Coordination work – Tuning and timing rice production in Burkina Faso

Agricultural growth poles and development corridors are key instruments for fostering economic growth in rural areas and widely employed across the African continent. This paper contributes to the growing body of scholarship that empirically investigates how these large-scale spatial development strategies ‘hit the ground’. Drawing on ethnographic research within the Bagré Growth Pole Project in Burkina Faso and focusing on its key sector, rice, we develop the notion of coordination work. Coordination work captures the quotidian dimension of a growth pole project that is the instruments and interventions aimed at aligning different actors, activities, and arrangements in the project zone. Deploying a practice theoretical lens, we empirically unfold three modes of coordination work, namely the work of agricultural advisors on demonstration fields, consultancy support to farmer groups and unions, and the setting up of a binding agricultural calendar. We contend that a focus on coordination work illuminates the underlying assumptions and effects of distinct measures and instruments while also pointing to the cross connections between them. Ultimately, we show how specific project components change socio-ecological rhythms by tuning and timing practices at the center of megaprojects.Peer Reviewe

Rural Entrepreneurship Development in Southwest China: A Spatiotemporal Analysis

Rural entrepreneurship has been seen by the central government of China as a key means to rural vitalization. However, research focus on the long-term developmental status of rural entrepreneurship at local scale has been limited. According to industry types of differentiation, this research describes rural enterprises registered in the administrative area of Mianyang, southwest China, from 2011 to 2020. The spatial-temporal distribution rule of rural entrepreneurship is explored via a quantitative approach focused on spatial analysis and correlation analysis, as well as the application of geocoding on web data. How contexts such as the natural base, socio-economic condition, and institutional arrangements impact this distribution are empirically explored and discussed. The paper adds spatial-temporal insights into the role of the context of rural entrepreneurship. In particular, the paper highlights that rural entrepreneurship is a process potentially best explored at the regional scale and that physical condition and institutional support play central roles in rural entrepreneurship in southwest China.hina Scholarship CouncilDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinPeer Reviewe

Gold, friction and resistance in a globalised land system

In land system science (LSS), the globalisation of land use is often understood via trade flows. Fewer studies have explored the power asymmetries and local resistance that shape global connections. Consequently, calls for a deeper engagement with power and agency have been made within LSS. To accommodate this, we engage the ethnographic literature on encounters, emphasising the concepts of resistance and friction. These capture the ways actors position themselves in global systems, resist, and create global connections. To illustrate its relevance for land systems, we use qualitative data from the mining sector of Tanzania, highlighting the emergence of resource nationalism as an alternative form of globalisation (alter-globalisation). We argue that a focus on resistance, friction and alter-globalisation can move LSS towards a deeper engagement with power and agency in global flows, revealing the competing actors, values and visions embedded in land systems.Peer Reviewe

Acceptable noise level with Danish, Swedish, and non-semantic speech materials.

Objective: Acceptable noise level (ANL) has been established as a method to quantify the acceptance of background noise while listening to speech presented at the most comfortable level. The aim of the present study was to generate Danish, Swedish, and a non-semantic version of the ANL test and investigate normal-hearing Danish and Swedish subjects' performance on these tests. Design: ANL was measured using Danish and Swedish running speech with two different noises: Speech-weighted amplitude-modulated noise, and multitalker speech babble. ANL was also measured using the non-semantic international speech test signal (ISTS) as speech signal together with the speech-weighted amplitude-modulated noise. The latter condition was identical in both populations. Study sample: Forty Danish and 40 Swedish normal-hearing subjects. Results: In both populations ANL results were similar to previously reported results from American studies. Generally, significant differences were seen between test conditions using different types of noise within ears in each population. Significant differences were seen for ANL across populations, also when the non-semantic ISTS was used as speech signal. Conclusions: The present findings indicate that there are extrinsic factors, such as instructions, affecting the ANL results. Summario Objetivo: Se ha establecido el Nivel de Ruido Aceptable (ANL) como un método para cuantifi car la aceptación de ruido de fondo mientras se escucha lenguaje presentado al nivel más confortable. El objetivo de este estudio fue generar las versiones sueca, danesa y una no-semántica de la prueba ANL e investigar el desempeño de sujetos normoyentes daneses y suecos en estas pruebas. Diseño: Se midió el ANL utilizando un discurso continuo en danés y sueco con dos diferentes ruidos: ruido con amplitud modulada en el rango del lenguaje y balbuceo de varios hablantes. También se midió el ANL utilizando la prueba internacional no-semántica de señal de lenguaje (ISTS) como la señal lingüística junto con ruido con amplitud modulada en el rango del lenguaje. Esta última condición fue idéntica en ambas poblaciones. Muestra: Cuarenta sujetos daneses y 40 sujetos suecos normoyentes. Resultados: en ambas poblaciones los resultados de ANL fueron muy similares a los reportado previamente en estudios americanos. Generalmente, se vieron diferencias signifi cativas para el ANL entre poblaciones, también cuando el ISTS no semántico fue utilizado como señal lingüística. Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos indican que hay factores extrínsecos tales como las instrucciones, que afectan los resultados de ANL

He who pays the piper calls the tune: Understanding collaborative governance and climate change adaptation in Northern Ghana

2212-0963Peer Reviewe

Towards integration? Considering social aspects with large-scale computational models for nature-based solutions

Information on social aspects of climate change intervention, such as behavioral choices and public acceptance, are often not included in global climate models. As a result, they have been critiqued for not adequately reflecting ‘real world’ conditions. At the same time, these models are important and influential policy tools. To improve these models, calls are being made for more interaction – or integration – between the social science and modelling research communities. Yet, it remains unclear how to achieve this. Responding to this gap, we explore what kind of integration is currently taking place, how, and opportunities for further development.The importance of social drivers of climate change interventions, or social aspects, is currently underrepresented in computational modelling projections. These parameters are largely excluded from estimates of technical mitigation potential, feasibility, and tools like integrated assessment models (IAMs) and other large-scale models that influence the development of climate policies and notable bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This paper contributes to calls being made within the research community to address this gap and strengthen linkages between modelling practices and social science insights. Using nature-based solutions (NbS) as a framing, we present the results of a critical literature review and interviews with multidisciplinary experts reflecting on the current state of integration around IAMs and opportunities to better capture social aspects within large-scale modelling processes. Our findings confirm the need to incorporate social aspects in IAMs, but highlight that how this happens in practice may depend on context, project objectives, or pragmatic choices rather than conceptual notions about what ‘good’ integration is. Nevertheless, some integration strategies are better than others, and concerns about data limitations and low capacity of the IAM community for engaging in integration can be overcome with sufficient support and complementary efforts from the broader research community.Peer Reviewe

The ambiguity of transparency in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector of Tanzania

This paper examines the newly established mineral markets in Tanzania. These markets aim to ensure tax revenue collection and enhance the transparency of mineral trade within the artisanal and small-scale mining sector. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Geita Region, we show that the enhanced transparency facilitated by these new markets has benefitted artisanal and small-scale gold miners. However, the living conditions of the miners and opportunities for profit have not changed significantly and the miners do not expect that a more transparent value chain will improve their lives. Many miners continue to depend on sponsorships from more powerful actors, which narrows their ability to profit from transparent market structures. Based on these findings, we discuss the ambiguity of transparency, as its transformative potentials are both important and limited and we argue that transparency for small-scale producers is not a straightforward path towards their empowerment.Peer Reviewe

Conceptualizing Distal Drivers in Land Use Competition

This introductory chapter explores the notion of ‘distal drivers’ in land use competition. Research has moved beyond proximate causes of land cover and land use change to focus on the underlying drivers of these dynamics. We discuss the framework of telecoupling within human–environment systems as a first step to come to terms with the increasingly distal nature of driving forces behind land use practices. We then expand the notion of distal as mainly a measure of Euclidian space to include temporal, social, and institutional dimensions. This understanding of distal widens our analytical scope for the analysis of land use competition as a distributed process to consider the role of knowledge and power, technology, and different temporalities within a relational or systemic analysis of practices of land use competition. We conclude by pointing toward the historical and social contingency of land use competition and by acknowledging that this contingency requires a methodological–analytical approach to dynamics that goes beyond linear cause–effect relationships. A critical component of future research will be a better understanding of different types of feedback processes reaching from biophysical feedback loops to feedback produced by individual or institutional reflexivity

SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence among homeless people and shelter workers in Denmark:a nationwide cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: People experiencing homelessness (PEH) and associated shelter workers may be at higher risk of infection with “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” (SARS-CoV-2). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among PEH and shelter workers in Denmark. DESIGN AND METHODS: In November 2020, we conducted a nationwide cross-sectional seroprevalence study among PEH and shelter workers at 21 recruitment sites in Denmark. The assessment included a point-of-care test for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, followed by a questionnaire. The seroprevalence was compared to that of geographically matched blood donors considered as a proxy for the background population, tested using a total Ig ELISA assay. RESULTS: We included 827 participants in the study, of whom 819 provided their SARS-CoV-2 antibody results. Of those, 628 were PEH (median age 50.8 (IQR 40.9–59.1) years, 35.5% female) and 191 were shelter workers (median age 46.6 (IQR 36.1–55.0) years and 74.5% female). The overall seroprevalence was 6.7% and was similar among PEH and shelter workers (6.8% vs 6.3%, p = 0.87); and 12.2% among all participants who engaged in sex work. The overall participant seroprevalence was significantly higher than that of the background population (2.9%, p < 0.001). When combining all participants who reported sex work or were recruited at designated safe havens, we found a significantly increased risk of seropositivity compared to other participants (OR 2.23, 95%CI 1.06–4.43, p = 0.02). Seropositive and seronegative participants reported a similar presence of at least one SARS-CoV-2 associated symptom (49% and 54%, respectively). INTERPRETATIONS: The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was more than twice as high among PEH and associated shelter workers, compared to the background population. These results could be taken into consideration when deciding in which phase PEH are eligible for a vaccine, as part of the Danish national SARS-CoV-2 vaccination program rollout. FUNDING: TrygFonden and HelseFonden. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13642-7

Ten facts about land systems for sustainability

Land use is central to addressing sustainability issues, including biodiversity conservation, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, and sustainable energy. In this paper, we synthesize knowledge accumulated in land system science, the integrated study of terrestrial social-ecological systems, into 10 hard truths that have strong, general, empirical support. These facts help to explain the challenges of achieving sustainability in land use and thus also point toward solutions. The 10 facts are as follows: 1) Meanings and values of land are socially constructed and contested; 2) land systems exhibit complex behaviors with abrupt, hard-to-predict changes; 3) irreversible changes and path dependence are common features of land systems; 4) some land uses have a small footprint but very large impacts; 5) drivers and impacts of land-use change are globally interconnected and spill over to distant locations; 6) humanity lives on a used planet where all land provides benefits to societies; 7) land-use change usually entails trade-offs between different benefits—"win–wins" are thus rare; 8) land tenure and land-use claims are often unclear, overlapping, and contested; 9) the benefits and burdens from land are unequally distributed; and 10) land users have multiple, sometimes conflicting, ideas of what social and environmental justice entails. The facts have implications for governance, but do not provide fixed answers. Instead they constitute a set of core principles which can guide scientists, policy makers, and practitioners toward meeting sustainability challenges in land use