Corticolous lichens as potential bioindicators of fire history : A study in the cerrado of the Distrito Federal, central Brazil.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the potential use of epiphytic corticolous lichens as indicators of fire history in the cerrado (savannas) of central Brazil. Work was carried out at the Reserva Ecologica do IBGE and the Jardim Botanico de Brasilia, 33 km outside Brasilia D.F., in plots of cerrado denso within the 'Fire Project' area. Each plot was subjected to a specific prescribed burning regime, with study sites varying from a plot protected from fire for over 20 years to a plot burned every two years. The research was carried out in three stages: 1) a preliminary survey of plots with different fire histories, measuring variables about the lichen habitat and the lichen communities present in the habitats; 2) lichen sampling in plots with different fire histories, where collection and identification of lichen species took place; 3) sampling of the lichen genus, Bulbothrix, in plots with different fire histories, measuring abundance and size of individual lichens. Field techniques used included plotless sampling, and identification of lichens was carried out using taxonomic keys, both in the field and in the laboratory. The results show that fire is a major determinant of epiphytic corticolous lichen communities in cerrado denso vegetation. The abundance, distribution, and recolonisation of lichen communities can clearly be correlated with the frequency and behaviour, in terms of homogeneity and flame heights, of the fires that have occurred in each of the plots surveyed. Particular lichen species show differential sensitivities to fire frequency and behaviour, and as the length of the fire-free period increases, Bulbothrix individuals become greater in size. Using these various responses of lichens, at the community, population and species level, a Lichen Fire History (LFH) Key was constructed for estimating fire frequency, fire behaviour, and the 'time-since-the-last' fire. The LFH Key is then presented as a simple booklet to be used in the field

Natural resource management and development discourses in the Caribbean: reflections on the Guyanese and Jamaican experience

International discourses on environment and development help to shape global shared understandings of environmental issues. This paper describes the environment and development history of Guyana and Jamaica through pre-colonial, colonial, independence and market liberalisation stages. Two opposing discourses are used to frame this history: a dominant global environmental discourse characterised by technical and ‘scientific’ expertise and hierarchical governance; and a counter-discourse emphasising local control over natural resources. This analysis serves as a first step in surfacing and understanding the highly complex and multifaceted nature of environmental issues in these locations. However, we conclude with the recognition that further work should go beyond a bipolar analysis to one taking a critical, multidimensional approach, to promote more sustainable management of natural resources than has previously taken place

Firing up:Policy, politics and polemics under new and old burning regimes

International audienc

The ECOSENSUS Project: Co-Evolving Tools, Practices and Open Content for Participatory Natural Resource Management

ECOSENSUS (Electronic/Ecological Collaborative Sensemaking Support System)[www.ecosensus.info] is an ESRC e-Social Science pilot project, using a Participatory Action Research methodology to evolve tools and work practices for collaborative work in environmental and natural resource management between a European-based team, and stakeholders involved in the region of concern, the North Rupununi District of Guyana. To promote long term capacity building in the region and beyond, the project's outputs will be disseminated as open source learning resources. Given the disparities in knowledge and power in such a project, central to our work are issues of stakeholder empowerment in the geographical modelling, interpretation and decision making practices that constitute environmental management. We argue that in e-Science, such factors have yet to receive much attention. This paper reports work accomplished to date: progress towards an environment which integrates GIS modelling with participatory deliberation about the implications of the models, and reactions from the indigenous Amerindians to this tool

Community-based management of environmental challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean

This Special Feature gathers the results of five research projects funded by the 7th Research Framework Program of the European Union and aims to identify successful cases of community-based management of environmental challenges in Latin America. The funding scheme, Research for the benefit of Civil Society Organizations, fostered innovative research approaches between civil society and research organizations. More than 20 field sites have been explored, and issues such as trade-offs between conservation and development, scientific versus local knowledge, social learning, ecosystem services, community owned solutions, scaling-up and scaling-out strategies, the influence of context and actors in effective environmental management and governance, and the conflicts of interests around natural resources have been addressed. Based on our experiences as project coordinators, in this editorial we reflect on some of the important lessons gained for research praxis and impact, focusing on knowledge of governance models and their scaling-out and scaling-up, and on methods and tools to enable action research at the science–civil society interface. The results highlight the richness of community-based management experiences that exist in Latin America and the diversity of approaches to encourage the sustainable community-based management of environmental challenges. (Résumé d'auteur

From resilience to viability: a case study of indigenous communities of the North Rupununi, Guyana

'Resilience' is a term that has achieved significant prominence in scientific circles and now within popular discourse. However, its practical application is often unclear or confused because it can mean different things to different people: To resist? To adapt? To transform? In this paper, we propose a framework - System Viability - able to coherently engage with six distinct properties of all systems, from ecosystems to communities, allowing the identification of trade-offs and synergies for maximising the chances of systems persistence. We apply and evaluate the System Viability framework through participatory visual methods within three indigenous communities in the North Rupununi, Guyana. This paper highlights how the framework allows the measurement of community survival strategies in a consistent and theoretically corroborated way, with implications for national and international policy-makers aiming to promote resilience and sustainability

Indigenous identity and environmental governance in Guyana, South America

In an era of increasing access to digital technologies, Indigenous communities are progressively more able to present sophisticated and differentiated narratives in order to maximise their long-term survival. In this article, we explore how Indigenous communities use participatory video and participatory photography as tools of Indigenous media to enhance, adapt and/or reinforce their collective social memory. This social memory is key for identity formation and self-representation, and the ways in which Indigenous representations are performed promote particular interests and worldviews to the local, national and global scales. Working with the Makushi and Wapishana communities of the North Rupununi, Guyana, the current social memory ‘in use’ was surfaced through the participatory video and photography process led by the Indigenous community. Through an iterative process of analysing images (photos and video clips) and text (written material, narration and spoken word), we identified key narratives of the communities’ social memory. We show how communities provide different messages to different actors through the way they use participatory video and participatory photography, revealing how self-conscious multiple identities shape differing purposes. We suggest that our ability, as non-Indigenous stakeholders, to perceive, appreciate and act upon these more complex and nuanced narratives is critical to help address environmental governance in a rapidly changing social–ecological context

Between a rock and a hard place: ethical dilemmas of local community facilitators doing participatory research projects

Participatory research is supposed to involve participants in a collective definition of goals, and the co-production and sharing of research outputs. However, when articulated through an extended period of time involving a range of local, national and international actors, the practicalities of participatory research means that certain groups and individuals become responsible for taking leading roles, with subsequent ethical dilemmas. In the ‘Community-owned solutions for future environmental challenges in the Guiana Shield, South America’ (COBRA) project, the participatory research process involves a group of five Indigenous researchers – “the local team” – in charge of carrying out the research on the ground e.g. defining procedures, carrying out community engagement and supporting the communities in analyzing and disseminating the material. This local team is, in turn, supported by researchers from a national NGO and foreign academics. Considerable responsibility has been given to the local team for achieving project outcomes, and freedom in defining project tasks and activities. This paper analyses the multiple ethical dilemmas arising out of this situation, particularly the role of the local team as intermediaries between the wider community and project partners. We highlight the existence of significant mismatches between research expectations, and the ethical processes in operation at community level which are usually established on long-term, tacit and reciprocal relationships. We discuss how local community researchers are challenged with balancing the tensions between these two ethical polarities, while at the same time producing participatory research outcomes that are acceptable by everyone involved

Applying the system viability framework for cross-scalar governance of nested social-ecological systems in the Guiana Shield, South America

Linking and analyzing governance of natural resources at different scales requires the development of a conceptual framework for analyzing social-ecological systems that can be easily applied by a range of stakeholders whose interests lie at different scales, but where the results of the analysis can be compared in a straightforward way. We outline the system viability framework, which allows participants to characterize a range of strategies in response to environment challenges for maintaining the long-term survival of their particular system of interest. Working in the Guiana Shield, South America, and with a range of local, regional, and international stakeholders, our aim was to use system viability to (1) investigate synergies and conflicts between distinct scales of governance, (2) identify scale-related challenges, and (3) test the framework as a conceptual tool for supporting cross-scalar analysis for environmental governance. At the international and national levels, a number of civil society organizations explored system viability indicators that would measure the successful implementation of governance mechanisms relevant to sustainable development and natural resource management. At the local level, we used participatory video and photography within two indigenous territories to enable local participants to identify indicators of viability within community governance systems. A grounded theory approach was then used to identify common themes across the different scales of analysis. Five key themes emerged: land rights, leadership, partnerships, lifestyle, and identity. We found that although most categories of interest were theoretically aligned across scales, all perceived systems of interest were struggling to face up to various cross-scalar challenges undermining different system viability responses. In conclusion, we highlight how the system viability framework can be used with a disparate variety of stakeholders as a practical, participative and “big-picture” approach for facilitating the integrated governance of nested local and regional social-ecological systems