Suchergebnisse

This presentation discusses a study of the impacts of Uganda's forest sector governance reforms on rural livelihoods and sustainability. "Improved rural livelihoods and sustainability are among the expected outcomes of forest sector governance reforms. There is limited empirical evidence of the impact of reforms, particularly at the household level. There are often trade-offs between achieving favorable livelihood outcomes and sustainable forest management; are there conditions that favor both?" ; LTRA-1 (Decentralization Reforms and Property Rights)

Using data from 433 firms operating along Uganda's charcoal and timber supply chains we investigate patterns of bribe payment and tax collection between supply chain actors and government officials responsible for collecting taxes and fees. We examine the factors associated with the presence and magnitude of bribe and tax payments using a series of bivariate probit and Tobit regression models. We find empirical support for a number of hypotheses related to payments, highlighting the role of queuing, capital-at-risk, favouritism, networks, and role in the supply chain. We also find that taxes crowd-in bribery in the charcoal market.

Governments are devolving service and infrastructure provision, regulatory authority, and decisionmaking in many developing countries. Market reforms and structural adjustment policies devolve the provision of services and infrastructure to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and the private sector (Farrington and Bebbington 1993; Uphoff 1993; Pender and Scherr 2002). The transition from the provision of extension services, input supply, rural credit delivery, regulation, and other aspects of natural resource management from centralized governments to alternative institutions may have significant implications for the capacity of smallholders to sustainably manage their resources. ; PR ; IFPRI1; GRP5; Theme 5; Theme 3; Subtheme 3.2; Governance structures and policy processes; Managing natural resources; Environment and Natural Resource Management; DCA ; EPTD

Metadata only record ; Land management policy in Uganda is formed through the work of various organizations and programs. However, community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are being called upon to be the primary providers of these services in the medium term, given the significant delay in effective private sector intervention. The chapter seeks to understand organizations and programs in Uganda and to study whether household-level adoption of land management technologies is influenced by household and/or community involvement in organizations and programs. If involvement in such programs/organizations does prove to have an influence on technology adoption, then there will be a case for the provision of incentives to ensure the sustainability and development of such programs, especially in areas less serviced by such initiatives. The article contains a short history of what roles organizations and programs have played in Uganda since the 1950s. The article conveys an econometric analysis and conceptual framework of qualities of organizations/programs and their impacts on the integration of land management technologies. The study found that increased female participation in organizations may boost household adoption of land management techniques, families with weak social capital may be excluded from such organizations, and lower-income families may be more inclined to be involved in such programs to learn about further farm/non-farm opportunities. The article discusses several policy implications from the study and calls upon pertinent actors to consider the mentioned factors/influences in the adoption of policy and the provision of services.

In recent years the planting of eucalyptus trees in Ethiopia has expanded from State owned plantations to community woodlots and household compounds. The regional government promotes planting of eucalyptus and other species in community woodlots, and has recently begun to allow private planting of eucalyptus on community wasteland and steep hillsides. In this paper, the authors review the debate about the ecological impacts of eucalyptus trees, as well as the economic factors that influence whether smallholders invest in these trees. Ex ante benefit-cost analysis based on community level survey data from Tigray illustrates that under most conditions planting eucalyptus trees yields high rates of return, well above 20% under most circumstances. The effect of variable harvest rates, the costs of decreased crop production when eucalyptus trees are planted on farmlands, and differences between administrative zones are considered relative to our base case in our rate of return estimates. The importance of fast growing tree species that can accommodate the high discount rates associated with smallholders in this region is emphasized. ; GRP5; IFPRI3; ISI ; EPTD ; PR

The government of Uganda is currently decentralizing many of its services including those directly related to agriculture and the environment. Non-government organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) are being asked to take the lead in the provision of government services such as agricultural extension during the transition to demand driven fee-for-service. This paper explores the role of government programs, NGOs and CBOs in the adoption of land management technologies. We find that government programs were better distributed throughout Uganda and were more likely to operate in poorer areas than NGOs and CBOs. This raises the question of whether or not incentives should be provided for NGOs and CBOs to locate or evolve in less-favored areas. Our analysis of household level involvement in organizations between 1990 and 2000 indicates that female-headed households, households with higher proportions of women, and households with higher levels of natural resource dependence were more likely than other households to be involved in organizations whose main focus was not agriculture or the environment. We also found that social capital is an important determinant of organizational participation. The results of our analysis indicate that the presence of an agriculture or environment focused program or organization at the community level had a negative effect on the adoption of animal manuring and a positive affect on the adoption of pesticides. This suggests that spillover effects of programs and organizations may be greater for technologies that have short-term benefits, and which require some degree of coordination to be most effective. Household level involvement in an agriculture or environment focused organization had a positive effect on the adoption of inorganic fertilizer and mulching. Adoption of land management technologies such as manuring that yield longer-term benefits apparently do not spill over to non-participants in local programs and organizations. Thus, direct involvement of households in programs and organizations that promote such technologies may be necessary to ensure technology diffusion throughout communities. This information may be taken as an indicator of the effectiveness or impact of agriculture and environment focused organizations in Uganda, and should be considered in the broader context of the government devolution of services to NGOs and CBOs. Our findings indicate that careful consideration needs to be given to the potential for NGOs and CBOs to fulfill the roles traditionally filled by government programs in the context of land management. The limited impact of agriculture and environment focused organizations on technology adoption is discouraging though may be linked to the limited profitability of technology adoption in the short-run. ; Non-PR ; GRP5; IFPRI1 ; EPTD

In recent years the planting of eucalyptus trees in Ethiopia has expanded from State owned plantations to community woodlots and household compounds. In an environment suffering from severe woody biomass shortages water scarcity, erosion and land degradation, fast growing and resilient eucalyptus species perform better than most indigenous woodland and forest tree species (as well as most crops). In addition to increasing biomass and providing ground cover, the sale of eucalyptus poles and products has substantial potential to raise farm incomes, reduce poverty, increase food security and diversify smallholder-farming systems in less-favored areas of northern Ethiopia. Despite the potential for eucalyptus to improve rural livelihoods in northern Ethiopia in 1997, the regional government of Tigray imposed a ban on eucalyptus tree planting on farmlands. The regional government promotes planting of eucalyptus and other species in community woodlots, and has recently begun to allow private planting of eucalyptus on community wasteland and steep hillsides. In this paper, we review the debate about the ecological impacts of eucalyptus trees, as well as the economic factors that influence whether smallholders invest in these trees. Ex ante benefit-cost analysis based on community level survey data from Tigray illustrates that under most conditions planting eucalyptus trees yields high rates of return, well above 20% under most circumstances. The effect of variable harvest rates, the costs of decreased crop production when eucalyptus trees are planted on farmlands, and differences between administrative zones are considered relative to our base case in our rate of return estimates. The importance of fast growing tree species that can accommodate the high discount rates associated with smallholders in this region is emphasized. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; GRP5 ; EPTD

With over 3 billion people dependent on traditional cooking and heating technologies, efforts to address the health burden of exposure to household air pollution (HAP), as well as other sociodemographic impacts associated with energy poverty, are central to sustainable development objectives. Yet despite overwhelming scientific consensus on the health burden of HAP exposure, particularly harms to impoverished women and children in developing countries, advocates currently lack a human rights framework to mitigate HAP exposure through improved access to cleaner household energy systems. This article examines the role of human rights in framing state obligations to mitigate HAP exposure, supporting environmental health for the most vulnerable through intersectional obligations across the human right to health, the collective right to development, and women's and children's rights. Drawing from human rights advocacy employed in confronting the public health harms of tobacco, we argue that rights-based civil society advocacy can structure the multi-sectoral policies necessary to address the impacts of HAP exposure and energy poverty, facilitating accountability for human rights implementation through international treaty bodies, national judicial challenges and local political advocacy. We conclude that there is a pressing need to build civil society capacity for a rights-based approach to cleaner household energy policy as a means to alleviate the environmental health effects of energy poverty.