• Other research productsclose
• DK close
• Roskilde Universitetscenter's Digitale Arkiv close
• Rural Digital Europe close

This paper examines the impact of the Estonian initiative and push for the implementation of the Once-Only Principle on a European Union level by engaging in an analysis framed within the theoretical frameworks of Michel Foucault, Daniel R. McCarthy and Hartmund Rosa, and will attempt to do so by synthesizing these theories’ notions of power and social acceleration. The paper concludes that the OOP can be seen as a mechanism that reproduce and maintain cultural hegemony, and that this furthermore is both a result of, and a catalyst for social acceleration.

Policy making is a lengthy, legislative process, liable to be subject to various internal and external factors of influence, each practiced within their code of conduct. One influence often kept low-key is that of the interest organisation, attempting to set the agenda to the benefit of its members. A particularly current case of this is the case of the law of buffer zones in Denmark, which allowed for engaged reactions by the agricultural interest organisations. This project is set to examine the workings of these interest organisations, and how they practice lobbyism in order to further their own case via closed door meetings - a black box in the legislative process. Our focus, as such, will be on the current case of buffer zones and how these agricultural interest organisations acquire their influence and thusly may enable themselves to affect legislation. We will largely acquire our empirical data through interviews with agricultural interest organisation representatives and we will base our analysis on several theories regarding democracy, interest organisations and group theory.

Bolivian produced quinoa is the fulcrum of a global value chain-analysis with focus on technology, organizations and production. The report contributes to answering why Bolivian produced quinoa have developed from a local product to a global value chain. The analysis follows an ontological realistic and epistemological relativistic perspective. It is based on statistical data and other scientific theses about the subject, which supports a retroductive approach. Quinoa is a healthy, edible seed, which can grow under various climatic conditions, but primarily is cultivated in the Andes Mountains. The seed has a long history in Bolivia (The Plurinational State of) that involves the Incas, the Spanish inquisition and the present organizing of peasants, which makes mechanization possible. Research and the new technology have enabled an expanding production and a more efficient processing why it is now possible to export. This has attracted new agents from the whole world who have spread the product to new markets. The development is furthermore analyzed as spatial change involving the production of space, new relational space and the breaking down of spatial barriers, which all contributes to a holistic understanding. It is partially therefore concluded that quinoa is a complex object with inner causal potentials that enables a change in its present context.

Abstract This project critically assesses the shift from Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) to Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) by the World Bank and IMF in Zambia. The project is a case study of the agricultural sector in Zambia, which has been chosen on the basis that a vast majority of poor people are situated in rural areas and employed by the agricultural sector. The data on which the project is constituted is therefore the relevant policy-papers and secondary literature. The analytical model, on which the project is based, is framed by a critique of the neoclassical development theory. The critique is grounded in an institutional approach, which together with a framework of theoretical linkages between poverty and agriculture creates the analytical framework. By analysing policy-papers from periods of development assistance loans, the project examines how the strategy-shift can be seen in the policies. The policies that Zambia implements under the SAP and the PRSP are analysed in order to show whether the poor are taken into consideration or not. The analysis of the policies implemented under SAP show that growth, liberalization/privatization and competition was the main focus. Thereby that period of development in Zambia happened very much under the influence of the neoclassical development theory, which entails that market forces and global capital market shall develop a stable and growing economy. The analysis of the PRSP from 2002 shows a shift towards a more nuanced approach. Poverty reduction is in focus, although it is supposed to happen combined with neoclassical ideas of growth and competition. The following progress reports shows that there were constraints to the reduction of poverty. One of these were the institutional inability to effectively allocate and disburse the allocated funds, which made a large part of the capital stay in domestic banks. Another central issue is shown to be the continuing government borrowing from domestic banks, a problem which is argued to be related to the substantial debt servicing. This kept the interest rate at a very high level, impeding investment opportunities for small scale farmers. The latest major policy-paper shows a continuing of the pro-poor tendency, and although it is as vague as the first PRSP it shows a number of pro-poor initiatives and programs. The project concludes that the focus on poverty reduction has increased with the implementation of the PRSP, although there are some constraints to reducing poverty. These include institutional incapacities to effectively invest in poverty reduction programs and debt servicing.

Salt marshes are among one of the most productive ecosystems in the world and are important components of estuarine systems, since it provide food and nutrients to both estuarine and coastal ocean consumers, serves as a habitat for young and adult estuarine organisms, and a refuge for larval and juvenile organisms and regulating important compounds of the estuarine chemical cycle. The location of salt marshes as a buffer zone between land and sea and the continuously increasing N-­‐load from land make it a raising concern regarding monitoring and estimation of its vulnerability to eutrophication and interest in its ability to remove N before its enters the estuaries and coastal ocean waters, along with monitoring of the current N status. Remote sensing is a particular helpful tool when trying to extract information from large areas and to estimate N status of vegetation. The spectral reflectance signature of Spartina alterniflora (a dominant salt marsh species) was investigated in 13 sites with varying N input, within two New England salt marshes (Plum Island Sound and Great Sippewisset Marsh, USA), to survey if remote sensing can be use to sense vegetation response to different nutrient input. Two different remote sensing tools was used; a Duel Channel Unispec, which measure canopy reflectance and a SPAD-­‐502 chlorophyll meter, which measure leaf reflectance. Three different vegetation indexes (NDVI, GreenNDVI and EVI) were used to model vegetation biophysical variables. It was not possible to estimate if one index or the other would be better for an overall use to estimate N status but the results indicate the feasibility in predicting N status. SPAD values give an indirect indication of chlorophyll and nitrogen content in leaf biomass but only a low correlation was observed than correlated with red and green reflectance. More emphasis has to be giving on calibration of SPAD measurements to obtain more reliable results. Spectral reflectance data obtained from Unispec measurements, clearly illustrated that the vegetation state in the two sites with highest N input (20 and 300-­‐fold larger than reference sites) represented the healthiest green vegetation with a high plant biomass, which correlated with the N input received. In the remaining sites, there was not observed a clear distinguish between the spectral data and observed N input. Remote sensing can provide information about variations in vegetation and give an insight into important vegetation biophysical features. Therefore using remote sensing to determined N status of vegetation is a low cost useful method, but emphasis on future studies in this area should be a priority.

The following project Agriculture in Liberia - stories from four students seeks to provide a deeperunderstanding about how perceptions of roles and possibilities are linked to their education context.In order to do so an approach inspired by ethnography have been used when carrying out field workat the Oxfam IBIS Education of Youth Empowerment (EYE) center in Zwedru. We have used anexplorative approach doing our fieldwork when collecting our data which gave us the possibility tolet the surroundings influence our topic. Throughout the fieldwork we used informal conversations,participant observations and two types of interview methods. This data being the foundation for ourproject. For the analytical part of the project two theorist, Margaret Somers and Paulo Freire, havebeen used two shed light on the themes we found through coding our empirical data. In the end itbecomes possible to conclude, that the students achieve perspectives about what is possible forthem to change in their own life, but in Liberia as well. These perspectives are related to theagriculture skills accomplish.

Kan radardata fra satellitter bruges til at afdække omfanget af mindre sæsonbetingede oversvømmelser på eksempelvis marker? Hvor meget vand der skal til, før vi kan observere det via radardata? Og ved hvilke værdier defineres vand i datasættet? Hvordan skal data fra radarsatellitterne fortolkes, og hvordan fungerer teknologien? Dette er nogle af de spørgsmål der vil blive besvaret i dette projekt. Der vil blive taget udgangspunkt i empiriske feltstudier. Derudover vil der være data fra Sentinel-1 satellitterne i det Europæiske Copernicus program. Der vil derudover også blive taget udgangspunkt i TRIN-modellen fra Jørgensen 2017, for at forstå teknologien. Derudover vil der blive beskrevet, hvordan de øgede nedbørsmængder forventes at påvirke landbruget, samt risikoen for flere sæsonbetingede oversvømmelser.

Literature review of the debate over the concept 'Sustainable Agruculture'. Agricultural sustainability have been thoroughly discussed in the literature as a multidimensional concept, of which the most important are; system describing or goal prescribing, the three dimensions of sustainability, the geographical extent of sustainability and the role of technology, and as a system approach to sustainability assessment. Several frameworks have been developed, each with a specified geographical extent and timeframe that makes assessment possible. Some scholars have begun to argue that, due to the terms’ ambiguity, it has become a cliché. However, despite its vagueness, the term is comprehensively used by institutions, such as the EU.

The newspapers are facing a crisis, and the news is more commonly read on the internet. It has not always been like this. In this project we examine the devel-opment of the state of the media, and the democratic consequences that follow. Our project starts from the following problem definition: How has the state of the media evolved from the first newspapers up until today, and what impact has it had, and does it continue to have to the democracy? We have divided our problem up into the following work questions. - How does Habermas’ theory on the public sphere relate to the actual develop-ment in the state of the media, before the year 2000 and after, and in the public debate? - How can we use Castells’ and Hardt & Negri’s theories to describe the devel-opment of the state of the media from the millennium until today? - What pros and cons can we find in digital news dissemination? - What are the consequences in the development towards the democracy? To answer our problem definition, we have built our project up around a historic-empiric section about the development of the state of the media before and after the year 2000. Next, a theory-section about Habermas’ theory on the public sphere, Castells’ theory on the network society and the new ways of communication, and some additional theory to back it up. These will help us explain the contexts that exist between the development and the democracy. We have also made some inter-views with a head of news at a major Danish newspaper, and a media-expert, which add qualitative expert-statements regarding our problem. On the basis of historic-empery, theory and interviews, we have analysed and discussed the problem. This leads to the following conclusion: We are on the brink of a historic boundary within the media. The traditional media is facing a serious crisis, and the digitalized media is expanding rapidly. The new digital media consumption can bring a new, postmodern public sphere, in which the citizens have a whole new set of possibilities in submitting critical views, debating and possibly gaining political influence, but the potential does not seem fulfilled. We can conclude that the internet media is not yet ready to dominate the entire state of the media, without it causing serious democratic consequences. If the new media is to create a new space for dialogue, which will benefit and strengthen the democracy, there must be taken some precautions, which will counter and control the media development. It is important that the new media receives enough resources to be able to act as the fourth power of the State in the future by putting relevant topics on the agenda for debate, since this is essential for a well-functioning democracy.