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Project properties |
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| Title | Livelihood impacts of landscape restoration interventions by water funds in the Ecuadorian highlands |
| Group | Public Administration and Policy |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 32 or more |
| Supervisor(s) | Prof. Dr. Art Dewulf (PAP) and Dr. Pieter van Oel (WRM), with daily
supervision by MSc. Daniel Wiegant (PAP) |
| Examiner(s) | Prof. Dr. Art Dewulf (PAP) and Prof. Dr. Katrien Termeer (PAP) |
| Contact info | daniel.wiegant@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2019/09/01 |
| End date | 2020/01/31 |
| Description | Over the last two decades, a total of five water funds have been established in Ecuador to facilitate the supply of water in sufficient quantity and quality for human consumption in downstream areas. Traditionally, the water sector in Ecuador has focused largely on the construction of grey infrastructure from the water intake to the tap. In recent years however, the focus of water funds has shifted towards natural infrastructure as well. This entails the restoration of the vegetation cover in water recharge zones, where often agricultural and cattle raising activities used to take place. With more funding being spent on landscape restoration efforts by water funds, it is increasingly important to see how rural livelihoods are affected by such efforts that drive land use changes from agriculture to conservation.
There is a need for a deeper analysis of the rural livelihoods and social organisation in the mountain communities that are located in the areas where the water funds intervene, to see livelihood resilience is affected. The MSc. thesis opportunity is part of the PhD research of Daniel Wiegant that is focused on the governance of landscape restoration in Ecuador. As part of this research, a comparative analysis will be done of four water funds, the restoration activities they have, and how restoration targets are reconciled with rural livelihoods. The water funds that will be part of this study are located in Ecuador’s Pichincha (FONAG), Tungurahua (Tungurahua fund), Azuay (FONAPA) and Loja (FORAGUA) provinces. The aim is to systematise the results of the MSc. theses and publish these in a scientific article in 2020. MSc. students that deliver a high-quality thesis will be invited as co-author of the publication. Region: Ecuador, with the possibility to choose fieldwork in either the Pichincha, Tungurahua, Azuay or Loja Provinces. |
| Used skills | The MSc. student is expected to put qualitative (semi-structured interviews) and participatory (focus group discussions, participatory mapping exercises) research methods into practice. |
| Requirements | We look for three to four highly ambitious students who are capable of working autonomously in a (remote) development context. Interested students should have affinity with community-based natural resource management and landscape governance debates, and have experience with qualitative and participatory research methods. Students are expected to further develop the above in a stand-alone research proposal, in collaboration with other students taking up similar research with a different water fund.
A good command of Spanish is a prerequisite to be able to do the needed research in Andean mountain communities. In general, students who choose to conduct research in a development context are expected to be comfortable with working under tougher conditions. |