Thank you for visiting my page.If you are interested in keywords such as conflict, civil war, communal conflicts, and natural resources, please take a look at:"Political Geography of Conflict in Mindanao, the Philippines: Dynamics of Conflict and Natural Resources" which is in a poster format.
Coastal ecosystems consist of diverse habitats, such as reed beds, salt marshes, mangrove swamps,... more Coastal ecosystems consist of diverse habitats, such as reed beds, salt marshes, mangrove swamps, tidal flats, river deltas, seagrass fields, coral reefs, sandy/rocky-shore beaches and other habitats that harbour biodiversity. The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 caused severe damage to one-third of the fishing communities along the Pacific Ocean of northeastern Japan. Coastal species, such as seagrasses, function as nursery areas for commercially important species. Coastal ecosystems provide natural infrastructure for the prevention and reduction of hazardous events, a process known as ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR). The preparation of topographic and thematic maps of coastal marine environments is essential to establish and visualise the concept of Eco-DRR. Experience gained following the Japanese earthquake, as well as examples from Indonesia and Thailand in the wake of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami showed that Eco-DRR is an affordable and sustainable appr...
International Conference on Building Resilience -Book of Papers, 2018
The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused damage to one third of the fishing communities alo... more The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused damage to one third of the fishing communities along the Pacific ocean of the Tohoku coastal area. The Tohoku Ecosystem Associated Marine Science (TEAMS) project was launched in 2011 to track and monitor changes in coastal marine environment and ecosystems, and to deliver science-based information relating to fishing grounds and coastal marine environment to fishing cooperatives and fishermen. The objective of this project is to disseminate scientific findings pertaining to marine ecosystems so that fishermen and fishing communities are informed of the impacts and recovery of marine ecosystem. For example, a sample site observed damage and disappearance of seaweeds immediately after the earthquake, however after a certain period of time showed signs of recovery. Fishing industry is entirely dependent on coastal marine ecosystem and thus dissemination of science-based information during the recovery phase has-and still remains-as challenging yet important task. Interviews were conducted to find how fishermen responded after the earthquake and tsunami. Findings from fieldwork involving interviews and participant observation suggest fishermen were aware of the environmental pressure caused by the overcrowding of aquaculture rafts in the bay and its negative impact on the growth of marine species like oyster, and post tsunami opted for sustainable aquaculture methods.
Low-intensity communal conflicts that simmer in the shadow of large-scale fighting between govern... more Low-intensity communal conflicts that simmer in the shadow of large-scale fighting between government and insurgency groups have been generally over- looked in the study of civil war. This article examines the causal mechanisms of communal conflicts as they relate to an ongoing civil war, and questions the connections between violence in communal conflicts and civil war. The nature of communal violence involves not only local civilians as protagonists but other loosely organized armed groups, including lightly armed guards, gangs, and paramilitary forces that have personal or professional connections to an insurgency group. Drawing on cases of interclan violence in the Muslim- dominated area of the southern Philippines, this study finds causal pathways of the dynamics of violence that embroil civil war actors and non-state armed actors in communal conflict between Muslim clan groups. It demonstrates how the dynamics change when political elites vying for local votes intervene in interclan conflicts and outsource paramilitary groups as guns-for-hire to take part in clan conflict retaliation, leading to an escalation of the violence. This further invites state-level armed actors such as the Philippine Army and Muslim insurgency groups to side with the paramilitary groups.
This study postulates that escalation of clan feuds pertaining to group competition over the acce... more This study postulates that escalation of clan feuds pertaining to group competition over the access to ancestral land and natural resources provide the opportunity for Muslim rebellions and government forces to intervene the communal violence. As violence in the community burgeon, inter-clan disputes are interchanged into insurgency conflict because various modes of assistance –financial, human resource/private armies, and weaponry- from its ally groups provide opportunity for clan-feudings to escalate into a full-fledged civil war. The study examines the role of land and natural resources on conflict dynamics, and how clan conflict dynamics contribute to the onset of insurgency violence by taking into account the ancestral land ownership and natural resource ownership as an intervening factor of the micro-meso violence interaction mechanism. The study maps the geographical location of inter-clan and insurgency conflicts, and the location of natural resources (metallic and non-metallic minerals) using GIS, which helps to examine the role of geography and space in the conflict literature. This mapping tool helps unravel the micro-foundations of the Mindanao conflict, and sheds light on the reasoning behind the actors’ engagement to conflict from a geo-political analysis providing further implications on how –and not just where- actors engage in political violence. The study concludes that communal cleavages pertaining to political rivalry and land ownership between families spillover to large-scale conflict by harnessing the social-capital of the clan and kinship family groups.
The study is aimed at investigating the solution to sub-national conflicts. We focus on one of th... more The study is aimed at investigating the solution to sub-national conflicts. We focus on one of the root causes of sub-national conflicts, which is the un-equal distribution of wealth. From an in-depth case study of Mindanao, the Philippines, we find that insufficient governance over mineral resources induces inequality in the distribution of wealth, which drives people to engage in violent conflicts and impede mineral resources development projects. To provide a solution to this problem, our study proposes the application of a web-GIS system as a tool to conduct, and to achieve good mineral governance. Furthermore, we recommend international donor counterparts to assist in the capacity building training of technical experts to manage, and operate the mineral information through administration of the web-GIS system
Coastal ecosystems consist of diverse habitats, such as reed beds, salt marshes, mangrove swamps,... more Coastal ecosystems consist of diverse habitats, such as reed beds, salt marshes, mangrove swamps, tidal flats, river deltas, seagrass fields, coral reefs, sandy/rocky-shore beaches and other habitats that harbour biodiversity. The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 caused severe damage to one-third of the fishing communities along the Pacific Ocean of northeastern Japan. Coastal species, such as seagrasses, function as nursery areas for commercially important species. Coastal ecosystems provide natural infrastructure for the prevention and reduction of hazardous events, a process known as ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR). The preparation of topographic and thematic maps of coastal marine environments is essential to establish and visualise the concept of Eco-DRR. Experience gained following the Japanese earthquake, as well as examples from Indonesia and Thailand in the wake of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami showed that Eco-DRR is an affordable and sustainable appr...
International Conference on Building Resilience -Book of Papers, 2018
The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused damage to one third of the fishing communities alo... more The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused damage to one third of the fishing communities along the Pacific ocean of the Tohoku coastal area. The Tohoku Ecosystem Associated Marine Science (TEAMS) project was launched in 2011 to track and monitor changes in coastal marine environment and ecosystems, and to deliver science-based information relating to fishing grounds and coastal marine environment to fishing cooperatives and fishermen. The objective of this project is to disseminate scientific findings pertaining to marine ecosystems so that fishermen and fishing communities are informed of the impacts and recovery of marine ecosystem. For example, a sample site observed damage and disappearance of seaweeds immediately after the earthquake, however after a certain period of time showed signs of recovery. Fishing industry is entirely dependent on coastal marine ecosystem and thus dissemination of science-based information during the recovery phase has-and still remains-as challenging yet important task. Interviews were conducted to find how fishermen responded after the earthquake and tsunami. Findings from fieldwork involving interviews and participant observation suggest fishermen were aware of the environmental pressure caused by the overcrowding of aquaculture rafts in the bay and its negative impact on the growth of marine species like oyster, and post tsunami opted for sustainable aquaculture methods.
Low-intensity communal conflicts that simmer in the shadow of large-scale fighting between govern... more Low-intensity communal conflicts that simmer in the shadow of large-scale fighting between government and insurgency groups have been generally over- looked in the study of civil war. This article examines the causal mechanisms of communal conflicts as they relate to an ongoing civil war, and questions the connections between violence in communal conflicts and civil war. The nature of communal violence involves not only local civilians as protagonists but other loosely organized armed groups, including lightly armed guards, gangs, and paramilitary forces that have personal or professional connections to an insurgency group. Drawing on cases of interclan violence in the Muslim- dominated area of the southern Philippines, this study finds causal pathways of the dynamics of violence that embroil civil war actors and non-state armed actors in communal conflict between Muslim clan groups. It demonstrates how the dynamics change when political elites vying for local votes intervene in interclan conflicts and outsource paramilitary groups as guns-for-hire to take part in clan conflict retaliation, leading to an escalation of the violence. This further invites state-level armed actors such as the Philippine Army and Muslim insurgency groups to side with the paramilitary groups.
This study postulates that escalation of clan feuds pertaining to group competition over the acce... more This study postulates that escalation of clan feuds pertaining to group competition over the access to ancestral land and natural resources provide the opportunity for Muslim rebellions and government forces to intervene the communal violence. As violence in the community burgeon, inter-clan disputes are interchanged into insurgency conflict because various modes of assistance –financial, human resource/private armies, and weaponry- from its ally groups provide opportunity for clan-feudings to escalate into a full-fledged civil war. The study examines the role of land and natural resources on conflict dynamics, and how clan conflict dynamics contribute to the onset of insurgency violence by taking into account the ancestral land ownership and natural resource ownership as an intervening factor of the micro-meso violence interaction mechanism. The study maps the geographical location of inter-clan and insurgency conflicts, and the location of natural resources (metallic and non-metallic minerals) using GIS, which helps to examine the role of geography and space in the conflict literature. This mapping tool helps unravel the micro-foundations of the Mindanao conflict, and sheds light on the reasoning behind the actors’ engagement to conflict from a geo-political analysis providing further implications on how –and not just where- actors engage in political violence. The study concludes that communal cleavages pertaining to political rivalry and land ownership between families spillover to large-scale conflict by harnessing the social-capital of the clan and kinship family groups.
The study is aimed at investigating the solution to sub-national conflicts. We focus on one of th... more The study is aimed at investigating the solution to sub-national conflicts. We focus on one of the root causes of sub-national conflicts, which is the un-equal distribution of wealth. From an in-depth case study of Mindanao, the Philippines, we find that insufficient governance over mineral resources induces inequality in the distribution of wealth, which drives people to engage in violent conflicts and impede mineral resources development projects. To provide a solution to this problem, our study proposes the application of a web-GIS system as a tool to conduct, and to achieve good mineral governance. Furthermore, we recommend international donor counterparts to assist in the capacity building training of technical experts to manage, and operate the mineral information through administration of the web-GIS system
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