Thornton, Thomashttp://hdl.handle.net/11122/100002024-03-29T01:58:32Z2024-03-29T01:58:32ZMeals in the melting-pot: Immigration and dietary change in diversifying citiesRule, Nicola FrancesDring, Colin CharlesThornton, Thomas F.http://hdl.handle.net/11122/122702021-10-16T01:04:29Z2021-09-30T00:00:00ZMeals in the melting-pot: Immigration and dietary change in diversifying cities
Rule, Nicola Frances; Dring, Colin Charles; Thornton, Thomas F.
Changes in diets and food practices have implications for personal and planetary health. As these implications have become more apparent, dietary change interventions that seek to promote healthy and sustainable transitions have proliferated, and the processes and drivers of dietary change have come under increasing scrutiny. In particular, dietary acculturation has been recognised as a driver of dietary change in the context of immigration to expanding, cosmopolitan cities. However, research has largely focused on changes in the diets of immigrants and ethnic minorities. In contrast, this study contributes to our understanding of the process of dietary acculturation among the largest population groups in Vancouver, Canada — Chinese- and European-Canadians — in the context of the rapid diversification of the population and food environments in this city. This is done through the analysis of descriptive and contextualised interview and observational data, and a focus on social practices. These data show that food practices, particularly in cosmopolitan urban contexts, are constantly in flux, as diverse ethnic groups come into contact, and new generations develop their own hybrid food cultures. By demonstrating and theorising this process of dietary acculturation, this research offers insights how cultural interactions relate to dietary transitions. It presents an exploratory model for considering how food practices change through dietary acculturation, which is relevant to the design of interventions that aim to support healthier and more sustainable dietary transitions.
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105728.
2021-09-30T00:00:00ZIndigenous uses of wild and tended plant biodiversity maintain ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes of the Terai Plains of Nepal.Thorn, J.P.Thornton, T. F.Helfgott, A.Willis, K. J.http://hdl.handle.net/11122/111152020-06-13T01:01:45Z2020-06-08T00:00:00ZIndigenous uses of wild and tended plant biodiversity maintain ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes of the Terai Plains of Nepal.
Thorn, J.P.; Thornton, T. F.; Helfgott, A.; Willis, K. J.
Background: Despite a rapidly accumulating evidence base quantifying ecosystem services, the role of biodiversity in the maintenance of ecosystem services in shared human-nature environments is still understudied, as is how indigenous and agriculturally dependent communities perceive, use, and manage biodiversity. The present study aims to document traditional ethnobotanical knowledge of the ecosystem service benefits derived from wild and tended plants in rice-cultivated agroecosystems, compare this to botanical surveys, and analyze the extent to which ecosystem services contribute social-ecological resilience in the Terai Plains of Nepal.
Method: Sampling was carried out in four landscapes, 22 Village District Committees, and 40 wards in the monsoon season. Data collection was based on transects walks to collect plant specimens, structured and semi structured interviews, and participatory fieldwork in and around home gardens, farms, and production landscapes. We asked 180 farmers to free-list vernacular names and describe use-value of wild and tended plants in rice cultivated agroecosystems. Uses were categorized into eight broad groupings, and 61 biomedical ailment classifications. We assessed if knowledge of plant species diversity and abundance differed with regard to caste, age, and gender.
Results: Nepalese farmers have a deep knowledge of the use and management of the 391 vascular plant specimens identified, which provide key provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural ecosystem services. Altogether, plants belong to 76 distinct plant species from 49 phylogenetic families: 56 are used to cure 61 ailments, 27 for rituals, 25 for food, 20 for timber, 17 for fuel, 17 for fodder, 11 for soil enhancement, and eight for pesticides. Four caste groups have statistically different knowledge, and younger informants report a lower average number of useful plants.
Conclusion: Agricultural landscapes in Nepal are reservoirs of biodiversity. The knowledge of the use of wild and tended plant species in and around these farms differs by the caste and age group of land manager. Conducting research on agroecosystems will contribute to a deeper understanding of how nature is perceived by locals, to more efficient management and conservation of the breadbasket of Nepal, and to the conservation of valuable, but disappearing traditional knowledge and practice.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the Terai rural communities for generously sparing their time to share their knowledge with us, and in particular Bhim Chaudhury, Rhada Chaudhury, Mangu Chaudhury, Shem Narayan Chaudhary, Laksmi Chaudhury, Jhup Lal Bhudhathoki, Chandra Kumari Mahata, Hiramati Grau, Kopila Paudel, and Garima Women Farmers’ Cooperative and
Sagarmatha’s Women’s Group. Many thanks to Surya Bahadur Thapa of the Friends Service Council Nepal (FSCN), Ugan Manandhar of WWF Nepal, and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council for providing in-country institutional support. Anita Bake and Dev Kala Dumre (FSCN) and Renu Shakya (independent translator) assisted in fieldwork translation. Assistance in identifying plant specimens was provided by Narayan Panday and Mitra Pathak of the National Herbarium Laboratories, Godawari, Lalitpur. We thank Adam Hejnowicz and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the earlier
versions of the manuscript.
2020-06-08T00:00:00ZFarming along desire lines: Collective action and food systems adaptation to climate change.Thornton, Thomas F.Soubry, B.Sherren, K.http://hdl.handle.net/11122/110722020-06-08T22:38:20Z2020-03-03T00:00:00ZFarming along desire lines: Collective action and food systems adaptation to climate change.
Thornton, Thomas F.; Soubry, B.; Sherren, K.
1. We examine collective action in the food system of the Canadian Maritimes to determine its effect on the resilience and adaptive capacity of food producers, distributors, retailers and governance institutions.
2. Our data suggest that beyond their immediate benefits for their participants, expressions of collective action generate higher-level impacts which often translate into drivers of adaptive capacity.
3. Drawing on a metaphor from urban design, we suggest that collective action should be considered a desire line for food systems adaptation: rather than building adaptation strategies based on top-down design, collective action emerges
from farmers’ needs and capacities to build financial resilience, enhance human and social capital and strengthen institutional agency within the system.
2020-03-03T00:00:00ZUsing traditional ecological knowledge to understand and adapt to climate and biodiversity change on the Pacific coast of North Americade Echeverria, V. R. W.Thornton, Thomas F.http://hdl.handle.net/11122/106502020-02-18T12:04:21Z2019-10-09T00:00:00ZUsing traditional ecological knowledge to understand and adapt to climate and biodiversity change on the Pacific coast of North America
de Echeverria, V. R. W.; Thornton, Thomas F.
We investigate the perceptions and impacts of climate change on 11 Indigenous communities in Northern British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. This coastal region constitutes an extremely dynamic and resilient social-ecological system where Indigenous Peoples have been adjusting to changing climate and biodiversity for millennia. The region is a bellwether for biodiversity changes in coastal, forest, and montane environments that link the arctic to more southerly latitudes on the Pacific coast. Ninety-six Elders and resource users were interviewed to record Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and observations regarding weather, landscape, and resource changes, especially as concerns what we term Cultural Keystone Indicator Species (CKIS), which provide a unique lens into the effects of environmental change. Our findings show that Indigenous residents of these communities are aware of significant environmental changes over their lifetimes, and an acceleration in changes over the last 15–20 years, not only in weather patterns, but also in the behaviour, distributions, and availability of important plants and animals. Within a broader ecological and social context of dwelling, we suggest ways this knowledge can assist communities in responding to future environmental changes using a range of place-based adaptation modes.
2019-10-09T00:00:00Z