Tor Halfdan Aase

Innovation as an Expression of Adaptive Capacity to Change in Himalayan Farming

Abstract Recent studies of future food production in South Asia generally agree that the conditions for production will radically change in the years to come, in particular due to climate change and market variations. However, because we do not know how conditions will be modified and what adaptations will be required by farmers, the article assumes that innovative farming systems will cope best with changes, whatever those changes turn out to be. The challenge, then, is to identify circumstances that either promote or hamper innovation. A comparative analysis of 2 farming communities in the Himalayas concludes that no single parameter can explain the observed variation of agricultural innovation. Rather than restricting analyses to “innovation systems” that consist of social institutions only, the article proposes an approach that includes social actors, as well as natural resources, in processes that produce “innovative places.” In this study, water availability, farm size, and an active national nongovernmental organization are parameters that encourage innovation.

Symbolic Space: Representations of space in geography and anthropology

The discourse on space in geography has reached a dead-end because it asks a wrong set of questions. Instead of asking which notion of space is the correct one, we should rather look upon space as a cultural construction and allow for multiple spaces in our analysis. This implies a shift of focus, from theoretical speculations about space to the empirical contexts in which various spaces are constructed and articulated. The article demonstrates how space is constructed in South India and in Malagasy, and how those constructs are related to migration patterns and to state formation. The validity of a semiotic approach to space is demonstrated by applying it to the recent Gulf War and to the Sal-

Policy Priorities for Sustainable Mountain Development

This book is a collection of papers given at a workshop organized by ICIMOD in Kathmandu in 2006, with the objective to ‘‘facilitate a common understanding and vision about mountain policy issues, options, and priorities.’’ The 10 chapters address a range of topics related to the overarching question of how to combine mountain livelihoods and poverty alleviation with environmentally sound policies. The first three chapters deal with the question of state versus community domination in the management of natural resources. J. Gabriel Campbell favors stronger community involvement, referring to success stories like Nepali forest user groups and ecotourism. Since policies are intermediated by institutions, indigenous ‘‘hidden’’ institutions should be allowed to play a vital role in shaping and implementing policies. Likewise, Mahesh Banskota points to shortcomings of previous state policies, although the environment might have fared even worse without such interference. In a highly intriguing chapter, N. C. Saxena, however, claims that ‘‘decentralization that actually works for the poor is more the exception than the rule.’’ He contends that the reasons for modest achievements in forest policies must be sought outside the sector itself. Unclear property rights lead to an open access situation with a ‘‘tragedy of the commons’’ outcome whether the state or local communities are the formal owners. Furthermore, the present practice of implementing development programs to focus on households serves to undermine traditional ability of collective action, which is a prerequisite for viable community resource management. Saxena’s solution to the present impasse is to strengthen the position of traditional institutions, like the panchayat in India, but he simultaneously claims that local institutions produce their own incomes in addition to matching funds from the government. Thus, becoming accountable to local people as well as to the forest department could reduce present malpractices of corruption and disempowerment of marginal groups. In a chapter on regional cooperation on water management, Quamrul Islam Siddique echoes the so-called theory of Himalayan degradation, according to which upstream communities are blamed for downstream problems of extreme water discharge variability. Seen from the perspective of Bangladesh, technical solutions to problems of flooding and low flow are proposed through the construction of huge, multipurpose water reservoirs in Nepal. The same theory is also implied by Madhav Karki and Golam Rasul, who, like Saxena, identify fuzzy property rights as a major obstacle to sustainable development. Community-based management must be strengthened in order to transform subsistence economies into commercial activity, which is a prerequisite for progress. The weak market integration of mountain economies is also seen by Kamal Banskota and Narpat Jodha to be a major obstacle to development. Limited accessibility, fragility, marginality, and subsistence production are perceived to prevent the emergence of factors that have proved to be hallmarks of successful development elsewhere, like crop specialization, high productivity, market access, human capital, and the exploitation of comparative advantages. Eklabya Sharma et al argue that maintenance of biological diversity is a side effect of people-centered resource management systems and point to the international cooperation in the Kangchenjunga Landscape Program as a case to learn from. Introduction of communitybased management raises ‘‘secondgeneration problems’’ that call for continuous attention and a flexible approach. In a well-documented chapter, Roger White and Sanjeev Bhuchar disagree with the theory of Himalayan degradation when they maintain that ‘‘farmers upstream cannot be blamed for floods downstream.’’ Nevertheless, environments as well as livelihoods and the drudgery of women could be improved by smallscale projects like water harvesting, drip irrigation, fish farming, and leveling of cultivated terraces. ‘‘Greater voice for all mountain people in the Himalayas’’ can be achieved through a rights-based approach, according to Michael Kollmair. ‘‘Right to information’’ legislation would be helpful in that respect, granting salience and concomitant increased accountability on the part of decision-makers on all levels. Quite surprisingly, the last chapter is devoted to educational policies in Bangladesh. Thematically far removed from the focus of the book, one of its points could nevertheless have been made relevant. Md Abdul Aziz finds that 50 years elapsed between the appointments of education commissions during the British period, while commissions have been appointed every 5 years since independence. If the situation is parallel in natural resource management, it may be argued that a certain policy has had too little time to be properly implemented before it is replaced by a new one. The book bears clear evidence of being a collection of papers. There are only a couple of crossreferences in the book, and the same MountainMedia Mountain Research and Development (MRD) An international, peer-reviewed open access journal published by the International Mountain Society (IMS) www.mrd-journal.org

Making a Place and (Re)Constructing a Life: The Role of Gender in a Spontaneous Frontier Migration in Tanamalwila, Sri Lanka

drøfting av sammenhengen mellom dem. Avhandlingens problemstillinger er brede, men relativt klart formulert. Datamaterialet og de anvendte metodene er tjenelige til å belyse dem. Konklusjonene som trekkes er i tråd med materialet, og Stræte refererer til et stort utvalg av relevant litteratur. De fem innledende kapitlene og de seks artiklene er gjennomgående godt strukturert og velskrevne, og det vitenskapelige apparat for øvrig viser at Stræte er en nøyaktig og ryddig forsker. Det savnes en mer inngående drøfting av mulige alternative forklaringer og sammenhenger, dvs. en kritisk vurdering av egne valgte teorier og forklaringer, opp mot alternativer. Stræte dokumenterer en langt svakere forsåelse av innovasjonsteori enn konvensjonsteori. Det er også grunn til å bemerke at den vide eksplorative tilnærmingen fører til at arbeidet får preg av kontektsmodellbygging og sannsynliggjøring av modellvariablenes betydning. Dette fører til at analysene blir mindre skarpe. Strætes avhandling representerer likevel et nytt og spennende forskningsfelt innen økonomisk geografi. Hans anvendelse av konvensjonsteori er god og original i nordisk økonomisk geografi, og arbeidet vitner om stor selvstendighet. Arbeidet er spennende og bidrar med ny innsikt.

Absorbing heavy industry in marginal areas. The prospects of petroleum development in northern Norway

Aase, T. H. 1986. Absorbing heavy industry in marginal areas. The prospects of petroleum development in northern Norway. Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. Vol. 40, 179–185. Oslo. ISSN 0029-1951. The problem raised in this article is how to predict the socio-economic impact of the petroleum industry in sparsely populated areas of northern Norway. What will happen to traditional production, local labour markets, and social life in various types of local communities if a gas terminal is localized in the neighbourhood? The analyses focuses on the qualitative aspects of the relationship between industrial complex and local community, identifying the kinds of impact which may be expected. Assumed qualities of the terminal are simulated into described socio-economic systems of local communities characteristic of the region: fishing village, commuting village, and town.