Announcements

  • Call for papers: Special issue on “Nepal’s Community Forestry at the crossroad”

    2023-11-05

    New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy

    Vol 10 (1), 2024

    Community forestry has long been acclaimed as a successful community-based forest management model in achieving local democracy, forest restoration, livelihoods and decentralization. However, forest-people relationships conceptualized in the 1970s to develop models of community forestry have changed substantially today as new and different socio-economic conditions are emerging and forest dynamics are shifting according to the changed socio-economic processes. These social and ecological changes have also resulted changed local collective action. Nevertheless, there is limited understanding on what challenges and opportunities these changes bring for the community forestry and in what ways new collective action practices are shaping forestry in Nepal. These comprehensive and complex changes and dynamics demand a rigorous scholarly attention to understand the nature, scale and influence of such changes that will pave the way for future direction of the management of the community-based forest managements in general.

    In this context, Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) is pleased to call for the papers covering broad and diverse dimensions of the community forestry in the changing context of Nepal for the special issue of the “New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy”. We welcome researchers and practitioners to submit research articles related, but not limited to the following themes:

    • Institutional evolution, innovations and challenges of community forestry (CF) in the changing context triggered by factors such as climate, migration, remittances etc.
    • The changing role of women, gender-based constraints (or opportunities) in the management of community forestry, particularly in the context of increasing male-outmigration.
    • Changes in the forest conditions and community dynamics and the state response to forest management.
    • Impact of socio-economic-ecological changes in participation and community collective action.
    • Institutional incentives to the community that maintain (and promote) community forestry
    • Scientific forestry and technical forest management
    • Community innovations and shifting collective action
    • Community forestry and climate change.
    • Community forestry, biodiversity and ecosystem services
    • Forest-based enterprise and commercialization
    • Changing community-forest relations
    • Democracy, decentralization and community

    We hope to publish four broad types of articles, i.e., analytical research papers, opinion/commentary pieces, literary review articles and empirically oriented essays highlighting insights based on practice-based knowledge from the field. The research papers can include articles that are based on rich empirical data, preferably collected fresh from the field. However, rigorous analysis of secondary/historical sources will also be accepted. Shorter opinion pieces/commentary will also be accepted. All articles need to be guided by a well-formulated purpose and clearly defined research questions.

    Please send your abstracts of 200-300 words for the research paper, review article, opinion piece or empiric reports together with a short bio of author/s of 150-200 words to newangle@sias-southasia.org by 15th January 2024. English is the preferred language of the publication and we are eager to publish articles in Nepali language as well. The deadline for submission of full contributions will be 1st April 2024.  

    Chief Editor: Dr. Dil Khatri

    Special Issue Editors: Dr Govinda Paudel, Dr Dinesh Paudel, Dr Rajan Parajuli and Dr Prativa Sapkota

    Managing Editor: Binod Adhikari

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  • Call for papers: Special issue on Women’s empowerment in natural resources management in the Himalayas

    2023-02-10

    NEW ANGLE: NEPAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY

    Vol 9(1) 2023

    The agro-forestry entrepreneurial ecosystem that has already been strained by climate change has been further aggravated by COVID-19 and women face the major brunt of burden. Some of the impacts on women’s entrepreneurial environment include increased care responsibilities, loss of jobs, collapse of women-led enterprises and decline in entrepreneurial sales. This has had a disproportionate impact on women that cuts across different ages, castes, ethnicities, income groups and educational levels. As a result of constricting environments at the socio-cultural, political and economic domains, women’s entrepreneurial capabilities, productive work and financial resources have been constrained. In response, women entrepreneurs and researchers alike are increasingly exploring perspectives on what constitutes a gender responsive and shock resilient entrepreneurial ecosystem for women in Nepal and the wider Himalayan context, striving to better understand how such a supportive environment can be created.

    These and connected issues are placed within a wider empirical context and academic debate related to gendered socio-ecologies. This special issue looks to highlight different perspectives on women’s empowerment as related to intersectional relations including gender, relations to other species as well as diverse local power relations. Insights from initiatives resulting in transformed gender relations are particularly welcome. Against this backdrop, Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) is pleased to call for papers for a special issue of the New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy entitled, “Women’s empowerment in natural resources management in the Himalayas”. We welcome researchers and other academics, professionals, national and international organisations, and graduate students working in Nepal and other Himalayan countries to submit their research articles in this special issue. 

    We encourage perspectives and experiences around issues including, but not limited to:

    • Gender and intersectional analysis of agro-forestry production, value chains and related digital technology
    • Gender-based constraints to women’s economic self-sufficiency
    • Gender responsive and shock resilient entrepreneurial ecosystems
    • Multispecies relations in agriculture, forest-based production and related value chains
    • Participatory and action-research based methodologies
    • Gendered access to digital technology (e.g., marketing) and FinTech
    • Social capital, norms and values shaping women’s economic empowerment
    • Policies and regulatory arrangements critical to women’s space in agriculture and forestry value chains
    • Budgetary and programmatic links to women’s economic empowerment
    • Impact of COVID-19 on women entrepreneurs
    • Climate change impact on women led/engaged enterprises.

    We accept four broad types of articles, i.e., analytical research papers, opinion/commentary pieces, literary review articles and empirically oriented essays highlighting insights based on practice-based knowledge from the field. The research papers can include articles that are based on rich empirical data, preferably collected fresh from the field. However, rigorous analysis of secondary/historical sources will also be accepted. Shorter opinion pieces/commentary will also be accepted. All articles need to be guided by a well-formulated purpose and clearly defined research questions.

    Please send your abstracts of 200-300 words for the research paper, review article, opinion piece or empiric reports together with a short bio of author/s of 150-200 words to info@newangle.sias-southasia.org by 31st March 2023. All pieces will be in English and the deadline for submission of full contributions will be 1st June 2023.  

    Chief Editor: Dr. Dil B. Khatri

    Special Issue Editors: Dr. Andrea Petitt, Dr. Meeta Sainju Pradhan, Dr. Mani Ram Banjade, Rachana Upadhyaya and Gyanu Maskey

    Managing Editor: Parbati Pandey

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  • Call for papers: Special Issue on Understanding Changing Livelihoods, Vulnerability and COVID-19 Pandemic (Closed)

    2021-07-05

    Call for papers

    New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy

    Special Issue on

    Understanding the Changing Livelihoods, Vulnerability and COVID-19 Pandemic

     

    The last few decades have witnessed changes in the livelihoods of the people that has manifested in the form of transition from traditional to commercial agriculture and growing off-farm employment activities such as (foreign labor) migration, small business, wage laboring etc. This change in livelihood has been catalysed by socio-economic and political change, particularly through market expansion, access to basic infrastructures such as road, electricity, information and communication technologies and improvement in education.

     

    However, both farm and non-farm-based sources of livelihoods are ridden with multiple challenges. On the one hand, there is a wide range of factors such as the size of land, shortage of labor, water, and damage of crops by wild animals that is making farming challenging and is pushing rural people towards exploring new sources of livelihood. On the other hand, globalisation has opened up opportunities for people to join the international labour market, though in precarious working conditions.

     

    COVID-19 and associated disease control measures have brought unprecedented disruptions to the lives of people around the world. In the Himalayan region, where the population is already vulnerable to the shocks related to climate change, strict lockdown imposed to control the spread of COVID-19 disease caused loss of income due to diminished income-generating opportunities, and disruption in the social services, broken supply chain, and more. The shock of COVID-19 experienced in tandem with other existing stressors exacerbated the pre-existing vulnerabilities of the people in the region. While there is a broad understanding that COVID-19 has deepened social, political, and economic inequities on multiple fronts, much is yet to be understood about the longer-term impacts of the pandemic in the Himalayan region. Therefore, it is pertinent to ask how COVID-19 impacts livelihoods vulnerability in the Himalayan region.

     

    This special issue of New Angle – Understanding the Changing Livelihoods, Vulnerability and COVID-19 Pandemic focuses on building and further deepening the understanding of the short-term and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on livelihoods and the responses adopted at the local level to cope with the crisis. To that end, we invite papers including but not limited to the following themes.

     

    • Changing dynamics of livelihood strategies and practices
    • Understanding the livelihood vulnerability
    • Impacts of COVID-19 on the livelihoods
    • Policy and institutional aspects of COVID-19 containment
    • People’s responses to COVID-19 related situations
    • Changing dynamics of migration and remittance in the face of COVID-19
    • Local responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and lessons
    • Local innovations for adaptation in the new normal

    Deadline for submission: Send your abstract (250-300 words) of the manuscript by August 31st, 2021 and full paper by December 31st, 2021 to the following email address: gyanu@sias-southasia.org or maskeygyanu@gmail.com

     

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  • Call for Papers :Special issue on Urbanisation and Disaster Risks in the Himalaya (Closed)

    2020-08-17

    CALL FOR PAPERS

    NEW ANGLE: NEPAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY

    Chief Editor : Dr. Dil B. Khatri

    Editors : Dr. Dilli Prasad Poudel , Dr. Anushiya Shrestha

    Guest editor : Dr. Jonathan Ensor University of York, United Kingdom

    Managing editor: Gyanu Maskey

    Special issue on Urbanisation and Disaster Risks in the Himalaya

    The Himalaya region, having an active geology and dynamic geography, frequently experiences hazards of high magnitudes and intensities such as flood, landslide, earthquake, fire, avalanche, storm and epidemic, as well as everyday accidents. These events kill hundreds of people and damage property and resources every year, undermining the development of the region. Rapid urban population growth in the region has led to increasingly dense urban settlements, and the risk of disasters in these settings demands urgent attention. In many contexts, urban governance initiatives are prioritising improved resilience to potential disasters, devising plans and policies and undertaking infrastructure and development activities (led by both governmental and non-governmental organisations). However, not all urban dwellers have received equal attention, leaving some more vulnerable than others. Given the nature of Himalayan people’s exposure to multi-hazard risks, understanding diverse experiences and perceptions of risks, root causes of risks (bio-physical, and socio-technical and political-institutional), and the underlying narratives that inform differential responses and abilities to deal with and reduce such risks are crucial. Such scrutiny can help in enhancing the risk management abilities and resilience of marginalised dwellers and their representatives, setting the ground for more equitable and resilient cities. Furthermore, such nuanced interpretations help to expose how risk management institutions and actors interact, and how urban governance assemblages explicitly or implicitly prioritise development activities in multi-hazards contexts. Exploring local risks, urban dwellers’ needs, narratives, institutions, and practices will, therefore, not only be an instrument to make local communities aware of the future risk of hazards and disasters but also indicate policy solutions for future planning to mitigate and prepare for them.

    For example, the urban areas and populations in Nepal are rapidly explanding primarily due to rural-urban migration and the conversion of seemingly rural areas into municipalities. Urban governance, particularly in the newly declared urban areas (e.g., ‘smart cities’ of Kathmandu), frequently lack institutional capacity, infrastructure and knowledge for disaster preparedness, exposing ‘new urban’ residents to multi-hazard risks. Additionally, the exposure to multi-hazard risk and effects of disasters on residents vary along the lines of formal to informal settlements, class, caste/ethnicity, gender, and ability and access to local political economy. Understanding disaster risk and urban social vulnerability and resilience can, therefore, be a pragmatic entry point to foresee tomorrow’s safer city.

    Against this backdrop, Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) is pleased to call for papers for a special issue of the New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy entitled, “Urbanisation and Disaster Risks in the Himalaya”. We welcome researchers, academicians, professionals, national and international organisations, and graduate students from Nepal and other Himalayan countries to submit their research articles in this special issue. The knowledge generated from this publication will help improve awareness of potential risks and risk reduction strategies, contribute to enhancing knowledge on disaster governance, and help city and national governments to better understand and undertake necessary steps to plan for and reduce the risk of present and future cities.

    We are looking for original research and review papers on one or more of the following themes

    • Understanding Risk: Types of urban risks and how they are framed in narratives of risk that exist among urban dwellers, stakeholders, networks of actors, and how these framings relate to stakeholders’ and actors’ interests and interactions
    • Understanding Disaster Risk governance: Structures of urban disaster risk reduction (DRR) governance, including roles & responsibilities, forms of authority, and interactions among and between formal and informal DRR actors and institutions, and the effects on vulnerability and resilience among different groups.
    • Understanding Resilience: Narratives of resilience that exist among local to national stakeholders and institutions, their relative influence, and how they are informed and reproduced over time. Everyday lived experiences of resilience, post-disaster community coping/adaptation strategies and mechanisms.
    • Political Capabilities: How urban social structures (e.g., caste/ethnicity, gender, class such as formal/informal settlements, house owners/tenants) and their corresponding risks, vulnerabilities, resilience, planning capacities, and access to scalar political economy, connect to political capabilities (i.e., ability to determine risk reduction and development trajectories through access to and influence over local institutions, politics, infrastructures, markets).
    • Recovery and Disaster: Post 2015 earthquake recovery and rehabilitation endeavors, effect and response to yearly flooding, extreme rainfall, landslides, and inundation both in urban centers and peri-urban spaces.
    • Policy and Planning: Policy, planning and governance initiatives for tomorrow’s cities, including risk reduction, disaster response, development-disaster risk trade-offs and the role of technology innovations in disaster management.

    Deadline for submission: Send abstract by 15th March 2020 and full paper by 31st July 2020 to editors in following email address:

    Gyanu Maskey (Email: gyanu@sias-southasia.org and maskeygyanu@gmail.com

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