Deborah Delgado Pugley
(Pontifical Catholic University of Peru)
Chair:
Ana Watson
(University of Calgary)
Discussant:
Ciro Salazar
(Law, Environment and Natural Resources)
Format:
Panel
Streams:
Rural & agrarian spaces
Sessions:
Friday 8 July, -
Time zone: Europe/London
New Approaches to Transportation, Mobility and Access in Rainforest contexts.
Panel P48 at conference DSA2022: Just sustainable futures in an urbanising and mobile world.
Transportation and mobility in rainforest landscapes represent a mounting challenge for contemporary development. We call for studies that explore new experiences of mobility that include gender, intercultural, and intergenerational approaches.
Long Abstract:
Transportation, mobility and access in rainforest landscapes -such as the Amazon Basin, the Congo, among others- represent a mounting challenge for contemporary development. Improving mobility conditions is a longstanding political demand of growing urban settlements. Thus, at the same time, expanding infrastructure can undermine the environmental integrity of critical ecosystems on which livelihoods directly depends. Using traditional means of mobility might no longer be enough for most of the people living in rainforest ecosystems, but it is still a key factor for Indigenous Peoples ways of life. In this panel we call for papers that discuss the implications for human development that access, mobility and interconnectedness pose in the XXI century. We call for studies that explore new approaches to mobility and interconnectedness that include gender, intercultural, and intergenerational approaches.
Methodology
Panellists will upload pre-recorded presentations. The convenor will ask panellists to watch other people's presentations in advance of the synchronous discussion session. Key questions emerging from the recorded presentations will be shared by Chairs for the synchronous discussion. Each presenter will give a 3min pitch summarising their key argument and 2min in which they address one of the key questions. After this, the discussion will be open to the audience.
There are important factors which significantly predict the use of mobile transport application among postgraduate students. These include; performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition and age.
Paper long abstract:
The innovations experienced in the telecommunication sector has brought extraordinary changes to almost every aspect of the lives of people living in Nigeria and some other developing countries. Advances in mobile technology have enabled a wide range of mobile applications to be developed and used by people in transit. One of such applications is Mobile transport application; which is about ordering a taxi with an app on Smartphone or tablet, when and where a passenger likes. Mobile transport applications are experiencing a rapid growth; however, the long-term development of a mobile transport application depends on its continual usage by passengers. There is a need to investigate the factors that might hinder the use of this application. Survey design using a case of postgraduate students in University of Ibadan was adopted. A sample of 390 students from 24 postgraduate faculties in University of Ibadan participated in the study. Six research questions were answered and two research hypotheses were tested. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings reveal that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition, and age were significant predictors of use of mobile transport application while system quality did not significantly predict it.
As mobility infrastructures face an uplift in Sarawak, much of the social and environmental impacts have been ignored. The paper proposes seeing water mobility as heritage and call for a more integrated approach for sustainable development.
Paper long abstract:
This paper discusses the dualities of modernising mobility infrastructures in Sarawak as part of the government’s initiative to provide more accessibility to rural communities and driver of economic growth. Sarawak’s rivers, which have been the main corridor for the indigenous communities for centuries, from the uplands to port cities are facing increasing threats from pollution and cargo ships, further disrupting their way of life. As the Pan-Borneo Highway network connects more villages to transport palm oil, timber and other raw materials across the state, its environmental and social impacts have not been carefully considered in the name of economic development. I argue how water mobility of the past can be seen as heritage, a lifeline linking several villages and the port cities that included different ethnic groups, supporting trade networks that extend beyond the island of Borneo to China, Philippines and Peninsular Malaysia before the colonial period. The paper is based upon empirical research through fieldwork and interviews with indigenous rural communities by the river and residents in port cities. By drawing upon state planning policies and political speeches, the paper critically engages with the Sarawak state’s discourse on modernity and narratives on development that led to the building of compromising mobility infrastructures. It also examines the plans for renewed road networks, dredging and construction works in the rivers that affect the communities most vulnerable to flooding disasters. Finally, this research calls for a more integrated approach, combining traditional norms of mobility with modern infrastructure for a sustainable practice.
Needs and capacities are identified in communities located in the area of influence of the Iquitos - Saramiriza road project (710km), in the Peruvian Amazon. The study allows making policy recommendations to incorporate an intercultural and sustainability approach in the evaluation of road projects.
Paper long abstract:
It is planned the construction of 4,000 km of roads in the Peruvian Amazon. Some projects cross areas of high biodiversity and presence of indigenous communities. Despite the later, the intercultural approach and the knowledge of the territorial dynamics of the populations are practically non-existent in the early phases of the project cycle.
In this context, it was decided to carry out a survey in the area of influence of the Iquitos - Saramiriza highway proposal (710km), the largest projected in the Peruvian Amazon. Twenty one communities of the Kichwa, Chapra and Wampis peoples were visited.
The research sought to answer two basic questions: a) What are the priority needs of the populations in the area of influence of the project? and b) does the road proposal contribute to meeting these needs?
What we call the vital space of the communities, the one where they practice their economic activities, is changing and can exceed the communal territory. More than 60% of the interviewed families make a greater effort than five years ago for their hunting, fishing and agricultural activities. The zone of influence of the road (5 km on both sides of the route) overlaps the vital space of the communities.
Our findings allow us to make policy recommendations to strengthen the quality of environmental and social information, with an intercultural approach, for the early phases of the project cycle, in order to make better decisions about their relevance and design.
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Short Abstract:
Transportation and mobility in rainforest landscapes represent a mounting challenge for contemporary development. We call for studies that explore new experiences of mobility that include gender, intercultural, and intergenerational approaches.
Long Abstract:
Transportation, mobility and access in rainforest landscapes -such as the Amazon Basin, the Congo, among others- represent a mounting challenge for contemporary development. Improving mobility conditions is a longstanding political demand of growing urban settlements. Thus, at the same time, expanding infrastructure can undermine the environmental integrity of critical ecosystems on which livelihoods directly depends. Using traditional means of mobility might no longer be enough for most of the people living in rainforest ecosystems, but it is still a key factor for Indigenous Peoples ways of life. In this panel we call for papers that discuss the implications for human development that access, mobility and interconnectedness pose in the XXI century. We call for studies that explore new approaches to mobility and interconnectedness that include gender, intercultural, and intergenerational approaches.
Methodology
Panellists will upload pre-recorded presentations. The convenor will ask panellists to watch other people's presentations in advance of the synchronous discussion session. Key questions emerging from the recorded presentations will be shared by Chairs for the synchronous discussion. Each presenter will give a 3min pitch summarising their key argument and 2min in which they address one of the key questions. After this, the discussion will be open to the audience.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 8 July, 2022, -