Assessing the contribution of ecosystem services to human wellbeing: A disaggregated study in western Rwanda

AbstractLack of attention to social complexity has created a gap between current ecosystem service research and the kind of insights needed to inform ecosystem management in the tropics. To contribute to closing this gap, this study applies a methodology for exploring complex linkages between ecosystem services and human wellbeing. This builds on emerging frameworks for studying multiple dimensions of human wellbeing, drawing on Amartya Sen's capabilities approach to human development. The approach is applied to an empirical case study of three sites adjacent to native tropical forest in western Rwanda. The value of exploring social complexity in ecosystem services research is illustrated through its contribution to understanding a) different types of values; b) disaggregation of people; c) power relations and their influence on trade-offs; d) the importance of multiple land use types in the landscape; and e) changes and their drivers at multiple scales. The analysis reveals that the majority of services valued by forest-adjacent Rwandan inhabitants are not provided by tropical forests but by other habitats. We suggest that more integrated landscape governance may offer synergistic opportunities for conservation and development

An assessment of multidimensional wellbeing in rural Rwanda: impacts of and implications for rural development and natural resource conservation

This study applies a multidimensional definition of wellbeing, which includes material, social and subjective dimensions, to household level social research in rural Rwanda. Its contribution lies in applying the approach to three different fields: the study of cultural difference; natural resource management; and agrarian change, and in combining a wellbeing assessment with dominant theories or concepts in each. Rwanda has received acclaim for meeting development targets despite high levels of poverty and population density. However, due to centralised, target driven policy, those impacts are contested and this thesis presents rare empirical insights from the perspective of rural inhabitants themselves. The assessment of rural wellbeing forming the basis of three empirical papers reveals that many people struggle to meet basic needs for food, shelter and fuel. In contrast to development indicators, data reveal wellbeing to be falling among many rural households and inequality to be increasing, despite investment-driven health, education and security improvements. Far-reaching policies promoting rural and agricultural modernisation, alongside reconciliation between ethnic groups, appeared only to emphasize difference between groups, with outcomes of poverty reproduced for those with little relative power. The Twa, an indigenous people, suffer acute difficulties, exacerbated by reduced forest access. However application of a framework combining wellbeing and ecosystem services reveals that a landscape approach to natural resource management could realise synergies between local resource needs and conservation of biodiversity in Rwanda’s rich tropical forests. The pervasive and authoritarian nature by which development targets are pursued, for example enforcing rural villagisation, has resulted in a perceived loss of freedom, which inhibited local systems of knowledge, labour, trade and social interaction. While such consequences are commonly overlooked, more holistic approaches such as this enable interpretation of complex interrelated systems and promote awareness of local perspectives, with critical implications for the design and assessment of development policy

Access and allocation in global biodiversity governance: a review

Access and allocation is one of the five analytical themes of the science plan of the Earth System Governance (ESG) project. Concerns over access and allocation are at the core of struggles and conflicts brought about by the often ineluctable trade-offs related to biodiversity conservation and the global, national and local governance systems that aim to contribute to global biodiversity conservation. Access and benefit-sharing mechanisms, integrated conservation and development projects, payments for ecosystem services or community conservation programmes have all tried balancing environmental objectives with concerns for the allocation of natural resources and associated rights within society, and for access to basic human needs. As a contribution to this special issue on access and allocation, this paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the relevance of questions of access and allocation to ESG by providing an in-depth review of the literature on access and allocation in biodiversity conservation at different scales. We describe how the concepts of access and allocation have been used and conceptualized in the literature produced between 2008 and 2018, and we discuss the two key issues which dominate the literature (1) benefit-sharing; and (2) the role of local institutions. By drawing on the trends and evidence from the literature, we consider the lessons for the next generation of ESG scholars and draw out some key policy implications to be included in the debates on the post-2020 strategic plan for biodiversity

Alterations in functional brain network structure induced by subchronic phencyclidine (PCP) treatment parallel those seen in schizophrenia

Abstract of poster presentation shown at the 2nd Biennial Schizophrenia International Research Conference on Alterations in functional brain network structure induced by subchronic phencyclidine (PCP) treatment parallel those seen in schizophrenia

Justice-related impacts and social differentiation dynamics in Nepal’s REDD+ projects

Policies and projects aimed at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and the sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+), have been regarded as an opportunity to improve forest governance while supporting rural livelihoods. However, now that REDD+ policies are being increasingly implemented, a number of justice-related challenges have emerged, including how social heterogeneity should be approached to avoid deepening the unequal access to land, resources and livelihood opportunities or even violating human rights in rural contexts. Applying an environmental justice lens, this article analyses the experience of three local communities in Nepal participating in REDD+ pilot projects, focusing on how indigenous peoples, women and Dalits have participated in and been affected by such initiatives. Our research shows that the studied REDD+ pilot activities in Nepal have been, to some extent, able to recognise, empower and benefit certain social groups, indigenous women in particular, whilst Dalits (particularly Dalit women) had a different experience. REDD+ projects have had limited impact in addressing more entrenched processes of political discrimination, male dominance in decision-making, and uneven participation driven by spatial considerations or specific social targeting approaches. While the projects examined here have been partially just, and rather sensitive to existing patterns of social differentiation, the complexity of social differentiation still makes it difficult to operationalise environmental justice in REDD+ implementation. Hence, we conclude that deficits in distributive, recognition and procedural justice cannot be resolved without first addressing wider issues of social injustices throughout Nepal, historically inherited along the dimensions of class, caste, ethnicity, gender, and spatiality

Looking beyond justice as universal basic needs is essential to progress towards 'safe and just operating spaces'

Taking point of departure in the ambitious framework for 'safe and just operating spaces' for social-ecological systems, this paper explores the applicability of this conceptual framing. Specifically, we draw attention to limitations in the conceptualisation of justice as a question of attaining a minimal level of (material) wellbeing. With an empirical case from Laos, we apply a broader notion of environmental justice based on interconnected dimensions of distribution, procedure and recognition to examine the dynamic relationship between 'safe' and 'just' at village level, and we question how 'boundaries' of social and ecological sustainability are conceptualized and determined. Our findings illustrate important considerations for the way conservation interventions are rationalized and designed, in particular for the way social and environmental sustainability are portrayed and how governance is envisaged to function locally. This paper contributes to current sustainability debates on how to explore and integrate justice dimensions in development and conservation within human-defined planetary boundaries

Can agricultural intensification help attain Sustainable Development Goals? Evidence from Africa and Asia

Market-oriented agricultural intensification is a major development strategy, yet its alignment with sustainable development goals (SDGs) is unclear. We apply indicators for SDG 2 (eradicate hunger) regarding income, food production, food security and land tenure to recent intensifications in Rwanda and Laos to reveal their disaggregated impacts. We find while market-oriented intensification may generate poverty reduction, it also exacerbated marginalisation and poverty through various forms of land tenure insecurity. Ethnicity and gender were influential factors in Rwanda, and post-conflict resettlement policies in Laos. We discuss implications for development practice and selection of suitable indicators to reflect the ambition of the SDGs

Justice and equity:Emerging research and policy approaches to address ecosystem service trade-offs

An environmental justice framework is a broad approach to understand diverse perspectives on environmental management and change, in terms of distributional impacts, decision-making procedures and recognition of various values and identities. The approach is well suited to elicit the nature and extent of ecosystem service trade-offs, and to bring forward the views of poor and marginalised stakeholders, often underrepresented through standard ecosystem service frameworks. Equity has emerged as an important objective for environmental policy, partly due to the moral imperative to support human rights and partly due to increasing appreciation that improvements to equity can help to secure other objectives, notably poverty alleviation and conservation. Despite greater policy reference, equity has been repeatedly evidenced across numerous sectors as failing, in practice, to deliver just processes and outcomes for local communities, particularly for the poor and cultural minorities. There is a policy need for scientific evidence to elaborate definitions, principles, guidelines and tools for assessment of and strategies to advance towards more equitable governance of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Recent academic progress has been made in developing principles and describing characteristics of equitable governance which may uncover innovative solutions to trade-offs

Hadamard Source Encoding Techniques Applied to Apollo Telemetry Links: An Evaluation

The effort described in this paper is an investigation of the possible improvement in performance of the Apollo Unified S-Band Telemetry links due to the use of the Hadamard transform as a means of source encoding. Both rapidly and slowly varying telemetry signals were considered and three sizes of the Hadamard matrix were used. Results indicate that as much as 3-db improvement in system performance may be obtained in systems operating at a 2% RMS error level