Participatory Rural Appraisal as Qualitative Research: Distinguishing Methodological Issues from Participatory Claims

Campbell, John R.

doi:10.17730/humo.60.4.4bgnlmy60fkvq4r2

Cited by 70 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The methods we used include processing of time series of remotesensing data as well as collection and analysis of social science data, mostly adapted from the pool of participatory research methods (Chambers 1981, 1994, Campbell 2001. The former is explained in detail in .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

People and pixels in the Sahel: a study linking coarse-resolution remote sensing observations to land users' perceptions of their changing environment in Senegal

Herrmann¹,

Sall²,

Sy³

2014

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Mounting evidence from satellite observations of a re-greening across much of the Sahel and Sudan zones over the past three decades has raised questions about the extent and reversibility of desertification. Historical ground data that could help in interpreting the re-greening are scarce. To fill that void, we tapped into the collective memories of local land users from central and western Senegal in 39 focus groups and assessed the spatial association between their perceptions of vegetation changes over time and remote sensing-derived trends. To provide context to the vegetation changes, we also explored the land users' perspective on the evolution of other environmental and human variables that are potentially related to the greening, using participatory research methods. While increases in vegetation were confirmed by the study participants for certain areas, which spatially corresponded to satellite-observed re-greening, vegetation degradation dominated their perceptions of change. This degradation, although spatially extensive according to land users, flies under the radar of coarse-resolution remote sensing data because it is not necessarily associated with a decrease in biomass but rather with undesired changes in species composition. Few significant differences were found in the perceived trends of population pressure, environmental, and livelihood variables between communities that have greened up according to satellite data and those that have not. Our findings challenge the prevailing chain of assumptions of the satellite-observed greening trend indicating an improvement of environmental conditions in the sense of a rehabilitation of the vegetation cover after the great droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, and the improvement of environmental conditions possibly translating into more stable livelihoods and greater well-being of the populations. For monitoring desertification and rehabilitation, there is a need to develop remote sensing-based indicators that better reflect the changes in the biophysical environment that matter most to the land users.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

People and pixels in the Sahel: a study linking coarse-resolution remote sensing observations to land users' perceptions of their changing environment in Senegal

Herrmann¹,

Sall²,

Sy³

2014

E&S

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“…Biodiversity measures come into the balancing process of MCA in PRA, and it is appropriate that they do so in the local social context. However, Campbell (2001) posed some questions about the validity of the PRA methodology. Finally, Participatory Action Research (PAR) is an approach for conducting research within society, based on post-modernist theories of sociology and anthropology.…”

Section: Indicator Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Indicators for biodiversity of tropical forests: problems and solutions.

Rennolls¹,

Reynolds²,

Thomson³

et al. 2007

Sustainable Forestry: From Monitoring and Modelling to Knowledge Management and Policy Science

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Climate change has been with us for several decades. Some tropical forest tree species will be unable to disperse and will become extinct. Hence biodiversity loss is inevitable, and strict sustainable forest management (SFM) is not possible in tropical forests. Some of the main international definitions of SFM consider joint optimization of a mix of competing criteria and indicators (C&I), and hence can only lead to compromise solutions in which further loss of biodiversity resources is inevitable. The complexity and diversity of tropical forest tree species means that any assessment of the state of a tropical forest is very uncertain, and almost impossible to achieve through routine costlimited inventories. The adequacy of some current International C&I monitoring approaches are evaluated specifically in relation to the diversity of tropical forest tree species, and they are found to be inadequate for this purpose. The main weaknesses lie in the partial adoption of an inappropriate indicator methodology, and insufficient consideration of uncertainty issues. It is suggested that the ecosystem approach of the Convention on Biological Diversity enacted within a modern modelling, statistical, and scientific framework would enable understanding of the basic change process, and possibly aid in limiting losses of tropical biodiversity at a global scale.

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“…Forerunners to these approaches were the forebears of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), a method which later evolved into the more democratic Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach, described by Chambers (1994: 953) as "a growing body of approaches and methods [used] to enable local people to share, enhance, and analyze their knowledge of life and conditions, to plan and to act. " RRA and PRA were developed through the merging of several research approaches and techniques, such as participatory action research, agroecosystem analysis, applied anthropology and farming systems research (Campbell 2001). The increasing interest in participatory approaches within national and international environmental systems has been linked to the limited outreach of conventional, station-based research approaches in more difficult environments.…”

Section: Governing Livelihoodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental livelihood security in Southeast Asia and Oceania: a water-energy-food-livelihoods nexus approach for spatially assessing change. White paper

Biggs

Boruff²,

Bruce

et al. 2014

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Keywords:environmental sustainability / environmental management / ecological factors / biodiversity / living standards / water security / energy conservation / food security / climate change / temperature / precipitation / cyclones / agriculture / farmland / demography / urbanization / sociocultural environment / gender / community management / institutions / political aspects / remote sensing / natural disasters / monitoring / sustainable development / assessment / Southeast Asia / Oceania Copyright ©2014 by IWMI. All rights reserved. IWMI encourages the use of its material provided that the organization is acknowledged and kept informed in all such instances. Please direct inquiries and comments to: IWMI-Publications@cgiar.org A free copy of this publication can be downloaded at: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/publications/other-publication-types/environmental-livelihoodsecurity-south-east-asia-oceania/ Environmental Livelihood Security in Southeast Asia and Oceania iii AcknowledgementsWe would like to acknowledge the incredibly positive and insightful comments from three anonymous reviewers whose insight has enabled us to strengthen the content of this paper. We would also like to thank Dr. Guy Boggs (Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management) and Dr. Nik Callow (The University of Western Australia) for their voluntary assistance during our workshop. International Water Management Institute (IWMI)University of Southampton, UK List of Tables Table 1. Share of Pacific economies dependent on natural resources (GDP share by sector, %) 19 Table 2. The planetary boundaries 22 Table 3. Summary of the range of units which can be assessed for security and potential threats to their security 39 Table 4. Features of the most popular participatory approaches to research and development 56 Table 5. Guiding questions applied to the mountain pine beetle epidemic case 65 Table 6. Trial indicators chosen for the capital assets for the three field sites 66 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis document addresses the need for explicit inclusion of livelihoods within the environment nexus (water-energy-food security), not only responding to literature gaps but also addressing emerging dialogue from existing nexus consortia. We present the first conceptualization of 'environmental livelihood security' , which combines the nexus perspective with sustainable livelihoods. The geographical focus of this paper is Southeast Asia and Oceania, a region currently wrought by the impacts of a changing climate. Climate change is the primary external forcing mechanism on the environmental livelihood security of communities in Southeast Asia and Oceania which, therefore, forms the applied crux of this paper. Finally, we provide a primer for using geospatial information to develop a spatial framework to enable geographical assessment of environmental livelihood security across the region. We conclude by linking the value of this research to ongoing sustainable development discussions, and for influencing policy agendas. The paper is split into three main parts: P...

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Participatory Rural Appraisal as Qualitative Research: Distinguishing Methodological Issues from Participatory Claims

Cited by 70 publications

References 29 publications

People and pixels in the Sahel: a study linking coarse-resolution remote sensing observations to land users' perceptions of their changing environment in Senegal

People and pixels in the Sahel: a study linking coarse-resolution remote sensing observations to land users' perceptions of their changing environment in Senegal

Indicators for biodiversity of tropical forests: problems and solutions.

Environmental livelihood security in Southeast Asia and Oceania: a water-energy-food-livelihoods nexus approach for spatially assessing change. White paper

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