17 pages, Scholarship within the social sciences of agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) exists, in part, to inform solutions to complex problems. Increasingly, complex problems are found at the nexus of social and ecological systems; therefore, scholarship within the social sciences of AFNR must mirror this social-ecological characteristic. Existing AFNR social science literature on resilience lacks the required social-ecological perspective, conceptualizing resilience as an individual characteristic. The absence of a social-ecological perspective of resilience fails to holistically address the complexity of AFNR systems and the challenge therein. Therefore, the current manuscript seeks to inform social science scholarship within AFNR by foregrounding social-ecological resilience as a necessary approach to addressing the complexity of challenges found throughout AFNR systems. Included in the discussion is a critical review of individual resilience, an introduction to adaptation and transformation, an outline of social-ecological resilience, an in-depth analysis of the seven principles of social-ecological resilience, and a discussion of social-ecological resilience thinking applied to the seven research priority areas described by the American Association for Agricultural Education. In total, the current manuscript paves the way for additional systems-based research in the AFNR social sciences by introducing critical concepts and approaches related to social-ecological resilience.
Online from publication., This report describes a petition by 11 Southeast Alaska Native Tribes to create a "Traditional Homelands Conservation Rule." It is a new strategy in tribal nations' ongoing efforts to hold the federal government to its legal responsibility to consult with them on projects that impact them. It includes case examples of past failures to do so.
Hibbs, Amber Campbell (author), Kahl, Daniel (author), PytlikZillig, Lisa (author), Champion, Ben (author), Abdel-Monem, Tarik (author), Steffensmeier, Timothy (author), Rice, Charles W. (author), and Hubbard, Kenneth (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2014-06
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 140 Document Number: D06056
10 pages, For some years, the Republic of Benin has promoted mechanization and modernization of its agricultural sector as a driver of food security, socio-economic development and sub-regional solidarity. New agricultural technologies such as tractors and pesticides have been introduced into the small scale farming systems and have reached record adoption rates in various agro-ecological zones of the country. However, rural actors’ use of these technologies also leads to new forms of territoriality which make some winners and others losers. This study was carried out in the cotton basin of northern Benin to scrutinize the forms of appropriation of agricultural technologies and the effects on access to productive resources and interactions between farmers and herders who are cultural neighbors. Participatory observation was carried out over ten months in the district of Gogounou where informants who were purposively selected were engaged in 164 individual interviews and 21 focus group discussions recorded by consent, transcribed and thematically analyzed. By analyzing the mechanisms of appropriation of herbicides in rural areas and the related political ecology of land use, the paper argues that herbicides reconfigure tenure systems by inducing new forms of land-tenure insecurity and land-use conflicts between socio-professional groups that depend on the same natural resources for their livelihoods. Community-based discussions can engage stakeholders in exchanges of sustainable production alternatives, just as institutional reforms are needed to better channel the uses of modern agricultural technologies.
9 pages, Effective delivery of continuing education programs can improve their impact. Using the first of four two-week modules of a professional short course, we tested outcomes of a flipped classroom approach, comparing professional foresters’ completion rates, preference for, and perceived value of pre-module content delivered via video and reading. Participants in the National Advanced Silviculture Program self-reported significantly higher pre-module completion rates, preference for, and perceived value of video over reading. This simple study suggests the potential for video to serve as an accessible and preferred format for delivery of key content to supplement an in-person continuing education program.
