Suchergebnisse

A brief handbook entry on political ecology, as an approach in environmental studies.

Keynote II argued that the "context" for smallholder farming has a significant effect on livelihood outcomes and the success of technological interventions. "Context" includes adaptive skill, and a wide set of constraints. African farmers are quite capable of managing their own genetic resources, innovating, finding markets and diversifying livelihood systems in the absence of severe structural constraints, as Paul Richards, Mike Mortimore, Robert Netting and others have argued. But the "constraints" operating in African and Asian farming systems have been magnified in recent decades by large scale land acquisitions, conflicts over land tenure, city growth, environmental challenges and displacement through civil war and rebel groups. Responding to these problems is a necessary precursor to achieving any widespread success through external technical interventions; food security and 'Climate Smart Agriculture' first involves recognising, understanding and tackling different forms of vulnerability, and the role of states, corporations and elites in creating it. I develop some ideas about how to do so, based on studies in Timor Leste, Niger, Cameroon and Burkina Faso.

There have been a range of protests against the high journal subscription costs, and author processing charges (APCs) levied for publishing in the more prestigious and commercially run journals that are favoured by geographers. But open protests across the sector like the 'Academic Spring' of 2012, and challenges to commercial copyright agreements, have been fragmented and less than successful. I renew the argument for 'socially just' publishing in geography. For geographers this is not limited to choosing alternative publication venues. It also involves a considerable effort by senior faculty members that are assessing hiring and promotion cases, to read and assess scholarship independently of its place of publication, and to reward the efforts of colleagues that offer their work as a public good. Criteria other than the citation index and prestige of a journal need to be foregrounded. Geographers can also be publishers, and I offer my experience editing the free online Journal of Political Ecology.

There have been a range of protests against the high journal subscription costs, and author processing charges (APCs) levied for publishing in the more prestigious and commercially run journals that are favoured by geographers. But open protests across the sector like the 'Academic Spring' of 2012, and challenges to commercial copyright agreements, have been fragmented and less than successful. I renew the argument for 'socially just' publishing in geography. For geographers this is not limited to choosing alternative publication venues. It also involves a considerable effort by senior faculty members that are assessing hiring and promotion cases, to read and assess scholarship independently of its place of publication, and to reward the efforts of colleagues that offer their work as a public good. Criteria other than the citation index and prestige of a journal need to be foregrounded. Geographers can also be publishers, and I offer my experience editing the free online Journal of Political Ecology.

A key element of sustainable development in cities is the implementation of more effective, less polluting, and equitable transportation policy. This article examines the role of activist organizations promoting transport alternatives in London, Britain's capital city and its largest metropolitan area. Major national, citywide, and local policy changes have permitted citizens' groups to work more actively with progressive elements in government planning, breaking down citizen-expert divides. In West London, the most congested sector of the metropolis, an environmentally based social network, the Ealing Cycling Campaign, promotes cycling as a sustain-able transport alternative. Its strategies require active cooperation with the local state rather than radical opposition to it, raising questions about the oppositional stance more commonly found among urban social movements. Environmental citizenship needs to be founded on social realities and conduced in mainstream political systems if it is to be effective in complex urban environments.

A key element of sustainable development in cities is the implementation of more effective, less polluting, & equitable transportation policy. This article examines the role of activist organizations promoting transport alternatives in London, Britain's capital city & its largest metropolitan area. Major national, citywide, & local policy changes have permitted citizens' groups to work more actively with progressive elements in government planning, breaking down citizen-expert divides. In West London, the most congested sector of the metropolis, an environmentally based social network, the Ealing Cycling Campaign, promotes cycling as a sustainable transport alternative. Its strategies require active cooperation with the local state rather than radical opposition to it, raising questions about the oppositional stance more commonly found among urban social movements. Environmental citizenship needs to be founded on social realities & conduced in mainstream political systems if it is to be effective in complex urban environments. 34 References. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications, Inc.]

batterbury reviews 'Hoe and Wage: A social history of a circular migration system in West Africa' by Dennis D. Cordell, Joel W. Gregory and Victor Piche.

Batterbury reviews 'Burkina Faso: New Life for the Sahel?' by Robin Sharp, 'Le Burkina Faso contemporain: L'experience d'un auto-developpement' by Helmut Asche, 'Behind the Lines of Stone' by Nick Atampugre and 'Sahel Visions' by Della McMillan.