88 research outputs found
Choices have Consequences: REDD+ and Local Democracy in Kenya
No full textThe extent to which the United Nations Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation programme (REDD+) addresses critical issues of governance is hotly contested. This article focuses on the local institutions chosen as partners by a prominent REDD+ project in Kenya and the implications of this choice for local democracy. The REDD+ project briefly partnered with state-appointed local authorities to represent local interests, bypassing elected ones. Shortly after, the state-appointed authorities were abandoned in favour of 'project-created' carbon committees and civil society organisations. The choice to recognise some institutions while excluding others, was justified by the levels of downward accountability and of corruption, and arguments that state-sanctioned institutions were overburdened and inefficient. However, the article contends that this preference for carbon committees and civil society organisations over state-sanctioned institutions, and particularly the aversion to democratically elected ones, was not conducive for long-term strengthening of local democracy. The analysis pinpoints a tension between setting up parallel models of authority that can act as exemplars of democratic practice, while undermining democratically elected institutions that, in Kenya, are struggling to exercise newly devolved powers. Explicit strategies are required to enable learning from parallel governance models and for their migration into mainstream local governance structures, if local democracy is to be strengthened rather than undermined
Erratum to: Risky Sex and HIV Acquisition Among HIV Serodiscordant Couples in Zambia, 2002–2012: What Does Alcohol Have To Do With It?
No full textThe article Risky Sex and HIV Acquisition Among HIV Serodiscordant Couples in Zambia, 2002–2012: What Does Alcohol Have To Do With It?, written by Dvora Joseph Davey, William Kilembe, Kristin M. Wall, Naw Htee Khu, Ilene Brill, Bellington Vwalika, Elwyn Chomba, Joseph Mulenga, Amanda Tichacek, Marjan Javanbakht, W. Scott Comulada, Susan Allen, Pamina M. Gorbach, was originally published Online First without open access. After publication in volume 21, issue 7, pages 1892–1903, the author decided to opt for Open Choice and to make the article an open access publication. Therefore, the copyright of the article has been changed to © The Author(s) [Year] and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made
Implications of Decentralized Forest Management and REDD+ for Rural Vulnerability in Kenya
No full textOver the last few decades, many people have gradually come to recognize the impact of various actions and interactions between themselves and the earth’s planetary system. Some of these impacts include environmental degradation; increased levels of anthropogenically generated gases such as CO2 and associated changes in climate; increased occurrence of climate related risks such as drought and flooding. This results in people experiencing increased exposure to climatic risks and shocks, which constitutes the external side of vulnerability. On the other hand, there are social, economic and political factors that affect how people are able to cope with or adapt to shocks. These include governance aspects that structure people’s access to key resources. They determine peoples’ (in)ability to anticipate, cope and recover from risks and shocks, in other words, they form the internal side of vulnerability. Vulnerability here is understood as “the state of susceptibility to harm from exposure to stresses associated with environmental and social change and from the absence of capacity to cope” (Adger, 2006, pg. 268). This definition identifies three components of vulnerability: i) exposure to stresses, ii) environmental and social change, and iii) absence of capacity to cope. These three vulnerability components reveal the relationship between people, the environment, as well as social, economic and political changes.Interventions such as Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, including enhancement of carbon stocks and forest conservation (REDD+) have been promoted with multiple goals, including poverty alleviation, sustainable management of forests and improving natural resource governance. If CBFM and REDD+ are implemented in such a way that the three goals are achieved, then their proponents suggest they can contribute to better livelihoods, income generation, improved forest management, reducing CO2 emissions, and thereby mitigating the effects of climate change. In addition, governance principles such as decentralized decision making, safeguarding rights and interests of forest dependent communities, ensuring equity in distribution of benefits, and promoting local empowerment are part and parcel of both CBFM and REDD+ architectures. To this end, CBFM and REDD+ represent interventions in forestry, implemented to protect people and the environment, thereby potentially reducing both the vulnerability of people and that of the natural ecosystems.But do these interventions always achieve the desired outcomes? What are the various humanly devised opportunities and constraints that structure the political, economic and social interactions under REDD+ and CBFM that either increase or reduce vulnerability? Or simply put, what are the governance risks under CBFM and REDD+ that can affect the delivery of intended outcomes? These questions are the primary concern of this thesis. The overall objective of the study was to analyze how CBFM and REDD+ affects the vulnerability of forest dependent communities in Kenya. The first step was to build a framework that links access to benefits and decision making powers under REDD+/ CBFM to vulnerability. Using this framework, the study then went on to identify and detail the dimensions of governance that sanction access to benefits and decision making powers under REDD+, thereby mediating and configuring vulnerability. It is critical to note that the research does not claim to exhaust all aspects of governance that play a role in vulnerability under REDD+ and CBFM under different contexts. Rather, using a pragmatic approach of theory building, drawing from primary data and first-hand experience with the local contexts in the two case studies, three aspects of governance emerged and were studied in detail: equity, empowerment and democracy.The empirical analysis entailed two case studies (one for REDD+ and one for CBFM), employing mixed methods approaches, as well as multiple levels of analysis (national, subnational and local). The overall objective was broken down into four research questions, two on CBFM and the other two on REDD+ as follows. 1) How can CBFM mediate access to benefits and decision making processes in order to reduce vulnerability of local communities? 2) Can the transfer of forest management authority from the state to local institutions lead to local empowerment? 3) How do present and historical tenure arrangements affect equity in distribution of benefits under REDD+? 4) How do institutional choices under REDD+ affect local democracy?To answer the first question, the study first aimed at constructing a framework within which to assess how access to benefits affected vulnerability. This framework, although it was first developed for CBFM, was later adopted for the rest of the study, following critical examination and realization that the mechanism of access and control of benefits under REDD+ were not that different from those of CBFM. Under research question 1, the study then went ahead to empirically assess how access to forest benefits under CBFM can affect vulnerability of forest dependent communities. By mapping out endowments and entitlements of various actors on the ground, we found a set of complex underlying socio-economic differentiations amongst the members of local communities which conditioned differentiated interests and claims over forest benefits and decision making powers. Overall, we found that CBFM exacerbates vulnerability through taxation of forest benefits and presiding over institutional mechanisms that favor the interests of elites over other groups.On the second research question, the study examined the concept of local empowerment under CBFM in detail. The study developed an analytical framework with which to assess empowerment, which constituted asset-based agency and institution-based opportunity structures. The research then empirically assessed how the transfer of power under Kenya’s 2005 Forest Act (the institution-based opportunity structure) and how representation of the needs and interests of different socio-economic groups in the community (that is, people with variable asset-based agency), affected the empowerment of local communities in the case study area. The study analyzed what types of powers were transferred in theory and in practice from the state to the CFA through a critical review of legal and policy documents. The powers were categorized into legislative, executive and judicial. The study also assessed how representative the CFA was of the diverse interests of socially and economically differentiated groups, with competing claims over the forest resource. The overall findings indicate that forest policies and actors transferred minimal powers that enabled local communities to execute forest protection and conservation roles, while maintaining legislative powers and control of economic benefits centrally; and, that representation within the CFA was highly skewed in favor of small and already powerful elites. Thus, building on the first research question, the study demonstrates that CBFM can increase vulnerability through partial transfer of powers and establishing institutions that further an already powerful elite’s interests at the expense of an asset-poor majority.For the third research question, the study looked at REDD+ and the question of equity. Similar to the CBFM case, the objective here was to examine equity in the context of access to benefits. The study identified and further developed an equity framework that stresses three dimensions: contextual, distributive and procedural. The study focused mainly on how contextual equity, mapped through the distribution of key endowments such as land, determines distribution of REDD+ benefits among various local actors. The findings indicate that when benefit sharing models are based on very unequal tenure arrangements, which are in turn pre-determined by a complex historical process of land dispossession and formalization of tenure, then the goal of equity is hard to achieve. The result is a skewed distribution of benefits (mainly cash from selling CO2 credits at the voluntary international market), in favor of those endowed with larger parcels of land, at the expense of asset-poor marginalized groups.The fourth and last research question looked at whether institutional choices under REDD+ present any implications for local democracy. Democracy is viewed as the ‘corrective mechanism’ through which the interests of the majority, and particularly disenfranchised asset-poor groups, can be addressed through democratic representation. The choice and recognition framework was used to examine the effects of institutional choices, in terms of which local partners, high level actors (institutions or individuals) chose to work with at the local level; and the implications of these choices on democratic representation, i.e. accountability and responsiveness. Partnering in this case, involved a transfer of powers (i.e. material resources and decision making powers). In so doing, the intervening agent (which can be the government, private sector, or a donor) confers their local partners with power to act on local needs, thereby bestowing authority and recognition.The examined project chose to partner with Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and Location Carbon Committees (LCCs), which offered parallel mechanisms of accountability outside state-sanctioned institutions. This choice was predicated upon a historical lack of accountability, inefficiency, and prevalence of corruption among the latter. According to proponents of local democracy, working with single purpose committees and CBOs cannot be considered democratic, because it empowers them at the expense of democratically elected local actors, who are presumed to carry the democratic mandate of the majority. Furthermore, proponents of democracy argue that such single-purpose committees do not provide long-term institutional solutions beyond the life of the project. Yet this study reveals critical and rational reasons why such choices were made; thereby bringing attention to factors that constrain how external actors (development projects and investors) partner with local institutions that may be democratic in theory but not in practice. It also shows how institutions which are not considered to be democratically elected can, nevertheless, facilitate the implementation of some democratic elements such as representation, accountability and responsiveness, thereby providing useful lessons that inform policies and decision makers about how to mainstream these elements into democratically elected government structures.Overall, this thesis uses the empirical cases of CBFM and REDD+ to inform how governance aspects (equity, empowerment and democracy) mediate people’s vulnerability and how policy and practical changes can turn the governance risks into opportunities for reducing rural vulnerability.<br/
Mapping the information landscape of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Strategy
No full textHIV and dyadic intervention: an interdependence and communal coping analysis.
No full textBACKGROUND: The most common form of HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa is heterosexual sex between two partners. While most HIV prevention interventions are aimed at the individual, there is mounting evidence of the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of dyadic interventions. However, the mechanisms through which dyadic-level interventions achieve success remain little explored. We address this gap by using Lewis et al's interdependence model of couple communal coping and behaviour change to analyse data from partners participating in an HIV prevention trial in Uganda and Zambia. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a comparative qualitative study using in-depth interviews. Thirty-three interviews were conducted in total; ten with couples and twenty-three with staff members at the two sites. The Ugandan site recruited a sero-discordant couple cohort and the Zambian site recruited women alone. Spouses' transformation of motivation is strong where couples are recruited and both partners stand to gain considerably by participating in the research; it is weaker where this is not the case. As such, coping mechanisms differ in the two sites; among sero-discordant couples in Uganda, communal coping is evidenced through joint consent to participate, regular couple counselling and workshops, sharing of HIV test results, and strong spousal support for adherence and retention. By contrast, coping at the Zambian site is predominantly left to the individual woman and occurs against a backdrop of mutual mistrust and male disenfranchisement. We discuss these findings in light of practical and ethical considerations of recruiting couples to HIV research. CONCLUSIONS: We argue for the need to consider the broader context within which behaviour change occurs and propose that future dyadic research be situated within the framework of the 'risk environment'
The effect of HIV status on perinatal outcome at Mowbray Maternity Hospital and referring MOUs
No full textIncludes bibliographical referencesBackground: 33,4 Million people were living with the Human Immune Deficiency virus by the end of 2009 with sub-Saharan Africa the most affected region. Maternal HIV infection is the leading cause of maternal and child morbidity and mortality in South Africa. A meta-analysis of world literature suggests a clear association between HIV infection and perinatal mortality. Aims and Objectives: To study the effect of HIV status on perinatal outcome at Mowbray Maternity Hospital (a secondary level hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.) and its catchment MOUs. Specific aims: 1) To compare the perinatal mortality rate in the group of HIV exposed with the HIV negative group and the untested group. 2) To determine where possible, the primary obstetric cause of adverse outcome and compare this in HIV exposed to the HIV negative and the untested group. 3) To compare the incidence of Neonatal Encephalopathy in the group of HIV exposed with the HIV negative group and the untested group. Methods: The study was a retrospective descriptive and comparative audit. All deliveries at MMH and its referral midwife obstetric units from January 2008 to December 2008 were audited with respect to HIV status and other demographic data. All deliveries with perinatal mortality and or neonatal encephalopathy were identified and analyzed in detail. Results: There was a total of 18 870 deliveries at the units being studied. The number of deliveries to HIV positive mothers were 3259 (17,2 %). The stillbirth rate in the HIV positive population for the units being studied was 17,1 per 1000 deliveries. In the HIV negative population this rate was 8,3 per 1000 deliveries. The odds ratio was 2,07 [CI, 1.5-2.8] with a p-value of <0,0001. The neonatal death rate in the HIV positive population was 4,6 per 1000 deliveries, this as opposed to a rate of 3,1 per 1000 in the HIV negative population. The odds ratio was calculated as 1,46 [ CI, 0.8-2.6] with a p-value of 0,26. The perinatal mortality rate in the HIV population was 21,7 per 1000 deliveries. In the HIV negative population this rate was 11,7 per 1000 deliveries. The odds ratio was 1,91 [CI, 1.4-2.5] with a p-value of <0,0001. A comparison of the pattern of primary obstetric cause for perinatal mortality showed that infection, intra uterine growth restriction and ante partum haemorrhage were significantly more common as a cause for perinatal death in the HIV positive population. The risk of neonatal encephalopathy in the HIV exposed population was 4,9 per 1000 deliveries as opposed to 2,07 per 1000 deliveries in the HIV negative group. Comparing the two groups found an odds ratio of 2,36 [CI, 1.28- 4.35] with the p-value 0,008. The untested group of patients is shown in this study to be at particularly high risk of adverse perinatal outcome. This consists mostly of mothers who have had no antenatal care in the index pregnancy. Discussion: The perinatal mortality rate in the group of HIV exposed mothers was significantly higher than the HIV negative group due to a higher stillbirth rate. The lack of difference in neonatal death rate could be due to the high standard of neonatal care at the hospital. There was no significant difference in demographic data between the HIV positive and negative groups. Conclusion: Parturients who were infected with HIV were at significantly increased risk of perinatal mortality. Infection, intra uterine growth restriction and antepartum haemorrhage were significantly more common obstetric causes for mortality in the HIV infected population. The risk of neonatal encephalopathy was also significantly higher in the HIV positive population
ASB Africa Biocarbon database
No full textThe African continent is the least emitter of Green House Gases (GHG), but the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Bio-carbon projects hold a great promise for the continent to contribute to climate change mitigation, while adapting. The projects also yield additional socio-economic and environmental benefits which are important to the local communities around the areas where the projects are implemented. The database takes stock of afforestation/reforestation as well as agricultural projects in Africa that contribute to carbon sequestration. The key items of the database include; 1. Project name, 2. Country, 3. Inve
stor, 4. Amount invested (US$), 5. Implementer, 6.Type (Agriculture/Forestry), 7. Amount of Carbon offset, 8. Project Start year and end Year, 9. Status of development of the project, 10. Mechanism under which the project was initiated, 11. Area of carbon sequestration, 12 Best practices in community based programmes and smallholder farmer involvement, 13. Framework for benefit sharing, 14 Data sources. The key findings were: 1) Africa has more than 100 bio-carbon projects, ranging from forest conservation to agroforestry, as well as many sustainable land management programmes, but most of them are at an infant stage, with less than 5% generating financial benefits to local communities. 2) The continent is seriously lagging behind other continents in terms of participation in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), REDD, and voluntary carbon markets and if current investment patterns continue, the world will miss important opportunities to maximize emission reductions in economically poor but natural resource rich countries in Africa
Exploring Institutional Factors Influencing Equity in Two Payments for Ecosystem Service Schemes
No full textPayments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are considered promising instruments for promoting conservation and addressing socio-economic goals, including equity. While several studies analyse how institutions enable the delivery of cost effective conservation, fewer studies focus on the role that informal institutions play in influencing equitable outcomes especially in Africa. Focussing on the role of formal and informal institutions, this article contributes to the emergence of work that reflects alternative conceptualisations to mainstream neoclassical understandings of PES. A qualitative research approach is applied analysing two Kenyan cases to illustrate how historical institutional processes influence present day equity outcomes. The study explores both procedural and distributive equity. The results reveal that despite very similar land tenure origins, the schemes differ considerably regarding their equity outcomes. Formal and informal institutional interplay was found to influence perceptions of land value over time and bargaining processes are identified as determinants of the different equity outcomes. The study also reveals that institutional interplay may influence the simultaneous achievement of different equity dimensions. The study therefore recommends the integration of mechanisms that reconcile both formal and informal institutions, such as land tenure distribution and cultural norms in design and implementation of PES schemes to better achieve equity
Exploring Institutional Factors Influencing Equity in Two Payments for Ecosystem Service Schemes
No full text- …
