|
Sustainability
Indicators for Farming-based Livelihood Systems
(David Howlett: University of Bradford) 24 July 2000
|
 |
We
are developing a set of indicators for farming-based |
| |
livelihood systems in east and southern Africa. This is under a DFID supported
research project 'The Effects of Policy on Natural Resource Management and
Investment by Farmers and Rural Households in East and Southern Africa'.
The main aim of the project is to develop a set of indicators of the
sustainability of farming-based livelihood systems which can be used to assess
or monitor the impact of policy and institutional change on these systems. We
have now produced two set of indicators:
- The first is
an "external" set of sustainability indicators identified by the
research teams based on the literature and country studies.
- The second is
an "internal" set of indicators of success identified by local
stakeholders.
From these local
and external sets of indicators we have produced a combined set of indicators
which we are testing in the field in Uganda and South Africa. In identifying
the local indicators we have developed a participatory methodology for the
assessment of asset status based on the five capitals of the sustainable
livelihood framework. We believe this may be useful to others working in
sustainable livelihoods. For more details see our web site.
In the research we have made a distinction between the success and
sustainability of systems. What is considered to be a "successful"
farming based systems may, or may not be considered to be sustainable.
Different stakeholders in any given context are likely to give different
answers to whether a system is successful and/or sustainable. Key questions we
are attempting to answer are:
- What criteria
are used to determine the success of systems, by whom, and for what
purpose?
- How do these
criteria of success compare to criteria of sustainability? The two may or may
not be the same.
- How can a set
of sustainability indicators be developed which are both useful to policy
makers and relevant to, and representative of, farmers' realities and
concerns?
This is a
collaborative research project implemented by Agricultural and Rural
Development Research Institute, University of Fort Hare, Eastern Cape, South
Africa, the Development and Project Planning Centre, University of Bradford,
the Economic Policy Research Centre, Uganda, the Institute for Development
Policy and Management and the Centre for Agricultural, Food and Resource
Economics University of Manchester.
For more details on the research and the development of these indicators there
is a series of project working papers which are downloaded at our project web
site:
http://les.man.ac.uk/jump/indicators.html
or
http://les.man.ac.uk/ses/research/CAFRE/indicators/home1.htm
Titles in the working paper series to date include:
- A Review of
Indicators of Agricultural and Rural Livelihood Sustainability.
- A Framework
for Research on Sustainability Indicators for Agriculture and Rural
Livelihoods.
- Natural
Resource Management and Policy in Uganda: Overview Paper.
- Natural
Resource Management and Policy in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa: Overview
Paper.
- Stakeholder
Analysis and Local Identification of Indicators of the Success and
Sustainability of Farming Based Livelihood Systems in east and southern
Africa.
We would welcome
comments on these papers and to exchange ideas on the development of indicators
relating to sustainable livelihoods with others. Please contact one of us
(David Howlett or Phil Woodhouse)
For more details on the project and these papers contact the project
co-ordinators:
- David Howlett
-tel. +44 1274 235286, email d.howlett@brad.ac.uk;
- Phil Woodhouse
- tel. +44 161 275 2801, email phil.woodhouse@man.ac.uk .
David Howlett
(University of Bradford) |
|
|
|
