Disrepair, Distress, and Dispossession

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Natasha Lightfoot
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Survival Strategy ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Communal Land ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Hurricane Irma

The crisis unleashed in Barbuda by Hurricane Irma in 2017 followed centuries of neglect by the British colonial state and then by the postcolonial government of its sister island, Antigua. Barbuda developed customary communal-land tenure as a result of its peculiarities in slavery and freedom, and this survival strategy has doubled as political and economic resistance to encroachment by Antigua, where private land ownership and uneven opportunity abound because of the unstable, cyclical nature of its main industry—tourism. Although Barbudans have long delimited tourism development and refused private land ownership, citing communal land as their shield, these issues have resurfaced in the rebuilding process after Hurricane Irma. Barbudans’ desires to maintain their previous way of life remain hampered by the Antiguan government’s disaster capitalist desires to reconstruct Barbuda as a resort paradise. This essay reveals how climate change, economic fragility, and uncertain sovereignty have collectively undermined Barbuda’s customary forms of independence, leaving dispossession in their wake.

The Manifestation of Climate Injustices: The Post-Hurricane Irma Conflicts Surrounding Barbuda’s Communal Land Tenure

2019 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 1940002 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Karen Baptiste ◽  
Hubert Devonish
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Alternative Funding ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Communal Land ◽  
Foreign Tourism ◽  
The Government ◽  
Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma caused significant destruction to the Caribbean during the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season. In its aftermath, many of these Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are left with the dilemma of seeking ways to rebuild in some cases entire nation states. Using the case study of Antigua and Barbuda, where Barbuda was the first Caribbean island to receive a direct hit from Hurricane Irma, the paper begins to explore the ways in which the global system of exploitation of SIDS exacerbates internal historical conflicts which is a manifestation of climate injustices. Specifically, the Barbudans’ relative privilege in having inherited communal land rights have become, for the government, the barrier standing in the way of the only alternative funding sources for reconstruction, foreign tourism investment. Using the theoretical underpinnings of climate justice, we argue that the causers of climate change, who are generally the inheritors of the historic colonization, exploitation and impoverishment of these states, will effectively benefit from the intensity of Hurricane Irma, given that they will eventually get access to Barbudan land if the communal land rights are revoked.

scholarly journals LAND OWNING PATTERNS ON RICE FARMING: Increasing Production and Efficiency

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-115
Author(s):  
Untari Untari ◽  
Maria Veronoca Irene Herdjiono
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Rice Farming ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Primary Research

Merauke has a large potential for agricultural land with a type of agriculture that can be developed, namely a wetland farming system that is very suitable for paddy production. The objectives of this study are: a) to know the patterns of paddy farming, b) analyze the level of production from land tenure patterns, and c) analyze the level of economic efficiency of paddy farming in the pattern of paddy farmland ownership in Marga Mulya village, Semangga District, Merauke Regency. The study used 60 respondents as a source of data and information on primary research data. Data analysis method used to answer the research objectives is farming analysis and R/C ratio. The results of the study concluded that there are two patterns of rice farming land ownership, namely the pattern of ownership of private land and leased land. The two patterns of land ownership show that the pattern of ownership of private land has a higher production compared to the pattern of ownership of rent versus 2,785.71 kg/ha/season and 2,313 kg/ha/season with an efficiency level of 2.57% and 2.51%.

scholarly journals Grassroots and Global Governance: Can Global–Local Linkages Foster Food System Resilience for Small Northern Canadian Communities?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2415
Author(s):  
Carla Johnston ◽  
Andrew Spring
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Global Networks

Communities in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) are at the forefront of the global climate emergency. Yet, they are not passive victims; local-level programs are being implemented across the region to maintain livelihoods and promote adaptation. At the same time, there is a recent call within global governance literature to pay attention to how global policy is implemented and affecting people on the ground. Thinking about these two processes, we ask the question: (how) can global governance assist northern Indigenous communities in Canada in reaching their goals of adapting their food systems to climate change? To answer this question, we argue for a “community needs” approach when engaging in global governance literature and practice, which puts community priorities and decision-making first. As part of a collaborative research partnership, we highlight the experiences of Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation, located in Kakisa, NWT, Canada. We include their successes of engaging in global network building and the systemic roadblock of lack of formal land tenure. Moreover, we analyze potential opportunities for this community to engage with global governance instruments and continue connecting to global networks that further their goals related to climate change adaptation and food sovereignty.

Origins of the Mass Party

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin F. Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Local Administration ◽  
Partido Revolucionario Institucional ◽  
Communal Property ◽  
Communal Land ◽  
Land Privatization ◽  
Village Government ◽  
Property Holding

This book argues that the mass party emerged as the product of two distinct but related “primitive accumulations”—the dismantling of communal land tenure and the corresponding dispossession of the means of local administration. It illustrates this argument by studying the party central to one of the longest regimes of the 20th century—the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in Mexico, which emerged as a mass party during the 1930s and 1940s. I place the PRI in comparative perspective, studying the failed emergence of Bolivia’s Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) (1952–64), attempted under similar conditions as the Mexican case. Why was party emergence successful in one case but not the other? The PRI emerged as a mass party in areas in Mexico where land privatization was more intensive and communal village government was weakened, enabling the party’s construction and subsequent absorption of peasant unions and organizations. Ultimately, the overall strength of communal property-holding and concomitant traditional political authority structures blocked the emergence of the MNR as a mass party. Where economic and political expropriation was more pronounced, there was a critical mass of individuals available for political organization, with articulatable interests, and a burgeoning cast of professional politicians that facilitated connections between the party and the peasantry.

Using art to explore children’s perceptions of their Arctic community in a changing climate 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lipson ◽  
Kim Reasor ◽  
Kååre Sikuaq Erickson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Polar Bears ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Subsistence Hunting ◽  
Sea Ice Decline

<p>In this project we analyze artwork and recorded statements of 5<sup>th</sup> grade students from the community of Utqiaġvik, Alaska, who participated in a science-art outreach activity. The team consisted of a scientist (Lipson), an artist (Reasor) and an outreach specialist (Erickson) of Inupiat heritage from a village in Alaska. We worked with four 5th grade classes of about 25 students each at Fred Ipalook Elementary. The predominantly Inupiat people of Utqiaġvik are among those who will be most impacted by climate change and the loss of Arctic sea ice in the near future. Subsistence hunting of marine mammals associated with sea ice is central to the Inupiat way of life. Furthermore, their coastal homes and infrastructure are increasingly subject to damage from increased wave action on ice-free Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. While the people of this region are among the most directly vulnerable to climate change, the teachers reported that the subject is not generally covered in the elementary school curriculum.</p><p>The scientist and the local outreach specialist gave a short presentation about sea ice and climate change in the Arctic, with emphasis on local impacts to hunting and infrastructure. We then showed the students a large poster of historical and projected sea ice decline, and asked the students to help us fill in the white space beneath the lines. The artist led the children in making small paintings that represent things that are important to their lives in Utqiaġvik (they were encouraged to paint animals, but they were free to do whatever they wanted). We returned to the class later that week and had each student briefly introduce themselves and their painting, and place it on the large graph of sea ice decline, which included the dire predictions of the RCP8.5 scenario. Then we added the more hopeful RCP2.6 scenario to end on a positive note.</p><p>Common themes expressed in the students’ artwork included subsistence hunting, other aspects of traditional Inupiat culture, nature and family. Modern themes such as sports and Pokémon were also common. The students reacted to the topic of climate change with pictures of whales, polar bears and other animals, and captions such as “Save the world/ice/animals.” There were several paintings showing unsuccessful hunts for whales or seals. Some students displayed an understanding of ecosystem science in their recorded statements. For example, a student who painted the sun and another who painted a krill both succinctly described energy flow in food webs that support the production of whales (for example, “I drew krill because without krill there wouldn’t be whales”). Some of the students described the consequences of sea ice loss to local wildlife with devastating succinctness (sea ice is disappearing and polar bears will go extinct). The overall sense was that the children had a strong grasp of the potential consequences of climate change to their region and way of life.</p>

The Terms of Our Surrender: Colonialism, Dispossession and the Resistance of the Innu

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Cassell
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Fiduciary Duty ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Nations People ◽  
Natural Land ◽  
First Nations People ◽  
Indigenous Land

Based on extensive fieldwork and oral history, The Terms of Our Surrender is a powerful critical appraisal of unceded indigenous land ownership in eastern Canada. Set against an ethnographic, historical and legal framework, the book traces the myriad ways the Canadian state has successfully evaded the 1763 Royal Proclamation that guaranteed First Nations people a right to their land and way of life. Focusing on the Innu of Quebec and Labrador, whose land has been taken for resource extraction and development, the book strips back the fiduciary duty to its origins, challenging the inroads which have been made on the nature and extent of indigenous land tenure—arguing for preservation of land ownership and positioning First Nations people as natural land defenders amidst a devastating climate crisis. It offers a voice to the Innu people, detailing the spirituality practices, culture and values that make it impossible for them to willingly cede their land. The text is intended to bridge the gap in knowledge between legal practitioners and those working at the intersections of human rights, social work and public policy. The book offers a potent template for how we can use the law to fight back against the indignities suffered by all indigenous peoples.

scholarly journals An ecology of difference: fence-line contrast photographs as scientific models in ecology

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eirin Hongslo
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Textual Theory ◽  
African Context ◽  
Land Use Policies ◽  
Fence Line

Political ecologists have long acknowledged the links between knowledge and power. Recently there has also been a growing interest in detailed studies about knowledge production within critical political ecology. This article is a study of the use of photographs in scientific articles on dryland ecology, and investigates the functions of photographs. Contrary to the straightforward manner in which they are presented, photographs are not value-free documentary proofs of 'how things are.' Rather, photographs constitute arguments in their own right. Using photographic and textual theory, this study analyzes two articles that include photographs of fence-line contrasts between two different management regimes. Contrasting areas divided by a fence-line is a methodology that demonstrates how management differences lead to differences in vegetation. In a Southern African context, however, differences across a fence tend to encompass deep racial and economic divides, and the fence-line photos risk encompassing these differences. This article argues that the fence-line contrast photographs in this study function as models that order the causal links between vegetation dynamics, land tenure and land management. These models correspond closely to equilibrium models in range ecology, and the fence-line photographs thus contribute to a degradation narrative that has been influential for land reform policies in Southern Africa, and that feeds into land use policies that favor private land ownership in communal areas.Keywords: Critical political ecology, fence-line photography, scientific models, rangeland ecology, Southern Africa

scholarly journals Meteorological disasters in Slovenian forests - how to approach the restoration in our specific conditions

2015 ◽  
pp. 85-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurij Marence
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Ice Storm ◽  
Forest Land ◽  
Private Forests ◽  
Snow Damage ◽  
Average Size ◽  
Meteorological Disasters

In recent years, forests are exposed to various meteorological disasters. The climate change and warming of atmosphere cause more intensive and frequent occurrences in the atmosphere. This is also reflected in Slovenian forests - in particular in the form of windthrow, snow-damage, landslides and avalanches, and in 2014 a catastrophic ice storm. Some forecasts indicate that the future will bring more of this kind of disasters. The ice storm in the last year stroke the land the most in history, in particular in terms of damaged trees and areas. According to the available data, the damaged quantities of trees represent more than a two years planned annual cut in Slovenian forests, while about a half of the country was affected. The majority of the damaged wood comes from private forests. The remedying of such extensive meteorological disasters is demanding, dangerous and prolonged - it is also hindered by the specific ownership structure of the forest land in Slovenia and its average size. 75% of all forest have private owners, and this land is fragmented with a large number of forest holders. An average forest land is only 2.3 ha per individual owner. In these conditions, the following questions have to be answered: who, how and in what time is it possible to remedy the caused damage? What is the current quality of wood which was damaged in many ways in the meteorological disaster? Is it possible to use more modern felling technologies and wood transports from the forest in so fragmented private land?

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document