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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Physical and Environmental Geography
Community Forest In Liberia: The Interface Between Sustainable Charcoal Production And Deforestation, Amavie Clement
Community Forest In Liberia: The Interface Between Sustainable Charcoal Production And Deforestation, Amavie Clement
Capstone Collection
The available data establishes a direct correlation between charcoal production and forest degradation and deforestation in Liberia. Charcoal is the primary energy source for Liberians, especially in urban areas where the bulk of the population lives. It is expected to be the mainstay energy source for years to come because it is affordable, accessible, and convenient to use compared to other forms of energy (i.e. electricity and petroleum gas). However, the current model of charcoal production, based on indiscriminate felling of trees, poses a danger to the environment as it results in widespread forest degradation and deforestation. Therefore, any successful …
Man And Land: Competing Ontologies, Colonial Legacies, And The Quest For Food Sovereignty, Savannah Smith
Man And Land: Competing Ontologies, Colonial Legacies, And The Quest For Food Sovereignty, Savannah Smith
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Land is an ontological reality, which is at the center of different relationships to land. These relationships are situated in and a product of historical and spatial process that have an under lying power geometry. These different understandings of land tenure can create conflict when they intersect with competing interests in the same space. In Cameroon, this is currently the case in the form of large-scale land acquisitions, which often conflict with local communities as multinational corporations and local elites acquire land concessions with facilitation by the government in the name of development. This paper aims to understand this issue …
Land Insecurity In Gulu, Uganda: A Clash Between Culture And Capitalism, Zachary Slotkin
Land Insecurity In Gulu, Uganda: A Clash Between Culture And Capitalism, Zachary Slotkin
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
This paper presents the causes and consequences of land insecurity in Gulu, Uganda. In order to address this important and often sensitive issue, the paper analyzes the role of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency and the government’s policy of forced encampment during the insurgency in contributing to land insecurity, causing widespread displacement among former internally displaced persons (IDPs). It further explores the importance of land ownership in providing economic productivity to rural landowners, as well as the nature of customary land tenure in Acholi culture and the government’s efforts to privatize communal land, to give a background on the …
Proxy Dating In Iceland Testing The Validity Of Silene Acaulis As A Phytometric Proxy, Madelyn Grant
Proxy Dating In Iceland Testing The Validity Of Silene Acaulis As A Phytometric Proxy, Madelyn Grant
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Climate change is causing drastic changes in the cryosphere, particularly in the Arctic region where average warming is 1.9 times greater than in the rest of the world due to Arctic amplification. Understanding the response of essential climate variables such as glaciers and ice caps to rapid Arctic warming is essential to predicting future changes in the Arctic region and around the world. Proxy dating methods can help construct a record of warming-induced glacial retreat in areas where long-term monitoring systems are not in place. In Arctic regions, the cushion plant Silene acaulis represents one of the only feasible proxies …
One Year Later: The Politics And Stories Of Post-Earthquake Nepal, Boyer Andrew
One Year Later: The Politics And Stories Of Post-Earthquake Nepal, Boyer Andrew
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25th, 2015. This was followed by a second major earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on May 12th , 2015. These disasters took the lives of thousands of Nepali people, destroyed hundreds of thousands of structures, and displaced an estimated two million people. Immediately following the disaster, there was an outpouring of humanitarian aid from around the world. This lead to a conference where $4.1 billion USD of reconstruction funds were pledged to Nepal by international donors. Five months later, a new constitution passed into law and an informal blockade of …
Avian Diversity Across Three Distinct Agricultural Landscapes In Guadalupe, Chiriquí Highlands, Panama, Jarred Jones
Avian Diversity Across Three Distinct Agricultural Landscapes In Guadalupe, Chiriquí Highlands, Panama, Jarred Jones
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Deforestation of tropical forest for agricultural purposes threatens habitat loss of native species. The value of various agricultural landscapes in conserving avian populations is useful in determining diversity-conscious development plans. However, generalized results from regionalscale studies cannot be implemented to insular avian habitats. This study serves as the only current avian diversity study of the Chiriquí Highlands. To determine the effect of agricultural land use within an insular avian habitat, I compared avian diversity and site population similarity in Guadalupe, Chiriquí Highlands of the Talamanca Range, Panama. I hypothesized that avian diversity is greatest at forest edge followed by forest …
Index-Based Insurance And Risk Management Among Nomadic Mongolian Herders , Kelsey Larson
Index-Based Insurance And Risk Management Among Nomadic Mongolian Herders , Kelsey Larson
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Mongolian herders must contend with the risk of dzuds, harsh winters that can kill large numbers of livestock. To do so, they use a mixture of formal financial tools and traditional risk mitigation techniques. This paper is a study of the interaction between the Mongolian Index-based Livestock Insurance Program and traditional informal risk mitigation techniques. The researcher interviews herders in Bulgan soum, Arhangai aimag and Galuut soum, Bayanhongor aimag to compare the IBLI program’s impact in a community that has had IBLI since 2006 and one that only received IBLI in 2012. This study finds that insurance purchase is positively …
Exploring The Preservation Of Pastoralism And The Natural World In Western Mongolia , Josephine Brownell
Exploring The Preservation Of Pastoralism And The Natural World In Western Mongolia , Josephine Brownell
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
At a time when Mongolia is experiencing the intense effects of land degradation, human activity, and climate change, it is crucial that a new land management framework is developed with conservation in mind. Pastoralism’s unique relationship with the land serves as a method of protecting the natural world for the future. This study focuses on a pastoral community in Western Mongolia while considering a main research question: Is a herder’s historically deep connection with the land enough to protect the modern pastoral lifestyle in Mongolia for years to come? In answering this question, a review of related previous studies on …
The Primacy Of Context: An Exploration Into The Causes Of Food Insecurity In Kitere, Kenya., William O. Aludo
The Primacy Of Context: An Exploration Into The Causes Of Food Insecurity In Kitere, Kenya., William O. Aludo
Capstone Collection
The purpose of this study was to explore the specific reasons why households in Kitere village, Kenya experience persistent food insecurity every year while the region enjoys the advantage of two planting/harvest seasons in a year. Kitere village lies within the lakeside region of Nyanza Province in Kenya, generally considered to be one of the more agriculturally productive parts of the country. The Participatory Rural Appraisal method was employed to gather qualitative data on the causes of food insecurity in Kitere village. The data sources were focus groups and a self-administered, one-time survey of random and non-random samples of key …