As part of their Shallow Seas event the Zoological Society of London will be hosting an evening seminar titled: Reconciling poverty alleviation with marine conservation in the developing world: can a focus on human wellbeing help motivate sustainable resource governance?
Presented by Dr Sarah Coulthard, University of Ulster
Tuesday 8th November 2011 6-7:45pm
Talk (free entry) and post seminar dinner (by registration only)
http://www.zsl.org/science/events/shallow-seas,552,EV.html
Conflicts between the exploitation and protection of shallow seas are perhaps at their most extreme in the developing world, where large numbers of poor people are directly dependent upon access to the sea for their daily survival and pursuit of a better life. High levels of demand for easily accessible, but highly fragile, in-shore resources, necessitates effective policies that can regulate access and ensure sustainable use. However, policies are often hindered by inadequate understanding of the complex ways in which access to marine resources relates to people’s wellbeing. Income and livelihoods are an obvious benefit from resource exploitation, but there are also important social and cultural factors that influence and motivate how people use the sea. A growing number of scholars are starting to use the concept of wellbeing as a more holistic approach to understand the connections between people and their marine environment, recognizing that human behaviour is shaped by a range of different factors that span material and subjective domains. This talk draws from case studies across the developing world to explore the relationship between access to the sea and human wellbeing. For each case, we will discuss how different forms of marine conservation policy affect that relationship, and implications for the workability of those policies. A challenge for effective marine conservation is whether it can engage more with the strategies people adopt to improve their lives in the present day, whilst promoting sustainable behaviour and healthy seas for future generations. The talk concludes with some interesting examples of what could be considered as ‘successful’ forms of marine governance from India, and points to how those processes have tapped into ‘what matters most’ to the people involved. Both examples are driven by communities themselves, often with strong civil society support.
Suggested readings:
Coulthard, S., Johnson, D and J.A. McGregor (2011). Poverty, Sustainability and Human Wellbeing: A Social Wellbeing Approach to the Global Fisheries Crisis. Global Environmental Change 21:453–463
McGregor, J.A. (2004). Researching Wellbeing: Communicating between the Needs of Policy Makers and the Needs of People. Global Social Policy 4(3): 337-358.
V Vivekanandan 2010. Trawl Brawl India – Sri Lanka trans-border fishing. Samudra report 57. Available online:
http://wif.icsf.net/icsf2006/uploads/publications/samudra/pdf/english/issue_57/art07.pdf
Working papers at www.wellcoast.org