Land-use change in a telecoupled world: the relevance and applicability of the telecoupling framework in the case of banana plantation expansion in Laos
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Land-use change in a telecoupled world : the relevance and applicability of the telecoupling framework in the case of banana plantation expansion in Laos. / Friis, Cecilie; Nielsen, Jonas Østergaard.
In: Ecology and Society, Vol. 22, No. 4, 30, 2017.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Land-use change in a telecoupled world
T2 - the relevance and applicability of the telecoupling framework in the case of banana plantation expansion in Laos
AU - Friis, Cecilie
AU - Nielsen, Jonas Østergaard
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Land-use change is increasingly influenced by complex socioeconomic and environmental interactions that transcend spatial, institutional, and temporal scales. These interactions challenge classical place-based land system analysis and require new analytical approaches equipped for tackling processes, flows, and feedbacks over distance. The recently proposed telecoupling framework offers interesting perspectives for bringing place-based and process-oriented research together in the study of land-use change. However, few studies have explored the influence and implications of telecouplings in local land-use changes. One reason for this is that the framework still faces challenges for application in empirical research. Here, we offer a qualitative operationalization of the telecoupling framework to explore its relevance and applicability in a case of local land-use change. Investigating the case of a recent boom in commercial banana cultivation in Luang Namtha Province, Lao PDR, we use a grounded empirical approach starting with the observed land-use change at the village level. We then trace flows and distal processes influencing the conversion to banana cultivation from the perspectives and experiences of the local actors involved. The results identify four prominent material and immaterial telecouplings at various spatial and temporal scales, as well as some potential feedbacks. This complexity points to the need for interdisciplinary research because the processes involved in creating telecoupled land-use change transcend the boundaries of any one discipline. Overall, however, telecoupling presents a strong heuristic lens for examining and describing distal causal relations in land-use change in a manner that does not favor a specific analytical scale or type of interaction.
AB - Land-use change is increasingly influenced by complex socioeconomic and environmental interactions that transcend spatial, institutional, and temporal scales. These interactions challenge classical place-based land system analysis and require new analytical approaches equipped for tackling processes, flows, and feedbacks over distance. The recently proposed telecoupling framework offers interesting perspectives for bringing place-based and process-oriented research together in the study of land-use change. However, few studies have explored the influence and implications of telecouplings in local land-use changes. One reason for this is that the framework still faces challenges for application in empirical research. Here, we offer a qualitative operationalization of the telecoupling framework to explore its relevance and applicability in a case of local land-use change. Investigating the case of a recent boom in commercial banana cultivation in Luang Namtha Province, Lao PDR, we use a grounded empirical approach starting with the observed land-use change at the village level. We then trace flows and distal processes influencing the conversion to banana cultivation from the perspectives and experiences of the local actors involved. The results identify four prominent material and immaterial telecouplings at various spatial and temporal scales, as well as some potential feedbacks. This complexity points to the need for interdisciplinary research because the processes involved in creating telecoupled land-use change transcend the boundaries of any one discipline. Overall, however, telecoupling presents a strong heuristic lens for examining and describing distal causal relations in land-use change in a manner that does not favor a specific analytical scale or type of interaction.
KW - case-study research
KW - Chinese investments
KW - distal flows
KW - feedbacks
KW - land systems
KW - land-use change
KW - Laos
KW - qualitative research
KW - telecoupling
KW - GLOBAL PRODUCTION NETWORKS
KW - POLITICAL ECOLOGY
KW - CLIMATE-CHANGE
KW - SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
KW - SYSTEM SCIENCE
KW - CHALLENGES
KW - GLOBALIZATION
KW - TELECONNECTIONS
KW - VULNERABILITY
KW - LIVELIHOODS
U2 - 10.5751/ES-09480-220430
DO - 10.5751/ES-09480-220430
M3 - Journal article
VL - 22
JO - Ecology and Society
JF - Ecology and Society
SN - 1708-3087
IS - 4
M1 - 30
ER -
ID: 245279772