Why Does Deliberative Community Consultation in Large-Scale Land Acquisitions Fail? A Critical Analysis of Mozambican Experiences

Community consultation prior to large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA) is a cornerstone that justifies the portrayal of projects as partnerships or land grabs. This study focuses on one of the countries most targeted by LSLA in the last decade, namely, Mozambique. We examine the legal and theoretical bases that support community consultations and analyse their corresponding everyday practices in Mozambique. The article argues that, although the existence of these participatory forums is inspired by normative ideals of popular deliberation, the prevailing practices in these spaces are diametrically opposed to deliberative foundations and values. As shown in this study, this mismatch between theory that is institutionalized in legal frameworks and practice derives largely from the interplay of hierarchical relations anchored in, inter alia, formal and customary ethnically based realms, gender disparities, and livelihood orientations. A core argument of the article is that any attempt to ameliorate these practices must consider critical insights regarding the centrality of enhancing social equality and inclusion in participatory spaces —challenges that are immense in places marked by deep structural inequalities

Potencial inseticida de plantas medicinais encontradas na Amazônia Central contra o pulgão-da-couve Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Resumo. O presente trabalho objetivou avaliar o potencial inseticida e a ação repelente sobre o pulgão-da-couve [Brevicoryne brassicae (L.)] de extratos de cinco espécies de plantas ocorrentes e cultivadas na Amazônia Central: Crescentia cujete L., Himatanthus articulatus (Vahl) Woodson, Syzygium malaccense (L.) Merr. & L.M. Perry, Schnella sp. e Protium sp. Os extratos foram utilizados na concentração de 10% e o inseticida botânico a base de azadiractina (Azamax®) foi usado como controle. Para avaliação inseticida, discos de folhas de couve-manteiga com 3,5 cm de diâmetro foram individualizados em placas de Petri (6 cm ø) e infestados com 10 ninfas de B. brassicae (até 48 h de idade). 1,0 mL de cada um dos tratamentos foi pulverizado sobre os discos e após 24 h foi avaliada a mortandade. Para avaliação da repelência, discos foliares (3,5 cm ø) foram divididos em duas partes: 1,0 mL de cada tratamento foi pulverizado em uma das metades do disco, na mesma concentração empregada para avaliação da atividade inseticida. Uma hora após a pulverização, cinco adultos de B. brassicae foram transferidos para o centro do disco e após 24 h foi avaliado o número de adultos sobre a área tratada e não tratada do disco foliar. O resultados foram submetidos a teste de normalidade e análise de variância (ANOVA).  O contato direto e residual dos extratos de C. cujete, H. articulatus e Schnella sp. causaram uma mortalidade de ninfas entre 97,6 e 100%, resultados esses mais expressivos que S. malaccense (54,6%) e Azamax® (35,1%).  Não foi detectada ação repelente dos extratos sobre B. brassicae. Insecticidal potential of medicinal plants found in Central Amazon region against cabbage aphid Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Abstract. The present work aimed to evaluate the insecticidal potential of five plant native or widely cultivated species of  Central Amazon, Brazil - Crescentia cujete L., Himatanthus articulatus  (Vahl) Woodson, Syzygium malaccense  (L.) Merr. & L.M. Perry, Schnella sp. and Protium sp. - against cabbage aphid [Brevicoryne brassicae (L.)]. The extracts were used at a concentration of 10% and the botanical insecticide based on azadirachtin (Azamax®) was used as control. For insecticide evaluation, discs of kale leaves with 3.5 cm diameter were individualized in Petri dishes (6 cm ø) and infested with 10 nymphs of B. brassicae (up to 48 h old). 1.0 mL of each treatment was sprayed over the discs and after 24 h the mortality was evaluated. For repellence test, discs of kale leaves (3.5 cm ø) were divided into 2 parts: 1.0 mL of each treatment was sprayed over a half of the disc, in the same concentrations used for insecticide activity. One hour later, 5 adults of B. brassicae were transferred to the center of the leaf disc and after 24 h the number of adults over the treated and non treatd area of the kale disc was measured. The results were submitted to normality test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The direct and residual contact of the extracts of C. cujete, H. articulatus and Schnella sp. caused a mortality of nimphs between 97.6 and 100%. These results were more expressive than S. malaccense (54.6%) and Azamax® (35.1%).  None repellent action caused by the extracts over B. brassicae was detected

Livelihood Implications of Large-Scale Land Concessions in Mozambique : A case of family farmers’ endurance

This thesis examines the process and the implications of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) for local livelihoods, especially the livelihoods of those who make a living from farming. These individuals were historically known as peasants and are now more commonly referred to as smallholders, small-scale farmers or family farmers. What happens to their livelihoods as land under their control is allocated to investors? Promoters of LSLAs stress that when land acquisitions are preceded by community consultations, there may be synergism between investors’ activities and local livelihoods. Accordingly, local farmers are expected to gain from, for example, closer ties to the market and new livelihood alternatives such as formal employment. Differently, critical voices contend that despite sound legislation on the matter, in practice LSLAs constitute drivers of dispossession, being therefore disguised land grabs. This research seeks to fill a knowledge gap on the immediate local livelihood implications of LSLAs. By employing a case study design in Mozambique (one of the countries targeted by recent LSLAs), this thesis adds empirical evidence that is crucial to the above-named theoretical debate involving LSLAs. The analyzed case is pivoted by a Chinese company that in 2012 was granted 20,000 hectares in the lower Limpopo region. Despite legislation that asserts the legality of customary land occupation, in practice, land was seized without adequate consultation and compensation. Consequently, local farmers lost the most fertile areas. Nonetheless, farmers were able to regain or maintain access to farmland that was more peripheral and of worse quality. Concomitantly, the company generated a small number of jobs and created a contract farming scheme that, despite bottlenecks, benefited farmers who were able to handle risk. In general, families who lost land and those who entered the contract farming scheme strive to keep a foothold on farmland – a strategy that is partly explained by the economic rationale of seeking to meet the consumption needs of current and future generations. Additionally, family land is embedded with symbolic value (illustrated, for example, by individuals’ relations with ancestors buried in family land). The existence of symbolic and thus immaterial values that land embodies poses insurmountable challenges to the idea that it is possible to achieve fair compensation for the loss of land and the environment in general. This study shows the renewed pressure (now through the hands of private actors backed by public efforts) placed on family farmers, derived livelihood trends (i.e., the overall precarization of family farming, the widening of economic inequality, and the feminization of poverty), and family farmers’ continuous endurance. Ultimately, this study illustrates local processes and livelihood implications of LSLAs in Mozambique, and likely also in contexts marked by similar democratic deficits and renewed incursions over valuable land that is intensively used.

Livelihood alterations and Indigenous Innovators in the Ecuadorian Amazon

This article approaches livelihood alterations in Indigenous communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon as means of adaptation and resistance to socio-environmental impacts brought along by the expansion of global capitalism. The cases comprise collective Indigenous endeavors in typically capitalist sectors - tourism and mining - illustrated by the experiences of Kichwa community tourism in Shiripuno in the central Amazon, and sustainable mining in the southern Amazonian Shuar community of Congüime (Kenkuim). The aim is to unravel these emerging livelihood strategies in relation to Indigenous ethno-cultural identity. Methodologically, we rely on comparative and ethnographic work in the field with Indigenous actors, and on a theoretical framework anchored in the concepts of innovators, cultural boundary changes (Fredrik Barth), social fields of force (William Roseberry), and intercultural regimes (Fernando Galindo and Xavier Albó). In both empirical cases - Indigenous-controlled tourism and mining - communities are framing their ethnic identity to engage with, and positively reposition themselves in relation to the wider society. We hold that these endeavors must be comprehended as highly innovative, and that indigeneity and cultural boundaries can be strengthened by socio-cultural changes toward livelihoods previously considered as “unauthentic” or “non-Indigenous”. We also argue that these new livelihood orientations have (purposely) altered gender relations within the communities in benefit of women. Additionally, our cases suggest that cultural strengthening and gender empowerment, among other positive outcomes, requires a nuanced apprehension of indigeneity as a partly floating concept and instrument gaining ground amid the increasing interconnectedness of ancient traditions and capitalist modernity

Large-scale land acquisitions aggravate the feminization of poverty : findings from a case study in Mozambique

The local implications of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs), commonly referred to as land grabs, are at the center of an exponential production of scientific literature that only seldom focuses on gender. Our case study aims to contribute to filling this analytical gap. Based on structured interviews and focus groups, we investigate local experiences in the lower Limpopo valley in Mozambique, where a Chinese investor was granted 20,000 hectares in 2012. Our findings show that land access in the affected area varied prior to land seizure due to historical land use differences and after land seizure mainly due to non-universal compensation. Furthermore, we show that as farming conditions deteriorate, a trend toward both the feminization of smallholder farming and the feminization of poverty is consolidated. Succinctly, as available land becomes increasingly constricted, labor is allocated differently to alternative activities. This process is by no means random or uniform among households, particularly in a context in which women prevail in farm activities and men prevail in off-farm work. As men disengage further from smallholder farming, women remain directly dependent on fields that are smaller and of worse quality or reliant on precarious day labor in the remaining farms. We contend that the categories female-headed and male-headed households, although not inviolable, are useful in explaining the different implications of LSLAs in areas in which gender strongly substantiates individuals’ livelihood alternatives. © 2018 The Author(s)Fieldwork for the study entitled “Large-scale land acquisitions aggravate the feminization of poverty: Findings from a case study in Mozambique” was funded by the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, and the foundation Forskraftstiftelsen Theodor Adelswärds Minne.</p

Contesting Extractivism through Amazonian Indigenous Artivism: Decolonial reflections on possibilities for crafting a pluriverse from within

This article provides an analysis of Amazonian Indigenous peoples’ “artivism” – understood as artistic expressions with activist orientation. It approaches artivism within the context of the emergence of Contemporary Indigenous Art in Brazil and its significance in the resistance against the centuries-long oppression of native peoples, illustrated by the advancement of extractivism in the Amazon. We focus on the artworks by four prominent Indigenous artivists: Jaider Esbell’s critical engagements with art history; Denilson Baniwa’s reanthropophagy movement; Daiara Tukano’s critique of articide; and Emerson Pontes’ transformation into Uýra, the Walking Tree. Altogether, the messages embedded in their artworks contest the dominant growth-oriented development narrative anchored on the pre-eminence of the human-nature ontological dualism, where Nature is reduced to economic resource, along with a view of development that positions western ways of knowing, being and living at the forefront of a civilizational continuum. We conclude by elucidating the central decolonizing role of Indigenous artivism and its potential to strengthen Indigenous’ voices and agendas which include exercising self-determination, resisting extractivism, and crafting more plural and just worlds

Following the maracá and engendering “deotherization” in decolonial collaborative research

The AWÊ, orchestrated by the maracá was a daily reminder of the rightful owner of the space that I sought to enter. Little by little, intersections and communalities among us became apparent

Enriching perspectives : experienced ecosystem services in rural Mozambique and the importance of a gendered livelihood approach to resist reductionist analyses of local culture

Based on a case study from rural Mozambique, we stress that ecosystem services research may be enriched through gendered livelihood approaches, particularly in terms of experienced ecosystem services. Ecosystem services studies have been accused of being gender blind. We argue for the value of open narratives that are attentive to the gender dynamics underpinning the production and reproduction of livelihoods. By focusing on the experienced gender dimension of ecosystem services, livelihood perspectives fulfill the normative role of providing a people-centered means to assess the values of the environment “from below” and can therefore constitute an entry point to a holistic understanding of by whom, how, when, and why the environment is experienced as valuable. Our findings stress the dynamism and plurality of experienced ecosystem services (i.e., they vary across groups and time and cross-cut material and immaterial dimensions), as well as the asymmetrical gendered and fundamentally cultural relations that they enable. Accounting for the experienced gender dimension of ecosystem services is critical to contextualize the environment in people’s lifeworlds and to make understandings of ecosystem services representative of, and instrumental to, people’s voices and agendas. We show how such enriched, diverse, bottom-up ecosystem services perspectives form an essential foundation (together with ecological research) for resisting applications of reductionist top-down categories assumed to represent general local values.Som manuskript i avhandling. As manuscript in dissertation.</p