Open Access

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Seychelles face challenges in food and energy security, relying heavily on imports for both. Global crises exacerbate these vulnerabili-ties, causing price and supply chain issues. To increase self-sufficiency, Seychelles aims to promote backyard farming, strengthen sustainability, and strive for 100% renewable energy. However, limited land poses challenges. Agrivoltaics, combining solar energy and agriculture, may offer a solution. This examination explores its potential through a survey of backyard farmers on Mahé, focusing on farming practices, energy use, and per-ceptions of Agrivoltaics. A survey of 29 backyard farmers on Mahé revealed that 58.5% of their land is suitable for Agrivoltaics, highlighting its potential to enhance electricity self-sufficiency, currently at 66%. Bifacial PV modules and interspace or overhead mounting systems are recom-mended, as many local crops could thrive under shading. Farmers value self-sufficiency highly, with 45% open to community projects. Opportunities for Agrivoltaics were rated positively, while barriers scored lower. Establishing a trial site and conducting further research are key steps to advancing this approach.

This article argues that Indigenous art and Indigenous tourism have become important drivers for Indigenous businesses in Australia and are interrelated to varying degrees. The article focuses on Western Australia where Indigenous art and Indigenous tourism businesses are widespread in both rural and urban areas. Indigenous art and tourism have a long history in Western Australia. Art is predominantly displayed in art centres in rural areas, and galleries and museums in urban settings. The term ‘urban’ in Western Australia is often synonymous with the city of Perth, the capital of the federal state of Western Australia and the only larger city in the state. Art centres are located in smaller towns and sometimes in very remote areas. Despite being far from any larger markets, remote from policy makers, and located in areas with poor infrastructure, Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs in Indigenous art and Indigenous tourism have nonetheless managed to successfully support Indigenous culture and the community. Indigenous tourism and Indigenous art are always caught between the cultural self-empowerment of artists and communities on the one side and the realities of commerce on the other. This tension can lead to positive developments for both tourists and artists, contributing to reducing regional disparities; but it can also manifest in negative ways for Indigenous culture. The aim of this article is to identify interrelations between Indigenous art and Indigenous tourism and to develop a model that depicts these interrelations to make such connections visible.

This paper applies the concept of Soja’s Thirdspace to the phenomenon of Lazgi dance and tourism in Uzbekistan. In doing so it analyses the different levels of perception (including Firstspace and Secondspace) of Lazgi and tourism via an autoethnographic lens. Complemented by expert interviews, the interaction of Lazgi and tourism is examined and characteristics of the Lazgisphere (world of Lazgi) in Uzbekistan are distilled. The results show that Lazgi is often directly or indirectly connected with tourism in Uzbekistan, but even more so serves to reaffirm national identity.

Network effects, economies of scale, and lock-in-effects increasingly lead to a concentration of digital resources and capabilities, hindering the free and equitable development of digital entrepreneurship, new skills, and jobs, especially in small communities and their small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”). To ensure the affordability and accessibility of technologies, promote digital entrepreneurship and community well-being, and protect digital rights, we propose data cooperatives as a vehicle for secure, trusted, and sovereign data exchange. In post-pandemic times, community/SME-led cooperatives can play a vital role by ensuring that supply chains to support digital commons are uninterrupted, resilient, and decentralized. Digital commons and data sovereignty provide communities with affordable and easy access to information and the ability to collectively negotiate data-related decisions. Moreover, cooperative commons (a) provide access to the infrastructure that underpins the modern economy, (b) preserve property rights, and (c) ensure that privatization and monopolization do not further erode self-determination, especially in a world increasingly mediated by AI. Thus, governance plays a significant role in accelerating communities’/SMEs’ digital transformation and addressing their challenges. Cooperatives thrive on digital governance and standards such as open trusted application programming interfaces (“APIs”) that increase the efficiency, technological capabilities, and capacities of participants and, most importantly, integrate, enable, and accelerate the digital transformation of SMEs in the overall process. This review article analyses an array of transformative use cases that underline the potential of cooperative data governance. These case studies exemplify how data and platform cooperatives, through their innovative value creation mechanisms, can elevate digital commons and value chains to a new dimension of collaboration, thereby addressing pressing societal issues. Guided by our research aim, we propose a policy framework that supports the practical implementation of digital federation platforms and data cooperatives. This policy blueprint intends to facilitate sustainable development in both the Global South and North, fostering equitable and inclusive data governance strategies.

In diesem Beitrag wird der finnische Tangotanztourismus unter Berücksichtigung des Konzeptes des verkörperten Raumes (Low 2003) und des Raumverständnisses von Lefebvre (1991) auf den vielschichtig miteinander verbundenen Ebenen von Körper, Kultur und Raum analysiert. Die finnische „Kultur der Schweigsamkeit“ wird in diesem Zusammenhang im Besonderen betrachtet. Methodisch werden hierbei sowohl Interviews mit Expertinnen und Experten, teilnehmende Beobachtung als auch die Auswertung von Filmmaterial herangezogen. Im Ergebnis zeigen sich vielfältige Wechselwirkungen von Körper, Kultur und Raum, die zusätzlich Potenziale für den finnischen Tangotanztourismus aufzeigen.