Urich, Peter Brandt
Description
This thesis examines the relationships between society, politics and economy and
environmental degradation. The study area on the central Philippine island of Bohol
has experienced a reduction in agricultural productivity and sustainability, and acute
social upheaval. Critical to our understanding of the process of eco-social change are
patterns of transformation in landholding patterns in concert with change in the quality
(productivity) of land owned both locally and in absentia. In...[Show more] concert with these are
issues of population change and shifts in characteristics of land management under
continued ecological transformation.
An historical perspective is used to embody pre-colonial, colonial, early
independent and contemporary periods. In the pre-colonial period there is evidence of
a sophisticated Boholano culture. This period underpinned contemporary agroecological,
social and political development. During the colonial period Hispanization
of the local culture was not complete because of periodic revolts-one extending for 85
years. The pace of change increased during the American colonial period. Settlement
patterns were disrupted during the conflict between the United States and the
Philippines at the turn of the century. Again during World War Two and in the recent
conflict between the peasantry and the state displaced persons migrated to fragile
environments. Besides the impact of war there were changes in land ownership and
demographic patterns. Throughout the twentieth century a large percentage of land
was transferred to absentee (coastal) ownership. Population pressure on resources has
ebbed and flowed throughout this period.
These complex issues are in a constant state of flux and result in both
ecological and social decline. ‘Downstream’ environmental (hydrological) change
associated with conversion of upland forested to agricultural land became evident in
the early 1950s. A dramatic rise in out-migration coincided with this period of
environmental decline, as did rates of conversion of land from local to absentee
ownership. Pressure on local forest resources increased in the 1970s. By the mid-
1980s the local peasantry and the state were in armed conflict. A new period of heavy
out-migration occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The study concludes that local social, political and economic issues are
intimately related to eco-social sustainability, and are strongly correlated with the rapid
transformation of the complex eco-social situation. Therefore, one policy, programme
or social construct cannot be conclusively implicated, i.e. ‘reduced’, as the cause of
eco-social degradation. Prospects for improvement in the local eco-social situation are
poor in the short to medium-term. Various time related issues of environmental
rehabilitation and the human perception of change will militate against concerted social
action. Structures of power, resource ownership and cultural dominance will need to
be addressed at the micro level. Therefore, only direct intervention in the social,
political and economic way of life, with an emphasis on poverty alleviation in the most
marginal areas, could possibly mitigate further human suffering.
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