Integrating Resource Access 19May2015
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Integrating Resource Access, Livelihoods and Human Health around Lake Victoria, Kenya By Kathryn Joan Fiorella A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Science, Policy & Management in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Justin S. Brashares, Chair Professor Lia H. Fernald Professor Claire Kremen Summer 2015 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Integrating Resource Access, Livelihoods and Human Health around Lake Victoria, Kenya © 2015 by Kathryn Joan Fiorella ! Abstract Integrating Resource Access, Livelihoods and Human Health around Lake Victoria, Kenya by Kathryn Joan Fiorella Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Science, Policy & Management University of California, Berkeley Professor Justin S. Brashares, Chair While ecosystem and human health have been closely linked, the mechanisms through which natural and social systems interact to support human health are rarely understood. Yet the rapid transformation of Earth’s natural systems makes appreciating the drivers and ramifications of environmental change for human health particularly critical. To illuminate these links, I analyze the effects of changing resource access on household livelihoods, food security, health and nutrition. Specifically, I use the case of Lake Victoria, Kenya, to examine ways individuals and households respond to and affect fish availability. I employ both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including a longitudinal household survey, ecological monitoring of fish catch, and qualitative in-depth interviews. My analyses examine a bi-directional relationship between fish availability and the health of people who depend on fish resources. First, I analyze how participation in fishing livelihoods affects fish consumption and food security. Next, I examine the bounds of resource availability in time and space in affecting household fish consumption. Further, I assess the impact of illness in fishers on fishing methods, and thereby fishery sustainability. Finally, I analyze how fish declines affect women’s access to fish, and, in particular, the power dynamics of transactional fish-for-sex relationships and HIV risk. Through these analyses, I aim to illuminate both the extensive effects of environmental change and mechanisms that tie the health of people and their environment. ! ! ! ! ! 1 Dedication I dedicate my dissertation to my parents, Joan and John Fiorella. I am deeply grateful to my parents for their unwavering support, especially in getting me back on my feet and as I traveled back to East Africa. ! i Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Fishing for Food? Analyzing Links Between Fishing Livelihoods and Food Security Chapter 3. Fish Availability and Household Fish Consumption Chapter 4. Effects of Human Illness on Environmental Sustainability Chapter 5. Transactional Fish-for-Sex Relationships Amid Declining Fish Access in Kenya Chapter 6. Concluding Remarks ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ii Acknowledgements I have been fortunate to receive the wisdom and guidance of two exceptional advisors: Justin Brashares and Lia Fernald. Justin, I am grateful for your dedication to mentorship, unwavering support, and enthusiasm for my interdisciplinary pursuits. My graduate school experience has been rich in exceptional opportunities to develop and lead projects and collaborations. Thank you for making these experiences possible and guiding me through them. Lia, I am grateful to you for welcoming me into your lab group, advising my studies in epidemiology and nutrition, and keeping me grounded in the study details. Thank you for championing and supporting my efforts to venture into new academic arenas. I am grateful, also, to my wonderful dissertation and orals committee members for their thoughtful input: Claire Kremen, Louise Fortmann, and Isha Ray. In addition, Matthew Potts, Craig Cohen, Carol Camlin and Elizabeth Bukusi have offered tremendous guidance for this work. To my current and former labmates in the Brashares and Fernald Labs, thank you for your friendship, advice and encouragement. Interacting with you all has been an honor and a pleasure. To my roommates in Berkeley, Hekia Bodwitch, Charlotte Jennings, Ashley Clark, and Emily Apte, I am incredibly grateful for your perspective, emotional support, and travel companionship since the beginning of our graduate school journey. To Darrel, Hans, Stef and the staff at Trapeze Arts, thank you for keeping me grounded by teaching me to fly. My research would not have been possible without the generous participation of the Mfangano community, the enthusiasm of Organic Health Response, and the hard work and dedication of a remarkable team in Kenya. Dan Omollo, your excellent leadership and focus on community communication and capacity building have been instrumental in the success of our efforts in Kenya. Brian Mattah, your work ethic, attention to detail, and willingness to learn new programs are remarkable. To Janet, Mary Janet, Vallary, Abdi, Jacky, Maureen, Beatrice, Wilson, Julius, and Kevin, thank you for your tireless efforts in the community. To Matt Hickey, Chas Salmen, Erin Milner and Erika Gavenus thank you for your salient feedback, trouble-shooting expertise, and being the best collaborators I could ask for. Andy Lyons, your patience for database inquiries and support went far beyond the call of duty. I am deeply grateful to Pam, Mohamed, Lydia, Nancyla, Bon, Awiko, Amam, Chris, Ouma, Brian, Dawn, Toto, and Lucky, for making me a part of their family in Kenya and ensuring that my time in Kenya is rich in experiences that extend beyond research activities. Many thanks to Rachel Mwakisha, Petronilla Njenga, and Raphael Ondondo in Kenya and Leaf Grenoble, Alexis Clasca, Judy Smithson, and Roxanne Heglar for their exceptional patience in providing financial, CPHS, permitting, and administrative support. ! iii I have been fortunate to receive instrumental financial support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, and Coupled Natural and Human Systems Grant (NSF-GEO CNH115057); Philomathia Foundation; USAID Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research; Andrew and Mary Thompson Rocca Fellowship; One Health Summer Research Fellowship; Foreign Language and Area Studies; Environmental Science, Policy & Management Summer Grant, Sigma-Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research, and Sara’s Wish Foundation. Finally, I would not be where I am without my wonderfully supportive family. To my parents and Betsy, I am grateful now and always for your love, concern, encouragement. And last but certainly not least, thank you Dan, for becoming my best friend and sharing this journey with me – in triumphs, challenges, and countless flights across the US and beyond. ! iv Chapter(1.(Introduction( ( While ecosystem and human health have been closely linked (Corvalán et al. 2005; Carpenter et al. 2009), the mechanisms through which natural and social systems interact to support health are rarely understood. Researchers have long recognized that ecosystem transformation and resource access cannot be understood without consideration of the political and economic structures within which they are embedded (Robbins 2004; Ribot and Peluso 2003; Neumann 2005). Recently, the coupling of people and the environment has been theorized through a lens of coupled human and natural systems or socio-ecological systems (Liu et al. 2007b; Walker et al. 2004; Ostrom 2007). In calling for a broader interdisciplinary integration of research on social and natural systems, these efforts aim to develop new insights into the complexity and dynamism of such systems (Liu et al. 2007a; Schlueter et al. 2012; Ostrom 2009). In particular, these approaches emphasize, sustainability, resiliency and the linked fates of human and natural systems (Adger 2000; Folke 2006). Nowhere are the fates of people more closely tied to that of the environment than for individuals and households reliant on natural resource access for food and livelihoods. For the 47% of the global population living in rural areas of economically developing countries, natural resources often provide basic needs (World Bank 2013). These rural households are on the frontlines of global environmental change and resource stewardship, while coping with the highest burdens of malnutrition and poverty. For instance, fish contribute over 25% of dietary protein in many poor countries and can contribute 90% in some island states, coastal regions and inland areas near lakes (FAO 2005). At the same time, fishery sustainability is at risk in many of the world’s fisheries, particularly in the tropics (Worm et al. 2006; Pauly et al. 1998). While ecologists agree that unsustainable harvest can have catastrophic consequences for ecosystems and the services and livelihoods they provide, we need to better understand the economic, social and health factors that shape harvested systems to determine access to beneficial resources, and, ultimately, these systems sustainability. Inquiries that tie ecosystem function and human well-being are predominantly at global and regional scales (Corvalán et al. 2005). While much research has sought to understand household reliance on natural resources (Adams et al. 2004; Corvalán et al. 2005), we must integrate the dynamics of ecosystems that provision resources and feed back to affect household