“This Mine is for the Entire Casamance Coastline”: The Politics of Scale and the Future of the Extractive Frontier in Casamance, Senegal

AbstractAs evidenced by the widespread controversy surrounding an otherwise small-scale mining investment pending in Casamance, Senegal, uncertainty shapes the extension of the extractive frontier. Fent argues that amid this uncertainty, different actors are able to politicize or depoliticize extractive investments through the work of scaling. Opponents cast the project as part of larger-scale, longer-term extraction, linking it with regional narratives. By contrast, state and corporate actors depoliticized the mine by emphasizing its limited extent and downscaling conflict to the local level. This demonstrates the conflictual processes through which extractive frontiers are realized—and resisted—through both space and time.

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Cities in the experience economy: the rise and the future of urban leisure formats

Journal of Tourism Futures ◽

10.1108/jtf-01-2019-0011 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 185-192

Author(s):

Piotr Zmyslony ◽

Karolina Anna Wędrowicz

Keyword(s):

Local Level ◽

Theoretical Concept ◽

Small Scale ◽

Experience Economy ◽

Content Type ◽

Global Trends ◽

Community Activities ◽

Scientific Discussion ◽

The Future ◽

Urban Leisure

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the rise and the future of urban leisure format (ULF), i.e. local seasonal short-lived and repeatable small-scale place-time-based staging urban leisure experiences which become the focus of recreation and tourism development in many cities. It aims to analyse the structure of the ULF by identifying its main features and also to propose the future developments of the concept. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on the experience economy principles. It develops the models for structured experiences/experienscape by adding the analogy with television programme formats to propose the general logic of constructing, organising and packetizing urban leisure experiences that are multiplied effectively to other urban time-spaces. Findings The ULF’s future potential lies in its ability to adopt local components, i.e. people and urban resources, to global trends using a structured experiences/experience logic which makes the ULF formattable, i.e. with the capacity to get informally standardised, then repeated and adapted to other cities’ contexts. Research limitations/implications The paper provides a conceptual framework for formatting the leisure events and places under the framework of the structured experience, will be carefully adapted to the micro-local level, i.e. community activities sphere. The ULF is a theoretical concept and needs empirical research to verify its validity. Practical implications The ULF provides urban managers with a framework for replicating, multiplying and adapting urban leisure events and sites within the structured experiences (SE) designing framework. Originality/value The study contributes to the scientific discussion on the experience economy by introducing the ULF concept which can be adapted to various urban conditions.

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Local Policy for a Protected Environmental Area Management: The Case of Limiting Motorized Vehicles in Park of Canigou in Pyrenées Orientales

Advance in Environmental Waste Management & Recycling ◽

10.33140/aewmr.01.01.09 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Activities ◽

Energy Use ◽

Local Level ◽

Air Traffic ◽

Small Scale ◽

Individual Action ◽

Local Policy ◽

Motorized Vehicles ◽

Local Levels

“We regard the recent science –based consensual reports that climate change is, to a large extend, caused by human activities that emit green houses as tenable, Such activities range from air traffic, with a global reach over industrial belts and urban conglomerations to local small, scale energy use for heating homes and mowing lawns. This means that effective climate strategies inevitably also require action all the way from global to local levels. Since the majority of those activities originate at the local level and involve individual action, however, climate strategies must literally begin at home to hit home.”

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Small-Scale Cultural Tourism Events: Residents' Perceptions on Their Quality and Impacts

Tourism Analysis ◽

10.3727/108354220x15758301241800 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 283-293

Author(s):

Maria Doumi ◽

Anna Kyriakaki ◽

Theodoros Stavrinoudis

Keyword(s):

Cluster Analysis ◽

Present Article ◽

Natural Environment ◽

Local Level ◽

Tourism Development ◽

Cultural Tourism ◽

Small Scale ◽

Primary Research ◽

Local Society ◽

Cultural Events

In the present article researchers feature the examination of the opinions and attitudes of the residents of Chios island in Greece. It is based on the investigation of both the characteristics (quality, potential, organization) of the island's main annual cultural events (Rocket War, Agas, and Mostra) and their possible impact on the local society, economy, tourism, and natural environment. Cluster analysis was used to classify the residents under three groups: Embracers, Realists, Neutrals. Each group has particular characteristics and a clearly defined opinion about local cultural tourism events and their impact on a local level. According to the main findings of the primary research some particularly interesting aspects of the effects of local cultural tourism events both on the local level and on the island's tourism development emerge. The conclusions drawn from the elaboration of such findings afford an opportunity to understand better the general impact of cultural events and by the same token to assist government bodies, residents, and other stakeholders in maximizing benefits, whenever possible.

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Using Participatory Spatial Tools to Unravel Community Perceptions of Land-Use Dynamics in a Mine-Expanding Landscape in Ghana

Environmental Management ◽

10.1007/s00267-021-01494-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jane J. Aggrey ◽

Mirjam A. F. Ros-Tonen ◽

Kwabena O. Asubonteng

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Adverse Effects ◽

Large Scale ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Small Scale ◽

Eastern Region ◽

Food Crop ◽

Mosaic Landscape ◽

Rural Landscapes ◽

The Future

AbstractArtisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in sub-Saharan Africa creates considerable dynamics in rural landscapes. Many studies addressed the adverse effects of mining, but few studies use participatory spatial tools to assess the effects on land use. Hence, this paper takes an actor perspective to analyze how communities in a mixed farming-mining area in Ghana’s Eastern Region perceive the spatial dynamics of ASM and its effects on land for farming and food production from past (1986) to present (2018) and toward the future (2035). Participatory maps show how participants visualize the transformation of food-crop areas into small- and large-scale mining, tree crops, and settlement in all the communities between 1986 and 2018 and foresee these trends to continue in the future (2035). Participants also observe how a mosaic landscape shifts toward a segregated landscape, with simultaneous fragmentation of their farming land due to ASM. Further segregation is expected in the future, with attribution to the expansion of settlements being an unexpected outcome. Although participants expect adverse effects on the future availability of food-crop land, no firm conclusions can be drawn about the anticipated effect on food availability. The paper argues that, if responsibly applied and used to reveal community perspectives and concerns about landscape dynamics, participatory mapping can help raise awareness of the need for collective action and contribute to more inclusive landscape governance. These findings contribute to debates on the operationalization of integrated and inclusive landscape approaches and governance, particularly in areas with pervasive impacts of ASM.

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Learning in the Anthropocene

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci10060233 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 233

Author(s):

Rasmus Karlsson

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Local Level ◽

High Energy ◽

Small Scale ◽

Optical Illusions ◽

Global Trends ◽

Energy Technologies ◽

Climate Action ◽

Enlightenment Project ◽

Global Trajectory

While the precautionary principle may have offered a sound basis for managing environmental risk in the Holocene, the depth and width of the Anthropocene have made precaution increasingly untenable. Not only have many ecosystems already been damaged beyond natural recovery, achieving a sustainable long-term global trajectory now seem to require ever greater measures of proactionary risk-taking, in particular in relation to the growing need for climate engineering. At the same time, different optical illusions, arising from temporary emissions reductions due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the local deployment of seemingly “green” small-scale renewable energy sources, tend to obscure worsening global trends and reinforce political disinterest in developing high-energy technologies that would be more compatible with universal human development and worldwide ecological restoration. Yet, given the lack of feedback between the global and the local level, not to mention the role of culture and values in shaping perceptions of “sustainability”, the necessary learning may end up being both epistemologically and politically difficult. This paper explores the problem of finding indicators suitable for measuring progress towards meaningful climate action and the restoration of an ecologically vibrant planet. It is suggested that such indicators are essentially political as they reflect, not only different assessments of technological feasibility, but orientations towards the Enlightenment project.

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Local-Level Democratic Backsliding? The Consolidation of Aspiring Dominant-Party Regimes in Hungary and Poland

Government and Opposition ◽

10.1017/gov.2021.12 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-24

Author(s):

Conor O'Dwyer ◽

Matthew Stenberg

Keyword(s):

Local Politics ◽

Electoral Systems ◽

Local Level ◽

National Level ◽

Dominant Party ◽

Mayoral Elections ◽

Political Reforms ◽

Strategic Coordination ◽

The Future ◽

Two Factors

Abstract Aspiring dominant-party regimes often institute major institutional and political reforms at the national level to ensure they retain control. However, subnational politics is an important, under-studied, component of regime consolidation. This study uses mayoral races in Hungary and Poland from 2006 to 2018 to examine two factors that may inhibit dominant-party regime consolidation in local politics: the use of two-round, i.e. runoff, electoral systems and strategic coordination among opposition parties. While we find little evidence that strategic coordination can lead to widespread opposition success in single-round systems, we do find that increasing the number of candidates decreases the likelihood of the nationally dominant party winning in the first round while not affecting the second round. As such, two-round mayoral elections may be an important buffer to dominant-party regime consolidation and may provide a training ground for the future opposition.

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Analysis of livestock breeders’ perceptions and their adaptation measures to climate change in Morocco‘s arid rangelands

Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems ◽

10.1515/cass-2020-0100 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 1-25

Author(s):

Wadii Snaibi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Local Level ◽

Small Scale ◽

Climate Data ◽

Chi Square ◽

Adaptation Measures ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Difference ◽

Eastern Morocco ◽

Climate Analysis

AbstractThe high plateaus of eastern Morocco are already suffering from the adverse impacts of climate change (CC), as the local populations’ livelihoods depend mainly on extensive sheep farming and therefore on natural resources. This research identifies breeders’ perceptions about CC, examines whether they correspond to the recorded climate data and analyses endogenous adaptation practices taking into account the agroecological characteristics of the studied sites and the difference between breeders’ categories based on the size of owned sheep herd. Data on perceptions and adaptation were analyzed using the Chi-square independence and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Climate data were investigated through Mann-Kendall, Pettitt and Buishand tests.Herders’ perceptions are in line with the climate analysis in term of nature and direction of observed climate variations (downward trend in rainfall and upward in temperature). In addition, there is a significant difference in the adoption frequency of adaptive strategies between the studied agroecological sub-zones (χ2 = 14.525, p <.05) due to their contrasting biophysical and socioeconomic conditions, as well as among breeders’ categories (χ2 = 10.568, p < .05) which attributed mainly to the size of sheep flock. Policy options aimed to enhance local-level adaptation should formulate site-specific adaptation programs and prioritise the small-scale herders.

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Enhancing ecosystem restoration efficiency through spatial and temporal coordination

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1423812112 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 112 (19) ◽

pp. 6236-6241 ◽

Cited By ~ 76

Author(s):

Thomas M. Neeson ◽

Michael C. Ferris ◽

Matthew W. Diebel ◽

Patrick J. Doran ◽

Jesse R. O’Hanley ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Great Lakes ◽

Large Scale ◽

Expert Knowledge ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Small Scale ◽

Space And Time ◽

Ecosystem Connectivity ◽

Breeding Grounds ◽

Local Expert ◽

Conservation Projects

In many large ecosystems, conservation projects are selected by a diverse set of actors operating independently at spatial scales ranging from local to international. Although small-scale decision making can leverage local expert knowledge, it also may be an inefficient means of achieving large-scale objectives if piecemeal efforts are poorly coordinated. Here, we assess the value of coordinating efforts in both space and time to maximize the restoration of aquatic ecosystem connectivity. Habitat fragmentation is a leading driver of declining biodiversity and ecosystem services in rivers worldwide, and we simultaneously evaluate optimal barrier removal strategies for 661 tributary rivers of the Laurentian Great Lakes, which are fragmented by at least 6,692 dams and 232,068 road crossings. We find that coordinating barrier removals across the entire basin is nine times more efficient at reconnecting fish to headwater breeding grounds than optimizing independently for each watershed. Similarly, a one-time pulse of restoration investment is up to 10 times more efficient than annual allocations totaling the same amount. Despite widespread emphasis on dams as key barriers in river networks, improving road culvert passability is also essential for efficiently restoring connectivity to the Great Lakes. Our results highlight the dramatic economic and ecological advantages of coordinating efforts in both space and time during restoration of large ecosystems.

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Does eating local food reduce the environmental impact of food production and enhance consumer health?

Proceedings of The Nutrition Society ◽

10.1017/s0029665110002004 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 69 (4) ◽

pp. 582-591 ◽

Cited By ~ 70

Author(s):

Gareth Edwards-Jones

Keyword(s):

Food System ◽

Local Food ◽

Local Level ◽

Qualitative Assessment ◽

Small Scale ◽

Quantitative Evidence ◽

Self Sufficiency ◽

Non Local ◽

The Uk ◽

The Impact

The concept of local food has gained traction in the media, engaged consumers and offered farmers a new marketing tool. Positive claims about the benefits of local food are probably not harmful when made by small-scale producers at the local level; however, greater concern would arise should such claims be echoed in policy circles. This review examines the evidence base supporting claims about the environmental and health benefits of local food. The results do not offer any support for claims that local food is universally superior to non-local food in terms of its impact on the climate or the health of consumers. Indeed several examples are presented that demonstrate that local food can on occasions be inferior to non-local food. The analysis also considers the impact on greenhouse gas emissions of moving the UK towards self-sufficiency. Quantitative evidence is absent on the changes in overall emissions that would occur if the UK switched to self-sufficiency. A qualitative assessment suggests the emissions per item of food would probably be greater under a scenario of self-sufficiency than under the current food system. The review does not identify any generalisable or systematic benefits to the environment or human health that arise from the consumption of local food in preference to non-local food.

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