Local institutions and smallholder women’s access to land resources in semi-arid Kenya

Land is a critical resource in smallholder farming systems, access to which is guided by complex interpretations of local norms, customary values, and statutory laws. This study explores how smallholder women access land resources under local institutions in semi-arid Kenya following a major constitutional reform on land succession passed in 2010. We draw on social relations approach, access theory, and social-ecological resilience thinking to examine Kamba women’s access to land resources using qualitative data collected through in-depth key informant interviews (n = 77), twelve focus group discussions (n = 134), and eight community meetings (n = 363). Results show that although some women were aware of their rights to inherit and own land, Kamba women were generally reluctant to claim land resources through local customary institutions and/or land registration processes. This stemmed from a desire to maintain gender dynamics within the household and to maintain their current relational access to land and other livelihood resources. Women, as daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, grandmothers, divorcée and widows, were found to face vastly different pressures in land resource access. They reported using relational access mechanisms to cope with, and adapt to, land resource constraints. When combined with rights-based mechanisms of access, women could better secure future generations’ land resource access, especially in cases of skipped-generational households

Platform, participation, and power: how dominant and minority stakeholders shape agricultural innovation

Within agricultural innovation systems (AIS), various stakeholder groups inevitably interpret ‘innovation’ from their own vantage point of privilege and power. In rural developing areas where small-scale and subsistence farming systems support livelihoods, dominant policy actors often focus heavily on participatory modernization and commercialization initiatives to enhance productivity, access, and quality. However, existing social hierarchies may undermine the potential of such initiatives to promote inclusive and sustainable farmer-driven innovation. Focusing on the chronically food insecure smallholder agricultural systems operating in Yatta Sub-county, Eastern Kenya, this paper explores how power dynamics between stakeholders can influence, and can be influenced by, participatory agricultural innovation initiatives. Findings suggest that there are often significant disparities in access to, and control over, platform resources between smallholder farmers and other stakeholder groups, resulting in large asymmetries. We discuss how these power dynamics may increase the risk of agricultural intervention, further marginalizing already disempowered groups and reinforcing power hierarchies to the detriment of smallholders. This study highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the institutional contexts that facilitate and maintain relationships of power within agricultural innovation systems, as well as the complexities associated with promoting transformational agricultural innovation

Networks for Science-Informed Innovation in the Arctic: Insights on the Structure and Evolution of a Canadian Research Network

In remote peripheral regions like the Arctic, research networks have been identified as an important mechanism for nurturing science-informed innovation. Given that relatively little is known about the network structures that support Arctic innovation processes, we employ social network analysis techniques to examine the structural organization and evolution of ArcticNet, a large Canadian Arctic scientific research network over a 13-year period (2004 – 17). ArcticNet funded 152 multidisciplinary research teams, connecting multiple types of science-based innovation actors, not including students (301 organizations and 1659 individuals). The research network grew without reaching saturation (increasing size, decreasing density), suggesting that ArcticNet was successful in recruiting new actors over the 13-year period. ArcticNet was centralized around non-local, public-sector actors (mainly Canadian academics). The emergence of collaborations across several boundaries (sectoral, geographic, thematic) suggests that non-local Canadian academic actors played an important boundary-spanning role, particularly in the early stages of the network. Participation by local northern actors doubled from Phase 1 to Phase 4, and with time, local northern actors had an increasing propensity for carrying out boundary-spanning roles and addressing structural holes. This study presents new insights into the networked nature of Arctic scientific research with potential implications for future research and innovation policy.Dans les régions périphériques éloignées comme celle de l’Arctique, les réseaux de recherche constituent un mécanisme important pour encourager l’innovation fondée sur la science. Puisqu’on en sait relativement peu sur les structures de réseau qui soutiennent les processus d’innovation dans l’Arctique, nous recourons à des techniques d’analyse des réseaux sociaux pour examiner l’organisation structurelle et l’évolution d’ArcticNet, vaste réseau de recherche scientifique dans l’Arctique canadien, sur une période de 13 ans (2004–2017). ArcticNet a assuré le financement de 152 équipes de recherche multidisciplinaire, reliant par le fait même plusieurs types d’acteurs de l’innovation fondée sur la science, exception faite des étudiants (301 organisations et 1659 particuliers). Le réseau de recherche a pris de l’ampleur sans devenir saturé (augmentation de la taille, diminution de la densité), ce qui laisse entendre qu’ArcticNet a réussi à recruter de nouveaux acteurs pendant la période de 13 ans. Le réseau ArcticNet était centralisé autour d’acteurs non locaux relevant du secteur public (principalement des universitaires canadiens). L’émergence de collaborations englobant plusieurs facettes (sectorielle, géographique, thématique) suggère que les acteurs universitaires canadiens non locaux ont joué un rôle important en matière de chevauchement des diverses facettes, plus particulièrement durant les premiers stades du réseau. La participation d’acteurs du Nord a doublé de la phase 1 à la phase 4. Au fil du temps, les acteurs locaux du Nord ont eu une propension de plus en plus grande à assumer des rôles chevauchant diverses facettes et à combler les vides structurels. Cette étude présente de nouvelles perspectives de la nature réseautée de la recherche scientifique dans l’Arctique de même que les conséquences éventuelles sur les futures politiques en matière de recherche et d’innovation

Institutional factors affecting wild edible plant (WEP) harvest and consumption in semi-arid Kenya

AbstractPervasive food insecurity and poverty in much of the world drives vulnerable populations to harvest natural resources as a means of generating income and meeting other household needs. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are a particularly common and effective coping strategy used to increase socio-ecological resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural systems are often sensitive to environmental perturbations and instability. WEPs are collected across the landscape, from agricultural areas to government-managed hilltops with varying degrees of success and legality. This multiple case study research, conducted in Eastern Province, Kenya, investigates the formal forest regulations and land tenure rights, as well as local enforcement and understanding of those rules, in order to understand their impact on the ability of vulnerable populations to use WEPs as a coping strategy. The results suggest that widespread confusion, trust issues and a strong focus on the commercialization of wild foods are limiting the possible contribution of WEPs to food security and increased socio-ecological resilience. We identify a number of policy changes and extension programs that could better support local communities relying on WEPs for subsistence purposes to improve their adaptive capacity

Methodological Challenges in Studying Trust in Natural Resources Management

Trust has been identified as a central characteristic of successful natural resource management (NRM), particularly in the context of implementing participatory approaches to stakeholder engagement. Trust is, however, a multi-dimensional and multi-level concept that is known to evolve recursively through time, challenging efforts to empirically measure its impact on collaboration in different NRM settings. In this communication we identify some of the challenges associated with conceptualizing and operationalizing trust in NRM field research, and pay particular attention to the inter-relationships between the concepts of trust, perceived risk and control due to their multidimensional and interacting roles in inter-organizational collaboration. The challenge of studying trust begins with its conceptualization, which impacts the terminology being used, thereby affecting the subsequent operationalization of trust in survey and interview measures, and the interpretation of these measures by engaged stakeholders. Building from this understanding, we highlight some of the key methodological considerations, including how trust is being conceptualized and how the associated measures are being developed, deployed, and validated in order to facilitate cross-context and cross-level comparisons. Until these key methodological issues are overcome, the nuanced roles of trust in NRM will remain unclear

On inter-organizational trust, control and risk in transboundary fisheries governance

Inter-organizational collaboration is often considered essential to transboundary fishery governance, due, in part, to the high levels of task interdependence, the remote and often treacherous conditions, and the limited levels of information available to any policy actor on resource status. In the high seas, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) are responsible for sustainably managing highly migratory and straddling fish stocks through the implementation of ecosystem-based approaches and ensuring adequate inter-jurisdictional cooperation. A central question facing RFMO governance is therefore how to structure and sustain inter-organizational transboundary collaboration under high uncertainty? This paper presents the case of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO), conceptualized as a strategic alliance between the bureaucratic organizations responsible for north Atlantic salmon fishery management in the member countries. We identify and explain how dimensions of trust, control, and perceived risk have structured the collaborative performance of the alliance. The application of an integrated trust-control-risk framework increases conceptual clarity for how, when and why alliance managers might seek to develop different forms of trust through different management control systems in ways that further multi-actor collaborative network performance. Future research needs are identified, including better understanding how managerial strategies and control mechanisms facilitate inter-organizational trust in transboundary governance settings and mitigate the perceived risks of working together

Measuring, mapping and quantifying the effects of trust and informal communication on transboundary collaboration in the Great Lakes fisheries policy network

© 2018 The Authors Ecosystem-based management of fisheries and other transboundary natural resources require a number of organizations across jurisdictions to exchange knowledge, coordinate policy goals and engage in collaborative activities. Trust, as part of social capital, is considered a key mechanism facilitating the coordination of such inter-organizational policy networks. However, our understanding of multi-dimensional trust as a theoretical construct and an operational variable in environmental and natural resource management has remained largely untested. This paper presents an empirical assessment of trust and communication measures applied to the North American Great Lakes fisheries policy network. Using a scale-based method developed for this purpose, we quantify the prevalence of different dimensions of trust and in/formal communication in the network and their differentiated impacts on decision-making and goal consensus. Our analysis reveals that calculation-based ‘rational trust’ is important for aligning mutual goals, but relationship-based ‘affinitive trust’ is most significant for influencing decision-making. Informal communication was also found to be a strong predictor of how effectively formal communication will influence decision-making, confirming the “priming” role of informal interactions in formal inter-agency dealings. The results also show the buffering and interactive functions of these components in strengthening institutional resilience, with procedural trust undergirding the system to compensate for a lack of well-developed relationships. Overall, this study provides evidence to suggest that informal communication and multi-dimensional trust constitute a crucial element for improving collaboration and reducing conflict in the networked governance of transboundary natural resource systems

Why New Zealand’s Indigenous reconciliation process has failed to empower Māori fishers: Distributional, procedural, and recognition-based injustices

How is it that the New Zealand government’s process for re-establishing Indigenous fishing rights has failed to deliver thriving Māori fisheries? This paper examines why, at Te Waihora, a coastal lake, and site of one of the nation’s longest running and best-funded state-Māori co-governance agreements, Māori fishers have been unable to use their rights to support their fishery. As of 2018, the lake’s culturally and ecologically significant eel population was no longer commercially viable, a decline fishers have attributed to rampant dairy industry expansion upstream. Drawing on environmental justice literatures, we deploy a multi-dimensional framework to identify factors shaping possibilities for justice in the wake of rights reconciliation, as experienced by Māori fishers, scientists, and leaders. We engage theories of political economic relations to interpret the implications of these experiences for environmental justice theory and politics. Ethnographic accounts demonstrate that the New Zealand government’s process for re-establishing Māori rights falls short of achieving distributional, procedural, and recognition-based dimensions of environmental justice, and that these effects are interlinked. In particular: (i) downstream fishers are placed to bear disproportionate costs of runoff from upstream land use change; (ii) Māori fishers have little influence over governance decisions that affect land use; and (iii) government claims, including that Māori should, “move beyond grievance mode,” obscure logics for resistance. We suggest that the government’s support for dairy industry expansion represents an attempt to mitigate crises of overaccumulation, characteristic of competitive markets. Unlike those who identify persistent injustice as a logic for turning away from the state, we argue that the recurring nature of these crises, and the role state organizations play in directing responses, indicates a rationale for continued engagement with state governing bodies to advance justice

Cross-scale relationships between social capital and women’s participation in decision-making on the farm: a multilevel study in semi-arid Kenya

Social capital develops through relations between people and groups within community social networks. Women in smallholder agrarian communities often draw on social capital to influence their intra-household bargaining positions, with significant implications for their resource access. However, the extent to which women use different types of social capital to increase their participation in agricultural decision-making remain understudied. This research examines the relationships between women’s participation in agricultural decision-making and bonding, bridging, and linking social capital and how broader contextual factors can interact with the pathways through which social capital functions in rural semi-arid Kenya. In 2014, we collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data: household (N = 206) and community (n = 127) surveys, key informant interviews (n = 77), twelve focus group discussions, and eight community meetings. Results indicate that women draw on bridging social capital to increase the diversity of their information and training sources. We found that women’s participation in decision-making has a positive association with bonding social capital and a negative association with linking social capital. Multilevel analysis reveals cross-scale interactions between poverty prevalence and social capital on women’s decision-making participation. Findings suggest that advances in regional development have the potential to amplify the stock and usage of social capital for women’s empowerment in smallholder agrarian systems

Growers say cannabis legalization excludes small growers, supports illicit markets, undermines local economies

H. Bodwitch is Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Quebec, Canada; J. Carah is Senior Freshwater Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy, San Francisco; K.M. Daane is UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley; C. Getz is Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley; T.E. Grantham is Assistant Cooperative Extension Specialist and Adjunct Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley; G.M. Hickey is Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Quebec, Canada; H. Wilson is Assistant Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Entomology, UC Riverside