1.1.1 Objectives and Outline of the Book
The objectives of this book are threefold. First, it aims to give an interdisciplinary
account of the drivers behind as well as the consequences and challenges of
ongoing changes taking place in the mountainous areas of Southeast Asia. Second,
the book describes how innovation processes can contribute to addressing these
challenges, while third, it describes how knowledge creation can support change in
policies and institutions, those contributing to the sustainable development of
mountainous areas and the livelihoods of the people who live there.
The book is organized into three parts. The first part deals with the consequences
of the transformation of mountainous areas in Southeast Asia in terms of environmental and social challenges. Agricultural intensification in these areas has changed
land use patterns and water cycles, and has increased agrochemicals use and
intensified the erosion of mountain slopes, both of which have in turn affected the
livelihoods of people living in these areas and their level of access to resources. The
four chapters in this first part each describe one major development challenge.
In Chap. 2, Stahr et al. describe how to better plan land use by taking into
account soil and terrain information, in order to allow for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in mountainous areas. They describe their experiences with
various methods of collecting soil and terrain information in mountainous areas,
ranging from a low-tech method of participatory soil mapping involving farmers, to
a high-tech method using gamma-ray spectrometry. Although they show that
gamma-ray spectrometry is particularly useful when wishing to create spatial soil
data for inaccessible mountainous terrain, they conclude that the various methods
are actually rather complementary.
In Chap. 3, Fro ¨hlich et al. take a dynamic perspective on the interplay between
soil and water resources, and describe how land use intensification has dramatically
altered the cycling of water and matter (such as plant nutrients and sediments).
They pay particular attention to how changes in land use affect the spatial and
temporal redistribution of sediments and nutrients from hillsides to valleys through
processes of erosion and sedimentation.
Lamers et al. in Chap. 4 show that land use intensification in mountainous
areas—particularly the change from subsistence to cash crops—has been
accompanied by a dramatic increase in the use of synthetic pesticides. They show
the high level of risk arising from pesticide use, because local farmers have only
limited knowledge about the correct use of such pesticides and because steep
slopes, high and intense rainfall and the presence of well-developed preferential
flow pathways, mean that a relatively large volume of pesticide residues is
transported from the site of application to adjacent environmental compartments.
In Chap. 5, Saint-Macary et al. look at the socio-economic aspects of land use
intensification, focusing on the nexus of agriculture, natural resource use and
poverty. They show that poverty is an important constraint on the ability of
households to invest in soil conservation practices, and that improving market
access for poor households is important in terms of reducing poverty and supporting
1 From Challenges to Sustainable Solutions for Upland Agriculture. . .
5
The objectives of this book are threefold. First, it aims to give an interdisciplinary
account of the drivers behind as well as the consequences and challenges of
ongoing changes taking place in the mountainous areas of Southeast Asia. Second,
the book describes how innovation processes can contribute to addressing these
challenges, while third, it describes how knowledge creation can support change in
policies and institutions, those contributing to the sustainable development of
mountainous areas and the livelihoods of the people who live there.
The book is organized into three parts. The first part deals with the consequences
of the transformation of mountainous areas in Southeast Asia in terms of environmental and social challenges. Agricultural intensification in these areas has changed
land use patterns and water cycles, and has increased agrochemicals use and
intensified the erosion of mountain slopes, both of which have in turn affected the
livelihoods of people living in these areas and their level of access to resources. The
four chapters in this first part each describe one major development challenge.
In Chap. 2, Stahr et al. describe how to better plan land use by taking into
account soil and terrain information, in order to allow for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in mountainous areas. They describe their experiences with
various methods of collecting soil and terrain information in mountainous areas,
ranging from a low-tech method of participatory soil mapping involving farmers, to
a high-tech method using gamma-ray spectrometry. Although they show that
gamma-ray spectrometry is particularly useful when wishing to create spatial soil
data for inaccessible mountainous terrain, they conclude that the various methods
are actually rather complementary.
In Chap. 3, Fro ¨hlich et al. take a dynamic perspective on the interplay between
soil and water resources, and describe how land use intensification has dramatically
altered the cycling of water and matter (such as plant nutrients and sediments).
They pay particular attention to how changes in land use affect the spatial and
temporal redistribution of sediments and nutrients from hillsides to valleys through
processes of erosion and sedimentation.
Lamers et al. in Chap. 4 show that land use intensification in mountainous
areas—particularly the change from subsistence to cash crops—has been
accompanied by a dramatic increase in the use of synthetic pesticides. They show
the high level of risk arising from pesticide use, because local farmers have only
limited knowledge about the correct use of such pesticides and because steep
slopes, high and intense rainfall and the presence of well-developed preferential
flow pathways, mean that a relatively large volume of pesticide residues is
transported from the site of application to adjacent environmental compartments.
In Chap. 5, Saint-Macary et al. look at the socio-economic aspects of land use
intensification, focusing on the nexus of agriculture, natural resource use and
poverty. They show that poverty is an important constraint on the ability of
households to invest in soil conservation practices, and that improving market
access for poor households is important in terms of reducing poverty and supporting
1 From Challenges to Sustainable Solutions for Upland Agriculture. . .
5