Livelihoods and land management in the Ioba Province in south-western Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, policies influencing land management are bound to have deep impacts on the environment and on the livelihood of the rural population. Two such policies are the national program of gestion de terroirs villageois and the support programs for cotton cultivation by the private sector and the national government. This paper provides insights on the current livelihoods of rural households, identifies the key determinants of their livelihoods and categorizes them into household types. This is necessary to then analyze the impacts of the aforementioned policies on land management strategies of the different household types. The analysis includes the impacts of agricultural intensification and expansion on livelihoods as both have influenced the distribution of livelihood assets. The working paper uses data collected across three representative villages in the Ioba Province in south-western Burkina Faso in 2006/2007. It shows that poorer farm households are excluded from institutions that provide access to resources and have only limited means to employ agricultural practices to maintain soil fertility. The study indicates that differences in the land management of household types lead to differences in social and environmental outcomes. In other words, the livelihood strategies of the observed households vary. However, livelihood outcomes in the study area are rather homogenous. The homogeneity of the livelihood outcomes makes it difficult to categorize households into different types. One reason for this result might be that it is not enough to look at data that cover only one production year. Another reason is that farm households in the study region compensate limitations in one livelihood asset through a stronger focus on livelihood strategies that generate other assets

Between Hope and Hype: Traditional Knowledge(s) Held by Marginal Communities

Traditional Knowledge (TK) systems have always been integral to the survival and adaptation of human societies. Yet, they enjoy a fairly recent recognition and popularization by scientists, the media, politicians, corporates and the wider public. In this paper we present a typology of key driving forces behind the popularization of TK held by marginal communities: an equality preference motive, a value motive, a compliance motive, a scarcity motive and a strategic motive. Secondly, through the use of a simple model, we discuss the hype's impact on marginal communities. Moreover, we critically assess the outcome of a number of policy instruments that intend, in part, to protect traditional knowledge bases of such communities. Our analysis primarily draws upon secondary literature; policy documents and case studies within economics, the social sciences, conservation biology and legal studies. We argue that whilst the public and institutional hype around TK may have resulted in its prioritization within international conventions and frameworks, its institutionalization may have adversely impacted marginalized communities, and in particular contexts, unintentionally led to the creation of 'new' marginals. We purport that the traditional innovation incentive motive does not hold for protecting TK within a private property regime. Instead we identify a conservation incentive motive and a distribution motive that justify deriving policy instruments that focus on TK to protect marginal communities

Food and Nutrition Security Indicators: A Review

In this paper, we review existing food and nutrition security indicators, discuss some of their advantages and disadvantages, and finally classify them and describe their relationships and overlaps. In order to achieve this, the paper makes reference to the existing definitions of food and nutrition security (FNS), in particular as they have been agreed upon and implemented in the FoodSecure project (www.foodsecure.eu). The main existing conceptual frameworks of FNS predating the present paper are also used as guidelines and briefly discussed. Finally, we make recommendations in terms of the most appropriate FNS indicators to quantify the impacts of various shocks and interventions on food and nutrition security outcomes

Dernier refuge ou presqu'île d'opportunités? Démographie et conditions de vie à Adjahui-Coubé, un habitat spontané à Abidjan

This research report summarises findings from an ethnographic census, interviews and observations on an Ebrié village within the metropolis of Abidjan, which has undergone a process of rapid, unplanned and irreversible urbanisation since 2012. The study estimates the population number in mid-2018 to stand at 60 000 inhabitants minimum. The visual, qualitative and quantitative data set includes the documentation of 52 courtyards and 591 housing units. The main driver of spontaneous urbanisation in the beginning was finding any housing after having been forcefully evicted from the former place of residence. Many of these people originated from families who had migrated to the Côte d'Ivoire from ECOWAS. In a second phase, the population became more Ivorian including many poor families and young people who were excluded from rental housing in precarious quarters of Abidjan because of decreased availability and affordability. Finally, the purchasing power of the growing population and the construction boom became economic pull factors to the village. The report documents the evolution of the settlement within its historical, legal and political context and analyses living conditions and some strategies of the inhabitants and authorities

The Economics of Land Degradation

Healthy soils are essential for sustaining economies and human livelihoods. In spite of this, the key ecosystem services provided by soils have usually been taken for granted and their true value - beyond market value - is being underrated. This pattern of undervaluation of soils is about to change in view of rapidly raising land prices, which is the result of increased shortage of land and raising output prices that drive implicit prices of land (with access to water) upward. Moreover, the value of soil related ecosystems services is being better understood and increasingly valued. It is estimated that about a quarter of global land area is degraded, affecting about 1.5 billion people in all agro-ecologies around the world. Land degradation has its highest toll on the livelihoods and well-being of the poorest households in the rural areas of developing countries. Vicious circles of poverty and land degradation, as well as transmission effects from rural poverty and food insecurity to national economies, critically hamper their development process. Despite the need for preventing and reversing land degradation, the problem has yet to be appropriately addressed. Policy action for sustainable land use is lacking, and a policy framework for action is missing. Key objectives of this Issue Paper and of a proposed related global assessment of the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) are: first, to raise awareness about the need for and role of an assessment of the economic, social and environmental costs of land degradation; and second, to propose and illustrate a scientific framework to conduct such an assessment, based on the costs of action versus inaction against land degradation. Preliminary findings suggest that the costs of inaction are much higher than the costs of action