Amazonian indigenous peoples are threatened by Brazil’s Highway BR-319

The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is under the greatest human pressure in its history. This pressure is increasing under the current presidential administration, with proposed retraction of environmental and humanitarian protections. Among these pressures are new hydroelectric dams, railways and highways. An infrastructure project with especially far-reaching consequences is the reopening of Highway BR-319 right through the heart of the Amazon Forest. The highway connects Manaus in central Amazonia to Porto Velho in the “arc of deforestation” on the southern edge of the forest. The highway crosses one of the most conserved parts of the Amazon with a large concentration of Indigenous Lands (“Terras Indígenas”). Although Brazil is a signatory to ILO Convention 169, which establishes the need for consultation with indigenous peoples and traditional communities, consultations have so far not been held. Here we argue for the need for consultation of all indigenous peoples within 150 km of any part of the highway, comprising 63 Indigenous lands and five other areas containing indigenous communities that are directly threatened by the project.     

“This is a holy place of Ama Jomo”: buen vivir,indigenous voices and ecotourism development in a protected area of Bhutan

Common definitions of ecotourism address the need to benefit the well-being of local people; in reality, ecotourism is often supported or dominated by external agents. Local ideological, social and cultural values may be overlooked, thereby disenfranchising local and indigenous stakeholders. This paper examines indigenous perceptions of ecotourism and well-being, and how they relate to ecotourism practices in three Brokpa communities of the first protected area in Bhutan to become a special tourism destination. A range of methods (e.g. semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping) was used and data analysis was couched in the context of buen vivir (living well), an indigenous concept of well-being. Findings indicate that: (1) perceptions of ecotourism vary between community members and contrast with the official park definition; (2) well-being is conceived in diverse ways but corresponds to key features of buen vivir; (3) indigenous worldviews are pervasive, and shape social values and spiritual beliefs in connection to nature; and (4) indigenous cosmologies and traditional values may be strengthened through their integration into modern policies and institutions. This research contributes more non-Western voices to the literature, a concept and mode of analysis for well-being that embraces an indigenous ontology, and empirical insights on indigenous communities in protected areas.     

Indigenous Peoples’ Health Care: New approaches to contracting and accountability at the public administration frontier

Abstract

This article analyses reforms to contracting and accountability for indigenous primary health care organizations in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The reforms are presented as comparative case studies, the common reform features identified and their implications analysed.

The reforms share important characteristics. Each proceeds from implicit recognition that indigenous organizations are ‘co-principals’ rather than simply agents in their relationship with government funders and regulators. There is a common tendency towards more relational forms of contracting; and tentative attempts to reconceptualize accountability. These ‘frontier’ cases have broad implications for social service contracting.     

The interaction effect of gender and ethnicity in loan approval: A Bayesian estimation with data from a laboratory field experiment

Microfinance targets women and uses loan provision as a tool for empowerment, which translates into better household nutrition, improved education, and a scale down of domestic violence. However, ethnic discrimination in microfinance may exist in countries with a segregated indigenous population. We assessed this possibility with a field experiment in Bolivia. The controlled laboratory experiment evaluated whether credit officers rejected microloan applications based on the interaction effect of ethnicity and gender of potential borrowers. Point estimates of a Bayesian mixed‐effects logistic regression, estimated with the experimental data, indicate that nonindigenous women have double the chance of loan approval, but indigenous women have only 1.5 times the chance of loan approval when compared with men. While the findings about gender are limited, the evidence for the interaction of gender and ethnicity is more robust and suggests the existence of positive taste‐based discrimination favorable for nonethnic women in Bolivia. We conclude that the affirmative actions towards women promoted by development agencies and microfinance institutions must not overlook ethnicity as an important factor for financial policies of sustainable development. In practice, these policies should be aimed at identifying and reducing both social desirability bias and the structural barriers to financial inclusion that indigenous women may face when trying to obtain access to a loan.     

The accountable governance of provincial governments of a Pacific island country

ABSTRACT

Using the theory of indigenous alternatives and a benchmark of indigenous financial reporting expectations, this paper examines the challenges to accountable governance of the nine provincial governments of the Solomon Islands for the years 1998 to 2017. Every provincial government consistently received disclaimed or qualified opinions from the state auditor. The author explains why the regional development of all provinces of the Solomon Islands could be improved if rudimentary forms of financial reporting were to be addressed.     

Developing sustainable tourism through ecomuseology: a case study in the Rupununi region of Guyana

Sustainability is a concept that continues to evolve and perplex in tourism, one of the world's largest industries. Effective new theories and practices are constantly explored so as to incorporate sustainability into tourism frameworks. Due to their focus on participation processes, integration of resources, and responses to specific needs and contexts, ecomuseum principles can be very useful for the development of sustainable tourism. This paper examines the potential of using the principles of ecomuseology to support sustainable tourism development. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach involving local expert stakeholders at the case study site, the Rupununi region of Guyana, South America. The findings from this research suggest that the principles of ecomuseology possess considerable potential to support sustainable tourism development in the Rupununi and potentially other destinations internationally. In particular, this study illustrates how ecomuseological principles can be used to manage heritage resources and economic development by focusing on, for example, holistic interpretation and information sharing, placing equal attention on heritage resources, and monitoring changes to the region over time.     

Tourism Management Issues in India’s National Parks: An Analysis of the Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarahole) National Park

This paper analyses contemporary tourism management issues in India’s national parks. It begins by setting India’s national parks in the context of national parks globally, before examining the historical development of national parks in India itself. Based upon the author’s extensive qualitative research, the paper then discusses in general terms the tourism conflicts that have recently emerged in India’s national parks. It goes on to examine in detail the tourism management issues as they apply to a specific case study, namely the Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarahole) National Park located in the state of Karnataka. It is concluded that the voices of indigenous communities needs to be recognised in the management of the park and in terms of tourism development efforts.     

自主研发、技术引进与能源强度——基于中国地区工业的实证分析

本文采用2005-2007年中国30个地区工业面板数据,将地区工业的研发总支出划分为自主研发、国外技术引进和国内技术转移三个部分,在估算自主研发存量和技术引进存量的基础上,实证检验了自主研发、技术引进对地区工业能源消耗强度的影响。研究表明,自主研发、技术引进对地区工业能源强度的影响存在差异：自主研发对工业能源强度有显著负效应;国外技术引进对工业能源强度有显著正效应;国内技术购买对工业能源强度没有显著影响。研究还发现,国内技术购买并没有通过R＆D途径促进地区工业能源强度的下降。