The significance of enset culture and biodiversity for rural household food and livelihood security in southwestern Ethiopia

The significance of enset (Ensete ventricosum Welw. Cheesman) for thefood and livelihood security of ruralhouseholds in Southwestern Ethiopia, where thiscrop is the main staple, raises two majorquestions. The first concerns the relatedissues of household food security andlivelihood security and the contribution of theenset farming and food system in achievingthese. The second deals with the issue ofbiodiversity in enset cultivation. What roledoes biodiversity play in food and livelihoodsecurity and how is it perceived and measured?To answer the latter question, it is necessaryto look at the issue of classification of ensetvarieties, comparing indigenous and scientificclassifications. In answering the questions, aninterdisciplinary approach is used, and bothetic and emic perspectives are applied. Agender perspective is applied as well becauseof the gendered division of labor in ensetcultivation and the gendered nature ofindigenous knowledge. The analysis draws mainlyon the findings of a recent study on ensetcultivation in Ethiopia [Negash (2001) PhD thesis,Wageningen University, The Netherlands]. Thefindings show that enset farming guaranteeshousehold food security to a large extent, butthat household livelihood security depends onthe cultivation of additional crops andhousehold ownership of livestock and otherassets. It was also found that maximizingdiversity in enset is of importance to farmers,and that the farmers' classification of ensetvarieties yields a finer grid than theclassification of enset clones on the basis ofmolecular analysis.     

Gender,ethnicity, and economic status in plant management: Uncultivated edible plants among the Nahuas and Popolucas of Veracruz,Mexico

Uncultivated plants are an important part of agricultural systems and play a key role in the survival of rural marginalized groups such as women, children, and the poor. Drawing on the gender, environment, and development literature and on the notion of women’s social location, this paper examines the ways in which gender, ethnicity, and economic status determine women’s roles in uncultivated plant management in Ixhuapan and Ocozotepec, two indigenous communities of Veracruz, Mexico. The first is inhabited by Nahua and the second by Popoluca peoples. Information was gathered through group and individual interviews and a food frequency survey. Results show that the gender ideology prevailing in each community, resulting from distinct ethnic affiliations and economic contexts, shapes women’s plant management. In Ixhuapan, Nahua women are used to leaving their community to generate income, while in Ocozotepec men are considered the main breadwinners and are the mediators between Popoluca households and the larger society. Nahua women gather quelites at the cornfields more often than their men, and more often than their female counterparts in Ocozotepec. They also manage and sell plants from their homegardens at higher percentages than Popoluca women. However, women in both communities use intensely the plants of their homegardens and play a key role in biodiversity conservation and cultural permanence.

Monetary valuation of livelihoods for understanding the composition and complexity of rural households

There is, at present, little precise understanding of the relative contributions of the various income streams used by impoverished rural households in southern Africa. The impact of household profiles on overall income also is not well understood. There is, therefore, little consideration of these factors in national economic accounting. This paper is an attempt to reduce this gap in knowledge by reflecting on the relative contribution of agro-pastoralism, secondary woodland resources, and formal and informal cash income streams to households in the semi-arid rural village of Thorndale, Limpopo Province, South Africa. In the absence of jobs and confronted with high migrant labor, households with open access to natural resources derived more benefits from land-based livelihoods than cash income streams (i.e., 57.5 % vs. 42.5 %). Total livelihood income was valued at US$2887 per household per annum. A significant correlation between monetary values derived from crops and formal wages was established, and it was found that households with high cash incomes tended to invest more in crop production. Over 80 of households were male-headed. Of these heads of household, more than 60 were long-term migrants to urban areas, leaving household decision-making to the women. The low literacy rates of women have deprived them of paid jobs outside the area and, therefore, have increased their dependence on crops (62%) and secondary woodlands resources (60%). This was further reflected in the proportion of households in which females were the main contributors of cash income (9.7%), or joint contributors with men (24.4%). Various positive correlations were established between the number of women per household and the three land-based livelihoods. This implied that womens total control over such activities was mostly a result of the absence of men and not a typical phenomenon. In spite of this control, it was not positively reflected in the lives of majority of the women. Households differed in their participation in livelihood activities. Household size influenced the level of production and was positively correlated with the value of secondary woodland resources and crops. The study shows the interdependence of land-based livelihood sources and the impact of household features on production and consumption. Policies that focus on livelihood options need to recognize and accommodate associated household dynamics.Delali B. K. Dovie is a conservation biologist with interests in agricultural and natural resource economics and conservation, rural sociology, and global environmental change issues. He is currently a START/IGBP African Doctoral Fellow, and Honorary Research Fellow, School of Animal, Plant & Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.E. T. F. Witkowski is an ecologist with expertise in eco-physiology, restoration and plant ecology, and ethnobotany. He is Professor and Director of the Restoration and Conservation Biology Research Group, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.Charlie M. Shackleton is an ecologist and Professor at the Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University with many years of experience and good working knowledge of agro-ecological research, natural resources, plant population dynamics, and ethnobotany.     

民族传统文化多样性与生物多样性保护的研究进展

对近年来民族传统文化与生物多样性关系的研究理论方法、主要研究内容、存在的问题进行了综述,同时提出了传承保护民族传统文化的重要性,并对生物多样性加以广泛研究的建议。     

Gender, irrigation, and environment: Arguing for agency

This paper is not a critique of waterpolicies, or an advocacy of alternatives, but rathersuggests a shift of emphasis in the ways in whichgender analysis is applied to water, development, andenvironmental issues. It argues that feministpolitical ecology provides a generally strongerframework for understanding these issues thanecofeminism, but cautions against a reversion tomaterialist approaches in reactions to ecofeminismthat, like ecofeminism, can be static and ignore theagency of women and men. The paper draws attention tothe subjectivities of women and their embodiedlivelihoods as a more useful approach to understandingthe ways in which women relate to water in bothirrigated agriculture and domestic provisioning.     

茂兰自然保护区生物物种多样性及其保护

茂兰自然保护区动、植物资源丰富;在1023余种植物中有国家保护种类24科35种;特有种42个;动物2028余种中有国家保护种类18科53种;特有种171个;以茂兰为模式标本建立的模式种13个、新种150个.笔者从物种多样性水平上对茂兰保护区生物物种作了分析和研究;对珍稀、濒危物种及特有种资源面临威胁的原因作相关分析,并提出了生物多样性保护对策.     

农户联保贷款参与意愿及其影响因素研究——基于陕西永寿农户调查

我国于二十世纪九十年代引入联保贷款业务,但联保贷款业务的实际运行发展很不理想。为了有效开展该业务,就必须了解农户联保贷款参与意愿及其影响因素。基于理性小农理论,利用陕西永寿2 054个农户微观调查数据,运用二元Probit模型,分析农户联保贷款需求与融资渠道,探讨农户联保贷款参与意愿及其影响因素。结果表明,近5年内,在发生过借贷需求的农户中,只有35户农户实际参与过联保贷款,而愿意参与联保贷款的农户比例为14.75%,农户联保贷款参与意愿还有待提高。农户融资渠道主要有金融机构和民间借贷二种方式。农户联保贷款需求预期、收益预期和风险预期对农户联保贷款参与意愿存在显著正向影响;农户个人特征、农户家庭经济特征和农户联保贷款认知对农户联保贷款参与意愿也存在一定影响。据此,提出应提高农户联保贷款需求预期和收益预期,降低农户联保贷款风险预期;优化联保贷款模式或制度设计,提升服务质量;强化联保贷款担保权能,促进联户担保机制有效运行的政策建议。     

Agriculture and biodiversity: Finding our place in this world

Agriculture has been recently viewed as the primary destructive force of biodiversity, but the places that produce our food and fiber may also hold the key to saving the richness of life on earth. This argument is based on three fundamental positions. First, it is argued that to value and thereby preserve and restore biodiversity we must begin by employing anthropocentric ethics. While changing our understanding of intrinsic values (i.e., the unconditional values of biodiversity as a state and process in-and-of-itself, without reference to human interests) is often advocated as the means by which our behavior will reflect the importance of biodiversity, a change in how we perceive and conditionally value biodiversity is proposed as a more effective and compelling approach. Second, I suggest that anthropocentric values can be linked to a sense of Place, with agriculture playing a vital role in this context. Agriculture forms a powerful basis for personal, experiential development of a profound meaning and connection to a setting or landscape. The agricultural setting has tremendous potential for arational (emotional, aesthetic, and spiritual) values that ultimately compel our actions. The constancy of relationship and mutuality of dependency between humans and agricultural lands, particularly extensive agroecosystems, fosters an intensity of association that transcends our recent affinity to wildlands. Third, a mature understanding of places and their biodiversity must include those organisms that account for many of the ecological processes and the majority of the species richness -- the insects. The importance of these insects in structuring the landscape and the effects of habitat destruction on these organisms both suggest a vital, intimate, and reciprocal link between insects and Places. Finally, it is argued that the most important avenue for future efforts to protect and restore biodiversity on the part of agricultural and other scientists is educational -- the presentation of our research to the public in terms that provoke emotional, aesthetic, and spiritual meaning which lies at the core of human values and actions.     

Gender and resource management: Households and groups, strategies and transitions

Rural families must constantly negotiate their livelihoods by obtaining access to natural resources, labor, capital, knowledge, and markets. Successful negotiation leads to enhanced family well-being and sustainable use of natural resources. Unsuccessful negotiation threatens family survival, threatens sustainable use of natural resources, and reduces bio-diversity. These negotiation processes are mediated by gender relations. The ideas of negotiation and of survival strategies outlined here provide a framework within which the articles of this issue can be situated. The articles are the result of research on gender and natural resource management conducted in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and North America. Each experience illustrates the consequences for natural resources and family well being when they have voice and when they do not have voice in household decisions. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Cuisines of poverty as means of empowerment: Arab food in Israel

This paper suggests looking at cuisines of poverty as practical and political systems practiced by urban and rural Palestinian citizens of Israel. It is an important and interesting case study within which political and economical considerations govern and enhance the development, change, and acceptance of culinary knowledge. Cuisines of poverty operate in two simultaneous arenas. As systems of practical knowledge, they repeatedly center on the ability to maintain the traditional kitchen, turning it into a tool-kit out of which information is recruited upon need. Simultaneously, cuisines of poverty reveal the inter-connection between the culinary discourse and the political one. It is where issues such as access to land, national and ethnic identity, and means to participation in the dominant culture are of major concern. The analysis of cuisines as operating on two complementary discourses contributes to the understanding of the relationship between food and the arena of power. Liora Gvion, PhD, is a qualitative sociologist. She studied at SUNY Stony Brook, USA and is currently a senior lecturer at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel Aviv, Israel and at the Department of Clinical Nutrition at the Hebrew University. Her major interests are the sociology of food, second-generation immigrants, eating disorders, and the relationship between food and ethnicity.     

城乡家庭多维不平等的测量、变化与分解研究

在我国社会主要矛盾发生转变和实施乡村振兴战略的背景下,从多维视角研究城乡家庭的不平等问题具有重要意义。基于2007年和2013年中国家庭收入调查(CHIP)数据,利用Araar指数和多维基尼系数方法,测量农村和城镇家庭的多维不平等水平及其变化状况,并按维度对多维不平等进行分解,探讨不同维度对多维不平等的贡献差异。结果表明,从多维不平等的测量结果看,从2007年到2013年总体家庭的多维不平等水平从0.215 8下降到0.208 8,但是农村家庭的多维不平等从0.173 9上升到0.185 3,城镇家庭的多维不平等从0.172 3上升到0.178 7。农村家庭的多维不平等始终高于城镇家庭。从多维不平等的分解结果看,2007年和2013年消费维度对总体家庭多维不平等的贡献率最高,分别达68.69%和63.24%,健康维度的贡献率最低,分别为7.51%和10.45%,城镇和农村家庭有相同变化趋势。因此,在降低不平等政策的制定中,应从多维视角关注农村家庭和城镇家庭不平等上升的趋势,重点关注农村家庭的多维不平等问题,降低消费维度和教育维度对多维不平等的贡献率。     

沪郊外来农户与本地农户种植业绩效对比研究

为了切实掌握沪郊外来农户从事种植业的经营绩效,利用《上海市农业经济绩效评估及动态监测系统》数据,对外来农户与本地农户主要农作物(水稻、蔬菜、西瓜)的生产绩效进行对比研究。结果发现,外来农户种植经济型作物(蔬菜、西瓜)的绩效明显高于本地农户,而种植粮食作物(水稻)与本地农户单位面积产量相近,但产值差异较大。     

Intellectual property rights and agricultural biodiversity: Literature addressing the suitability of IPR for the protection of indigenous resources

Recent debate has focused on the use of intellectual property regimes for the protection of indigenous resources. Both domesticated crops and useful wild plants are shaped by indigenous knowledge and by their uses within indigenous cultures. This implies that the preservation of cultural systems is as important as the conservation of the associated biological resources. Intellectual property has been suggested as a means to protect indigenous resources from misappropriation, and to create increased investment in their conservation. Four recent books that discuss the problems that arise from the application of IPR for the protection of indigenous resources highlight a salient issue: that current IPR systems may conflict and undermine the culture, social structure, and knowledge systems of indigenous societies. In order to support conservation through indigenous management of biodiversity, a number of steps are required for the negotiation of intellectual property systems that are more compatible with indigenous people's value systems and concepts of ownership.     

Gender, land, and water: From reform to counter-reform in Latin America

Rural women did not fare very well inthe land reforms carried out during the Latin Americanreformist period of the 1960s and 1970s, with womenbeing under-represented among the beneficiaries. It isargued that women have been excluded from access toand control over water for similar reasons that theywere excluded from access to land during thesereforms. The paper also investigates the extent towhich women have gained or lost access to land duringthe counter-reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. Underthe neo-liberal agenda, production cooperatives aswell as communal access to land have largely beenundermined in favor of privatization and theindividual parcelization of collectives. Significantland titling efforts are also being carried outthroughout the region to promote the development of avigorous land market. This latter period has also beencharacterized by the growth of the feminist movementthroughout Latin America and a growing commitment bystates to gender equity. The paper reviews the extentto which rural womens access to land and, thus, waterhas potentially been enhanced by recent changes inagrarian and legal codes.     

Gender, livestock assets, resource management, and food security: Lessons from the SR-CRSP

North Sumatra and West Java in Indonesia, the Andes of Bolivia and Peru, Western Province, the Coast and Machakos in Kenya, were Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program (SR-CRSP) sites in which the role of small ruminants was studied and where technological interventions were designed. In all cases the target groups were poor rural households that could maintain sheep, goats, or South American camelids. The objective was to increase the welfare of families through the use of small ruminant technologies. Access to and control of resources, and intrahousehold dynamics were analyzed to understand if, how, and when, technological interventions help achieve this objective. The way in which the studied villages integrate into the market, the specific role that livestock and other productive enterprises play in the household economy, the risks faced by families in rural areas condition the role of livestock and other resource management technologies. As an asset, small and large stock are gendered, but this is qualified by the alternatives that household members have. Small ruminants under the domain of women, either through production or marketing, are shown to contribute to in-kind consumption or, as liquid assets, to household welfare purchases, in the case of Andean agropastoral households and households in Kenya. Women are also managers of the grazing areas, which are often fallow fields. The research experiences show the relationship between gender, resource management, and the ability to build livestock assets and security, in different houehold production systems. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

性别视角下的三峡移民妇女贫困和发展问题

当今农村,农业女性化特征日益明显,作为农村妇女中的特殊群体,移民妇女的贫困和发展问题备受关注。引入性别视角,以阿玛蒂亚·森的理论来分析移民妇女贫困原因,并针对三峡库区移民妇女的生存和发展提供一些政策建议。     

笼养疣鼻天鹅孵化期行为时间分配与日节律的性别差异

2011年1月至6月,用瞬时扫描法对浙江萧山珍禽养殖场的疣鼻天鹅(Cygnus olor)进行了观察和数据分析。研究发现,疣鼻天鹅在孵化期的行为时间分配存在明显的性别差异。雌(雄)性在孵化期重要行为的时间分配为:筑巢9.84%(雄4.67%),繁殖75.41%(雄4.14%),采食2.58%(雄7.85%),理羽4.00%(雄10.39%),站立1.52%(雄15.48%),游走0.52%(雄4.26%),警戒0.90%(雄3.93%),休息2.77%(雄30.74%),游泳2.23%(雄16.55%),洗澡0.24%(雄2.00%)。对不同性别疣鼻天鹅的时间分配进行独立样本T检验,结果显示:孵化期雌雄疣鼻天鹅除在理羽行为上差异不显著(P>0.05)外,其他行为都存在差异显著(P<0.05),在繁殖、站立、游走、休息、游泳及洗澡行为上差异极显著(P<0.01)。通过不同天气条件的比较,表明疣鼻天鹅不仅在行为时间分配上不同,而且不同性别在行为时间分配上也存在明显差异。     

Gender and property rights in the commons: Examples of water rights in South Asia

In many countries and resource sectors, the state is devolving responsibility for natural resource management responsibility to ``communities' or local user groups. However, both policymakers and researchers in this area have tended to ignore the implications of gender and other forms of intra-community power differences for the effectiveness and equity of natural resource management. In the irrigation sector, despite the rhetoric on women's participation, a review of evidence from South Asia shows that organizations often exclude women through formal or informal membership rules and practices. Women may have other ways to obtain irrigation services, but even if they are effective, these other informal ways of obtaining irrigation services are typically less secure. As resource management – and rights to resources – are transferred from the state to local organizations, ensuring women's participation is essential for gender equity in control over resources. Greater involvement of women can also strengthen the effectiveness of local organizations by improving women's compliance with rules and maintenance contributions. Further detailed and comparative research is required to identify the major factors that affect women's participation and control over resources, if devolution policies are to be both equitable and sustainable. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

香格里拉县五境乡传统人工种植羊肚菌对经济生态的影响

在云南省滇西北香格里拉县五境乡,经过村民长期的试验和实践,野生羊肚菌(Morchella spp.)得到了成功的人工种植与推广.2010年8～9月,为了了解五境乡羊肚菌人工种植的经济和生态效益,对该乡的羊肚菌种植“示范村”一仓觉村进行了调查.结果表明,仓觉村具有悠久的羊肚菌分布、收集与栽培历史;羊肚菌的种植与其他地区相比有明显的差异,当地羊肚菌的种植以传统方法为主;随着羊肚菌种植面积的扩大,羊肚菌对当地人民的生计和经济收入有着越来越重要的作用;由于需要砍伐一些森林资源作为栽培料,羊肚菌的种植对当地的生态环境有一定负面影响,然而在一定程度上反而有利于森林的替代和增加生物多样性.为了促进羊肚菌种植的可持续发展和生态保护,当地村民也采取了一些积极的措施,如对栽培料森林资源的采伐方式为伐大留小和砍密留稀,村民在退耕还林地上自发种植大量的栽培料木材资源,并开始尝试其他的种植方式.