Guidelines for assessing environmental and socio-economic impacts of tsetse and trypanosomiasis interventions

This report provides guidelines on methods and tools for conducting impact assessments of T&T (tsetse and trypanosomiasis) interventions on the environmental, social and economic systems and on approaches for the integrated impact assessment of the interventions. The purpose of these guidelines is help donors, development agencies, project implementers and other T&T eradication stakeholders to identify adequate options for assessing the impacts of T&T interventions based on their target level of analysis, available resources and constraints. These guidelines are therefore aimed at helping PATTEC (African Union 's Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign) project managers and their experts target their priorities in environmental and socio-economic impact assessments. This will allow them to address pertinent issues adequately for the benefit of all stakeholders and allocate their resources rationally

A conceptual framework for integrated impact assessment of trypanosomiasis interventions

A framework for assessing the integrated impacts of trypanosomiasis interventions that resembles the structure of the DPSIR conceptual model (see EEA 2000) is developed in this study. This framework provides a way to make evident the pressures on the involved systems, define the target groups and levels of analysis, establish cause and effect relationships, organise information about the state of the systems, select appropriate methodologies for impact assessment, identify indicators, scaling up and scaling out the results, promote dynamic learning processes and evidence the potential responses of the society. The structure of this paper is as follows: The main concepts of impact assessment are initially introduced; and an integrated vision of the interaction between environmental, economic and social systems is presented. Then a set of key questions to be considered in the design of impact assessment studies are reviewed. Later, the basic elements of the impact analysis are shown in a logical sequence to present the conceptual framework for integrated impact assessment of trypanosomiasis interventions. Finally, the paper summarises the available methodologies for impact assessment on the different systems and provide some conclusions

Implications of community based management of woody vegetation around sedentarised pastoral areas in the arid northern Kenya

This paper addresses effectiveness of Environmental Management Committees (EMCs) in managing woody resources in pastoral villages in northern Kenya. The effectiveness is assessed in the realm of participation in sustainable use of the vegetation, predicted based on gender of the resource users and extent of contact with development agents. Marsabit Development Programme (MDP) largely supported formation of EMCs, in Marsabit District of northern Kenya, where the study was carried out. Both social data based on a questionnaire survey and biological data on physical availability of vegetation on the ground were generated. Results of both data sets showed more sustainable harvesting practices of woody vegetation in villages that MDP had high presence.  It is therefore concluded that MDP influenced woody resources utilization practices of the pastoralists in Marsabit district.Cet article concerne l’efficacité des Comités de gestion environnementale (CGE) en matière de gestion des ressources boisées dans les villages de gardiens de troupeaux du nord du Kenya. L’efficacité est évaluée en termes de participation à l’utilisation durable de la végétation qui est prédite sur la base du sexe des utilisateurs des ressources et sur la fréquence des contacts avec les agents de développement. Le programme de développement Marsabit (MDP) a largement soutenu la formation des CGE dans la région de Marsabit au nord du Kenya où a été réalisée l’étude. Des données sociales basées sur un questionnaire et des données biologiques basées sur la disponibilité physique de la végétation sur le terrain ont été générées. L’analyse de ces données a montré une utilisation plus large de pratiques durables de récolte de végétation boisée dans les villages où le MDP était bien implanté. Il a été conclu par conséquent que le MDP influençait les pratiques d’utilisation des ressources boisées des gardiens de troupeaux dans la région de Marsabit.Este artículo trata sobre la eficacia de los Comités de Gestión Medioambiental (CGM) en la gestión de recursos leñosos en pueblos pastorales del norte de Kenia. La eficacia se evalúa en el campo de la participación en el uso sostenible de la vegetación, prevista con base en el género de los usuarios de los recursos y en el alcance del contacto con los agentes de desarrollo. El Programa de Desarrollo de Marsabit (PDM) apoyó en gran parte la formación de CGM, en el Distrito de Marsabit situado al norte de Kenia, donde se realizó el estudio. Se generaron tanto datos sociales basados en una encuesta como datos biológicos sobre la disponibilidad física de la vegetación sobre la tierra. Los resultados de ambos grupos de datos mostraron prácticas de cosecha más sostenibles de la vegetación leñosa en pueblos en los que el PDM tenía una alta presencia. Por lo tanto, se llega a la conclusión de que el PDM influyó en las prácticas de utilización de los recursos leñosos de los granjeros en el distrito de Marsabit

Implications of community based management of woody vegetation around sedentarised pastoral areas in the arid northern Kenya

This paper addresses effectiveness of Environmental Management Committees (EMCs) in managing woody resources in pastoral villages in northern Kenya. The effectiveness is assessed in the realm of participation in sustainable use of the vegetation, predicted based on gender of the resource users and extent of contact with development agents. Marsabit Development Programme (MDP) largely supported formation of EMCs, in Marsabit District of northern Kenya, where the study was carried out. Both social data based on a questionnaire survey and biological data on physical availability of vegetation on the ground were generated. Results of both data sets showed more sustainable harvesting practices of woody vegetation in villages that MDP had high presence.  It is therefore concluded that MDP influenced woody resources utilization practices of the pastoralists in Marsabit district.Cet article concerne l’efficacité des Comités de gestion environnementale (CGE) en matière de gestion des ressources boisées dans les villages de gardiens de troupeaux du nord du Kenya. L’efficacité est évaluée en termes de participation à l’utilisation durable de la végétation qui est prédite sur la base du sexe des utilisateurs des ressources et sur la fréquence des contacts avec les agents de développement. Le programme de développement Marsabit (MDP) a largement soutenu la formation des CGE dans la région de Marsabit au nord du Kenya où a été réalisée l’étude. Des données sociales basées sur un questionnaire et des données biologiques basées sur la disponibilité physique de la végétation sur le terrain ont été générées. L’analyse de ces données a montré une utilisation plus large de pratiques durables de récolte de végétation boisée dans les villages où le MDP était bien implanté. Il a été conclu par conséquent que le MDP influençait les pratiques d’utilisation des ressources boisées des gardiens de troupeaux dans la région de Marsabit.Este artículo trata sobre la eficacia de los Comités de Gestión Medioambiental (CGM) en la gestión de recursos leñosos en pueblos pastorales del norte de Kenia. La eficacia se evalúa en el campo de la participación en el uso sostenible de la vegetación, prevista con base en el género de los usuarios de los recursos y en el alcance del contacto con los agentes de desarrollo. El Programa de Desarrollo de Marsabit (PDM) apoyó en gran parte la formación de CGM, en el Distrito de Marsabit situado al norte de Kenia, donde se realizó el estudio. Se generaron tanto datos sociales basados en una encuesta como datos biológicos sobre la disponibilidad física de la vegetación sobre la tierra. Los resultados de ambos grupos de datos mostraron prácticas de cosecha más sostenibles de la vegetación leñosa en pueblos en los que el PDM tenía una alta presencia. Por lo tanto, se llega a la conclusión de que el PDM influyó en las prácticas de utilización de los recursos leñosos de los granjeros en el distrito de Marsabit

Towards Productive Landscapes: Trade-offs in Tree-cover and Income across a Matrix of Smallholder Agricultural Land-use Systems

AbstractOne of the main causes of tropical forest loss is conversion to agriculture, which is constantly increasing as a dominant land cover in the tropics. The loss of forests greatly affects biodiversity and ecosystem services. This paper assesses the economic return from increasing tree cover in agricultural landscapes in two tropical locations, West Java, Indonesia and eastern Bangladesh. Agroforestry systems are compared with subsistence seasonal food-crop-based agricultural systems. Data were collected through rapid rural appraisal, field observation, focus groups and semi-structured interviews of farm households. The inclusion of agroforestry tree crops in seasonal agriculture improved the systems’ overall economic performance (net present value), even when it reduced understorey crop production. However, seasonal agriculture has higher income per unit of land area used for crop cultivation compared with the tree establishment and development phase of agroforestry farms. Thus, there is a trade-off between short-term loss of agricultural income and longer-term economic gain from planting trees in farmland. For resource-poor farmers to implement this change, institutional support is needed to improve their knowledge and skills with this unfamiliar form of land management, sufficient capital for the initial investment, and an increase in the security of land tenure

Obesity Hypertension: The Regulatory Role of Leptin

Leptin is a 16-kDa-peptide hormone that is primarily synthesized and secreted by adipose tissue. One of the major actions of this hormone is the control of energy balance by binding to receptors in the hypothalamus, leading to reduction in food intake and elevation in temperature and energy expenditure. In addition, increasing evidence suggests that leptin, through both direct and indirect mechanisms, may play an important role in cardiovascular and renal regulation. While the relevance of endogenous leptin needs further clarification, it appears to function as a pressure and volume-regulating factor under conditions of health. However, in abnormal situations characterized by chronic hyperleptinemia such as obesity, it may function pathophysiologically for the development of hypertension and possibly also for direct renal, vascular, and cardiac damage

White Paper: Shifting the goal post - from high impact journals to high impact data

The purpose of this white paper is to provide an overview of the ongoing initiatives at center level to respond to changing public expectations and to the challenge of improving the conduct of science by making research data widely available. We also attempt to provide a framework for implementing open access for research data to maximize CGIAR’s impact on development. The remainder of this paper proceeds as follows; firstly a summary of the diversity of research data produced by the centers is given, followed by an overview of the existing infrastructure for data management for each Center. Secondly, some of the limitations and barriers faced by the centers in their process to mainstream research data publishing are addressed. The paper concludes with recommendations for how these limitations and barriers can be tackled

The tropical managed forests observatory: a research network addressing the future of tropical logged forests.

While attention on logging in the tropics has been increasing, studies on the long-term effects of silviculture on forest dynamics and ecology remain scare and spatially limited. Indeed, most of our knowledge on tropical forests arises from studies carried out in undisturbed tropical forests. This biasis problematic given that logged and disturbed tropical forests are now covering a larger area thantheso-alled primary forests. A new network of permanent sample plots in logged forests, the Tropical managed Forests Observatory (TmFO), aims to ?ll this gap by providing unprecedented opportunities to examine long-term data on the resilience of logged tropical forests at regional and global scales. TmFO currently includes 24 experimental sites distributed across three tropical regions, with a total of 490 permanent plots and 921 ha of forest inventories

How 'dynasty' became a modern global concept : intellectual histories of sovereignty and property

The modern concept of ‘dynasty’ is a politically-motivated modern intellectual invention. For many advocates of a strong sovereign nation-state across the nineteenth and early twentieth century, in France, Germany, and Japan, the concept helped in visualizing the nation-state as a primordial entity sealed by the continuity of birth and blood, indeed by the perpetuity of sovereignty. Hegel’s references to ‘dynasty’, read with Marx’s critique, further show how ‘dynasty’ encoded the intersection of sovereignty and big property, indeed the coming into self-consciousness of their mutual identification-in-difference in the age of capitalism. Imaginaries about ‘dynasty’ also connected national sovereignty with patriarchal authority. European colonialism helped globalize the concept in the non-European world; British India offers an exemplar of ensuing debates. The globalization of the abstraction of ‘dynasty’ was ultimately bound to the globalization of capitalist-colonial infrastructures of production, circulation, violence, and exploitation. Simultaneously, colonized actors, like Indian peasant/‘tribal’ populations, brought to play alternate precolonial Indian-origin concepts of collective regality, expressed through terms like ‘rajavamshi’ and ‘Kshatriya’. These concepts nourished new forms of democracy in modern India. Global intellectual histories can thus expand political thought today by provincializing and deconstructing Eurocentric political vocabularies and by recuperating subaltern models of collective and polyarchic power.PostprintPeer reviewe