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Dr. Sébastien Boillat
Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Hallerstrasse 12, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland

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0 Agroecology
0 Environmental Justice
0 Land Systems
0 Nature Conservation
0 Political Ecology

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Journal article
Published: 03 June 2021 in Sustainability
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Agroecology has become an ideological foundation for social and environmental transformation in sub-Saharan Africa. In Senegal, agroecological advocacy coalitions, made up of farmers’ organizations, scientists, NGOs, and IOs, are using agroecology as an umbrella concept for proposing policy changes at multiple scales. We describe the history of the agroecological movement in Senegal in the context of the constitution of a national advocacy coalition. We then examine the “repertoires of collective action” mobilized by the coalition. Four repertoires are identified: technical support and knowledge co-production, territorial governance, alternative food networks, and national policy dialogue. Our analysis highlights the potential that these multi-level approaches have to sustainably transform the current food systems in sub-Saharan Africa. However, our research also reveals the limited agency of farmer organizations and the limitations of a movement that is strongly dependent on NGOs and international donors, leading to a “projectorate” situation in which contradictory policy actions can overlap. We further argue that, although the central government has formally welcomed some of the principles of agroecology into their policy discourse, financial and political interests in pursuing a Green Revolution and co-opting agroecology are pending. This leads to a lack of political and financial autonomy for grassroots farmers’ organizations, limiting the development of counter-hegemonic agroecology. We discuss the conditions under which territorial approaches, and the three other repertoires of collective action, can have significant potential to transform Sub-Saharan Africa in the coming years.

ACS Style

Patrick Bottazzi; Sébastien Boillat. Political Agroecology in Senegal: Historicity and Repertoires of Collective Actions of an Emerging Social Movement. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6352 .

AMA Style

Patrick Bottazzi, Sébastien Boillat. Political Agroecology in Senegal: Historicity and Repertoires of Collective Actions of an Emerging Social Movement. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (11):6352.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Patrick Bottazzi; Sébastien Boillat. 2021. "Political Agroecology in Senegal: Historicity and Repertoires of Collective Actions of an Emerging Social Movement." Sustainability 13, no. 11: 6352.

Journal article
Published: 22 June 2020 in Land
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Agroecological farming has long been described as more fulfilling than conventional agriculture, in terms of farmers’ labour and sense of autonomy. These assumptions must be reconsidered with adequate theoretical perspectives and with the empirical experience of recent studies. This paper introduces the concept of channels of labour control in agriculture based on four initiatives in Senegalese agroecological horticulture. We build on Bourdieu’s theory of social fields to elaborate a framework that articulates multiple channels of labour control with the type of capital or surplus values structuring power relations during labour processes. Although each of the four agroecological initiatives place a clear emphasis on improving farmers’ well-being, various top-down channels of labour control exist, maintaining most farmworkers as technical demonstrators rather than agents of transformation. These constraints stem from dependence on foreign funding, enforcement of uncoordinated organic standards, and farmers’ incorporation of cultural values through interplays of knowledge and symbolic power with initiative promotors. Pressure on agricultural workers is exacerbated by the context of the neo-liberalisation of Senegalese agriculture and increasingly difficult climatic conditions. A more holistic approach of agroecological initiatives is needed, including the institutionalisation of protected markets for their products, farmers’ inclusion in agroecosystem governance and inclusiveness in the co-production of agroecological knowledge, taking cultural patterns of local communities into account. Recent attempts to scale-up and politicise agroecology through farmers’ organisations, advocacy NGOs, and municipalities may offer new perspectives for a just agroecological transition in sub-Saharan Africa.

ACS Style

Patrick Bottazzi; Sébastien Boillat; Franziska Marfurt; Sokhna Mbossé Seck. Channels of Labour Control in Organic Farming: Toward a Just Agroecological Transition for Sub-Saharan Africa. Land 2020, 9, 205 .

AMA Style

Patrick Bottazzi, Sébastien Boillat, Franziska Marfurt, Sokhna Mbossé Seck. Channels of Labour Control in Organic Farming: Toward a Just Agroecological Transition for Sub-Saharan Africa. Land. 2020; 9 (6):205.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Patrick Bottazzi; Sébastien Boillat; Franziska Marfurt; Sokhna Mbossé Seck. 2020. "Channels of Labour Control in Organic Farming: Toward a Just Agroecological Transition for Sub-Saharan Africa." Land 9, no. 6: 205.

Articles
Published: 07 May 2020 in International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology
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In semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa, farming populations face harsh climatic conditions but also very unequal and dynamic social processes that affect their resilience. This study addresses aspects of power and social justice related to the social-ecological system of the Niayes coastal region of Senegal and examines the potential of agroecology to improve the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers. We performed a knowledge co-production process with a local farmer union to identify the main social-ecological nexuses that matter for smallholder farmers, their dynamics and the influence of powerful actors and institutions on them. We also look at the potential actions of the farmer union under the banner of agroecology to transform these dynamics. We found that social-ecological dynamics involve reinforcing feedback loops that undermine the resilience of smallholder farmers and that powerful actors such as agribusinesses have a strong influence on these processes. Union actions promoting agroecology have enhanced system thinking and related solutions, but observed social justice claims are very recent and have a limited scope. Our findings expand the notion of resilience grabbing, understood as the undermining of resilience through the loss of commons, to include systemic degradations due to direct and indirect actions of involved stakeholders. We also propose to expand the notion of resilience justice vertically, integrating procedural and recognition justice, and horizontally, integrating linked social-ecological issues. We conclude that agroecology can become a transformative bridge from resilience grabbing to resilience justice, but must be more sensitive to power relations, in particular around labour.

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Patrick Bottazzi. Agroecology as a pathway to resilience justice: peasant movements and collective action in the Niayes coastal region of Senegal. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 2020, 27, 662 -677.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Patrick Bottazzi. Agroecology as a pathway to resilience justice: peasant movements and collective action in the Niayes coastal region of Senegal. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology. 2020; 27 (7):662-677.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Patrick Bottazzi. 2020. "Agroecology as a pathway to resilience justice: peasant movements and collective action in the Niayes coastal region of Senegal." International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 27, no. 7: 662-677.

Comments
Published: 02 January 2020 in Journal of Land Use Science
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Engaging with normative questions in land system science is a key challenge. This debate paper highlights the potential of incorporating elements of environmental justice scholarship into the evolving telecoupling framework that focuses on distant interactions in land systems. We first expose the reasons why environmental justice matters in understanding telecoupled systems, and the relevant approaches suited to mainstream environmental justice into telecoupled contexts. We then explore which specific elements of environmental justice need to be incorporated into telecoupling research. We focus on 1) the distribution of social-ecological burdens and benefits across distances, 2) power and justice issues in governing distantly tied systems, and 3) recognition issues in information flows, framings and discourses across distances. We conclude our paper highlighting key mechanisms to address injustices in telecoupled land systems.

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Adrian Martin; Timothy Adams; Desiree Daniel; Jorge Llopis; Elena Zepharovich; Christoph Oberlack; Gabi Sonderegger; Patrick Bottazzi; Esteve Corbera; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Unai Pascual. Why telecoupling research needs to account for environmental justice. Journal of Land Use Science 2020, 15, 1 -10.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Adrian Martin, Timothy Adams, Desiree Daniel, Jorge Llopis, Elena Zepharovich, Christoph Oberlack, Gabi Sonderegger, Patrick Bottazzi, Esteve Corbera, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Unai Pascual. Why telecoupling research needs to account for environmental justice. Journal of Land Use Science. 2020; 15 (1):1-10.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Adrian Martin; Timothy Adams; Desiree Daniel; Jorge Llopis; Elena Zepharovich; Christoph Oberlack; Gabi Sonderegger; Patrick Bottazzi; Esteve Corbera; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Unai Pascual. 2020. "Why telecoupling research needs to account for environmental justice." Journal of Land Use Science 15, no. 1: 1-10.

Book chapter
Published: 01 January 2020 in The Elgar Companion to Geography, Transdisciplinarity and Sustainability
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This chapter explores the concept of place interpreted from ecological knowledge and religious practices of rural indigenous people found from southern Peru to Bolivia and northern Chile and Argentina. Based on literature from this area as well as on field observations from Bolivia, I highlight the evidence of a culturally specific, widely shared and persistent concept of place. Such concept simultaneously considers the place as a living, social being with agency and as the target of ritual offerings, and as a spatial container of ecological knowledge, and individual and collective memory. This apparently dual conceptualization and practical use challenges the division of the profane and the sacred, the common and the proper and the living and the non-living and has profound implications for thinking and building sustainability from a transdisciplinary perspective. It nevertheless also represents an opportunity to re-think ecosystems from a physically and ontically open perspective. To enable this new perspective, ontological options underpinning different forms of ecological knowledge have to be made explicit and correctly interpreted.

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat. Decolonizing ecological knowledge: transdisciplinary ecology, place making and cognitive justice in the Andes. The Elgar Companion to Geography, Transdisciplinarity and Sustainability 2020, 307 -319.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat. Decolonizing ecological knowledge: transdisciplinary ecology, place making and cognitive justice in the Andes. The Elgar Companion to Geography, Transdisciplinarity and Sustainability. 2020; ():307-319.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat. 2020. "Decolonizing ecological knowledge: transdisciplinary ecology, place making and cognitive justice in the Andes." The Elgar Companion to Geography, Transdisciplinarity and Sustainability , no. : 307-319.

Fora
Published: 25 November 2019 in Geopolitics
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The conservation enterprise is embedded in ideas of the environment through which it promotes a vision of the world and the relations between the non-human and human. The papers in this forum analyse conservation from various vantage points to draw the links between geopolitics and conservation. The authors use three themes to demonstrate these links. The first theme draws on the concept of environmentality to show the mobilization of ecological rationalities and power towards the creation of protected areas. The second pays attention to networks formed across the distance, and how they influence the location and governance of protected areas. The third focuses on the strategies the conservation lobby uses to align local identities with global conservation ideals and goals. Collectively, these themes highlight features of conservation geopolitics.

ACS Style

Maano Ramutsindela; Sylvain Guyot; Sébastien Boillat; Frédéric Giraut; Patrick Bottazzi. The Geopolitics of Protected Areas. Geopolitics 2019, 25, 240 -266.

AMA Style

Maano Ramutsindela, Sylvain Guyot, Sébastien Boillat, Frédéric Giraut, Patrick Bottazzi. The Geopolitics of Protected Areas. Geopolitics. 2019; 25 (1):240-266.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maano Ramutsindela; Sylvain Guyot; Sébastien Boillat; Frédéric Giraut; Patrick Bottazzi. 2019. "The Geopolitics of Protected Areas." Geopolitics 25, no. 1: 240-266.

Accepted manuscript
Published: 18 September 2019 in Environmental Research Letters
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Reduced tillage, permanent ground cover and crop diversification are the three core pillars of Conservation Agriculture (CA). We assess and compare on-farm effects of different practices related to the three pillars of CA on maize yields under ENSO-driven rainfall variability in Kenya and Malawi. Reduced tillage practices increased yields per hectare by 250 kg on average in Malawi under below-average rainfall conditions and by 700 kg in Kenya under above-average rainfall, but did not have any significant effect on yields under below-average rainfall conditions in Kenya. Ground cover had a positive impact on yields in Malawi (dry conditions) but not in Kenya (both dry and wet conditions), where mixed crop and livestock systems limited this practice. Crop diversification had positive impacts in Kenya (both dry and wet conditions), where maize-legume crop rotation is practiced, but not in Malawi where landholdings are too small to allow rotation. Our findings suggest that isolated CA techniques can have positive effects on yields even after only a few years of practice under variable rainfall conditions. This strengthens empirical evidence supporting the value of CA in resilience building of agricultural systems, and suggests that both full and partial adoption of CA practices should be supported in areas where climate change is leading to more variable rainfall conditions.

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Eleanor K K Jew; Peter R. Steward; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Stephen Whitfield; David Mkwambisi; Boniface Kiteme; Grace Wambugu; Oliver J Burdekin; Andrew J Dougill. Can smallholder farmers buffer rainfall variability through conservation agriculture? On-farm practices and maize yields in Kenya and Malawi. Environmental Research Letters 2019, 14, 115007 .

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Eleanor K K Jew, Peter R. Steward, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Stephen Whitfield, David Mkwambisi, Boniface Kiteme, Grace Wambugu, Oliver J Burdekin, Andrew J Dougill. Can smallholder farmers buffer rainfall variability through conservation agriculture? On-farm practices and maize yields in Kenya and Malawi. Environmental Research Letters. 2019; 14 (11):115007.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Eleanor K K Jew; Peter R. Steward; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Stephen Whitfield; David Mkwambisi; Boniface Kiteme; Grace Wambugu; Oliver J Burdekin; Andrew J Dougill. 2019. "Can smallholder farmers buffer rainfall variability through conservation agriculture? On-farm practices and maize yields in Kenya and Malawi." Environmental Research Letters 14, no. 11: 115007.

Journal article
Published: 16 January 2019 in Environmental Science & Policy
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This paper examines the operability of the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) concept in a developing country context illustrated with the case of Nigeria, a country highly ranked as undergoing biomass degradation. While LDN offers an approach to monitor land degradation, through net-gain in land cover, land productivity and soil organic carbon, its operationalisation poses methodological, implementation and governance challenges. Based on a review of literature, available spatial datasets and the analysis of national policies, we examine the dynamics of land degradation and the prospects of LDN in Nigeria. We identify land pollution and gully erosion as further relevant indicators for LDN in the Nigerian context. We found that current institutional arrangements are largely unconducive and incoherent for operationalising LDN. Despite Nigeria’s international commitments, current national policies with relevance to LDN are vague and fragmented, based on several old laws, and have important gaps for monitoring due to inadequate data, skills and expertise, inadequate coordination, and the lack of national LDN baselines. The limited power of the national environmental agency and the lack of political will to change this situation compound the challenges. However, two promising entry points for operationalising LDN include incentivising and monitoring Sustainable Land Management practices (SLM) of local resource users according to agro-ecological zones, and mainstreaming SLM into initiatives in its agriculture and environment sectors. These insights can inform the operationalisation of LDN in other African countries.

ACS Style

Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Ademola Adenle; Sébastien Boillat. Land Degradation Neutrality - Potentials for its operationalisation at multi-levels in Nigeria. Environmental Science & Policy 2019, 94, 63 -71.

AMA Style

Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Ademola Adenle, Sébastien Boillat. Land Degradation Neutrality - Potentials for its operationalisation at multi-levels in Nigeria. Environmental Science & Policy. 2019; 94 ():63-71.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Ademola Adenle; Sébastien Boillat. 2019. "Land Degradation Neutrality - Potentials for its operationalisation at multi-levels in Nigeria." Environmental Science & Policy 94, no. : 63-71.

Journal article
Published: 30 October 2018 in Sustainability
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Equity has become a major concern in efforts to conserve nature. However, in the Global South, inequitable social impacts of conservation usually prevail. We investigate barriers to equitable governance of four protected areas through an innovative approach linking the tri-dimensional framing of environmental justice with the notion of telecoupling. We conceptualize the creation, support, and implementation of protected areas as telecoupling processes that involve flows, actors, and action situations, and assess them based on a set of indicators of procedural justice, distributive justice, and recognition. We perform the analysis for parallel or competing telecoupling processes that affect the areas and we then investigate the scope and reach of resistance actions to attain more equitable outcomes. Identified barriers include dependence of the PAs on transnational financial flows, presence of competing extractive demands, negative narratives on local practices, wilderness and Malthusian framings, authoritarian rule, narrow development options, and socio-cultural discrimination. These combined barriers create multiple forms of exclusion. Resistance actions are likely to succeed when actors can mobilize alliances and resources across distance. We conclude that justice framings can make power relationships in telecouplings more visible, and that considering distant interactions can elucidate causes of (in)equity in conservation.

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Jean-David Gerber; Christoph Oberlack; Julie Zaehringer; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Stephan Rist. Distant Interactions, Power, and Environmental Justice in Protected Area Governance: A Telecoupling Perspective. Sustainability 2018, 10, 3954 .

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Jean-David Gerber, Christoph Oberlack, Julie Zaehringer, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Stephan Rist. Distant Interactions, Power, and Environmental Justice in Protected Area Governance: A Telecoupling Perspective. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (11):3954.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Jean-David Gerber; Christoph Oberlack; Julie Zaehringer; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Stephan Rist. 2018. "Distant Interactions, Power, and Environmental Justice in Protected Area Governance: A Telecoupling Perspective." Sustainability 10, no. 11: 3954.

Journal article
Published: 22 June 2018 in Sustainability
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In the last decade, sub-Saharan African countries have taken various measures to plan for and adapt to floods in order to reduce exposure and its impacts on human health, livelihoods, and infrastructure. Measuring the effects of such initiatives on social resilience is challenging as it requires to combine multiple variables and indicators that embrace thematic, spatial, and temporal dimensions inherent to the resilience thinking and concept. In this research, we apply a subjective resilience indicator framework and a before-after-control-intervention (BACI) evaluation to empirically measure the impacts of the “Live with Water” (LWW) project on suburban households in Dakar, Senegal. Our framework is based on an empirically measurable resilience index that combines anticipatory, adaptive, and absorptive capacity—considered as structural dimensions—with the concept of transformative capacity—considered as a temporal reconfiguration of the first three dimensions. Our finding let us estimate that the project increased the absorptive and the anticipatory capacities by 10.6% and 4.6%, respectively. However, adaptive capacity remained unchanged. This may be explained by the fact that the project was more successful in building drainage and physical infrastructures, rather than improving multi-level organizations and strategies to cope with existing flood events. Decoupling implementation time between physical infrastructures and longer term institutional and livelihood based support could both improve projects’ results and their evaluations.

ACS Style

Patrick Bottazzi; Mirko Winkler; Sébastien Boillat; Abdoulaye Diagne; Mashoudou Maman Chabi Sika; Arsène Kpangon; Salimata Faye; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza. Measuring Subjective Flood Resilience in Suburban Dakar: A Before–After Evaluation of the “Live with Water” Project. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2135 .

AMA Style

Patrick Bottazzi, Mirko Winkler, Sébastien Boillat, Abdoulaye Diagne, Mashoudou Maman Chabi Sika, Arsène Kpangon, Salimata Faye, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza. Measuring Subjective Flood Resilience in Suburban Dakar: A Before–After Evaluation of the “Live with Water” Project. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (7):2135.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Patrick Bottazzi; Mirko Winkler; Sébastien Boillat; Abdoulaye Diagne; Mashoudou Maman Chabi Sika; Arsène Kpangon; Salimata Faye; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza. 2018. "Measuring Subjective Flood Resilience in Suburban Dakar: A Before–After Evaluation of the “Live with Water” Project." Sustainability 10, no. 7: 2135.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2018 in Ecology and Society
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Oberlack, C., S. Boillat, S. Brönnimann, J.-D. Gerber, A. Heinimann, C. Ifejika Speranza, P. Messerli, S. Rist, and U. Wiesmann. 2018. Polycentric governance in telecoupled resource systems. Ecology and Society 23(1):16. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09902-230116

ACS Style

Christoph Oberlack; Sébastien Boillat; Stefan Brönnimann; Jean-David Gerber; Andreas Heinimann; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Peter Messerli; Stephan Rist; Urs Wiesmann. Polycentric governance in telecoupled resource systems. Ecology and Society 2018, 23, 1 .

AMA Style

Christoph Oberlack, Sébastien Boillat, Stefan Brönnimann, Jean-David Gerber, Andreas Heinimann, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Peter Messerli, Stephan Rist, Urs Wiesmann. Polycentric governance in telecoupled resource systems. Ecology and Society. 2018; 23 (1):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Christoph Oberlack; Sébastien Boillat; Stefan Brönnimann; Jean-David Gerber; Andreas Heinimann; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Peter Messerli; Stephan Rist; Urs Wiesmann. 2018. "Polycentric governance in telecoupled resource systems." Ecology and Society 23, no. 1: 1.

Journal article
Published: 01 June 2017 in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
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ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Fabiano M Scarpa; James P Robson; Nestor Ignacio Gasparri; T Mitchell Aide; Ana Paula Aguiar; Liana O Anderson; Mateus Batistella; Marisa Fonseca; Célia Futemma; H Ricardo Grau; Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel; Jean Paul Metzger; Jean Ometto; Marcos Antonio Pedlowski; Stephen G Perz; Valentina Robiglio; Luciana Soler; Ima Vieira; Eduardo S Brondizio. Land system science in Latin America: challenges and perspectives. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 2017, 26-27, 37 -46.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Fabiano M Scarpa, James P Robson, Nestor Ignacio Gasparri, T Mitchell Aide, Ana Paula Aguiar, Liana O Anderson, Mateus Batistella, Marisa Fonseca, Célia Futemma, H Ricardo Grau, Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel, Jean Paul Metzger, Jean Ometto, Marcos Antonio Pedlowski, Stephen G Perz, Valentina Robiglio, Luciana Soler, Ima Vieira, Eduardo S Brondizio. Land system science in Latin America: challenges and perspectives. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 2017; 26-27 ():37-46.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Fabiano M Scarpa; James P Robson; Nestor Ignacio Gasparri; T Mitchell Aide; Ana Paula Aguiar; Liana O Anderson; Mateus Batistella; Marisa Fonseca; Célia Futemma; H Ricardo Grau; Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel; Jean Paul Metzger; Jean Ometto; Marcos Antonio Pedlowski; Stephen G Perz; Valentina Robiglio; Luciana Soler; Ima Vieira; Eduardo S Brondizio. 2017. "Land system science in Latin America: challenges and perspectives." Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 26-27, no. : 37-46.

Journal article
Published: 12 June 2015 in Environments
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This study explores the relationships between forest cover change and the village resettlement and land planning policies implemented in Laos, which have led to the relocation of remote and dispersed populations into clustered villages with easier access to state services and market facilities. We used the Global Forest Cover Change (2000–2012) and the most recent Lao Agricultural Census (2011) datasets to assess forest cover change in resettled and non-resettled villages throughout the country. We also reviewed a set of six case studies and performed an original case study in two villages of Luang Prabang province with 55 households, inquiring about relocation, land losses and intensification options. Our results show that resettled villages have greater baseline forest cover and total forest loss than most villages in Laos but not significant forest loss relative to that baseline. Resettled villages are consistently associated with forested areas, minority groups, and intermediate accessibility. The case studies highlight that resettlement coupled with land use planning does not necessarily lead to the abandonment of shifting cultivation or affect forest loss but lead to a re-spatialization of land use. This includes clustering of forest clearings, which might lead to fallow shortening and land degradation while limited intensification options exist in the resettled villages. This study provides a contribution to studying relationships between migration, forest cover change, livelihood strategies, land governance and agricultural practices in tropical forest environments.

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Corinna Stich; Joan Bastide; Michael Epprecht; Sithong Thongmanivong; Andreas Heinimann. Do Relocated Villages Experience More Forest Cover Change? Resettlements, Shifting Cultivation and Forests in the Lao PDR. Environments 2015, 2, 250 -279.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Corinna Stich, Joan Bastide, Michael Epprecht, Sithong Thongmanivong, Andreas Heinimann. Do Relocated Villages Experience More Forest Cover Change? Resettlements, Shifting Cultivation and Forests in the Lao PDR. Environments. 2015; 2 (4):250-279.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Corinna Stich; Joan Bastide; Michael Epprecht; Sithong Thongmanivong; Andreas Heinimann. 2015. "Do Relocated Villages Experience More Forest Cover Change? Resettlements, Shifting Cultivation and Forests in the Lao PDR." Environments 2, no. 4: 250-279.

Journal article
Published: 20 January 2015 in Land
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The aim of this paper is to explore possible links between forest cover change and characteristics of social-ecological systems at sub-national scale based mainly on census data. We assessed relationships between population density, poverty, ethnicity, accessibility and forest cover change during the last decade for four regions of Bolivia and the Lao PDR, combining a parcel-based with a cell-based approach. We found that accessibility is a key driver of forest cover change, yet it has the effect of intensifying other economic and policy-related underlying drivers, like colonization policies, cash crop demand, but also policies that lead to forest gain in one case. Poverty does not appear as a driver of deforestation, but the co-occurrence of poverty and forest loss driven by external investments appears critical in terms of social-ecological development. Ethnicity was found to be a moderate explanatory of forest cover change, but appears as a cluster of converging socio-economic characteristics related with settlement history and land resource access. The identification of such clusters can help ordering communities into a typology of social-ecological systems, and discussing their possible outcomes in light of a critical view on forest transition theory, as well as the relevance and predictive power of the variables assessed. Résumé: L’objectif de cet article est d’explorer les liens entre le changement de la couverture forestière et les caractéristiques des systèmes socio-écologiques à l’échelle nationale, principalement à l’aide de données de recensement. Nous avons évalué les relations entre la densité de population, la pauvreté, l’ethnicité, l’accessibilité et le changement de la couverture forestière pendant la dernière décennie pour quatre régions de Bolivie et du Laos, en combinant des approches par parcelles et par cellules. Nous avons constaté que l’accessibilité est un facteur clé du changement de la couverture forestière, tandis qu’elle a pour effet d'intensifier d'autres facteurs économiques et politiques sous-jacents, comme les politiques de colonisation, la demande de cultures de rente, mais aussi, dans un cas, des politiques conduisant à un accroissement de la forêt. La pauvreté n’apparait pas comme un facteur de déforestation, mais la co-occurrence de la pauvreté et de la perte de forêt entrainée par les investissements extérieurs semble critique en termes de développement socio-écologique. L'ethnicité se révèle être modérément explicative du changement de la couverture forestière, mais elle apparait comme un ensemble de caractéristiques socio-économiques convergentes liées à l'histoire de l’implantation humaine et à l'accès aux ressources foncières. L'identification de tels ensembles peut aider à classer les communautés selon une typologie des systèmes socio-écologiques, et à discuter leurs possibles impacts sur la forêt avec un point de vue...

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Hy Dao; Patrick Bottazzi; Yuri Sandoval; Abraham Luna; Sithong Thongmanivong; Louca Lerch; Joan Bastide; Andreas Heinimann; Frédéric Giraut. Integrating Forest Cover Change with Census Data: Drivers and Contexts from Bolivia and the Lao PDR. Land 2015, 4, 45 -82.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Hy Dao, Patrick Bottazzi, Yuri Sandoval, Abraham Luna, Sithong Thongmanivong, Louca Lerch, Joan Bastide, Andreas Heinimann, Frédéric Giraut. Integrating Forest Cover Change with Census Data: Drivers and Contexts from Bolivia and the Lao PDR. Land. 2015; 4 (1):45-82.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Hy Dao; Patrick Bottazzi; Yuri Sandoval; Abraham Luna; Sithong Thongmanivong; Louca Lerch; Joan Bastide; Andreas Heinimann; Frédéric Giraut. 2015. "Integrating Forest Cover Change with Census Data: Drivers and Contexts from Bolivia and the Lao PDR." Land 4, no. 1: 45-82.

Journal article
Published: 22 October 2013 in Ethnobiology and Conservation
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ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel; Stephan Rist. Linking local knowledge, conservation practices and ecosystem diversity: comparing two communities in the Tunari National Park (Bolivia). Ethnobiology and Conservation 2013, 2, 1 .

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel, Stephan Rist. Linking local knowledge, conservation practices and ecosystem diversity: comparing two communities in the Tunari National Park (Bolivia). Ethnobiology and Conservation. 2013; 2 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel; Stephan Rist. 2013. "Linking local knowledge, conservation practices and ecosystem diversity: comparing two communities in the Tunari National Park (Bolivia)." Ethnobiology and Conservation 2, no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2013 in Ecology and Society
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Boillat, S., and F. Berkes. 2013. Perception and interpretation of climate change among Quechua farmers of Bolivia: indigenous knowledge as a resource for adaptive capacity. Ecology and Society 18(4): 21.http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05894-180421

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Fikret Berkes. Perception and Interpretation of Climate Change among Quechua Farmers of Bolivia: Indigenous Knowledge as a Resource for Adaptive Capacity. Ecology and Society 2013, 18, 1 .

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Fikret Berkes. Perception and Interpretation of Climate Change among Quechua Farmers of Bolivia: Indigenous Knowledge as a Resource for Adaptive Capacity. Ecology and Society. 2013; 18 (4):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Fikret Berkes. 2013. "Perception and Interpretation of Climate Change among Quechua Farmers of Bolivia: Indigenous Knowledge as a Resource for Adaptive Capacity." Ecology and Society 18, no. 4: 1.

Journal article
Published: 13 November 2012 in Environmental Management
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This paper aims to deepen the search for ecosystem-like concepts in indigenous societies by highlighting the importance of place names used by Quechua indigenous farmers from the central Bolivian Andes. Villagers from two communities in the Tunari Mountain Range were asked to list, describe, map and categorize the places they knew on their community’s territory. Results show that place names capture spatially explicit units which integrate biotic and abiotic nature and humans, and that there is an emphasis on topographic terms, highlighting the importance of geodiversity. Farmers’ perspectives differ from the classical view of ecosystems because they ‘humanize’ places, considering them as living beings with agency. Consequently, they do not make a distinction between natural and cultural heritage. Their perspective of the environment is that of a personalized, dynamic relationship with the elements of the natural world that are perceived as living entities. A practical implication of the findings for sustainable development is that since places names make the links between people and the elements of the landscape, toponymy is a tool for ecosystem management rooted in indigenous knowledge. Because place names refer to holistic units linked with people’s experience and spatially explicit, they can be used as an entry point to implement an intercultural dialogue for more sustainable land management

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; Elvira Serrano; Stephan Rist; Fikret Berkes. The Importance of Place Names in the Search for Ecosystem-Like Concepts in Indigenous Societies: An Example from the Bolivian Andes. Environmental Management 2012, 51, 663 -678.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Elvira Serrano, Stephan Rist, Fikret Berkes. The Importance of Place Names in the Search for Ecosystem-Like Concepts in Indigenous Societies: An Example from the Bolivian Andes. Environmental Management. 2012; 51 (3):663-678.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Elvira Serrano; Stephan Rist; Fikret Berkes. 2012. "The Importance of Place Names in the Search for Ecosystem-Like Concepts in Indigenous Societies: An Example from the Bolivian Andes." Environmental Management 51, no. 3: 663-678.

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Published: 01 August 2012 in Futures
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Sébastien Boillat; Julien-François Gerber; Fernando R. Funes-Monzote. What economic democracy for degrowth? Some comments on the contribution of socialist models and Cuban agroecology. Futures 2012, 44, 600 -607.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, Julien-François Gerber, Fernando R. Funes-Monzote. What economic democracy for degrowth? Some comments on the contribution of socialist models and Cuban agroecology. Futures. 2012; 44 (6):600-607.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; Julien-François Gerber; Fernando R. Funes-Monzote. 2012. "What economic democracy for degrowth? Some comments on the contribution of socialist models and Cuban agroecology." Futures 44, no. 6: 600-607.

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Published: 01 May 2010 in Science and Public Policy
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Co-production of knowledge between academic and non-academic communities is a prerequisite for research aiming at more sustainable development paths. Sustainability researchers face three challenges in such co-production: (a) addressing power relations; (b) interrelating different perspectives on the issues at stake; and (c) promoting a previously negotiated orientation towards sustainable development. A systematic comparison of four sustainability research projects in Kenya (vulnerability to drought), Switzerland (soil protection), Bolivia and Nepal (conservation vs. development) shows how the researchers intuitively adopted three different roles to face these challenges: the roles of reflective scientist, intermediary, and facilitator of a joint learning process. From this systematized and iterative self-reflection on the roles that a researcher can assume in the indeterminate social space where knowledge is co-produced, we draw conclusions regarding training

ACS Style

Christian Pohl; Stephan Rist; Anne Zimmermann; Patricia Fry; Ghana S Gurung; Flurina Schneider; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Boniface Kiteme; Sébastien Boillat; Elvira Serrano; Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn; Urs Wiesmann. Researchers' roles in knowledge co-production: experience from sustainability research in Kenya, Switzerland, Bolivia and Nepal. Science and Public Policy 2010, 37, 267 -281.

AMA Style

Christian Pohl, Stephan Rist, Anne Zimmermann, Patricia Fry, Ghana S Gurung, Flurina Schneider, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Boniface Kiteme, Sébastien Boillat, Elvira Serrano, Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn, Urs Wiesmann. Researchers' roles in knowledge co-production: experience from sustainability research in Kenya, Switzerland, Bolivia and Nepal. Science and Public Policy. 2010; 37 (4):267-281.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Christian Pohl; Stephan Rist; Anne Zimmermann; Patricia Fry; Ghana S Gurung; Flurina Schneider; Chinwe Ifejika Speranza; Boniface Kiteme; Sébastien Boillat; Elvira Serrano; Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn; Urs Wiesmann. 2010. "Researchers' roles in knowledge co-production: experience from sustainability research in Kenya, Switzerland, Bolivia and Nepal." Science and Public Policy 37, no. 4: 267-281.

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Published: 30 June 2004 in Geographica Helvetica
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La présente étude met en relation l'état écologique des cultures en terrasses de la moyenne Vallée de la Roya avec les valeurs socioculturelles qui y sont liées. Quatorze types de végétation ont été identifiés et ordonnés dans un modèle de succession. Les terrasses encore entretenues sont des oliveraies ou des prairies sèches. A l'arrêt de la fauche, une prairie è Brachypodium pinnatum s'installe, suivie par un stade arbustif qui évolue ensuite en forêt. Les proportions de surface des differénts types de végétation montrent que les zones plus peuplées et mieux accessibles possèdent la plus grande surface de terrasses entretenues. Un sondage parmi 21 habitants a permis de cerner leur prise de position face à l'abandon des terres. ainsi que leur vision d'avenir pour la vallée. Le spectre des opinions va de celle des néo-ruraux. qui consideèrent le renouveau de l'agriculture traditionnelle comme un moteur de développement, à celle de villageois autochtones qui voient dans le développement de l'industrie et du tourisme les seules perspectives réalistes d'avenir. A partir de ces résultats, quatre scénarios sur l'avenir de la vallée et ses conséquences sur l'entretien des terrasses ont été élaborés et discutés.

ACS Style

Sébastien Boillat; C. A. Burga; A. Gigon; Norman Backhaus. La succession végétale sur les cultures en terrasses de la Vallée de la Roya (Alpes-Maritimes, France) et sa perception par la population locale. Geographica Helvetica 2004, 59, 154 -167.

AMA Style

Sébastien Boillat, C. A. Burga, A. Gigon, Norman Backhaus. La succession végétale sur les cultures en terrasses de la Vallée de la Roya (Alpes-Maritimes, France) et sa perception par la population locale. Geographica Helvetica. 2004; 59 (2):154-167.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sébastien Boillat; C. A. Burga; A. Gigon; Norman Backhaus. 2004. "La succession végétale sur les cultures en terrasses de la Vallée de la Roya (Alpes-Maritimes, France) et sa perception par la population locale." Geographica Helvetica 59, no. 2: 154-167.