We have conformed OIKOS Research and Development Consultancy Group in
partnership with scientists from India, Nepal, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Japan
and Peru; joining strengths and capabilities with the main mission of
performing research in key areas related to sustainable rural development in
developing countries and global environmental problems; specifically studies
of:
• Land cover change
• Biodiversity assessments
• Pollution control and water treatment
• Forests and people
• Environmental Impact Assessments
• Tropical woods harvesting practices
• Application of remote sensing and GIS
• Rice production systems
The projects designed at the moment are environmental factors and population
dynamics of Antarctica Seals at Saint George Island, Antarctica; silkworm
breeding at the central tropics of Peru, and geographical comparison of
sustainable systems applied to terraced rice fields in mountain areas of
Japan and Peru.
If you are related to any of these fields and
would like to get further information regarding these topics, establish a
new partnership, ask for or propose a research project, please contact the
Director, David Lopez Cornelio at davlzo@netscape.net.
Research Internships
You can develop, if you wish, a satellite
campus in Peru for academic programs and research opportunities in the
fields of tropical biology, ecology, agriculture, natural resource
management, Latin-American studies and Spanish; or just eco tourism. We
provide unusual opportunities to learn and conduct research in a natural and
undeveloped setting. Our programs are open to undergraduate and graduate
students, faculty and professionals. In addition, anyone who wants to learn
first hand about a beautiful, fascinating region and its inhabitants can
experience the Andes and the tropics of Peru while doing useful work.
In this case, our purpose is to support
research projects on environmental education, agricultural development and
nature conservation. Participants are welcome for periods from 01 week to
several months. Fees will be charged and will cover your room, board and
local transportation costs. Personal travel expenses are the responsibility
of each participant.
Categories
There are three major categories:
Students: Undergraduate and graduate students
who will receive academic credit for their work may undertake compatible
projects; general visitors, and Independent Researchers: Faculty, doctoral
candidates and working professionals who want to conduct research in
conservation, rural development, biodiversity, education, archeology, etc.
Qualifications: Applicants must be 18 years
or older, in good health, and interested in the study of Andean ecosystems,
cultural conservation, village development, health services, or similar
activities.
Participants are welcome in our programs for
periods from two weeks to several months. Fees will be charged and will
cover your room, board and local transportation costs. The basic fee (room
and board) per person per month is of US $600. Personal travel expenses are
the responsibility of each participant.
At La Loma station you can put your research
to work in a real life working community. We would be glad if you send here
your representative to check the infrastructure and opportunities we are
offering you here. Please feel free to contact us for additional information
regarding this opportunity.
Research possibilities on geographical
aspects at Amazonia / Andes
Latin America has 23% of the world’s arable land, 46% of its tropical
forest, and 31% of its fresh water. Yet the region has only 10% of the
world’s population, being able to supply food for a much larger population
with the technological base that already exists.
Peru’s physical and socioeconomic diversity
determined particular patterns of land use. The major trends in production
entailed changes in population density and composition, in urbanization and
economic differentiation, and in forms of land and labor control, and shifts
in social relations. The broad trend toward more intense land use progressed
as settled farming succeeded shifting cultivation and pastoralism, as
farmers invested labor on the land and competed to control investments and
output. More intense land use and shortening fallow complicates land rights
as investments in plows, animals, and irrigation engage households in
hierarchies of rights and powers.
Of particular interest are the changes
occurring on the eastern side of the Andes neighboring the Amazonian basin,
a vast region inhabited for around 3000 years. Although not always
systematic or successful, the efforts of colonists to exploit the natural
resources contributed to the gradual incorporation of spaces that today are
considered among the most dynamic in the country. The process has taken the
form of a constant expansion of the economic frontiers toward the east that
has accelerated since the 1940s.
Highly unequal ownership and access to assets
have made it difficult to establish inclusive patterns of growth in the
region. As a consequence, there is a concern that economic growth may widen
pre-existing inequalities and tensions rather than reduce them. Colonial
rulers introduced discriminatory systems of property rights. These systems
often reduced efficiency, undermined equity and were maintained by force,
“unoccupied” lands were assigned to the ruling classes confining peasants to
infertile or remote areas with weak infrastructure and market access.
Ancestral systems of land management, many of
them of remarkable complexity and proven sustainability, coexist and/or
withstand the neo liberal market demands. Agrarian Peru is not essentially
sedentary and old models of “peasant society” – Marxian, Chayanovian and
others – do not apply completely. The future of resource communities depends
on a combination of economic and local conditions with spatial and sectoral
variety. Geographical differences, the inherited structures of society, and
local and sectoral characteristics have been underestimated in past
explanations of restructuring.
The society’s ability to define and, within a
broad system of the rule of law, establish institutions that can enforce
property rights to land as well as to other assets, are critical
preconditions for development. Although the state is responding to the need
to feed growing populations by expanding their role in natural resources
management (codifying and updating resource management laws, charging
agricultural research stations with finding better ways to manage natural
resources, training extension agents and designing practical ways to resolve
conflicts); disorganized settlement and the recent widespread of illegal
crops (with negative effects on the environment and society) are closely
related with the way how state policies are conceived for development, the
historical trends of land tenure, the degree in which the market impact on
the decisions of the rural people, and the manner in which the lasts self
organize in order to create wealth.
Answers for questions such as how to reduce
the environmental degradation and simultaneously promote local development
with equity are diverse; titling programs, aided land markets, integrated
projects of development and conservation, and the empowerment of local based
organizations are some of them.
Some ideas:
· Patterns and intensity of land use
· The role of fruits crops in the regional economy
· Dynamics and limitations of forestry activity
· The dialectical relationship between agropastoral activity and timber
extraction
· Evolution and characteristics of land tenure
· Environmental impact of agropastoral and logging activities
· Study cases on environmental degradation
· Access to land in the colonist and indigenous sectors
· Indigenous contribution to the regional economy
· Indigenous organization and the challenge of integration
· Illegal crops: expansion, conditions and control
· Transformation of the agrarian structure and the peasantry
· Policy analysis for growth with equity
· Aquatic and land fauna management among the floodplain ribereños
· Subsistence and market oriented agro forestry
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