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Tese de Doutoramento em Geografia (Especialidade de Geografia e Planeamento Regional), A presente investigação teve como objetivo principal a construção de um modelo que pode auxiliar na identificação de áreas com vulnerabilidades socioambientais em espaços de influência fluvial e na Amazónia brasileira. Foi utilizado como território de estudo o município de Tabatinga, que faz fronteira com a Colômbia e o Perú e que sofre influência da dinâmica do rio Solimões. Foram usadas fontes primárias e secundárias. As fontes primárias, tendo por base imagens de satélite, conduziram à elaboração de cartografia temática dos elementos ambientais e das formas de uso e ocupação do território. Também foram aplicados inquéritos por questionário aos grupos populacionais residentes no centro urbano de Tabatinga. As fontes secundárias foram extraídas de bases de dados de instituições públicas centrando-se em informação socioeconómica da população, sendo posteriormente utilizada na elaboração do modelo cartográfico. Os SIG foram importantes para a construção dos mapeamentos e necessários para a conjunção dos indicadores de vulnerabilidades no modelo, compondo quatro dimensões: A – Ambiental, B – Socioeconómica, C – Infraestrutural e Institucional e D – Individual. Para cada uma dessas dimensões foi elaborado um índice de vulnerabilidade classificando os setores censitários de Tabatinga em cinco níveis de vulnerabilidade (Muito Baixo, Baixo, Médio, Elevado e Muito Elevado). Os resultados revelaram que as áreas de ocupação indígena apresentaram, ao nível do município, um índice de vulnerabilidade socioambiental muito elevado, considerando os níveis de pobreza e a ausência de infraestruturas básicas (energia, água potável e saneamento). Ao nível do núcleo urbano, observou-se que os setores adjacentes à orla fluvial e os mais afastados do centro, caraterizaramse como áreas de elevada vulnerabilidade socioambiental, em razão da maior instabilidade ambiental, nas planícies fluviais, com risco de inundações e erosão, assim como dos aglomerados residenciais sem infraestruturas básicas. Constatou-se que as áreas com elevadas vulnerabilidades ambientais são também aquelas onde se verificam elevadas vulnerabilidades socioeconómicas e infraestruturais. Esperase que esta investigação contribua para a formulação de políticas públicas nos espaços fluviais, de modo a induzir usos adequados às potencialidades dos ambientes., The main objective of this research was to build a model that can help in the identification of areas with socio-environmental vulnerabilities in spaces of fluvial influence and in the Brazilian Amazon. The municipality of Tabatinga, which borders Colombia and Peru and is influenced by the Solimões River dynamics, was used as study territory. Primary and secondary sources were used. The primary sources, based on satellite images, led to the elaboration of thematic cartography of the environmental elements and the ways of use and occupation of the territory. Questionnaire surveys were also applied to population groups living in the urban center of Tabatinga. The secondary sources were extracted from databases of public institutions focusing on socio-economic information of the population and were later used in the elaboration of the cartographic model. GIS were important for the construction of the mapping and necessary for the conjunction of vulnerability indicators in the model, composing four dimensions: A - Environmental, B - Socio-economic, C - Infrastructure and Institutional and D - Individual. For each of these dimensions a vulnerability index was elaborated classifying Tabatinga's census sectors in five vulnerability levels (Very Low, Low, Medium, High and Very High). The results revealed that the areas of indigenous occupation presented a very high socio-environmental vulnerability index at the municipality level, considering the levels of poverty and the absence of basic infrastructure (energy, drinking water and sanitation). At the urban core level, it was observed that the sectors adjacent to the riverbank and those furthest from the center were characterized as areas of high socio-environmental vulnerability, due to greater environmental instability, in river plains, with risk of flooding and erosion, as well as residential settlements without basic infrastructure. Areas with high environmental vulnerabilities were also found to be those with high socioeconomic and infrastructural vulnerabilities. This research is expected to contribute to the formulation of public policies in river spaces, in order to induce uses appropriate to the potential of the environments.

Between 2002 and 2004, residents from seven informal settlements located along the Caño Martín Peña, a highly polluted channel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, established a community land trust to regularize land tenure and protect the historically marginalized barrios against the threat of displacement, as an unintended consequence of the ecological restoration of the channel. This article looks at the Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Caño Martín Peña (the Caño Martín Peña Community Land Trust or Caño CLT) from a political ecological perspective, as it aims to identify how the interests, policies and discourse of political and economic elites function to perpetuate the vulnerability of residents in unplanned settlements, and how the Caño CLT is an effective instrument to counter this process. The Caño CLT supports on-site rehabilitation by taking land out of a hostile market, reinforcing solidarity networks and democratizing sustainable planning through ongoing participatory planning-action-reflection processes. It is a critical piece of the wider comprehensive development ENLACE Caño Martín Peña Project, whose benefits include reducing the risk of flooding and restoring the environmental qualities of the mangrove channel. The article considers that informal settlements like those in the Martín Peña area are often located in a city’s most environmentally vulnerable, yet ecologically and geographically valuable areas, prone to land grabs after disasters. By looking at public discourse in Puerto Rico and the U.S. in the aftermath of the devastating hurricanes that struck the island in 2017, we analyze the assumed links between informality and vulnerability and how these assumptions are used to spur public support for displacements. The article argues that documenting and theorizing the knowledges produced by the enduring resistance of the Martín Peña communities can support residents in unplanned settlements in the Global South to come together and create mechanisms that protect land and counter vulnerabilization.

In Cuba, the state invests considerable resources in the establishment of preparation plans to mitigate and to minimize the negative impacts of natural threats. As a sample of it, since the year 2010, the country carried out the studies of hazard, vulnerability, and risk (HVR), however, the form in that results of these studies are analyzed present serious limitations for the excessive quantity of data that are dispersed and not very understandable for users belonging to the Centers of Risks' Management make decisions in an agile way. The present work, exposes the management’s pattern of the studies of Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk in Cuba alongside the occurrence of hydrometeorological extreme events in vulnerable territories; and the structuring process of the computer proposal that modifies and computerizes the current analysis procedure of these studies in the country. As contributions of the research and by means of the use of techniques and tools of Business Intelligence, is designed and implemented, for the case of Santiago de Cuba province, the data warehouse that centralizes the results of the studies for hydrometeorological extreme events in 2011 and 2016. A decision support system (DSS-HVR) is built, and integrated at the developed data warehouse in this work, it allows the analysis of the studies in a holistic manner and from several perspectives, to obtain outstanding and better-represented information through interactive and dynamic reports, both tabulate and graph representation, all as a support for a fast and effective decision making.

The present study aimed to quantify the future sustainability of a water supply system using dynamically-downscaled regional climate models (RCMs), produced in the South Asia Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) framework. The case study is the Boukan dam, located on the Zarrine River (ZR) of Urmia&rsquo, s drying lake basin, Iran. Different CORDEX- models were evaluated for model performance in predicting the temperatures and precipitation in the ZR basin (ZRB). The climate output of the most suitable climate model under the RCP45 and RCP85 scenarios was then bias-corrected for three 19-year-long future periods (2030, 2050, and 2080), and employed as input to the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) river basin hydrologic model to simulate future Boukan reservoir inflows. Subsequently, the reservoir operation/water demands in the ZRB were modeled using the MODSIM water management tool for two water demand scenarios, i.e., WDcurrent and WDrecom, which represent the current and the more sustainable water demand scenarios, respectively. The reliability of the dam&rsquo, s water supply for different water uses in the study area was then investigated by computing the supply/demand ratio (SDR). The results showed that, although the SDRs for the WDrecom were generally higher than that of the WDcurrent, the SDRs were all &lt, 1, i.e., future water deficits still prevailed. Finally, the performance of the water supply system was evaluated by means of risk, reliability, resiliency, vulnerability, and maximum deficit indices, and the combination of the indices to estimate the Sustainability Group Index (SGI). The findings indicated that, compared to the historical period for both the water demand scenarios, WDcurrent and WDrecom, the average SGI of each RCP would be decreased significantly, particularly, for the more extreme RCP85 scenario. However, as expected, the SGI decrease for the WDrecom was less than that of the WDcurrent, indicating the advantage of implementing this more sustainable water demand scenario.

Markets for ecosystem services are being promoted across the developing world, amidst claims that the provision of economic incentives is vital to bring about resource conservation. This article argues that equity and legitimacy are also critical dimensions in the design and implementation of such markets, if social development goals beyond economic gains are to be achieved. The article examines this issue by focusing on two communities involved in a project for carbon sequestration services of forests in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The perceived legitimacy of the activities and the distribution of economic outcomes and project-related information are found to be mediated by organizational allegiances and the history of social relations regarding access to property and forest resources. Political affiliation determines the project's legitimacy, while the poorest farmers and women have been excluded from project design and implementation. The authors argue that pitfalls such as these contribute to reinforcing existing power structures, inequities and vulnerabilities, and suggest that this is a product of the nature of emerging markets. Markets for ecosystem services are, in effect, limited in promoting more legitimate forms of decision making and a more equitable distribution of their outcomes.

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Agradecemos a compreensão. on 2016-02-15T17:44:18Z (GMT) Submitted by Estêvão Moraes Ielo null (estevaokcond@hotmail.com) on 2016-02-16T03:45:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 EstevãoIelo_Dissertação.pdf: 5902545 bytes, checksum: 4c41f4b3404dbea883deafbbd5bc68b2 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Sandra Manzano de Almeida (smanzano@marilia.unesp.br) on 2016-02-16T13:09:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ielo_em_me_rcla.pdf: 5902545 bytes, checksum: 4c41f4b3404dbea883deafbbd5bc68b2 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-16T13:09:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ielo_em_me_rcla.pdf: 5902545 bytes, checksum: 4c41f4b3404dbea883deafbbd5bc68b2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-16 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Com a elevação dos extremos climáticos ocorridos nos últimos anos (IPCC, 2012) junto às constantes mudanças climáticas globais, o número de desastres causados por tempestades e tornados no Brasil aumentou. O prognóstico climático da região Sudeste do país para os próximos anos (PBMC, 2013) indica um aumento de até 1°C e até 10% da precipitação acumulada somente até 2040, o que evidencia a probabilidade de maior ocorrência destes fenômenos/eventos. Nas áreas urbanas do município de Ourinhos não é diferente, os processos de alagamentos, inundações, enchentes e em contíguo ao aumento e/ou adensamento populacional em áreas mal planejadas adequadamente e sem resiliência potencializam grandes distúrbios, perdas materiais e humanas. Este estudo foi realizado com intuito de avaliar as áreas de vulnerabilidade à inundações, enxurradas e enchentes na área urbana de Ourinhos/SP. Foram utilizadas técnicas e ferramentas de geoprocessamento para determinar estas áreas através da cartografia digital do município. Como conclusão, encontramos áreas desprovidas de vegetação que poderiam auxiliar na desaceleração da água da chuva assim como moradias instaladas em áreas impróprias devido à alta vulnerabilidade à inundação, enxurrada e enchente. Almeja-se que a qualificação dos procedimentos e os mapeamentos sirvam de subsídio ao planejamento de políticas públicas, aos responsáveis pelo monitoramento e alerta dessas áreas e ordenamento territorial da cidade de Ourinhos/SP, sempre voltadas à sustentabilidade e melhora da qualidade de vida da população. With the rise in weather extremes of recent years (IPCC, 2012) and the constant global climate change, the number of disasters caused by storms and tornadoes in Brazil has increased. The weather forecast of the country's southeastern region for the years to come (PBMC, 2013) shows an increase of up to 1 ° C and up to 10% of the accumulated precipitation only until 2040, which shows the probability of a higher incidence of these phenomena / events. In urban areas of Ourinhos city is no different, the flooding processes, inundations, floods and adjacent to the increase and / or population density in badly planned areas, without resilience worsen big disturbances, material and human losses. This study was designed to evaluate the areas of vulnerability to floods, mudslides and inundations in urban areas of Ourinhos / SP. Techniques and geoprocessing tools were used to determine those areas through digital cartography of the city. In conclusion, we found areas lacking of vegetation that could help slowdown rainwater as well as houses in unsuitable areas exposed to high vulnerability to flooding, torrent and overflow. One hopes that the qualification procedures and the mappings are going to be used as subsidy to planning policies, for those who are responsible for monitoring and alerting these areas and territorial organization of Ourinhos city/ SP, always focused on sustainability and improvement of the population's quality of life.

Seasonal climate forecasts have been promoted as a means to increase the resilience of marginal groups in Africa. The manifestations of this are still to be seen. This paper argues that successful dissemination and adoption of the forecast requires an in-depth profile of the characteristics and needs of user groups. The case study of a mountainous village in southern Lesotho is used to highlight the decisions which one group of marginal users – smallholder farmers – might make in response to the forecast. A participatory role-play exercise explores what information households presently receive and how new climate forecast information could be integrated into seasonal decision making. Results show that there are a number of low-input options available to these farmers for responding to the forecast. Adoption, however, is going to require repeated exposure to the forecast in conjunction with forecast development that is suited to users’ needs. The case study is linked back to the larger scale by suggesting paths that seasonal climate forecast development could take if it is to contribute to improving livelihood sustainability among marginal groups.

Disasters occur when two factors - hazard and vulnerability - coincide. The risk of a disaster occurring is proportional to the severity of the hazard and the vulnerability of the affected population. With human population continuing to increase, it is inevitable that more people will be living in hazardous settings, increasing the risk of disaster. With global warming and associated environmental instability, both the frequency and severity of disasters is likely to increase (van Aalst 2006). The United Nations (2005) Hyogo Framework for Action on disaster risk reduction asked governments to: '...promote the use, application and affordability of recent information and space-based technologies, as well as Earth observation, to support disaster risk reduction.' Remote sensing provides many ways of mapping the distribution and severity of hazards and vulnerability - reducing the severity of either of these factors leads to a reduction in the risk of a disaster occurring. For instance, interpreting a Landsatsensor image and producing a geohazard map that can be examined by local communities, increases the awareness of those people and reduces their vulnerability, thereby reducing the risk of disaster.

This is an interpretation of major trends rather than an exhaustive account of agricultural policy in Lesotho. The aim of this paper is to situate the discussion of agricultural policy within the nexus of external influence, domestic social relations and macro‐economic forces. The discussion begins by detailing the main socio‐economic changes from 1970 to the early 1990s, which appear to have precipitated a rural crisis. It will be shown that there is evidence of growing poverty and rural differentiation resulting from limited opportunities for employment and falling per capita agricultural production. Many of these features can neither be predicted nor analysed by the existing academic literature on contemporary Lesotho. The most influential of this work has been concerned to locate Lesotho as a ‘labour reserve’, and intimately bound up with the construction of this literature has been the assumption of a fundamentally homogeneous rural populace. This has precluded an analysis of the political or class c...

New agricultural development pathways are required to meet climate change adaptation and mitigation needs in the food systems of low-income countries. A research and policy agenda is provided to indicate where innovation and new knowledge are needed. Adaptation requires identifying suitable crop varieties and livestock breeds, as well as building resilient farming and natural resources systems, institutions for famine and crop failure relief, and mechanisms for rapid learning by farmers. Mitigation requires transitioning to ‘low climate impact’ agriculture that reduces emissions while achieving food security, economic well-being and sustainability. Efficient interventions, incentives for large-scale shifts in practices, and monitoring systems are required. Integrated assessments of adaptation and mitigation are needed to better understand the synergies and trade-offs among outcomes.

This is an updated annotated bibliography of political ecology and feminist political ecology articles created for the Gender CCRA-7 Gendered Perspectives for Conservation Agriculture: Local soil knowledge and crop-livestock interaction from 2010-2011. This bibliography was used to inform field methods, student thesis work, and the CCRA-7 Research Strategy. CCRA-7 (Gendered Knowledge)

Le CTA a organisé avec l'appui de la plate-forme e-Agriculture du 9 au 31 mai 2011 un forum en français sur le thème "Genre, TIC et moyens de subsistance en milieu rural." Le forum électronique a été également conçu comme une action dans le cadre de Semaine de la Société de l'Information 2011 célébrée à partir du 17 mai à l'initiative de l'Union Internationale des Télécommunications sur le thème "Mieux vivre dans les communautés rurales grâce aux TIC."

Metadata only record "This report describes a study undertaken to identify areas that are food insecure and vulnerable to the

This presentation describes a case study done in the Bolivian Andes that addresses questions pertaining to market participation and marketing performance. By using surveys and other data collection methods, researchers evaluated the effects of prices, marketing strategies, location, and many other factors on the amount of potatoes sold and on overall market participation. This study concluded that a farmer's income can be increased by improving access to market information, improving road quality to reduce transportation costs, and creating microfinance programs in Bolivia. LTRA-3 (Watershed-based NRM for Small-scale Agriculture)

SUMMARYIn sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), rainfed agriculture is the dominant source of food production. Over the past 50 years much agronomic crop research has been undertaken, and the results of such work are used in formulating recommendations for farmers. However, since rainfall is highly variable across seasons the outcomes of such research will depend upon the rainfall characteristics of the seasons during which the work was undertaken. A major constraint that is faced by such research is the length of time for which studies could be continued, typically ranging between three and five years. This begs the question as to what extent the research was able to ‘sample’ the natural longer-term season-to-season rainfall variability. Without knowledge of the full implications of weather variability on the performance of innovations being recommended, farmers cannot be properly advised about the possible weather-induced risks that they may face over time. To overcome this constraint, crop growth simulation models such as the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) can be used as an integral part of field-based agronomic studies. When driven by long-term daily weather data (30+ years), such models can provide weather-induced risk estimates for a wide range of crop, soil and water management innovations for the major rainfed crops of SSA. Where access to long-term weather data is not possible, weather generators such as MarkSim can be used. This study demonstrates the value of such tools in climate risk analyses and assesses the value of the outputs in the context of a high potential maize production area in Kenya. MarkSim generated weather data is shown to provide a satisfactory approximation of recorded weather data at hand, and the output of 50 years of APSIM simulations demonstrate maize yield responses to plant population, weed control and nitrogen (N) fertilizer use that correspond well with results reported in the literature. Weather-induced risk is shown to have important effects on the rates of return ($ per $ invested) to N-fertilizer use which, across seasons and rates of N-application, ranged from 1.1 to 6.2. Similarly, rates of return to weed control and to planting at contrasting populations were also affected by seasonal variations in weather, but were always so high as to not constitute a risk for small-scale farmers. An analysis investigating the relative importance of temperature, radiation and water availability in contributing to weather-induced risk at different maize growth stages corresponded well with crop physiological studies reported in the literature.

Metadata only record "This report of the National Research Council Committee on Twenty-First Century Systems Agriculture reviews the state of knowledge on farming practices, technologies, and management systems that have the potential to improve the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of agriculture, and it discusses the tradeoffs and risks that might occur if more farms were to adopt those practices, technologies, and systems. The report also identifies knowledge gaps and makes recommendations for future actions to improve agricultural sustainability...This report includes case studies of different kinds of farms and farming systems in different regions of the United States that actively pursue the goal of sustainability and revisits some farms originally featured in Alternative Agriculture." (Excerpts from Executive Summary and Preface)

LTRA-7 (Pathways to CAPS in the Andes)

This presentation describes data gathered in the Bolivian Andes on 389 households about potato production activities, revenues, expenses, and environmental and gender issues. Crop productivity has been declining because of soil erosion on the steep slopes of the Andes and because of limited financial resources and access to agricultural supplies. This study aims to understand the linkages between environmental risk, risk management strategies, and technical efficiency with potato production. The collected data suggests that by using risk mitigation techniques and environmental diversification, potato production has the potential to increase in these areas. LTRA-7 (Pathways to CAPS in the Andes)

Metadata only record This chapter describes the farm enterprise system. The farm enterprise system involves the consumption, sales, and investment of farm resources, but recognizes the economic, institutional, and cultural environment external to farms still have a large effect on the ability and motivation of farmers to efficiently use resources and use sustainable land management practices. Influences such as family demands, assessment of risk, educational opportunities, innovation, clear land and water rights, and social and religious norms can greatly impact the management decisions and practices of farmers. ME (Management Entity)

Metadata only record Conservation farming for smallholders has been primarily applied and researched in humid and sub-humid regions, where it has shown significant improvements in agricultural productivity. In these regions, water generally is not a limiting constraint on plant growth and CF methods emphasize no-till or minimal tillage and mulch cover. However, in semi-arid and arid regions, rainfall variability and scarcity are significant constraints to productivity, the potential for attaining substantial mulch coverage is low, and no-tillage contributes to a soil crust that further decreases water infiltration. This study develops a CF approach focused on non-inversion tillage methods, adapted to the needs of arid and semi-arid agriculture. Using a participatory approach with local farmers and extension agents, trials comparing CF and conventional farming, with and without fertilization, were conducted in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Zambia. Neither CF tillage methods nor fertilization alone showed a significant improvement, but CF methods with fertilization improved both yields and water productivity (amount of water required per unit of crop). The improvements of CF over conventional farming methods were especially pronounced in seasons with the lowest rainfall, suggesting that CF could be a valuable water harvesting method in water-scarce regions.

Metadata only record Although the short-term aims of food aid are well conceived, strong concerns have been voiced regarding the long-term impacts of such aid on incentives for agricultural producers in recipient countries. This paper examines the statistical link between food aid shipments and food prices in Ethiopia over the period 1996-2006. Monthly data from three markets and three commodities are used to estimate a system of seemingly unrelated regression models for food prices. Results indicate that previous year food aid shipments reduce prices in all producer and consumer markets. These effects, however, appear to be limited to the set of internationally traded commodities that are domestically marketed. A recursive regression procedure is used to identify the food aid threshold at which a negative aid effect emerges. Food aid shipments that constitute less than 10% of domestic production appear to be benign, but shipments above this level show signs of being disruptive to local markets. We use a simple policy simulation to argue that production-sensitive targeting, e.g. conditioning food aid on local food production, would help to circumvent disincentive effects. SysCoor-5 (Policy and Governance)

In this study, the effects of recent policy changes in Malawi are examined. A survey of 800 Malawian farms from 1997-1998 was used to determine the effects of two policies: implementation of the SysCoor-5 (Policy and Governance)

This presentation summarizes the long term research activities of the SANREM project "Watershed-based NRM for Small-scale Agriculture" from 2004-2009. Research findings highlight the role of national institutions such as national research and extension systems, participatory learning based in trust, the useful applications of watershed modeling, a need to focus on risk and efficiency in working with smallholders and the importance of developing forward and backward linkages in the market to translate scientific advancements into improved livelihoods. LTRA-3 (Watershed-based NRM for Small-scale Agriculture)

We have developed a new approach for national evaluation of disease and pest risk based on networks of crop plant availability. We are in the process of generalizing this analysis for other countries. CCRA-4 (Soil Metagenomics)

The objectives of the study discussed in this presentation are: LTRA-3 (Watershed-based NRM for Small-scale Agriculture)

This study expands the boundaries of existing risk perception literature by examining climate hazards distinct from health and safety, and Latin America instead of the United States or Europe. Research on risk perceptions and communication has concentrated on the individual's cognitive mechanisms for processing risk, and has ignored the social system that communicates risk to a person. In this paper, indicators common to the development literature, gender, capital and diversification, combined with Paul Slovic's (1987) model on risk, provides insight to the development and risk perception literature. LTRA-4 (Practices and Strategies for Vulnerable Agro-Ecosystems)

ME (Management Entity)

This poster prioritizes efforts to manage late blight and measuring their impact now and under future climate scenarios demands a national and global perspective. We used a model in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create late blight severity predictions under current and future climate conditions. LTRA-4 (Practices and Strategies for Vulnerable Agro-Ecosystems)

This presentation to the Asian Development Bank social sciences group focused on sharing lessons learned from research undertaken in the Andean region between 1993 and 2008 in various programs, including the SANREM CRSP LTRA4. Some critical findings relate to the significance of place in coping and adaptation strategies, the need to link new information to existing knowledge systems, and the findings on projections on climate change that underline the uncertain environment in which decisions will be made in rainfed agricultural regions. LTRA-4 (Practices and Strategies for Vulnerable Agro-Ecosystems)

Andean families pursue their livelihood strategies in an environment of uncertainty shaped by market and climate risks. Production and consumption decisions remain interlinked due to limited, shallow or imperfect markets, especially for credit to protect against negative shocks. Risk perceptions inform decisions, as do insurance mechanisms. Risks are assessed from the point of view of women and men heads of household connecting perceptions and management or coping mechanisms. Perceptions are predicted by the dread the risk produces, the degree of control - knowledge of the risk, and the coping mechanisms. The latter includes the capitals invested - social, economic, cultural, and natural - in providing a buffer or in adaptation strategies. Trusted sources of information and networks are also evaluated to develop a framework for communication of changes in the Altiplano to improve adaptation to change. LTRA-4 (Practices and Strategies for Vulnerable Agro-Ecosystems)

The study evaluates how the Bolivian Andean Platform, under the philosophy of the Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) reduces transaction costs for native products, Chuño and Tunta, produced by small-scale farmers in three communities in Umala-Bolivia. At a first stage, the study identifies how local native potato varieties' programs (NPVP) developed by the International Potato Center (CIP)-ALTAGRO development project empower farmers to be able to participate in the Bolivian Andean Platform. It also identifies the barriers foreseen by those who do not participate in NPVP. At a second stage, it analyzes which transaction costs are reduced for farmers who participate in the Bolivian Andean Platform. It also identifies incentives within the platform that motivate market chain actors' participation. To accomplish the objectives, the authors use qualitative methods to develop a multiple embedded case study, and an empirical study under the pattern-matching logic (Yin, 1994). For the case study, personal interviews are conducted with all 10 stakeholders of the Bolivian Andean Platform. For the empirical study, the qualitative analyses consist of the selection of families that produce chuño and tunta for commercial purposes in three communities participating in the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Collaborative Research Support Programs (SANREM CRSP) and CIP-ALTAGRO baseline surveys. Selected chuño and tunta marketers are divided in those who participate in NPVP, and those who do not. On the one hand, the results indicate that NPVP benefit producers' participation in the Bolivian Andean Platform by promoting collective action, sustainable livelihoods and resilience. The barriers to participate are mainly due to emigration and the resulting decreased labor available at the household. On the other hand, the Bolivian Andean Platform reduces search, information, bargaining and contracting costs in the market chain, while increases participation, monitoring and enforcement costs. It also promotes agency capacity and market involvement for small-scale producers. However, the Bolivian Andean Platform lacks incentives to motivate farmer's participation, and offers a price that does not reward producers' efforts for higher quality of chuño and tunta. LTRA-4 (Practices and Strategies for Vulnerable Agro-Ecosystems)

Metadata only record LTRA-4 (Practices and Strategies for Vulnerable Agro-Ecosystems)

Thesis defense on the impact of Bolivian farmers' livelihood strategies on their climate risk perceptions. LTRA-4 (Practices and Strategies for Vulnerable Agro-Ecosystems)