Zaehringer, Julie Gwendolin; Messerli, Peter; Giger, Markus; Kiteme, Boniface; Atumane, Ali; Da Silva, Maya; Rakotoasimbola, Lovasoa; Eckert, Sandra (2021). Large-scale agricultural investments in Eastern Africa: consequences for small-scale farmers and the environment. Ecosystems and people, 17(1), pp. 342-357. Taylor & Francis 10.1080/26395916.2021.1939789
|
Text (Large-scale agricultural investments in Eastern Africa: consequences for small-scale farmers and the environment)
Large_scale_agricultural_investments_in_Eastern_Africa_consequences_for_small_scale_farmers_and_the_environment.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (16MB) | Preview |
Available empirical evidence about the impacts of large-scale agricultural investments (LAIs) in low-income countries is skewed towards the assessment of economic benefits. How LAIs affect land use and the environment is less understood. This study assesses how small-scale farmers living close to an LAI perceive the changes LAI's inflict on land use, land management, and tree cover in Kenya, Mozambique, and Madagascar. It also investigates their perceptions regarding LAI's impacts on the general environment and people's health, as well as on employment opportunities, infrastructure, and conflicts. 271 small-scale farmers were interviewed and their perceptions supported by a remote-sensing-based analysis of land use and land cover changes. Results show that LAIs contributed both directly and indirectly to deforestation in Mozambique, triggered changes in small-scale farmers’ agricultural land management in Kenya, and caused pastoralists to lose access to grazing land in Madagascar. Despite some benefits from employment opportunities and infrastructure improvement, the majority of respondents perceived the overall impacts of LAIs as negative, highlighting reduced access to land and water, pollution, health issues, and unsatisfactory working conditions. We urgently need to invest in devising concrete transformative options to improve LAIs’ contribution to sustainable development in their host countries.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Geographies of Sustainability > Unit Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management (LS-SLM) 08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Geographies of Sustainability 08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography 10 Strategic Research Centers > Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Zähringer, Julie Gwendolin, Messerli, Peter, Giger, Markus, Kiteme, Boniface, Eckert, Sandra |
ISSN: |
2639-5908 |
Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis |
Projects: |
[803] Cluster: Land Resources
[401] African Food and Agriculture |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Melchior Peter Nussbaumer |
Date Deposited: |
05 Jul 2021 08:41 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:51 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1080/26395916.2021.1939789 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/157267 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/157267 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Edit item |