Religious liberalism: issues of religious minorities in Georgia

Since 2012, there have been several issues concerning the Georgian Muslim community. These issues include the dismantling of a minaret, the dispute over ruined mosque, and the nailing of a pig’s head to a madrassa door. Common causes attributed to these events are the failure of the Central Government to react properly to these issues, the attitudes and rhetoric of the Georgian Orthodox Church, and popular Turkophobia. This research seeks to find the cause of these issues and investigate what they reveal about the democratization process of Georgia. The hypotheses investigated include the roles of the Georgian Central Government, The Georgian Orthodox Church, and popular Turkophobia in instigating these cases. This qualitative research investigates each of the cases of discrimination involving the Georgian Muslim minority originating from Adjara. The cases are analysed in depth through the use of news media and secondary data. To verify the findings and to gain an experienced perspective on the issues, interviews were conducted with experts who have worked with this minority group and other minority issues in Georgia. The theoretical framework of this research involves the concepts of democratization, particularly the concepts of democratic consolidation, majoritarian democracies, liberal/illiberal democracies, state strength, and pluralism. The research findings conclude that all three of the hypotheses are interrelated causes of the cases in question. The findings of the research indicate that the ultimate cause of the cases is Georgia being a weak state that is unable to function without the approval of the Georgian Orthodox church. In addition to this, popular Turkophobia is used as a tool by opponents of the activities of the Georgian Muslim group. It is revealed from the research that Georgia is in the process of democratization, and that it can be labelled as a majoritarian or illiberal democracy, because it lacks the state strength to implement the values of a liberal democracy.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5283769*es

Regional scale mapping of ecosystem services supply, demand, flow and mismatches in Southern Myanmar

Mapping ecosystem service (ES) supply, demand, and flow – and identifying supply/demand mismatches – has become a focus of ES research and has benefitted from recent advances in modelling techniques and their combination with Geographic Information Systems. But few studies have been done in data-scarce tropical forest frontiers and these were limited in terms of area, land uses, and number and types of ES. Aiming to evolve contemporary approaches, we used Bayesian networks to model and map nine ES across Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region for local stakeholders. Results show that while there is a high supply of multiple ES at regional level, demand for ES in urban and rapidly developing agricultural areas is not fully covered. Further, we identified a clear connection between land tenure and ES outcomes for rural communities. Agricultural concessions and protected areas with restricted access for the local population were related to lower ES flows and more supply/demand mismatches than community forests or untenured land. For future research on local ES outcomes in tropical forest frontiers, we recommend combined mismatch and flow analyses under consideration of tenurial rights

Advancing the study of driving forces of landscape change

Over the past 25 years, the study of driving forces of landscape change has developed into a central theme in land change science by contributing to theory development, promoting the analysis of causation of change and gaining insights into how landscape development could be steered into a societally more desirable direction. Based on this progress, we designate important research avenues, reviewing critical challenges forming the base for advancing the study of driving forces of landscape change and addressing the question on how the study of driving forces can contribute to system transformative research. For each of the research avenues, we describe the current dominant approach and provide some specific ways of advancing both the conceptualization and the research methods. Together, advancing on these research avenues will promote a more social-ecological systems perspective to the study of driving forces of landscape change.ISSN:1747-4248ISSN:1747-423

How context affects transdisciplinary research: insights from Asia, Africa and Latin America

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) has been developed to generate knowledge that effectively fosters the capabilities of various societal actors to realize sustainability transformations. The development of TDR theories, principles, and methods has been largely governed by researchers from the global North and has reflected their contextual conditions. To enable more contextsensitive TDR framing, we sought to identify which contextual characteristics affect the design and implementation of TDR in six case studies in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, and what this means for TDR as a scientific approach. To this end, we distinguished four TDR process elements and identified several associated context dimensions that appeared to influence them. Our analysis showed that contextual characteristics prevalent in many Southern research sites—such as highly volatile socio-political situations and relatively weak support infrastructure—can make TDR a challenging endeavour. However, we also observed a high degree of variation in the contextual characteristics of our sites in the global South, including regarding group deliberation, research freedom, and dominant perceptions of the appropriate relationship between science, society, and policy. We argue that TDR in these contexts requires pragmatic adaptations as well as more fundamental reflection on underlying epistemological concepts around what it means to conduct “good science”, as certain contextual characteristics may influence core epistemological values of TDR

Understanding farmers' influence on land-use change using a participatory Bayesian network approach in a pre-Alpine region in Switzerland

<p>Land-use models can be used to assess the importance of different drivers of land-use change. Local actors make land-use decisions on the basis of both biophysical and policy aspects, but they can also be considered as autonomous drivers as their attitudes and beliefs influence land-use substantially. We use a Bayesian network-based Land-use Modeling Approach (BLUMAP) to analyze influences of local actor characteristics on land-use change in a spatially explicit manner. Our analysis shows that local actor characteristics have a greater influence on land-use change than changes in agricultural policy schemes. Furthermore, focusing on the probabilities of land-use occurrence under different scenarios facilitates the quantification of influences of local actor characteristics on land-use changes and aids in the detection of where land-use changes are more likely to occur. We demonstrate that local actor characteristics could override land-use policy trends; thus, greater consideration should be paid to actors in land-use development processes.</p

Application of Q-methodology for identifying factors of acceptance of spatial planning instruments

Worldwide, urbanization leads to increased pressure on prime agricultural land with irreversible impacts on the provision of life-supporting services such as food and drinking water production or habitat for plants and animals. As a basis for designing new policy instruments to protect soil resources, we applied Q-methodology to assess factors that influence the acceptance or rejection of such instruments. Using an online survey and interviews, we identified different social perspectives and their respective argumentation patterns. The results show that effect on people, institutional embeddedness, trust in the acting institutions, and the overall understanding of the instrument are the most important factors for the acceptance of policy instruments fostering the sustainable use of soil resources. During the interviews, idealistic and fact-based arguments were more important than person-based arguments. Based on our results, communication strategies in the policy-making process can be improved and tailored to the identified characteristics of the social perspectives.ISSN:0964-0568ISSN:1360-055

Weiterentwicklung der Landwirtschaftlichen Planung zum Entwicklungsprozess ländlicher Raum (ELR): Für eine Stärkung der sektor- und gemeindeübergreifenden Planung

Das Projekt «Weiterentwicklung der Landwirtschaftlichen Planung zur Stärkung der sektor- und gemeindeübergreifenden Planung» verfolgte das Ziel, das Instrument der Landwirtschaftlichen Planung (LP) auf prozessualer und technologischer Ebene weiterzuentwickeln. Dazu wurden die bisherigen LPs analysiert und darauf aufbauend Prozessinnovationen und unterstützende Werk-zeuge entwickelt, die anschliessend getestet wurden. Ein Resultat der Weiterentwicklung ist der Entwicklungsprozess ländlicher Raum (ELR). Auftragnehmerin dieses Projekts war die Gruppe Planung von Landschaft und Urbanen Syste-men (PLUS) der ETH Zürich, die für die Leitung und inhaltliche Bearbeitung verantwortlich war. Als Praxispartnerin war die Sofies AG für die Durchführung der Pilot-LPs zuständig. Auftragge-ber waren das Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft (BLW) (Fachbereich Meliorationen) und sieben Kantone (Aargau, Glarus, Luzern, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Waadt, Zürich). Begleitet wurde das Pro-jekt durch eine Steuerungsgruppe, bestehend aus dem BLW und den sieben finanzierenden Kan-tonen sowie einer Begleitgruppe, in welche Vertreter*innen von BAFU, ARE, EspaceSuisse, geo-suisse und sporadisch weitere Interessenvertreter*innen Einsitz nahmen. Das Projekt lief von September 2015 bis Dezember 2019. Basierend auf den Erkenntnissen aus der Analyse der bisherigen LPs und der Konsultation der Steuerungsgruppe des Projekts, konnten drei Prozessinnovationen vorgeschlagen werden: a) ein adaptives Prozessmanagement (mit entsprechend iterativem Vorgehen unter Be-achtung von Sofort- und Langzeitmassnahmen und einer Multi-Stakeholder Plattform), b) ein Monitoring der Prozessqualität, c) die Ableitung erforderlicher Massnahmen mittels der strategischen Planungsmethode Backcasting aus dem gewünschten künftigen Zustand (Vision) heraus. Um diese Prozessinnovationen zu unterstützen, entwickelte das Projektteam eine Prozess- und Arbeitsplattform, die verschiedene Werkzeuge zusammenführt. Darin enthalten sind das Skiz-zenwerkzeug, um ein Zukunftsbild zu entwerfen, Kartenmaterial, die (räumlich expliziten) Indi-katoren sowie Szenarien der Landnutzungsentwicklung. In den Pilotprojekten Aigle und Morges wurden die Werkzeuge getestet und im Fall der Wauwiler Ebene angewandt. Die Erkenntnisse aus diesen Anwendungen werden in diesem Bericht darge-stellt. Ausgehend von diesen Erkenntnissen werden vier Anforderungen an künftige ELRs formuliert: 1) eine sektor-übergreifende Trägerschaft ist bzw. wird etabliert, 2) zu Beginn des Prozesses wird ein Zukunftsbild der räumlichen Entwicklung erarbeitet und verabschiedet, 3) ein Monitoring des Prozesses, der Projektresultate und der regionalen Entwicklung so-wie 4) die Projektbegleitung inkl. der Begleitung von Sofortmassnahmen sind Bestandteile des Prozesses. Die entwickelten Werkzeuge und Prozesselemente stehen frei zur Verfügung und können in kommenden ELRs eingesetzt werden und den Prozess unterstützen.Le projet « Weiterentwicklung der Landwirtschaftlichen Planung zur Stärkung der sektor- und gemeindeübergreifenden Planung » (« Poursuite du développement de la planification agricole pour renforcer la planification intersectorielle et intercommunale ») a poursuivi l'objectif de dé-velopper davantage l'instrument de la Planification Agricole (PA) au niveau des procédures et sur le plan technologique. À cette fin, les PAs précédentes ont été analysées et, sur cette base, des innovations procédurales et des outils d’aide ont été développés puis testés. L’un des résul-tats de ces innovations est le processus de développement de l’espace rural (PDER). Le groupe Planification des systèmes paysagers et urbains (PLUS) de l'EPF de Zurich en était responsable de la gestion et du contenu du projet. En tant que partenaire sur le terrain, Sofies AG était responsable de la mise en œuvre des cas pilotes. Les clients étaient l'Office fédéral de l'agriculture (OFAG) (Secteur Améliorations foncières), ainsi que sept cantons (Argovie, Glaris, Lucerne, Soleure, Saint-Gall, Vaud, Zurich). Le projet a été accompagné par un comité de pilo-tage composé de l'OFAG et des sept cantons financeurs ainsi que par un groupe de conseillers auquel ont participé des représentants de l’Office fédéral de l’environnement (OFEV), de l’Office fédéral du développement territorial (ARE), d'EspaceSuisse, de geosuisse, rejoins sporadique-ment par d'autres acteurs. Le projet s'est déroulé de septembre 2015 à décembre 2019. Sur la base des résultats de l'analyse des précédentes PAs et de la consultation du comité de pilotage, trois innovations procédurales ont été proposées : a) une gestion adaptative du processus (avec une approche itérative correspondante, pre-nant en compte les mesures immédiates et à long terme, ainsi qu’une plate-forme multi-partite), b) le contrôle de la qualité du processus, c) les mesures nécessaires sont déduites de l'état futur souhaité (vision) en utilisant la mé-thode de planification stratégique dite de « backcasting ». Afin de soutenir ces innovations procédurales, l'équipe du projet a développé une plate-forme web d’appui rassemblant tous les outils développés. Il comprend l'outil de réalisation des cro-quis pour créer une vision de l'avenir, des cartes, des indicateurs (spatialement explicites) et des scénarios de développement de l'utilisation des terres. Dans les cas pilotes d'Aigle et de Morges, les outils ont été testés et appliqués dans le cas de la plaine de Wauwil. Les conclusions de ces projets ont été intégrées dans le présent rapport. Sur la base de ces conclusions, quatre exigences sont formulées pour les futures PDER : 1) un parrainage intersectoriel est ou sera mis en place, 2) au début du processus, une vision de l'avenir du développement territorial est élaborée et adoptée, 3) le suivi du processus, des résultats des projets et du développement régional, et 4) le suivi des projets, y compris le suivi des mesures immédiates, sont des composantes du processus. Les outils et les éléments de processus fournis sont librement disponibles et peuvent être utili-sés dans les futurs PDER et soutenir le processus

A serious game to parameterize Bayesian networks: Validation in a case study in northeastern Madagascar

The management of multi-use landscapes is challenging, but essential when aiming at preserving the potential for ecosystem service provision. Land-use decisions lay at the center of this challenge. While land-use decision models may help to transparently grasp land-use decisions, the parameterization of such models is difficult as human decision-making is often not rational. We show here how we used a serious game to parameterize a Bayesian network-based land-use decision model. To elicit validation, game outputs are transformed to condi-tional probabilities and compared to conditional probabilities parameterized via a questionnaire and workshop exercises. The analysis of four types of validity shows encouraging results for criterion, respondent-related and practice-related validation. However, content validation (sensitivity analysis) was disappointing initially. We discuss how the success in validation quality may be related to the design of the game and conclude that the transfer from a game to Bayesian networks could improve the parameterization quality