Silva Larson

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Papers by Silva Larson

A Game-Based Approach to Exploring Gender Differences in Smallholder Decisions to Change Farming Practices: White Rice Production in Laos

Sustainability

What influences farmers’ decisions to adopt agricultural technologies is an important question fo... more What influences farmers’ decisions to adopt agricultural technologies is an important question for international agricultural research projects. There are often interpersonal differences between women and men that influence the adoption of decisions and behaviours, but few studies in the literature focus on these factors. We describe a game-based approach to explore decision-making processes underpinning the adoption of new farming technologies and practices in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Sowing a different rice variety is the tailored technology. The game explored adoption behaviours influencing decisions on transitioning from growing glutinous rice, a traditional variety preferred for consumption, to “white” rice for commercial export to international markets. We conducted separate game-workshops with 36 women and 36 men in 4 villages of southern Laos that were transitioning from subsistence to commercial smallholder production. The gaming exposed various possible behaviours...

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Gendered Roles in Agrarian Transition: A Study of Lowland Rice Farming in Lao PDR

Sustainability

Traditional lifestyles of lowland rice farmers of the southern provinces of Lao People’s Democrat... more Traditional lifestyles of lowland rice farmers of the southern provinces of Lao People’s Democratic Republic are rapidly changing, due to two important trends. Firstly, there is a push towards modernization and commercialization of farming. Secondly, though farmers still focus on rice farming as a key activity, there is an increasing move towards diversification of livelihoods. The changes have seen the uptake of non-rice crops, livestock husbandry and forest and river utilization; as well as non-farming activities. This has influenced gender relations, impacting household agricultural production decisions and amplified transitional trends. To explore the processes, we analyzed data from a study of innovation adoption amongst rice farmers in southern Lao PDR. The study revealed nuances of gender-based differences in the priorities and attitudes towards farming and off-farm activities, as well as differences in behaviour related to the adoption of new practices. Women were more focus...

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Supporting Women’s Participation in Developing A Seaweed Supply Chain in Kiribati for Health and Nutrition

Foods

Seaweeds are a source of food throughout the Pacific region. Kiribati, however, does not have a s... more Seaweeds are a source of food throughout the Pacific region. Kiribati, however, does not have a strong history of using seaweed in their diets, despite having reliable access to indigenous edible seaweeds. A series of peer-led seaweed training workshops held in Kiribati between 2018 and 2019 provided women with knowledge, skills, and motivational support needed to engage in the seaweed supply chain, from harvesting, processing, and marketing to consumption. This study aimed to identify opportunities and enablers to support women’s participation across the seaweed supply chain. Structured interviews with 49 women explored their interest and expected costs and benefits from involvement in the supply chain. There was high interest in most seaweed-related activities and the key motivators were health and nutrition for themselves and their family. Participants were also interested in developing and sharing new skills and saw the potential for income generation. However, there were also c...

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Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs) Enhance the Wellbeing of Indigenous Australians

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Conservation and environmental management have been reported as offering opportunities to substan... more Conservation and environmental management have been reported as offering opportunities to substantially improve the wellbeing of Indigenous people. Using the holistic wellbeing impact evaluation (W-IE) approach—well suited for use in Indigenous communities—we interviewed 190 Indigenous Australians across four communities. All communities were involved in the Indigenous land and sea management programs (ILSMPs). Our study explored the conceptualisation of ‘wellbeing’ by participants. In particular, we were interested in the aspects of wellbeing perceived to be affected by ILSMPs. Out of the 26 wellbeing factors explored, ‘Health centres’; ‘Language’; ‘Schools’; and ‘Safe community’ emerged as being of highest importance to the largest percentage of the respondents. When grouped using principle components analysis (PCA), the ‘Community and society’ domain emerged as the most important; accounting for 52% of the overall importance of all wellbeing factors. The second most important dom...

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Transdisciplinary agricultural research in Lao PDR

Journal of Rural Studies

A Bayesian network model to explore practice change by smallholder rice farmers in Lao PDR

Agricultural Systems

The ability of community based natural resource management to contribute to development as freedom and the role of access

World Development

Are Indigenous land and sea management programs a pathway to Indigenous economic independence?

The Rangeland Journal

This paper focuses on Indigenous business development, an under-researched co-benefit associated ... more This paper focuses on Indigenous business development, an under-researched co-benefit associated with investment in Indigenous land and sea management programs (ILSMPs) in northern Australia. More than 65% of ILSMPs undertake commercial activities that generate revenue and create jobs. In addition to generating environmental benefits, ILSMPs thus also generate economic benefits (co-benefits) that support Indigenous aspirations and help to deliver multiple government objectives. We outline key features of northern Australian economies, identifying factors that differentiate them from Western urbanised economies. We discuss literature highlighting that, if the aim is to stimulate (short-term) economic development in northern Indigenous economies, then the requirement is to stimulate demand for goods and services that are produced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (herein referred to as Indigenous people), and which generate benefits that align with the goals and aspirati...

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Rice farming systems in Southern Lao PDR: Interpreting farmers’ agricultural production decisions using Q methodology

Agricultural Systems

Correction to: Using measures of wellbeing for impact evaluation: Proof of concept developed with an Indigenous community undertaking land management programs in northern Australia

Ambio

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Using measures of wellbeing for impact evaluation: Proof of concept developed with an Indigenous community undertaking land management programs in northern Australia

Ambio, Jan 5, 2018

Combining insights from literature on the Theory of Change, Impact Evaluation, and Wellbeing, we ... more Combining insights from literature on the Theory of Change, Impact Evaluation, and Wellbeing, we develop a novel approach to assessing impacts. Intended beneficiaries identify and rate factors that are important to their wellbeing, their satisfaction with those factors now, and before an intervention. Qualitative responses to questions about perceived changes and causes of change are linked to quantitative data to draw inferences about the existence and/or importance of impact(s). We use data from 67 Ewamian people, in a case study relating to Indigenous land management, to provide proof of concept. 'Knowing that country is being looked after' and 'Having legal right/access to the country' were identified as important to wellbeing, with perceptions that Native Title determination, declared Indigenous Protected Area and associated land management programs have had a significant and positive impact on them. Further method testing might determine the utility of this app...

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Natural resources management arrangements in the Lake Eyre Basin: An enabling environment for community engagement?

Http Dx Doi Org 10 5172 Rsj 2011 21 1 32, Dec 17, 2014

... SILVA LARSON AND LYNN BRAKE# CSIRO CES, Townsville, QLD, Australia; James CookUniversity, Tow... more

How 'valuable' are the ecosystem services of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area to residents and tourists?

The socio-economic features of northern Australia

... Abstract. Socio-economically remote regions of Australia tend to be located in either arid or... more ... Abstract. Socio-economically remote regions of Australia tend to be located in either arid or wet tropical bio-physical regions (Robin & Dovers, 2007; Stafford Smith 2008; Larson & ... Indeed, recent writings on the framework (Stafford Smith & Huigen, 2009; Stafford Smith & Cribb. ...

Tools for successful NRM in the Lake Eyre Basin : achieving effective engagement

Measham, T., Robinson, C., Richards, C., Larson, S., Stafford Smith, M. and Smith, T. (2009). Too... more

Panel: Water allocation and management issues in outback Australia

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area: its ‘value’to residents and tourists, and the effect of world prices on it

Wellbeing of Nywaigi Traditional Owners

by Alexander Herr and Silva Larson

... Report for the Burdekin Dry Tropics Board July 2005 Romy Greiner, Silva Larson, Alexander Her... more

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Literature review of relevant socio-economic information available for the Northern planning Area: A Final Report

by Alexander Herr, Silva Larson, and Melissa J Nursey-Bray

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, 2006

Literature review of relevant socio-economic information available for the Northern planning Area... more

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A new approach to the problem of overlapping values: A case study in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

by Ida Kubiszewski, Natalie Stoeckl, and Silva Larson

Estimating the value of entire ecosystems in monetary units is difficult because they are complex... more Estimating the value of entire ecosystems in monetary units is difficult because they are complex systems composed of non-linear, interdependent components and the value of the services they produce are interdependent and overlapping. Using the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) as a case study, this paper explores a new ‘whole ecosystem’ approach to assessing both the importance (to overall quality of life) and the monetary value of various community-defined benefits, some of which align with various ecosystem services. We find that provisioning services are considered, by residents, to be less important to their overall quality of life than other ecosystem services. But our analysis suggests that many community-defined benefits are overlapping. Using statistical techniques to identify and control for these overlapping benefits, we estimate that the collective monetary value of a broad range of services provided by the GBR is likely to be between $15 billion and $20 billion AUS per annum. We acknowledge the limitations of our methods and estimates but show how they highlight the importance of the problem, and open up promising avenues for further research. With further refinement and development, radically different ‘whole ecosystem’ valuation approaches like these may eventually become viable alternatives to the more common additive approaches.

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