Tesi sul tema "Indigenous peoples – ecology – florida"

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 356-380). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p3018402.

Thesis (B.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009.
Project advisor: William Preston. Title from PDF title page; viewed on Jan. 14, 2010. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on microfiche.

Current processes of deforestation and development in the Amazon Basin continue historical trends that have devastated indigenous populations and drastically reduced their land rights. While protection of the Amazon ecosystem has become a worldwide concern, many indigenous and folk groups employ forest management strategies that utilize natural resources without causing permanent degradation. This paper considers historical, political and socioeconomic circumstances that threaten the survival of indigenous groups and their sustainable forms of forest use. The paper argues that discrepant cultural models and attitudes contribute to the differences in land use between traditional Amazon residents and newcomers. The problems and possibilities entailed by efforts to protect traditional land rights are also discussed.

This dissertation is aimed at analyzing how ethnic hierarchies question the environmentalization of indigeneity, which is the foundation of the Colombian state's multicultural policy. In particular, the dissertation develops a comparative ethnographic approach to the way in which the "multicultural turn" of 1991 impacted three indigenous communities located at San José del Guaviare, a colonization frontier in the Colombian Amazon: the Nükak, the Jiw and the Tucano. Against the assumption of multicultural policy that indigenous communities form a vast mass of people radically diferent from mainstream (even portrayed as anti-modern), in San José there is an unequal distribution of the Nükak, Jiw and Tucano in different positions inside local ethnic hierarchies. For some, Nükak incarnate what Hale (2004) label as a "good ethnicity", that serves to promote Guaviare as an eco-touristic destination, the Jiw are a "bad ethnicity" that annoys White people in San José, while the Tucano are portrayed as "civilized Indians". Thus, the dissertation states how these ethnic hierarchies contradict some of the core assumptions of multicultural policies that are based on an essentialized understanding of indigenous peoples as "ecologically noble savages." The dissertation argues that the analysis of contemporary experiences on indigeneity in an Amazonian context such as San José, could be better understood if it observes a set of processes and actors including: the historical transformation of senses on otherness, the production of forests as a field of domain under state regulations, the economic crossroads affecting indigenous peoples on their "resguardos" (indigenous lands) and the intervention of state laws, NGOs, indigenous political organizations, settlers, foreign governments and state officials. The analysis of such a variety of processes and actors shaping contemporary experiences on indigeneity in the Colombian Amazon follows the environmentality approach (Agrawal, 2005). From that perspective, I discuss the following ideas: a) indigenous resguardos were designed as governmentalized localities in multicultural policy to regulate and control how indigenous peoples manage natural resources; b) those communities portrayed as followers of the ecological nobility script act as regulatory communities; c) the technologies for governing the ecological realm do not necessarily assure the formation of environmental subjectivities.

Discourse characterising climate change has largely revolved around aspects within the realm of impact identification, mitigation and adaptation. Apparently, a burgeoning appetite to examine the role of indigenous knowledge (IK) now confronts the fronts of climate science, policy and practice. The surge in attention to localbased knowledge is attributed to growing challenges posed by change and variability in the climate system. This study argues that indigenous-based knowledge is capable of filling knowledge gaps and validating current understanding about climate change particularly at local levels. Essentially, the paucity of knowledge about local climatic events can be circumvented by engaging indigenous ‘scientists’ whose many years of direct contact with the environment have equipped them with the indispensable knowledge, skills and experiences to understand the same. Primarily, the thesis’ objectives were threefold. One, it captured useful indicators of climate change and variability from the understanding of the indigenous people, which can also be used to enhance understanding of climate change impacts.Two, it drew from the knowledge, experiences, skills and practices of the locals in order to inform appropriate community level mitigation and adaptation interventions. And, three, it highlighted the fact that knowledge of the indigenous people can be used to direct research on climate change. The study area (Muzarabani in Zimbabwe) experiences recurrent droughts and floods and its villagers rely predominantly on climate-sensitive livelihoods. As such, it was selected to provide a reliable case on IK practices and experiences of the people witnessing climatic events. The study was framed within an epistemological and methodological configuration of emancipatory pedagogy that looks at the generators of climate knowledge as ‘scientists’ in their own right. A qualitative elicitation interviewing technique involving in-depth discussions with traditional leaders and elderly knowledgeable citizens was conducted. The participants were selected through chain referrals until the level of theoretical saturation. In addition, directed field observations, document analysis and key informant interviews with other respondents selected through theoretical sampling enhanced the robustness of data acquisition methods. Group-based participatory data analysis and reflexive pragmatism also enhanced rigour and quality of research findings intended to balance between the strictures of the scientific audience and the views of the knowledge generators. Three key themes were derived from IK-climate change linkages as: indigenous based indicators of climate change, indigenous-based mitigation and indigenous based adaptation. A range of indigenous-based indicators identified pointed to a progressively drier climate with shorter growing seasons that are also punctuated by mid-season dry spells. A trend towards increased desiccation of water bodies (rivers, ponds and vleis) was further observed. There is also an upsurge in the abundance and pestiferous nature of Macrotermes spp, Quelea quelea and Acanthoplus discoidalis, which are most likely related to climate change. Some of these indicators closely match with those used in mainstream climate science and they also serve to understand climate change impacts at a finer local level of analysis. Indigenous-based mitigation is mainly driven by the notion of sacredness where the locals regard forestry, certain trees and vleis as sacrosanct. Tampering with these is believed to upset the spirits who have powers to influence climate. Opportunities associated with IK deployment in climate mitigation are understood from the viewpoint of enhancing greenhouse gas (GHG) sinks and that of reducing vulnerability to extreme climatic events. Specifically, this can be achieved through enhancing GHG sequestration through forestry and land-use management initiatives; that is, reducing emissions from deforestation and forestry related degradation (REDD+) and Land Use and Land-Use Cover and Forestry (LULUCF). These two are the dominant schemes adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to govern climate mitigation. Indigenous disaster risk management (DRM) strategies abound in drought, famine, flood and violent storms through various forms such as Zunde raMambo, nhimbe, rain-making ceremonies and community early warning systems (EWS).The locals in Muzarabani are not passive observers of the changing climate system. Increasing environmental risks necessitates them to devise countermeasures for responding to climatic stimuli with the intention of minimising harm and/or enhancing the benefits brought about by the same. Thus, a portfolio of IK-based adaptation strategies best described as an assortment of short-term coping practices and longterm adaptive strategies were identified. These range from exploitation of ecosystem services, agricultural based interventions, riverine farming, traditional phonological knowledge (TPK) to migration. Therefore, it was revealed that community-based adaptation (CBA) can adequately leverage on IK to improve adaptive capacity and build community resilience against climate change. Clearly, the complementary role of indigenous-based knowledge cannot be disputed, given the demonstrated range of applications from identifying several indicators of change and variability in the climate system, examination of climate change impacts, to identification and assessment of mitigation and adaptation options. The study advises that exogenous climate interventions need to be congruent with indigenous based strategies to avoid maladaptation. To the climate research community therefore, it should be realised that IK is useful both as leads and as baseline knowledge for future work on the impacts of climate change, and in the assessment of climate interventions. In this regard, the remaining challenge is to formulate a framework of constructive dialogue between indigenous scientists and conventional scientists so as to make sure that the mutual benefits of the two knowledge forms are adequately harnessed. Handled well, such collaborative effort would ensure enhanced climate change knowledge for successful mitigation and adaptation strategies. Handled poorly, there is a risk that the developmental needs of communities exposed to climatic events would not be addressed.

Capital investment in natural resource extraction has fuelled an unprecedented rush to secure hydrocarbon and mining concessions and contracts throughout the Andes-Amazon-Chaco region leading to increased tensions and conflict with lowland indigenous groups residing in the areas that contain subsoil resources. This thesis explores resource extraction and conflict through an ethnography of state-society interactions over proposed hydrocarbon extraction in Bolivia. It asks, how does a “post-neoliberal state” combine commitments to indigenous people, the environment and the redistributive development of natural resource wealth, and how do social movements and other actors respond? In answering this question, the thesis examines how hydrocarbon expansion has affected the country’s most important gas producing region (the Department of Tarija), indigenous Guaraní society and indigenous Weenhayek society, both in their internal relationships and in their historically uneasy negotiations with the central state. By paying particular attention to the Guaraní and Weenhayek it also asks how far a national “government of social movements” has favoured or not the concerns and political projects of indigenous groups that are generally not well represented in the social movements that undergird this new state. In this vein, this research seeks to shed light on a series of contradictions and incongruities that characterise extractive-led economies with an end to contributing to debates about the possibility of combining more socially and environmentally sound modes of production, new forms of democracy, self governance and popular participation.

This dissertation examines the shifting and multi-scalar governance of oil and gas projects in Peruvian Amazon. Using cases studies of oil extraction in blocks 1AB (192), 8 in Loreto (2006 to 2015), and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for the expansion of the Camisea gas project in block 88 in Cusco, this dissertation explores how environmental decision-making processes of oil and gas projects are structured and enacted. In doing so, this study sheds light on the shifting interactions, negotiations, struggles and (at times) open conflicts between actors that define why, how and where hydrocarbon projects take place in the Amazon. Recognizing the variety of actors, I organize my analysis around government institutions, indigenous mobilizations, environmental assessments and the economic distribution of revenues from oil and gas projects. From my analysis I argue that resource extraction is changing substantially the relationship between the government and the indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon. These changes involve profound changes in indigenous rights and the creation of new institutions and capacities in the state to address the social-environmental effects of extractive industries. The surge of social-environmental conflicts and the influence of international finance institutions have prompted the Peruvian government to reform the institutional framework regulating resource extraction. This reforms are taking place amid the globalization of indigenous rights, discourses, and laws (such as the Prior Consultation Law) granting special rights to indigenous peoples. However, power-knowledge asymmetries in the decision-making processes (such as the environmental assessments) tend to increase the sense of mistrust among the local populations, resulting in increasing social-environmental conflicts. In addition, the uneven distribution of benefits from resource extraction is creating regional disparities, increasing the dependency of some regions on resource extraction. An examination of the implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment process for the expansion of the Camisea project in block 88 exposes unresolved practices of representation and citizenship of the indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. However, overall, Amazonian indigenous people’s struggles are shifting the traditional national, social, and political life. They are ethnic minorities and citizens struggling for their rights to participate in decision-making processes and in the distribution of economic benefits from extraction, both particularity and equality.

Extensive research suggests that the collective behavior of humanity is on an unsustainable path. As the evidence mounts and more people awaken to this reality, increased attention is being dedicated to the pursuit of answers for a just and sustainable future. This dissertation grew from the premise that effectively moving towards sustainability requires change at all levels of the dominant Western culture, including deeply held worldviews. The worldviews of many indigenous cultures offer alternative values and beliefs that can contribute to addressing the root causes of problems related to sustainability. In the bioregion defined by the Pacific Salmon runs of North America there is a rich heritage and modern day presence of diverse indigenous cultures. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 indigenous leaders from within this bioregion to explore their mental models of sustainability. These interviews followed a general structure that covered: (a) the personal background and community affiliation of each interviewee; (b) the meaning of the concept of sustainability from their perspective; (c) visions of a sustainable future for their communities; and, (d) how to achieve such a future. A content analysis of the interviews was conducted and summarized into a narrative organized to correspond with the general interview structure. A process oftestimonial validity established that most participants found the narrative to be an accurate representation of their perspectives. Participant feedback led to several phrasing changes and other identified issues are discussed, including one participant's critique of the narrative's use of a first-person plural voice. Major themes from the interviews include the role of the human being as caretaker actively participating in the web of life, the importance of simultaneously restoring culture and ecology due to their interdependence, the need to educate and build awareness, and the importance of cooperation. Understanding who we are as a living species, including our profound connection with nature, along with a holistic and intergenerational perspective are suggested as prerequisite for balancing and aligning human modes of being with the larger patterns of life. The closing discussion addresses the importance of social action and going beyond a conceptual understanding to an embodiment of sustainability.

Background Indigenous peoples with traditional lifestyles worldwide are considered particularly vulnerable to climate change effects. Large climate change impacts on the spread of infectious vector-borne diseases are expected as a health outcome. The most rapid climate changes are occurring in the Arctic regions, and as a part of this region northernmost Sweden might experience early effects. In this thesis, climate change effects on the lives of Sami reindeer herders are described and 30 years of weather changes are quantified. Epidemiology of the climate sensitive human infection tularemia is assessed, baseline serologic prevalence of tularemia is investigated and the disease burden is quantified across inhabitants in the region. Methods Perceptions and experiences of climate change effects among the indigenous Sami reindeer herders of northern Sweden were investigated through qualitative analyses of fourteen interviews. The results were then combined with instrumental weather data from ten meteorological stations in a mixed-methods design to further illustrate climate change effects in this region. In two following studies, tularemia ecology and epidemiology were investigated. A total of 4,792 reported cases of tularemia between 1984 and 2012 were analysed and correlated to ecological regions and presence of inland water using geographical mapping. The status of tularemia in the Swedish Arctic region was further investigated through risk factor analyses of a 2012 regional outbreak and a cross-sectional serological survey to estimate the burden of disease including unreported cases. Results The reindeer herders described how the winters of northern Sweden have changed since the 1970s – warmer winters with shorter snow season and cold periods, and earlier spring. The adverse effects on the reindeer herders through the obstruction of their work, the stress induced and the threat to their lifestyle was demonstrated, forcing the reindeer herders towards the limit of resilience. Weather data supported the observations of winter changes; some stations displayed a more than two full months shorter snow cover season and winter temperatures increased significantly, most pronounced in the lowest temperatures. During the same time period a near tenfold increase in national incidence of tularemia was observed in Sweden (from 0.26 to 2.47/100,000 p<0.001) with a clear overrepresentation of cases in the north versus the south (4.52 vs. 0.56/100,000 p<0.001). The incidence was positively correlated with the presence of inland water (p<0.001) and higher than expected in the alpine and boreal ecologic regions (p<0.001). In the outbreak investigation a dose-response relationship to water was identified; distance from residence to water – less than 100 m, mOR 2.86 (95% CI 1.79–4.57) and 100 to 500 m, mOR 1.63 (95% CI 1.08–2.46). The prevalence of tularemia antibodies in the two northernmost counties was 2.9% corresponding to a 16 times higher number of cases than reported indicating that the reported numbers represent only a minute fraction of the true tularemia. Conclusions The extensive winter changes pose a threat to reindeer herding in this region. Tularemia is increasing in Sweden, it has a strong correlation to water and northern ecoregions, and unreported tularemia cases are quite common.

This study takes as its focus the contrasting manner in which the Nyoongar indigenous people and the early European settlers utilised three wetland environments in southwest Australia over the century between 1829 and 1939. The thesis offers both an ecological and a landscape perspective to changes in the wetlands of Herdsman Lake, Lake Joondalup and Loch McNess. The chain of interconnecting linear lakes provides some of the largest permanent sources of fresh water masses on the Swan Coastal Plain. This thesis acknowledges the importance of the wetland system to the Nyoongar indigenous people. The aim of this research is to interpret the human intervention into the wetland ecosystems by using a methodology that combines cultural landscape, historical and biophysical concepts as guiding themes. Assisted by historical maps and field observations, this study offers an ecological perspective on the wetlands, depicting changes in the human footprint on its landscape, and mapping the changes since the indigenous people’s sustainable ecology and guardianship were removed. These data can be used and compared with current information to gain insights into how and why modification to these wetlands occurred. An emphasis is on the impact of human settlement and land use on natural systems. In the colonial period wetlands were not generally viewed as visually pleasing; they were perceived as alien and hostile environments. Settlers saw the land as an economic commodity to be exploited in a money economy. Thus the effects of a sequence of occupances and their transformation of environments as traditional Aboriginal resource use gave way to early European settlement, which brought about an evolution and cultural change in the wetland ecosystems, and attitudes towards them.

Can rural renewable energy projects simultaneously meet the multiple goals of sustainable development, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation? If so, under what conditions? Rural communities throughout Latin America have increasingly suffered the impacts of climate change and few policies exist to help them adapt to these impacts. The basic infrastructure and services that they frequently lack can be provided by low carbon technologies, potentially funded by international carbon finance flows that could enable the Millennium Development Goals of economic growth and poverty alleviation to be met while minimizing carbon emissions. This research will focus on this interrelationship among development, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation policies and practices using political ecology to analyse community renewable energy projects in rural Central America. I assess fifteen community-owned renewable energy projects in Guatemala and Nicaragua to analyse whether current renewable energy projects are achieving these goals in an integrated way. The projects were established primarily as development, emissions reductions, climate change adaptation and disaster relief. The projects are evaluated on economic, development and climate change indicators that include sustainable development, poverty alleviation, emissions reductions, and climate vulnerability. I examine how the type of common property governance, local historical and environmental background and project implementation process influence the project success in meeting multiple objectives of climate adaptation, mitigation and development. Research methods include participatory poverty assessment techniques, semi-structured interviews, stakeholder analysis, and a combination of rapid and participatory methods. The analysis of sustainable development and vulnerability used the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach methodologies and emissions reductions were calculated using standard carbon reduction methodologies. The results show that, under certain conditions, renewable energy projects can simultaneously meet these three objectives, and thus that responses to climate change can be integrated with poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Small scale hydroelectric and solar systems can reduce emissions, enable adaptation and help local livelihoods although there are numerous problems that limit the success of projects including poor design, inequitable distribution of benefits, and poorly designed governance and maintenance structures.

Contemporary conservation and development understanding in both policy and academic circles espouses that natural resources have a significant contribution to the livelihoods of local people and that knowledge of this can better foster conservation policies that are consistent with livelihood and ecological needs. This thesis is based on research conducted in the southern Kalahari region, South Africa among the San and Mier communities bordering Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. It looks at the importance of natural resources to the San and Mier community groups and ascertains the extent of resource use and its value within broader livelihood portfolios. It also focuses on the cultural values of natural resources and interactions among institutions and actors and how these shape natural resource governance and livelihood outcomes. Overall, natural resources represent an important livelihood source contributing up to 32 % and 9 % of the total income of the San and Mier respectively or up to 46 % and 23 % if livestock incomes are included. However, the dependence on, diversification patterns and distribution of natural resource income vary substantially between and within the two communities. With regards to the cultural values attached to natural resources by the San and Mier, the findings show that these arise from an incredibly diverse and sometimes conflicting array of values that punctuate the two communities’ way of life and they are inextricably linked to resource use. Lastly, governance of natural resources in the co-managed Park and communitymanaged resettlement farms is characterised by complex institutional arrangements, compounded by the existence of multiple actors that have multiple and sometimes conflicting objectives – as shaped by different meanings and interpretations of natural resources. Heightened inter- and intra-community conflicts are common, notably resource use conflicts between the San and Mier and between the San ‘modernist’ and ‘traditionalist’ groups. This demonstrates that the communities’ livelihood dynamics in general and the dependence on natural resources in particular, are closely linked with ecological, economic and social factors including history, culture and present livelihood needs. By exploring the social-environment interactions, the study highlights the complexities and diversity of resource use for livelihoods that should be taken into consideration for both conservation and development policy interventions and research. The main argument of the study is that the contribution of natural resources to local livelihood portfolios in co- and community-managed areas, can be better understood through a consideration of cultural dynamics and institutional arrangements since these condition natural resource access, value and use.

A mobilidade dos Yanomami tem papel decisivo na construção da paisagem amazônica ao produzir clareiras a serem regeneradas após cada mudança de residência. Esse processo não deve ser reduzido apenas ao seu aspecto de ecologia histórica, pois está intimamente ligado à organização social horizontalizada, orientada pelas alianças intercomunitárias. Nesse estudo é proposto um mapeamento das trajetórias de alguns grupos Yanomami, no Toototopi, Homoxi, Marauiá e os resistentes ao contato, Moxihatetemapë. Nos três primeiros, onde o posto de contato exerce uma atração pelo diferencial de potencialidades de troca, recuperei em minha experiência de quase uma década nesses lugares, para investigar a intencionalidade dessa mobilidade e de sua continuidade perante a novidade representada pelo posto. Os Yanomami souberam manter uma relação pendular de aproximação e afastamento dos postos de contato permanente, utilizando-se de segundas residências, próximas e longe do posto, do rio, aproveitando o que lhes interessava na relação de contato e recusando os elementos que pudessem levar a um sistema colonial ou a uma perversão das relações sociais com a criação de algum mecanismo coercitivo; isso se fez mediante a uma atualização sobre a alteridade, uma antropologia reversa, enquanto os estrangeiros ainda eram minoritários. Percebendo a intencionalidade estratégica desse ato, cuja recusa radical é a resistência ao contato dos Moxihatetemapë. Há uma relação prioritária com a construção (e defesa) da paisagem amazônica, expressa na cosmopolítica de Davi Kopenawa.
The mobility of the Yanomami plays a decisive role in the construction of the Amazon landscape by producing clearings to be regenerated after their moving among residences. This process should not be reduced only to its historical ecology, since it is closely linked to the social organization horizontality, regulated by inter-community alliances. In this study I mapped the trajectories of some Yanomami groups in Toototopi, Homoxi, Marauiá and Moxihatetemapë, the latter resistant to contact. In the other three, the \"attraction post\" established by the government causes both an attraction and a resistance given its exchange potential. My experience of almost a decade in these posts investigating the intentionality of indigeneous mobility and its continuity is reviewed. The Yanomami have invented intelligent ways to maintain a pendular relation to be near and distant from these permanent contact sites, using second residences, near and far from health services, by the river or taking advantage of what interested them in their contact while refusing the elements that could lead to a colonial system or a perversion of social relations due to the creation of some coercive mechanism; this was done through an update on alterity, a reverse anthropology, until foreigners were still in minority. The strategic intentionality of this processes of radical refusal mirrors the resistance to contact of the Moxihatetemapë. I therefore advocate a relation between this and the construction (and defense) of the Amazonian landscape, expressed in the cosmopolitics of Davi Kopenawa.

This ethnoecological study of the Makushi Amerindians of Amazonian Guyana explores the place of plants in the indigenous culture and cosmology. The North Rupununi, the homeland of the Makushi people, is a bioculturally diverse mosaic of neotropical savannahs, forests, and wetlands. As subsistence hunters, fishers, and horticulturalists, the Makushi live in a constant and dynamic interaction with their ecologically rich surroundings. Against the human-faunal bias latent in much Amazonian anthropology, I place plants firmly at the centre of analysis, a positioning that mirrors their centrality in the ethnographic context. Human-plant encounters explored herein include swidden agriculture, the cultivation of bitter cassava, the fermentation of cassava drinks using a domesticated fungus, the use of a category of charm plants, and the consumption of plant substances in shamanic ritual. With the Makushi, I emphasise the status of plants as living selves and agents of semiosis, occupying perspectives on the world in and outside of their interactions with human beings. In order to investigate ethno-theories of life, I attempt to understand the constitution of the person - and associated notions of body and soul - in the indigenous cosmology. Makushi ontology can be characterised as animic - though as I argue, it also incorporates naturalistic and analogic elements. Thus, it is poly-ontological. This study pursues a dual goal: first, to pay heed to the trans-specific domain of living entities revealed in the Makushi ethnoecology, and second, to rethink conventional symbolic frameworks characteristic of anthropological approaches to culture. I explore the application of a more robust approach to sign-flows in nature - Peircian ecosemiotics - that allows for the analysis of plant communication, birdcalls, insect stings, and leaf patterns, as well as human language. In tracing these interspecific webs of signification, conclusions are drawn about the varied ways in which Makushi people engage with and think about their living environment. At the same time, many Makushi multispecies engagements are based on the physical transfer of substances between bodies of different kinds. In order to better account for this pervasive 'substance logic', greater attention must be paid to indigenous notions of corporeality and personhood. In doing so, I propose a dual analytical model that takes both the flows of signs and the flows of substances as its combined objective. This approach enables new conclusions to be drawn about multispecies relationality in indigenous Amazonian cosmologies.

Alors que l’adaptation aux changements climatiques se présente comme une problématique fondamentale à l’échelle planétaire, nous avons choisi d’étudier les stratégies qui se développent aujourd’hui, réduisant la vulnérabilité des populations des pays en développement aux impacts du réchauffement global :ces populations sont souvent catégorisées comme étant les plus vulnérables aux changements climatiques. L’amplification de ces phénomènes au cours des prochaines années et décennies risque alors d’induire de nouvelles vulnérabilité à l’échelle locale. Il faut souligner que ces populations sont déjà confrontées aux impacts de la variabilité et du changements climatiques, face auxquels elles peuvent avoir développé certaines stratégies d’adaptation, mais peuvent également se trouver sans ressources.

Cette recherche s’intéresse essentiellement à l’aspect pragmatique du concept d’adaptation aux changements climatiques, questionnant la réalité de l’adaptation – ou de la non adaptation – des populations à l’échelle locale. Pour ce faire, nous avons axé l’étude autour d’enquêtes de terrain menées dans le sud du Bénin, au sein de communautés rurales agricoles. Nous avons analysé la vulnérabilité climatique des populations à des aléas relevant de la variabilité du climat, qui semble s’être accentuée récemment. L’analyse repose sur le recours à un cadre d’analyse s’inspirant des approches contextuelles et top-down utilisées, dans la littérature récente, pour étudier la vulnérabilité aux changements climatiques. Ces approchent complémentaires permettent d’étudier la vulnérabilité initiale d’une société, fragilisée alors par de nouveaux stress qui émergent dans le contexte du réchauffement global.

Au final de cette recherche, nous avons mis en évidence les causes de la vulnérabilité climatique de populations sud-béninoises, causes situées à différentes échelles (locales à internationales), ainsi que les facteurs favorisant l’émergence de stratégies d’adaptation au climat :l’étude de ces facteurs inclut l’impact des politiques internationales de soutien à l’adaptation aux changements climatiques sur des populations locales du Bénin. Il ressort, en conclusions, que la vulnérabilité des sociétés doit s’étudier en regard de facteurs situés aux échelles locales, nationales et internationales, influençant les conditions de vie au sein de villages et favorisant la vulnérabilité des populations aux stress climatiques pouvant relever du réchauffement global. Dans nos cas d’étude, les populations sont vulnérables de par certains facteurs socio-économiques influençant les conditions de vie dans les villages, et, sur le plan de l’encadrement institutionnel, de par la faiblesse des structures de l’Etat, décentralisées :celles-ci se sont révélées peu présentes dans les villages étudiés, n’assurant pas le développement socio-économique et agricole à l’échelle locale. La vulnérabilité des populations qui en résulte est alors amplifiée par certains aléas climatiques spécifiques, accentuant la variabilité climatique et provoquant une certaine imprévisibilité au niveau de la pluviométrie. Réduire la vulnérabilité climatique des populations, y compris à des aléas qui pourront s’amplifier au cours des prochaines années, implique dès lors des actions se situant à différentes échelles – l’échelle locale, mais également visant certains aspects du fonctionnement de l’Etat béninois – et relevant à la fois, spécifiquement, de l’adaptation aux changements climatiques et, plus généralement, du développement socio-économique et institutionnel.

Doctorat en Sciences
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Reservation was established in 1876, the same year as the transcontinental Southern Pacific Railroad completed a station in Palm Springs. These overlapping events would both enable and problematize the settler colonization of the Agua Caliente’s land, creating a checkerboard pattern of “fragmented jurisdiction” that was fundamental for its transformation into one of the wealthiest resorts in the United States. The territorial conflict between the Tribe and the U.S. would only begin to be legally resolved in 1977, when the Agua Caliente won the right to zone and plan their own lands. This dissertation examines how architecture, urbanism, and infrastructure mediated the technical, legal, and ideological struggles that took place in this period; sometimes enabling Imperial dispossession, other times structuring Tribal assimilation and decolonization. The dissertation historicizes and theorizes these processes by examining the modern architecture and urbanism of Palm Springs as a specific settler-colonial, “post-industrial” mode of development which was made possible by the particular territorial configuration that emerged out of nineteenth century Imperialism. It posits a correlation between settler colonialism and the settler imaginaries and material processes of technological progress, capitalist accumulation, natural resource extraction, and cultures of leisure that were uniquely developed in Palm Springs through modern architecture. Critically dismantling the connections between modern architecture, “post-industrial society,” and settler colonialism, this dissertation argues, is a necessary condition for the development of decolonial epistemologies and strategies of anti-colonial, anti-capitalist resistance.

Climate change is altering environmental conditions in Canada’s western arctic, including hydrology, permafrost, vegetation, and lake habitat conditions in the heterogeneous landscape of the Mackenzie Delta. The delta is an expansive alluvial plain dominated by thousands of lakes and interconnected channels that provide habitat for fish, birds, and mammals. Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are a culturally important ecological indicator species found in the Delta. Throughout the 1900s, Gwich’in and Inuvialuit residents in the Delta relied heavily on the muskrat for food, fur, and culture, but as in other regions around the world, changing socioeconomic and ecological conditions are altering the land and Indigenous Peoples’ access to it. This can strongly impact communities by affecting food security, physical health, and overall wellbeing. In the first part of this thesis, I investigated the role of muskrats in the cultural traditions and land-based livelihoods of the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit residents of the Mackenzie Delta by conducting interviews and meetings with over 70 community members. Although the role of muskrats has changed over the last 100 years, muskrat harvesting continues to offer Delta residents a meaningful way to remain engaged in, perpetuate, and strengthen their cultural identity and land-based traditions among generations, and ultimately, to foster individual and community wellbeing. In the second part of this thesis, I investigated the importance of landscape connectivity and patch quality – two properties affected by climate change – on muskrat presence and distribution in the Mackenzie Delta, using remote sensing and field-based surveys of lakes with and without muskrats present in the winter. I tested multiple hypotheses about predictors of muskrat presence and biomass using a model-selection, information theoretic approach. My results show that patch quality related to specific habitat requirements is a more important driver of muskrat distribution than landscape connectivity in the Mackenzie Delta. Muskrats were more likely to occur in lakes with longer perimeters, higher amounts of edible submerged macrophyte biomass, and sediment characteristics that supported macrophyte growth. The latter two conditions are related to spring flooding regimes, which are likely to be altered by climate change. This may result in a decrease in the quality and quantity of preferred muskrat habitat in the Mackenzie Delta. My research indicates that patch quality and landscape-level processes are important for understanding species distributions in heterogeneous landscapes.
Graduate

The aim of this dissertation is to assess the political ecology of conservation governance and management of Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park (SNP), SNP Buffer Zone (BZ) and the Buffer Zone Community Forest User Groups (BZCFUG) in Pharak in northeastern Nepal. It evaluates their performance in two adjacent regions (Khumbu and Pharak) from multiple perspectives, including the views of the residents (indigenous Sherpa people and minority immigrant community members), and the standards of current international conservation and human rights policies. This research is important because it relates to global, regional, national and local level conservation policies and practices, which have direct impacts on biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities, and rights. The discussion of buffer zone community forest in the Pharak region follows my M.Sc. thesis completed at the University of Wales, UK in 2000. This dissertation draws on my 2011 fieldwork and my long-time experience growing up in this region and working there for conservation and development organizations. I conducted qualitative research adopting field observation, semi-structured and focus group interviews and participating in BZ and BZCFUGs' meetings. I observe that implementation of CFUG, BZCFUG and buffer zone management programs (BZMP) in Pharak and BZMP in Khumbu have made significant progress towards achieving conservation of forests, habitats, wildlife species and sustainable production of forest products while reinstituting forest and natural resource use and improving management and governance rights. This suggests that community participation in forest commons and natural resource management and governance through devolution and decentralization of decision-making rights can achieve biodiversity conservation goals. By integrating indigenous peoples' and local communities' cultural and religious perspectives with scientific knowledge, a synergy can be achieved that benefits conservation. For this the free, prior and informed consent of the concerned indigenous peoples and local communities is prerequisite. Conservation goals need to consider the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and meet their aspirations and international conservation standards of self-determination and autonomy.