A river remembered - reconnecting to landscape, memory and place-making through water routes

Rooted in the Cederberg region, this thesis looks towards the intangible and deep memory in landscape as concepts that can be harnessed to support an emerging practice of place-making in a community on the outskirts of Clanwilliam. Acknowledging the growing claim to Khoe and San heritage among members of said community, the project found its departure in an investigation into the intangible ties that once connected the Cederberg's indigenous peoples to place. The research process led to an understanding of the central role that rivers and tributaries have played in human engagement with landscape. In this local context, rivers functioned not only as a vital water resource but also as navigational corridors that cut through the Cederberg's complex mountain range. These were water routes that supported human patterns of movement and gathering whilst simultaneously connecting far reaches of the wilderness. This thesis resurfaces these landscape memories by introducing a water thread to Clanwilliam that remembers and re-establishes the notion of rivers as movement routes and gathering. Simultaneously, the project's proposed water network would connect this otherwise spatially and socially segregated town. Taking design and material reference from the immediate Cederberg landscape, this thesis hopes to connect Clanwilliam's members not only to one another but also, importantly, to the wilderness landscape that surrounds the town and is so deeply embedded in its history

Imputation of inventories in Estonian Commercial Register

Missing values is a problem which often troubles statisticians, because most of the analysis methods consider full data. Almost every dataset has unobserved values due to the unconsciousness of the respondents, technical errors and several other reasons. One way to deal with the missingness is trying to replace missing values ‒ imputing. Imputing is a cost-effective measure, it allows to use data which otherwise would be discarded. Imputing also minimizes bias and makes using rectangular dataset and complete data analysis possible (Longford 2005, p. 38; Scheffer 2002, p. 156). This bachelor thesis was written as a part in the project “Integrating annual bookkeeping reports into statistical production system”, which was requested from Statistics Estonia by Eurostat. Data were collected from annual reports of Estonian Commercial Register. Main goal was to complete the section of inventories in the dataset of 2011. The first part of the thesis concentrates on giving overview about missing patterns and applications and theory of selected methods. In the second part a simulation is carried out, the dataset is described and arranged and previously specified methods are tested. Code of the program is added to appendix

Botanical Garden of the University of Oslo, Norway

The Botanical Garden in Oslo was established in 1814 and is the oldest part of the Natural History Museum, one of the two museums of the University of Oslo. To celebrate the bicentenary, the Museum decided to launch an ambitious programme of events covering the entire year and adding several new permanent assets. This paper provides a brief history of and current information about the Garden and describes the previously existing and new features, along with a map of the Garden. The bicentenary celebrations raised the profile of the Garden enormously in Norway, and it experienced a huge increase in visitor numbers as well as extensive media coverage. The increased popularity of the Garden and the expected future rise in population in the neighbouring suburbs simultaneously challenge the Garden to satisfy the need for green space as well as providing scientifically based information which reinforces the importance of plants

The Road Ahead: Protecting tigers from Asia's infrastructure development boom

With massive infrastructure plans threatening all tiger landscapes and risking recent gains in tiger conservation, Asian governments must adopt a sustainable approach to infrastructure planning and construction or drive tigers toward extinction, according to a new analysis by WWF

Case Study: Investment in sustainable seeds for sustainable agricultural intensification

This study estimates that Sustainable Seeds Systems for the Global South received approximately USD 15 billion in funding cumulatively between 2010-2019 across all sources of funders. This is roughly one-third the total funding for seeds innovation in the same time period. Though the trend should get confirmed with further data, the analysis made in this study reveals a slight decline in the trend for investments in sustainable seeds innovation over the last 2-3 years for which data was available. Approximately 55% of this funding is concentrated in the Research & Development (R&D) and Product Development stages of activity with Marketing & Behaviour Change activities also receiving about 30% of this funding. Private sector funding is concentrated in R&D and Product Development whereas Government funding is well balanced across R&D, Product Development, Marketing, Infrastructure Development. Development Funders tend to also focus on Research and Product Development. Finally, farmer-saved seeds and community seed systems attract only miniscule funding (<USD 50 million cumulatively between 2010-2019) or less than 0.5% of total funding, and an increase in focus and funding levels for this would likely prove very helpful

Case Study: Kenya’s investment in innovation for sustainable agricultural intensification

Agriculture plays a key dual role in Kenya. It provides livelihoods for 75% of the country’s population and supports 80% of its rural population. Crucially, it helps the country to meet its food security goals, which is increasingly challenging with Kenya’s population doubling over the last 25 years. Agricultural innovation in general, and SAI innovation in particular are important for Kenya given this central role of agriculture in Kenya along with the key role Kenya plays in East Africa

Case Study: Brazil’s investment in innovation for sustainable agricultural intensification

Brazil has transformed from being a net food importer, to one of the largest agricultural exporters in the world. The country is now one of the top global funders of agricultural innovation, with a special emphasis on funding R&D for sustainable agriculture. While food insecurity and environmental challenges exist in many parts of Brazil, social programs and funding in innovation have helped those in need. The study of agriculture innovation funding and sustainable agriculture innovation funding patterns in Brazil becomes important to not only direct targeted funding within the country but also to inform other countries that might benefit from the country’s experience. This case study analyses overall funding flows into agriculture and SAI innovation in Brazil between 2010-2019

Exit or develop dairy production : what factors influence the decision?

The decrease in the number of dairy farms in Sweden has been ongoing for a longer period of time. But the fact is that this has previously not had any big effects on total amount of milk produced in Sweden. The main reason is that the remaining dairy farms get larger. However, during the past year, there has been a decrease in the total amount of produced milk, because the decrease is faster than the increase within the farms that are left. During the same period of time the supply of milk on the global market also has decreased. In spite of the fact that the global supply have decreased and the fact that the milk price increases, there are dairy farmers in Sweden who chose to exit the market. This paradox is the background to the question in this paper. What factors affect the dairy farmers that develop or exit milk production? Are there any other factors than the financial factor that affect the farmers? This paper is a qualitative research based on case studies. The case studies are based on interviews with three farmers who have chosen to exit milk production and three farmers who have chosen develop their production. The interviews were made during November and December 2007. The idea with the interviews was to get the farmers to mention what factors they thought affected their decisions and to get a deeper understanding of each individual case. The factors hypothesised to affect the decision to enter or exit milk production were divided into four different categories, based on a theoretical model developed in this paper. The categories are: General external environmental factors, Specific external environmental factors, The farm and the business, and finally the individual. These categories of factors affect the decision that the farmer make. The results from this paper has been summarised into four conclusions. The first conclusion is that interest in dairy production is very important. All the three farmers that developed their production were very interested in milk production, while the farmer that had made an exit were less interested in milk production. The social and the geographic environment also had a big impact on the farmers. The ones that had developed lived in a social environment that was positive towards development if dairy production. The ones that had made an exit lived in an social environment that was not as positive towards milk production. The farmers who had made an exit lived close to a bigger or smaller city while the farmers who had developed lived further away from a city. The third conclusion was that it is important to know whether or not the farm would survive for several years to come. The developer had that knowledge while the farmers that had made an exit did not. Finally, the fourth conclusion is that it is important how you see the means to reach your financial goal. Either you see dairy production as the means to reach your goal or you will find something else that you think is a better way.Minskningen av antalet mjölkproducenter i Sverige har pågått under en längre tid. Detta faktum har dock inte påverkat den totala mängden invägd mjölk hos de svenska mejerierna, detta p.g.a. att de kvarvarande mjölkproducenterna ökat i storlek. Under det senaste året har dock minskningen av antalet mjölkproducenter inte kompenserats med de kvarvarande producenterna ökning. Detta har gjort att den totala invägningen av mjölk håller på att minska och mejerierna ser en viss risk att detta kan vara bestående. Under samma tid har också tillgången på mjölk på världsmarknaden minskat. Detta har lett fram till ökade priser för mjölk. Trots att priserna ökar så fortsätter avvecklingen Sverige. Denna paradox ligger bakom frågeställningen i denna uppsats. Vilka faktorer påverkar de mjölkproducenter utvecklar eller avvecklar. Finns det någon annan faktor än den ekonomiska? Finns det fler faktorer än de den ekonomiska? Denna studie är en kvalitativ studie som bygger på fallstudier. Fallstudierna i sin tur baseras på intervjuer gjorda med tre avvecklare och tre utvecklare. Intervjuerna som ligger till grund för det empiriska materialet gjordes under november och december 2007. Intervjuerna gjordes med stöd av en intervjuguide hemma hos respondenterna eller, när ett möte inte kunde komma till stånd, via telefon. Tanken med intervjuerna var att få respondenterna att själva ange de faktorer som de ansåg hade påverkat deras beslut och därmed kunna få en djupare förståelse för varje enskilt fall. Faktorerna har delats in fyra olika kategorier enligt en modell, framtagen i denna uppsats. Kategorierna är indelade enligt följande: Allmän omvärld, Specifik omvärld, Gården och företaget, samt Individen. Dessa kategorier med faktorer påverkar i sin tur beslutet som producenten fattar. Resultatet av denna studie har kunnat sammanfattas i fyra slutsatser. Till att börja med så spelar intresset för mjölkproduktion en stor roll. Alla de tre utvecklarna hade starkt intresse för mjölkproduktion medan två av de tre avvecklarna hade en lägre grad av intresse. Den sociala och geografiska omgivningen hade en stor påverkan såtillvida att de som utvecklade hade en eller flera individer som var positiva till en utveckling. Avvecklarna däremot hade inte detta stöd utveckling utan fick snarare stöd för att avveckla. Samtliga avvecklare befann sig i närheten av en större eller mindre tätort vilket hade gjort att de stött på en del problem med att t.ex. utveckla. Utvecklarna däremot befann sig längre ifrån en tätort. Den tredje slutsatsen behandlar företagets fortlevnad som en viktig faktor för att utveckla eller avveckla produktionen. För att utveckla var viktigt att ha vetskap om att företaget skulle fortleva i varje fall över en investerings livslängd. Avvecklarna saknade vetskapen om detta vilket bidrog till just avvecklingen. Sist men inte minst så var synen på medlen man uppnår sina ekonomiska mål viktigt. Antingen såg man mjölkproduktionen som medlet att uppnå målet eller också såg bättre möjligheter med andra former av medel