Climatic variability and cooperation in rangeland management: a case study from Niger

In this paper, we develop an empirical model of an agro-pastoral system subject to high climatic risk to test the impact of rainfall variability on livestock densities, land allocation patterns and herd mobility observed at the community level. Also, because grazing land is a common-pool resource, we determine the impact of cooperation on these decision variables. To capture different abilities of communities to manage these externalities, we construct indices comprised of factors considered to affect the costliness of achieving successful cooperation found in the collective action literature. We then test hypotheses regarding the impact of rainfall variability and cooperation using data collected in a semi-arid region of Niger. Results indicate that rainfall variability first leads to higher and then lower stock densities, indicating that benefits of accumulating large herds in variable environments are eventually offset by the higher risks of low production and higher mortality. Communities with characteristics hypothesized to favor cooperation have lower stock densities and greater herd mobility. Neither cooperation nor rainfall variability has a significant impact on the proportion of land allocated to crops vs. common pastures.Environmental management,

10 years and going strong? Coastal flood risk management in the wake of a major coastal event (the 2010 Xynthia storm, Charente Maritime, France)

2020 marked the 10th anniversary of the Xynthia storm that hit Western Europe at the end of February 2010. In France it triggered an unprecedented coastal flooding event, with most human and material damage concentrated on the Atlantic coast in the Vendée and Charente Maritime region. A range of reforms and measures followed to manage the risk of coastal flooding at the local and national levels. What conclusions can be drawn from these actions 10 years later? Did Xynthia mark a turning point in the doctrine of coastal flood risk management in France, in a similar way the 1953 storm and associated floods did for the Netherlands? To answer these questions we carried out a two-step analysis. First we compiled, classified and analysed all the recommendations and other “lessons learned” that were made public following the Xynthia storm. Second we looked into local risk management plans and strategies and conducted a series of semi-structured interviews in Charente Maritime to identify current flood risk mitigation practices. We analysed these in light of the identified recommendations. These analyses allow us both to take stock of the past ten years and to identify the acceleration effects attributable to storm Xynthia as well as the effects of lock-in and other elements hindering a more in-depth reform of coastal flood risk management in France. More importantly these analyses allow us to reflect on the process of stocktaking itself, its potential pitfalls and the need for the development of an analytical corpus. Learning to take stock of events that are considered “extraordinary” today is a necessary step to manage climate risks on the coast that are likely to become “ordinary” in the future.publishedVersio

Fonte du pergélisol: analyse des dimensions culturelles et matérielles menacées en République de Sakha (Russie)

Changes with regard to climate and permafrost are giving rise to new, interrelated processes and stressors, which in turn are creating new risk patterns for Arctic communities. Obtaining an increased knowledge of these new risks could be a starting point for understanding the opportunities for, and implications of, possible solutions. This article focuses on the social representations of permafrost thaw among people who were born or live in different regions of Sakha Republic (Russia). In this sense, our research aims to obtain a better understanding of the new risk patterns through the collection and subsequent analysis of narratives of personal experiences in order to identify the main concerns, how these are defined and framed and which coping strategies are considered by local inhabitants. We conducted fieldwork in Yakutsk (the capital city of Sakha Republic) in order to meet and interview a wide range of stakeholders including, among others, governmental authorities, people working in or representing research institutions, indigenous people, students and reindeer herders

Managing resources in erratic environments: an analysis of pastoralist systems in Ethiopia, Niger, and Burkina Faso

This study analyzes the links between risk and the kinds of property rights that have evolved to provide the mobility necessary to raise livestock in drought-prone countries in this case Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Niger. The study also evaluates the impact of cooperation on resource management in these environments. The express purpose of this research is to contribute to the current debate on resource management in highly variable environments, focusing on the impact of climate variability on and the role of cooperation in resource management. More specifically, a conceptual framework is developed to analyze the impact of climatic variability and cooperative capacity on land allocation patterns, stock densities, and patterns of herd mobility. Overall, the empirical results suggest that effective policies for sustainable land management and crisis-response plans may require the design and implementation of mechanisms to increase cooperative capacity.Range management Ethiopia, Range management Niger, Range management Burkina Faso, Pastoral systems,

Dissipating the fuzziness around interdisciplinarity: The case of climate change research

Late last century saw an increasing realisation of significant environmental changes on a global scale, characterised by high levels of dynamism and complexity, and important stakes. Perhaps foremost among these global changes is the issue of climate change, which will form the context of this paper. The complexity that accompanies climate change translates into a need for scientific interdisciplinary approaches, first to achieve a more integrated and comprehensive vision of the issues, and second to better inform the decision-making processes. However, achieving an interdisciplinary setting can be an elusive goal, owing particularly to the contextual nature of interdisciplinary dynamics, which makes it difficult to follow any means of 'best-practice'. Nevertheless, a common understanding of interdisciplinarity is important for researchers and practitioners to ask comparable questions and explore similar hypotheses, thus enabling them to build on what they already know, and advance the practice and scholarship of interdisciplinarity. To this end, both the scholarship and practice of interdisciplinarity have shown the need for actors who commit to interdisciplinarity to reflect on four complex features. They are its definition, origins, objectives and means. The purpose of this paper is to explore and clarify these four features in order to provide route-markers to a more effective and long-lasting implementation and structuring of complex interdisciplinary dynamics. Mobilising dialogue between theory and practice, this paper will draw from both an overview of the literature, and qualitative research undertaken in the Ile-de-France region within the Scientific Consortium for Climate, Environment and Society (GIS CES), which is attempting to conduct interdisciplinary research on the impact of climate change on society

A conservação de tartarugas marinhas baseada na comunidade: contribuição para a gestão dos recursos costeiros das ilhas de Santo Antão, São Vicente e São Nicolau, Cabo Verde

Embora cada vez mais assumida como um imperativo institucional pelo mundo todo, em Cabo Verde, as experiencias de participação das comunidades locais na gestão da biodiversidade e recursos naturais são até hoje, muito fracas. No entanto, embora legalmente protegidas, ano após ano as populações de tartarugas marinhas vem-se cada vez mais reduzidas, com os respectivos habitats degradados. Num contexto em que importantes recursos da pesca artesanal se encontram em franca diminuição, ou já não são comercialmente viáveis,as comunidades piscatórias enfrentam cada dia condições adversas face a globalização do desenvolvimento económico. Consequentemente, a introdução de sistemas de gestão de recursos costeiros, mais inclusivos, eficazes e eficientes e que reforcem a participação das comunidades, constituem um imperativo. Dessa forma, a conservação das tartarugas marinhas na região de Barlavento, mais propriamente nas ilhas à Noroeste, foi concebida para promover o envolvimento de comunidades costeiras na preservação dessas espécies e de outros recursos marinhos ameaçados, tudo isto em prol do desenvolvimento rural sustentável e redução da pobreza. Os resultados indicam que a abordagem é eficaz, traduzindo-se em 1) Redução efectiva das capturas e consumo local de tartarugas marinhas; 2) Identificação local das espécies, sua distribuição e, identificação das ameaças que enfrentam. Assim, a população de fêmeas da Caretta caretta em São Nicolau, foi identificada como uma das mais abundantes do arquipélago. 3) Trabalhos relevantes no reforço da consciência ambiental da população no geral. As comunidades piscatórias têm livremente apoiado não só na redução da captura de tartarugas mas também tem estado envolvidas em acções de vigilância e fiscalização de praias, prevenindo mesmo a extracção de areia em zonas de postura. Internamente, têm promovido luta contra práticas irresponsáveis de pesca, tais como o uso de dinamite na pesca de pequenos pelágicos. 4) Adopção de instrumentos integradores promovendo a participação interinstitucional e multidisciplinar e, particularmente, a mobilização de recursos, criando espaços para o envolvimento directo das comunidades na concepção e planificação de acções e planos locais de conservação. 5) Investigação participativa, apropriadamente articulada com a comunicação social e fiscalização como responsabilidade compartilhada, enquanto escola eficaz de aprendizagem interactiva de formas alternativas de gestão e utilização sustentável de recursos naturais costeiros. Os desafios resumem na 1) necessidade de um contexto político e legal que oriente e regulamente a implementação de iniciativas de conservação de tartarugas marinhas baseadas na comunidade, em regimes de gestão concertada (co-gestão); 2) no engajamento e apropriação efectiva, assim como a devida articulação institucional e, 3) sustentabilidade económica das acções

Adaptation to climate change in coastal communities: findings from seven sites on four continents

Climate change is causing wide-ranging effects on ecosystem services critical to coastal communities and livelihoods, creating an urgent need to adapt. Most studies of climate change adaptation consist of narrative descriptions of individual cases or global synthesis, making it difficult to formulate and test locally rooted but generalizable hypotheses about adaptation processes. In contrast, researchers in this study analyzed key points in climate change adaptation derived from coordinated fieldwork in seven coastal communities around the world, including Arctic, temperate, and tropical areas on four continents. Study communities faced multiple challenges from sea level rise and warmer ocean temperatures, including coastal erosion, increasing salinity, and ecological changes. We analyzed how the communities adapted to climate effects and other co-occurring forces for change, focusing on most important changes to local livelihoods and societies, and barriers to and enablers of adaptation. Although many factors contributed to adaptation, communities with strong self-organized local institutions appeared better able to adapt without substantial loss of well-being than communities where these institutions were weak or absent. Key features of these institutions included setting and enforcing rules locally and communication across scales. Self-governing local institutions have been associated with sustainable management of natural resources. In our study communities, analogous institutions played a similar role to moderate adverse effects from climate-driven environmental change. The findings suggest that policies to strengthen, recognize, and accommodate local institutions could improve adaptation outcomes.Ye

Property Rights, Risk and Development: <br />Community-Level Range Management in Niger

This dissertation contributes to the debate on Common Pool Natural Resources (CPNRs) through the analysis of a specific case study: rangeland in southwest agro-pastoral Niger. The management of CPNRs is the subject of a lively debate pertaining to the property rights regime that may accompany CPNR management. This dissertation shows that this debate may very well be the consequence of disciplinary preconceptions that are linked with disciplinary paradigms. By approaching the case study with an interdisciplinary approach, this dissertation shows how interdisciplinary research may contribute to the avoidance of “universalism” (i.e., one property rights regime fits all CPNRs) with regard to CPNR management. The case study is approached by using three different conceptual frameworks in order to explore five research questions. A first framework, econometric modelling, is used to explore the following two questions: “what are the determinants of rangeland use in southwest agro-pastoral Niger?” and “what are the determinants of livestock mobility?” A second framework, event chronology analysis, is used to explore the following two questions: “what is the impact of rainfall shocks on rangeland property rights?” and “is the marginalization of the pastoral space avoidable and reversible?” A third framework, network analysis, allows for the exploration of: “do traditional local institutions have the capacity to play a role in the management of rangeland?” The analysis and discussion of these research questions point to the fact that community-level rangeland management in southwest agro-pastoral Niger is a definite possibility. Nevertheless, it will be possible only if livestock raising practices are strong in the two traditional producer groups: agriculturalists and pastoralists. Community-level management will, therefore, have to be rooted in the community that is constituted by the users of the rangeland.Finally this dissertation concludes by stressing the results in terms of rangeland-management policy for Niger, in terms of the interdisciplinary analysis of CPNR, and in terms of conducting interdisciplinary research in general