#socioecology

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a survey of basic ecological issues of the environment

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New Zealand Ecology Society Conference 25th - 29th November 2018

I have just gotten back from spending the last week in Wellington where I was lucky enough to present my research on taking a socioecological approach to conservation in the Virunga National Park during the “Social” session on Wednesday. The abstract for my conference paper is above, and my slides are below.

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Here are some Landsat imagery of the southern section of the Virunga National Park in 1987, 2001 and then this year. Around the Volcanoes on the east side of the image the boundary of the park is very clear, with their being almost no buffer zone between local populations and the park. Evidence of volcanic eruptions is also visible in the centre of the image on the Northern shores of Lake Kivu. 

Using Landsat viewer (if you’re interested in Remote Sensing just have a look around this data, it’s amazing:https://landsatlook.usgs.gov/ you do need an account but it’s quick to set up), I’m able to zoom right in and see what this different actually looks like on a much finer scale:

You can see the very obvious greener border area in straight lines and the markings of what appear to terraced farming/agricultural plots (a visual comparison in 2015 show this land as all forested/grassland at the same time of the year).

Next year my research will focus on quantifying the forest loss in the Virunga National Park region of the eastern DRC over time, and looking to attribute social drivers to that loss, using my work this year which has given me a fantastic grounding in the social institutions, complexities and issues in this region as a springboard. As part of my research this year I have read so many oversimplified versions of conflict in the DRC, or the reasons why people need to make sue of forest resources, and the local people are criminalised for these actions. Technically, the removal of any resources from the protected area is illegal, but as I write my discussion section for my current report I am really enjoying interrogating this criminilisation frame and asking what other choice these people are given, and what other types of action the political/social and environmental infrastructure at the time of events like the Rwandan Refugee Crisis and Rwandan Civil War in 1994 would have made available. It is one thing to criminalise a population in media articles when there is a potential alternative (although still not a good thing!), but another to oversimplify conflict dynamics when there has not and is not an alternative option available for such a dense human population (some of the densest in Africa (Grey & kaplers, 2005)).

-  Grey, M., & Kaplers, J. (2005). Ranger based monitoring in the Virunga-Bwindi region of East-Central Africa: A simple data collection tool for park management

I think the onus is on the western audience (i.e us) who readily absorb these frames without question, nor think about the implications these frames could have for local people. Completing this research has forced me to reassess so many of my own biases and has changed how I view the world around me and media articles. There are implications of news media framing in Africa and the DRC that I argue are negative, and I’m looking forward to being able to share those findings!

Media framing is starting to be researched a bit more in literature (and I’m excited to be part of it); here is a really, really great paper:

- Braczokowski et al. (2018). Reach and messages of the world's largest ivory burn

And here’s a quick news article about if you don’t have time to read the whole thing although I thoroughly recommend it! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180305093039.htm

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My first experience in socioecology

For a while I thought I had only really gotten into socioecology last year, but upon reflection, I think this was when I first labelled what I was interested in as socioecology but I had worked in that space for a while. I recently remembered an essay I wrote way back in my first year titled “The impact of freshwater contamination in Aotearoa, New Zealand, on the cultural health of the Māori tangata whenua”

his assessment way meant to be about the way an environmental issue affected human health, and while most people choose things like air pollution and respiratory health (an awesome topic as it is!) I looked more holistically at cultural identity/indigenous health/mental health. I was told by my lecturer that this wasn’t an appropriate topic as cultural identity wasn’t as aspect of health. But I stuck to my guns and all the past couple of years of my degree have taught me are the complete opposite! The incorporation of indigenous cultures into conservation action are highly important actions, and to do that I think we need to understand the cultural contexts which these values exist within.

Here’s my very old concluding statements from that essay

“In conclusion, man-made freshwater contamination in Aotearoa is an issue for the Māori tangata whenua because the contamination causes the mixing of waters from two different sources with different mauri levels. This mauri is the source of life for all aspects of the environment, and the interconnectedness of the environment in Māori culture means that eventually the iwi will be affected by freshwater contamination (Harmsworth & Awatere, 2013), and there may be vast negative effects on Māori cultural health. These effects can extend to the gathering of kai, the ability to practice traditions and continue in their role as kaitiaki (Kingi, 2006), as the environment is an integral part of Māori culture, as shown by an individual’s whakapapa and whakatauukī to show one’s place of belonging (Waitangi Tribunal, 2012).”

In the end, I got a good grade for that essay and some wonderful feedback. Push boundaries, advocate for what you’re passionate about and push back when people illegitimise those passions. You never know where they will lead; now I’m looking at international media framing, local people and conservation in complex conflict zones in Central Africa, the first in the world to do so. Using the same values of people and conservation, and needing to understand those people to cater for their needs and values in our actions.

The papers I referenced can be found here:

- Kingi, T. (2006). The treaty of Waitangi and  Māori health

- Harmsworth, G. H., & Awatere, S. (2013). Indigenous  Māori knowledge and perspectives of ecosystems

- Waitangi Tribunal Wai262 report Flora and Fauna Claim Report

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Walden

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...

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Classical single variable/hypothesis studies rooted in one or two disciplines are still most common, leading to incremental growth in knowledge about the natural or social system, but rarely both. The recognition of human dimensions is a key aspect of successful planning and implementation in natural resource management, ecosystem-based management, fisheries management, and marine conservation.

Leenhardt et al. (2015)

Weekend reading sorted!

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Reasons I think the natural environment is pretty incredible all from my recent solo three-week hike across Rakiura (Stewart Island). Nature has always been my recharge space, and I recognise the ecocentric value of the environment, and it is the recognition of the interplay between nature and the world around us that has driven towards being passionate about this discipline. 

Mace, G. (2014). Ecology. Whose conservation? (in Science) explains the current framings of conservation in our society and the implications of each, how they interplay and what it could mean pragmatically. The figure below is soucred from this paper

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To do community-based conservation, you need to understand the social context and social values of the area within which you are working. 

To learn more check out the rare Theory of Change for Community-based Conservation report (2015) which can be viewed here: https://www.rare.org/sites/default/files/ToC_Booklet_Final_Rare.pdf

They do such an awesome job of breaking down what is quite a complex process, and they present it in the form of this wonderful diagram!

Both those Figures, and the cover photo, are sourced from rare (2015).

In addition, there’s another great paper on this rough topic of community engagement, the rare model and why engaging stakeholders in the local context is Sowards, S. K., Tarin, C. A., & Upton, S. D. (2017). Place-Based Dialogics: adaptive cultural and interpersonal approaches to environmental conservation 

Sowards et al., (2015) concluded by saying “Finally, our analysis highlights the importance of finding culturally appropriate and specific strategies to deal with complex environmental problems.”