Adaptive pastoralists – Insights into local and regional patterns in livelihood adaptation choices among pastoralists in Kenya.

Pastoralist adaptation strategies have to address multiple, overlapping, and often inter-related processes of socioecological change. The present study addresses the need for inter-regional comparative studies that account for diferent geographic, climate, and socio-economic contexts in order to understand how pastoralists adapt to changes in livelihood conditions. The paper uses data from a unique survey study of pastoralist households in four neighbouring counties in dryland Kenya. Taking our point of departure from an empirically based classifcation of the livelihood strategies available to pastoralists in the Horn of Africa, the survey ofers novel insights into adaptation and fodder management strategies of pastoralist individuals and households. The results show that the use of migration as a strategy is more dependent on the ability to migrate than climate conditions. This is the case in localities where a substantial part of the land is subdivided, the population density is high, and where opportunities for migration are subsequently restricted. Diversifcation of livelihoods as a strategy is largely defned by opportunity. Intensifcation through active fodder management is mainly common in areas where there has been a proliferation of managed enclosures. Climate change will test the adaptive capacity of pastoralists in the studied region, and diversifcation and intensifcation strategies of both herd composition and livelihoods can be seen as strategies for increased climate resilience

Green behavioral (in)consistencies: are pro-environmental behaviors in different domains substitutes or complements?

Households’ consumption patterns and behaviors have profound influence on natural resources and environmental quality. This paper explores whether environmental behaviors and willingness to pay (WTP) in the household domains transport, energy consumption and water consumption are substitutes or complements. Using a cross-country data set from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Survey on Environmental Attitudes and Behavior from 2008, a random-effects (ordered) probit model is used to answer this question for the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, Italy, and South Korea. It is found that in most countries, actual environmental behaviors are substitutes, while WTP for environmental public goods in different domains is mostly complementary. Grounding in these results, policies aiming to encourage overall environmentally friendly lifestyles should therefore be all-encompassing of several public domains, instead of individual ones, to avoid the risk of negative spillovers

The value of recreational fishing in Sweden - Estimates based on a nationwide survey

A nationwide recreational fishing survey in Sweden was used to estimate the benefits of recreational fishing in Sweden. The survey targeted the Swedish population and, consequently, the sample contained a large fraction of zero fishing days. To consider this, a zero-inflated Poisson model was used in the estimations. Swedes fished about 15.6 million days in 2013, of which two-thirds were spent on inland fishing, and one-third on marine and coastal fishing. Expected consumer surplus per fishing day varied with the season; SEK 193 for winter fishing, SEK 787 for summer fishing and SEK 95 for autumn fishing. Although about 70 per cent of total fishing days were spent on inland fishing, the weighted consumer surplus per fishing day in marine and coastal areas were higher. The results also demonstrated strong positive effects of increases in expected catch per day on number of fishing days demanded and consumer surplus, which have important implications for fishery policies directed at recreational fishing

Unravelling the pastoralist paradox – preferences for land tenure security and flexibility in Kenya

In this paper, we use a discrete choice experiment conducted among pastoralists in four different semi-arid counties in Kenya characterized by different land tenure regimes to analyze how pastoralists make tradeoffs between tenure security and grazing flexibility – the so-called pastoralist paradox. Results show that there is one group of respondents who are desperate for change and seem to prefer either group or private title deeds to their current situation. A second, smaller group has strong preferences for the status quo, which could be driven by their relatively short migration distances. Concerning index-based livestock insurance, the basis risk suffered by insured pastoralists due to underprediction is high, but willingness to pay (WTP) for livestock insurance should still be high enough to ensure maximum uptake, leaving current low uptakes hard to explain. The worry about climate change is high but does not translate into increased WTP for more secure tenure or formal livestock insurance

An empirical model for forest landscape planning and its financial consequences for landowners

Despite well-formulated goals for environmental protection in the forestry sector, the biodiversity crisis remains. Protected habitats are often small, isolated and lack continuity. We studied forest planning at a landscape scale as a method to increase habitat connectivity, and improve conservation values whilst maintaining high levels of forest production. We assessed the financial impacts of landscape planning for the landowners, and present a fee-fund system to solve unequal burdens among them. As case studies, we used three landscapes along a latitudinal gradient in Sweden. The results demonstrate some variation between the landscapes in terms of the total cost for set asides and large differences in terms of the financial impact per landowner. Our conclusion is that forest landscape planning may be a way forward to improve conservation efforts, but given the variation in financial impacts, we propose to combine landscape planning with economic tools for compensation