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Christine Padoch

Bio: Christine Padoch is an academic researcher from New York Botanical Garden. The author has contributed to research in topics: Shifting cultivation & Amazon rainforest. The author has an hindex of 41, co-authored 82 publications receiving 5147 citations. Previous affiliations of Christine Padoch include Center for International Forestry Research.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A meta-analysis of land-cover transformations of the past 10-15 years in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers world-wide shows that swidden agriculture decreases in landscapes with access to local, national and international markets that encourage cattle production and cash cropping, including bio-fuels.
Abstract: This meta-analysis of land-cover transformations of the past 10–15 years in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers world-wide shows that swidden agriculture decreases in landscapes with access to local, national and international markets that encourage cattle production and cash cropping, including biofuels. Conservation policies and practices also accelerate changes in swidden by restricting forest clearing and encouraging commercial agriculture. However, swidden remains important in many frontier areas where farmers have unequal or insecure access to investment and market opportunities, or where multi-functionality of land uses has been preserved as a strategy to adapt to current ecological, economic and political circumstances. In some areas swidden remains important simply because intensification is not a viable choice, for example when population densities and/or food market demands are low. The transformation of swidden landscapes into more intensive land uses has generally increased household incomes, but has also led to negative effects on the social and human capital of local communities to varying degrees. From an environmental perspective, the transition from swidden to other land uses often contributes to permanent deforestation, loss of biodiversity, increased weed pressure, declines in soil fertility, and accelerated soil erosion. Our prognosis is that, despite the global trend towards land use intensification, in many areas swidden will remain part of rural landscapes as the safety component of diversified systems, particularly in response to risks and uncertainties associated with more intensive land use systems.

494 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the FAO Staff through its forestry journal Unasylva issued an "appeal...to governments, research centers, associations and private persons who are in a position to help" (FAO Staff 1957).
Abstract: More than 50 years ago the FAO Staff through its forestry journal Unasylva issued an “appeal...to governments, research centers, associations and private persons who are in a position to help”. The plea was for information that would help the world overcome “...the greatest obstacle not only to the immediate increase of agricultural production, but also to the conservation of the production potential for the future, in the form of soils and forests... [N]ot only a backward type of agricultural practice...[but] also a backward stage of culture in general” (FAO Staff 1957). That impediment was shifting cultivation, or as we prefer to call it in this special issue, swidden cultivation. For centuries, swidden cultivation has been one of the most important land use systems in the tropics, including Southeast Asia. Numerous studies, including those of Conklin (1957, 1963), showed that in many situations it is in fact a rational economic and environmental choice for farmers in the humid tropical uplands (Fox 2000; Ickowitz 2006; Mertz 2002). While FAO did not succeed in its proposed research-driven “attack” on swidden cultivation, change in areas formerly dominated by swidden cultivation is now occurring at a rapid pace and, in much of Southeast Asia (and elsewhere), the system is being replaced by or transformed into other land uses. Change from swidden cultivation to other land uses may indeed be desirable for some farmers, but in other cases such factors as prohibitive legislation, land reform, logging, large-scale land development, exclusionary conservation zoning, and resettlement are driving change towards new land use systems with consequences that are still poorly understood. Do they, in all cases, represent an improvement, or is there a continuing rationale for swidden cultivation in the twenty-first century? Hum Ecol (2009) 37:259–264 DOI 10.1007/s10745-009-9245-2

280 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a look at the dynamism and diversity of Indigenous Farming practices is presented, with a focus on the relationship between food diversity and sustainability in the field of sustainable agriculture.
Abstract: (1994). Appreciating Agrodiversity: A Look at the Dynamism and Diversity of Indigenous Farming Practices. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development: Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 6-45.

236 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of seed exchange networks in the preservation and adaptation of crop specific and genetic diversity is discussed in this article, where the authors advocate a diversity of approaches to foster the creation of robust and policy-relevant knowledge.
Abstract: The circulation of seed among farmers is central to agrobiodiversity conservation and dynamics. Agrobiodiversity, the diversity of agricultural systems from genes to varieties and crop species, from farming methods to landscape composition, is part of humanity’s cultural heritage. Whereas agrobiodiversity conservation has received much attention from researchers and policy makers over the last decades, the methods available to study the role of seed exchange networks in preserving crop biodiversity have only recently begun to be considered. In this overview, we present key concepts, methods, and challenges to better understand seed exchange networks so as to improve the chances that traditional crop varieties (landraces) will be preserved and used sustainably around the world. The available literature suggests that there is insufficient knowledge about the social, cultural, and methodological dimensions of environmental change, including how seed exchange networks will cope with changes in climates, socio-economic factors, and family structures that have supported seed exchange systems to date. Methods available to study the role of seed exchange networks in the preservation and adaptation of crop specific and genetic diversity range from meta-analysis to modelling, from participatory approaches to the development of bio-indicators, from genetic to biogeographical studies, from anthropological and ethnographic research to the use of network theory. We advocate a diversity of approaches, so as to foster the creation of robust and policy-relevant knowledge. Open challenges in the study of the role of seed exchange networks in biodiversity conservation include the development of methods to (i) enhance farmers’ participation to decision-making in agro-ecosystems, (ii) integrate ex situ and in situ approaches, (iii) achieve interdisciplinary research collaboration between social and natural scientists, and (iv) use network analysis as a conceptual framework to bridge boundaries among researchers, farmers and policy makers, as well as other stakeholders.

220 citations

01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used data collected over more than a decade in two long-settled regions of Amazonia to find that rural-urban migration in the region is an extended and complex process.
Abstract: In much of the Amazon Basin, approximately 70% of the population lives in urban areas and urbanward migration continues. Based on data collected over more than a decade in two long-settled regions of Amazonia, we find that rural-urban migration in the region is an extended and complex process. Like recent rural-urban migrants worldwide, Amazonian migrants, although they may be counted as urban residents, are often not absent from rural areas but remain members of multi-sited households and continue to participate in rural-urban networks and in rural land-use decisions. Our research indicates that, despite their general poverty, these migrants have affected urban markets for both food and construction materials. We present two cases: that of acai palm fruit in the estuary of the Amazon and of cheap construction timbers in the Peruvian Amazon. We find that many new Amazonian rural-urban migrants have maintained some important rural patterns of both consumption and knowledge. Through their consumer behavior, they are affecting the areal extent of forests; in the two floodplain regions discussed, tree cover is increasing. We also find changes in forest composition, reflecting the persistence of rural consumption patterns in cities resulting in increased demand for and production of acai and cheap timber species.

220 citations


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Book
01 Jan 2009

8,216 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 1981
TL;DR: This chapter discusses Detecting Influential Observations and Outliers, a method for assessing Collinearity, and its applications in medicine and science.
Abstract: 1. Introduction and Overview. 2. Detecting Influential Observations and Outliers. 3. Detecting and Assessing Collinearity. 4. Applications and Remedies. 5. Research Issues and Directions for Extensions. Bibliography. Author Index. Subject Index.

4,948 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: A theme of the text is the use of artificial regressions for estimation, reference, and specification testing of nonlinear models, including diagnostic tests for parameter constancy, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity, and other types of mis-specification.
Abstract: Offering a unifying theoretical perspective not readily available in any other text, this innovative guide to econometrics uses simple geometrical arguments to develop students' intuitive understanding of basic and advanced topics, emphasizing throughout the practical applications of modern theory and nonlinear techniques of estimation. One theme of the text is the use of artificial regressions for estimation, reference, and specification testing of nonlinear models, including diagnostic tests for parameter constancy, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity, and other types of mis-specification. Explaining how estimates can be obtained and tests can be carried out, the authors go beyond a mere algebraic description to one that can be easily translated into the commands of a standard econometric software package. Covering an unprecedented range of problems with a consistent emphasis on those that arise in applied work, this accessible and coherent guide to the most vital topics in econometrics today is indispensable for advanced students of econometrics and students of statistics interested in regression and related topics. It will also suit practising econometricians who want to update their skills. Flexibly designed to accommodate a variety of course levels, it offers both complete coverage of the basic material and separate chapters on areas of specialized interest.

4,284 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of traditional ecological knowledge in monitoring, responding to, and managing ecosystem processes and functions, with special attention to ecological resilience, was surveyed and case studies revealed that there exists a diversity of local or traditional practices for ecosystem management, including multiple species management, resource rotation, succession management, landscape patchiness management, and other ways of responding to and managing pulses and ecological surprises.
Abstract: Indigenous groups offer alternative knowledge and perspectives based on their own locally developed practices of resource use. We surveyed the international literature to focus on the role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in monitoring, responding to, and managing ecosystem processes and functions, with special attention to ecological resilience. Case studies revealed that there exists a diversity of local or traditional practices for ecosystem management. These include multiple species management, resource rotation, succession management, landscape patchiness management, and other ways of responding to and managing pulses and ecological surprises. Social mechanisms behind these traditional practices include a number of adaptations for the generation, accumulation, and transmission of knowledge; the use of local institutions to provide leaders/stewards and rules for social regulation; mechanisms for cultural internalization of traditional practices; and the development of appropriate world views and cultural values. Some traditional knowledge and management systems were characterized by the use of local ecological knowledge to interpret and respond to feedbacks from the environment to guide the direction of resource management. These traditional systems had certain similarities to adaptive management with its emphasis on feedback learning, and its treatment of uncertainty and unpredictability intrinsic to all ecosystems.

3,463 citations