Sustainable water management in the intermediate zone of the Sokuluk river basin, Tien-Shan, Kyrgyzstan – issues and options from an integrative perspective
Bakyt Askaraliev, 2008
In Russian
PhD thesis at the Kyrgyz Agrarian University, Bishkek
Title: Water discharge stabilizer for irrigation systems of the Sokuluk river basin
Bakyt Askaraliev, Viktor Bilenko, G. Frolova, Natalia Ivanova, 2007
Bulletin of Kyrgyz Agrarian University 1(7):263-267
"Should I buy a cow or a TV?"
Reflections on the conceptual framework of the NCCR North-South based on a comparative study of international labour migration in Mexico, India and Kyrgyzstan
International labour migration has become a strategy against poverty in many parts of the developing world. By remitting their earnings to the families they leave behind, migrant labourers have become a primary source of livelihoods for many of the world's poorest nations. The long-term consequences of this practice on local development are the subject of this study, based on reseach conducted in three rural communities in Mexico, India and Kyrgyzstan.
This book provides the first systematic analysis of peace-building in Central Asia for inter-ethnic conflicts over water and land in the Ferghana Valley based on concrete, in-depth and on-site investigation. The core analysis centres on peacebuilding projects in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan by three international aid agencies – an international NGO, a bilateral governmental donor and a multilateral agency – and the shared approach which the donors developed and used for conflict transformation. Using ethnographic case material, the author critically examines both the theoretical assumptions guiding this approach and its empirical outcomes when put into practice. Building on existing work in conflict transformation and the ethnography of international assistance in Central Asia, the book sheds light on Western attempts to transform the post-socialist societies of Central Asia and provides fresh empirical data on and insights into irrigation practices, social institutions, and state and identity formation in the Ferghana Valley.
The book was published by Routledge in its Central Asian Studies series.
"The present study focuses on irrigation disputes and 'conflict transformation' in Central Asia. It analyses three projects by international and bilateral donors who share common approach to transforming irrgation conflicts in the Ferghana Valley. [...] Three major research foci guide this study. First, it addresses the environment-conflict nexus. It explores the relationship between irrigation and the occurence of inter-group conflict. Second, the thesis examines the prescriptive approach of 'conflict transformation'. It focuses on the norms and values that construe conflict and its mitigation. Third, the research addresses the issue of power. It examines both conflicts and interventions studied for their embeddedness in power relations."
For further information, please contact the author
In Search of Harmony: Repairing Infrastructure and Social Relations in the Ferghana Valley
The article focuses on continuity and change in natural resource institutions in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Two main trends have characterised the management of water, agricultural land and pastures since the country became independent in 1991. First, while natural resources were collective and state-owned during the Soviet period, they are now being gradually privatised and passed into individual or group ownership. Second, by contrast with central administration under the Soviet regime, after independence natural resource management has been and is increasingly being decentralised to the community level. We suggest that these processes have created a new concept of the ‘private’, defined as clearly assigned property rights as opposed to ‘commons’, and individual or group ownership as opposed to ‘public’ ownership. We attempt here to analyse how privatisation and decentralisation have created new property relations and new forms of natural resource governance.
In: Hurni H, Wiesmann U, editors; with an international group of co-editors. Global Change and Sustainable Development: A Synthesis Regional Experiences from Research Partnerships. Perspectives of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South, University of Bern, Vol. 5. Bern, Switzerland: Geographica Bernensia, pp 255-269.
The Tajik Pamirs: High mountain areas: a wildlife habitat
Cristina Boschi, Andrea Haslinger, Riccarda Lüthi , Bernhard Nievergelt, 2003
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The paper presents the results of a multi-year baseline study project in which 10 sectors ranging from agriculture to natural hazards were assessed by a transdisciplinary Swiss–Tajik research team. This knowledge base was enhanced in a development strategy workshop that brought together stakeholders from the local to the international levels. The methodology applied was found appropriate to initiate a broad reflection and negotiation process among various stakeholder groups, leading to a joint identification of possible measures to be taken. Knowledge—and its enhancement through the involvement of all stakeholder levels—appeared to be an effective carrier of innovation and changes of attitudes, thus containing the potential to effectively contribute to sustainable development in marginalized and resource-poor mountain areas.
The goals of this study were on the one hand to generate knowledge on the status of and dynamics of the different dimensions of sustainability in the Tajik Pamirs. This process not only consisted of the compilation of features in the economic, socio-cultural and ecological spheres, but also included the appraisal and negotiation of development objectives by different stakeholders levels for a development strategy of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). On the other hand this study was dedicated to appraise land resources problems, land degradation causes and sustainable land management opportunities from a stakeholder perspective. From a conceptual point of view, the research looked at knowledge at different stakeholder levels and its role for sustainable land management.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
This study provides an integral analysis of the energy situation and its consequences for land and energy resource use in rural areas of the Tajik Pamirs. It focuses on three main topics: (1) Energy consumption patterns at household and village levels, (2) use of micro and mini hydropower stations and their potential to relieve pressure on local biomass fuels, and (3) land degradation related to unsustainable energy resource use.
The aim of this paper is to identify, document and analyse the change in land use systems as a consequence of the privatisation of agriculture in Kyrgyzstan.
Conference paper for the 24th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society July 23-27, 2006 Nijmegen, The Netherlands
The paper outlines a conceptual framework for a dynamic model for collective irrigation management. Furthermore a preliminary causal loop diagram for the interaction of upstream- and downstream users is presented. The study builds on the results of a workshop with local participants in Kyrgyzstan on sustainable regional development and on the literature on collective resource management.
Frontier Encounters: Indigenous communities and settlers in Asia and Latin America
Danilo Geiger, Marina T. Campos, Christian Erni, Søren Hvalkov, Sabino Padilla, Jr., Devasish Roy, Ranabir Samaddar, 2008
Poverty and the maldistribution of land in core areas of developing countries, together with state schemes for the colonization of unruly peripheries, have forced indigenous peoples and settlers into an uneasy co-existence. On the basis of case study material from various Asian and Latin American countries, Frontier Encounters identifies characteristic patterns of interaction between these groups, explores the dynamics of some of the open conflicts that dot the map of the two continents, and situates them in the context of the politics and economics of the “frontier”.
Daniel Geiger is a doctoral candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of Luzern, Switzerland. He has lectured on political anthropology and indigenous movements. His research experience includes fieldwork in the Philippines and Indonesia. Under the auspices of the NCCR North-South, he has coordinated a comparative research project on conflicts between indigenous communities and settlers in South and Southeast Asia.
In the Tajik National Park (TNP) - a high-altitude area of nearly 26,000 km2 in Central Asia - past and present human activities visibly contrast with standard conservation requirements for protected areas worldwide. This paper focuses on resource management, and highlights three major processes that threaten both the sustainable use of natural resources and the preservation of nature per se: (i) intensified use of biomass as a fuel resource, (ii) inappropriate pasture management, and (iii) increased pressure on endangered wildlife. From analysis of these processes - their historical background, root causes, trends and interrelationships - options and needs to improve park management are proposed and discussed.
"The sustainable use of energy resources in semi-arid rural mountain areas is a common but still unresolved problem, often resulting in environmental degradation. In a post-Soviet setting the identification of possible solutions poses specific challenges. [...] The study revealed that the close interlinkage between local energy resource use and land degradation leads to a paradoxical situation in present energy consumption. The scarcer the local energy resource base, the higher the overall energy consumption at household level appears to be. It can further be concluded that since 1991 energy consumption patterns in the Tajik Pamirs have become comparable to patterns in semi-arid rural mountain regions of developing countries. Like many countries in the South, the Tajik Pamirs suffer from chronic energy scarcity, unsatisfactory supply of modern energy carriers and unsustainable use of local biomass fuels, leading to land degradation. This calls for a reassessment of the energy policy orientation for Tajikistan."
The breakdown of the Soviet Union had significant effects for the people of the isolated Tajik Pamir Mountains. Since the independence of Tajikistan increasing poverty, dependence from foreign aid, and degradation of the ecosystem are obvious. At the same time the Pamir Mountains show high potentials regarding hydropower, the unique beauty of the landscape, and the high level of education. However, up to now these potentials have not been exploited. For the conservation of the Pamir Mountains as unique landscape and habitat and for a sustainable use of the available resources the Pamir Strategy Project has been implemented in 2001 and 2002. Knowledge about the status and the dynamics of this region has been gathered and made available in order to support the elaboration of a development strategy.
Humankind today is challenged by numerous threats brought about by the speed and scope of global change dynamics. A concerted and informed approach to solutions is needed to face the severity and magnitude of current development problems. Generating shared knowledge is a key to addressing global challenges. This requires developing the ability to cross multiple borders wherever radically different understandings of issues such as health and environmental sanitation, governance and conflict, livelihood options and globalisation, and natural resources and development exist.
Global Change and Sustainable Development presents 36 peer-reviewed articles written by interdisciplinary teams of authors who reflected on results of development-oriented research conducted from 2001 to 2008. Scientific activities were – and continue to be – carried out in partnerships involving people and institutions in the global North, South and East, guided by principles of sustainability. The articles seek to inform solutions for mitigating, or adapting to, the negative impacts of global dynamics in the social, political, ecological, institutional and economic spheres.
For the print version, please send your order to: (price: CHF 45.00 / EUR 30.00, excluding postage)
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
Substantiation of selection of research region on sustainable water resources management on the irrigation systems of Chui Valley of Kyrgyzstan
Natalia Ivanova, Bakyt Askaraliev, Viktor Bilenko, 2004
The choice of the research region on sustainable water resource management is based on history, topography, river network, water distribution, geology, and soils. Focus is put on the effects of the economic transition and the availability of data on climate and soil. Based on that six criteria were defined and used for selection leading to the conclusion that Sokuluk river is a typical one for Chuy Valley of Kyrgyzstan.
The thesis contributes to an improved understanding of how the ecological dimension becomes manifest in the negotiation of sustainable regional development, how meanings about an issue under negotiation are constructed, and whose ascribed meanings are decisive in concretising a way forward.
Access to Water for irrigation in Post-Soviet Agriculture
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in the Sokuluk River Basin.
Report from the ALS-Workshop commissioned to CAMP, Bielagorka, 2-5 August 2004.
Aina Oskonbaevna Mamytova, Tashtan Kochkunbaev, 2004
Description of a seminar including purposes, tasks, programme, methodology, and training processes of the seminar. In a second part results and conclusions from each 'day sessions' are presented.
Report from the ALS-Workshop commissioned to CAMP, Bielagorka, 2-5 August 2004.
This paper summarises research activities related to water and water management carried out mainly in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan between 2002 and 2008, and anchors them in a broader regional water management context. Results show that climate change and socio-political transformation processes have heavy impacts on the condition of natural resources as well as on people's livelihoods. While rapid glacier retreat is providing more water for agriculture, river flow modelling suggests a forward shift of the main water discharge from the end of July to June. This may lead to more acute water shortages in the lowlands towards the end of the summer period. Dilapidated irrigation infrastructure, institutional failures, and inappropriate use of water by inexperienced farmers are the main reasons why less than 30% of the water reaches its final destination. [...]
In: Hurni H, Wiesmann U, editors; with an international group of co-editors. Global Change and Sustainable Development: A Synthesis of Regional Experiences from Research Partnerships. Perspectives of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South, University of Bern, Vol. 5. Bern, Switzerland: Geographica Bernensia, pp 223-239.
Paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, Edinburgh, 28 March to 2 April 2003
This paper focuses on the linkages between international and subnational water conflicts in the Eastern Nile and Syr Daria Basins. It follows the notion of “conflict system”, to conceptualize dynamic linkages between different “water conflict arenas”. The aim of our paper is to categorize possible linkages, describe examples and explore implications for water conflict mitigation, with the goal of a better problem-solving potential.
Master's Thesis, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland
In this study, patterns of malaria distribution in Tajikistan were assessed with existing malaria incidence data from passive reporting systems. Spatial and seasonal distribution of malaria incidence was presented in a GIS, and the influence of main environmental factors was analysed. Results from analysing the correlation between monthly means of daily average temperature and malaria incidence imply that low temperatures limit malaria transmission seasonally and spatially in Tajikistan. Temperature appears to be the main driving factor for the seasonality of malaria transmission in the country. Three categories of risk zones were characterised and used to derive recommendations regarding geographical priorities in malaria control activities.
The Tajik Pamirs: A rich historical and cultural heritage
Robert Middleton, 2003
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
This newspaper article deals with the workshop of PAMS "Research based policy advocacy & dialogues for sustainable forest governance" organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with the NCCR North-South, held in Islamabad on 6th July 2010.
Information on migration is very rare at present. People involved in research, planning as well as policy and advocacy demand it much. In view of consolidating information on migration, we first published Migration Year Book in 2006. It received very positive response. That encouraged us to publish similar Year Books in the following years continuously including additional information on students’ migration and other pertinent issues. This Migration Year Book 2009 is an outcome of it. This issue tries to include information on the undocumented labour migration leading to casualties and fraudulent cases. It also highlights the internal migration, migration between India and Nepal, and the Internally Displaced People within the country. We hope that this issue helps researchers, policy-makers, members of different political parties, students and general public.
The status and dynamics of glaciers are crucial for agriculture in semiarid parts of Central Asia, since river flow is characterized by major runoff in spring and summer, supplied by glacier- and snowmelt. Ideally, this coincides with the critical period of water demand for irrigation. The present study shows a clear trend in glacier retreat between 1963 and 2000 in the Sokoluk watershed. The overall area loss of 28% between 1963–2000, and a clear acceleration of wastage since the 1980s, correlate with the results of previous studies. In particular, glaciers smaller than 0.5 km2 have exhibited this phenomenon most starkly. While they registered a medium decrease of only 9.1% for 1963–1986, they lost 41.5% of their surface area between 1986 and 2000. Furthermore, an increase in the minimum glacier elevation of 78 m has been observed over the last three decades. This corresponds to about one-third of the entire retreat of the minimum glacier elevation in the Northern Tien Shan since the Little Ice Age maximum.
With the current attention given to climate change and global warming, the issue of “environmental security” is back high on the agenda of the international community. Environmental degradation is increasingly considered as a potential cause for the (re-)emergence of violent conflicts due to shrinking natural resources such as drinkable water and land. However, research on the issue has shown that there is very little empirical evidence of a direct causal link between environmental degradation and violent conflict. In order to set effective priorities for environmental peacebuilding, it is important to understand - particularly in situations of environmental stress - how natural resource conflicts are embedded in social and political dynamics, how they are managed by local institutions, and how these institutional arrangements can be supported through outside intervention. Based on a research project conducted by swisspeace within the framework of the NCCR North-South, the swisspeace annual conference 2007 explored those complex linkages and formulated entry points for improving intervention strategies by external actors.
During the Soviet era, malaria was close to eradication. However, since the early 1990s, the disease has been on the rise again. Analysis revealed high rates of malaria transmission and clearly indicates that malaria is a serious health issue in specific regions of Tajikistan.
The Tajik Pamirs: The geological setting: hazards and potentials
Jean Schneider, 2003
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
Migration and Livestock Farming: Competing or Complementary Livelihood Strategies
A Case Study of Ylaitalaa, Kyrgyzstan
Nadia Schoch, 2008
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to the breakdown of a complex economic system and resulted in a huge economic crisis and rising poverty in Kyrgyzstan. As a consequence, predominantly economically motivated migration became an important livelihood strategy to diversify the sources of income. Remittances sent to the remaining relatives have become an essential income source for many households. Besides labour migration, livestock farming with the use of pastures remains important for rural ivelihoods.
Though, evidence from research reveals, that on the one hand livestock farming is increasingly financed through remittances. On the other hand, migration leads to absence of work forces on household level. This setting of either complementing of competing livelihood strategies in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan are analysed within this study. The aim of the study is to understand the effects of migration on household organisation and livestock farming.
This paper attempts to analyse the trust, power relations and emerging conflicts as state and non-state actors try to adjust to their new roles in the perspective of participatory forest management initiatives in Pakistan and Tanzania. Based on historical and empirical context, we argue that the institutional base responsible for enhancing trust between state and local actors is rather weak in both countries. The major obstacles are that the state actors are not willing to fully devolve power; and the responsibility - as delegated by the state - of newly created institutions demands forest protection rather than defining management rights.
Anthropogenic dynamic and transformation of Kyrgyz range vegetation
Jyldyz Shigaeva, L Fillipovskaya, A Nasyrova , V. Shikhotov, 2005
In Russian.
Proceedings of IUK Conference, November 25-26, 2005. Vol. 4. Bishkek, pp 225-235.
The sudden independence of Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a total rupture of industrial and agricultural production. Based on empirical data, this study seeks to identify key land use transformation processes since the late 1980s, their impact on people’s livelihoods and the implication for natural resources in the communes of Tosh Bulak and Saz, located in the Sokoluk River Basin on the northern slope of the Kyrgyz Range.
This conference paper examines past and current land use and its impact on land resources, as well as the formation of new livelihood strategies in a post soviet environment. The paper explores the case of a side valley (the Sokuluk River Basin, SRB) of the Chuy valley in northern Kyrgyzstan. This semiarid, and intensively irrigated area is one of the country’s most important breadbasket.
Open Science Conference on Global Change in Mountain Regions, Perth, Scotland, 2-6 October 2005
Inclusive Land Policy and Human Security in Post-Conflict Situation: A Study of Parsauni and Pratapur VDCs of Nawalparasi District
Lisa Shrestha , 2009
Land is a very strategic socio-economic asset in an agrarian economy where wealth and survival are measured by control of, and access to, land. It is also the source for inequity, power struggle and conflict. This study is thus carried out with an objective to examine the inter-relationship between access to land and human security in post conflict situation.
It is found that the policy and power plays a significant role in creating land based inequities. The role of migrant landholders is found to be more significant in the armed conflict than the indigenous groups. The sole reason for armed conflict is found to be the land based inequities and power relation between the large and marginal landholders. However, the real actors are not satisfied with the outcome of the armed conflict as land based inequities are left unaddressed. As a consequence, they feel there are chances of another form of armed conflict.
The Tajik Pamirs: The industrial and service sectors
Patrick Sieber, 2003
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Pakistan Forest Digest (PFD) is a quarterly series of digests focused on the forest related issues, government and non-government endeavors, community concerns and rights reported by the leading Pakistani newspapers and periodicals.
The Pakistan Forest Digest (PFD) is a quarterly series of digests focused on the forest related issues, government and non-government endeavors, community concerns and rights reported by the leading Pakistani newspapers and periodicals.
The Pakistan Forest Digest (PFD) is a quarterly series of digests focused on the forest related issues, government and non-government endeavors, community concerns and rights reported by the leading Pakistani newspapers and periodicals.
The Pakistan Forest Digest (PFD) is a quarterly series of digests focused on the forest related issues, government and non-government endeavors, community concerns and rights reported by the leading Pakistani newspapers and periodicals.
Processes of migration are embedded in social networks, more recently conceptualised as social capital, from sending households to migrants’ formal and informal associations at their destinations. These processes are often assumed to reduce individuals, households and economies’ vulnerabilities and thus attract policy-makers’ attention to migration management. The paper aims to conceptualise the gendered interface between social capital and vulnerability. It utilises Bourdieu’s notion of social capital as an analytical starting point. To illuminate our conceptual thoughts we refer to empirical examples from migration research from various Asian countries.
Bourdieu’s theory highlights the social construction of gendered vulnerability. It goes beyond that by identifying the investment in symbolic capital of female honour as an indirect investment in social and, ultimately, economic capital.
Achieving sustainable development requires knowledge-based and value-conscious social, political, and economic decisions and actions at multiple levels. Research aiming to support sustainable development must co-produce knowledge at the interfaces between disciplines, between science and society, between knowledge cultures in the global North, South, and East, and between global visions and local realities, while remaining rooted in solid disciplinary foundations. Research for Sustainable Development presents 29 articles in which interdisciplinary teams reflect on the foundations of sustainability-oriented research, on concepts, tools, and approaches to overcome the challenges of such research, and on specific issues of sustainable development.
For the print version, please send your order to: (price: CHF 45.00 / EUR 30.00, excluding postage)
"Efficient planning of soil conservation measures requires, first, to understand the impact of soil erosion on soil fertility with regard to local land cover classes; and second, to identify hot spots of soil erosion and bright spots of soil conservation in a spatially explicit manner. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important indicator of soil fertility. The aim of this study was to conduct a spatial assessment of erosion and its impact on SOC for specific land cover classes. Input data consisted of extensive ground truth, a digital elevation model and Landsat 7 imagery from two different seasons. [...] The results show distinctly lower SOC content levels on large parts of the test areas, where annual crop cultivation was dominant in the 1990s and where cultivation has now been abandoned. On the other hand, there are strong indications that afforestations and fruit orchards established in the 1980s have been successful in conserving soil resources."
The Tajik Pamirs: Energy: a precondition for development
Daniel Zibung, 2003
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The Tajik Pamirs: Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Isolated Mountain Region: The present publication provides a summary of the outcomes of the Pamir Strategy Project (PSP). It portrays life in the Pamirs, along with development challenges and options, and presents practical and participatory approaches that can lead to sustainable mountain development. In addition, this publication outlines the lessons learnt within the PSP by presenting and evaluationg methods and apporaches such as participatory village studies, multi-level stakeholder workshops for strategy development, knowledge generation processes, and Geographic Information Systmes as decision support tools for sustainable mountain development.
The NCCR North-South is hosted by the University of Bern
and funded jointly by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
