ethnicity Archives - Resilient Landscapes

Impacts of Covid-19 and Payment for Forest Environmental Services on Rural Women in Moc Chau district, Son La province

Key messages

The Covid-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on ethnic minority women in Moc Chau district, Son La province. These impacts include reduced incomes, increased family pressures and workloads, limited access to natural resources for agriculture production activities and impacts on mental health.
PFES is currently being paid to communities, social organizations, households and groups of households. Women benefit from and have access to earnings from PFES payments to communities, groups of households, and households. The impact of PFES and its ability to support women in the context of Covid-19 depends on amounts paid, when they are paid, and the benefit-sharing mechanisms involved.
Women participating in focus group discussions highlighted problems they face when implementing PFES, including limited earnings from PFES, lower PFES payments due to increased law enforcement, risks associated with accessing and securing forest use rights, and limited access to information and understanding of policies.
More researches are needed to assess the long-term impacts of Covid-19 and the role of PFES in helping women cope with the pandemic.

Gender and Ethnicity in Vietnam Agroforestry Landscapes: Lessons for Project Implementation

The brief summarizes learnings and outcomes from the Agroforestry for Livelihoods (AFLi) project, implemented by World Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Northwestern Vietnam. The project took place in two phases over the period of 2011 to 2021, it sought to encourage farmers to adopt agroforestry systems to combat environmental degradation and to diversify their agricultural products. The second phase of the project (AFLi-II) focused on the development of market-based agroforestry and forest rehabilitation.

A Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Initiative in Ethnic Communities of Northern Thailand: Local Perspectives and Future Prospects

Background: Nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions can contribute to improved food security and household dietary diversity. As well as undertaking trials, contextual factors that influence sustainability need to be scoped. Objective: To explore locals’ views of an NSA initiative, designed to improve food security and reduce malnutrition in children younger than 5 years, scoping future prospects 6 months after the conclusion of the trial. Methods: The initiative that was formally trialed over 6 months (November 2014 to April 2015) entailed keeping hens and home gardens. It occurred in the ethnic hill tribes of northern Thailand. In November 2015, 20 in-depth interviews were undertaken with villagers who had been involved in the initiative. Dialogue occurred in Thai with assistance of a translator and was recorded, transcribed, and translated to English. A detailed thematic analysis was undertaken. Results: Eggs produced by the hens were appreciated and fed to children, and the message of providing children with an egg a day was widely remembered. Subsequently, the hens ceased laying or died. The home gardens had seasonal scarcity of water. Less visible, but fundamental, women lacked time for these activities due to heavy burdens of farm labor. Conclusion: Keeping hens has potential to become a sustainable activity. Home gardens need water infrastructure to be viable. Women do not necessarily have spare capacity for such initiatives. The required labor needs deliberation by villagers. © The Author(s) 2021.

Adaptation to climate change: ethnic groups in Southwest China

Based on interviews with 1216 randomly selected households in Yunnan, Southwest China, we assessed local people’s perceptions and coping strategies on climate change, and determined its influencing factors. Results indicated that 72% of the respondents perceived climate change-associated impacts, while 82% and 85% perceived the changes in temperature and precipitation, respectively. Most respondents perceived climate warming and decreases in precipitation. Drought and erratic rainfall are the most serious impacts. Approximately 40% of respondents who perceived climate change have chosen to do nothing. Others have reacted by migrating for work, introducing new crop types, giving up planting certain crops, and investing in irrigation infrastructure. The perception and response strategies of local residents to climate change were mainly influenced by the factors related to geographical characteristics and residents’ livelihoods. There are significant differences in perception of climate change among Tibetan, Yi and Naxi, while no significant differences in response strategies have been found among ethnic minorities. An integrated programme combining indigenous knowledge with scientific technology and government policies is proposed to enhance the adaptive capacity to climate change of ethnic populations in mountain areas. The policy implications call for understanding of cultural difference that affect people’s perception and adaptation to climate change.

Ethnicity Differences in Uses and Management Practices of Bitter Kola Trees (Garcinia kola) in Cameroon

Bitter kola (Garcinia kola) is an indigenous multipurpose tree species in West and Central Africa, threatened by overexploitation and classified by the IUCN as vulnerable. Understanding local knowledge and management patterns in different socioecological contexts could contribute to designing strategies for conservation and long-term use of the species. In order to characterize the parts of the plant and the harvesting techniques that are used by different ethnic groups in Cameroon, we conducted surveys through the use of semi-structured questionnaires (N = 182) in six different sites covering different agro-ecological zones where the species is present (forest and savanna). Ethnic groups from the savanna agro-ecological zone shared similar patterns in G. kola organs/parts used and harvesting techniques, but these patterns differed among ethnic groups from the savanna and forest zones and within the forest zone. Ethnic groups from the savanna zone mainly harvest the species for its seeds that are used as stimulants. Conversely ethnic groups from the forest zone mainly collect bark and roots, and uses differ between agriculturalists (Fang and Bassa) and hunter-gatherers (Baka). These patterns have direct consequences on species management practices. Savanna farmers applied sustainable harvesting as they extract fruits and seeds and planting more trees in order to increase the species’ contribution to their livelihood. People in the forest zone destructively felled standing trees, threatening the species in its natural environment. The influence of these results on the conservation status of the species in the region are discussed.

Value orientations about wild meat in Guyana are determined by gender, ethnicity and location

Understanding what drives differences in values towards wild meat is important for developing legislation and behavioral change campaigns that promote sustainable use. Value orientations (VOs) underly behavior. VOs are influenced by personal (e.g., gender, generation), social (e.g., media, family), location (e.g., rural versus urban) and experience determinants. In Guyana, an ethnic diverse nation in South America, the national hunting laws have recently been instated. The wildlife management agency is rolling out a behavioral change campaign in collaboration with a sustainable use initiative. To support this campaign, we evaluated VOs towards wild meat across Guyana. Applying Multiple Correspondence Analysis and generalized linear models to data from interviews, we examined location, personal, and societal determinants for their influence on these VOs, and explored how VOs translated into behavior, specifically wild meat consumption frequency. Location (Indigenous, and coastal: rural, town, urban), intertwined with ethnicity, and gender showed the strongest associations with variation in VOs. Respondents from Indigenous territories expressed mostly positive VOs compared to coastal Guyanese. Women expressed more neutral or negative, and more negative biocentric VOs compared to men, and this difference was largest among Indigenous but non-existent in urban sites. Negative anthropocentric VOs towards wild meat consistently grouped together and dominated amongst those not consuming wild meat. Highest consumption was seen among those expressing positive materialistic VOs. Positive anthropocentric VOs were associate with intermediate consumption frequencies and most typical for men. Those expressing negative values towards wildmeat based on biocentric orientations towards wildlife consumed wild meat, but rarely. Our results direct behavioral change efforts to men on the coast who consume wild meat for enjoyment at bars, restaurants or family events. Based on our study, positive messaging promoting the coexistence between consumption of mostly resilient species and caring about wildlife would be well-received to support sustainable use policies.

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