Your search found 32 records
(Location: IWMI-HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7.5 G000 LES Record No: H037202)
(798KB)
In this report, we test the hypothesis that the primary factors behind the farming system changes in Ban Lak Sip lay not in the village itself but rather in the broader Laotian social, economic and political setting. The study uses an integrated approach that examines both the physical and social dimensions of land use and soil erosion in Ban Lak Sip within this broader system environment.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 305.4 G570 ZWA Record No: H045637)
(0.31 MB)
3 Forsyth, T. 2003. Critical political ecology: the politics of environmental science. Oxon, UK: Routledge. 320p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 304.2 G000 FOR Record No: H045898)
(0.38 MB)
4 Robbins, P. (Ed.) 2012. Political ecology: a critical introduction. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. 288p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 304.2 G000 ROB Record No: H045899)
(0.36 MB)
5 Neumann, R. P. 2005. Making political ecology. London, UK: Hodder Education. 213p. (Human Geography in the Making)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 304.5 G000 NEU Record No: H045941)
(0.33 MB)
6 Warner, J. 2013. Dances with wolves: four flood security frames. In Lankford, B.; Bakker, K.; Zeitoun, M.; Conway, D. (Eds.). Water security: principles, perspectives and practices. Oxon, UK: Routledge. pp.289-306. (Earthscan Water Text Series)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 333.91 G662 IND Record No: H046280)
7 Buechler, S.; Hanson, A.-M. (Eds.) 2015. A political ecology of women, water and global environmental change. Oxon, UK: Routledge. 262p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 305.42 G000 BUE Record No: H047093)
(0.30 MB)
8 Scoones, I. 2015. Sustainable livelihoods and rural development. Warwickshire, UK: Practical Action Publishing. 149p. (Agrarian Change and Peasant Studies 4)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 307.1412 G000 SCO Record No: H047219)
(0.35 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049290)
(0.36 MB) (368 KB)
Mainstreaming gender in water governance through “how to do gender” toolkits has long been a development focus. It has been widely argued that such toolkits simplify the complex, nuanced realities of inequalities by gender in relation to water and fail to pay attention to the fact that the proposed users of such gender-water toolkits, i.e. mostly male water sector professionals, lack the skills, motivation and/or incentives to apply these toolkits in their everyday work. We adopt a feminist political ecology lens to analyse some of the barriers to reduce social inequalities in the management of global commons such as international rivers. Our findings highlight the leap of faith made in the belief that gender toolkits, as they exist, will filter through layers of a predominantly masculine institutional culture to enable change in ground realities of complex inequalities by gender. Analysing the everyday workings of two hydropower development organisations in India, we show how organisational structures demonstrate a blatant culture of masculinity. These two organisations, like many others, are sites where hierarchies and inequalities based on gender are produced, performed and reproduced. This performance of masculinity promotes and rewards a culture of technical pride in re-shaping nature, abiding by and maintaining hierarchy and demonstrating physical strength and emotional hardiness. In such a setting, paying attention to vulnerabilities, inequalities and disparities are incompatible objectives.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049381)
(0.60 MB) (616 KB)
Collective farming has been suggested as a potentially useful approach for reducing inequality and transforming peasant agriculture. In collectives, farmers pool land, labor, irrigation infrastructure, agricultural inputs and harvest to overcome resource constraints and to increase their bargaining power. Employing a feminist political ecology lens, we reflect on the extent to which collective farming enables marginalized groups to engage in smallholder agriculture. We examine the establishment of 18 farmer collectives by an action research project in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, a region characterised by fragmented and small landholdings and a high rate of marginalised and landless farmers. We analyze ambivalances of collective farming practices with regard to (1) social relations across scales, (2) intersectionality and (3) emotional attachment. Our results in Saptari/ Eastern Terai in Nepal, Madhubani/Bihar, and Cooch Behar/West Bengal in India demonstrate how intra-household, group and community relations and emotional attachments to the family and neighbors mediate the redistribution of labor, land, produce and capital. We find that unequal gender relations, intersected by class, age, ethnicity and caste, are reproduced in collective action, land tenure and water management, and argue that a critical feminist perspective can support a more reflective and relational understanding of collective farming processes. Our analysis demonstrates that feminist political ecology can complement commons studies by providing meaningful insights on ambivalences around approaches such as collective farming.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049382)
(0.15 MB) (148 KB)
12 Clement, Floriane; Harcourt, W. J.; Joshi, Deepa; Sato, C. (Eds.) 2019. Feminist political ecologies of the commons and commoning. International Journal of the Commons; International Journal of the Commons, 13(1):1-174. (Special issue with contributions by IWMI authors)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049383)
(0.29 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050085)
(1.38 MB)
Despite notable policy reforms and development actions, gender inequality persists in environmental management in Nepal. In this paper, I present an in-depth case study to demonstrate how the persistence of gender-based inequality in community forestry has, or is likely to have, impacted the possibility to adapt to climate change, and then also reshape gender relations in adaptation interventions. Based on this, I argue that adaptation initiatives which rest on existing gender inequitable forest management institutions are likely to exacerbate gender-based inequality, further hampering the longer-term socio-ecological resilience. Although gender inequality is not created solely either by forestry institutions or in the institutions designed for climate adaptation, community forestry institutions are increasingly reinforcing the larger patriarchal societal structure that is deeply rooted and manifested in everyday practices. I highlight the need for both forest management and adaptation policies and practices to better recognize, appreciate and address gender inequality. In order to enhance gender-equitable adaptation to climate change, I suggest re-examining and constantly monitoring the changing gender in/equality in the existing forest management institutions and service delivery mechanisms and also adjusting adaptation planning to fully harness the potential of gender equitable forest management and climate change adaptation.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050500)
(0.22 MB) (226 KB)
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands emphasizes the “wise use” of wetlands by conserving the ecological character of wetlands while managing the socio-economic value these landscapes hold for different stakeholders. Reviewing the Convention obligations, resolutions, and guidelines through a feminist political ecology lens, we find them to be overtly simplistic and technocratic. A deliberately generic framing of socio-ecological interrelations and of economic trade-offs between wetland uses and users obscures broader political and social contexts which shape complex nature-society interrelations in the use, management, and governance of wetlands. Poverty, the cultural significance of wetlands—particularly for indigenous communities—and gender equality have only recently been considered in wetlands management and governance guidelines and interventions. These recent additions provide little insight on the power imbalances which shape plural values, meanings, experiences, and voices in wetlands use and governance, especially for the most marginalized of wetlands users. We welcome the call for a “reformulation” of a socio-ecological approach to managing and governing wetlands, but caution that unless wetlands governance structures and processes are re-politicized, changes in policies and approaches will likely remain rhetorical.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050508)
(3.17 MB)
The study of ecosystem services enables the understanding of the services that ecosystems provide at the landscape level by explaining the relationship between natural capital, ecosystem services, and human wellbeing. The limited number of studies summarizing important themes and approaches used in this area constrain the ability of scholars and practitioners to initiate or incorporate ecosystem services in their own domains of research. This paper develops a structured process that traces efforts in this domain of knowledge and proposes a systematic review of key themes and approaches that have developed over the last 40 years. Further, this study identifies emerging and dominant areas of interest in the field. Key themes represent underlying meanings or ideas widely used in the ecosystem services field and includes trending or rising topics. Approaches include tools, frameworks, perspectives and management strategies to analyze, assess, and quantify ecosystem services. Analyses showed that, among key themes, conservation of biodiversity and landscape planning had the most activity and interest. Among approaches, economic valuation showed the highest levels of activity, while conceptual framework was the most cited. This review paper contributes a guide to progress in ecosystem service research and provides a comprehensive understanding of its evolution and development.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050549)
(0.27 MB) (275 KB)
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) frames restoration as a momentous nature-based solution for achieving many of the ecological, economic, and social objectives outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, a critical void lies at the heart of this agenda: the lack of attention to social and political dimensions of nature and restoration initiatives. At this critical juncture, urgent attention is needed to the power and politics that shape the values, meanings, and science driving restoration; and to the uneven experiences of these processes as national restoration pledges touch down in diverse and unequal contexts. In this introduction to the special issue on “Restoration for Whom, by Whom?”, we critically examine the social inclusivity of restoration agendas, policies, and practices as these unfold across ecological and geographic scales. We argue that feminist political ecology (FPE), with its focus on gendered power relations, scale integration, and historical awareness, and its critique of the commodification of nature, offers a valuable lens through which to examine the socio-political and economic dynamics of restoration. Taking an FPE perspective, we elucidate how the ten papers comprising the special issue challenge mainstream narratives of environmental sustainability and suggest more grounded and nuanced ways forward for inclusive restoration initiatives. In conclusion, we highlight the urgency of addressing the systemic fault lines that create exclusions in restoration policies and practice; and the need to legitimize the plural voices, values, situated knowledges, and paths to sustainably transform degraded landscapes.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050551)
(0.20 MB) (3.33 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H050663)
(4.64 MB)
The history of Karamoja, a subregion in the far northeast of Uganda, is complex and scarred by conflict. For centuries, this subregion has been a remote area of agropastoralism situated on the sociological and ecological border between the Nile and Turkana basins. At the far eastern tip of the Nile Basin, a sweeping escarpment from Karamoja runs down into the Lake Turkana Basin with major temperature and rainfall gradients that result in significant patterns of transhumance, as the Turkana people to the east seek access to the more plentiful water and grazing resources in Karamoja to the west. In this paper, we call this complex of relations and resources the ‘Karamoja-Turkana Complex’ (KTC) and examine the political-economy relationships therein.
We look at policy on water resources management and development, including choices made on siting and developing water sources, the kinds of narratives employed by the government, and the underlying tensions and conflicts between major social groups sharing these scarce resources. We base our analysis of the situation on a wider assessment of the water management challenges combined with a detailed examination of two large dams – Arachek and Longoromit – recently constructed in the Karamoja subregion.
Findings from the study highlighted that (i) interlinked systems within the KTC can generate new disputes and pressures on resources; (ii) water management within Karamoja and Turkana requires a broader view that extends beyond the watershed, because competition for water is part of the wider context of KTC; and (iii) power structures and processes associated with the development of water structures are important but poorly understood despite continued resource allocation.
The paper makes four recommendations: (i) catchment management institutions need to take ownership of new developments; (ii) a checklist is provided to achieve more effective outcomes from the siting and design of surface water storage structures; (iii) improve management oversight after completion of projects; and (iv) undertake water-pasture management consultations across the KTC.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050631)
(3.75 MB) (3.75 MB)
We propose representation justice as a theoretical lens for socio-hydrology and water governance studies. An exploratory survey of 496 water sector employees in the United States revealed that self-identifying females felt more strongly discriminated against due to their gender and other social factors, compared to self-identifying males. Responses unveiled how macro- and microaggressions impede career pathways to leadership positions and, therefore, representation. We identify ways in which socio-hydrology can benefit from a representation justice lens by considering the following: (1) how power and politics shape the composition of the water sector and decision-making processes; (2) how available quantitative data do not account for lived experiences of individuals in the water sector; and (3) how intersectionality cannot easily be accounted for in current socio-hydrological models. We offer a representation justice research and water management agenda that goes beyond quota filling to include meaningful engagement with diverse groups, lenses, and knowledge.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051047)
(1.87 MB) (1.87 MB)
Inequalities in conditions of access to water are emblematic of contemporary urban life and have long been at the center of urban scholarship. This paper considers the theoretical and empirical potential of a focus on the everyday as a contribution to critical urban water studies. Drawing on research in Political Ecology and Critical Institutionalism, we focus on the intersection of everyday urbanism and water to reflect on whether such perspectives can further understandings of socio-natural inequalities and “real” governance challenges in the urban waterscape. We suggest that a focus on the everyday brings attention to the hybrid arrangements that constitute urban waterscapes and offers new insights to the polycentric nature of water governance, agency, and everyday urban struggles. However, we also outline limitations of these studies in unpacking the concept of the everyday and in capturing the practices through which everyday life is constituted. We explore the potential of an engagement with Practice Theory as a sensitizing lens for developing grounded understandings of everyday life, its constituent practices, and how these change over time. Concurrently, we argue that Practice Theory could be strengthened by drawing on critical approaches that explain everyday urban governance through: (1) the linking of practices to broader patterns of inequality; (2) the multiple social identities of practitioners and the variability in their exercise of agency; (3) the role of institutions as crucial mediating mechanisms and the processes through which practices become enduring institutional arrangements. We, thus, conclude that these approaches are complementary rather than competing.
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