Suchergebnisse

We analyze the hidden mobilities, in physio-spatial, epistemic and social terms that are part and parcel of livelihood strategies in places dominated by informal institutions and authoritarian governance regimes. Soviet and post-Soviet Uzbekistan and Tajikistan serve as empirical references to develop the theoretical perspective. We link this analysis with an analysis of the roles of boundaries, scales and mobilities in general, with special emphasis on the role of formal and informal institutions and on networks of mobility. We thus link a Deleuzian-inspired frame with a new institutionalist perspective on development and discuss the potential of development interventions to alter rules, roles and routes of people and the influence of mobilities, hidden and visible, to alter the effects of development (intervention).

We analyze the shifting selections and roles of knowledge in rapidly evolving rural governance,
exemplified by the complex transition of land governance in Khorezm, a province of Uzbekistan.
Through a study of the evolution of various organizations involved in land governance at
different spatial scales, we reconstruct the changing patterns of formality and informality in the
organization and management of land in this irrigated rural area. These patterns, we argue, are
crucial in understanding which forms of knowledge could and can play a role in spatial decisionmaking.
It is further argued that a widening gap between formal and informal institutions,
aggravated by the rhetorical persistence of Soviet planning mythologies, makes it increasingly
hard to discern which knowledge plays a role in spatial decision‐making. This situation is bound
to hinder planning and development attempts involving the development and application of
knowledge. While many observed mechanisms of knowledge selection seem specific to post‐
Soviet transition, we argue that they are present in every situation where planning mythologies
and path‐dependencies mark the evolution of rural governance, and that they ought to be
studied in their own context before deciding which knowledge could drive development.

It is the poor who suffer most under the impact of climate
change. They are often directly dependent on the natural environment
and have few options to escape the consequences
of change such as poor harvests, water shortages and illness.
Their survival strategies and livelihoods are endangered, in
some cases acutely.
Climate change makes poverty reduction more difficult. First,
it is harder to help people out of poverty when conditions are
increasingly uncertain: but climate projections are often uncertain,
making it difficult to assess the effectiveness of adaptation
measures. Second, there is the danger that climate
change will reduce more people to poverty, increasing the
numbers of those who need assistance while the resources of
those tackling poverty are limited.
This paper presents the consequences of climate change, the
ways climate change is anticipated to develop in future and
aspects which make the poor particularly vulnerable. The focus
is on the measures people themselves can take to maintain
and adapt their livelihood strategies to the changing
climate conditions.
We show how poverty reduction is linked to climate change,
the fundamental goals and criteria of poverty alleviation and
concrete examples of how it can include adaptation to climate
change impacts. Various case studies from Tanzania,
India and Indonesia illustrate in detail how both people's
own adaptation strategies and the work of organisations like
CARE can constitute successful reactions to the consequences
of climate change. Finally, conclusions are drawn in the form
of recommendations for organisations like CARE.
Recommendations for organisations on
povert y reduction
1. Poverty reduction should prioritize adaptation to changing
climatic conditions (not merely coping with them)
and be based on existing local strategies.
2. Local knowledge of relations between climate change
events and local adaptation options should be systematically
included; local populations should also be encouraged
to develop their knowledge.
3. However, existing practices as well as new strategies
should be critically examined applying five criteria (effectiveness,
flexibility, fairness, efficiency and sustainability).
4. Tackling poverty should promote awareness of and independent
local adaptation to those climate change impacts
which have so far attracted less attention.
5. The actual impacts of climate change are extremely hard
to predict. This fact should not be ignored and current
projections taken as "certain" when planning adaptation
measures.
6. The urgency of adaptation to climate change should not
be used to justify measures (such as forced resettlement)
without the agreement of the local population.
7. Poverty reduction measures should be realistic and organizations
should concentrate their energies, aiming to
preserve the poorest people's general resilience and capacity
to act.
8. Profound, broad-based and critical analysis of the extent
of climate change impacts and adaptation measures is essential.
Common recommendations such as diversifying
income have sometimes proved unproductive or counterproductive
in tackling poverty.

Die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels betreffen arme Menschen
besonders stark. Sie sind oft unmittelbar von der natürlichen
Umwelt abhängig und können sich den Folgen der Veränderungen
– Ernterückgänge, Wasserknappheit, Krankheiten – kaum
entziehen. Ihre Strategien der Lebenssicherung und Bedürfnisbefriedigung
(Livelihoods) sind teilweise akut gefährdet.
Klimawandel erschwert die Armutsbekämpfung. Einerseits
wird es schwieriger, unter zunehmend unsicheren Bedingungen
Menschen aus der Armut herauszuhelfen. Klimaprojektionen
sind in vieler Hinsicht unsicher. Entsprechend ungewiss ist,
wie wirksam Anpassungsmaßnahmen sind. Andererseits ist zu
befürchten, dass der Klimawandel noch mehr Menschen in die
Armut stürzen wird. D en begrenzten Kapazitäten der Armutsbekämpfung
wird dann eine immer größer werdende Zahl von
Menschen gegenüberstehen, die Hilfe benötigen.
Die Studie legt dar, worin die Folgen von Klimawandel bestehen,
mit welchem Klimawandel in Zukunft gerechnet werden
muss und wie die Armen demgegenüber besonders anfällig und
verwundbar sind. Im Vordergrund stehen die Möglichkeiten der
Menschen, ihre Liveli-hood-Strategien unter den Bedingungen
des Klimawandels aufrechtzuerhalten und anzupassen.
Es wird gezeigt, wie Armutsbekämpfung mit Klimawandel verbunden
ist, an welchen Zielen und Kriterien sie sich orientieren
sollte und wie sie als Anpassung an Klimawandelfolgen konkret
aussehen kann. Verschiedene Fallbeispiele aus Tansania, Indien
und Indonesien illustrieren ausführlich, inwiefern einerseits die
Anpassungsweisen der Menschen selbst, andererseits die Arbeit
von Organisationen wie CARE erfolgreich auf die Folgen des
Klimawandels reagieren. Abschließend werden Empfehlungen
für Organisationen wie CARE abgeleitet.
Empfehlungen für Organisa tionen zur
Bekämpfung der Armut
1. Armutsbekämpfung sollte vorrangig auf die Anpassung an
klimabedingte Veränderungen (und nicht nur deren Bewältigung)
zielen und sich auf existierende lokale Strategien
stützen.
2. Sie sollte das lokale Wissen zu klimawandelbezogenen
Zusammenhängen und Anpassungsoptionen systematisch
einbinden und dessen Erneuerung fördern.
3. Allerdings sollten die existierenden Praktiken anhand von
fünf Kriterien (Wirksamkeit, Flexibilität, Fairness, Effizienz
und N achhaltigkeit) ebenso kritisch geprüft werden wie
neue Strategien.
4. Armutsbekämpfung sollte das Bewusstsein und die eigenständige
lokale Anpassung gerade auch hinsichtlich bisher
wenig beachteter Klimawandelfolgen fördern.
5. Die konkreten Auswirkungen von Klimawandel sind in
hohem Maße ungewiss. D as sollte nicht dadurch übergangen
werden, dass bei Anpassungsmaßnahmen die derzeit
möglichen Projektionen als "sichere" Erwartungen zugrunde
gelegt werden.
6. Die D ringlichkeit der Anpassung an Klimawandel sollte nicht
dazu führen, dass Anpassung über die lokale Bevölkerung
hinweg (etwa in Form forcierter Umsiedelung) vorgenommen
wird.
7. Armutsbekämpfung sollte im Sinne einer realistischen Ausrichtung
und Bündelung der Kräfte die allgemeine Widerstandsfähigkeit
und Handlungsfähigkeit der Ärmsten erhalten.
8. Die Reichweite von Klimawandelfolgen und von Anpassungsmaßnahmen
sollte tiefgehend, breit und kritisch analysiert
werden. Einschlägige Empfehlungen wie Einkommensdiversifizierung
haben sich teilweise als un- oder kontraproduktiv
im Sinne von Armutsbekämpfung erwiesen.

The ZEF-UNESCO project on Sustainable Management of Land and Water Resources in Uzbekistan addresses the environmental, social and economic problems in the Khorezm province, located within the so-called Aral Sea Zone in Uzbekistan. Currently in its seventh year (third phase), the project aims "to provide sustainable solutions to the Aral Sea region through a holistic approach, combining technology, policy and institutional options developed in cooperation with local and international stakeholders" as stated on the project website. Consequently, the mutually enriching interplay of multiple disciplines is a precondition for a successful project. Inter- and eventually transdisciplinary research, rather than the mere co-existence of different disciplines captured under the notion of 'multidisciplinarity' is the chosen and actively facilitated approach.
A work package is specifically designed to foster the creation of inter- and transdisciplinary research teams around innovation packages developed by the project and identified as possessing 'plausible promises' to take hold in the Khorezm agricultural system. To trigger and sustain this process, a stepwise approach is taken. In a workshop series, four 'Follow the Innovation (FTI)' teams of scientists surrounding innovations were formed, roadmaps prepared and a set of tools and skills for stakeholder interaction taught. A participatory joint experimentation and learning approach was chosen to validate innovations in the farmer's setting. Between the workshops, all four FTI teams are supported and accompanied by a full-time FTI facilitator in their stakeholder outreach and designing and implementing processes of joint experimentation and learning with stakeholders. After the first steps of stakeholder involvement are made and contacts well established, the stakeholders, as partners take part in all following training workshops. Here the further processes of testing, experimenting and jointly adapting the developed innovation packages to match the local needs as well as bio-physical and socio-economic environments are jointly designed with the partners. Additionally this process is continuously monitored, documented, critically discussed and adjusted accordingly by all partners.
This paper seeks to illustrate and discuss the experiences collected so far in nurturing a transdisciplinary process of joint experimentation and learning between researchers and local stakeholders, each in their behaviours, attitudes and actions shaped by the context and culture of their places of origin. These include amongst others the academic disciplines of the researchers, the research project, the local Uzbek setting, shaped by strong hierarchical structures and a post-soviet system of knowledge governance. Thus, diverse forms and contents of knowledge, carried by uniquely socialised actors, shall be mutually exchanged and lead to the joint development of new knowledge, to innovations that 'make sense' in the rural setting of Khorezm/Uzbekistan. The process design, its strengths and weaknesses are outlined and recommendations for improvement discussed.