- Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa
A growing number of global ocean conflict studies over the last decade have set out to advance sustainability in the Anthropocene. Many of these research projects use multiple case studies to extract lessons for wider contexts. The... more
A growing number of global ocean conflict studies over the last decade have set out to advance sustainability in the Anthropocene. Many of these research projects use multiple case studies to extract lessons for wider contexts. The methods used by these studies, and the extent to which their results have validity beyond the individual case study, often remain unclear. This paper explores the challenges in performing cross-case analysis within what we denote as case-based globally focussed sustainability projects (CB-GSPs) and indicates solutions by combining information from semi-structured interviews with leading scientists from eight CB-GSPs. We identify six distinct challenges that are common across these studies with regard to generating actionable knowledge through cross-case analysis. Based on these findings, we propose a set of best practice recommendations for scientists, project partners, and funders to co-produce actionable knowledge for global projects on ocean conflict.
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SUMMARYBecause the Anthropocene by definition is an epoch during which environmental change is largely anthropogenic and driven by social, economic, psychological and political forces, environmental social scientists can effectively... more
SUMMARYBecause the Anthropocene by definition is an epoch during which environmental change is largely anthropogenic and driven by social, economic, psychological and political forces, environmental social scientists can effectively analyse human behaviour and knowledge systems in this context. In this subject review, we summarize key ways in which the environmental social sciences can better inform fisheries management policy and practice and marine conservation in the Anthropocene. We argue that environmental social scientists are particularly well positioned to synergize research to fill the gaps between: (1) local behaviours/needs/worldviews and marine resource management and biological conservation concerns; and (2) large-scale drivers of planetary environmental change (globalization, affluence, technological change, etc.) and local cognitive, socioeconomic, cultural and historical processes that shape human behaviour in the marine environment. To illustrate this, we synthesize...
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Tourism is a significant driver of social and ecological change in developing countries, particularly in small-island states, which are susceptible to tourism impacts due to their particular social and environmental characteristics. In... more
Tourism is a significant driver of social and ecological change in developing countries, particularly in small-island states, which are susceptible to tourism impacts due to their particular social and environmental characteristics. In this article we present a participatory mapping approach to obtaining spatially explicit local perceptions of future environmental and social change resulting from tourism development, as well as addressing the different community conflicts that may arise through the introduction of tourism in the future in a Solomon Islands community. The results show that spatial conflicts within a community over territory and associated resources are likely to occur when designing natural resource management and tourism development plans. This knowledge can help us increase the future sustainability of tourism in nascent small-islands destinations, particularly in vulnerable regions such as Roviana, which have experienced very little tourism development and will likely experience more in the near future.
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Globally the majority of commercial fisheries have experienced dramatic declines in stock and catch. Likewise, projections for many subsistence fisheries in the tropics indicate a dramatic decline is looming in the coming decades. In the... more
Globally the majority of commercial fisheries have experienced dramatic declines in stock and catch. Likewise, projections for many subsistence fisheries in the tropics indicate a dramatic decline is looming in the coming decades. In the Pacific Islands coastal fisheries provide basic subsistence needs for millions of people. A decline in fish catch would therefore have profound impacts on the health and livelihoods of these coastal communities. Given the decrease in local catch rates reported for many coastal communities in the Pacific, it is important to understand if fishers have responded to ecological change (either by expanding their fishing range and/or increasing their fishing effort), and if so, to evaluate the costs or benefits of these responses. We compare data from fish catches in 1995 and 2011 from a rural coastal community in Solomon Islands to examine the potentially changing coastal reef fishery at these time points. In particular we found changes in preferred fishi...
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The major causes of mortality and morbidity have changed from infectious diseases and malnutrition conditions to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Melanesian societies. However, a massive earthquake and its related changes might have... more
The major causes of mortality and morbidity have changed from infectious diseases and malnutrition conditions to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Melanesian societies. However, a massive earthquake and its related changes might have disturbed the patterns. This study aimed to explore which health problems were likely to be prevalent during the recovery process from the 2 April 2007 earthquake in the Solomon Islands. Participants were recruited in Titiana, a severely damaged village located near a town; Tapurai, a severely damaged remote village; Mondo, a severely damaged, medium urban village; and Olive, a control village. Health indicators measured were classified into communicable and nutritional conditions (malaria, malnutrition, infection status and child growth) and NCDs (overweight/obesity, hypertension and diabetes). Titiana residents were more at risk of infectious conditions (C-reactive protein greater than and equal to 1 mg/dL) and obesity (BMI greater than and equal to...
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This paper summarizes various integrated methodological approaches for studying Customary Management for the purpose of designing hybrid CM-Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) systems in Oceania. Using marine conservation in the Western... more
This paper summarizes various integrated methodological approaches for studying Customary Management for the purpose of designing hybrid CM-Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) systems in Oceania. Using marine conservation in the Western Solomon Islands as an example, the paper illustrates various interdisciplinary human ecological methods that can assist in designing hybrid conservation programs. The study of human-environmental interactions from a socio-ecological perspective allows us to discern people's understanding of their immediate environment, differential forms of local resource governance and use (e.g., sea tenure and foraging strategies), and existing conflicts between various stakeholders, among other social and ecological factors. More generally, the paper shows how coupled studies of natural and social processes can foster management regimes that are more adaptive and effective and that move toward holistic, ecosystem-based marine conservation in the Pacific Island re...
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For millions of people living along the coastal fringe, sea level rise is perhaps the greatest threat to livelihoods over the coming century. With the refinement and downscaling of global climate models and increasing availability of... more
For millions of people living along the coastal fringe, sea level rise is perhaps the greatest threat to livelihoods over the coming century. With the refinement and downscaling of global climate models and increasing availability of airborne-lidar-based inundation models, it is possible to predict and quantify these threats with reasonable accuracy where such information is available. For less developed countries, especially small island states, access to high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from lidar is limited. The only freely available DEMs that could be used for inundation modeling by these nations are those based on data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). These data, with a horizontal resolution of ≈90 m and a vertical accuracy of ±5–10 m, are generally unsuitable for local-scale planning and adaption projects. To address this disparity, low-cost ground-based techniques were tested and applied to accurately determine coastal topography in the...
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Research Interests: Business, Law, Political Science, Southeast Asia, Hybridization, and 15 moreEast Africa, Ecosystem management, Environmental Governance, Environmental Resource Management, Tropics, Case Study, Paradigm Shift, Ecosystem based management, Watershed, Management System, Marine Policy, Integrated Coastal Management, EBM, Marine ecosystem, and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
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When sudden catastrophic events occur, it becomes critical for coastal communities to detect and respond to environmental transformations because failure to do so may undermine overall ecosystem resilience and threaten people's... more
When sudden catastrophic events occur, it becomes critical for coastal communities to detect and respond to environmental transformations because failure to do so may undermine overall ecosystem resilience and threaten people's livelihoods. We therefore asked how capable of detecting rapid ecological change following massive environmental disruptions local, indigenous people are. We assessed the direction and periodicity of experimental learning of people in the Western Solomon Islands after a tsunami in 2007. We compared the results of marine science surveys with local ecological knowledge of the benthos across 3 affected villages and 3 periods before and after the tsunami. We sought to determine how people recognize biophysical changes in the environment before and after catastrophic events such as earthquakes and tsunamis and whether people have the ability to detect ecological changes over short time scales or need longer time scales to recognize changes. Indigenous people were able to detect changes in the benthos over time. Detection levels differed between marine science surveys and local ecological knowledge sources over time, but overall patterns of statistically significant detection of change were evident for various habitats. Our findings have implications for marine conservation, coastal management policies, and disaster-relief efforts because when people are able to detect ecological changes, this, in turn, affects how they exploit and manage their marine resources.
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... Shankar Aswani Department of Anthropology, University of California at Santa Barbara CA 93106 ... As in most CFC villages, people in these three communities live primarily off of subsistence farming from the land and sea, The major... more
... Shankar Aswani Department of Anthropology, University of California at Santa Barbara CA 93106 ... As in most CFC villages, people in these three communities live primarily off of subsistence farming from the land and sea, The major staples include sweet potatoes (Ipomoea ...
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ABSTRACT Within the marine conservation community there is considerable interest in combining local knowledge and science to achieve management objectives. Yet there remain few studies which have examined the merits and caveats of local... more
ABSTRACT Within the marine conservation community there is considerable interest in combining local knowledge and science to achieve management objectives. Yet there remain few studies which have examined the merits and caveats of local knowledge, or shown how combining both knowledge systems has resulted in better management outcomes. This study outlines collaborative efforts to conserve fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) in Roviana Lagoon, Western Solomon Islands. Baseline information on FSAs was obtained through local knowledge and spearfishing creel surveys. This information provided the starting point for establishing a 2-year community-based underwater monitoring program at the largest known FSA in Roviana Lagoon, where the brown-marbled grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus), camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion) and squaretail coralgrouper (Plectropomus areolatus) co-aggregate. This participatory research shows that local knowledge on FSAs is utilised to maximise returns from fishing, with spearfishermen targeting aggregations at night during the lunar periods when abundances peak. Because of its shallow distribution P. areolatus is the most vulnerable of the three groupers to nighttime spearfishing, with two fishermen capable of removing 15–30% of the total spawning biomass in two nights. Underwater monitoring demonstrates that while fishermen provided accurate information on many aspects of FSAs, their knowledge on spawning seasons was inaccurate for the FSA reported on here. Peak aggregations occurred from December to April each year, which differs from the traditionally recognised grouper season of October to January. A combination of local knowledge and science was used to develop appropriate management measures for this FSA, with the aggregation declared a community-based marine protected area (MPA) in 2006.
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Community-based approaches are pursued in recognition of the need for place-based responses to environmental change that integrate local understandings of risk and vulnerability. Yet the potential for fair adaptation is intimately linked... more
Community-based approaches are pursued in recognition of the need for place-based responses to environmental change that integrate local understandings of risk and vulnerability. Yet the potential for fair adaptation is intimately linked to how variations in perceptions of environmental change and risk are treated. There is, however, little empirical evidence of the extent and nature of variations in risk perception in and between multiple community settings. Here, we rely on data from 231 semi-structured interviews conducted in nine communities in Western Province, Solomon Islands, to statistically model different perceptions of risk and change within and between communities. Overall, people were found to be less likely to perceive environmental changes in the marine environment than they were for terrestrial systems. The distance to the nearest market town (which may be a proxy for exposure to commercial logging and degree of involvement with the market economy), and gender had the greatest overall statistical effects on perceptions of risk. Yet, we also find that significant environmental change is underreported in communities, while variations in perception are not always easily related to commonly assumed fault lines of vulnerability. The findings suggest that there is an urgent need for methods that engage with the drivers of perceptions as part of community-based approaches. In particular, it is
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Local perceptions of environmental and climatechange, as well as associated adaptations made by localpopulations, are fundamental for designing comprehensiveandinclusivemitigationandadaptationplansbothlocallyandnationally. In this paper,... more
Local perceptions of environmental and climatechange, as well as associated adaptations made by localpopulations, are fundamental for designing comprehensiveandinclusivemitigationandadaptationplansbothlocallyandnationally. In this paper, we analyze people’s perceptions of environmental and climate-related transformations in com-munities across the Western Solomon Islands throughethnographic and geospatial methods. Specifically, we docu-mented people’s observed changes over the past decadesacross various environmental domains, and for each change,we asked respondents to identify the causes, timing, andpeople’s adaptive responses. We also incorporated thisinformation into a geographical information system databaseto produce broad-scale base maps of local perceptions of environmental change. Results suggest that people detectedchanges that tended to be acute (e.g., water clarity, loggingintensity, and agricultural diseases). We inferred from theseresults that most local observations of and adaptations tochange were related to parts of environment/ecosystem thatare mostdirectly orindirectlyrelated to harvesting strategies.Ontheotherhand,peoplewerelessawareofslowerinsidious/ chronic changes identified by scientific studies. For theSolomon Islands and similar contexts in the insular tropics, abroader anticipatory adaptation planning strategy to climatechange should include a mix of local scientific studies andlocal observations of ongoing ecological changes.
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We examined how human harvesting impacts on managed areas affect the abundance and size distribution of the edible mangrove shellfish Anadara granosa and Polymesoda spp. in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. We tested two hypotheses: 1)... more
We examined how human harvesting impacts on managed areas affect the abundance and size distribution of the edible mangrove shellfish Anadara granosa and Polymesoda spp. in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. We tested two hypotheses: 1) in areas permanently and temporally closed to human exploitation, abundance and size distribution of these shellfish species is significantly greater than in sites open to exploitation and 2) moderate human disturbance of shell beds, particularly of Polymesoda spp., increases their abundance. Firstly, we studied perceptions of environmental states and processes coupled to foraging and management interventions to assess sociocultural influences on harvesting practices and ascertain the types of management regime that people would consider in a context where poaching and interloping are common practices. Secondly, we compared shellfish abundance and shell size from areas that were permanently protected, temporally reserved for communal harvest, and permanently open for exploitation. Thirdly, drawing from women’s local knowledge, we measured the abundance of Polymesoda spp. in relation to mud compactness in quadrats across the three management regimes. Results showed that both species were significantly more abundant in permanent and temporally closed sites than in open sites. In the mud compactness study, however, while shell abundance was greater in moderately compacted quadrats, there was no statistical relationship between mud compactness and shell abundance within or across the three management regimes. Results suggest that even under the strong impacts of poaching, temporally closed areas have more clams than open areas and are as effective as areas that are permanently closed nominally. The results also suggest that human harvesting regimes can influence the effectiveness of local management decisions and thus are important when designing community-based conservation programs in the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Islands.