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Within this area, case studies could range from a broad overview of the general characteristics. potentialities and constraints of marginal regions to specific studies of particular resource systems in a marginal area. such as sago in coastal swamps. Studies are also needed of types of resource systems in particular marginal areas such as shifting cultivation in a tropical highland region, or pastoralism in a semi-arid zone.
Answers to the following sorts of questions would be most useful in advancing the methodology:
1. What are the principal resources being utilized? What
factors affect their availability - where are they found, how are
they renewed, what is their niche in the local ecosystem, what
systemic factors (including human practices) affect this niche?
2. How are the resources procured and transformed? What are the
principal supplementary inputs (other basic resources, tools,
labour, knowledge, etc.) needed to accomplish this? What are the
major relationships between the resource utilization system and
the social system?
3. What are the principal end-products and how are they used?
What items are marketed and how is this marketing accomplished?
4. Can general resource utilization strategies be identified for
particular groups in particular areas? What is the history of
these strategies, how did they come to be institutionalized; what
is the extent and nature of institutionalization? What
alternative strategies were rejected along the way or what former
practices are no longer viable, and why?
5. In what ways could production of a major resource be
increased, made more efficient or of better quality, without
affecting renewability of the resource? What are the problems or
bottlenecks in the present system and how could these be
eliminated? What are the probable ecosystemic and sociocultural
costs of recommended changes? How can these be ameliorated? 6.
Are there other major renewable resources in the area not being
utilized at present that could be developed without major
changes, by existing resource system structures? What are the
probable ecosystemic and sociocultural costs involved in this?
Case studies in this area should range from general problems of equity, the satisfaction of basic human needs and social integration in culturally complex societies to problems of access in a particular sector such as education. Studies of general access problems of particular groups, or of general problems in a particular sector, are also needed. The objective of investigating equity and basic needs topics at this stage is to find out more about the mechanisms of resource attainment and denial so that an approach to adjusting a marginal resource system for equity can be more sophisticated and better suited to longterm concerns. Here again, a historical view would be useful in determining the principal factors affecting access, how these have changed over time, and why. If possible, particular lessons for marginal areas should be identified and particular characteristics of marginal groups that are applicable should be determined.
Case studies in this area could range from general charcteristics, problems and potentialities of linking traditional resource systems to international markets, to specific studies of the marketing of a particular resource abroad. Intermediate on the scale could be studies of the types of products required by international market sectors that traditional systems could conceivably provide or, looking at it from the other direction, studies of the potential or actual international uses of the types of products produced by traditional systems. Studies of this sort will, of course. be more useful when more is known about the characteristics of existing resource systems in marginal areas, but there is at present a need for preliminary research. In particular, if a researcher is able to provide detailed information on marginal resource systems, studies exploring international linkages would be useful. Information is needed about how the traditional system and the international market can best be linked in an equitable and mutually beneficial manner; the institutions that must be altered or created to provide the actual linkage; ways in which these institutions can be established so that inhabitants of marginal areas retain control; changes in product type, quality, or quantity that must be made prior to international marketing; and how these changes can be made while attending to equity and viability.
Notes
1 U.S. Agency for International Development, Environmental and Natural Resource Management in Developing Countries, Vol1, (Washington USAID. 1979), p. 22.
2. World Bank, Environment and Development (Washington: World Bank, 1979), p 7
3 USAID, op. cit. p 7.
4. Ibid., p. 19.
5 Ibid, p. 20.
6 Vernon Rullan, "Integrated Rural Developmenl Programs: A Skeptical Perspective," Intemational Development Review, Vol. XVIII, No. 4 (1975), pp. 9-16; quote at p 12.
7 Dennis A Rondinelli and Kenneth Ruddle, "Appropriate Institutions for Rural Development: Organizing Services and Technology in Developing Countries," Philippine Journal of Public Administration, Vol. XXI, No 1 (January 1977), pp 35 52.
8. Ibid.
9 H Belshaw, Agricultural Credit in Economically Underdeveloped Countries, (Rome: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 1959), p. 230.
10 John Montgomery, "Science Policy and Development Programs: Organizing Science for Government Action," World Development. Vol. 2, Nos 4-5 (April-May 1974), pp. 63 69; quote at p 65
11 Norman Uphoff and Milton Esman, focal Organization for Rural Development: Analysis of the Asian Experience. (New York: Cornell University Center for International Studies, 1974), p x'
12. Montgomery, op. cit. p 66.
13 Bruce F Johnson and Peter Kilby. Agricultural Strategies, Rural-Urban Interaction and the Expansion of Income Opportunities, (Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1973), mimeo. p. 80.
14. Development Alternatives Inc., Strategies for Small Farmer Development. An Empirical Study of Rural Development Projects, Vol 2 (Washington: DAI, 1975), pp 8 32; C31-C36
15. Ibid, pp. 9-21.
16, See Uma Lele, The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa, (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975): p 139
17. See A.G. Chandovarkar, "Interest Rate Policies in Developing Countries," Finance and Development, No 1 (1970), pp 19-27, McKinnon, op cit. and D.P Villonueva, "A Survey of the Financial System and the Saving-lnvestment Process in Korea and the Philippines," Finance and Development, No 2 11971), pp 16 19
18. See for example, C E. Taylor and D C Taylor, " Population Planning in India and Nepal," Growth and Change, Vol 7, No. 2 (April 1976), pp 9-13
19 Amara Ponsapick, "Introduction," in A Ponsapich, J. Hafner, S Veerawong, and N Sirisamphan, Institutional and Human Resource Development in the Chonbun Region, (Bangkok Chulalongkorn University Social Science Research Institute, 1974) p. 263.
20 B H Kinsey, Rural Development in Malawi A Review of the Lilongwe Land Development Programme, Washington: World Bank, 1974
21 See Harvey Choldin, "An Organizational Analysis of Rural Development Projects at Comilla, East Pakistan," Economic Development and Cultural Change. Vol 20, No 4 (July 1974), pp 671 690
22 Robert D. Berendsen, The Educational Revolution in China, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare Publication No 73-19102 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1975), p. 31
23 Development Alternatives, Inc. op cit. pp. 95-96
24 Dennis A Rondinelli, "International Assistance Policy and Development Project Administration: The Impact of Imperious Rationality," International Organization, Vol 30, No 4 (Autumn 1976), pp 573-605.
25 Robert Chambers and Deryke Belshaw, Managing Rural Development: Lessons and Methods from Eastern Africa, (Brighton, England: Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, 1973), pp. 62 63
26 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Village Water Supply, (Washington: World Bank, 1976), p 29
27 USAID, op. cit., pp 23 24
28 Three international meetings of scholars and development administrators have been held to examine the Resource Systems Approach and the problems of development of marginal areas The first, held in Honolulu, 4 14 September, 1977, was hosted and sponsored by the Technology and Development Institute of the East West Center. The aim of this small seminar was to consider the development of an appropriate curriculum for training locallevel administrators and planners in Resource Systems Methodology The second meeting, more general in scope, was held at Tagaytay City, Philippines, 29 May - 2 June, 1978, under the sponsorship of the Programme in the Use and Management of Natural Resources (NRP) of the United Nations University (UNU), and hosted by the Development Academy of the Philippines The third took place in Seoul, Republic of Korea, 29 May - 2 June, 1979 and was sponsored by the UNU-NRP and hosted by the Graduate School of International Management of Chung-Ang University The third meeting had as its objective the design and organization of an institute in Korea to undertake research and training on resource systems.
29 For a discussion of this and alternative concepts of curriculum see J Schaffarzick and D.H Hampson (eds) Strategies for Curriculum Development Berkeley: McCutchan, 1975
30 A modification of the Delphi Technique, known as the KJ Method, was used This method was developed in Japan by Professor Jiro Kawakita, who participated in the seminar For an elaboration see J Kawakita, KJ Method A Scientific Approach to Problem Solving, Tokyo; Kawakita Research Institution, 1975
31 USAID, op cit. p 22
32 The case studies undertaken or in progress cover a wide range of topics Those so far published in the Resource Systems Theory and Methodology Series of the NRP include: Dennis A Rondinelli, Spatial Analysis for Regional Development A Case Study in the Bicol River Basin of the Philippines, Resource Systems Theory and Methodology Series, No 2 Tokyo: United Nations University, 1980; Terry B. Grandstaff, Shifting Cultivation in Northern Thai/and.Possibilities for Development, Resource Systems Theory and Methodology Series, No 3, Tokyo: United Nations University, 1980; K.C. Chong, l.R. Smith and M.S Lizarondo, Economics of the Philippine Milkfish Resource System, Resource Systems Theory and Methodology Series, No 4 Tokyo: United Nations University, 1981, and Kenneth Ruddle and Wu Chuanjun (eds), Land Resources of the People's Republic of China. Resource Systems Theory and Methodology Series, No 5, Tokyo: United Nations University, 1983