PLEC NEWS AND VIEWSarchive.unu.edu/env/plec/pnv/PNV2 · PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS No. 2 – February 1994...

The United NationsUniversity

PLEC NEWS AND VIEWSNo. 2 – February 1994

A Newsletter of the United Nations University Projectof Collaborative Research on Population, LandManagement and Environmental Change (PLEC

Edited by Harold BrookfieldScientific Coordinator

Produced in the Department of Anthropology, Division of Societyand Environment, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,The Australian National University for the United Nations University

ISSN 1020 0843

The clusters of PLEC

P L E C N E W S A N D V I E W S No. 2, FEBRUARY1994

CONTENTS

Page

POPULATION, LAND MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE (PLEC)A short statement by the Scientific Advisory Group 1

THE CHIANG MAI GENERAL PROJECT MEETING30 May to 3 June 1994 2

FROM THE EDITOR: PLEC NEWS 3

Half a Year of Progress and Uncertainty 3

The Coordinators and the Scientific Advisory Group 6

Special AnnouncementA PLEC Special Number of Global Environmental Change 9

REPORTS FROM THE CLUSTERS 10

West Africa 10

East Africa 14

Northern Thailand and Southern Yunnan 15

Papua New Guinea 17

Amazonian Brazil 18

SHORT PAPERS, NOTES AND VIEWS 19

Women as farmers in Ghanaby Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf 19

Deciphering Land Use History from Hill Slopes: An example from New Guineaby Geoff S. Humphreys 21

The Amazon Floodplain: the next major frontier for food productionby E. Adilson Serrão 25

Short Abstracts of Selected Papers Delivered at the Belém Meetingof the Amazon Cluster 27

Lake Reserve and Communal-Based Management of Várzea Resourcesby David G. McGrath 27

Implantation of a Conservation Unit in an Area of Várzea: the Mamiraua experienceby Deborah Lima Ayres 27

Management of Floodplain Resources in the Peruvian Amazon: a review ofrecent research by Christine Padoch 28

P L E C N E W S A N D V I E W SNo.2, FEBRUARY 1994

POPULATION, LAND MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE (PLEC)

A Short Statement by the Scientific Advisory Group

During and immediately after its recent meeting, SAG, together with the Editor, drew up two short statements about PLEC,designed for two different purposes. The following combines major parts of the two into one. It presents, in many fewer wordsthan the Project Documents, a simple view of what this project is about, and why.

PLEC addresses the question of the interrelationships between population dynamics and environmentalchange. Contemporary world population growth is especially marked in developing countries. It isreasonable to assume that in these areas there are massive but differential impacts on land use andmanagement. But it is also recognized that simplistic notions of increase of population having auniversal damaging effect on the environment do not stand up to scrutiny. Populations and societiesadapt, innovate and adjust. PLEC seeks to examine and disaggregate the processses of adaptation ofindigenous resource management systems and land use through a series of field-based research projectsin key agro-ecological zones of tropical and sub-tropical environments.

Moreover, it is in the developing countries that remaining biodiversity is both greatest, and alsounder the most imminent threat. Only limited areas of forest can be totally conserved from allinterference, and some such areas are encroached upon by people seeking land to farm or log. Thesehuman and social demands make it necessary that maintenance of biodiversity has to be accomplishedwithin land use and agricultural systems in which farmers make use of a wide range of both natural anddomesticated plant species. PLEC gives emphasis to the study of this agrodiversity, which is greatestamong small-farming communities in the tropics and sub-tropics. Many farmers use indigenousknowledge and initiative as well as new information, to manage their land, waters and biota forproduction. Our object is to draw lessons as to which techniques and types of land use best perform thefunction of protecting natural resources, including the protection of a diversity of gene pools from whichtomorrow's innovations may stem. However, too little is known about agrodiversity and, moreover, it isoften under threat from development policies which stress monoculture of only a few species, withstandard methods of land management. If agrodiversity is forced or allowed to perish, it will have to bere-invented.

PLEC looks beyond descripton. At the core of the research hypothesis is the dynamic nature of thepopulation - environment linkage which affects land management by small farmers, at global, regionaland local scales. Socio-economic pressures deriving from within a community or from external sourcessuch as state policies of production or conservation, market demands and tenure arrangements alsoaffect production and resource management. The ultimate aim is to provide researched options for thebetter management of land and resources for small-scale producers. Effective management systems donot have to be invented only by modern science. They exist, and have been continuously developed bythe world's farmers.

PLEC is a network of comparative research projects with broad policy-relevant objectives. Theseallow local researchers to develop innovative research designs and hypotheses stressing indigenouspractices. The five present clusters are in the floodplain of the Amazon, the dynamic grassland/forestecotone in West Africa, a selection of sites expressing the ecological and population-density range inEast Africa, the hill regions of northern Thailand and Yunnan (China), and sites differing sharply inenvironment and population pressure in Papua New Guinea. Two further clusters are to be added.

2 • PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS, No.2, FEBRUARY 1994

THE CHIANG MAI GENERAL PROJECT MEETING30 May to 3 June 1994

By the kind invitation of the sub-cluster group at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, andespecially its leader Dr Kanok Rerkasem, the first general meeting of PLEC will be held therefrom the morning of Monday 30 May to the afternoon of Friday 3 June, 1994. It will openwith a day of presentations on the project and its clusters, and the meeting will then become afield meeting for two days. The final two days, attended only by project members and a fewinvited outsiders, will be devoted to the hard business of developing the plans of the project asa whole, and its clusters, for the three years 1994-1997.

PLEC's financial resources remain limited. Nonetheless, it is essential that there be ameeting of members from all clusters within 1994 in order to ensure that each knows what theothers are doing, and that comparable research questions are being asked in all parts of theproject. We are therefore committing almost 25 per cent of presently known 1994-95resources in order to hold this meeting. It will be smaller than we had hoped, but the appreciated readiness to find and use excursion fares, by all those asked to come, enables usto bring enough people together.

Invitees should receive formal invitations from UNU almost as soon as they receive thisnewsletter. Travel costs as quoted will be paid for all those invited, and they will be paid asufficient per diem allowance for the necessary period in Chiang Mai. At least for the period ofthe meeting, the hotel will be paid directly by UNU, so this allowance will cover only meals andincidentals. Necessary additional nights and stopover nights in Bangkok will be reimbursed,where they are necessary, at the full per diem rate.

We hope that some others might be able to attend, but it is not likely that we shall be able tooffer any support. The meeting will be accommodated at the Holiday Garden Hotel, near theUniversity, where the room rate is Thai Baht 625 (presently about US$ 25) per night, single.There are many other hotels and guesthouses in Chiang Mai, with a wide range of prices, butwe will not be able to provide transport except at the conference hotel. It will be hot, and theopening period of the rainy season, in Chiang Mai at the end of May. Light clothing shouldtherefore be brought, but field clothes and tougher shoes (or light boots) for the field trip. Theexcursion will take us to higher altitudes but no more than a light sweater should be needed, ifat all. Formal attire will not be required. An umbrella or light raincoat is advised. Also stronglyadvised is anti-malarial medication. Further details are available from the local organizer, DrKanok Rerkasem, Agricultural Systems Programme, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang MaiUniversity, Chiang Mai 50002, Thailand. His fax is +66-53 210 000 and, unlike some others inthe PLEC network, it works very well. He also has e-mail, the address of which is<[email protected]>

All formal arrangements will be made from Tokyo, by the Administrative Coordinator (DrJuha Uitto) and the financial controller, Ms Audrey Yuse. Programme arrangements will bemade between Harold Brookfield and Kanok Rerkasem, and will be advised to all involved ingood time.

PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS, No.2, FEBRUARY 1994 • 3

FROM THE EDITOR: PLEC NEWS

HALF A YEAR OF PROGRESS AND UNCERTAINTY

Progress

During the seven months since PLEC Newsand Views No.1 appeared, the project hastaken considerable steps forward. In August,two major applications for funding werecompleted and despatched during a visit toTokyo by Brookfield. The Amazonian clusterheld its first major meeting in the same monthof August, and a Scientific Advisory Group(SAG) of three people was formed. It isdescribed below. An early decision was toseek cluster plans in two stages, first a set ofpre-proposals that we could review byJanuary, and then a set of fuller proposals byApril. The purpose was both to seekcomparability in the work being proposed,and more importantly to ensure that all thework being proposed corresponded with thecentral objectives of PLEC.

In September an East African cluster wasinitiated, and held its first meeting inDecember. The Thailand/Yunnan clusterheld a second meeting at the beginning ofNovember. Almost all groups preparedproposals on their research by the due date,in time for the January meeting of SAG.

At the end of 1993 most of the initial 'seed'contracts expired, and reports were due in.Most were received by mid-January and thesmall UNU funding then provides small newcontracts to run to mid-1994 so as to facilitatethe development of detailed plans.Notwithstanding the delay in getting accessto larger funds, reported below, SAGendorsed the plan to hold a general meetingat the end of May. By that time it will bealmost two years since the initial steps weretaken at the small Washington meeting inAugust 1992, and it is essential to bring a fewmembers of all clusters together to discussdetailed proposals and their harmonization.

Activity in the clusters up to now is ratheruneven in nature. Two groups have carried

out specific research tasks and reported onthem at length, in one case with only theseed funding provided by PLEC. In another,although individuals and small groups withinthe cluster have progressed substantially withtheir work, the main cluster activity, as such,has been a conference. Others have usedfunds and time mainly to conduct preliminaryplanning work, carrying development ofproposals a considerable way forward. In thenext few months, between now and theChiang Mai meeting, some groups willcontinue ongoing research, but it is importantthat all develop integrated proposals thataddress the main project questions. Thesmall 'interim' contracts now being offeredare designed principally to cover the costs ofso doing, although specific small researchcosts are also covered.

A Setback

We have, however, had one loss. Thecluster in Nepal was one of those which usedits seed funding to give additional support toits already-funded research. Because theproject concerned, directed by the overseasparticipants, would soon approach itsconcluding stages, a decision was taken inmid-year to transfer full leadership to Nepal;this decision was reinforced when Kasperson(the leader) became Provost of his University,while his colleague Turner was increasinglyinvolved in work as Co-chair of the GlobalLand Use and Cover Change project of IGBPand HDP. Just as the change was about to bemade, in October, a bombshell dropped. Thedesignated new leader, the research directorof ICIMOD in Kathmandu (Dr Jodha), wasoffered and accepted a post in theEnvironment Department of the World Bankin Washington, and has taken this up inJanuary 1994. No alternative leadership had


been developed. A small holding proposalhas been prepared for discussion at theChiang Mai meeting. However, Brookfieldand Jodha met in Kathmandu in Novemberand had to agree that the Nepal cluster, as itwas originally designed, has becomeunviable. PLEC, having two months earliergrown from five clusters to six with theformation of the group in East Africa,promptly fell back to five. For the moment,no action is being taken on a replacement.

Uncertainties

The reason for withholding action is thecontinuing uncertainty over project funding.The two applications made in early August,after several months of preparation, weresent to the United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA), and to the United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP) for theGlobal Environmental Facility (GEF). On thebasis of its evaluation of an earlier draft,UNEP had offered to sponsor us for thelatter. The UNFPA application is still under'technical review' at the time of writing, andwe fear it may have been overtaken by otherdevelopments leading up to the WorldPopulation Conference this September.Some changes were made to the UNEPapplication during a visit by Brookfield toNairobi at the start of September, and it wassubmitted by UNEP to the Scientific andTechnical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the GEF.STAP had a number of questions, especiallyabout project methodology and the relation tobiodiversity. It seems we came quite close,but not close enough to make it in one leap.A revised draft and some otherdocumentation were prepared in October witha view to resubmission to STAP in January.However, the January meeting of STAP wascancelled. Further discussions are inprogress in February and March. Fortunatelyfor our short-term future, UNU hasdemonstrated confidence by more thandoubling its former direct contribution to theproject in the 1994-95 biennium, butresources remain tight.

Regional Funding and Co-funding: a'Catch-22' Situation

Both these applications were for the project asa whole, covering both its central andnetworking activities, and making provision forco-funding of cluster research with otherdonors, specific to clusters. Although 48 percent of the funding requested was for support ofcluster research and internal networking, thesums sought were not envisaged as beingsufficient to cover all the needs of (five,ultimately seven) clusters, none of which had atthat time formulated detailed plans. Weenvisaged an average partial-support-level ofUS$35,000 per year per cluster for the firstthree years, but with provision to raise this toaround US$50,000 per year for some clustersthat had greater need and put up the bestproposals. Clusters with good co-funding oftheir own, or with only smaller-scale proposals,would receive less. As detailed plans are nowbeing formulated it is clear that most clusterswill need more substantial sums to carry outambitious plans.

Serious investigation of co-funding at aregional level is therefore now starting and, ifour whole-project plans cannot adequately befunded, we may have to look for multiple co-funding arrangements for the central activitiesof the project as well. Now that we have aclearer view of project development this canbe undertaken around a basis of real plans inthe coming few months. There is, however, adifficulty. PLEC finds itself in something of a'Catch-22' situation. We need strongeradministrative support, and opportunity forlobbying, to have good chance of success in afair number of co-funding applications. Butpreparatory funds we had hoped to receivehave been withheld for reasons outside thecontrol of our friends. We therefore lackadequate money to provide administrativesupport or fund the opportunity to lobbyfoundations personally. Even the personnelavailable is inadequate. In Canberra, itconsists only of the Scientific Coordinator, whois not full-time. While he now has some grant-supported research aid (from Australiansources), he still works without anyadministrative or secretarial support except,under contract, for the production of thisNewsletter. At UNU in Tokyo, our personnel


support involves not more than about ten percent of the working time of the AdministrativeCoordinator and financial controller, who haveto look after many other projects and meetings,as well as ourselves. It is important that theseconstraints are understood.

They may not be insuperable, but they doconsititute a real difficulty. Brookfield did a lotof project travel in 1993, with some goodresults, but hopes to spend more of 1994 athis desk. The gaps in management timewhich arose in 1993 (a main reason for twomonths' delay in publishing this secondNewsletter) may therefore be less of aproblem. The project is getting some goodpublicity, and the first issue of PLEC Newsand Views was very well received. Themailing list has, as a result, grown muchlarger. Brookfield, members of the SAG andsome cluster leaders, are working onincreasing project publicity, but this takestime to achieve results. Although everyonecontinues to make preparations to movequickly, we may have to advance more slowlythan originally hoped. There is, however,progress, and we look for more. And there iscertainly progress in the clusters, more fullydescribed between pages 10 and 18.

Management and Monitoring of PLEC

A Major Development

With the growth of the project and its wideintercontinental spread, some sharing of theleadership load already seemed necessary byMarch 1993, when formation of the cluster inGhana brought the number up to five. It wasthen suggested that a 'steering committee'should be formed. Circulation of clusterleaders produced near-unanimity that a formalsteering committee might do more harm thangood, but that an advisory group formed fromwithin the project could be of great value. Asbriefly mentioned in PLEC News and ViewsNo. 1, it was agreed in July that a 'ScientificAdvisory Group' (called SAG, which is what itdoes not do) be formed, each covering aspecific area of expertise, and with active orpotential interest in one or more of theproject's cluster areas. By agreement, cluster

leaders were not included in this group. Its jobwould be to advise within the areas ofspecialism and in general, help in setting upand monitoring clusters (one of thoseappointed had already done this, informally,in late 1992), and share with the ScientificCoordinator the job of making decisions onboth project direction and cluster directionsThe intention is that, during the life of theproject, all of them will visit all clusters. Thisdepends on funds that we still do not have,but meantime some travel planned for theScientific Coordinator may be done by one ormore SAG members instead.

The group quickly proved its value. InEast Africa, where two earlier unsuccessfulattempts to set up a cluster had been made,a potential leader was soon identified. TheSAG member involved was able to attend thefirst meeting of that cluster in December.Another gave advice which led to the two-stage review of cluster proposals. The thirdwas able to attend one critical clustermeeting, being in the same country on adifferent project at the appropriate time. Sheis also in close touch with another cluster,and has been instrumental in generating aproposal, still in its early stages, which maylead to one replacement for our loss in Nepal.

The group as a whole met at the least-costpoint of mutual travel, in San Francisco, forthree days over New Year, and covered agreat deal of project business in a short time.A short report has been sent to all clusters,and a summary appears below. The SAG isnow kept fully informed on project businessand, because Brookfield and two of itsmembers already have e-mail and the thirdwill have when she returns from the field toher home base, communication between usis − most of the time − quick and easy.

Although Brookfield continues tocommunicate with all clusters, there isalready some spread of responsibilities. Thiswill be particularly helpful when messagesare urgent. Difficulties continue to arise incases where there is little or no overlap inworking hours between Canberra and placeson the other side of the world. So manyorganizations still turn their fax machines offat night!


THE COORDINATORS AND THE SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY GROUP

This seems the time and place to tell more about the group which is now involved, in different ways, incentral project management. There follow brief biographical statements about the two Coordinators, theScientific Advisors and the Financial Controller. The order is alphabetical.

HAROLD BROOKFIELD, Scientific Co-ordinator of PLEC, is University Fellow in theResearch School of Pacific and Asian Studies,The Australian National University, where hewas Professor of Human Geography beforeformal retirement in 1991. He was one of thefirst of many social scientists to work inMauritius, in the mid-1950s. After joining theAustralian National University in 1957, hebegan a long-term programme of research onagriculture, land tenure, and social andcommercial change, among the Chimbu ofthe central highlands of Papua New Guinea,continuing almost every year until 1970.From the early-1960s he also worked in otherwestern Pacific countries, especially Vanuatu.During a period in Canada, at McGillUniversity from 1970 to 1974, he beganresearch in both the West Indies andMalaysia, but in the latter year returned to thePacific to lead a two-year pilotinterdisciplinary Man and the Biosphereproject in eastern Fiji, for UNESCO. Later,he led another and smaller UNESCO-MABproject in the eastern Caribbean. Since thelate 1970s, and especially since returning toCanberra in 1982, his principal research haslain in Southeast Asia, mainly in Malaysia.From the early 1960s onward he hascontributed to theoretical debate on the studyof indigenous farming systems, agriculturalintensification, and its correlates, and ondevelopment both in general and in ruralareas in particular. A conviction that suchwork must be based in sound knowledge ofthe natural environment has led tointermittent forays into climatic analysis, andto studies of the management of landresources and their degradation, which havefed directly into PLEC. He has undertakenwork for several international bodies,including UNESCO, the World Bank, theAsian Development Bank, the InternationalBoard for Soil Research and Management(IBSRAM), UNDP, UNU, UNEP and the EEC,

in Fiji, the Caribbean, Malaysia, Nepal,Indonesia and the Pacific islands . He isauthor, co-author, editor or co-editor of over175 articles, chapters in books, notes,reports, monographs, and 16 books.

Fax number: +61-6 249 4896. E-mail:[email protected] Postaladdress: Department of Anthropology,Division of Society and Environment, RSPAS,The Australian National University, CanberraA.C.T. 0200, Australia.

JANET MOMSEN, the project's specialist ongender issues in particular, is Professor ofGeography at the University of California,Davis. She is also Chair of the GraduateProgram on International AgriculturalDevelopment, and Co-director of the Genderand Global Issues Program on campus.Outside the University, she is Chairperson ofthe International Geographical Union'sCommission on Gender and Geography whichhas almost 400 members in over 50 countries.Before going to Davis in 1991 she was at theUniversity of Newcastle on Tyne in England,and before that at the University of Calgary, inCanada. She has also taught at the FederalUniversity of Rio de Janeiro, the InteramericanInstitute for Agricultural Sciences, Turialba,Costa Rica, the University of Leeds (U.K.)and the University of London. Her maininterests are in agricultural development andgender. She has field research experience inthe Caribbean (where she did her doctoralresearch), Brazil, Central America, WestAfrica and China. She has been aconsultant/advisor to USAID and ODA and tovarious national agencies. This has involvedworking with small farmers developingagrodiversity, the marketing of new productsand alternative rural income sources such astourism. In addition to over 80 scientificpapers and reports, she is author or editor ofsix books on topics such as gender and


development, Brazilian development andCaribbean agriculture.

Fax number: +1-916 752 9592. E-mail:[email protected] Postal address:Department of Geography, University ofCalifornia, Davis CA 95616-8604, U.S.A.

CHRISTINE PADOCH is an ecologicalanthropologist by training (ColumbiaUniversity, PhD 1978). She holds the positionof Scientist in the Institute of EconomicBotany, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx,New York. She has carried out research onmanagement of forests, agro-forests andagricultural fields by traditional peoples inseveral areas of the humid tropics. After initialresearch in Guatemala, she spent threeyears in Sarawak, East Malaysia, studyingIban shifting cultivators, and another year inEast Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo,investigating upland- and irrigated-ricecultivation by the Lun Dayeh. From 1982 to1987 she worked in the Peruvian Amazon onpatterns of agriculture and agroforestry in theUcayali river floodplain, and on trade in forestand agricultural products around Iquitos.Since 1990 she has been engaged in aprogramme of research on forestmanagement and changes in agriculturalpatterns in Tara'n Dayak communities ofWest Kalimantan, Indonesia, and since 1992also on resource management in the lowerAmazon floodplain in Brazil where she isspending most of the year 1993-94. Much ofher recent fieldwork has been done as amember of inter-disciplinary and internationalteams of researchers. Her conviction that thediversity and dynamics of traditional resourcemanagement practices and their effects,particularly on biodiversity, deserve far moreintensive study, has also involved her in workas advisor to U.S. and internationalinstitutions, including the U.S. Man and theBiosphere Program, the SmithsonianInstitution, the National Research Council andUNEP. She is the author of more than 40monographs, papers and book chapters, andis co-editor of five books and editor of themonograph series Advances in EconomicBotany. She taught in the University ofWisconsin, Madison, before joining the NewYork Botanical Garden.

From about August 1994, her fax number is+1-718-220-1029. E-mail: [email protected] [notat present direct]. Postal address: Institute ofEconomic Botany, New York BotanicalGarden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126, U.S.A. Untilthen she is living in Macapá, Brazil.

MICHAEL STOCKING, specialist on themanagement of land resources, especiallysoils, is Reader in Natural ResourceDevelopment in the School of DevelopmentStudies, University of East Anglia, Norwich,U.K., and is immediate past Dean of theSchool. He has been involved in tropicalagricultural development, land resources andsoil conservation since 1969. His mainresearch and consulting experience is in thesustainable use of resources, throughappropriate development of conservationpractices adapted to local farming systemsand socio-economic conditions. With longfield experience in several parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (especially Zimbabwe, Kenyaand Tanzania), Brazil, South and SoutheastAsia, his work involves erosion monitoring,soils investigation and the relationshipbetween soil loss and vegetation productivity.Agroforestry, intercropping and multiple landuse feature in his work, along with thedevelopment of projects aimed at encouraginglocal people to protect forest reserves andnational parks. Currently, he is engaged withthe UN Food and Agriculture Organization towork on the integration of environmentalthemes into agricultural extension andeducation. He has been an advisor/consultantto FAO/UNDP, UNEP, the World Bank,IUCN, IIED, ODA, SIDA, SADC and nationalagencies. As a member of the ConservationCommittee of WWF-UK, he advises on arange of development and conservationissues. Training is a key component of hisexperience, with courses offered inagriculture, resource assessment andmanagement, and environmental issues. Heis the author of over 100 scientific papers,books, book chapters and reports.

Fax number: +44-603 505 262. E-mail:"m.stocking"<[email protected]>Postal address: School of DevelopmentStudies, University of East Anglia, NorwichNR4 7TJ, England.


JUHA UITTO, Administrative Coordinator ofthe project in the United Nations University, isa geographer with an MSc from the Universityof Helsinki in his native Finland, and a PhDfrom the University of Lund in Sweden. Hisresearch work focuses on populationprocesses and regional development, andrural development strategies with emphasis oneastern Africa. From 1984 to 1987 he workedat the International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD) on the monitoring andevaluation of rural development projects, andsocio-economic analysis. He then joined theScandinavian Institute for African Studies.Research, and consultancy work forScandinavian bilateral and multilateral aidagencies, have taken him frequently to Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Since 1990, Uittohas worked at UNU as Academic Officer, incharge of the University's research andtraining programmes in the field ofenvironment, implemented through inter-national networks of scholars. In particular,his duties relate to activities pertaining to theHuman Dimensions of Global EnvironmentalChange. He has published more than 30articles and reviews in scientific journals,scientific reports, books and monographs, aswell as chapters in books.

AUDREY YUSE, the financial controller forPLEC, is a Programme and AdministrativeOfficer in the Academic Division of the UnitedNations University. She is a graduate of theUniversity of Hong Kong, where shedeveloped interests in social welfare andundertook community work. She joined theUNU in Tokyo in 1976, and has since workedwith the University's programme divisions,including the Human and Social DevelopmentProgramme, the Development StudiesDivision, and now the Academic Division.Her main experience lies in programmebudget management and monitoring,financial planning and control, as well ascontract administration. The scope of herwork includes a great many multi-disciplinaryprojects supported by UNU through its world-wide networks of institutions and scientists.

Both Audrey and Juha can be reached atthe following postal address: United NationsUniversity, 53-70 Jingumae, 5-chome,

Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150, Japan. Tel: +81-33499 2811. Fax: +81-3 3499 2828.

E-mail: use this number by Internet:program%[email protected][Note that in 'jpnunu00' the last two digits arenumerical zeros].

In the next issue of PLEC News and Views, andpossibly in the fourth as well, we propose toprint similar brief biographies of the project'scluster and sub-cluster leaders. All will beasked well in time to provide copy.

The San Francisco Meeting of SAG

This meeting, held in a pleasant old hotel incentral San Francisco, began on New Year'sEve 1993 and ended on 2 January 1994. Wediscussed the budget and its problems, andthen reviewed the documentation of theproject, especially regarding its methodology.Two short statements, combined into onestatement and printed on page 1 of thisNewsletter, were drafted, beginning on thefirst day. The whole of the second day wasspent in reviewing pre-proposals receivedfrom the clusters, or individuals within them.We had comments on all these proposals,some minor and some more substantial, andeach cluster was written to individually afterthe meeting. On the third day we turned to arange of issues, especially the organization ofthe General Meeting, and a minimum list ofinvitees to provide basically-adequaterepresentation within the limited budgetavailable. We also drew up a reserve list,and suggested an order of business. Wediscussed project publicity, and the need tokeep it active and lively.

We also considered the nature of areplacement for the Nepal cluster. Given thatthere will be no replacement until morefunding is available, so that all that is presentlyavailable can be used for the remaining fivegroups, we felt that selection of furtherclusters should be very deliberate, choosingenvironmental, population and developmentalconditions that are not adequately representedin the present set. Something like a matrixwas suggested, to be considered when wemeet in Chiang Mai. One partly worked-out


possibility in the Caribbean was presented,where high population density with limitedresources, and some important managementcontrasts between different islands, couldprovide a useful addition to PLEC's presentsites. Other potential areas discussedincluded Indonesia and Bangladesh. Wealso took note of the small holding proposalfrom ICIMOD in Nepal, designed to keep theconnexion with PLEC alive. Contact withUNEP in Nairobi was also established bytelephone during the meeting.

We discussed the proposed fieldmeetings. SAG stressed that attendance at

these should rotate among cluster personnel,so that others beside cluster leaders wouldhave advantage of the networking opportunityprovided. Since UNU is proposing that PLECbe well represented in some of its othermeetings in 1994-95, some cluster leadersare likely to have chances to meet, and it is ofgreat importance that other project membersalso get together.

This was a brisk meeting, successful aswell as enjoyable. It was broken only brieflylate on New Year's Eve, in order to celebratethe advent of what we hope will be aprosperous year for the project.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

A PLEC Special Number of Global Environmental Change

Several months ago, the Administrative Coordinator Juha Uitto proposed that the UNU-sponsored journal, Global Environmental Change: Human and Policy Dimensions, might haveone 1994 number devoted to PLEC. The purpose is to present the work of the project in itscontext, by means of formal journal articles ranging in length between 3,000 and about 6,000words. With a shift in editorship of this journal from U.S.A. to England in progress in 1993,we received the new editor's provisional agreement only in November. This was finallyconfirmed by the journal's editorial committee in January 1994. In view of the rather longdelay in obtaining this decision, we can now aim only for an issue in May/June 1995. Thepublishers, Butterworth-Heinemann, require that fully refereed and edited copy must be in theirhands in early January in order to achieve May/June 1995 publication. The following schedulehas been established.

Papers will be first edited by Brookfield (with some help from SAG members and others).All papers will be peer-refereed.. The schedule is tight, as the whole manuscript must be in thehands of the journal editors in Oxford, England, for their final editorial work, by 16 December1994. It is therefore necessary that all manuscripts, completed and referenced accordingto the journal style-sheet, of which a copy will be sent to all authors, be delivered toBrookfield to reach him by Monday 4 July 1994. Where changes are required, editoriallyand/or on the advice of referees, revised manuscripts must reach Brookfield not later thanMonday 14 November. Most papers are being invited, but PLEC members in general areasked by this announcement to consider if any others wish to offer papers. Any who do shouldplease send titles and short abstracts to Brookfield, to reach him by 4 April. Brookfield's postaladdress, fax and e-mail numbers, appear in this Newsletter in the section entitled 'TheCoordinators and the Scientific Advisors', and also on the back cover.


R E P O R T S F R O M T H E C L U S T E R S

Reports on the clusters in this issue are unequal in length and nature, both because there have been widedifferences in the nature of activities in recent months, and also because cluster reporting has been indifferent forms. The first, which comprises a substantive report on a pilot research task, is the longest.

WEST AFRICA

The West African cluster, at this preparatorystage based entirely in Ghana, was formed inMarch 1993 and quickly set up a pilotprogramme of research. This was completedand reported by 15 January 1994. An articlefor the special number of GlobalEnvironmental Change will be based on thisreport. The cluster has prepared a detailedpre-proposal for its future work, someaspects of which are still under discussionafter comments offered by SAG. During aperiod of about six months from February toJuly 1994, Dr Gyasi, the leader, is a Visitor inthe Department of Geography at theUniversity of Canterbury, Christchurch, NewZealand. Dr Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf isacting as cluster leader during this period.Membership of the cluster remains as listedin PLEC News and Views No. 1.

A short article by Dr Ardayfio-Schandorfappears in the section on Short Papers, Notes andViews, at pp.19-21.

The Ghana Report: a Summary

The Ghana group has conducted asubstantial pilot project in an area inland ofAccra. There follows a brief summary of thisresearch, drawn (without figures, tables orreferences) from the extensive report entitledENVIRONMENTAL ENDANGERMENT IN THEFOREST-SAVANNA ZONE OF SOUTHERN GHANA,by E.A. Gyasi, G.T. Agyepong, E. Ardayfio-Schandorf, L. Enu-Kwesi, J.S. Nabila and E.Owusu-Bennoah with the assistance of S.K.Kufogbe and technical advice by G. Benneh.(University of Ghana, Legon).

Introduction

The rural forest-savanna transition zone ofsouthern Ghana, the southern side of whichcovers approximately 6,200 km2, is a sort ofecological buffer between the dry coastalsavanna and the interior humid forest. It ischaracterized by a 1,260 mm mean annualbi-modal rainfall, generally adequate tosupport two crops, and by a prevalence ofochrosols which, like most of the other fairlyvaried soils, are suitable both for perennialtree crops and annual tree crops. Within it,however, the population, presently estimatedat about one million, is increasing as is theland usage, and a mosaic of forest-savannavegetation is expanding at the expense of thethick deciduous forest which predominated inthe past.

The region has considerable diversity infarming systems, land holding arrangements,and crops. This relatively high agrodiversityreflects the transitional character of theecosystems, permitting use of crops adaptedboth to humid and drier conditions, and to theethnic and associated cultural diversity,strongly affected by migration. The zone is amajor producer of food crops, notably cassava(manioc), maize (corn) and vegetables, forthe nearby coastal urban areas. Ghana'spopulation is still growing at an annual rate of3 per cent.

The study drew on available literature, andon data from field work focused onenvironmental perceptions, adjustmentstrategies, and the range of options availableto a mixture of owner and tenant farmersincluding migrants. We used 1960-1993 asthe main study time frame. In-depth fieldstudy concentrated at three sites between 60and 120 km inland by road from Accra. The


sites were inhabited before or from the year1910, when the cocoa revolution in Ghanawas well underway. They represent areasoccupied by both the original Akuapem andthe Ayigbe/Ewe, Krobo and other migrantfarmers, both owners and tenants.

The field study was carried out on a teambasis among the interdisciplinary researchgroup by rapid rural appraisal, and moredeliberate methods in October, 1993. Workincluded focused group discussions facilitatedby the use of a written guide and a cassetterecorder; questionnaire and non-questionnaireinterviewing of a sample of agriculturalhousehold heads, as well as governmentofficials and NGO members; ground transectmeasurements, quadrat sampling and visualobservations of relevant environmentalparameters along 4-5 km of path line at thestudy sites; and survey of commodity typessold at rural markets in the study area, and ofthe destination of the commodities. We alsodrew on laboratory, statistical and othertechniques, and upon various ideasconcerning the evaluation of sustainabilityand unsustainability for the data analysis anddiscussion.

The three study sites, Yensiso, Amanaseand Sekesua, show varying stages of landcover and use change from deciduous forestto perennial tree crops and arable crops. Afterrapid increases since the 1960s, populationdensities in 1989 ranged from 105 to 178 perkm2, and we estimate an average of 161 perkm2 for the whole forest-savanna zone. Inthe three study areas together, 54.5 per centof the land was in active cultivation.

A Summary of Some EnvironmentalFindings

Most farms were inter-cropped, with cassavaand maize as dominants. Relict cocoa farmsoccurred under broken canopy tree cover.Several plots were reported to have beencropped almost continuously since about 1950when Ayigbe/Ewe migrants reportedly startedrenting land from the Akuapem owners forfood crops. The continuous cropping had ledto noticeable soil impoverishment anddecreased crop yields in spite of the use ofartificial chemical fertilizer and improved crop

varieties. Home gardens fertilized withhousehold refuse constituted a fairlysignificant proportion of actively cultivated landaround the villages. The proportion of thetotal area covered by fallows was 34.3 percent in Yensiso, 34.8 per cent in Amanase,and 41.7 per cent in Sekesua, with theaverage fallow ranging from one to two years.We estimate the area in fallow, farms andother uses to be over 90 per cent of the totalland area.

It is evident that farming and other landuses have displaced very nearly all theoriginal natural forest, and threaten toeliminate the rest. We found only scatteredrepresentatives of species typical of what wasapparently virtually-closed high forest, sodescribed as recently as 1960. Also, aconsiderable number of the traditional cropswere reported by the local farmers to beextinct or in the process of extinction. Withfew tall trees, herbaceous and shrub speciesoccupy the most space, and among thesethere is a preponderance of species of thefamilies Compositae, Gramineae andEuphorbiaceae. The Compositae comprisedseven species, outstandingly Chromolaenaodorata which was found everywhere in denseimpenetrable masses, particularly in fallowlands. This is a particularly prolific plantassociated with deforestation, and wascommonly regarded as a primary noxiousweed that is next to impossible to eradicate.Once C. odorata arrives at a locality, itsincredible morphology and highcompetitiveness enable it to out-compete,outgrow and thus exclude all other speciesfrom its immediate milieu. There is also anumber of other invasive herbaceousspecies, including Canna indica and Imperatacylindrica together with several others.

A major consequence of deforestation hasbeen deterioration of the soils and theirstructure by erosion, desiccation, compactionand other degradational processes withnegative implications for fertility andproductivity. We analyzed the physical andchemical properties of soils sampled along thetransects. The particle size analysis showedthat, with the exception of naturally-sandyAmanase, cultivation and cropping generallydecreased the sand contents in the topsoilswhile the clay contents were increased, giving


rise to sandy clay loam to sandy clay texture.The increase in fine fractions observed in thetopsoil of the cultivated soils might havecaused clogging of the macropores, andhence the uncontrolled erosion observed inthe farms.

Soil pH decreased with cultivation in all thesoils because of the leaching of bases.Again with exceptions, there was a gradualdecrease in the exchangeable cations andthe cation exchange capacity (CEC) duringthe cultivation and cropping period due toleaching and crop uptake. In general theresults showed that the CEC decreasedbecause of decreases in pH. The organiccarbon of the soils varied from 4.5% to 2.2%(average 2.7%), whereas the organic Ccontents of the exposed cultivated soilsvaried from 2.8% to 0.8% (average 1.7%), adrop of appproximately 37 per cent. Total Nand P followed the same trend as that of theorganic C. The decline in total N and P in thecultivated soil may be associated withincreased erosion losses. Soils under fallowbetween two and four years had significantcontents of these two elements.

The Role of Chromolaena odorata

Chromolaena odorata (in some parts of theworld still called by its older name Eupatoriumodoratum) is regarded as a noxious weed, andit certainly increases fire risk in the dry season,when it dries out and provides a large mass offuel. It is, however, a potential source of fuelenergy for domestic use, and our laboratoryanalysis confirmed the local farmers' claim thatit improves soil fertility once it gets establishedas the predominant species in a fallow land.Soil pH tended to increase with fallow under C.odorata. The effect of C. odorata in increasingthe basic cations is dramatic, particularly theexchangeable Ca and CEC contents in thefallow soils. The improved contents of organicC, and of total N and P under fallow (particularlyC. odorata fallow) for a relatively short period,may dispel the notion that fertility is notregenerated under a fallow of between two andthree years. However, further studies areneeded to confirm this, and to determine theproper management of C. odorata in the

farming system. We are proposing suchresearch.

Forces Bearing on the ProblemThe increase in the absolute numbers ofpeople is a major source of stress on theenvironment through the farming andextractive activities. On the basis of the1970-1984 growth rates, some villagepopulations are likely to more than double bythe year 2000. Depopulation of some heavilydegraded areas is likely to continue, and atpresent the farming systems lack correctivemeans for the reclamation of such areas. Asthe quality of the environment declines, so doyields, earnings and living standards. It is notsurprising therefore that 25 per cent of thehouseholds could no longer adequately feedthemselves with the produce from their farms.Significantly the figure for Amanase, whichshowed the highest population growth rateamong all the villages surveyed, was 45 percent.

But this is not all. Demand also originatesfrom rural and urban areas within the countryitself, and from outside the country. Wecarried out a number of surveys to gauge thisdemand on our study areas On the whole,food items, especially unprocessed crops ledby cassava, comprised nearly 91 per cent ofthe commodities sold in three markets, whileabout 9 per cent consisted of other itemsincluding firewood and charcoal. On average,moreover, 91 per cent of the commoditieswere destined for the urban settlements,most especially Accra-Tema, Ghana's largesturban area. In the past much of theproduction pressure placed on this zoneoriginated from outside Ghana, rather thanwithin the country. It took the the form ofexternal demand for primary agricultural andforest products, notably cocoa and timber.

Ability of the Farming Systems to CopeBefore about 1850, most of the present forest-savanna zone consisted of virtuallyuninhabited virgin high forest owned largely byAkyem people. Elsewhere, including theAkuapem hill areas which already suppliedfood, palm oil and bush-meat to the coastal


settlements, was a low-impact economybased upon hunting, gathering and shiftingfood crop cultivation. From about 1850,pressure on the uninhabited forest areasincreased substantially due to the migration byKrobo and Akuapem farmers in search ofmore land, initially for the production of palmoil and kernels from both wild and cultivatedpalms. The oil palm expansion lasted up toabout 1900 when the cocoa expansion began,with both events facilitated by the 'company'system of group purchase of land called huzaby the Krobo people who initiated it.Cultivation of palms and cocoa closelymimicked the forest ecosystem by theintegration of food crops under and amongtrees and shrubs. Nonetheless, it hadallelopathic effects on the forest ecosystem bywidespread replacement of the ground storey.

From the 1930s, cocoa farming wasdevasted by the swollen shoot disease. Sincethat time, disturbance has grown far worse bya shift to cassava which, being tolerant of lowsoil fertility, has continued to expand asdegradation has proceeded. Amonghousehold heads surveyed, cassava asdominant crop is followed by maize.Subsidiary crops include plantain, cocoyam(taro) and yam, and the vegetables pepper,tomato and garden egg (egg plant). Somecrops, most notably cocoa, yam and cocoyamwhich thrive in humid forest environments, hadceased to be grown by some of the farmerssince 1960. Only 12 per cent of thoseoperating the generally old cocoa farms hadattempted to rehabilitate them.

Now, however, some farmers areincorporating new crops led by the bean, aleguminous plant, and the vegetables gardenegg and tomato, followed by cassava, maizeand pepper. The high crop biodiversity (over20 main cultivars) thus represents a transitionwhich still includes some traditional humidforest crops together with cassava andmaize, and is now augmented by a lessdramatic but nonetheless significant shifttoward vegetables and legumes.

Declining yields, however, are common.One measure of the high frequency ofcropping is the cultivation period, whichgenerally ranges from one to over five years.Another is the common fallow of one to fouryears which is considered inadequate for soil

fertility regeneration in Ghana, unlessaccompanied by artificial soil improvementmeasures such as chemical fertilizerapplication, agroforestry, manuring andmulching, which are practised only to alimited extent. A third measure is thepermanent cropping practised by 18 per centof the farmers, especially in the backyard, butwith only limited application of artificial soilfertility regeneration techniques.

Cultivation methods and tenurial relationsare further problems. The hoe, used byAyigbe/Ewe migrant tenant farmers, appearsless selective in the removal of natural flora,and of the seed stock in the soil, than thecutlass culture of the other ethnic groups.Monoculture, with all its risks, is practised by 8per cent of the farmers. Among the localitieswhere the environmental problems appearworst are the denuded Kokormu grasslandsheavily farmed by the Ayigbe/Ewe migrantsettler tenants. It appears a major factorcompelling these and other tenants to over-exploit the land by the hoe, fire, and cultivationof cassava (either alone or in combination withmaize), is the seemingly usurioussharecropping and land renting arrangements.Typically, one-third or even half of the maizeand cassava go to the landowner. Then insome huza areas of the migrant Adangbepeople, the production capacity of the farmingland appears to be undermined by theinheritance system, whereby the land isprogressively sub-divided among thesucceeding generations. For these and otherreasons, difficulties in land acquisition arereported by 24 per cent of the farmers. Fromall the preceding analysis, it is clear that thefarming system has to modify, if environmentalendangerment is to be reversed.

Views of the FarmersWe discussed these issues with some 200people, including chiefs, and both elderly andyouthful men and women. On the whole, thediscussions revealed a popular awareness ofthe problem and some possible solutions.They also revealed a general willingness toparticipate in corrective programmes. Weobtained a similar set of results from ourquestionnaires. There is no space to detail


everything that emerged, but there wereunexpected additions such as reduction in thesnail population and extinction of wildmushrooms. It was pointed out that thefirewood shortage is reflected in the growinguse of cassava sticks, palm fronds, cornstocks and cobs, and twigs of C. odorata andother small shrubs as substitutes. Above all,however, was concern over declining cropyields. Causes which deserve urgentattention include the poverty associated withthe large population and high cost of living,which compels the over-cultivation of theland, over-exploitation of the resources of theforest, and the dying out of traditionalagroforestry. Some of these aspects arefurther developed in Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf's short paper printed below (p. 19).

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge, with profound gratitude, theassistance of Dr. A.A. Oteng-Yeboah (Head, Departmentof Botany, University of Ghana) in the Yensiso areafield study. We are equally grateful to the farmers andthe other rural folk for their co-operation in the field.

EAST AFRICA

The cluster in East Africa has been formedonly since PLEC News and Views No.1 waspublished. Initial contact with the presentleader was made in July, and Brookfield wasable to visit him, and two of his colleagues, inNairobi in early September while working withUNEP. Although UNU set up the necessaryinitial contract with all possible speed, thecluster was still not fully formed in Decemberwhen a first meeting was held, attended byDr Michael Stocking both as a member ofSAG and as a possible cluster participant inundetermined capacity. Plans to extend intoUganda and Tanzania have since taken auseful step forward, so that the clustermembership in February 1994 is as follows:

Romano M. Kiome, (Cluster Leader), soil science,land management (Kenya AgriculturalResearch Institute, Nairobi, Kenya)

Loise Wambuguh, socioeconomics of landmanagement (Kenya Agricultural ResearchInstitute, Nairobi, Kenya)

David N. Mungai, soil-climate-crop relationships(Geography Department, University of Nairobi,Nairobi, Kenya)

Elois A. Ayiemba, demography (GeographyDepartment, University of Nairobi, Nairobi,Kenya)

Francis Kahembwe, conservation, forestry anddevelopment (National Agricultural ResearchCentre, Kampala, Uganda)

Joy Tumuhairwe, farming systems and soilconservation (Geography Department,Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda)

Fidelis Kaihura, soil science and landmanagement (Tanzanian Soil Survey,Mlingano, Tanga, Tanzania)

Michael Stocking (Advisory Member), resourcemanagement, soil science (University of EastAnglia, Norwich, England)

The address of the cluster leader is: DrR.M. Kiome, A/Deputy Director, KenyaAgricultural Research Institute, NationalAgricultural Research Laboratories, P.O. Box14733, Nairobi, Kenya. Fax [working hoursonly]: +254-2 444 144.

The Cluster has been active during its shortlife. In mid-December, before the meeting, thefour Kenya members of the cluster undertooka three-day excursion in Kiambu, Embu andLaikipia Districts in order to examineagricultural and associated problems. Landuse and land management were particularlyobserved, with a focus on the very rapidchanges taking place under high populationgrowth, and commercialization with generallyquick response to market conditions.However, soil and water conservation wereseen generally as poor, with particularinefficiency in the use of both rainfall andirrigation water. Regulations designed torestrict farming on steep slopes, and keep itaway from river banks, are widely flouted.Although there are some classic examples ofland degradation, depletion of biodiversity ismore clearly visible than degradation of soilsin some areas. In the mainly-dry LaikipiaDistrict, on the leeward side of Mt Kenya, thepopulation growth rate has been estimated as


high as 8 per cent annually, even thoughmale out-migration is common.

Research questions were identified and,together with questions that arise in Ugandaand Tanzania, will be built into the clusterplan now under preparation. Particularproblems identified during the excursionincluded: (a) the extent and degree of landdegradation; (b) implications of migration,and the integration of migrants, for resourcemanagement; (c) productivity of the presentfarming systems and its response to risingdemand; (d) the range of available productiontechnologies, and gaps in knowledge of thesein the grazing areas in particular; (e) theperception by farmers of the state of theirresources, and of the problem ofunsustainability.

In particular, the group proposes toexamine how far the relatively optimisticfindings in the recent study of MachakosDistrict in Kenya (M. Tiffen, M. Mortimore andK. Gichuki, 1994, More People: Less Erosion,Chichester, John Wiley), are applicable toother East African areas.

NORTHERN THAILAND ANDSOUTHERN YUNNAN

This trans-national cluster, the membershipof which has changed slightly from thatreported in PLEC News and Views No.1, isnow well established. Its activities have beengeared principally to the setting up ofcollaborative arrangements between thegroup in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and inKunming and Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Twomeetings have been held, both (especiallythe second) involving field visits toprospective working sites.

The Chiang Mai group has been enlargedto include:

Jamree Pitakwong, social science (AgriculturalSystems Programme).

The Kunming group no longer includes HuGang or Gao Lishi (although they remaininterested). Pei Shengji, still in Nepal, is nolonger listed. However, the group has beenenlarged to include:

Liu Aiqing, botany, population policy (KunmingInstitute of Botany)

Zhou Juqian, environmental analysis (YunnanInstitute of Geography)

Feng Yan, topographical analysis (YunnanInstitute of Geography)

Xu Zaifu, biodiversity (Director, XishuangbannaTropical Botanical Garden, Menlun,Xishuangbanna)

The first meeting was held in Chiang Maiin July 1993, and was attended by 11participants (including all cluster members andsome others) from Chiang Mai, plus five MSstudents, and 5 cluster members from China.Cluster presentations were made providing ageneral background of the member institutesand their intended activities relating to PLEC.The Kunming Institute of Botany presentationprovided a summary of recent work ontraditional (indigenous) agroforestry systemswhich are currently practised by the majorethnic minorities Population pressure, marketforces, the role of alternative crops and landuse intensity were discussed in relation toshifts in government policy on land allocationand tenure. The Chiang Mai presentation wasdevoted to the historical development ofshifting cultivation among ethnic minorities inthe upper northern region of Thailand, wherethe majority of the hilltribes live. Governmentpolicies on opium eradication, social andeconomic integration, forest protection andland degradation were reviewed. Rapidchanges from rotational shifting agriculture topermanent agriculture were discussed inrelation to sustainable or unsustainableoutcomes. Efforts of government and non-government agencies to rehabilitate uplandforested areas were summarized.

The group then discussed key issues underthe following headings:• External/internal pressures on land use, and

farming system changes;• Social transformation, local adaptation and

institutional arrangements;• Outcome of land use and farming system

changes, and system responses, in bothThailand and Yunnan.

The group identified a number of keyvariables which would allow for comparativestudies in the future. They included:


• Marginal uplands as a focus area to includeswidden ecosystems, agroforestry systems,natural forests and other land uses;

• Ethnic groups to be studied. Priority wasgiven to Akha (Hani), and Lisu or Lahu;

• Target agroecosystems, including in Yunnan:agroforestry systems, swiddens,homegardens and protected areas. InThailand: agroforestry systems, swiddens,permanent fields and rehabilitated lands.

The group went on to identify acollaborative village system analysis as a jointactivity. This would serve as methodologytraining for members, would promote technicalexchange, would gain regional perspectiveand encourage joint research planning. Avillage would be selected in each country toserve as a pilot field study, and preliminarywork would begin about March 1994.

There was a GIS demonstration, then aone-day field excursion to a highland village35 km from Chiang Mai. This was a Hmongvillage established since the early 1960s,which has grown from an original 20households to 130. The rotational period inshifting cultivation has been reduced, andthere is conversion of swiddens tocommercial fruit trees and coffee. However,the expansion of cabbage as a cash crop hasled to expansion of agriculture into adjacentforest, leading to water problems in the dryseason. The group talked with villagers andvisited their fields.

The second meeting was held in Kunmingin November 1993. It was attended by 10people from Kunming (plus a few others fromtime to time), two from Thailand, by Brookfieldand, for part of the time, by Momsen who wasin Yunnan working with another project. Itwas preceded by a field excursion attendedby Kanok Rerkasem and RampaiphunApitchatponchai from Chiang Mai, andfollowed by one attended by Brookfield. Themeeting was opened by Brookfield, thenfollowed by cluster presentations reviewingthe work done in both Thailand and Yunnansince July. It was noted that most uplandvillages have moved their sites since 1960,mainly because of water shortages and tofacilitiate a shift from upland- to wet-rice.However, extensive migration has continued,especially into Thailand from neighbouring

countries because of poverty, politicalintervention, and for commercial reasons. Aseries of papers was presented by the Yunnanparticipants, with translation into English forbenefit of the visitors.

Comparative discussion focused on theelements that are comparable between theThailand and Yunnan situations. There arealso differences, in land/watershed policy,different pressures on land management,indigenous knowledge and approaches to itsapplication, lowland/highland interaction, andin the nature of projects. The process ofcommercialization is of a different order andnature. All this must be appreciated in orderto set compartive work in context. A set ofcommon or related questions was drawn upwithin the principal question of the search forenvironmentally sustainable and economicallyadvantageous systems of production undergrowing pressures. They included:• Among the many land-, crop-, water-,

woodland- and forestmanagement practicesidentified among the hill farmers, which aresustainable, which are of utility in degradedland, and which can most readily beincorporated into agroecosystems byresource-poor farmers?

• Is the present wide range of practicesidentified in Yunnan, and the smaller rangeidentified in Thailand, wholly or principally asurvival from the past, or is there still activeand continuing development and diffusion?

• Especially where practices are modern, orare extending in area, how are innovativepractices developed or received and adoptedby farmers? How are indigenousdevelopments transferred between farmers,especially in different ethnic groups?

• What are the social, demographic, economicand political conditions most conducive towider adoption, invention or retention ofconservationist practices, and what are theconditions that have led in the past, and stilllead, to severe resource degradation.

It was agreed that research should employthe agroecosystem method, but with specificattention paid to the details of agroecosystemelements, especially innovative elements,within the systems. It was further agreed toendorse the plan made in July, to commence


with one pilot community in each region during1994.

The field trips were each of three days'duration, based at Xishuangbanna TropicalBotanical Garden, and visting a number ofvillages. Emphasis was placed on wholeagroecosystems and on agroforestrypractices. The territory of one village (Mamoe,Hani [in China] or Ahka [in Thailand]) wasexplored in some detail, and two Jinuo andtwo Dai villages were visited more briefly. Itwas noted that there is considerable variationin the physical evidence of land degradationbetween different parts of Xishuangbanna.

Since the meeting, both groups haveprepared detailed plans and they to becombined into a single, but two-part,document to form the basis with which toseek co-funding for a three-year programme.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

This group, like that in the Amazon nextdiscussed, has continued with already-fundedresearch, and the direct relevance to PLECappears more in the design of new activitiesthan in the ongoing programmes. This appliesespecially to the Australian members and theirPapua New Guinea colleagues who aresubstantially funded by Australian aid (AIDAB)to survey, describe, classify and map thefarming systems of the whole country, anoverdue task as described by Allen in PLECNews and Views No.1. Agricultural systemsare being distinguished on the basis of sixcriteria: type of vegetation cleared beforecultivation; length of the non-cultivation period;the staple crops; segregation of crops withinand between gardens (which exhibitssubstantial variation between differentregions); and the use of special techniques,other than fallow, to maintain soil fertility. Thelong term purpose is to examine levels ofagricultural intensity against existing oradditional data on the natural envronment,social, economic and demographic measures,in order to identify areas already or incipientlysubject to stress and degradation. Field workis now complete over some three-quarters ofthe country, and Working Papers covering

system descriptions for four Provinces havebeen published in 1993. Several Papua NewGuinea junior field scientists have participatedin this work, which will now incorporatebiogeographical study of the fallow (or post-cultivation) succession, by Dr Graham Semof the University of Papua New Guinea.

The Japanese group has continued aprogramme of case studies in selectedlocations, focusing on interrelationshipsbetween land-use systems, agriculturalactivities, food and nutrition, anddemography. Two lowland and one highlandgroup were studied before 1993 when, afterdiscussion with Australian colleagues and inthe light of the objectives of PLEC, new workwas initiated in two highland areas and onone small island. The strongest focus is inthe high-density Huli region of the SouthernHighlands where two Japanese graduatestudents are now in the field, and where twoAustralian graduate students have latelycompleted field research. Several papers ofrelevance to PLEC have been published.

The seed money provided by PLEC hasbeen used for three meetings, one inCanberra and two in the field in Papua NewGuinea, both involving significant field work.Interrelated plans have been prepared forcomparative study of relationships betweenenvironmental conditions, land management,agricultural technology and productivity, andrelevant socio-economic conditions includingdemography, migration, human nutrition anddisease. These will be conducted in threehighland and three lowland areas at differentstages of incorporation into the national andglobal economies. All have been visited bymembers of the cluster, and the main fieldwork will be carried out by graduate students.An integrated research proposal, by thewhole cluster, has been prepared on thisbasis and commented upon by SAG.

The most significant membership change isthat Dr Graham Sem of the University ofPapua New Guinea will in future share in jointcluster leadership. Other membership hasbeen enlarged somewhat by the addition inJapan of:K. Suda, anthropology (Hokkai-Gakuen University)M. Nakazawa, human ecology (University of

Tokyo) and


T. Kawabe, anthropology (Takasaki College ofEconomics)

Three Tokyo graduate students, M. Umekazi,T. Yamauchi and S. Odani (all human ecology),and two ANU graduate students, C. Ballard(prehistory) and K. Benediktssonn (humangeography) are now formally associated with thecluster. Simon Haberle (paleoecology) hascompleted his doctorate and, after working for theteam for a few months, has now joined theSmithsonian Tropical Research Institute inPanama.

AMAZONIAN BRAZIL

This cluster is alone in concentrating on asingle though greatly varied physical region,the floodplain of the Amazon, or várzea. Apartfrom that part of the Papua New Guinea workwhich is concerned with wetland areas at lowaltitude, its work is presently PLEC's onlyactivity in a floodplain environment, wherewater- as well as land-resources are of majorimportance. As described in an article at pp.25-26 below, the particular interest of theregion lies in its growing perceived status as'the next economic frontier in northern SouthAmerica on the basis of food production'. Infact, floodplain agriculture has a long history,and great agrodiversity. Its present relativelysmall population is, however, for the mostpart impoverished, and while ecologicalsustainability, except of the fisheries, is notimmediately endangered, socio-economicsustainability is seriously threatened.

The principal activity of this cluster as awhole has been a three-day workshop on theutilization of the várzea by small farmers, heldin Belém in August 1993 and chairedthroughout by the cluster leader, Dr E. AdilsonSerrao. The objectives were to identifylimiting factors for sustainable agricultural andforestry development, discuss case studies,identify methodologies, determine key criteriafor site selection, and identify institutions andpersons who might participate in the cluster.Twenty-five persons were invited and almost 50attended, many of them from governmentinstitutions in Belém. Including a presentationon PLEC by Brookfield (the only presentation

in English), 11 papers were presented anddiscussed. There was a short field excursion.The papers covered many aspects of resourceuse in the várzea and its waters, and therewas lively discussion. As a conference onthe várzea it was successful and informative,bringing together a substantial body of workfor the first time in one place. Because therewas so full a programme, however, there waslimited time for discussion of cluster plans, orits membership.

The two pre-proposals that came to SAG inSan Francisco were therefore separate. Aproposal based on their on-going programmeon sustainable resource management in thetidal section of the floodplain (described byHiraoka in PLEC News and Views No.1) wasoffered by Mário Hiraoka, Christine Padoch andMiguel Pinedo-Vásquez. This research projectwhich has two principal sites, one on the northbank of the lower Amazon and one in theestuary, has been active in 1993 with all theprincipals spending periods of months in thefield. The second proposal, by David (Toby)McGrath of the Federal University of Pará inBelém, concerns management of both waterand land resources in an area near Santarémwhere over-fishing of the lakes has createdserious problems which the riparian farmers areseeking in different ways to manage. Anabstract of a paper by McGrath, delivered inBelém, is printed below on page 27. SAGagreed that his proposal should be supported,while the participants work out their relationshipwithin an overall design.

In January 1994 it was proposed thatMcGrath become 'assistant executive leader' toSerrao, that Erick Fernandes be deleted fromthe cluster list, and that Deborah Lima Ayres,Federal University of Pará (Anthropology) beinvited to participate. A set of outline plansdrawn up has not yet been discussed either bySAG or by the cluster as a whole. They will beelaborated before the time of the Chiang Maimeeting.


SHORT PAPERS, NOTES AND VIEWS

Shortage of time, described above, has made impossible the inclusion of an editorial paper onmethodology or sustainability, as intended. This section therefore consists of three contributedshort papers, together with three abstracts of papers offered at the Belém meeting of theAmazonian cluster. Short papers (up to c.1,800 words) are sometimes sought, and offers arealways welcome from project members. In future issues of PLEC News and Views we may beable to print more than on this occasion.

_________________________________________________________________

WOMEN AS FARMERS IN GHANA

byElizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf

Department of Geography and ResourceDevelopment

University of Ghana, Legon

Introduction

The Rio Declaration (Principle 21) stated thatwomen have a vital role in environmentalmanagement and development and that theirfull participation is, therefore, essential toachieving sustainable development. Thisstatement is in recognition of the importantroles women already play in environmentalmanagement (and have done for many years),and the need to embark on action towardequitable treatment of women in allendeavours, including farming. In Africa,more than in other developing regions, womencontribute up to three-fourths of the labourrequired to produce the food consumed.Aggregate data, though rough, indicate thatAfrican women provide about 90 per cent oflabour used in processing food crops,providing household water and collectingfuelwood, and a similar part of that engaged ingrowing food crops. The Ghana situation tosome extent reflects this commonexperience.

In Ghana, farming has always been a majoractivity of rural women. Their contribution isa key factor in the agricultural economy.They work as farm owners, farm partners andfarm labourers. They are responsible forsubsistence crop production to feed the family,

and for cash crops (defined in terms ofagricultural commodities in internationaltrade). Women dominate more in agriculturalactivities in the southern sections of thecountry than in the north. Their operationsalso extend to post-harvesting activities,transportation, food processing andpreservation and, more importantly, to themarketing and distribution of food crops. Inthis paper, studies of women farmers willform the point of departure for discussionwithin the context of the Government'sstructural adjustment programme, itsconstraints, and also in the context ofenvironmental degradation or endangerment.

Women Farmers

Ghanaian women farmers in the south of thecountry are recognized as being farmers parexcellence. In a survey I conducted in sixvillages in the Eastern Region of Ghana in1988, the 204 rural women interviewedthrough a systematic sample survey were allfarmers. Out of this number, 75 per centundertook farming as their major occupation,while for 25 per cent it was a secondaryoccupation. The labour of most of thesewomen was allocated to householdsubsistence and, in contrast, the mendevoted their time to cash-crop orcommercial farming, and to investment incapital-intensive activities.

Of all the women farmers interviewed, 95per cent of the major farmers were engaged infood-crop production and only 5 per cent incash crops. As feeders of the household,women's concentration on food production isinfluenced by opportunity costs. With


subsistence agriculture, women are assuredof food for feeding the family. At the sametime, cash from the sale of their farm surplusis used for the purchase of non-consumablesand for the care of their children. Differencescan also be seen in the farm size worked bywomen. Where women operate cash-cropfarms, their farms are smaller than those ofthe men, ranging mostly between 0.4 and 0.8ha. Though it could be argued that childbearing and rearing, and domestic functions,reduce the time and energy available forwomen to expand their farms, there are otherand more pertinent issues. In all the farminghouseholds, women are employed as cheapfamily labour on the cocoa farms because ofthe high cost and scarcity of hired labour.

Commercialization and Setbacks

Agricultural commercialization and cash-cropfarming have increased the workload ofwomen farmers, making their task moreburdensome, time-consuming and laborious.For, in addition to assisting on family cash-crop farms, they are solely responsible for thepreparation, processing and storage of thefood crops. On some of the commercial farmsthey work jointly with their husbands, or workon the farms of relations. Some are employedas daily labourers.

With the adoption of 'structural adjustment'by the Government of Ghana, greateremphasis is being placed on exportable crops.Men who grow these crops appropriate manyof the basic inputs which the women need.Thus the women lack critical inputs such ascapital, land and labour to operate on a largerscale. This increases the difficulty of thewoman farmer's job, narrowing downopportunities to generate a reasonablemarketable surplus. In addition, cutbacks ingovernment spending on social services (dueto the structural adjustment programme)bring a great deal of hardship to increasingnumbers of women farmers in poorhouseholds, who depend on the market forwage labour and food.

Environmental Management

In spite of all the technical setbacksmentioned above, women farmers are moreworried about the productivity of crops, whichhas been falling as a result of environmentaldegradation. They have noticed tremendouschanges in the natural environment of theirfarming activities since the 1960s. Formerlythey could cultivate more varied andnutritious food crops. Now, crops like yams,which do better on good soils, have had togive way to cassava which is better able tothrive on impoverished soils. Similarly,environmental degradation is evidenced byfuelwood scarcity, requiring women to walklonger distances to collect fuelwood, to cut offyoung shoots before maturity and over-farmthe forest areas. Extensive tracts, includingriver valleys, have been deforested over asmuch as a 20 kilometre radius from theirhomes. Erosion and evaporation have alsoincreased, just as the stability andproductivity of the land are threatened,leading to reduced incomes for women andother family members. The womensuggested provision of job opportunities,afforestation and reforestation, access toinputs such as fertilizers, training skills, creditand extension services.

Conclusion

Though women are concerned with lack ofaccess to farming resources, their mainconcern is the need for proper environmentalmanagement, through the introduction ofagroforestry, afforestation, reforestation andappropriate management of the land. Such acall from women farmers indicates theircommitment as key actors in the farmingprocess. In order to achieve sustainabledevelopment, in the spirit of the RioDeclaration, there is a need to identifywomen's environmental-management needsin relation to those of all farmers. This willassist in planning and implementing a moresustainable farming system for them and theircommunities.


References

Ardayfio-Schandorf, Elizabeth, (1988), The Roleand Participation of Women in theDevelopment of Ghana, Accra and New York.

Ardayfio-Schandorf, Elizabeth, (1994), Gender andNon-Governmental Organizations inEnvironmental Management, Draft Report,Accra, Ghana PLEC Cluster.

FAO, (1985), Women and Developing Agriculture,Women in Agriculture Series No.4, Rome,Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations.

Global Assembly of Women and the Environment,(1992), Partners in Life, New York.

Timmes, C.P. , Falcon, W. and Pearson, S.,(1983), Food Policy Analysis, Washington,D.C., The World Bank.

DECIPHERING LAND USE HISTORY FROMHILL SLOPES: AN EXAMPLE FROM NEW

GUINEA

byGeoff S. Humphreys

Research School of Pacific and AsianStudies, The Australian National

University, Canberra

Attempts to assess the potential sustainabilityof land management systems seem to bebased on the premise that if current practicesare suited to the environment, then the systemshould also be sustainable for as long as thepre-determined boundary conditions remainvalid. This appears to be an underlyingassumption of a recent, but still evolving,approach to sustainability evaluation beingdeveloped by an international group of soilscientists and agriculturalists.1 However,attempts to undertake this type of evaluationwill be thwarted unless attention is directed tothe history of land use practices at the 1 Known as the 'Framework for EvaluatingSustainable Land Management' (FESLM)(Dumanski and Smyth, 1993), it is based largelyon the FAO's Framework for Land Evaluation.

chosen sites. For instance, whether or notthe condition of a patch of land is the result of50 years or 500 years of cultivation should bea vital issue for sustainability evaluation.

Determining land use histories before therecent past requires input from variousdisciplines engaged in archaeological andpalaeo-environmental research. In thehighlands of New Guinea this type of work hasfocused on sites where depositional records arebest preserved, such as lakes, swamps, cavesand rock shelters. Information from theserecords allows comments to be made about thesite and the surrounding area provided that astrong regional signal is contained in thedeposit. At the Kuk archaeological site in theWahgi valley of the central highlands, forexample, an excellent record of agricultural landuse history has been derived from a swampdeposit. This record reveals a complex historyof ditching that presumably was undertaken todrain the very fertile organic sediments (e.g.Golson, 1977). However, to explain phenomenasuch as periodic swamp abandonment andchanges in the rate and style of sedimentation,it is necessary to make some inferences aboutconditions in the catchment which feeds theswamp (e.g. Hughes et al., 1991; Bayliss-Smithand Golson, 1992). Sound as this approachmay appear, in fact a swamp-based study isincapable of distinguishing variations in theextent and type of land use change withindifferent parts of the contributing catchment atthe level of detail required for land evaluationpurposes. Similar constraints apply to hillsidearchaeological sites in rock shelters and caves(e.g. Gillieson et al., 1987); for these settingsare focal points of human activity and canhardly be representative of conditions in thesurrounding landscape, either at the time ofoccupation or during occupational hiatuses.

Given these deficiencies, attention hasbeen directed to seeking depositional sites onhill slopes that do not suffer the samerestrictions as cave and rock shelters. Suchopen-archaeological sites exist on hill slopesthat are, or have been, subjected tocultivation. Before considering this further, itis useful to reflect on the nature of erosion onhill slopes in these humid tropical uplands.Under dense forest little sediment transport


occurs, except in areas subjected to frequentmass movement.2 With the advent of forestclearance, and especially after burning andtillage, bare soil is exposed to rainwash (= rainsplash + slope wash + sediment rafting). Thischange in the erosional regime can result inthe transport of considerable amounts of soil.Erosion of this type can be witnessed duringrainfall events on recently tilled soil, and it hasbeen measured under experimental conditionsfrom microplots and garden plots (Humphreysand Wayi, 1990). Further evidence of the neteffect of rainwash can be seen in thedevelopment of various types of deposits suchas litter dams and microterraces (Mitchell andHumphreys, 1987, p. 355) and others familiarto the geomorphologist. At breaks in slope,small talus cones or aprons composed of soilaggregates (rather than gravel as portrayedin textbooks) often develop. At the end ofshallow drains on gentle to moderate slopessmall alluvial fans commonly form. Inaddition, soil aggregates collect behindobstacles, such as tree buttresses or logs,positioned across the slope. The mostimportant of these is the build up of soilbehind fences at the bottom of gardens. Ofparticular significance are those semi-permanent fences consisting of living plants,usually described by their New Guinea Pidginnames, such as 'yar' (Casuarina sp.) and'tanket' (Cordyline fruticosa). The latter plantis very useful as it propagates vegetativelyenabling the fence to be maintained as aneffective bio-engineering structure (c.f. Clarkand Howell, 1992). In this situationconsiderable volumes of soil accumulate toform a rampart of sediment which has asurface slope less than that of the hill slope(Figure 1). Recently, Humphreys andBrookfield (1991: 310-302) used the term

2 Protection from erosion is provided by a thickmat of bryophytes that blankets the surface andtrunks of living and fallen trees. Under theseconditions the rate of natural erosion is <60mm/1000y (or 0.5 tonnes/ha/y), as calculated fromthe preservation of a volcanic ash mantle >50,000years old which persists on stable uplands(Humphreys, 1984). Mass movement is notubiquitous but favours particular lithologies in thishumid region of moderate seismicity.

talud for this feature − a word derived fromold French.3

The development of a talud (Figure 2)commences when the first barrier is placedacross a slope. In this instance it is portrayedas consisting of 'tanket' but this does not needto be the case. Soil trapped by the fence,together with erosion of the sediment-starvedzone downslope of the fence, generate newsurfaces (i.e. S0 - S1 - S2). This results in athicker topsoil layer upslope of the fence andan eroding topsoil downslope of it. In manyplaces the topsoil immediately downslope ofthe talud has been removed exposingunderlying subsoil (Figure 1b).

In the Chimbu valley of the central NewGuinea highlands, farmers often plant stemsof 'tanket' into the new surface once 20-40cmof 'new' soil has accumulated. This is seen asa conservation measure to maintain the fenceand enhance its soil retention capabilities. Inplaces, up to 3 distinct generations of 'tanket'lines have been detected, with the most recentstems 2-3cm in diameter and the oldest about10cm in diameter. It is also common for thefence, including individual stems, to benddownslope 50cm or more so that the profileclosely resembles the classic soil creep curve(see Humphreys and Brookfield, 1991: Figure7b). However, this feature results from theweight of the accumulating soil deposited byrainwash rather than by creep.

Apart from soil aggregates taluds can beexpected to contain dateable organicmaterials. A common cultivation practice inthe highlands is to burn the vegetation refuseafter clearing in preparation for tillage. Thisprovides copious amounts of charcoal andorganic fragments which are transported fromthe slope and trapped at the talud. Anadditional source of organic detritus isprovided by small cooking fires located on thetalud surface at times of garden weeding andharvesting as people take advantage of the

3 In England the term 'lynchet' is sometimes usedfor this type of feature (e.g. Catt, 1986: 101),though there is a tradition of using it in a broadersense (e.g. Wood, 1961; Smith, 1975) to includeramparts of soil that have built up as footslopedeposits without the trapping effect of fences orother barriers. In this sense a talud could beconsidered as a particular variety of lynchet.


Figure 1: a) Transect along fallow and garden land with taluds. Upper Chimbu valley.b) Enlargement of a talud

gentler slope and the shade provided by'tanket'.4

The development of taluds represents ahistory of land use. By dating the depositsand sourcing the contributing sediment, itshould be possible to determine rates ofsediment accumulation and erosion, as wellas date the minimal age of forest clearance,and perhaps cultivation, on the slope. Such atask has commenced near the cultivation limitin the upper Chimbu valley where oralhistories indicate forest clearance as recentlyas around 1900 AD. However, theinhabitants have a poor oral traditionspanning at most three to four generationseven though

4 Apart from these organic remains it should benoted that other types of materials suitable fordating and/or environmental reconstruction may befound. In some lynchets, for example, sherds andmolluscs have proven useful (Fowler and Evans,1967). In lowland sites in Melanesia, shells andpottery sherds may be expected but none werefound in a recent excavation of a talud in Vanuatu.

apparently older events are recalled.5Preliminary dating of one talud (Figure 1), bythe C-14 method, indicates that developmentbegan about 1610 AD (340 years ±160 BP(ANU-8703). This is much earlier than that ofany oral account. It also shows that initialforest clearance must be at least as old astalud development, and possibly much older, ifthe establishment of a barrier across slopestook place some time after clearance. Thisearlier-than-expected age of forest clearanceis of additional interest since the site, c.2700m altitude, is at the limit of sweet potato(Ipomoea batatas) cultivation − a New Worldroot crop thought to have been introduced tothe Philippines by Spanish explorers c. 16thcentury and then dispersed throughout theregion (Micronesia and Melanesia). Prior tothe widespread adoption of sweet potato,

5 People recall the lands of ancestors and thereasons for migration, such as warfare anddrought, but not any sense of when these eventsoccurred, other than before the time of great-grandparents. See Humphreys and Brookfield(1991: 314).


extensive cultivation is thought to have beenconfined to altitudes below about 2200m,which is the effective upper limit of intensivetaro (Colocasia esculenta) gardens.

As noted above it is also possible tocomment upon rates of erosion and relatedmatters. Thus, at the face of the talud (Figure1b) about 90cm of organic rich soil hasaccumulated over the past 390 years. This isequivalent to an average longer-term rate ofsoil loss of about 70 mm/1000y (or 0.6

Figure 2: Model of talud development

tonnes/ha/y) if it is assumed that the wedgeof soil trapped by the talud is derived from theadjacent hill slopes. However, this valueprobably underestimates total soil loss for italso assumes that the talud fence has beeneffective in trapping the soil. For example,this rate is nearly five times less than thesuspended load estimate obtained from a 6.3km2 catchment of tephra-mantled, undulatingterrain at Kuk, 80km to the west (Hughes etal., 1991), and at least ten times less thansoil loss measured on equivalent ash soilsfrom microplots supporting fallow grasses, and

from garden plots (Humphreys and Wayi,1990). However, it is similar to the long-termrate of denudation for this environment (seefootnote 2) and to net erosion rates estimatedfor the Yeni Swamp catchment by Gillieson etal. (1987). At this stage of the study it can beassumed that the talud fences probably trapa reasonable proportion of the soiltransported downslope, but the actualsediment-trap efficiency remains unknownand will prove very difficult to establish.

Talud deposits represent a potentiallyinformative record that can be used tounravel land use histories on sites that, sofar, have attracted little attention fromarchaeologists and palaeo-environmentalists,even though the use of similar features, suchas lynchets, is well established in other partsof the world (e.g. Smith, 1975). Their primeadvantage is that they provide a means ofestablishing independent histories of land useat the scale of individual hill slopes and slopesegments. For this reason they are ofimportance in helping to evaluate thepotential sustainability of land managementpractices. Still, the hill slope location of taludslimits the potential temporal and spatial extentof this type of deposit. In this sense the land-use histories obtained from them can onlyform part of a more complete and largerrecord obtained from other depositional sitessuch as swamps and lakes.

Acknowledgements

The assistance of Claudia Camarotto and BarbaraBanks in preparing this note is appreciated, as arecritical comments by Chris Ballard.

References

Bayliss-Smith, T. and Golson, J. (1992), Acolocasian revolution in the New GuineaHighlands? Insights from Phase 4 at Kuk,Archaeology in Oceania 27: 1-21.

Catt, J.A. (1986), Soils and Quaternary Geology. AHandbook for Field Scientists. Monographs onSoil and Resource Surveys No.11, Oxford,Clarendon Press, 267pp.

Clark, J.E. and Howell, J.H. (1992), Developmentof bio-engineering strategies in rural mountainareas, in D.E. Walling, T.R. Davies and


B. Hasholt (eds), Erosion, Debris Flows andEnvironment in Mountain Regions, IAHS Publ.209, pp. 387-397.

Dumanski, J. and Smyth, A.J. (1993), The issuesand challenges of sustainable landmanagement, paper delivered at theInternational Workshop on Sustainable LandManagement for the 21st Century, Lethbridge,Alberta, Canada, 21-25 June 1993, (mimeo).

Fowler, P.J. and Evans, J.G. (1967), Plough-marks,lynchets and early fields, Antiquity 61: 289-301.

Gillieson, D., Gorecki, P., Head, J. and Hope, G.(1987), Soil erosion and agricultural history inthe central highlands of Papua New Guinea.In V. Gardiner (ed.), International Geomorphology1986, Chichester, John Wiley, pp. 507-522.

Golson, J. (1977), No room at the top: agriculturalintensification in the New Guinea Highlands, inJ. Allen, J. Golson and R. Jones (eds), Sundaand Sahul: Prehistoric Studies in South-EastAsia, Melanesia and Australia, London,Academic Press, pp. 601-638.

Hughes, P.J., Sullivan, M.E. and Yok, D. (1991),Human-induced erosion in a highlandscatchment in Papua New Guinea: theprehistoric and contemporary records,Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie 83: 227-239.

Humphreys, G.S. (1984), The environment andsoils of Chimbu Province, Papua New Guineawith particular reference to soil erosion,Department of Primary Industry (PNG)Research Bulletin No.35, 109pp.

Humphreys, G.S. and Brookfield, H.C. (1991), Theuse of unstable steeplands in the mountains ofPapua New Guinea, Mountain Research andDevelopment 11: 295-318.

Humphreys, G.S. and Wayi, B.M. (1990),Measuring soil erosion on steeplands: theChimbu experience, PACIFICLAND Workshopon the Establishment of Soil ManagementExperiments on Sloping Lands, Bangkok,Thailand, International Board for Soil Researchand Management, IBSRAM Technical NotesNo.4, pp. 243-269.

Mitchell, P.B. and Humphreys, G.S. (1987), Litterdams and microterraces formed on hillslopessubject to rainwash in the Sydney Basin,Australia, Geoderma 39: 331-357.

Smith, R.T. (1975), Early agriculture and soildegradation. In J.G. Evans, S. Limbrey and H.Cleere (eds), The Effect of Man on the Landscape:The Highland Zone, The Council for BritishArchaeology, Research Report 11, pp. 27-37.

Wood, P.D. (1961), Strip lynchets reconsidered,Geographical Journal 127: 449-459.

THE AMAZON FLOODPLAIN: THE NEXTMAJOR FRONTIER FOR FOOD

PRODUCTION

byE. Adilson Serrão

Centro de Pesquisa Agroflorestal daAmazonia Oriental

Belém, Brazil

Introduction

The development of the Amazon − the largesttropical forest area on the planet − hasattracted world attention in recent years due tothe extent and rate of deforestation that hasbeen occurring. Major environmentaldisturbances (increasing carbon emissionsleading to global warming, and losses ofbiomass, biodiversity, soil, water andnutrients) have been claimed to be a result ofagricultural and forestry developments overthe past three decades. It is estimated thatat least 40 million hectares have beencleared for these purposes, an area abouteight times the territory of Costa Rica.

Presently, population in the BrazilianAmazon is about 17 million people, and isprojected to be 25 million by the year 2010.Because of the increasing rural and urbanpopulation, demands for food and fibre, andthe need for environmental conservation andpreservation, land in the Amazon must infuture be used on a sustainable basis.

Considerable effort has been devoted inthe past three decades to identify and promotealternative land use systems for reducingdeforestation for agricultural and forestrydevelopment in the Amazon. Some successhas been observed in replacing fire-reliantshifting agriculture by more sustainableproduction systems, increasing intensity ofland utilization.

The Várzea

Along with increasing sustainability of land usesystems on already deforested rain forestareas, other ways have to be sought for


reducing loss of the rain forest. Among theseare the utilization of the well-drained (cerrado)and poorly-drained savannas, as well as theAmazon várzea floodplains. The várzea, oneof the planet's richest ecosystems, coverssome 20 million hectares of land along thefloodable margins of the Amazon, and itstributaries with muddy, sediment-rich waters.

Because of the comparative advantage inrelation to upland ecosystems, mainly in termsof soil-productive potential, the floodplain maybecome the next economic frontier innorthern South America, on the basis of foodproduction. In fact, várzea agriculture was thefirst major farming and fishery development inthe region, facilitated by river navigationbefore the start of the road-building era in the1960s. During the past two decades however,agricultural development in the floodplains haslost some of its importance because of thedecline in extraction activities, and theincreasing use of the rainforest upland areas.In more recent years, national andinternational concern about issues related todeforestation for agriculture and forestry hasled to resurgence of interest in the várzea.

Notwithstanding their varied use ofresources, small-farmer várzea agriculturalsystems are in the same broad class ofshifting agriculture as those of the uplandrainforest areas. They also use slash-and-burn practices, field rotation and growpredominantly annual food crops. There are,however, differences and they include thefact that the floodplain vegetation is lessheterogeneous and includes large tracts ofherbaceous, mainly grassy, vegetation. Alsofloodplain soils are more fertile than uplandsoils, so that shifting cycles are shorter.Floodplains are subject to the annualflooding-receding cycle, with its consequentrisks. Moreover, agricultural and subsistencefishing activities complement each other inthe floodplain.

Socio-economic sustainability of agricultureon the floodplain remains less than in theupland areas, because of deficient basicinfrastructure (education, health andtransportation), and problems arising fromcommercialization. At present low levels ofpopulation density ecological pressure on landresources is still bearable. But this cannot be

said for floodplain fishing, since predatoryfishing has increased dramatically in the lasttwo decades.

The Prospect

The possibility of achieving sustainability ofagricultural and forestry development in thefloodplain is certainly higher than on theupland, mainly because of more favourablesoil conditions. However, weed invasion,pests, diseases and the risks of flooding areconstraints. More appropriate management offish resources is essential.

The development potential of thefloodplain has hitherto been explored mainlyon paper and in conferences, and in debateswithin the political and scientific communities.Meantime, considerable changes are takingplace. Ecosystems are being homogenizedby cattle ranching, with significantdeforestation and firing. Such uses mayundermine long-term environmentalproductivity of both land and water.

The resource base of the floodplain is nowbeing endangered, and this will have seriousconsequences for the future Amazonianpopulation. Fisheries, in particular, arethreatened by both habitat destruction andover-exploitation of stocks. It is urgent todevelop a synthesis of what is known aboutthese fisheries and the possibilities ofaquaculture. There are at present nocomprehensive models that anyone mightuse to protect and manage these resources.

Agriculture and fishery development in theAmazon floodplains are closely related, andcannot be treated separately. Any plan topromote development in the várzea must takeaccount of the interplay of these relatedactivities and their internal dynamics. Athorough understanding of how people nowuse the floodplain resources is essential asbasis to any intervention, whether to protectforests, raise native animals for food, or growcrops.


SHORT ABSTRACTS OF SELECTEDPAPERS DELIVERED AT THE BELEMMEETING OF THE AMAZON CLUSTER

There follows material drawn from abstracts ofthree papers delivered by present and intendedcluster members in Belém at the meeting onAugust 10-12 1993. Abstracts, provided by thecluster leader, are edited and supplemented withrelated material. Mário Hiraoka also gave a paper,similar in coverage to that printed in PLEC Newsand Views No.1. (Editor)

David G. McGrath

Lake Reserve and Communal-BasedManagement of Várzea Resources

The várzea is one of the most productiveenvironments of the entire Amazon basin.Thanks to its fertile soils, denseconcentrations of fish and other vertebrates,and its natural accessibility, the várzea hasplayed a central role in the regional economysince pre-Columbian times. Várzeasettlement has typically been based on astrategy of multiple resource use, involvingfishing, farming and animal husbandry. Overthe years, varzeiros have adapted theirsubsistence strategies in response tochanging opportunities in the regionaleconomy. One after another, a series ofdifferent plant and animal resources havebeen the focus of the várzea economy,providing varzeiros with a difficult thoughfairly stable livelihood.

Today, this is under increasing pressure.The three main factors responsible are thecollapse of commercial agriculture, theexpansion of cattle ranching, and theintensification of commercial fisheries. Thecombination of these factors has ledvarzeiros to become increasingly dependenton fishing for their cash income andsubsistence needs. The resulting pressurehas substantially reduced the productivity ofvarzeiro fishing effort. At the same time,burning and overgrazing associated with theexpansion of cattle ranching may be reducingthe productive capacity of várzea fisheries.

As a result of these trends, the viability ofvarzeiro subsistence systems and theecological integrity of várzea systems areseriously threatened.

In response to depletion of the fisheries,communities throughout the lower Amazonare closing lakes to outside fishermen, and insome cases implementing measures designedto increase the productivity of lake fisheries.These lake reserves are promising modelsfor the sustainable management of várzeafisheries, but little is known about the viabilityof lake management. The paper presentedpreliminary results of a study comparingfishing activity in two lake systems, onemanaged and one unmanaged. Preliminaryresults indicate that lake management canincrease productivity both in general and of atleast some commercially important fishspecies. The higher productivity of lakefisheries enables varzeiro households todevote more time to farming and animalhusbandry, thereby increasing the overallproductivity of the household economy. Inconclusion, depending on the measuresadopted, lake reserves appear to be apromising strategy for sustainabledevelopment of the várzea resource base.

McGrath, D., Castro, F., Futemma, C., Amaral, B.and Calabria J. (1993), Fisheries and theevolution of resource management in thelower Amazonian várzea, Human Ecology 21:167-195.

Deborah Lima Ayres

Implantation of a Conservation Unit inan Area of Várzea: the Mamiraua

Experience

A conservation unit has been set up inAmazonas state, at the Mamiraua EcologicalStation (EEM). About 4,500 people within thereserve occupy some 50 small communities,with an average of 14 houses in each. Themain activities are agriculture, logging andfishing, guaranteeing good health andnutritional conditions, as our project hasestablished. Cash activity provides only lowincomes, about $US500 annually, of which 75per cent is spent on basic supplies.


Legally, flooded areas belong to the Navy,but there are some private property titles ofcontroversial validity. In any case, most ofthe várzea neighbouring the EEM focal areais considered devoluta and therefore open forexploration. While this raises issues ofcommon-property resources, in the presentcase what is involved is competition betweenvarzeiros on one side, and loggers, fishingcompanies and some large landowners onthe other. The inequality of this conflict over apublic domain has generated many conflictsalong the Solimões, the Amazon and theirtributaries. Subsistence is directly threatened.Varzeiros complain of the difficulties ofcatching fish and turtles for food, which wereabundant in the quite recent past. Depletedstocks are the problem but, while there is littleactual risk of extinction there are seriousdangers of biodiversity erosion. The questionthat generates conflict, and mobilizes localcommunities, is the direct threat to theirsurvival.

Dependency on exploitation of naturalresources forces communities to support'ecological' movements. The commercialfishing companies operate in itinerantmanner, moving according to availability offish. It is this migratory predation, rather thancapitalist exploitation for its own sake, that isopposed. The method has been to closefishing areas for the exclusive use of guardiancommunities. Affirmation of commonresponsibilities and rights in this way is,however, without any legal basis.

There is no supporting legislation,although a way may be found throughrestriction of fishing equipment or in fiscalcontrol through the Brazilian Institute ofEnvironment and Natural Resources. Up tonow, solutions put into practice areinadequate, and this is widely true of today'sproblems in the várzea and elsewhere inAmazonia (May, 1992).May, P.H. (1992), Common property resources in

the neotropics: theory, management progressand an action agenda. In K.H. Redford and C.Padoch (eds), Conservation of NeotropicalForests: Working from Traditional ResourceUse, New York, Columbia University Press,pp. 359-378.

Christine Padoch

Management of Floodplain Resourcesin the Peruvian Amazon: a Review of

Recent Research

Approximately 73 per cent of the total ruralpopulation of the lowland Peruvian Amazonlive in várzea areas, although floodplainscover only three per cent of the total area.Much research has in recent years beendone in the várzea and adjacent upland of thePeruvian Amazon, and has concentrated onthe diversity and complexity of managementpatterns, and the economic value offloodplain resources. The presentationsummarized a few significant findings.

Studies of agriculture and agroforestryhave found very fine adaptations to smalltopographical differences, and consequentvariation in soils, vegetation, and floodingregimes. The complexity of zonation is foundto be compounded by historical, cultural andeconomic complexity to produce a situation ofgreat management diversity. The dynamismof the patterns was also emphasized.

Another focus of recent interest is thedynamism of the floodplain ecosystemsthemselves, and the considerable economicvalue of their resources for both constructionand food. Research has concentrated on themanagement of these resources, particularlythose in low-diversity or oligarchic forests.Padoch, C. (1988), People of the floodplain and

forest. In J.S. Denslow and C. Padoch (eds),People of the Tropical Rain Forest, Berkeleyand Los Angeles, University of CaliforniaPress.

Padoch, C. and de Jong, W. (1990), Santa Rosa:the impact of the forest products trade in anAmazonian village. In G.T. Prance and M.Balick (eds), New Directions in the Study ofPlants and People, Advances in EconomicBotany Vol.8: 151-158.

Padoch, C. and de Jong, W. (1992), Diversity,variation and change in ribereno agriculture.In K.H. Redford and C. Padoch (eds),Conservation of Neotropical Forests: Workingfrom Traditional Resource Use, New York,Columbia University Press, pp. 158-174.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A B O U T T H I S N E W S L E T T E R

PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS is the main means of general communication within PLEC, and at thesame time a principal means of telling others about PLEC. It will appear about twice a year (butnot at exact intervals) through the life of the project. The first issue, published in July 1993,presented basic information about the project that will not appear again. In the present issue onlyan abbreviated statement appears on page 1. The second section of the Newsltter, PLECNEWS, is a standard feature, and so also is the third, REPORTS FROM THE CLUSTERS.Lastly, there appear SHORT PAPERS, NOTES AND VIEWS, contributed by project members.The pattern may be varied a little through time and, if resources allow, additional material such asliterature reviews on specific aspects of project interest may be added.

Editor

_______________________________________________________

PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS is published for the United Nations University by the Department ofAnthropology, Division of Society and Environment, Research School of Pacific and AsianStudies, The Australian National University. Production work has been undertaken by Ria vande Zandt and Margaret Tyrie. Artwork is by Margaret Tyrie and Keith Mitchell.

Copyright: Permission to copy any material in this Newsletter will be given, provided that fullreference to the author, title, volume title, and place and date of publication are given. Abstractingdoes not require permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the Editor, Professor HaroldBrookfield, Department of Anthropology, Division of Society and Environment, Research Schoolof Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS), The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200,Australia. Fax: (+61-6) 2494896. E-mail: [email protected]

PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS

• Published about twice yearly• Editor: Professor Harold Brookfield• Address: Department of Anthropology, Division

of Society and Environment, RSPAS,The Australian National University, Canberra,ACT 0200, Australia

• Phone: +61 (0)6 2494348• Fax: +61 (0)6 2494896• e-mail: [email protected]

PLEC NEWS AND VIEWSarchive.unu.edu/env/plec/pnv/PNV2 · PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS No. 2 – February 1994...

Documents

Transcript of PLEC NEWS AND VIEWSarchive.unu.edu/env/plec/pnv/PNV2 · PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS No. 2 – February 1994...