scholarly journals The ridge-to-reef approach on Cicia Island, Fiji

AMBIO ◽  
2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elodie Fache ◽  
Simonne Pauwels
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Organic Agriculture ◽  
Ecological Perspective ◽  
Relational Ontology ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Local Perception ◽  
Certified Organic

AbstractMany Pacific countries and territories embrace an officially recognized ‘ridge-to-reef’ approach to environmental management. This is the case of Fiji, where the Lau Seascape Strategy 2018–2030, led by Conservation International, aims for integrated natural resource management across 335 895 km2. This area includes Cicia Island, which deserves particular attention since, years before the design of the Lau Seascape Strategy, its population developed its own informal ridge-to-reef scheme, involving a combination of certified organic agriculture and locally managed marine closures. Based on 1 month of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper presents this scheme and highlights local perception and conceptualization of its positive effects on both the land and the sea. These reflect the iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) concept of vanua, which intrinsically connects the health of the land, the sea, and their (human and non-human) dwellers, while stressing the importance of addressing land-sea processes and management efforts beyond an ecological perspective, i.e. through an engagement with the iTaukei relational ontology.

Feed gaps in mixed-farming systems: insights from the Grain & Graze program

2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Moore ◽  
Lindsay W. Bell ◽  
Dean K. Revell
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Summer Rainfall ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Forage Production ◽  
Forage Crops ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Practical Tool

A central concern of the Grain & Graze research, development and extension program has been improving the management of the feedbase on mixed farms through addressing ‘feed gaps’ – times of year during which the supply of forage is insufficient to meet livestock demand. In this review, we use the available data on pasture growth and quality, supplemented by modelling results, to describe the characteristic timing of feed gaps across the Australian cereal-livestock zone. Feedbase interventions studied during the Grain & Graze program have mainly addressed the supply side of the feed balance equation. We review these studies, paying particular attention to the time scale of the variability in the feed balance that each intervention is intended to address. We conclude that grazing of cereals (either dual-purpose or forage crops) is the most promising means of alleviating winter feed gaps in regions where they are important. Reducing feed gaps in summer by relying on unpredictable summer rainfall events will increase year-to-year variability in forage production and will therefore require more flexible livestock management systems to exploit it. The use of forage shrubs offers a practical tool for increasing the predictability of summer and autumn feed supply, but given their moderate capacity for providing additional metabolisable energy it remains important to carefully manage livestock over autumn and to manage the herbaceous inter-row pasture. Feed gaps mainly arise from an interaction between biology and economics. We find, however, that the options studied in the Grain & Graze program for addressing feed gaps require either greater complexity in pasture and grazing management or more opportunistic livestock trading; they therefore come at a cost to the manager’s limited decision-making time. Times with feed gaps are also times when particular natural resource management risks (especially erosion) need to be managed. Supply-side interventions to relieve feed gaps will generally use more soil water, which will often have positive effects on natural resource management outcomes.

Management of natural resources in a decentralized

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (92) ◽  
pp. 8-15
Author(s):  
M. A. Khvesyk
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Resource Management ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Economic Aspects ◽  
Government Institution

This article explores the concept and essence of power decentralization and subsidiarity in the provision of public ser-vices. Grounded economic aspects of natural resource management under decentralization as essential factors of social rights of citizens at the local level. Ways to strengthen local government institution and empower local communities and regions in the whole of the financial system by improving tax and budget legislation in the field of environmental management.

Preparing Australian broadacre agriculture for environmental scrutiny using Environmental Management Systems: implications for extension services

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 367 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Ridley
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Resource Management ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Environmental Management Systems ◽  
Management Activity ◽  
The Public

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) have been trialled in the broadacre industries across Australia. This paper outlines the trends in extension service provision, comments on changes needed if environmental issues are to become higher priority and discusses institutional issues. For EMS in Australia to become a mainstream farm business management activity there needs to be sufficient private good outcomes for land managers to adopt them and sufficient public good outcomes for public money to be invested in their implementation. As there are few market drivers at present, extension and incentives are likely to be needed to facilitate their uptake. Evaluation of likely cost-effective public good outcomes is needed for continued public sector investment. Regardless of whether EMS or similar schemes are provided by the public or private sector, if they are to become mainstream there needs to be a move from the dominant extension models used by the public sector (group facilitation and empowerment) to a programmed learning approach. Building on a ‘personalised consultant’ model is recommended for land managers prepared to pay for information to maintain their competitive edge. For more ‘traditional’ land managers, partnerships with the public sector through Landcare networks and regional natural resource management bodies and rural resellers are more realistic. There is large need for formalised training of both public and private extension providers. The institutional arrangements and current alignment and supportiveness for EMS between state agencies, farmer organisations and regional natural resource management bodies is highly variable across the states, but currently appears strongest in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. Australian broadacre industries are globally exposed in being prepared to take on increased environmental scrutiny. It will take many years to reduce this risk given the large and dispersed nature of the broadacre industries. All players, especially governments, regional organisations, peak farmer and peak industry groups need to take a more proactive role in funding and implementing EMS or similar type schemes if they believe there are long-term benefits in doing so. The alternative is to wait for a crisis and be limited to taking a reactive approach to environmental accountability.

Socioecological resilience, climate change, and natural resource management: A role for psychology

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia L. Winter ◽  
Susan Charnley ◽  
Jonathan W. Long ◽  
Frank K. Lake ◽  
Trista M. Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Resource Management ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Natural Resource
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