83 research outputs found
Labour Market Effects of Large-Scale Agricultural Investment: Conceptual Considerations and Estimated Employment Effects
No full textLarge-scale agricultural investments (LSAIs) in general and their socio-economic implications in particular have been heavily debated in recent years. While some claim that LSAIs are an important catalyst for development in neglected rural areas, others caution that they pose a risk to rural communities' livelihoods. The extent to which LSAIs provide benefits for local communities is hence still contested. This paper sets out to conceptually understand what effects the establishment of a large-scale farm has on the rural labor market in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, we empirically address the question of whether large-scale farming as recorded in the Land Matrix creates or destroys employment. We develop a transition matrix to identify several scenarios based on key determinants of the direct employment creation potential of LSAIs, namely the former land use, the crop type and the production model. We empirically assess the actual importance of these scenarios and the employment creation to be expected from this sample of LSAIs based on labor intensities. We further look into the net employment effects for land formerly used by smallholder farmers. Our analysis shows that LSAIs massively crowd out smallholder farmers, which is only partially mitigated through the cultivation of labor intensive crops and the application of contract farming schemes. This holds true for all regions targeted by LSAIs, although regional differences are found in terms of magnitude. The paper concludes that these effects tend to be large on the local scale (i.e., in the immediate surroundings of the investment site) but small in relation to total national employment in agriculture. However, indirect employment creation related to LSAIs, which is discussed but not empirically addressed in this paper, needs to be taken into account to have the full picture
Food or fuel - the role of agrofuels in the rush for land
No full textThe production of agrofuel crops is believed to be playing a decisive role in the so-called "land rush," the international scramble for arable land in developing and emerging countries. Reports of an alarming wave of land acquisitions due to "agrofuels hype" initiated by agrofuel investors have made headlines in recent years. The potential merits and dangers of agrofuel production are the subject of heavy debate, with food-security concerns and environmental impacts fueling the controversy. Analysis Based on data from the Land Matrix Global Observatory, our analysis assesses the role of agrofuel production in the "rush for land" and sheds light on the often-nontransparent investment process of agrofuel projects. We find that these projects account for an important share of the global demand for land. However, the "agrofuels hype" is over. Land deals with the intention of cultivating agrofuel crops are particularly prone to failure, especially early on in the projects. We expect that the investors that have survived this first period of investments are here to stay, and that "cowboy investors" have been turned off by difficult investment environments in low- and middle-income countries. Agrofuel production is one of the main drivers of the global rush for land. Twentythree percent of the concluded transnational deals currently recorded in the Land Matrix include plants intended for agrofuel production. Sub-Saharan Africa appears to be the most heavily favored region for agrofuel investments. European investors top the rankings of investor countries for agrofuel projects. Agrofuel crops require huge initial investments and take several years to yield returns. In difficult investment environments, agrofuel projects require experienced and serious investors in order to be successful. Jatropha projects have a particularly high record of failure
Dokumentarisme som funktion: En analyse af Thomas Ostermeiers iscenesættelse af En Folkefjende (2012)
No full textCiting the notion of the author-function by Michel Foucault this article proposes a description of documentarism as a discursive function, presented by the staging in the relationship between the audience and discursive authority of the work. The documentarism of the staging of Henrik Ibsens An enemy of the people by Thomas Ostermeier is analysed from the perspective of the situation of address
Multisensor Data Fusion in a mobile Agricultural BUS-System for a real-time process control in sensor based fertilizer application systems
No full textEs wurde ein Vorgehensmodell zur Analyse und Entwicklung für Multisensor Data Fusion-Lösungen in landwirtschaftlichen BUS-Systemen vorgeschlagen. Am Beispiel einer Real-time Prozessführung für intensive N-Düngung nach dem Sensor-Ansatz mit Kartenüberlagerung wurden die Anwendbarkeit überprüft, der Fusionsalgorithmus abgeleitet und nötige Erweiterungen der Norm ISO 11783 aufgezeigt. Die Realisierbarkeit wurde mittels einer Simulation in Form eines Expertensystems für Applikationssysteme gezeigt.A process model for the analysis and development of Multisensor Data Fusion solutions in Agricultural BUS-Systems was proposed. Applied to a real-time process control for N-fertilizer application use case according to the Real-time approach with map overlay, the proof of concept could be achieved, the fusion algorithm was derived and needed extensions of ISO 11783 were revealed. Feasibility was demonstrated by a software simulation comprising an expert system for application systems
Population ageing: Alternative measures of dependency and implications for the future of work
No full textThe world's population is getting older, a phenomenon that has important implications for the future of work. Persons aged 55 years and over are expected to outnumber all children aged 0 to 14 years by 2035 and the entire child and youth population aged 0 to 24 years by 2080. As a direct consequence of population ageing, the number of older workers aged 55 to 64 years is increasing and is set to equal one quarter of the global labour force by 2030. This paper examines the projected labour force participation trends of older workers to 2030 and discusses the future of economic dependency for developing, emerging and developed countries. It introduces five alternative measures of economic dependency to account for the fact that persons of working age may not be working or may be facing employment conditions that compromise their capacity to support themselves and others. Such conditions include scenarios where workers are unable to work as many hours as they would like, or where they are in situations of vulnerable employment or working poverty. These alternative measures therefore not only take into account demographic and quantitative labour market characteristics, such as age structure, activity status and unemployment, but also consider qualitative dimensions such as underemployment, labour income and vulnerability. Using a very rich ILO data set that provides a consistent series of labour market data for all countries with forecasts to 2024 and beyond, the paper provides estimates for these new dependency measures and makes a number of policy recommendations to address the impact of ageing on decent work
Land investments: a new type of territorial expansion
No full textAs foreigners snap up farmland around the world, it is hard to know who is investing in what, and what the effects on local people might be. An international database is throwing light on the murk
Investissements fonciers: la nouvelle expansion
No full textAttendu que de nombreux investisseurs s'arrachent les terres agricoles dans le monde entier, il est difficile de savoir qui s'implique dans quelle entreprise et quels pourraient en être les effets sur les populations locales. Une base de données internationale fait la lumière sur cette situation confuse
Le Théâtre et le réel. Questions sur le réalisme
No full textLors d’une conférence prononcée en 2009, le metteur en scène Thomas Ostermeier plaidait pour un théâtre réaliste à même d’opposer une résistance aux formes déconstructivistes du théâtre postdramatique et de la performance, et il faisait de Brecht le modèle de référence en la matière. Dès 2002, l’auteur du Théâtre postdramatique (1999), Hans-Thies Lehmann parait à l’opposé tout reproche de pur jeu formel associé à ce dernier, se fondant sur la proposition de Lukács d’une vérité sociale logée dans la forme. Les termes mêmes du débat qui opposait, dans les années 1930, Brecht et Lukács sur la question du réalisme resurgissaient ainsi de façon étonnante plus de 70 ans après, rendant nécessaire l’analyse détaillée de ses différentes étapes et la mise en perspective de ses modalités.During a lecture he gave 2009, the stage director Thomas Ostermeier made a plea for a ‘realistic theatre’ capable of offering resistance to the deconstructivist forms of post-dramatic theatre and performance, of which he made Brecht the role model. As early as 2002, the author of Postdramatisches Theater (1999), Hans-Thies Lehmann seemed to oppose any rapprochement with the purely formal plays associated with the latter, drawing on Lukács’ proposal of a social truth situated in form itself. The very terms of the 1930s debate which set Brecht and Lukács in opposition to each other on the question of realism, surprisingly reappeared more than 70 years later, making it necessary to analyse in detail its different stages and to put into perspective its modalities.2009 plädierte Thomas Ostermeier mit ausdrücklichem Bezug auf Brecht für ein realistisches Theater gegen die dekonstruktivistischen Formen des performativen und postdramatischen Theaters. Schon 2002 hatte Hans-Thies Lehmann gegen den Vorwurf an das postdramatische Theater als rein formales Spiel Lukács’ Aussage zitiert, wonach « das Wahrhaft Soziale an der Kunst die Form » ist. Somit wird erneut die Debatte um den Realismus entfacht, die in den 1930er Jahren u.a. zwischen Brecht und Lukács stattfand und deren verschiedene Etappen im vorliegenden Beitrag verfolgt und analysiert werden
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