Mara dryland becomes wetland

Permanent Link:: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FIMA000048/00001

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: Wetland
Adaptation
Tanzania
Livelihood
Social
Ecology
Sustainable

Abstract:: This research combines various scientific concepts to describe how local livelihoods have adapted to the changes in the social-ecological system around the Tanzanian Mara wetlands. Conceptually, this study shows that the adaptive cycles from the ‘resilience perspective’ have a great potential to unite and clarify the nature of the different views in the so-called Malthus versus Boserup debate. The results of this research contribute to insights about what features in the social-ecological system enable sustainable adaptations or unsustainable rigidities in livelihood systems. It is argued that the nature, timing and pace of changes deriving from larger scales can have a large impact on the pathways of livelihood systems. Moreover, it is stressed that local factors as low institutional bias for innovation, multiple functions of livelihood activities and a low degree in homogeneity in dependency to natural resources, contribute to unsustainable rigidities. Features that appear helpful to accomplish sustainable adaptations include interactions between scales, determined enterprising attitudes of locals, bonding and bridging social capital, intensive external involvement and redundancies in policies and interventions.
General Note:: Open access

Source Institution:: Florida International University
Holding Location:: Florida International University
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