Your search found 5 records
1 Hagos, Fitsum; Haileslassie, A.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Mapedza, Everisto; Taffesse, T. 2011. Land and water institutions in the Blue Nile Basin: setups and gaps for improved land and water management. Review of Policy Research, 28(2):149-170. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2011.00487.x]
Institutions ; Diffusion of information ; Policy ; Water resource management ; Land management ; Environmental management ; Watershed management / Africa / Ethiopia / Blue Nile Basin / Tana Sub-basin / Beles Sub-basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H043700)
(0.42 MB)
This study undertook an assessment and gap analysis of the institutional arrangements for improved land and water management in the Tana and Beles Sub-basins highlands of the Blue Nile Basin. We explored the mandates and design features of the major land- and water-related institutional arrangements. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and a literature review were used in the analysis.The results of our work reveal that a lot of progress has been made in creating an institutional framework for improved land and water management and the policies and laws hitherto developed reflect global policy changes consistent with the widespread adoption of the integrated water resources management (IWRM) principles. There are also cases where informal institutions replace formal institutions. Judged by their enforcement, the water resources management, pollution control standards, and regulations and land use rights are not enacted effectively because of poor enforcement capacity. Overall there is a tendency to focus on command-and-control type policies. There is a need to strengthen traditional institutions by drawing lessons from their strengths and establish the legitimacy of these institutions. There is also a need to improve formal policy design, developing policies with specific objectives, goals, targets, and overall institutional changes and resources through active adaptive management to maximize the level and effectiveness of institutional learning. Finally, more focus needs to be given to incentive-based policies through increased use of positive incentives and more emphasis needs to be given to self-enforcement rather than third-party enforcement.
2 Dewachter, S.; Holvoet, N.; Van Aelst, K. 2018. How does water information flow?: intersectionality in water information networks in a rural Ugandan community. Water International, 43(5):553-569. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2018.1495047]
Water supply ; Diffusion of information ; Networks ; Gender ; Education ; Social groups ; Local government ; Rural communities ; Villages ; Socioeconomic environment / Uganda / Bushenyi
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048894)
(1.52 MB)
This article presents evidence of a Ugandan community’s information network related to water services and argues that an intersectional perspective is key to understanding information exclusion processes. Using questionnaire data and social network analysis, the article compares access to water information channels by gender and education level. While men primarily share information with other men, women mainly exchange water information along educational lines. Less-educated women are least likely to receive information from other gender-education groups. Women are also underrepresented in the network of local government officials and consequently lack bridging ties, remaining more dependent on informal information channels.
3 Havinga, I.; Bogaart, P. W.; Hein, L.; Tuia, D. 2020. Defining and spatially modelling cultural ecosystem services using crowdsourced data. Ecosystem Services, 43:101091. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101091]
Ecosystem services ; Cultural factors ; Spatial analysis ; Modelling ; Assessment ; Biodiversity ; Economic aspects ; Diffusion of information ; Social media ; Landscape ; Observation / Netherlands / Texel
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049754)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041620300334/pdfft?md5=a0a68b7cc968f1a2e98b56ff6193556e&pid=1-s2.0-S2212041620300334-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049754.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049754.pdf
(4.65 MB) (4.65 MB)
Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are some of the most valuable contributions of ecosystems to human well-being. Nevertheless, these services are often underrepresented in ecosystem service assessments. Defining CES for the purposes of spatial quantification has been challenging because it has been difficult to spatially model CES. However, rapid increases in mobile network connectivity and the use of social media have generated huge amounts of crowdsourced data. This offers an opportunity to define and spatially quantify CES. We inventoried established CES conceptualisations and sources of crowdsourced data to propose a CES definition and typology for spatial quantification. Furthermore, we present the results of three spatial models employing crowdsourced data to measure CES on Texel, a coastal island in the Netherlands. Defining CES as information-flows best enables service quantification. A general typology of eight services is proposed. The spatial models produced distributions consistent with known areas of cultural importance on Texel. However, user representativeness and measurement uncertainties affect our results. Ethical considerations must also be taken into account. Still, crowdsourced data is a valuable source of information to define and model CES due to the level of detail available. This can encourage the representation of CES in ecosystem service assessments.
4 Carneiro, B.; Resce, G.; Laderach, P.; Schapendonk, F.; Pacillo, G. 2022. What is the importance of climate research? An innovative web-based approach to assess the influence and reach of climate research programs. Environmental Science and Policy, 133:115-126. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.03.018]
Climate change ; Research programmes ; CGIAR ; Food security ; Climate-smart agriculture ; Diffusion of information ; Innovation ; Internet ; Social media ; Digital technology ; Network analysis ; Text mining ; Stakeholders ; Policies
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051061)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901122001058/pdfft?md5=ed4fd9f06b7706fcb16a0699d66ba94d&pid=1-s2.0-S1462901122001058-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051061.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051061.pdf
(7.72 MB) (7.72 MB)
Many parts of the world are increasingly experiencing the effects of climate change, making climate adaptation of rural livelihoods crucial to secure social and economic resilience. While the past two decades have witnessed a significant evolution in climate adaptation policy, evaluating the impact of climate science on policy has remained a challenge. This study employs the Digital Methods epistemology to explore the dynamics of agriculture-focused climate science and changes in attitude towards Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and climate change, using the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) as a case study. By considering online networks and narratives as evidence of “offline” influence, it effectively repurposes publicly available data from digital sources such as social media and websites by employing text mining and social network analysis to assess the influence and reach of the program among stakeholder at various levels. Results show that CCAFS has supported increased public awareness of CSA; that it actively engages with key actors within a network of stakeholders with more than 60 thousand members; that it has positively shifted the debate on climate adaptation among strategic partners through increased message alignment and space in the policy agenda; and that the program’s reach is potentially amplified to 5.8 M users on Twitter.
5 Mekonnen, D. K.; Yimam, S.; Arega, T.; Matheswaran, Karthikeyan; Schmitter, P. M. V. 2022. Relatives, neighbors, or friends: information exchanges among irrigators on new on-farm water management tools. Agricultural Systems, 203:103492. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103492]
Water management ; On-farm research ; Information exchange ; Diffusion of information ; Irrigation schemes ; Field size ; Seeds ; Technology ; Water user groups ; Farmers ; Social aspects ; Households ; Indicators / Ethiopia / Koga Irrigation Scheme
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051432)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X22001287/pdfft?md5=4bd55686ca5a0ec71449baae7e1dfd6a&pid=1-s2.0-S0308521X22001287-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051432.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051432.pdf
(1.72 MB) (1.72 MB)
CONTEXT: On-farm water application in Ethiopia, as in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, is dominated by furrow irrigation, which resulted in inefficient water uses and related economic and environmental problems. A recent project introduced two on-farm water management tools, called wetting front detectors and Chameleon sensors, to some farmers in Koga irrigation scheme and facilitated for other farmers in the quaternary canal, who did not receive the technology, to learn from farmers who installed the tools on their plots.
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate the role of different social ties on information exchanges among farmers when some farmers have the signal on how long to irrigate a field during an irrigation event from on-farm water management tools. The study explored the relative importance of being neighbors, friends, spatial proximity of farms, and project induced pairings.
METHODS: The study used a household survey data from all members of quaternary canals in the project that were in the technology, information, and control groups, as well as detailed network modules on how farmers with plots in the quaternary canal are associated with each other. A fixed effects econometric approach is used to control for time invariant household level and quaternary canal characteristics, while teasing out how the different social ties affect the information flow.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results show that being in purposeful friendships as indicated by knowing each other’s decision on the use of agricultural inputs and its outcome, as well as being spatially proximate as indicated by having farm plots next to each other or usually passing by each other’s plots play a significant role in determining whether information-recipient farmers received information from the technology-recipient farmers as expected. Being relatives or neighbors played a minor role to facilitate information exchanges on how long to irrigate. In addition, ad-hoc pairs of farmers between technology-recipient and information-recipient created through the project within the quaternary canal did not play a significant role above and beyond the existing social ties of friendships and spatial proximity.
SIGNIFICANCE: The findings have implications for effective ways of targeting in future scale up of such technologies as it informs that the roll out of such type of technologies and the extension services around it can better help technology diffusion and learning if they use friends and spatial proximates as anchors of information. That is, at times of over-subscription to such on-farm water management tools, information about the technology and the recommended duration of one irrigation turn can diffuse faster if the limited number of tools are distributed in such a way that friends and spatial proximates have access to a tool, rather than distributing the tools based on being neighbors or relatives.
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate the role of different social ties on information exchanges among farmers when some farmers have the signal on how long to irrigate a field during an irrigation event from on-farm water management tools. The study explored the relative importance of being neighbors, friends, spatial proximity of farms, and project induced pairings.
METHODS: The study used a household survey data from all members of quaternary canals in the project that were in the technology, information, and control groups, as well as detailed network modules on how farmers with plots in the quaternary canal are associated with each other. A fixed effects econometric approach is used to control for time invariant household level and quaternary canal characteristics, while teasing out how the different social ties affect the information flow.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results show that being in purposeful friendships as indicated by knowing each other’s decision on the use of agricultural inputs and its outcome, as well as being spatially proximate as indicated by having farm plots next to each other or usually passing by each other’s plots play a significant role in determining whether information-recipient farmers received information from the technology-recipient farmers as expected. Being relatives or neighbors played a minor role to facilitate information exchanges on how long to irrigate. In addition, ad-hoc pairs of farmers between technology-recipient and information-recipient created through the project within the quaternary canal did not play a significant role above and beyond the existing social ties of friendships and spatial proximity.
SIGNIFICANCE: The findings have implications for effective ways of targeting in future scale up of such technologies as it informs that the roll out of such type of technologies and the extension services around it can better help technology diffusion and learning if they use friends and spatial proximates as anchors of information. That is, at times of over-subscription to such on-farm water management tools, information about the technology and the recommended duration of one irrigation turn can diffuse faster if the limited number of tools are distributed in such a way that friends and spatial proximates have access to a tool, rather than distributing the tools based on being neighbors or relatives.
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