Browsing by Author "Schmink, Marianne"

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Conservation and Development in Latin America and Southern Africa: Setting the Stage
(2012) Romero, Claudia; Athayde, Simone; Collomb, Jean-Gael; DiGiano, Maria; Schmink, Marianne; Schramski, Sam; Seales, Lisa
"The articles in this Special Feature stem from a 2010 conference (Bridging Conservation and Development in Latin America and Africa) organized by the University of Florida’s Tropical Conservation Development Program, Center for African Studies, and Center for Latin American Studies. The conference involved researchers and practitioners from Africa and Latin America focused on the complex and evolving relationship between conservation and development. The conference provided bridges between academics and non-academics, conservation and development, and theory and practice. The resulting comparative analyses focus on: empowerment of local institutions; enhanced capacity of local and regional stakeholders through a recognition and validation of local knowledge systems and the creation of knowledge networks; understanding of social and natural landscapes, history, contexts, and their evolution; and the roles of economic and market forces in shaping opportunities for using market-based incentives to promote conservation and development. In this introductory article we propose a conceptual framework based on the six connected pillars of natural resource characteristics, interactions of social actors, governance and participation, politics, information exchange, and economic issues that support spaces for both conflicts and synergies between conservation and development goals. Our goal is to foster informed dialogue and social learning to promote sustainability."
Deforestation Drivers in Southwest Amazonia: Comparing Smallholder Farmers in Iñapari, Peru, and Assis Brasil, Brazil
(2010) Zambrano, Angelica M. Almeyda; Broadbent, Eben N.; Schmink, Marianne; Perz, Stephen; Asner, Gregory P.
"Broad interpretation of land use and forest cover studies has been limited by the biophysical and socio-economic uniqueness of the landscapes in which they are carried out and by the multiple temporal and spatial scales of the underlying processes. We coupled a land cover change approach with a political ecology framework to interpret trends in multi-temporal remote sensing of forest cover change and socio-economic surveys with smallholders in the towns of Iñapari, Peru and Assis Brasil, Brazil in southwest Amazonia. These adjacent towns have similar biogeophysical conditions, but have undergone differing development approaches, and are both presently undergoing infrastructure development for the new Interoceanic highway. Results show that forest cover patterns observed in these two towns cannot be accounted for using single land use drivers. Rather, deforestation patterns result from interactions of national and regional policies affecting financial credit and road infrastructure, along with local processes of market integration and household resources. Based on our results we develop recommendations to minimise deforestation in the study area. Our findings are relevant for the sustainability of land use in the Amazon, in particular for regions undergoing large-scale infrastructure development projects."
Environmental Governance and the Emergence of Forest-Based Social Movements
(2008) Cronkleton, Peter; Taylor, Peter Leigh; Barry, Deborah; Stone-Jovicich, Samantha; Schmink, Marianne
"This occasional paper is based on the results of a three-year project examining the emergence of forest-based grassroots movements in Latin America. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Support to Grassroots Community Forestry Organizations in Central America and Brazil Project sought to understand how grassroots groups develop and influence conservation and development. The project focused on four noteworthy cases in Central America and Brazil, each representing 'successful' broad-based collective action to defend local control and use of forest lands. Cases included the Association of Forest Communities of the Peten in Guatemala, the Siuna Farmer-to-Farmer exchange programme in Nicaragua, the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, and the Brazilian rubber tapper movement in Acre. Although the context and outcomes varied, in these cases grassroots collective action to defend local livelihoods emerged when initially weak government institutions attempted to counteract chaotic frontier conditions through the imposition of conservation and development initiatives, provoking local resistance. A combination of indigenous capacity for collective organization and significant external assistance helped produce grassroots forest movements capable of becoming proactive partners in the management and defence of protected areas. These groups still confront external incursions into their hard-won resources rights and strive to respond to changing membership needs. The cases suggest that local communities can become effective forest stewards when acquired rights are duly recognized, avenues exist for meaningful participation, costs and benefits are distributed fairly, and appropriate external support is provided."
Participatory Stakeholder Workshops to Mitigate Impacts of Road Paving in the Southwestern Amazon
(2007) Mendoza, Elsa; Perz, Stephen; Schmink, Marianne; Nepstad, Daniel
"Infrastructure projects are crucial for regional development, but they often lack participatory planning processes. As a result, they often generate negative socio-economic and biophysical impacts, threatening local livelihoods as well as environmental conservation. The Amazon is an instructive example, where new infrastructure projects may repeat the deforestation and social conflict seen around earlier road projects. This article considers the case of the Inter-Oceanic Highway, being paved through the tri-national frontier in the southwestern Amazon where Brazil, Bolivia and Peru meet. To raise local awareness and to facilitate public participation in planning to mitigate negative road impacts, we conducted multistakeholder workshops in eighteen municipalities along this road corridor. Participants identified and prioritised infrastructure, social, environmental, economic and political problems related to road paving. They also created their own land-use maps for purposes of land-use planning. Such exercises can broaden public participation in planning to mitigate the negative impacts of infrastructure projects."
Reducing Negative Impacts of Road Paving in the Amazon
(2008) Mendoza, Elsa; Perz, Stephen; Schmink, Marianne; Nepstad, Daniel
"Infrastructure projects are crucial for regional development, but they also bring negative social impacts such as land conflicts, as well as ecological impacts such as deforestation along with carbon emissions and loss of biodiversity. A reason for these negative impacts is that large-scale infrastructure projects lack a process to incorporate public participation. The result is marginalized communities, and consequent degradation of the ecosystems on which these communities depend."
Rural Social Movements and Forest Governance: Assistance to Grassroots Organizations to Promote Conservation and Development in Latin America
(2006) Cronkleton, Peter; Taylor, Peter Leigh; Schmink, Marianne; Stone-Jovicich, Samantha; Barry, Deborah
"This paper describes the Grassroots Assistance Project's approach to research and strengthening of community analysis and management capacities. It summarizes context studies of four grassroots forest organization in Central America and Brazil, focusing on the conditions shaping their emergence, the roles of the state and external technical assistance, and impacts on conservation and development. It briefly discusses the results of innovative community self-studies in Guatemala and Nicaragua. It then turns to an alternative model of technical 'accompaniment' emerging from the communities' own experiences that may more effectively help build community capacity to manage forests for conservation and development. Grassroots forestry organizations are showing that conservation and development need not be opposing strategies. Rather than being part of the deforestation problem, organized forest communities can potentially be key allies in the protection and management of the environment for the future."