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Ausgehend vom andinen Raum ist das Konzept des Buen Vivir derzeit in zahlreichen Regionen und Facetten aktuell. In diesem Beitrag wird ein kurzer ideengeschichtlicher und inhaltlicher Abriss der als „Buen Vivir“ bezeichneten Bewegung skizziert. Buen Vivir und Sumak Kawsay haben innerhalb von rund 15 Jahren einen internationalen Boom an Fach- und Populärliteratur ausgelöst, wobei die „Verstaatlichung“ dieser Konzepte in Ecuador und Bolivien zu ihrem Erfolg beigetragen hat. Zugleich haben genau diese politischen Prozesse die Konzepte von innen her ausgehöhlt und alternative Bewegungen tendenziell geschwächt, insofern wenigstens echte Teilhabe neuer Akteure (z.B. indigener Parteien) am Regierungsprozess letztlich weitgehend verunmöglicht wurde. Der Beitrag analysiert diese Entwicklung und Versuche, welche den originären Geist der Formulierungen rund um Sumak Kawsay (mehr als Buen Vivir) wiederbeleben und zu verbreiten suchen.
Over the last decade or so, there has been an increasing need to acknowledge the role played by local resource users in environmental decision making and to incorporate their perceptions in the management of natural resources. This has led to the development of various methods of assessing environmental attitudes and of natural resource valuation. Most of these studies have been conducted in developed countries and have utilised economic methods of valuation. This study highlights the environmental attitudes and values of a very important group of stakeholders - women - and the significance of taking these into consideration in the management of local coastal natural resources. Using respondents from two Ghanaian coastal communities, Bortianor and Moree, the study also investigated poverty-coastal natural resource linkages and how this knowledge can be used to improve Natural Resource Management in Ghana. In proposing specific policy options for managing the coastal environment an examination of formal, informal institutional and legal framework was also done. Primary data was collected by means of focus group discussions, personal interviews and participant observations. A total of 304 women (151 from Bortianor and 153 from Moree) took part in the study. The results showed that the study communities had poor access to basic amenities such as potable water, schools, health facilities as well as basic sanitation services. Their livelihood patterns revolve around the availability of coastal natural resources such as fish and fuel wood. The attitudinal scale used to assess environmental attitudes achieved adequate internal consistency with Cronbach’s (1951) Alpha reliability coefficients of 0.729 in Bortianor and 0.735 in Moree. The environmental attitudes of respondents were overwhelmingly positive; this however did not match the state of affairs in the area. The study showed that positive attitudes do not always result in pro-environmental behaviour. In the study areas poverty, low educational levels and other social and cultural practices could also influence the ability of respondents to translate the generally positive environmental attitudes into positive environmental action. The section on environmental values assessed the environmental values of respondents through the relative importance they placed on the different benefits derived from coastal natural resources. It also prioritised environmental issues or concerns in the study areas from the perspectives of the respondents. Rather than use a simple ordinal ranking of all objects, the paired comparison approach was used. The study showed that in both areas respondents placed the greatest importance on the coastal natural resources as sources of wealth creation and food. When it came to environmental concerns, it was not surprising that issues of safe drinking water, available fish and good sanitation were most important to respondents. From the results it was argued that since coastal natural resources as sources of food and income ranked highest, developing activities and policies that add value to the fishery industry, generate income and improve the standard of living of respondents would be most effective. Improving their standard of living could shift their focus from more utilitarian values to that of more pro-natural resource values. After examining existing institutional capacities and respondents’ perceptions of who should manage local coastal natural resources, the study concludes by using the findings to make some practical policy recommendations.
Conflicts emerging through large-scale mining projects among government, industry and affected population are common all over the world. Especially the indigenous communities and their strong human-nature relation are threatened by the land transformation due to mining operations. Open pit gold mining performed by transnational companies TNCs and supported by the Philippine government aligning decisions on economic standards and market orientated legislative period, have been imposing tremendous damage on the Philippine indigenous communities and the national environmental resources for many decades, from colonial times, dictatorship, and new democracy . This thesis displays and discusses the interwoven web of socially and environmentally degrading impacts introduced to the small village of Didipio in the north of the Philippines by a planned gold and copper mining project. After describing influencing sectors of industry and government for decision making in mining projects and introducing interests and purposes of all stakeholders, assessment of changes in water quality and quantity, which are associated with technical requirements of open pit gold mining, is used to specifically relate the initiation of a punctual impact, on a natural good, and its provoked tremendous environmental and furthermore social degradation. A central assertion of this thesis is the call for recognizing human-rights based participation of all affected stakeholders via emphasizing indigenous people’s rights, balancing market-centred development aggression and foreign control over national markets, as well as implementing sustainable environmental awareness management by industry and government. Further recommendations are related to the resignation of defining nature merely according to its function under the utilization concept, to TNCs’ application of postmodern understanding of reason based on flexibility and versatility, and to the promoting of indigenous self-determination and individual initiative.
Regular electricity access is a key element for the economic development and social welfare of rural areas. Decentralized energy generation has the advantage of using local resources, increasing employment and reducing transmission and distribution losses. Brazil is a tropical country, endowed with vast arable land, plentiful precipitation levels, and a large supply of human labour. Furthermore, it has strong regional distinctions with geographical, cultural and economical differences. Forestry and agriculture, important activities in the Brazilian economy, are dependent on local people and are deeply connected to traditions, nature and culture. Furthermore, these activities generate a significant amount of residues that could be used in conversion technologies for biomass, based on type, availability and market demand. When biomass were used to generate energy locally, community members could have business opportunities, improving local economy and life quality of individuals while diversifying the Brazilian energy matrix, which is mostly based on hydropower. Alternatives for implementing small-scale decentralized biomass schemes are dependent on the screening of the existing biomass supply chains, the implementation of adapted technologies for local conditions and the exploration of local resources. The present research carried out a detailed field work in order to evaluate the potential of Brazilian biomass in different regions. The author identified crucial needs, usual constraints and possible challenges of rural electrification and economic development in Brazil. Several case studies and social groups were investigated in the Federal States of Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Pará to identify different resource management strategies, which biomass technology was applied and the needs of the local population. It was concluded that the compaction of biomass to generate solid biofuels with uniform properties could be a cost-effective alternative for communities taking advantage of the resources available in the region to produce energy. Nevertheless, each case has to be considered on its own. It was concluded that energy supply and consumption should be addressed through integrated research. Scientific research should be focused on technological solutions for improving living standards and socio-economic development in rural areas. The implementation of new regulatory arrangements and a constant revision of the Brazilian energy policies are crucial for encouraging a national industry for renewables. It was also concluded that the cultural, geographical and socio-economic discrepancies of Brazil could involve challenges for the implementation of future projects, even when their development would provide benefits for Brazil as a whole.
In diesem Beitrag wird die Frage nach der Nutzung verständigungsorientierter Verfahren in der Agrarpolitik am Beispiel von Online-Foren unter dem Aspekt handlungsleitender Konzepte der Akteure diskutiert. Es ist abzuklären, ob und wie derartige Prozesse eine Annäherung und Anschlussfähigkeit unterschiedlicher Wahrnehmungen und Problemdeutungen erzeugen können. Mithilfe diskursanalytischer Methoden wurden Beiträge aus einem Online-Forum analysiert. Es zeigt sich eine Polarisierung von Positionen, jedoch wenig Dialog. Die Analyse ermöglichte es aber, Diskursfelder, die durch Akteure erzeugt werden, zu identifizieren. Das erlaubt eine Vorstellung über Nähe und Distanz der Akteure und mögliche Erklärungshinweise für das Ausbleiben von Dialog.
"Rurality" or ”rural life” has not mattered much as a concept in public and political as well as scientific discourses during the 1990s. In recent years, it has experienced a remarkable resurgence. This paper tries to investigate this phenomenon. Therefore, major trajectories of rural change in East Germany since 1989 are briefly described, and rural discourses in selected policy arenas are explored. It is argued that the notion of rurality is differentiated across different discourse arenas. While the notions of rurality are not independent from each other, they do not form a coherent worldview. This fragmentation of rural discourses reflects the increasingly hybrid reconstitution of the global countryside. Paradoxically, the notions of rurality do not reflect this hybridity, but they mostly seem to remain in traditional ways of thinking and largely draw on widespread rural images of village, peasantry, cooperation and natural beauty. The resurgence of rurality in public debates is also an expression of a progressing German integration, in which the East-West divide and the narrative of post-socialist transformation are more and more replaced by new political agendas and new framings of problems and causal relations.
The article develops an analytical framework to explain the successes and failures of local community energy projects in the countryside. Theoretical elements based on ownership, technology acceptance, value chains and public opinions are developed and synthesised in two concepts: ´technical complexity and its antagonist social complexity. The achievement of a mature community energy regime is explained as a continuous process of consecutive single steps in both social and technical arenas.
Die “Energiewende” wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit als umfassender gesellschaftlicher Prozess aus soziologischer Perspektive untersucht. Da die Vorreiter der Entwicklung bisher in geographischen und damit auch sozialen Nischen zu finden sind, wurden sieben möglichst weit fortgeschrittene und ambitionierte „Energieregionen“ im ländlichen Raum als Fallstudien ausgewählt. Das Paradigma der Energieautarkie oder der 100% Region wurde dabei als Leitbild eines noch jungen Entwicklungspfades mit Hilfe qualitativer Methoden untersucht. Unter Energieautarkie (oder Energieautonomie) wird das Ziel verstanden, eine Region vollständig durch erneuerbare Energieproduktion mit Wärme und Elektrizität zu versorgen. Dies ist aufgrund der hohen Anforderungen bisher selten vollständig realisiert worden. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt die Hindernisse, Entwicklungsstufen und typischen Probleme sowie die Faktoren, welche ihre Bewältigung ermöglichen. Im Vergleich der Fallstudien wird ein theoretisches Modell entwickelt, um den Erfolg einzelner Initiativen erklären und in gewissem Umfang vorhersagen zu können. Daraus wird die These abgeleitet, dass sich die technische und ökonomische Infrastruktur erneuerbarer „Energieregionen“ langfristig der Sozialstruktur anpasst und die Diffusion weiterer „Energieregionen“ vom gegebenen Niveau des Sozialkapitals bedingt wird. Aufgrund der gegenseitigen Abhängigkeit sozialer und technischer Komplexitätsniveaus bedeutet die Energiewende für den ländlichen Raum in erster Linie eine soziale und organisatorische Herausforderung. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt die verschiedenen Strategien der beteiligten Akteure und ihre Konstellationen.
In diesem Band sind drei Beiträge versammelt, die im Zusammenhang mit einer Tagung an der BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg zum Thema „Das Recht auf Perspektive – Regionalentwicklung bei indigenen Völkern, europäischen Minderheiten und den Sorben/Wenden“ im Dezember 2014 entstanden sind. Aus dieser Tagung ist ein weiterer Beitrag zum Thema des Guten Lebens hervorgegangen, der gesondert als einzelnes Heft in dieser Schriftenreihe erscheint (Waldmüller 2015).
Diese Tagung schließt an eine Vorgängerveranstaltung an, deren Beiträge ebenfalls in dieser Schriftenreihe erschienen sind (Häfner/Laschewski 2013), in der das Verhältnis von (Minderheiten-)Kultur und Verfügungsmöglichkeiten an natürlichen Ressourcen thematisiert wurde. Als spezifischen Ausgangspunkt wurde damals die internationale Konvention der ILO 169 über die rechte indigener Völker gewählt. In dieser Tagung wurde deutlich, dass die Frage „nach der Selbst-Bestimmung von regionaler Entwicklung und Entwicklung der Kultur (...) komplex und kompliziert [wird], wenn eine Minderheiten-Kultur auch nicht exklusiv und eineindeutig einem bestimmten Territorium zugeordnet werden kann, wenn also Minderheiten auch in ihrem ‚angestammten Gebiet‘ selbst Minderheiten (geworden) sind. Und dies ist ja bei den Sorben/Wenden der Fall“ (Laschewski/Häfner 2013, 2). Die Beiträge in diesem Band schließen auf unterschiedliche Weise an diese Fragestellung an und thematisieren den europäischen und nationalen Kontext mit Blick auf die Frage des Verhältnisses zwischen Mehrheitsgesellschaft und Minderheiten.