| 1. |
- Otto, Opira
(författare)
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Trust, identity and beer : institutional arrangements for agricultural labour in Isunga village in Kiryandongo district, midwestern Uganda
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores the role and influence of institutions on agricultural labour transactions in Isunga village in Kiryandongo District, Midwestern Uganda. It primarily focuses on how farmers structure, maintain and enforce their labour relationships during crop farming. The study is based on semi-structured interviews of twenty households and unstructured interviews with representatives of farmers associations. These interviews show that other than household labour, the other common labour arrangements in the village include farm work sharing, labour exchanges and casual wage labour. Farm work sharing and labour exchanges involve farmers temporarily pooling their labour into work groups to complete tasks such as planting, weeding or harvesting crops on members' farms in succession. This is done under strict rules and rewarded with 'good' beer and food. Against this background, the study asks what institutions really are, why they matter and what we can learn about them. Literature suggests that institutions influence labour transactions by their effects on transaction costs and the protection of contractual rights. However, literature does not suggest which institutions are best for agricultural labour transactions. Taking institutions to be the 'rules of the game', with farmers as 'players' who strategically use these rules to their advantage, the study focused on the interaction between institutions and farmers. The major findings of the study are: (a) farmers' choices of institutions are influenced by the characteristics of transactions, the costs of using institutions for handling labour dealings, the fairness and predictability of the outcome of contract enforcement mechanisms, and socio-cultural factors such as kin/ethnic status, morality and affection, (b) formal institutions in Isunga are either weak, ineffective or absent. So, farmers rely heavily on institutions embedded in social norms and networks to structure their transactional relationships, to ensure the performance of the respective parties, and to settle disputes if they arise. The study concludes that agricultural labour transactions in Isunga involve judgements of personal characteristics and social roles expressed as reputation and trustworthiness.
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| 2. |
- Wallin, Ida
(författare)
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Forest management and governance in Sweden : a phronetic analysis of social practices
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The transition to a sustainable society requires improved knowledge about what determines forest management and the relationship to governance and policies. This thesis constitutes a phronetic analysis of social practices in forest management at the local level and of how social practices materialise and influence forest governance and ultimately, forest management more broadly. Social practices are used as the object of study in the synthesising analysis of empirical findings in Papers I-IV. In doing so, tension-points have been identified and problematized. The research has applied a case study approach from local to national and European levels. Identified social practices, relevant for determining actual forest management are mainly: personal relationships and trust towards professional forest advisors and purchasers; upholding and respecting local social values through discussing forest management with neighbours; intergenerational socialisation in relation to one’s own forest creating emotional bonds with the forest and across generations; and a rural life-style including hard work and diverse businesses. The identified tension-points include: i) two partially competing logics of practice: the traditional versus the professional logic where the latter is perceived by the former as a threat to local social values and, ii) a tendency of local social practices to streamline rather than to diversify forest management. From a policy-making perspective, trying to balance the different services from the forest, ways to address both logics of practice and the diversification of social practices should be explored. Especially, trusted advisors are a major factor determining forest management and policy outcomes. Current evolving practices of outreach strategies towards forest owners that decrease personal contact run the risk of eroding valuable social capital. Participatory and collaborative forest governance efforts could build on the strong social capital and willingness to cooperate found at the local level. Power structures embedded between governance levels and among local stakeholders should, however, not be underestimated and more research into the pre-conditions for collaboration is needed. Social practices as the object of study provides a promising path for future studies in order to find effective policy solutions.
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| 3. |
- Fischer, Klara
(författare)
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From Betterment to Bt maize : agricultural development and the introduction of genetically modified maize to South African smallholders
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Agriculture has received renewed attention in poverty reduction efforts in Africa in recent years, and there are hopes that GM crops could have an important role in helping increase smallholder yields and reduce poverty. Drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA) and livelihoods perspectives, this thesis examines the ideas governing the Massive Food Production Programme (MFPP), an agricultural development programme aiming to reduce poverty by raising agricultural production in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, and its local effects when implemented in smallholder communities. In particular, the effects of introduction of Bt maize, genetically modified to be resistant to some potentially damaging insects in the region, were studied. The results reveal that the programme was not equipped to support the improvement of smallholders' livelihoods through agriculture. A core reason was the failure to break with a historically dominant unidirectional view of agricultural development, which was reinforced by a contemporary dominant neoliberal view of development as progress through growth. The programme thereby disregarded the effects of long-term marginalisation on smallholders' ability to engage in farming, and the associated need for substantial advisory, infrastructure and credit support to increase agricultural productivity. Local strategies for dealing with the effects of poverty were also unacknowledged; and practices and inputs originally developed for large-scale, capital-intensive farming were introduced without adaptation to smallholder conditions. The programme also failed to recognise the local heterogeneity of poverty, resulting in a bias towards comparatively better-off smallholders. The Bt maize variety introduced, like hybrid maize varieties introduced during pre-democracy interventions, was not adapted to smallholders' farming environments. It was input-demanding and sensitive to environmental dynamics, and it was promoted for planting in monoculture. Bans on saving and recycling seed resulting from patents, plant breeders' rights and new regulations to ensure the biosafety of GM crops were largely incompatible with smallholders' practices and further undermined strategies for dealing with resource shortage. It is suggested that cheaper, open-pollinated maize varieties, which can be recycled and are more tolerant to low-input conditions, could be better suited to smallholders' needs and practices.
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| 4. |
- Guamán, Victor
(författare)
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Biological and mechanical subsoiling in potato production – a participatory research approach
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Soil compaction in agricultural fields has increased due to the use of heavy agricultural machinery and intensified vehicular traffic. Compaction reduces total porosity, permeability and water-holding capacity in soil, leading to poorer aeration and impeded root development and nutrient uptake. Soil compaction occurs in topsoil and subsoil, but subsoil compaction is considered more persistent, complex and costly to alleviate. Mechanical methods such as deep tillage and biological methods such as use of deep-rooting crops are available to deal with soil compaction, but combining these methods might tackle compaction more efficiently. This thesis investigates the effects of mechanical inter-row subsoiling, biological subsoiling and a combination of these on soil penetration resistance, potato root length density, nutrient uptake, tuber yield and quality. Part of the study involved interdisciplinary methodology and participatory research, in which farmers, advisors and researchers formed a collaborative research group to develop effective methods to reverse soil compaction and improve potato production. To test hypotheses field experiments at an experimental farm and on seven collaborating farms in southern Sweden (Skåne, Blekinge and östergötland) following the principle for the so called mother and baby (farm) trial design were performed. Inter-row subsoiling alone and in combination with preceding crops greatly improved soil penetration resistance. Root length density (RDL) was higher in the combined treatment than in the separate inter-row and biological subsoiling treatments. Nitrogen uptake increased with inter-row subsoiling which in starch potato trials could be shown as an increase in total tuber yield. A positive effect of autumn-sown oilseed radish as preceding crop treatment was shown in farm trials. The incidence of external and internal quality defects was low in all treatments. The results from the field trials led to many interesting debates with participating farmers with specific knowledge of their own farm conditions and to a new, deeper understanding of the potato cropping system and potential improvements. Over time, the unique combination of a collaborative research group in connection with regional participatory learning and development groups became a combined boundary organisation. Such structures can close the gap between science and practical farming and contribute to innovation and capacity building among farmers and all stakeholders, and thus need to be created and maintained.
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| 5. |
- Johansson, Karl-Erik
(författare)
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Barriers and bridges for introducing agroforestry and community-based forestry among food insecure households in eastern Africa
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of introducing agroforestry and community-based forestry is to secure and improve livelihoods, maintain and restore ecosystem services, and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, the adoption and scaling up of these systems among food insecure communities have proved to be difficult. To better understand why, I identified barriers and bridges at different adoption stages and levels of governance. These were analysed using policy narratives and the sustainable livelihood approach in the light of sustainable development, sustainability and resilience of landscapes. The first stage was the negotiation process between the Swedish NGO Vi-Skogen and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) about funding. Three explanatory approaches were used: organizational, power and context. Vi-Skogen and Sida were caught in policy incompatibility dilemmas that slowed down the NGO policy process, and delayed critical changes that could have improved project outcomes. The second was Vi-Skogen’s agroforestry project in Tanzania’s Mara Region. A random sample of 21 households was drawn from each of 89 project villages. The proportion of households with surviving agroforestry trees varied from 10-90 % among villages. Field training and visits to farmers with good practices were important for households to start planting trees. Local collaboration, perceived ownership of trees and benefits of trees for crop production were additional factors important for households’ decision to continue with agroforestry practices. The third was eleven community-based forest producer and user groups (CBFGs) in eastern and southern Africa. Development of many groups had stagnated and few had managed to develop large scale value-added production. I identified eight barriers and four bridges that influenced the scaling up process of agroforestry and community based forestry among food insecure households. All resulted from interactions among social, political, and economic structures and processes at multiple levels of governance. It is concluded that these interactions influenced the scaling up process and the development of sustainable subsistence systems among food insecure households. Collaborative knowledge production and learning is an approach through which the social capital and organisational capacity of the food insecure households can grow, enabling them to constructively address these multidimensional interactions to work in their favour. The use of this approach, i.e. a landscape approach, holds the opportunity through which subsistence systems can be transformed from causing degradation to promote sustainable development and livelihoods.
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| 6. |
- Lindgren, Anna, 1972
(författare)
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Staten som trädgårdsmästare. Järnvägens planteringar från naturförsköningskonst till testamente
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Järnvägen är en av de innovationer som påverkat modern samhällsutveckling allra mest. När de första stambanorna började att byggas i mitten av 1800-talet anlades planteringar som en integrerad komponent i järnvägssystemet. De utgjordes av prydnadsplanteringar, skyddsplanteringar och planteringar för husbehov. Trots att dessa planteringar tog stora ytor och resurser i anspråk långt fram i tiden, har vi idag inte mycket kunskap om hur det kommer sig att de anlades och när synen på dem började att förändras. Syftet med avhandlingen är att analysera och diskutera vilka händelser och ideal som präglade uppbyggnaden och nedskärningen av den statliga järnvägens planteringsverksamhet i Sverige. Tidsmässigt omfattar studien två nedslag: uppbyggnadsfasen åren 1855–1875 och nedskärningsfasen åren 1955–1975. Arkivmaterial har lokaliserats genom att utgå från järnvägens organisation. Textanalys, med inspiration från diskursperspektiv och teorin om spårbundenhet, av arkivmaterial och litteratur har använts som metod. Med utgångspunkt från begreppen modernitet och plats diskuterar avhandlingen hur förändringen, från att planteringar var fundamentala inom järnvägssystemet till att de inte längre ingick i järnvägens anläggningar, kan förstås och förklaras. Avhandlingen visar att planteringar inkluderades i vad som ansågs vara nyttan med järnvägen och utgjorde en central del i de nya platser som anlades längs spåren. Järnvägens planteringar präglades under uppstartsfasen 1855–1875 av naturförsköningskonsten och nationsbygget som ideal. Organiseringen och samordningen av en planteringsverksamhet med trädskolor och trädgårdsmästare var grundläggande för verksamheten. Under nedskärningsfasen, 1955–1975, ledde den prestandainriktade vändningen till fokus på rationaliseringar och besparingar. Efterkrigstidens moderniseringsideal, en ny järnvägspolitik, bilen och skyndsamhetens ökade betydelse bidrog till att järnvägens roll minskade. Struktur, ordning, skönhet, framsteg och bildning uttrycktes inte längre på samma sätt med planteringar. Många platser övergick från att vara en arena att vistas i till en yta att passera. Hur idealen påverkade de materiella uttrycken och vad som ansågs vara modernitetbefrämjande diskuteras i avhandlingen. Den industriella moderniteten under 1800-talet motiverade anläggandet av järnvägsplanteringar. Högmoderniteten under 1900-talets andra hälft motiverade till en början nedskärningar och slutligen, år 1973, avveckling av plantskoleverksamheten och ändrade arbetsuppgifter för trädgårdsmästarna. Inför förändringarna togs så kallade testamenten fram i form av utredningar av befintliga planteringar med avsikten att flytta ansvaret från en central nivå till lokal nivå. I avhandlingen berörs även frågan om förändringarna som en bidragande orsak till dagens brist på gestaltade gröna ytor i järnvägsmiljöer.
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| 7. |
- Pendrill, Florence, 1983
(författare)
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Where have all the forests gone? Quantifying pantropical deforestation drivers
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Deforestation across the tropics continues to be a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and the largest threat to biodiversity on land. With strengthened commitments to reduce deforestation from countries and companies alike, it is crucial that renewed investments for reducing deforestation be guided by a sound understanding of what drives deforestation. This thesis gives a comprehensive picture of the amount of deforestation and concomitant carbon emissions driven by the expansion of agricultural commodities across the tropics and its link to international trade. The included papers show that pasture and a handful of crops drive a large share of the deforestation resulting in the expansion of productive agriculture. The main demand for these commodities is domestic consumption; even so, imports of food commodities associated with deforestation can still constitute a large part of the consumer countries’ carbon emissions due to consumption (e.g., in the EU). This thesis contributes empirical evidence relating to forest transition theories by showing that many countries with increasing forest cover tend to import products associated with deforestation elsewhere, thereby offsetting around one-third of their forest gains. The thesis also introduces a conceptual distinction between two categories of agriculture-driven deforestation, based on whether it results in productive agricultural land or not. Though almost all deforestation is agriculture-driven, one-third to one-half of agriculture-driven deforestation occurs without the expansion of productive agricultural land. Instead, it may be due to several potential mechanisms, such as land speculation, tenure issues, or fires. Put together, these results indicate that it is crucial that policies to curb deforestation go beyond focusing only on trade in specific commodities, to help foster concerted action on rural development, territorial governance, and land-use planning. This thesis also highlights key evidence gaps on the links between deforestation and agriculture: (i) the attribution of deforestation to specific commodities currently often relies on coarse or outdated data, (ii) there is a need for improved data on deforestation trends, and (iii) our understanding of deforestation drivers is systematically poorer for dry forests and Africa.
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| 8. |
- González García-Mon, Blanca, 1993-
(författare)
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Harvesting from land and sea : Social relationships, trade networks, and spatial connectivity in changing social-ecological systems
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the era of global change, the connectivity of aquatic and terrestrial food production systems across spatial scales is increasing. At the same time, diverse actors that participate in food systems, from production to consumption, face the need to adapt their daily activities to an increasingly changing context. This thesis aims to better understand actors’ responses to social or environmental changes in food systems that are characterized by their cross-scale dynamics and social-ecological interactions. The four papers that constitute this thesis address this overarching aim by investigating two processes that are important in responding to changes and creating spatial connectivity between geographical locations: trade (Papers I-III), and spatial diversification or actor’s geographical mobility (Paper IV). The papers analyze fisheries and agricultural systems in Mexico and South Africa, using interview-based data collection and analysis, network analysis, agent-based modeling, and combinations of these methods. Papers I-III specifically examine how trade networks, which are embedded in social relationships and networks that operate across spatial scales, can influence the responses of food system actors to multiple types of changes. Paper I shows that trade relationships across fisheries and agricultural systems are generally embedded in stable business relationships characterized by reciprocity. Paper II finds that different trade network structures in a multi-species Mexican fishery can buffer changes in fish availability and create cascading effects between different species and geographical regions. Paper III describes four types of social networks consisting of relationships within and across scales that enable responding to multiple types of changes in a South African agricultural trade network. Paper IV identifies potential factors, such as environmental changes, that could influence changes in fisheries actors’ spatial diversification observed in Mexico. The thesis contributes to social-ecological systems research with theoretical insights regarding the embeddedness of trade networks in multidimensional social relationships within and across scales, where diverse types of social relationships and networks can influence fishing and farming practices. In addition, it highlights that spatial and temporal heterogeneity can have a key role in responses to changes based on spatial connectivity. Finally, the mixed-method methodology applied in this thesis enables simultaneously analyzing networks and processes in social-ecological systems, while illustrating the challenges and opportunities of method integration.
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| 9. |
- Böhler, Tom, 1955
(författare)
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Vindkraft, landskap och mening. En studie om vindkraft och människans rumsliga preferenser
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The point of departure for this thesis is a core question in present-day environmental work, namely how to balance the conservation of nature against its utilisation. A wind power venture on a large scale energy production will, for instance, obviously have an impact on the natural scenery of the coastline. The overall aim of the thesis is to contribute to the understanding of how notions about the relationship between nature and society articulated in present-day environmental work influence what are regarded as possible solutions for tomorrow's sustainable society. The more specific aim is partly to better understand how conceptions of nature affect people's attitudes to wind power, and partly to understand how such attitudes are reproduced. The thesis is based on two different empirical studies. One consists of 26 interviews conducted during the period 1995-1997 with people who either through their work or idealistic interests have been regarded as being able to have some influence regarding the establishment of wind power along the west coast of Sweden. The other study is a textual analysis, conducted during 1999-2002, of a number of documents that in various ways take up the landscape of wind power. The study brings forward that the traditional distinction between nature and culture is still important, but that it is no longer a question of separating the natural from the cultural, but rather a question of separating what could be termed enjoyment landscape from industrial landscape. The study further brings forward that the care of cultural monuments, nature conservancy and physical planning form a powerful discursive coalition for the preservation of the landscape. The study also brings forward that in the discourse about wind power there are important aspects of landscapte that are marginalised. The debate about whether wind power should be used in a landscape or not, generally concerns aesthetics. Other important aspects such as the connection between local renewable energy production and global environmental responsibility are seldom taken up. Finally it is argued that the ambivalence manifested in some of the interviews concerning wind power should not primarily be regarded as resistance to wind power as such, but more as an expression of uncertainty about the direction in which society is moving.
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| 10. |
- Giva, Nicia
(författare)
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Parks with people? : action research in bridging conservation and livelihoods in Limpopo National Park, Mozambique
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Reconciling conservation and people’s livelihoods has faced multiple dilemmas, particularly prominent in human-inhabited protected areas with high levels of poverty and vulnerability to climate adversities. This thesis examines the relationship between wildlife conservation and people’s livelihoods in a human-inhabited protected area and analyses the challenges and opportunities for reconciling the two. Drawing from the empirical case of Limpopo National Park (LNP), conceptualised from the outset with the ‘Parks with People’ paradigm, I argue in this thesis that reconciling conservation and livelihoods objectives requires co-management alternatives that are flexible, context-sensitive, and adaptive. Therefore systemic action research was adopted as the methodological approach for collaborative exploration of co-management opportunities that could resonate with the local complexity and dynamics. Findings show that agricultural livelihoods and food security of the LNP residents are strongly contingent on the climatic conditions. People’s ability to cope with and overcome drought-related food insecurity has been negatively affected by wildlife incursion, since strategies to simultaneously cope with both are inconsistent. The park lacked an adequate management strategy for tackling both wildlife conservation and people’s livelihoods. This study also demonstrates the potential of the systemic action research approach in engaging the multiple actors in a social learning process, which improved actors’ knowledge and understanding of their conflictual perspectives and needs. Local communities enhanced their agency towards improving their responsibility and accountability in the management of LNP, particularly regarding the 20% benefit sharing. Likewise, park staff became aware of the improvement necessary in their praxis and gained sensitivity for collaborative approaches. However, the LNP governance structure is dominated by the neoliberal and donor-driven conservation agenda which disregards the local context of poverty and vulnerability to climate adversities. This hindered the possibilities to further develop the emergent collaborative signs into long-term co-management practice. I conclude by emphasising the need for communicative spaces across all levels of governance to address simultaneously the complexity of the conservation-livelihood nexus and challenge the normalised and hegemonic neoliberal prescriptions.
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