Are we all on the same boat? The challenge of adaptation facing Portuguese coastal communities: Risk perception,trust-building and genuine participation

The Portuguese coast is experiencing severe erosion and loss of beachfront, processes which are expected to become worse with climate change impacts. These additional alterations are beginning to show at a time when financing for conventional coastal protection is no longer guaranteed at scales of investment which are likely to be required if future coastlines are to be maintained. This paper looks at how residents and key stakeholders of three coastal communities in Portugal perceive such possible changes, how far they judge and trust current coastal management, and how they perceive their current participation and foresee future forms of involvement on adaptive coastal change. The evidence from these surveys and interviews suggests that there is a strong commitment in each location to maintaining current levels of coastal protection, and to preserving the integrity of local societies and economies, even though there is also recognition that adaptation in some form will eventually be required. However, our research reveals that there is not yet sufficient trust between coastal stakeholders, especially towards public institutions and policies, for any degree of progressive coastal adaptation to take place. Building trust in creative learning processes of progressive adaptation could lead to improved science and participation along with a meaningful dialogue over cooperative coastal planning and financing. The research undertaken for this paper lays the groundwork for such a process of trust-building to begin.     

An assessment of policies affecting Sustainable Soil Management in Europe and selected member states

This paper analyses soils-related policies in Europe and in selected member states and regions. Our approach breaks down policy packages at European, national and regional levels into strategic objectives, operational objectives, policy measures and expected impacts, and assesses the relationships between these elements and soil stakes. Four major policy packages, both at EU and national level (CAP-I, RDP, Environment, national initiatives) were analysed. A numerical scale was developed to quantify the level of “embeddedness” of soil stakes in these policy packages. We found that countries better embed soil stakes into their policies when they also put more efforts on environmental innovation. In turn, countries with a high embeddedness level, with high trust in European institutions and that make more efforts towards renewable energy, tend to propose a wider variety of management practices to farmers for dealing with soil stakes.     

The Influence of Trust and Attitudes on the Purchase Frequency of Organic Produce

Growth in organic food sales is mainly due to consumers becoming more aware of health issues and environmental concerns. Understanding the drivers of organic consumption is crucial to predict future market outcomes. In this analysis, the authors expand previous research by including general and institutional trust variables in addition to consumer attitudes to examine organic food purchases. Food production is unobservable and hence, consumers need to exhibit trust with respect to organic production and certification. A bivariate ordered probit model applied to U.S. survey data confirms that organic purchases are determined by health, nutrition, and taste. In some cases, general trust and trust in media are statistically significant. Trust in institutions that are involved in the organic certification process is not statistically significant. A hierarchical cluster analysis grouping consumers based on trust and attitudes shows that (dis)trust in the organic certification and supply chain does not hinder organic food market growth.     

Crisis or continuity?: Framing land disputes and local conflict resolution in Burundi

This article is about the importance of framing in conflict situations, and how this informs peacebuilding interventions. It discusses the consequences of understanding land disputes in Burundi as a short-term problem, resulting from the massive return of refugees and displaced to their former homes. This framing of land disputes urged international and local organizations to initiate programmes for strengthening the capacities of local conflict resolving institutions. The case material shows that, though the return of refugees was a factor in disputes about land, there was a lot of continuity between conflict-related and regular land disputes. Many disputes required first and foremost solutions at the national, political level, rather than at the local level. Further, the predisposition towards local institutions failed to take account of the weaknesses of those institutions. The article further points out some of the practices that played a role in this framing of conflict and the intervention strategies based on it.     

获取披露信息能提高食品信任水平吗——基于湖南省长沙市生鲜品信息公示的调查数据

缩小主体间信息差距是提高食品市场信任水平的重要途径。为了研究食品安全信息披露环境中,消费者获取信息对食品信任的影响,本文通过问卷调查长沙市1050位消费者,搜集消费行为和个人特征的数据,并使用内生处理效应模型和倾向得分匹配方法进行实证分析,结果发现:虽然样本中只有17%的消费者主动搜寻公示信息,但是获取披露信息能够缓解不对称程度并提高满意度,进而显著正向影响信任程度;同时,获取披露信息在女性组中有显著正向影响,而在年龄组间的影响为倒U型;另外,信息获取行为的选择受到食品安全、干净卫生和对新鲜程度关注度的显著影响。结果说明,在信息披露后,帮助和引导消费者主动获取信息,能够更好地提升食品市场的信任水平。     

竹农技术创新参与意愿的博弈分析

在假定竹农、科研机构都是理性人的基础上,分析了竹农参与技术创新所带来的参与成本、参与收益,并引入概率,对参与决策进行了博弈分析。认为在市场机制的作用和政府的扶持下,当竹农或科研机构对自己的参与收益达到一定综合概率时,竹农或科研机构就愿意参与技术创新。     

Using scenario-based influence mapping to examine farmers’ biosecurity behaviour

Understanding of farmers’ influences relating to biosecurity is surprisingly weak, beyond general remarks that farmers tend to trust their private vet. Previous studies have explored influences in relation to single issue events. There is a need for better methodologies to fully appreciate how farmers’ biosecurity practices are shaped. Using bovine Tuberculosis as a case study, this paper uses stakeholder mapping methods applied across different scenarios. The aim is to identify how farmers’ responses to animal disease policy are shaped by their relationships with different actors. Interviews were conducted with 50 farmers in three areas in England. Farmers were presented with four scenarios to control bovine Tuberculosis: 1) a badger cull, 2) an oral badger vaccine, 3) a cattle vaccine and 4) a range of control measures. The results show that as things get more uncertain, government institutions become more influential. Government institutions and government vets are also important in situations where farmers do not consider themselves ‘experts’ i.e. vaccination as opposed to culling. The influence of other farmers was not universal; it differed between scenarios. These data show the value of scenario-based stakeholder mapping as a methodology that can enable biosecurity researchers to: more accurately and systematically determine stakeholder influence and understand how these influences change and evolve; understand the role of farmer biosecurity practices, the self-concept and ‘good farming’; and identify broader logics of biosecurity that influence and potentially frustrate animal disease policy goals.     

The Optimal Management of Research Portfolios

Risky research projects are, other things being equal, intrinsically harder to monitor than projects that are less risky. It is shown using agency theory that a standard cost benefit analysis, which ignores the agency problem, will introduce a bias towards excessively risky projects, and it will under-estimate the benefits from complementary investments in libraries, scientific equipment and other expenditures that increase the productivity of scientists. Research managers should be risk-averse in their choice of projects, and they should aim to hold a balanced portfolio of projects. The nature of this portfolio problem is, however, quite different from the portfolio management problem in financial markets.     

Secure property right as a determinant of SME’s access to formal credit in Ghana: dynamics between Micro-finance Institutions and Universal Banks

Does registered land title help to improve tenure security and enhance one’s chances of securing a loan from formal financial institutions? This question continues to sharply divide opinions among academics, policy-makers and international development partners. The long running debate on the subject of ‘Property in the Commons’, which serves as the ideological origin of what has become known as ‘Washington Consensus’ in contemporary times claims that there is positive correlation between the possession of registered land title and access to credit. However, this has often received considerable rebuttals. Even if the ‘Washington Consensus’ is accepted, the argument is still laced with some fundamental difficulty because it inherently assumes and treats financial institutions as a homogenous class of business. Yet financial institutions exhibit greater diversity in their operations and decision-making process. This paper attempts to contribute towards developing improved understanding between the ‘secure land title and access to credit relationship’ by disaggregating financial institutions into Micro-finance and Universal Banks (UBs) and examining what role secure land title play in granting credit from the perspectives of these two categories of financial institutions. To achieve this, field level investigations were conducted amongst officials of both Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs) and UBs in Ghana using structured questionnaires. A total of 200 questionnaires – 100 each to MFI and Universal Banks were administered of which a response rate of 51 and 57 was, respectively, achieved. The data were analysed using various non-parametric statistics. The study amongst other things established that UBs and MFIs differ in their opinions on how important secure titles are in the lending process and the nature of the influence they can exert on the final lending decision. It was established that both categories of lenders do regard secure titles as important but whether or not it will influence their decision to accept a given landed property as collateral varies across lender types.     

准公益型水利事业单位办企业的思考

以准公益型水利事业单位兴办企业的实际情况为依据，重点从企业的科技含量、技术水平、资金运转、市场竞争力以及与管理单位之间的关系等方面分析了水管单位在兴办企业及企业经营管理中存在的主要问题，针对这些问题，提出了准公益型水利事业单位如何办企业，如何理顺与事业单位之间的关系；如何完善和出台准公益型水利事业单位兴办企业的分类管理办法与优惠政策的建议。     

Trust,trustworthiness, and traditional Islamic education

This paper examines traditional Islamic school (i.e. madrasah) attendance as a determinant of social attitudes among secondary-schooled adolescents in rural Bangladesh. Although both recognized and traditional madrasah-enrolled adolescents show greater support for charity, we find no evidence that traditional madrasah attendance promotes “trust in others”. Attendance at recognized madrasahs, which use a state-approved curriculum, however, significantly increases social trust. The madrasah–trust connection is not explained by the role of teachers’ attitudes towards trust or professional background. Nor do we find evidence that the absence of an effect of traditional madrasah attendance on social trust is driven by their geographic locations. Given the differences between the two groups in terms of stated social preferences, our analysis warns against the practice of lumping state-recognized madrasahs and traditional madrasahs into one category.     

Credibility of institutions: Forestry, social conflict and titling in China

In the reform of a forestry sector governed by centralist, socialist principles towards a sector suited to the challenges of the market economy, the Chinese government needs to establish institutions that can be perceived as credible by social actors. In other words, the creation of institutions that rally sufficient social and political support in order to be effective. Against this backdrop, this article consciously opts to refer to institutional “credibility” instead of the more fashionable concept of institutional “trust”. Whereas scholarly discussions about trust focus more on the relation of trust between social actors, credibility puts more emphasis on the institution itself, and the role of government in its successful creation or failure. Failure to effectively undertake institutional reform might put the social acceptability or credibility of institutions at risk, and can lead to the emergence of “empty institutions” with little, or even, a negative effect on social and political actors. Applying this concept to China's forestry sector, this article identifies three critical areas that call for careful rethinking how to “get institutions right”: the titling of forest holdings; the restructuring of the forest administration; and the design of forest laws and policies with particular reference to lease and ownership.     

European farmers and participatory rural appraisal: A systematic literature review on experiences to optimize rural development

Farmers are those who daily supervise and manage rural areas, but still their collaborations with those institutions entitled to decide the transformation of these territories are not managed properly. The experiences of participatory processes with the involvement of farmers are analyzed in many agricultural studies. A systematic review has allowed us to analyse experiences related to 35 participation paths aimed at rural regions’ development. The analysis has been made on the basis of 14 variables describing the path followed and its purpose, the agricultural holding involved and the areas surveyed.The work has the objectives to identify some strengths and weaknesses in the involvement of farmers in decision-making and the strengths and weaknesses of the processes themselves. The review has shown that too often in participatory processes farmers are considered only as a source of information to be used by researchers rather than as active participants in the choices for the protection, management and transformation of the rural territory. An effective participatory rural appraisal requires greater empowerment of farmers. In general, compared to the methods and tools used, farmers are wary of paths that are too complex and prefer the use of low-tech tools. This result can be attributed to the farmers’ demand of direct contact with the researchers to build trust and also to the average age of European farmers, which is pretty high.In participation contexts, it is not possible to establish standardized methods and tools, because each process should be tailored for the community that expresses it. Nevertheless, the work has highlighted the need to establish some minimum principles to avoid considering unsuccessful some participation paths which, in reality, have been only scarcely participated. In the work, these principles have been presented through the development of key questions, to which those who design the path for an effective engagement of agricultural stakeholder must respond: representativeness, empowerment, empirical knowledge, relationships, group type, numerosity and involvement stage.     

知识经济时代基础研究的重要性及创新管理

基础研究是一个国家科技发展水平的重要标志 ,也是衡量高等院校学术水平高低的重要标准。高等院校作为国家创新体系中新知识的创造和传播者 ,必须发挥基础研究主力军的作用。科学基金是资助基础与应用基础科学理论研究的主要渠道 ,基金成为高校开展基础研究 ,稳定基础研究队伍的主要资助来源。高校作为基础研究的主要承担者 ,必须加强科学管理 ,转变科研管理机制 ,充分发挥创新管理 ,提高基金的绩效 ,这也是广大科技工作者和科技管理人员面临的首要任务     

Drivers of Trust: Some Experiences from Hungarian Agricultural Cooperatives

This article examines the drivers of trust in the machinery-sharing cooperation arrangements of Hungarian field crops farms. Our research has focused on the role of 2 factors on the basis of the widely referred trust model: faith in loyalty and capability. The empirical results clearly confirm the hypothesis of the theoretical model, namely, partners will trust each other if their faith is high both in loyalty and in competence. Our research has also pointed out that the level of trust between partners is determined differently by the 2 examined factors: it is statistically proven that the impact of faith in loyalty is higher.     

基于灰色聚类的新时期水利科研单位绩效考核分析

水利科研单位作为水利事业发展中的科技创新主力军,为落实国家科技创新管理机制要求,需要构建完善有效的绩效考核体系,进行公平与科学的绩效考核。基于新时期下国家科技创新管理机制的要求与水利科研单位特点构建绩效评估体系,通过层次分析法进行各指标权重的确定,运用灰色聚类方法中的三角白化权函数进行科研单位绩效考核的等级评价,以J省水利科学研究院为例作实证分析,评价得到水科院的绩效考核综合等级为良好,由此提出相关建议,为加强内部和外部管理提供依据,为完善水利科研单位绩效考核指标体系提供参考。     

Economic development, institutional change, and the political economy of agricultural protection An econometric study of Belgium since the 19th century

This empirical study uses 100 years of annual data on 11 agricultural commodities from Belgium to measure the impact of structural changes coinciding with economic development and changes in political institutions on agricultural protection. The analysis shows that changes in agricultural protection are caused by a combination of factors. Governments have increased protection and support to farmers when world market prices for their commodities fell, and vice versa, offsetting market effects on producer incomes. Other economic determinants were the share of the commodities in total consumer expenditures (negative effect) and in total output of the economy (positive effect). With Belgium a small economy, there was no impact of the trade position. Changes in political institutions have affected agricultural protection. Democratic reforms which induced a significant shift in the political balance towards agricultural interests, such as the introduction of the one‐man‐one‐vote system, led to an increase in agricultural protection. The integration of Belgian agricultural policies in the Common Agricultural Policy in 1968 coincided with an increase in protection, ceteris paribus. Both institutional factors, related to changes in access to and information about the decision‐making at the EU level, and structural changes in the agricultural and food economy may explain this effect.     

The complexity of exchange: Wheat markets,petty‐commodity producers and the emergence of commercial capital in colonial Punjab

This paper questions the orthodox Marxist view of merchant capital as “unproductive,” by highlighting the importance of traders in subsuming the countryside to the logic of capital. However, it also argues that in order to properly understand the role played by traders in agrarian change, critical Marxist scholarship on merchant capital needs to recognize the complex marketing systems in which traders and farmers operate. These markets have their own internal relations, organizational and institutional logic which in turn is tied to the specificity of the commodity. Using wheat markets in colonial Punjab as a case study, it then utilizes the framework of complex marketing systems to highlight the range of firms and farms that operated in these markets; the importance of personal relations and informal institutions of family, caste, and religion for establishing trust; and the class stratified nature of market participants. It was from within these informally organized markets that commercial capital first emerged in colonial Punjab. By creatively combining the concept of commercial capital with markets as complex systems, it hopes to provide a richer framework for the study of agrarian change in diverse contexts.     

风险认知、社会信任与农户宅基地退出意愿基于江苏省扬州市418户农户调查的数据

目的 研究风险认知对农户宅基地退出意愿的影响,以及社会信任在两者中的调节作用,探究风险认知对农户宅基地退出意愿的作用机制,引导农户自愿有偿退出宅基地,提高农村土地资源利用效率,促进城乡融合发展具有重要现实意义。方法 文章基于江苏省扬州市418户农户调查数据,采用主成分分析测度风险认知和社会信任等变量,并运用Logit模型对提出的理论假说进行实证检验。结果 （1）实证结果表明,风险认知对农户宅基地退出意愿有负向影响,而社会信任则有正向影响。（2）具体来看,风险认知对高社会信任农户和低社会信任农户宅基地退出的意愿均有负向影响,社会信任能缓解风险认知对宅基地退出意愿的不利影响,人际信任和制度信任都有助于农户宅基地退出意愿的提升;区分在城镇有无住房农户进行异质性分析,也验证了上述研究结论。（3）控制变量中,户主年龄和房屋居住年限对农户宅基地退出意愿具有显著的正向影响,而家庭承包地面积和距离县城距离对农户宅基地退出意愿有显著的负向影响。结论 为进一步推动农户宅基地有序退出,应该完善农户宅基地退出后各项保障政策,改善和提升农户社会信任水平以及构建差别化宅基地退出机制和政策。     

地质科研单位资金来源及生存发展途径的探讨

随着我国社会主义市场经济体制的逐步建立和科技体制改革的不断深入和发展,技术开发类型地质科研单位由单纯科研事业型向经营型转化,科学事业费拨款实行差额预算管理,大部分资金需单位面向市场,走企业化管理的道路获得。在新的机制下资金不足问题,严重制约了其生存和发展。文章从四个方面分析了技术开发型地质科研单位资金紧缺的原因,阐述了资金管理的重要性,并根据技术开发型地质科研单位的特点探讨了寻求生存发展的途径。