Browsing by Subject "rural development"
Now showing items 1-3 of 3
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(Helsingin yliopistoUniversity of HelsinkiHelsingfors universitet, 2002)Madagascar is one of the megadiversity countries of the world and its highly endemic flora and fauna is under threat from a rapidly growing population. Over the past few years many conservation projects have combined development goals with conservation, thus supporting the conservation goal by attempting to ease human pressure on the protected area. The objective of this study is to investigate the views and opinions of local people with regard to Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. This study examines the changes the park has brought to peoples’ lives, general attitudes towards the environment and conservation as well as opinions about the park management. The main information presented in this study was obtained from 121 interviews completed in six villages. Three of them are situated close to the park and they have received intentional development interventions from the authorities. Another three lie further away and have no official connections with the park. The study will investigate how distance and interventions affect peoples views and opinions. The information obtained represents independent opinions from a random sample of the resident population. All the schools of each village were visited and over 400 pupils responded to a questionnaire about the environment. In addition to this the NGO's, local authorities, health centres, churches and a family planning clinic, were consulted in order to gain a thorough picture of the communities views. People in the villages closest to the park have obtained employment through tourism and research. Other positive effects include assistance with new farming methods, the introduction of alternative livelihoods and environmental education. Villagers further away from the park mentioned the slowing down of environmental degradation as the major achievement of the park. The major negative effect is restrictions on usage of the natural resources people depend on. Adequate alternatives are not available and direct compensation for economic losses has not been offered. This study presents people’s suggestions on improving education, management of the park, livelihoods and environment. More efficient development projects that geographically reach further would help the park to achieve its development goals and through that the conservation objectives. The results of this study emphasise the importance of education, which increases people’s awareness of the environmental processes. This enables them to understand the consequences of human activities and gives them an awareness of the consequences of continuing unsustainable use of resources. Decreasing poverty near protected areas is also essential in order to reduce pressure on the environment. A third important issue is the slowing down of population growth. Successful combination of conservation and development requires constant reassessment and responses to changing situations. The survival of Madagascar’s rain forests is a global concern so responsibility and costs must be borne globally, too.
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(2013)Food has featured in the global development agenda for several decades. However, increasing food prices and the global food crisis of 2007-2008, fuelled the debate around food security, which was also one the main thematic priorities of Finn Church Aid's strategy in 2009-2012. This thesis was commissioned by FCA in order to examine food security in the context of their development cooperation project in Cambodia. The purpose of the study is to support FCA and their local partner organization, the Lutheran World Federation Cambodia’s work on food security. The study has two objectives: to contribute to the understanding of the intertwined issues of rural development and food security, and to the understanding of the food security approach and intervention logics. Firstly, food reality is scrutinized in a Cambodian rural village. The focus is on the functioning of the food system at the local level, and as part of a wider food system reaching beyond the village boundaries and even the national level. In addition, the household level food security is analysed from the perspective of livelihoods - means of gaining a living - and different ways of commanding or accessing food. This level allows scrutinizing how village level changes in the food system affect different kinds of families. Secondly, the study analyses the food security approach of LWF, with regard to the village food reality and in the light of politicised international discourses on food security. The thesis is a contextual case study of the village of Chrokhlong, based on one month’s field work period in November and December 2010, as well as LWF Cambodia’s program documents and interviews with the staff. The field work material consists of 43 interviews with the villagers, 76 informal discussions and personal observation. Food security and general development themes in Cambodia are explored through literature and personal interviews. The study found that the local food security is affected by important changes of the wider food system. Population growth and economic liberalization increase pressures on land and natural resources in the village context. Accumulation and fragmentation of land and degradation of common resources are related to the increasing commoditization of the village food system. Food security has become an issue of purchasing power. Land for rice cultivation appears as the most important factor contributing to household food security. The most food insecure families lack land and means of generating incomes in order to purchase food, such as family members in working age and good health. The poorest families are the most affected by the depletion of common resources and the increasing food prices. At a strategic level, LWF has adopted a holistic approach to food security and defines their objective as 'right to food' in line with a rights based approach to development. However, at the practical level the approach seems narrower, and the work on food security focuses on enhancing food production. This focus risks not taking into account the food insecurity of the land-poor families who do not benefit from increasing productivity. The centrality of the land issue and the specific situation of the most food insecure families is no considered sufficiently. Based on this case study, an integrated and holistic rural development approach would seem to provide relatively more benefits to households that are able to produce to markets, while the food security of the poorest families can be even further threatened by a greater dependence of markets. While LWF’s ideals seem to reflect a 'food justice' discourse, their practical work is more in line with the hegemonic discourse labelled as 'food security', that does not aim at affecting the structural causes of food insecurity at different levels.
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(2023)Non-timber forest products (NTFPs), once called “minor forestry products” are in fact of major importance around the world, particularly in the Global South and in the context of rural development. They provide a wide range of benefits – nutritional, medicinal, cultural, and economic. In Northern Laos, they are a source of livelihoods and subsistence. On our field course with the University of Helsinki, we surveyed 56 households in three villages of Luang Prabang province of which 47 (84%) relied on income from NTFPs or so-called environmental products. During shocks and crises like floods, livestock disease and crop failures, 30 households (54%) used them as a coping strategy. This reliance on NTFPs during difficult times was found to correlate with the average age and size of the household, indicating their importance for young families. The many hands might make light work of collection but more than likely the nutritional needs are greater. Kaipen, or “river weed” and broom grass, two of the most significant products in the area, offer possibilities for value-adding business activities that some of the collectors were able to participate in themselves. In the case of broom grass however, middlemen control the trade, and the raw materials are exported internationally, to the detriment of the locals of this region. Value-chain analysis for these two products provides insight as to how the situation can be improved. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework is a tool through which the conditions can be analysed and developed towards the goal of more income, well-being, food security and the sustainable management of natural resources. Sustainability and what it means in the context of NTFPs, such as availability, cleanliness, and accessibility are also considered based on literature review and the findings from the household survey. Preserving the ability for locals to maintain their nature-based livelihoods in the face of infrastructure projects like hydroelectric dam and motorway construction is a considerable challenge. Despite this, there are also opportunities through access to new markets and tourism that could benefit the region under the right conditions. Suomeksi: Luonnon- ja metsätuotteet ovat tärkeitä ympäri maailmaa, mutta varsinkin globaali etelän maissa maaseudun kehittämisessä. Niillä on merkittävä rooli elintarvikkeiden, lääkkeiden, elinkeinotoiminnan ja jopa kulttuurin tuottamisessa. Pohjois-Laosissa luonnontuotteita kerätään sekä ruuaksi että tulonlähteeksi. Helsingin yliopiston kenttäkurssilla tutkittiin 56 kotitaloutta kolmessa kylässä Luang Prabangin maakunnassa. Näistä kotitalouksista 47 (86 %) oli riippuvaisia luonnontuotteiden tuottamista tuloista ja 30 (54 %) käyttivät niitä selviytyäkseen kriiseistä, kuten tulvista, kotieläinten taudeista ja sadon tuhoista. Tämä riippuvuus luonnontuotteista vaikeina aikoina korreloi perheiden koon ja keski-iän kanssa. Nuoret ja isot perheet käyttivät niitä eniten. Mahdollisesti suurten perheiden lisäkädet helpottavat keräilyä, mutta todennäköisesti myös niiden ravinnontarve on suurempi. Kaksi merkittävintä luonnontuotetta alueella ovat jokilevä ja luudanruoho, jotka tarjoavat mahdollisuuksia lisäarvoa tuottavaan liiketoimintaan, johon keräilijät voivat myös osallistua. Luudanruohon tapauksessa, ostajat kuitenkin hallitsevat markkinoita ja materiaalit viedään maasta jalostamattomana. Näin paikallisten ihmisten hyöty jää pieneksi. Arvoketjuanalyysi näille kahdelle tuotteelle lisää ymmärrystä siitä, miten tilannetta voidaan parantaa. Sustainable Livelihoods Framework tarjoaa keinoja, joilla näitä olosuhteita voidaan analysoida ja kehittää. Tavoitteena on luontovarojen kestäväkäyttö, johon perustuu tulot, hyvinvointi ja ruokaturva. Kestävyyttä ja sen merkitystä luonnontuotteiden kontekstissa, kuten runsaus, puhtaus ja saatavuus, pohditaan kirjallisuuden ja kotitalouksille tehdyn kyselyn perusteella. Luonnontuotteisiin perustuvien elinkeinojen säilyttäminen infrastruktuurin, esim. vesivoimala- ja moottoritieprojektien kehittämisen edetessä, on iso haaste. Pääsy uusille markkinoille ja turismi tuovat kuitenkin etuja, joita voidaan hyödyntää alueella.
Now showing items 1-3 of 3