Rural Household Diversity and the Implications for Small-scale Forestry Development in Leyte Province, the Philippines

This paper reports the results from a study of the social and economic factors affecting the development of smallholder forestry in Leyte Province. More than 50% of all households in rural areas of the Philippines have cash incomes that are below the national poverty threshold and the forest resources of the nation continue to be degraded. Agricultural activity by poor rural households is blamed for causing much of the past and present damage to forest resources. Community forestry and agrarian reform programs have been developed as a means to address the links between forest degradation and poverty by granting households limited access to Government-owned forest lands. Reviews of these programs have suggested the need to better understand rural households and their diversity as a means to improve the design, implementation, and monitoring of forestry and other development programs in rural areas. The study used a literature review, focus groups, household surveys, and workshops to assess pathways to forestry development for smallholders in the Philippines. Cluster analysis was applied to survey data on group households that have similar attitudes to forestry development. Subsequent analyses of the groups’ livelihood assets and income levels revealed patterns of relationships between households’ socio-economic circumstances, their attitudes to forestry, and forestry activities. Overall the study found few rural households are engaged in growing and selling timber and other forest products, with the poorest households least involved in community forestry programs and growing timber. Households reported reducing their use of public forest areas for a variety of reasons including the loss of timber resources in these areas. Many households acknowledge the need for rehabilitation of public forest areas but other development issues are rated as more urgent. The authors describe the variations in possible impacts of policy and program reforms on the different types of households. They conclude that all the households are being critically constrained in the development of forestry activities by institutional factors including uncertain or unsupportive land tenure arrangements, poorly developed timber markets, plus a general lack of land and financial capital

Social and Economic Factors that Affect the Management of Plantations and the Types of Products Produced

This paper proposes a research strategy for collecting socio-economic and attitudinal data from smallholder tree farmers. The research design draws on experiences on a previous study of attitudes towards forestry to help identify key socio-economic variable to be included in the current study. The study will use a structured questionnaire with a combination of closed and open ended questions to elicit information from tree farmers. The questionnaire will seek information about their current silvicultural management practices; their attitudes and experiences towards tree registration and obtaining permits for tree harvesting and transport of logs; their main sources of information about tree farming; their awareness of biodiversity issues and their motivations and experiences with tree farming. Basic socio-economic data such as income sources and size and nature of landholdings will also be collected

Designing Livelihood Systems Incorporating Trees for Smallholders on Leyte

This paper outlines proposed project activities associated with the design of tree farm based livelihood systems for smallholders on Leyte Island in the Philippines. In activity 3.1, four research questions will be addressed related to identifying livelihood strategies currently implemented by smallholder tree farmers and how these systems relate to food and income security; investigating whether livelihood systems can be developed which better meet the needs of a wider range of smallholders and whether there is potential for incorporating non-timber forest products into livelihood systems. This activity draws upon information collected from tree farms included as part of research in Activities 2.2 and 2.5

Conducting surveys on forestry attitudes and practices in Leyte Communities, Philippines: Experiences and lessons learnt

A survey of forestry practices and attitudes was undertaken in four communities in Leyte, the Philippines, to improve understanding of the social and economic factors affecting small-scale forestry development. The survey had three main data collection activities — initial focus group discussions (FGDs), household interviews, and reporting and validation FGDs. A team of enumerators was selected for household interviews which consisted of both males and females, to avoid potential problems of unwillingness of people to talk with those of the opposite gender. The interviewers were also required to be able to speak local dialects (Cebuano and Waray Waray), the survey questionnaires being administered in these dialects. Various methods were used to gain the support and assistance of local government units and barangay captains. Some difficulty was experienced by the survey team in the first community due to barangay elections at the time of the survey, and the requirement by the University of Queensland Ethics Committee that respondents sign a consent form. This requirement was found to be not culturally appropriate for the Leyte smallholder communities. Offering goods at the end of the interview was found to be of limited value for encouraging participation in the survey. Provision of food and drinks were found to encourage FGD participants to express their views, but too much alcohol had a negative effect. The importance of providing comprehensive feedback to respondents and involving them and other stakeholders in development of policy recommendations was apparent. These survey experiences provide valuable insights which are not generally available in textbooks on sample surveys, and provide lessons for planning and conducting smallholder community survey into natural resource management issues

The Influence of Land and Tree Tenure on Participation of Smallholder and Community Forestry in the Philippines

Key impediments to forestry development have been identified as part of a research program on smallholder and community forestry currently being conducted on Leyte Island, the Philippines, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). A number of studies conducted as part of that research program have identified land and tree tenure issues as being a key impediment to the expansions of smallholder and community forestry. This paper examines the impacts of uncertainty of land and tree tenure on woodlot establishment, based on the results of three separate studies. A study of household needs and attitudes in relation to forestry development identified a number of policy issues associated with land and tree tenure as needing to be addressed. A second study investigated why microfinancing of woodlots was not an option for many smallholders. That study revealed that landholders are unwilling to commit resources to forestry because they do not have land titling and hence regard their land tenure as insecure. Similarly, banks appear unwilling to lend to smallholders for investment in forestry, being influenced by lack of collateral associated with insecure land tenure. A third study of tree nursery practices revealed that land ownership appears to play an important role in the sustainability of nurseries that are raising seedlings for sale. In addition, nursery owners with secure land tenure were more likely to attend training sessions

Landholder Typologies Used in the Development of Natural Resource Management Programs in Australia - A Review

This article reviews the literature on the identification of landholder typologies that can be used to assist the design and delivery of natural resource management (NRM) programs. Australian researchers have developed typologies of landholders based on a variety of criteria. The rationale for developing landholder typologies is first discussed before reviewing the various approaches that have been used by Australian researchers and comparing their findings. The methods employed have differed according to the theories used to guide the research and the 'clients' or 'sponsors' of the research. The landholder types they describe, however, have a number of similarities. These similarities suggest that the studies have identified the same fundamental divisions in the rural community, and that it may be possible to integrate landholder typologies for a variety of NRM and non-NRM applications. It is concluded that further research could usefully investigate whether concepts of social class or sub-cultures may be appropriate to define and describe the variations in landholder types

The huntingtin inclusion is a dynamic phase-separated compartment

Inclusions of disordered protein are a characteristic feature of most neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s disease is caused by expansion of a polyglutamine tract in the huntingtin protein; mutant huntingtin protein (mHtt) is unstable and accumulates in large intracellular inclusions both in affected individuals and when expressed in eukaryotic cells. Using mHtt-GFP expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we find that mHtt-GFP inclusions are dynamic, mobile, gel-like structures that concentrate mHtt together with the disaggregase Hsp104. Although inclusions may associate with the vacuolar membrane, the association is reversible and we find that inclusions of mHtt in S. cerevisiae are not taken up by the vacuole or other organelles. Instead, a pulse-chase study using photoconverted mHtt-mEos2 revealed that mHtt is directly and continuously removed from the inclusion body. In addition to mobile inclusions, we also imaged and tracked the movements of small particles of mHtt-GFP and determine that they move randomly. These observations suggest that inclusions may grow through the collision and coalescence of small aggregative particles

Immunotherapy for neuroblastoma using syngeneic fibroblasts transfected with IL-2 and IL-12

Cytokine-modified tumour cells have been used in clinical trials for immunotherapy of neuroblastoma, but primary tumour cells from surgical biopsies are difficult to culture. Autologous fibroblasts, however, are straightforward to manipulate in culture and easy to transfect using nonviral or viral vectors. Here we have compared the antitumour effect of fibroblasts and tumour cells transfected ex vivo to coexpress interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IL-12 in a syngeneic mouse model of neuroblastoma. Coinjection of cytokine-modified fibroblasts with Neuro-2A tumour cells abolished their in vivo tumorigenicity. Treatment of established tumours with three intratumoral doses of transfected fibroblasts showed a significant therapeutic effect with reduced growth or complete eradication of tumours in 90% of mice, associated with extensive leukocyte infiltration. Splenocytes recovered from vaccinated mice showed enhanced IL-2 production following Neuro-2A coculture, and increased cytotoxicity against Neuro-2A targets compared with controls. Furthermore, 100% of the tumour-free mice exhibited immune memory against tumour cells when rechallenged three months later. The potency of transfected fibroblasts was equivalent to that of tumour cells in all experiments. We conclude that syngeneic fibroblasts cotransfected with IL-2 and IL-12 mediate therapeutic effects against established disease, and are capable of generating immunological memory. Furthermore, as they are easier to recover and manipulate than autologous tumour cells, fibroblasts provide an attractive alternative immunotherapeutic strategy for the treatment of neuroblastoma

Structural and Functional Profiling of the Human Histone Methyltransferase SMYD3

The SET and MYND Domain (SMYD) proteins comprise a unique family of multi-domain SET histone methyltransferases that are implicated in human cancer progression. Here we report an analysis of the crystal structure of the full length human SMYD3 in a complex with an analog of the S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) methyl donor cofactor. The structure revealed an overall compact architecture in which the “split-SET” domain adopts a canonical SET domain fold and closely assembles with a Zn-binding MYND domain and a C-terminal superhelical 9 α-helical bundle similar to that observed for the mouse SMYD1 structure. Together, these structurally interlocked domains impose a highly confined binding pocket for histone substrates, suggesting a regulated mechanism for its enzymatic activity. Our mutational and biochemical analyses confirm regulatory roles of the unique structural elements both inside and outside the core SET domain and establish a previously undetected preference for trimethylation of H4K20