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.     

河北省太行山片麻岩退化山场生态恢复研究

以生物量为指标,对河北省太行山片麻岩退化山场进行了生态恢复试验。结果表明,目前试验区植被生物量（3．5t/hm^2）较该区域自然植被净第一性生产力6．75t/（hm^2·a）相差甚远,增长潜力巨大。经过治理,土层厚度增加,土壤颗粒组成由粗变细趋势明显,土壤有机质、氮磷钾总养分逐年增加,治理4a和治理7a的生物量分别为9．5t/hm^2和21．9t/hm^2,生态恢复向良性方向发展,说明通过采取工程措施和生物措施,河北省太行山片麻岩退化山场可以达到生态恢复的目的。     

Burning biodiversity: Woody biomass use by commercial and subsistence groups in western Uganda’s forests

Woodfuels are the most heavily used energy source in sub-Saharan Africa. We analyzed the ecological impacts and modes of access of five user groups (domestic consumers, gin distillers, brick manufacturers, charcoal producers, and tea companies) drawing biomass energy from natural forests in western Uganda. While domestic consumers use the most species for fuelwood (>50), their consumption is likely sustainable because they generally harvest fast-growing species from fallows on their own land or their neighbors’. Charcoal producers prefer old-growth hardwood species and are responsible for the greatest loss of natural forests. They access forests by finding landholders who, either willingly or through coercion, allow trees on their lands to be cleared. The impact of charcoal production is exacerbated by a license system that undervalues natural forests and rewards rapid harvests across large areas. The tea industry consumes mainly eucalyptus wood (Eucalyptus spp.) from corporate plantations, but they indirectly create pressure on natural forests by hiring immigrants who subsequently settle in and clear forest remnants. If such practices continue, forest remnants will soon be exhausted, leaving Kibale National Park as the last natural forest in the region. Forest remnants are a vital source of water, medicinal plants, and energy for local citizens and to protect them from over-exploitation, policy makers should target the charcoal and tea industry for reform. Support for local land management institutions governing access to fallows and successional forests will inevitably enhance the policy interventions.     

河北省太行山石灰岩退化山场生物承载力研究

针对河北省太行山石灰岩退化山场进行研究,通过对山场典型样点20年基本数据的搜集调查,对试验区在理想状态下的净第一性生产力进行预测,最后确立该地区净第一性植被生产力为6.75t/(hm2·a)干物质。长期以来,由于不合理经营、水土流失等原因导致生物的生存条件恶化,生物量明显降低。石灰岩区未开发地为3.29t/hm2干物质。通过在石灰岩区修造梯田等措施,人工加速岩石的风化成土速率,可以使土壤的物理性质、化学性质和生物学特性得到显著的改善,从而使生物的生存条件得到优化,石灰岩区生物承载力由3.62个羊单位提升到了7.36个羊单位和12.78个羊单位,生物承载能力明显提高。     

林业分权管理政策研究--谈绥宁县森林资源村集体管理

改革森林资源管理体制一直是林业部门讨论不休的问题 ;文中探讨了湖南省绥宁县森林集体经营管理模式产生的背景以及不同时期其内涵的变化 ;通过分析 2 0a来集体管理的成效及成功因素 ,总结了它的启示意义及采用这一管理模式所需的社会和体制条件     

From “old school” to “farm-to-school”: Neoliberalization from the ground up

Farm-to-school (FTS) programs have garnered the attentions and energies of people in a diverse array of social locations in the food system and are serving as a sort of touchstone for many in the alternative agrifood movement. Yet, unlike other alternative agrifood initiatives, FTS programs intersect directly with the long-established institution of the welfare state, including its vestiges of New Deal farm programs and public entitlement. This paper explores how FTS is navigating the liminal terrain of public and private initiative, particularly the ways in which it interfaces with neoliberalism as both a material and discursive project. It examines the political emergence of school food programs and finds that FTS is strikingly similar to traditional school programs in objectives, but differs in approach. Yet, in their efforts to fill in the gaps created by political and economic neoliberalization, FTS advocates are in essence producing neoliberal forms and practices afresh. These include those associated with contingent labor relationships, private funding sources, and the devolution of responsibility to the local, all of which have serious consequences for social equity. The paper also discusses how FTS programs are employing the rhetoric of neoliberal governmentality, including personal responsibility and individual success, consumerism, and choice. While these may be tactical choices used to secure funding in a competitive environment, they may also contribute to the normalization of neoliberalism, further circumscribing the possibilities of what can be imagined and created to solve social problems.     

河北省太行山石灰岩退化山场生物承载力研究

针对河北省太行山石灰岩退化山场进行研究,通过对山场典型样点20年基本数据的搜集调查,对试验区在理想状态下的净第一性生产力进行预测,最后确立该地区净第一性植被生产力为6.75t/(hm2·a)干物质。长期以来,由于不合理经营、水土流失等原因导致生物的生存条件恶化,生物量明显降低。石灰岩区未开发地为3.29 t/hm2干物质。通过在石灰岩区修造梯田等措施,人工加速岩石的风化成土速率,可以使土壤的物理性质、化学性质和生物学特性得到显著的改善,从而使生物的生存条件得到优化,石灰岩区生物承载力由3.62个羊单位提升到了7.36个羊单位和12.78个羊单位,生物承载能力明显提高。