajik Pamir mountains, a special effort was made to fulfill the above 3 principles by developing and applying a new methodological approach to sustainable development. The paper presents the results of a multi-year baseline study project in which 10 sectors ranging from agriculture to natural hazards were assessed by a transdisciplinary Swiss–Tajik research team. This knowledge base was enhanced in a development strategy workshop that brought together stakeholders from the local to the international levels. The methodology applied was found appropriate to initiate a broad reflection and negotiation process among various stakeholder groups, leading to a joint identification of possible measures to be taken. Knowledge—and its enhancement through the involvement of all stakeholder levels—appeared to be an effective carrier of innovation and changes of attitudes, thus containing the potential to effectively contribute to sustainable development in marginalized and resource-poor mountain areas.

Rural energy consumption and land degradation in a post-Soviet setting - an example from the west Pamir mountains in Tajikistan

The sustainable use of energy resources in semi-arid rural mountain areas is a common but still unresolved problem, often resulting in environmental degradation. In a post-Soviet setting the identification of possible solutions poses specific challenges. This study aimed at (1) investigating the current energy supply and consumption patterns at household and village levels in the western Tajik Pamirs, (2) analysing the implications for land degradation and natural resource management, and (3) proposing recommendations for sustainable energy use, taking into consideration the peculiarities of the Soviet heritage. For this, a participatory and multi-level stakeholder approach was applied. Data was collected through comparative in-depth case-studies at household level and through participatory land degradation assessments. The study revealed that the close interlinkage between local energy resource use and land degradation leads to a paradoxical situation in present energy consumption. The scarcer the local energy resource base, the higher the overall energy consumption at household level appears to be. It can further be concluded that since 1991 energy consumption patterns in the Tajik Pamirs have become comparable to patterns in semi-arid rural mountain regions of developing countries. Like many countries in the South, the Tajik Pamirs suffer from chronic energy scarcity, unsatisfactory supply of modern energy carriers and unsustainable use of local biomass fuels, leading to land degradation. This calls for a reassessment of the energy policy orientation for Tajikistan.

Local perspectives on water

Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-212158doi:10.1126/science.aac5902View record in Web of Science Record created on 2015-09-28, modified on 2016-08-09

Opportunities and risks in reconciling conservation and development in a post-Soviet setting: The example of the Tajik National Park

In the Tajik National Park (TNP) – a high-altitude area of nearly 26,000 km2 in Central Asia – past and present human activities visibly contrast with standard conservation requirements for protected areas worldwide. This paper focuses on resource management, and highlights three major processes that threaten both the sustainable use of natural resources and the preservation of nature per se: (i) intensified use of biomass as a fuel resource, (ii) inappropriate pasture management, and (iii) increased pressure on endangered wildlife. From analysis of these processes – their historical background, root causes, trends and interrelationships – options and needs to improve park management are proposed and discussed.

Large-scale land acquisition and its effects on the water balance in investor and host countries

This study examines the validity of the assumption that international large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) is motivated by the desire to secure control over water resources, which is commonly referred to as ‘water grabbing’. This assumption was repeatedly expressed in recent years, ascribing the said motivation to the Gulf States in particular. However, it must be considered of hypothetical nature, as the few global studies conducted so far focused primarily on the effects of LSLA on host countries or on trade in virtual water. In this study, we analyse the effects of 475 intended or concluded land deals recorded in the Land Matrix database on the water balance in both host and investor countries. We also examine how these effects relate to water stress and how they contribute to global trade in virtual water. The analysis shows that implementation of the LSLAs in our sample would result in global water savings based on virtual water trade. At the level of individual LSLA host countries, however, water use intensity would increase, particularly in 15 sub-Saharan states. From an investor country perspective, the analysis reveals that countries often suspected of using LSLA to relieve pressure on their domestic water resources—such as China, India, and all Gulf States except Saudi Arabia—invest in agricultural activities abroad that are less water-intensive compared to their average domestic crop production. Conversely, large investor countries such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Japan are disproportionately externalizing crop water consumption through their international land investments. Statistical analyses also show that host countries with abundant water resources are not per se favoured targets of LSLA. Indeed, further analysis reveals that land investments originating in water-stressed countries have only a weak tendency to target areas with a smaller water risk.

The Challenge of Applying Geographic Information Systems to Sustainable Mountain Development

Abstract In recent years, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have increasingly been used in a wide array of application contexts for development cooperation in lowlands and mountain areas. When used for planning, implementation, and monitoring, GIS is a versatile and highly efficient tool, particularly in mountain areas characterized by great spatial diversity and inaccessibility. However, the establishment and application of GIS in mountain regions generally presents considerable technical challenges. Moreover, it is necessary to address specific institutional and organizational issues regarding implementation.

Conceptualizing the transfer of knowledge across cases in transdisciplinary research

Transdisciplinary (TD) research is increasingly suggested as a means of tackling wicked problems by providing knowledge on solutions that serve as pathways towards sustainable development. In contrast to research striving for generalizable findings, TD research produces insights for a particular case and context. TD researchers, who build on other TD projects’ results, need to know under what conditions knowledge gained from their case can be transferred to and applied in another case and context. Knowledge transfer between researchers and stakeholders is extensively discussed in the literature. However, a more profound understanding and management of the challenges related to knowledge transfer across cases, as it applies to TD research, are missing. We specify the challenges of knowledge transfer in TD research by distinguishing TD research for policy from conventional evidence-based policy, which relies on generalizing findings, such as randomized controlled trials. We also compare the functions that cases fulfil in other types of research that include basic, applied and ideographic research. We propose to conceptualize transferability of knowledge across cases as arguments by analogy. Methodologically, this would imply explicit consideration on whether the cases in question are sufficiently similar in relevant aspects while not dissimilar in other additional relevant aspects. On the one hand, this approach calls for explicit material considerations that are needed to learn about which aspects of cases are relevant. On the other hand, formal considerations on how to weigh perceived relevant similarities and dissimilarities of the cases at hand for transferability of knowledge, are needed. Empirical research on how projects in TD research deal with this problem is called for.

New Challenges in Land Use in Nepal: Reflections on the Booming Real-estate Sector in Chitwan and Kathmandu Valley

ABSTRACT Domestic commercial land acquisition is a recent phenomenon in Nepal; it is rapidly expanding and increasingly occupying productive agricultural land for real estate and other non-agricultural commercial purposes. This paper analyses the present situation and the implications of domestic land acquisition, and identifies actors and forms of land deals and associated conflicts. The study was conducted in Kathmandu Valley (27° 32′ 13″ N to 27° 49′ 10″ N and 85° 11′ 31″ E to 85° 31′ 38″ E) and Chitwan District (83°54′ 45″ to 84°48′15″ E and 27°21′45″ to 27°52′ 30″ N), the areas of Nepal most affected by domestic land acquisition. In the absence of statistical material, purposive sampling was used to identify households for a survey of 208 respondents; this was complemented by qualitative research and a review of media and other documents. Respondents confirmed that land acquisition is increasing at a very rapid rate and is driven by a nexus of politicians, land brokers and real-estate actors, and that it has caused not only food insecurity but also numerous conflicts between local people and the land deal actors. Existing policies and legislations were found to be inadequate to address the challenges brought about by the domestic land acquisition process in Nepal.

Focus Issue: Implications of Out- and In-Migration for Sustainable Development in Mountains

Today, about 1 billion people worldwide are international or internal migrants (IOM–GMDAC 2016:5) and migration is taken into account in several targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (IOM 2017). Migration is also greatly affecting mountain societies and mountain ecosystems, with direct negative and positive implications for their development. Migration processes are very diverse, context-specific, highly complex, and often poorly understood. Although general data on population changes exist, they often fail to reveal dynamic local outand inmigration patterns and do not account for migration within mountain areas, for example from rural to urban areas. Nor do demographic data reveal the reasons for people’s migration choices, the types of migration, and the social, economic, cultural, institutional, and ecological negative and positive impacts of migratory processes on both places of origin and destination areas.

Looking back: plausible links between a research intervention and the course of development in the Tajik Pamirs

Promoting sustainable development in the mountainous region of the Tajik Pamirs is socially, economically, and ecologically challenging. This region of Tajikistan was always considered of high geostrategic importance by the Soviet Union because it shares borders with China and the Indian subcontinent (i.e. with Pakistan and Afghanistan). The breakdown of the Soviet Union led to the disintegration of Central Asian states and vital subsidies that had become the backbone of mountain economies in these states were abruptly cut (Figure 13). In Tajikistan, the political transition after independence caused impoverishment, economic slowdown, and environmental degradation throughout the whole country and particularly in the Pamirs. A decline in living conditions and outmigration were the consequence. At the same time, refugee infl ux due to the civil war raging in other regions of Tajikistan aggravated the situation, bringing the region close to a humanitarian catastrophe. With the support of development assistance from the international community, the situation stabilised in the mid1990s but remained critical, with continued dependence on foreign aid.