Showing papers in "Human Ecology in 2004"

Pastoralism Under Pressure: Tracking System Change in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract: While economic development has proven elusive in African pastoral systems, change is pervasive. The majority of the Kajiado Maasai, for example, have endured marked declines in per capita livestock holdings and other aspects of human welfare over the past 50 years. We surveyed 317 Borana households to see if similar patterns occurred in southern Ethiopia, and our predictions were largely confirmed. Once viewed as the epitome of sustainable pastoralism, the Borana system now confronts numerous challenges. Decline in per capita cattle holdings has spurred household-level diversification to include maize cultivation and camel husbandry in some areas. Resource pressure has encouraged local annexation of some formerly common access grazing areas. Economic links between pastoral households and local towns still appear rare, however. Our results suggest that patterns of internally induced socioeconomic change due to population pressure in such semiarid systems are broadly predictable, and that development intervention priorities should reflect system dynamics and address emerging issues. A focus on improving risk management by facilitating household economic diversification and restoring some aspects of opportunistic resource use may be the most appropriate development options among the Ethiopian Boran at this time.

Milk, Manure, and Muscle Power. Livestock and the Transformation of Preindustrial Agriculture in Central Europe

Abstract: The process of industrial modernization was characterized by fundamental changes in the interaction of socioeconomic systems with their natural environment. This paper reflects on this transformation process from an ecologically informed perspective, focusing on the interrelation of local populations, their specific mode of production, and the (agro-) ecosystem. Four Austrian villages in different agro-ecological zones serve as case studies for a comparative analysis of different types of farming systems and changes in these systems over time from the early nineteenth century to the present. The paper presents empirical results and aims at contributing to the discussion of relevant topics in human ecology and environmental history. Focusing on the changing significance of livestock in agricultural production systems, it addresses issues including the relation of population density to intensity of land use; soil fertility and nutrient management; the sustainability of preindustrial agriculture; and the gradual opening of locally closed cycles during industrialization and its effect on the landscape.

Local Management of Mangrove Forests in the Philippines: Successful Conservation or Efficient Resource Exploitation?

Abstract: Recent environmental “narratives” suggest that local people are effective stewards of forest resources. Local restoration and management of mangrove forests, in particular, are now widely advocated as a solution to achieve both economic and environmental conservation goals. This paper presents findings from a study of 2 coastal sites in the Philippines that are renowned and often showcased as success stories in community-based, mangrove reforestation and management. These cases are especially intriguing because local tree planting and management emerged in both areas long before governments and nongovernment organizations began to promote such activities. These management systems are a successful economic innovation in that planted mangroves protect homes and fish pond dykes from wave and wind damage, and the production of high-value construction wood is dramatically enhanced through intensive plantation management. Mangrove plantations are an efficient alternative to harvesting from unplanted, natural mangroves and their spread may reduce harvesting pressures on existing forests. However, mangrove plantations are structurally and compositionaly very different from unplanted forests, a finding of particular concern given that such plantations are increasingly encroaching into and replacing natural forests. Furthermore, planted forests are not typically viewed by planters in terms of their environmental conservation values and are frequently cut and cleared to make space for alternative uses, especially fish farming and residential settlement. The suggestion that these local mangrove management systems are successful for conservation thus needs to be qualified.

Sacred Forest, Hunting, and Conservation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract: In a number of places, sacred forest sites play an important role in conservation and local livelihoods. Here we examine how Iban hunters and animals alike use sacred forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. To determine the relative importance of different sites in hunting, we compare hunting effort, animal species and their numbers encountered by hunters, and encounters and captures in a variety of forest sites including sacred groves. We relate the results to the role of such sites in the overall Iban agroforestry system and in the conservation of forest habitat that professional conservationists deem precious. Such land use practices, while having social and religious origins, may be important for local economic purposes, but they may also be valuable in promoting and enhancing the more global goals of biodiversity conservation.

Does Integration to the Market Threaten Agricultural Diversity? Panel and Cross-Sectional Data From a Horticultural-Foraging Society in the Bolivian Amazon

Abstract: Trade theory predicts that the expansion of markets induces households to specialize and intensify production. We use plot-level data (n = 64) from a panel study of 2 village and cross-sectional data from 511 households in 59 villages of Tsimane’ Amerindians (Bolivia) to test the predictions. Results of bivariate analyses using both data sets suggest that as households integrate into the market economy they: (1) deforest more, (2) expand the area under rice cultivation, the principal cash crop, (3) sell more rice, and (4) intensify production by replanting more and by replanting newly cleared plots with maize, another cash crop. Results mesh with predictions about production specialization and intensification of trade theory. The analysis also produced results running counter to predictions from trade theory. For example, households and villages more integrated into the market planted more cassava and rice varieties, intercropped more, and put more crops in new fields than more autarkic households. Although the expansion of markets induces specialization and intensification in selected cash crops, it does not erase completely agricultural diversity. We hypothesize that despite the expansion of markets, households retain agricultural diversity because the market does not yet provide modern forms of self-insurance or well-functioning labor, credit, and product markets that would allow households to protect food consumption when faced with shocks. Without better insurance mechanisms, some agricultural diversity might still allow households to smooth consumption.

Farmers perspectives on the role of shade trees in coffee production systems: an assessment from the Nicoya Peninsula Costa Rica.

Abstract: Interest in shade-grown coffee is now increasing because of declining coffee prices in the world market and an increasing trend toward “green consumerism.” It is therefore important to understand farmers' perception of the role of shade trees in coffee fields, an area that has not received deserving attention in research agendas. On the basis of detailed interviews involving both “open-ended” and “closed” questions with 83 small-scale coffee farmers in the Peninsula of Nicoya, Costa Rica, we found that characteristics that farmers considered important were mostly comparable to those stated in the literature. But some differences were also noted; examples included tree height (considered important by farmers, but not in literature) and leaf size (mentioned in literature, but not by farmers). Some tree species that were not considered beneficial as coffee shade trees were still retained in the fields because of the additional benefits they provided. Eighty-eight percent of farmers were interested in incorporating more trees, especially fruit trees, into their coffee plantations. The results of the study underscore the need for research on the little-studied area of interaction between coffee plants and fruit trees.

Families and Firewood: A Comparative Analysis of the Costs and Benefits of Children in Firewood Collection and Use in Two Rural Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: Domestic firewood collection is compared across study sites in Malawi and Tanzania. The study focuses on accommodation of infant-care within wood collection, the influence of family size on firewood demand and the contribution of girls to firewood collection. Malawian women carry their infants on wood collection trips. The Tanzanian women leave their infants behind. The shorter trips of the Tanzanian women, and the ready availability of alloparental care may facilitate this. Mean per capita wood consumption was similar across the two sites. However, a marked economy of scale was evident in wood use at the Malawi site. Girls at both sites assist with wood collection. Their contribution appears more than sufficient to compensate for their own wood use. Having a daughter therefore need not represent a net energetic cost to a woman in terms of firewood acquisition and consumption. While family size and structure appear to influence firewood consumption and acquisition, differences in the environment between the two sites may underpin much of the variation. The longer journey times, heavier load, and less frequent journeys undertaken by Malawian women may reflect the steep terrain and risks associated with firewood collection within a national park.

Neighbor Trees: Shade, Intercropping, and Cacao in Ecuador

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that shade trees in cacao and coffee are important habitats for inter-American migratory birds. A survey of 21 cacao farmers along the northern, central, and southern Pacific Coast of Ecuador found that shade trees are associated with unirrigated, traditional cacao varieties and low levels of chemical inputs. Farmers stressed the importance of shade for managing soil moisture and soil fertility, and for managing some weeds and diseases. Most of the shade trees were not wild forest trees, but had been planted and protected by the farm families. Many other trees are intercropped with cacao for economic reasons, not related to shade. Chocolate manufacturers, consumers, and environmental activists can encourage farmers to maintain shade canopies by paying a premium for the traditional, shade-loving, highquality aromatic cocoa varieties.

Land Use Patterns in the Brazilian Amazon: Comparative Farm-Level Evidence from Rondônia

Abstract: Since the 1970s the Brazilian Amazon has received over 1 million migrant farm households from other regions of the country, many of whom were attracted to government-sponsored frontier settlement programs that offered free tropical forest land. As a result, pressures on tropical forests have intensified along several settlement corridors throughout the region. Despite their importance as agents of landscape change, surprisingly little is known about the land use practices of these farmers. This paper briefly reviews the research literature on smallholder land use patterns in Amazonia, describes the recent history of one important agricultural land settlement program in the western Brazilian Amazon state of Rondonia, and, based on 240 household surveys conducted in three separate settlement locations in the state, highlights key differences in land use patterns among the rural population. Typologies of farming systems are presented on the basis of cluster analysis of land use data and ANOVA tests. The findings indicate considerable complexity and heterogeneity in smallholder farming systems. Spatial variations in farming system types may be due to geographic differences in soil regimes, the social histories of specific communities, and site-specific responses to exogenous variables.

Pastoral Sedentarization and Its Effects on Children’s Diet, Health, and Growth Among Rendille of Northern Kenya

Abstract: Throughout the arid regions of Africa formerly mobile pastoral populations are becoming sedentary. Although pastoral sedentarization is encouraged by international development agencies and national governments as solutions to food insecurity, poor health care, and problems of governance, it has not been demonstrated that abandoning the pastoral way of life, and particularly children’s access to milk and other livestock products, is beneficial to the health and well-being of pastoral populations. This paper reports the results of a 3-year study of one pastoral and four settled Rendille communities of northern Kenya based on data from 17 repeated bimonthly surveys of childhood dietary, growth, and morbidity patterns and household level economic strata. Bivariate analysis of 5,535 measurements from 488 children from birth to 9 years revealed that age-specific height and weight measurements for the pastoral community are uniformly heavier and taller than children from the sedentary villages. Multivariate analysis using Generalized Estimating Equations methodology showed that the amount of milk consumed was always a statistically significant determinant of child weight and height growth, regardless of drought or non-drought times and breastfeeding status. Other significant determinants of child growth include morbidity and poverty, both associated with sedentary communities. These results indicate that international development assistance should not neglect improvements in livestock production and support of pastoral movements in Africa’s arid lands.

Participation in a Gendered Environment: The Case of Community Forestry in India

Abstract: Women are important stakeholders in natural resource policies since rural women in developing countries are responsible for most of the collection of food, fuel, and firewood for commercial and domestic use. When it comes to the management of these natural resources, gender inequality due to societal traditions could limit the ability of women to participate in policy-making, even when they are not formally excluded. This paper analyzes the effect of gender stratification on women's participation by undertaking an empirical study of a participatory environmental policy program in Indian villages. It endeavors to answer the question of how gender stratification affects participatory environmental policy-making. Using the case study of a community forestry program, it finds that women are still marginalized in decision-making, even in participatory environmental policies. Gender stratification continues to impinge upon forms of democratic decision-making in developing societies. Using facilitating policy tools that seek to empower such marginalized groups would be one way of making participation meaningful for all groups in society.

The human ecology of world systems in East Africa: the impact of the ivory trade.

Abstract: The impact on human ecology of the ivory trade entailed direct and indirect effects. First, the reduction or extermination of elephant populations had direct effects on the vegetation patterns over large areas. Second, the economic activities connected with hunting, transport, and trading affected regional systems of exchange and thereby, indirectly through the political economy, settlements, patterns of resource utilization, population parameters, and specialization of production. Ethnohistorical information from the 1800s suggests how coastal goods interacted with regional systems of exchange and environmental exploitation. Although such information cannot be directly projected onto the more distant past, it can be used to establish some possible pathways through which the hunting of elephants and transportation and trade of ivory could have affected the ecology of human resource use.

Food, Money, and Morals: Compliance Among Natural Resource Harvesters

Abstract: A comparative qualitative study of Norwegian and Newfoundland inshore fisheries revealed that compliance with the state’s fisheries regulations was governed by a set of moral distinctions which were strikingly similar in the two cases. Violations of government regulations were followed by informal sanctions only in commercial fisheries. Illegal food fishery was generally accepted. A fisherman could also break the law in commercial fisheries without being met with significant sanctions provided that it was generally perceived to be the only way to ensure a necessary outcome. The empirical findings are connected to the moral meanings of money and food, and it is suggested that the economies of natural resource harvesters include two different moral spheres. One of these spheres is linked to subsistence, small-scale operations and local exchange, and is perceived as morally safe. The other sphere is connected with money, large-scale operations, and exchange with strangers, and is seen as morally perilous.

Land Use and Cover Change as an Indicator of Transformation on Recently Redistributed Farms in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract: This paper assesses the impact of South Africa's land reform program on land use change in rural areas of Limpopo Province. Land use change was examined on five Communal Property Associations using remotely sensed images and quantitative and qualitative survey techniques. Land was abandoned or used less productively after redistribution. The primary reason for the lack of land use change to more productive states was that the land redistribution policy was not sufficiently sensitive to the diversity of rural livelihoods. Other reasons include farm-level general disorganization, lack of capital and labor, gender inequities, and age distribution. Regional political diseconomies also hindered change, namely poor tenure relations and a persistent urban bias.

Do Markets Worsen Economic Inequalities? Kuznets in the Bush

Abstract: Integration into a market economy or economic development can erode the quality of life of indigenous people by, for example, increasing income inequalities. The Kuznets hypothesis predicts that the link between income inequality and income (a proxy for economic development) resembles an inverted U. We test the hypothesis using a survey of 511 households from 59 villages of Tsimane' Amerindians, a horticultural-foraging society in the tropical rain forest of Bolivia. We measure village inequalities of three economic outcomes: income, imputed annual value of rice production, and wealth. We used three indices of inequality: the coefficient of variation, the standard deviation of the logarithm, and the Gini coefficient. Explanatory variables include either income and income squared, wealth and wealth squared, or imputed annual rice production and production squared. We used village-to-town distance as a control. We find little evidence that integration to the market increases inequalities of economic outcomes, with two exceptions: Wealth bore the predicted inverted U-shaped relation with wealth inequalities, and imputed rice production bore a U-shaped relation to inequality, but only when (a) using adult equivalents to express household size and (b) the Gini coefficient and the coefficient of variation to measure inequality; in no case were results robust to different econometric specifications. We advance several explanations for why economic development might not accentuate economic inequalities among relatively autarkic rural economies.

An Interactive Model of Human and Companion Animal Dynamics: The Ecology and Economics of Dog Overpopulation and the Human Costs of Addressing the Problem

Abstract: Companion animal overpopulation is a problem of human creation with significant human costs that can only be addressed through human action. A model was constructed to understand the dynamics of canine overpopulation and the effectiveness of various policy options for reducing euthanasia. The model includes economic and ecological factors in human and dog populations. According to the model, a “no-kill” society is an achievable goal at an acceptable human cost. Spay/neuter programs were generally found to be the most effective, with increasing adoptions also being an effective option. However, spay/neuter policies need to be evaluated over a very long time horizon since full impact may not be achieved for 30 years or more. Spay/neuter efforts can have a large impact even if they only effect a small portion of the human population. Adoption and spay/neuter programs were found to work well in combination, and to continue being effective as society approaches “no-kill” dynamics.

Common Property and Conservation: The Potential for Effective Communal Forest Management Within a National Park in Mexico

Abstract: Common property regimes may contribute to environmental conservationand offer a complementary institutional model to state-run protected areas. The potential conservation value of common property management is of particular significance in Mexico, where a large majority of forests are held communally. Systems of common property management often exist in a context of close institutional overlap with state institutions. This project assessed the function of a common property regime nested within Lagunas de Montebello National Park (PNLM) in Chiapas, Mexico. We documented forest status and analyzed common property forest management institutions following severe fires that threatened forest conservation. Forests managed by the common property regime are less intact than federal forests, yet still moderately conserved, and many attributes necessary for common property management are functional, despite the recent fire crisis. Yet external authorities contest common property management by local institutions, resulting in limited joint management by the national park and the community. Formalization and expansion of de facto cooperation between the federal and community institutions may enhance forest conservation within PNLM.

A Witness Tree Analysis of the Effects of Native American Indians on the Pre-European Settlement Forests in East-Central Alabama

Abstract: Witness tree data from the southeastern United States (lat 33°30' N, long 86°30' W) were analyzed using catchment and distance analysis to quantify the effects of Native American settlement on the composition of forest trees. Thirty Creek Indian villages comprising 18 settlement catchments were included in the sample, which is the largest Native American–forest interaction study using witness trees to date. Lower frequencies of Pinus spp. were observed within village catchments of the Coastal Plain and Ridge and Valley. Elevated frequencies of early succession species were observed surrounding 2 km village catchments. Distance analysis at two relatively isolated towns showed that Pinus increases in frequency beyond 2000 m from villages while Carya had the opposite result. Field and fruit species were more frequent within 6000 m of villages and then dropped off in frequency. Fire-sensitive tree species appear to be in a spatially cyclical pattern.

Institutional Development in the Face of Complexity: Developing Rules for Managing Forest Resources

Abstract: The ability to develop institutions is constrained by human capacity to cope with complexity. But complexity is multidimensional and it is not clear which forms of complexity present the greatest challenges for institutional development. In the context of natural resources, the predictability of resource availability affects expectations that an individual or group will be able to capture the benefits of management. In addition, incomplete understanding of cause-and-effect relationships creates uncertainty about the consequences of alternative management options. These features influence calculations about resource management. The importance of resource complexity relative to various social, political, and institutional factors known to influence collective choice remains an open question. We evaluate the relative importance of several forms of resource complexity and characteristics of resource users for the development of rules for management for forest products in Indiana.

Contributions of Fire Use Study to Land Use/Cover Change Frameworks: Understanding Landscape Change in Agricultural Frontiers

Abstract: The impact of fire use and hazard in frontier settlement is a critical environmental concern that has been historically overshadowed by deforestation issues- and thus underexamined at local and regional scales by social scientists. Consequently, conceptual frameworks of LUCC change consider fire use as an outcome of land use decisions and neglect the capacity of burning choices to influence these decisions and subsequent land cover change. This paper examines the relationship of settlement, land use, and fire use. It considers recent LUCC frameworks, and then uses household surveys on fire use practices to discuss how the study of fire use can contribute to understanding frontier landscape change. Planting decisions, settlement history, location desires, and burning logistics work in combination to influence burning choices and thus LUCC.

Summer Cattle Transhumance and Wild Edible Plant Gathering in a Mapuche Community of Northwestern Patagonia

Abstract: Cattle transhumance has been practiced since colonial times in Mapuche communities of northwestern Patagonia, which travelled seasonally along the Andean valleys from arid lands towards temperate forests. In this study, we analyzed how this migratory practice affects the abundance and variety of wild edible plants utilized by the Mapuche community of Paineo. Patterns of use for those who practice transhumance were compared with those who do not utilizing ecological variables. Gender and age were also evaluated. The Paineo people collect wild plants in 3 different gathering sites: the A. araucana forest, the “Travesia,” and their dwelling surroundings. However, those who practice summer transhumance utilize a more diverse variety and a tan greater quantity of wild edible forest plants than those who do not. Moreover, the nutritional value of plants collected by transhumants is greater than those used by non-transhumants. Men practice summer cattle transhumance in a greater proportion than do women and consume significantly more wild edible plants. In contrast, plants from their dwellings and from the Travesia are used in a similar way by both sexes. It was observed that the elderly do not presently participate in transhumance. Our results illustrate a change in wild plant knowledge influenced by the transformation of the summer transhumance pattern.

An Evaluation of Hunter Self-Monitoring in the Bolivian Chaco

Abstract: Community wildlife management is being tested across the tropics as a means of promoting the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources. Key to successful programs is the effective participation of local hunters and communities in monitoring, planning, decision-making and implementation. We evaluate one method to achieve this participation, namely hunter self-monitoring. Between 1997 and 2000, Izoceno hunters from 22 communities in the Bolivian Chaco have voluntarily participated in monitoring their hunting activities, measuring and recording data on captured animals and hunting methods in personal notebooks. Despite the lack of remuneration, participation exceeds 60% of active hunters. However, the written information and specimens provided are not complete, and are biased according to hunting methods and prey characteristics. Complementary research is essential to answer specific research questions. Nevertheless, hunter self-monitoring serves to raise awareness of wildlife management issues at the communal or indigenous territory level, as evidenced by preliminary actions taken by hunters and communities in the Izozog.

Access to Land and Water in the Zamfara Reserve. A Case Study for the Management of Common Property Resources in Pastoral Areas of West Africa

Abstract: In this paper, the link between traditional rights of access to land and water and present day practices is established and illustrated. Data collected during various studies in the Zamfara Forest Reserve, northwest Nigeria, provided information on the different resources utilized (land, pastures, water) and the views and practices of different user-groups and stakeholders. The findings are discussed with a view to improving existing common property resource management (CPRM) in the area.

Implications of Fire Policy on Native Land Use in the Yukon Flats, Alaska

Abstract: Through a process of participatory mapping, this research assessed the impacts of the 1984 change in Alaska fire policy from one of exclusion to one of management on Native land use in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Findings suggest that while the change in policy has had little measurable effect on community land use the continued suppression of fire on Native owned lands is having a direct impact on the current availability of wildlife resources to the point of necessitating territorial expansion among Native resource users. However, given the complexity of human nature, the impacts associated with the 1984 policy change should not be reduced to a simplistic cause-and-effect relationship. Rather this analysis demonstrates the interaction as well as the contradiction that occur between policy, culture, and ecology as these factors together have come to influence Native land use.

Ecological Praxis and Blackwater Ecosystems: A Case Study From the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract: This article explores how anthropogenic modifications of soil condition human adaptive processes on the Amazonian uplands. The occurrence of black earth (a nutrient-rich anthrosol) in nutrient-poor blackwater environments and its cultivation by contemporary residents provide a unique opportunity for understanding the ecological praxis of Amazonian groups. Two years of ethnographic, ethnoscientific, and agronomic research among caboclo residents of the Lower Rio Negro and Rio Urubu confirm that unique cognitive and behavioral orientations characterize black earth and adjacent environments. When compared with cognitive and behavioral orientations to these two environments in distant blackwater regions, data suggest that political-economic, technological, cultural, and ecological factors have had~a strong influence on the trajectory of human-environmental interactions. Data in large part illustrate the utility of historical ecological models, yet point to an interactive role of diverse histories in shaping the range of human responses.

A Place of Their Own: Children and the Physical Environment

Abstract: Whether or not it takes a village to raise a child, it is certain that communities shape a child's development. Lorraine Maxwell, associate professor of design and environmental analysis, studies the relationship between the physical environment and a child's self-identity, self-esteem, and academic performance. She believes that children are socialized as much by their physical environments as they are by the people in their lives. ********** "We know something about the type of places children prefer, but we don't know a great deal about specific physical characteristics of these places and what they mean to children," Maxwell explains. "We also don't know much--from a child's perspective--about the physical characteristics of children's everyday environments." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Although she also studies adolescents, Maxwell's primary interests are young children because, she says, they are potentially so much more at risk and they have less of a voice in the adult world. She believes that if children are given the right start, fewer developmental problems will develop later on. Her particular foci are primary environments, which she defines as settings where a person spends a great deal of time and establishes important relationships. For children, the home and school or day care are primary environments. "These settings are especially critical," says Maxwell. "When there is a source of stress--such as chronic noise or crowding--in a primary environment, it is more likely to have negative effects on the individual than if it happened in a transitory, or secondary, environment, such as a bus or stadium." Maxwell agrees with Urie Bronfenbrenner, professor emeritus of human development, who postulated the theory that primary environments do not function independently of each other; rather, they form a collaborative network of experiences. This collaborative network of primary environment experiences, Maxwell believes, supports or inhibits a child's social development and sense of self. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Child development doesn't happen in one place," she explains. "It happens in every place children are. Everything contributes to children's development. I want to know how children understand their day-to-day physical world and how this understanding influences the development of self-concept." To learn about children's physical environments from the perspective of children, in 2002 and 2003 Maxwell and a research assistant interviewed 45 elementary and middle school children between the ages of 8 and 13. They asked what the children liked and disliked about their homes, neighbor-hoods, and schools. Most of the interviews were conducted one-on-one at the child's school, home, or church. Interviews were tape-recorded and detailed in field notes. To establish a rapport, the interviewers first asked the children general questions about their birth dates, ages, and grades in school. They were questioned about their home life and asked to provide physical descriptions of their homes, followed by similar requests regarding their neighborhoods and schools. Open-ended questions were used to encourage individualized responses and to learn what each child considered important about these environments. "We acquired a better understanding of the things that contribute to children's sense of who they are, and some of them are not surprising--for example, they value a place of their own," notes Maxwell. "Children would say, 'My desk is my favorite place in my house because it's the only place where I can do anything I want.' Or they might describe going into a closet because they can be by themselves and play with their dolls there. Privacy and a sense that they can control what happens are important to children. Children's ability to negotiate their own neighborhoods is critical." Living in a safe neighborhood, being able to cross the street without adult assistance, and having facilities such as stores, movie theaters, and playgrounds to visit--these opportunities help a child of nine or ten develop a sense of self and a sense of confidence about the environment. …

Chronicle of a Foreseeable Tragedy: Birds' Nests Management in the Niah Caves (Sarawak)

Abstract: The number of birds' nests harvested in the Niah cave today is only a fraction of what it used to be. This article focuses on the socioeconomic causes of the decline. It argues that the present situation is not directly linked to the tragedy of the commons, since the ownership of cave and nests is private. The tragic aspect is, rather, linked to an attitude of free riding which was threatening the private system of ownership in the 1980s, and which forced Penan owners to lease their caves to the former “free riders” (thereby diluting management responsibility), and to harvest nests as soon as possible (before the birds can lay eggs and reproduce). It is therefore the tragedy of a management system whose rules, intended to avoid open access and free riding, lead to unsustainable behavior. Since the birds cannot be privatized, it is also the tragedy of a system in which actors are unable to reach a consensus on how to manage sustainably a de facto common property resource.

Human prenatal investment affected by maternal age and parity.

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of mother's age and parity on the prenatal allocation of resources in sons and daughters using a sample of 6994 in 20- to 34-year-old mothers from Granada (Spain). This study tests the Trivers–Willard allocation model, which predicts that, depending on the mother's condition, there can be a bias from 50/50 expected investment in the sexes. The results show that mothers of 25–29 age class produce relatively heavier sons compared to younger mothers, suggesting a bias in the allocation of resources before birth favoring neonate boys. This extra investment in boys appears to be related more to the mother's age than to her parity. Offspring of multiparous mothers had shorter gestation length, but multiparous mothers of the 25–29 age class had boys with a longer gestation than the younger ones. The 25–29 age class mothers are in the peak of fertility and they are presumably in better condition than the other mothers in the study sample. The results suggest that Granada women performed a sex-biased prenatal investment favoring sons by prolonging the gestation period. An index of boys' extra birth weight is proposed as a suitable variable to measure the maternal prenatal investment.

Weeding Out Failed Practices: A Case Study of Community Gardens in Rural Mali

Abstract: The World Bank estimates that 78% of economically active women in Mali are engaged in agricultural activities. Consequently women are challenged as much as men by recent changes that have resulted in diminished agricultural yield. Importantly this situation has increased male migration to urban centers to find alternative work making women’s roles in production essential to household and community survival. Attempting to ensure food sufficiency women supplement family earnings through small-scale income-generating activities such as the production of charcoal the processing of shea butter and market gardening. In his study on Mali Becker (2000) found that revenue from own-account activities including gardening are essential to food security and most critical for women whose access to labor and insecure land tenure were most volatile. The failure of large-scale agricultural interventions has also prompted scholars to propose alternative strategies for enhancing food security including small-scale gardens. Several facets of community gardening such as the relatively low start-up cost adaptability to harsh conditions and the capacity for fostering sound environmental practices have been the basis for its support by NGOs worldwide. Unlike subsistence farming which is relatively more labor intensive gardening activities can coincide with women’s daily tasks. Some scholars further argue that gardening is a “food-based” strategy that can empower women because it relies on existing practices and on their responsibility as caregivers. (excerpt)

Sayil Revisited: Inferring Terminal Classic Population Size and Dynamics in the West-Central Yucatán Peninsula

Abstract: Research at the site of Sayil in the Yucatan Peninsula has provided a valuable database for making inferences about the Terminal Classic (A.D. 750–1000) occupation of the Puuc region. This article evaluates and modifies previous demographic estimates for the site and considers the long-term implications associated with supporting this many people. Although a relatively high level of population was possible because of the excellent soils in the region, their natural fertility could not have been sustained indefinitely. The apparent demographic load on the proposed Sayil system would have required an intensive cropping strategy that may not have been sustainable for more than 75 years. This conclusion not only indicates how long the principal occupation of Sayil may have lasted, but more importantly, how the occupational dynamics during the Terminal Classic may have played out in the greater Puuc region.