Conflict and Sustainability in a Changing Environment

Elena P. Bastidas, Gwendolyn Smith

Description

An ‘inside’ view of communities on their path towards sustainable development.

Using a case study of the Trio indigenous peoples in Suriname, Conflict and Sustainability in a Changing Environment presents an inside view of a community facing climate change and on the path toward sustainable development. Smith and Bastidas take the reader beyond an examination of examples from the field of practice and into a thorough case study on climate change. With more than ten years of field experience, Smith and Bastidas present an in-depth, bottom-up analysis of sustainable development, including tools for practitioners, insight for academics and advice to policymakers.

List of Illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction: Local Communities and Sustainable Development; 2. Researching Views in Community Development; 3. New Framework for Researching Views in Community Development; 4. Social Polygraphy: An Approach to Obtaining Information through Mutual Learning; 5. Exploring the Underlying Values; 6. Making Sense of the World; 7. Sustainable Decisions; 8. Working with Community Views; References; Index.

Sujets

• Social sciences
• Research

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 02 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783086092
• Langue: English

Extrait

Conflict and Sustainability in a Changing Environment
Anthem Ecosystem Services and Restoration Series
The Anthem Ecosystem Services and Restoration Series presents lessons for practical decision making by governments, businesses and NGOs seeking to incorporate the language and logic of ecosystem services into their activities. Ecosystems provide valuable services to individuals, organizations and society more generally, but the practical application of this principle is not at all straightforward. Policymakers, businesses and advocacy organizations around the world are developing innovative ways of incorporating ecosystem services into decision making through the creation of markets, trusts and policies of various kinds. This series seeks to develop a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of these initiatives and to generate a more informed understanding of which interventions result in the most effective and sustainable outcomes.
Series Editor
Lawrence Susskind—Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Editorial Board
Marina Alberti—University of Washington, USA
Jayanta Bandyopadhyay—Independent policy researcher in environment and development, India
Robert Costanza—Australian National University, Australia
Marta Echavarría—Ecodecision, Ecuador
Pushpam Kumar—UNEP and University of Liverpool, UK
Matthias Ruth—Northeastern University, USA
Anne Spirn—Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Conflict and Sustainability in a Changing Environment
Through the Eyes of Communities
Gwendolyn Smith
and
Elena P. Bastidas
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2017
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

© Gwendolyn Smith and Elena P. Bastidas 2017

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.

ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-607-8 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-607-6 (Hbk)

This title is also available as an e-book.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: Local Communities and Sustainable Development
Views of Sustainable Development
Communities under New Pressure
Contents of the Book
2. Researching Views in Community Development
Researching Community Views: Existing Frameworks
Researching Views through Conflict-Resolution Frameworks
3. New Framework for Researching Views in Community Development
Construction of a Community View
The Life Story: Values, Meanings and Sustainable Decisions
The VIEW Framework
4. Social Polygraphy: An Approach to Obtaining Information through Mutual Learning
What Is Social Polygraphy?
Theoretical, Conceptual and Methodological Basis of Social Polygraphy
The “How-to” of Social Polygraphy
Limitations of the Social Polygraphy Approach
Alternative Forms of Communication and Mutual Learning
5. Exploring the Underlying Values
The Trio Indigenous People
Values Related to the Collective
Values Related to Social Behavior
Values Related to the Environment
Values Related to Development
Applying the VIEW Framework
6. Making Sense of the World
The Trios’ Interests
The Rules for Survival
The Strategies for Adaptation
The Real Attitude
Applying the VIEW Framework
7. Sustainable Decisions
Conflicting Views
Decision Making under Uncertainty
Applying the VIEW Framework
8. Working with Community Views
Promoting Sustainability under Uncertainty
Bridging Differences in Views
Principles for Researchers and Practitioners
A Message for Policy Makers
References
Index
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1 Countries with high forest cover (>50%) and low deforestation rates (<0.22%/year)
2.1 The system for nature-dependent communities
3.1 The community view during climate change
3.2 Bottom-up and top-down processes for analyzing a community’s view
3.3 VIEW framework: The process for view construction under social and environmental change
4.1 People from the community of Robles drawing maps
4.2 A young Afro-Colombian woman presenting the map constructed by her group
4.3 Map showing what things, relations and processes the community would like to make disappear, conserve and make appear in the future
5.1 The Amazon rain forest and its boundaries
5.2 Local place names in the Trio territory near the village of Kwamalasamutu
5.3 The Trio indigenous peoples
5.4 The village of Kwamalasamutu
5.5 A typical indigenous family from South Suriname
5.6 Indigenous ranger post in the village of Kwamalasamutu
5.7 Values held by the Trio indigenous peoples across the dimensions of sustainable development
6.1 The predictor Poko Poko
6.2 The predictor Ëkui aki
6.3 The nuance indicator Akanopatoro
6.4 The nuance indicator Marakau
6.5 The soil health indicator Karau Alawata
6.6 The forest health indicator Tamo
6.7 The sensitivity indicator Kuweimë
6.8 Subsistence plots on hillsides as an adaptation strategy
6.9 A Trio man and woman working on cognitive maps
6.10 Meaning of climate change generated by the Trio indigenous peoples
7.1 Trio leader participating in the national negotiations
7.2 View of the Trio indigenous peoples on climate change analyzed with the VIEW framework
8.1 Model for collaboration of Trio indigenous peoples in REDD+ projects based on view differences
Tables
3.1 Information and tools required for analysis with the VIEW framework
6.1 Organization of information for understanding the process of meaning making using the VIEW framework. A case study of the Trio indigenous peoples
6.2 Names of seasonal indicators used by the Trio indigenous peoples to detect local climate change
7.1 Overview of the conflicting goals and issues between the Trio indigenous peoples and development organization in REDD+ projects
PREFACE
The green blanket of rain forest seemed never ending until our small, five-person airplane landed in the middle of nowhere, a place full of stilted wooden huts, covered with thatch leaves, playfully situated. The place was called Kwamalasamutu, an indigenous village named after the many bamboo bushes and sandy heaps near an elegantly flowing river. It was my first time so deep in the Amazon rain forest. My mission was to prepare medicines from forest plants together with the nature-dependent group of indigenous peoples called the Trio. After learning a few words of the local language, discussions about my sustainable development project started—with goals, activities, outcomes and indicators. When I explained that they had to collect plants from the forest and cook them into a bottled end product, the Trios were sitting around me, listening attentively and nodding their heads without saying too much.
Trading bottles of herbal medicine to markets outside the village suggested that the Trios could enjoy a steady income, which would also provide precious jobs for the next generation of Trios. A few weeks after my initial explanation about the project, I noticed the Trios hesitating to collect any medicinal plants. I tried to explain the goal and activities once more in my attempt to be clearer than before in my communication with them. Untiringly I kept explaining without receiving a positive response, until I realized there was a discrepancy between my view of sustainability and that of the Trios. And then it struck me: what was I going to teach these people about sustainability in their own journey? The truth was that I could only learn from them.
The Trios have been living in the Amazonian rain forest for an estimated period of 4,900 years. Generations of Trios have been known for their ingenuity in adaptation to and caretaking of their surrounding environment. Resource strategies have always been developed out of past experiences. Failure dictates which strategies these indigenous peoples will choose going forward. Their most important goal is to transfer the useful knowledge to future generations so they can nourish and sustain the forest that supplies their livelihood. Only trading herbal medicines does not fit within this Trio goal.
My quest to understand how indigenous peoples think about sustainability had started. During my observations and interactions with indigenous groups I have seen that the complexity of the view comes alive when an indigenous community experiences an incompatibility with its surroundings. The community seems to exist in a conflict. The conflict with small-scale gold miners, animal traders or other (illegal) groups that are likely to c