LANDHOLDER COOPERATION FOR SUSTAINABLE UPLAND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT: A THEORETICAL REVIEW OF THE PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Despite national legislation and substantial donor investments, watershed degradation continues to threaten the sustained economic development and social welfare of millions of citizens in the developing world. Past efforts have largely concentrated on the physical rather than institutional aspects of watersheds, and have often relied on external incentives to coerce or persuade individuals to adopt conservation practices. In contrast to this conventional "physical" perspective, watersheds can be considered as sets of vested interests (and social relations) within a physically defined space. In essence, watersheds are physically defined subsets of rural society. Actors with vested interests within watersheds are interdependent because of water flow across political boundaries. From this perspective, the achievement of watershed management is a question of social relations, and cooperation between individual actors. Though there is growing realization for an expanded role of local, cooperative institutions in watershed management, theories on how such institutions might be identified, evolve or be promoted are limited. Toward this end, this paper examines some of the theoretical aspects of landholder cooperation for watershed management: the socio-political setting of upland watersheds; the physical attributes of watersheds influencing cooperation; the nature of externalities and incentives in watersheds; and the economic and socio-cultural factors affecting the emergence of collective action units. The processes by which collective action groups actually form are also reviewed. The paper concludes with a synthesis of the prospects for landholder cooperation approaches, the appropriate role of policy and a proposed process for promoting such cooperation.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

POLICY LESSONS FROM NATURAL RESOURCES PROJECTS IN HAITI: A FRAMEWORK FOR REFORM

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO AGROFORESTRY PROJECTS: A WORKSHOP FRAMEWORK FOR NGO PROGRAM MANAGERS

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

PEASANT INITIATIVE FOR SOIL CONSERVATION: CASE STUDIES OF RECENT TECHNICAL AND SOCIAL INNOVATIONS FROM MAISSADE, HAITI

Theories of Haitian underdevelopment, and of the causes and solutions to that underdevelopment are many, complex and often competing. At a very basic level though, Haitian development involves the mastery of ever changing conditions and requires continual innovation, adaption and the ability to create and exploit resources both internal and external to the farm, to the community and to the nation. The capacity to innovate and adapt is thus essential and is a foundation of sustained economic and social development. The purpose of this paper is to consider the phenomenon of innovation in rural Haiti by examining two case studies of technical and social innovations for soil conservation The studies are prefaced with a historical review of indigenous and donor responses to soil erosion, and a synopsis of theories concerning how innovations emerge and the factors influencing that emergence. Special attention is paid to the role of history and culture, political economy, and social organization in innovation. The studies suggest that the soil conservation innovations examined can be understood as thrifty and incremental cultural evolution; that small groups were loci for innovation; and that knowledge shared between scientists and peasants in a conversational approach positively affects the generation of innovations.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

COMMON PROPERTY AND COLLECTIVE ACTION: COOPERATIVE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT IN HAITI

The paper is divided into four sections. First, watershed management in Haiti is presented as a problem of voluntary collective action in which small watersheds are the common responsibility of a group of users. Second, this situation is given formal expression as a "public goods" problem, in which obligations to contribute time and labor to the maintenance and management of watersheds are treated as conditional or contingent commitments to cooperate (rather than defect). Third, an empirical analysis is presented in which key economic and cultural factors are tested to determine those that best explain the individual propensity to cooperate and the conditions necessary for collective action to emerge. Fourth, we interpret these results in light of the model, and suggest some generalizations and extensions of theoretical and empirical research on common property and collective action.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

IMPROVING PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Persistence and Memory in Patchwork Dynamics for Glassy Models

Slow dynamics in disordered materials prohibits direct simulation of their rich nonequilibrium behavior at large scales. "Patchwork dynamics" is introduced to mimic relaxation over a very broad range of time scales by equilibrating or optimizing directly on successive length scales. This dynamics is used to study coarsening and to replicate memory effects for spin glasses and random ferromagnets. It is also used to find, with high confidence, exact ground states in large or toroidal samples.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; reference correctio

PEASANT COOPERATION FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT IN MAISSADE, HAITI: FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PARTICIPATION

Soil erosion is an important contributor to the agricultural decline, poverty, and emigration which characterize rural Haiti today. The numerous soil conservation projects have often ignored indigenous knowledge, techniques and socio-cultural institutions and have not generally resulted in sustained conservation. Limited adoption rates have supported widespread assumptions that peasants were noncooperative, individualistic actors who required substantial external incentives for changing land use behavior. An alternate strategy was utilized in Maissade, Haiti, where peasants now cooperate to treat small, multiple-owner watersheds. Field research was conducted to understand the cooperative action and the socio-economic factors associated with participation ("e.g." cooperation) and defection. Study results indicate that approximately one-half of watershed landholders participate, and a majority of labor is contributed by persons who do not own land in the watersheds. Participants also regularly treat nonparticipant land, and land tenure status is independent of both landholder participation and structure placement. Indicators of landholder exposure to trans-boundary erosion and the potential to economically benefit are associated with participation while the realization of a direct benefit is not. Landholder wealth status is independent of participation though landholders are significantly more wealthy than non- watershed participants. Participation is also strongly associated with membership in farmer cooperatives and labor exchange groups, and the previous adoption soil conservation innovations. The findings challenge conventional wisdom concerning peasant behavior in Haiti and also suggest that support of indigenous cooperative institutions can facilitate the treatment of common environmental problems.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Time-Dependence of the Mass Accretion Rate in Cluster Cooling Flows

We analyze two time-dependent cluster cooling flow models in spherical symmetry. The first assumes that the intracluster gas resides in a static external potential, and includes the effects of optically thin radiative cooling and mass deposition. This corresponds to previous steady-state cooling flow models calculated by White & Sarazin (1987). Detailed agreement is found between steady-state models and time-dependent models at fixed times in the simulations. The mass accretion rate is found either to increase or remain nearly constant once flows reach a steady state. The time rate of change of the accretion rate is strongly sensitive to the value of the mass deposition parameter q, but only mildly sensitive to the ratio beta of gravitational binding energy to gas temperature. We show that previous scaling arguments presented by Bertschinger (1988) and White (1988) are valid only for mature cooling flows with weak mass deposition (q ~< 1). The second set of models includes the effects of a secularly deepening cluster potential and secondary infall of gas from the Hubble flow. We find that such heating effects do not prevent the flows from reaching a steady state within an initial central cooling time.Comment: 22 pages (AASTeX) with 16 EPS figures; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Multinational Enterprises, Employee Safety and the Socially Responsible Supply Chain: The Case of Bangladesh and the Apparel Industry

This article address the issue of employee safety and the social responsibility of multinational apparel retailers who contract with Bangladesh manufacturers in their global supply chain. Both the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh have been identified as the two primary facilitators for global apparel industry efforts to actively address this serious human rights issue; thus, they have the potential to help drive the success of the industry’s corporate citizenship efforts to successfully manage the issue of fire and building safety in Bangladesh. The article further explores these relationships within the context of the “global corporate citizenship” concept, and develops a rationale for the limits of a socially responsible supply chain. In the context of global corporate citizenship, the article describes the existing state of these two industry organizations remediation efforts to ensure a stable supply chain in Bangladesh, and offers an analysis of existing industry nonmarket strategy approaches to improving contractor’s factory fire and building safety environments for their employees. Lastly, a comprehensive set of nonmarket strategies for multinational apparel retailers is recommended when addressing their global corporate citizenship commitments to a safe working environment for Bangladesh garment manufacturing employees.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146286/1/basr12153_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146286/2/basr12153.pd