Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Tourism In Lugu Hu: Helpful Or Harmful? Examining The Impact Of Tourism On Lugu Lake’S People And Environment, Joana Chan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Is tourism a boon or burden to the land and the people that it impacts? This question has plagued academics for ages. On the one hand, tourism brings not only definite economic growth for the local people, but also motivation for preservation of the local landscape. On the other hand, the arrival of tourists also ironically brings definite cultural and environmental transformations to the very people and land that visitors travel so far to see and experience.

My research examines the complexities of tourism and its impact on the environment and people of Lugu Lake, Yunnan. By surveying social and …

Desarrollo Turístico Y Sustentabilidad: Caso Villa Pehuenia Y La Comunidad Mapuche Puel, Sasha Shahidi

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With limited resources and overpopulation on a global level, sustainable development is the only way that human beings will be able to survive on this earth. The problem is that the dominant model of development stresses the importance of economic profits in the short term and far too often exploits natural resources and less powerful cultural groups. This creates dangerous long-term affects as natural resources and indigenous cultures that depend on them continue to disappear with no plan, or possibility, to replace them. Sustainability seeks the least negative impacts possible on the natural environment and indigenous cultures in order to …

Community Forestry In Oaxaca: An Assessment Of The Level Of Autonomy In Forest Decision-Making And Its Environmental And Economic Importance, Peter Gill

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Valorar Lo Nuestro Para Fortalecer El Futuro: Etnoturismo Mapuche En La Ix Región, Ashleigh Martin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The mapuche people have lived a history of struggle. Today it seems they are faced with the impossible choice of being poor and without the resources to maintain their culture, or succumbing to the pressures of a world imbued with globalization and equally changing what is fundamentally theirs. As a unique solution to this problem, many mapuche individuals and communities have opted to develop “turismo mapuche”, or ethnic tourism programs—part of a recent trend toward a more responsible form of tourism. These programs strive to provide tourists with the opportunity to experience cultures different from their own. The primary aim …

El Cobre Para Hoy Y Siempre : Hacia Un Futuro Menos Volátil, Más Sostenible Y De Mayor Valor Agregado En El Sector Chileno Del Cobre, Nicholas Anderson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Copper fuels the Chilean economy more than any other good or sector. But despite being Chile’s greatest resource, copper does very little for the average Chilean because most of the benefits are captured by mining companies and the government. Furthermore, the copper producing sector is volatile, subject to variations in the world price of copper, and not sustainable, as it depends on a nonrenewable natural resource. This paper establishes that there is room to deepen the copper sector with the goal of creating jobs and making the copper sector in Chile more sustainable and less volatile. This idea that there …

Permission To Change: The Role Of Culture And Cultural Tourism In Development, Heather Houser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Batwa are an indigenous people living throughout areas of central equatorial Africa. In Uganda, they constitute a small minority and live in parts of the West and Southwest, primarily in the districts of Bundibugyo, Kabale, Kisoro and Kanungu. This study was conducted in Kisoro District and the data deals primarily with the Batwa that live there. Many of the Batwa’s ancestral homelands were declared national parks in 1991. The Batwa were forced to leave and were given no compensation. As a result, many of them are now squatters and have been forced to beg for a living. Several organizations …

The Learning Organization In A Post-Development Era: A Case Study On Orgnizational Development At The Valley Trust, Justin Haruyama

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the past two decades, the rise of Post-Development theory has witnessed the questioning of the core assumptions of development. Post-Development theorists point to the failures of “development” to create significant decreases in poverty or inequality worldwide. Meanwhile, other theorists call for radical transformations of conventional practice. This paper seeks to grapple with these questions, using the example of The Valley Trust, a development NGO in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, as an entry point into the debate. Research was conducted over a four-week period through a mixture of participant observation and formal interviews with staff members of The Valley Trust. An …

Watered Down: The Intersection And Integration Of Tourism Development And Water Resource Management In Marrakech, Morocco, Alison Maassen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

People Moving Matters: Theorizing Tourism And Migration On The Nepali ‘Periphery’, Adam Linnard

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Many papers and presentations pertaining to tourism have started something like the following:

The World Tourism Organization in its 1996/97 report states that 255 million people are employed in the tourism-related industries, which is one in every nine people employed in the world, making it the world’s number one industry and larger than the oil, automobile or weapons industries. Tourism also contributed US$653 billion to the international economy in the form of different tourism-related taxes. There is an annual growth rate of 4% in the world’s tourism market. (Bajracharya & Shakya, 1998)

Now this one begins that way, too.

It …

Development In Our Own Words: A Survey Of Development Perspectives Between Cameroonians And Americans In Yaoundé, Cameroon, Frieda L. Arenos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

It is said that development addresses the quality and progression of life; that a country be self-sustainable in accessing its resources, educating its children, curing its sick, and guaranteeing its citizens contribution to a sufficient political and social environment. If the term is so, how do we justify development on a world scale? Do development projects that begin in the West have the same capacity for efficiency in the Third World? How does development aid make certain that those who are in need receive what they are promised? This paper is a field-based case study that analyzes in first the …

“Share The Wealth” A Critical Analysis Of Private Sector Development In Uganda’S Rural And Urban Settings, Michael Roscitt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Privatization and private sector development have been primary methods of development throughout Uganda and Africa for the last 20 years. These two valuable tools, however, have been plagued by corruption as many former State Owned Enterprises are being divested into the pockets of political cronies and influential foreigners. If State Owned Enterprises were instead divested amongst a broad section of the population, local entrepreneurs with limited capital could participate in the privatization process. If responsibly divested, private sector development would then be able to have more far reaching effects because the enterprises being helped would be owned by the people. …

Structural And Financial Constraints For Arabica Coffee Planters, Chloe Wardropper

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Arabica coffee production in Cameroon is struggling. Coffee growers and their plants are aging rapidly due to a lack of incentives to continue production. The downturn in arabica production started in the 1980’s, with the drop in the world price of coffee and the privatization of formerly government-run programs and agricultural cooperatives. Financial problems continue today because there are no structures to replace those organizations which offered financial and technical support. This paper will examine the constraints facing arabica coffee growers today and the options available to them for the amelioration of their situation. This is achieved primarily through interviews …

How Do Women In Prek Toal Village (Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve, Cambodia) Participate In And Benefit From Ecotourism?, Amy Dowley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Abstract This study assesses how women in the floating village of Prek Toal in the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve, participate and benefit from the ecotourism activities in their area. The study also investigates women’s perspective on ecotourism within their community, how it affects their lives, and if they have expectations of current and future benefits or changes resulting from ecotourism. This study is conducted in the context of current studies on livelihoods in the Tonle Sap region, including the recent technical report, “Influence of Built Structures on Local Livelihoods: Case Studies of Road Development, Irrigation, and Fishing Lots,”(ADB, 2007a) identifying …

The Role Of Industrial And Traditional Fishing In Sustainable Resource Management, Aime Schwartz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For decades, the notion of ‘sustainable development’ has been a source of international contention and debate. While the meanings and implications of sustainable development are widely disputed, it is interpreted by many as an ideal that encompasses social, environmental and economic spheres while promoting the value of human rights in development. Theoretically, this approach allows for the quality of life of current and future generations to be considered in environmental decision-making and formally recognized by national and international standards, dictated primarily by wealthy industrialized governments (Adebowale et al 138). Policy-makers in developing nations continuously face the struggle to balance the …

Economy Of Change: The Organic Market As A Model For Agricultural Development In India, Amanda White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In India, 50% of children under five years of age are malnourished amidst a yearly surplus in grain production. Approximately 40% of food is lost in transport on a daily basis, yet the country has been able to prevent major famines for over 60 years. In a country with a GDP of 8-9% and an ever-growing presence on the international economic stage, these double standards cannot be tolerated. 260 million Indians live in extreme poverty, and 40% of those depend mainly on agricultural labor. This sector accounts for approximately 26% of India’s GDP, and provides employment for about 70% of …

Crédito Y Confianza: Los Impactos Socioeconómicos De Fondo Esperanza En Temuco Y Padre Las Casas, Rebecca Berwick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Microcredit is not a 21st century phenomenon, but it has gained remarkable momentum recently, with the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to the founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Fondo Esperanza saw a need for such facilitated access to small loans around Chile. Though Chile is often viewed as a model for Latin American macroeconomic success, it maintains one of the worst distributions of wealth in the world. Much of Chile’s disadvantaged people attempt to make a living through the operation of micro-businesses. In my research, I explored Fondo Esperanza’s operations in Temuco: its organizational structure and …

Self-Employed, Self-Empowered: Working Women In Benares, Madeline S. Oatman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“Economic independence is the password to women’s empowerment.”

Sathi Nair, a Senior Administrative Services official in Andhra Pradesh.

Twenty or so women sit peacefully on a cool cement floor at the Kutumb program center in Benares, India. The room floats like an oasis above the dusty heat of the street, and unobstructed light pours in through a large window. The women, heads bowed, black hair shining, are stitching and measuring, brows furrowed in concentration despite the lull of the lazy afternoon. They have come to learn a skill in order to make extra income, to be around women, exchange advice …