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Durham E-Theses Resilience, Pathways and Circumstances: Unpicking livelihood threats and responses in the rural Philippines. JORDAN, GEORGINA,NORA,MARY How to cite: JORDAN, GEORGINA,NORA,MARY (2012) Resilience, Pathways and Circumstances: Unpicking livelihood threats and responses in the rural Philippines., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4433/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Resilience, Pathways and Circumstances: Unpicking livelihood threats and responses in the rural Philippines. Georgina Nora Mary Jordan The response of small scale agricultural producers in the Philippines to livelihood threats arising from market integration has received less attention than responses to other threats. The ability of agricultural producers to respond to changes in their production environment is an important component of livelihood resilience. This research unravels the patterns of livelihood response used by small scale agricultural producers in the Philippines affected by livelihood threats resulting from changes in their production environment as a result of agricultural trade liberalisation. Research was conducted at the household level using a sustainable livelihoods based approach in order to examine the following research questions: (1) Does current livelihood and disaster theory adequately account for and explain the diverse livelihood options pursued by small scale agricultural producers facing threats based on deterioration?; (2) Are current distinctions between different patterns of responses and the rationale of such responses appropriate?; (3) Are current research methods adequate to the task of picking out individualized patterns and rationales of response?; and (4) What is the role of historical factors (institutional and personal) of past events – in moulding patterns of response? Findings from this study contribute to the limited existing empirical data on livelihood strategies in Mindanao. In particular the research shows that while current research methods capture the various livelihood activities that people engage in, they tend to take a static view of livelihoods, failing to capture the complexity of historical influences on livelihoods and livelihood pathways over time. The findings from the study also demonstrate that factors beyond context which are embedded in personal circumstance play a significant role in the rationale and patterns of livelihood response used by small scale producers in the research sites. The implications of these findings are considered from a wider policy and practice perspective and recommendations as regards the future directions of current research methods are presented. Resilience, Pathways and Circumstances: Unpicking livelihood threats and responses in the rural Philippines. Georgina Nora Mary Jordan Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography Durham University 2012 Table of contents Table of contents................................................................................................................ i List of Figures ................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Boxes ...................................................................................................................... xi List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................. xii Declaration ....................................................................................................................... xv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... xvi Dedication ..................................................................................................................... xviii 1 Chapter One: Introducing Livelihood Threats and Responses in the Rural Philippines ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 General Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Rationale for the study ........................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research aims and research questions ................................................................. 11 1.4 Structure of the thesis .......................................................................................... 13 2 Chapter Two: Livelihoods Research, Livelihood Threats and Livelihood Response: where from, where to? ................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 16 2.2 The Sustainable Livelihood Approach: origins and directions ................................ 18 2.3 Components and measurements of Sustainable Livelihood analysis ..................... 24 2.4 Livelihood research: a pillar of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach .................. 33 i 2.5 Disaster Risk Reduction theory and vulnerability .................................................. 37 2.5.1 The multiple faces of vulnerability ................................................................................... 40 2.5.2 Capacity as a component of vulnerability ......................................................................... 45 2.6 Livelihood strategies, portfolios and pathways in the wider vulnerability context 52 2.7 Issues and challenges of current approaches ........................................................ 55 2.7.1 Livelihood research: moving forward ............................................................................... 58 2.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 62 3 Chapter Three: Methodology .............................................................................. 63 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 63 3.2 Justification of research approach ........................................................................ 65 3.3 Security Considerations ........................................................................................ 68 3.4 Rationale for case strategies and selection ........................................................... 69 3.4.1 The household as a unit of analysis .................................................................................. 74 3.5 Methods ............................................................................................................... 76 3.5.1 Exploratory key informant interviews (non-commodity specific) ...................................... 82 3.5.2 Banana Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries focus groups ........................................................ 83 3.5.3 Corn Industry key informant semi structured survey ........................................................ 84 3.5.4 Producer Survey .............................................................................................................. 85 3.5.5 20 Case Studies across the Philippines ............................................................................. 94 3.5.6 PRA workshops ................................................................................................................ 96 3.5.7 Life story workshops ...................................................................................................... 102 3.6 Data analysis ...................................................................................................... 105 3.7 Research constraints, ethical considerations and positionality when working in another culture .............................................................................................................. 109 3.8 Reliability and validity ........................................................................................ 115 3.9 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 116 ii 4 Chapter Four: The Philippine Vulnerability Context ......................................... 118 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 118 4.2 The Philippine Context ....................................................................................... 120 4.2.1 Philippine agriculture and the corn industry .................................................................