Australian transplants: the political ecology of Acacia exchanges across the Indian Ocean. The case studies and conclusions arising out of this project will help environmental practitioners and policymakers make informed decisions about exotic plant introductions, balancing needs to 'safeguard' Australia on the one hand with interests in 'improving' Australia on the other. The project's innovative focus on the comings and goings of a single plant genus also makes a significant contribution to ....Australian transplants: the political ecology of Acacia exchanges across the Indian Ocean. The case studies and conclusions arising out of this project will help environmental practitioners and policymakers make informed decisions about exotic plant introductions, balancing needs to 'safeguard' Australia on the one hand with interests in 'improving' Australia on the other. The project's innovative focus on the comings and goings of a single plant genus also makes a significant contribution to Australian environmental studies, by generating richer public discussion of the question of native versus introduced plants. Finally, it will produce new knowledge about our iconic wattles (made accessible through a book), increase international collaboration across the Indian Ocean, and train two postgraduate students.Read moreRead less
A study of China’s south to north water transfer project. This project aims to investigate the motives, processes, and socio-political and hydrological consequences of the South-North Water Transfer (SNWT) in China, the world’s largest inter-basin water network. It connects four major river basins, six provinces, three megacities and over 700 million people. This project will analyse the SNWT's governance regime; its effects on local and regional flows of water, money, people, pollutants, produc ....A study of China’s south to north water transfer project. This project aims to investigate the motives, processes, and socio-political and hydrological consequences of the South-North Water Transfer (SNWT) in China, the world’s largest inter-basin water network. It connects four major river basins, six provinces, three megacities and over 700 million people. This project will analyse the SNWT's governance regime; its effects on local and regional flows of water, money, people, pollutants, production and political authority; and the interactions between these systemic and local changes. This project expects to produce knowledge about the politics of vast technologies, and the management of inter-basin water schemes in Australia and globally.Read moreRead less
The political ecology of forest carbon: mainland Southeast Asia's new commodity frontier? Spurred by international climate change policies, forest carbon markets are being promoted in mainland Southeast Asia to protect its forests against persisting rates of deforestation. This research examines the implications of this new commodity market for local livelihoods and cross-border forest product trade in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Conserving Carbon in the Extractive Frontiers of Insular Southeast Asia: Risks or Opportunities? Increasingly global climate change governance uses market-based mechanisms to offer forest users financial incentives to maintain forest carbon in the frontiers of Southeast Asia. At the same time, these forest landscapes are rapidly being converted for ‘boom crop’ production such as oil palm and rubber. However, little is known about how carbon governance intersects with such monocropping to affect ....Conserving Carbon in the Extractive Frontiers of Insular Southeast Asia: Risks or Opportunities? Increasingly global climate change governance uses market-based mechanisms to offer forest users financial incentives to maintain forest carbon in the frontiers of Southeast Asia. At the same time, these forest landscapes are rapidly being converted for ‘boom crop’ production such as oil palm and rubber. However, little is known about how carbon governance intersects with such monocropping to affect local livelihoods, property rights and social relations. This project examines how the global market-driven approach, REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Environmental Degradation and Deforestation+), governs forest carbon vis-à-vis commodity production, how this impacts rural livelihoods, and influences the viability of climate change governance. Read moreRead less
Mapping the Political Ecology of the Edible Birds’ Nests Trade in Indonesia. This study examines the origins and impacts of the rapidly emerging edible birds’ nests (EBN) trade for rural livelihoods and ecologies in Southeast Asia. A high-value Chinese delicacy, the EBN trade has surged across rural Indonesia and beyond. In partnership with the WWF and Tropenbos, our pioneering study investigates how rural producers negotiate the uneven social, economic and environmental influences of the EBN co ....Mapping the Political Ecology of the Edible Birds’ Nests Trade in Indonesia. This study examines the origins and impacts of the rapidly emerging edible birds’ nests (EBN) trade for rural livelihoods and ecologies in Southeast Asia. A high-value Chinese delicacy, the EBN trade has surged across rural Indonesia and beyond. In partnership with the WWF and Tropenbos, our pioneering study investigates how rural producers negotiate the uneven social, economic and environmental influences of the EBN commodity chain in the threatened Heart of Borneo, Indonesia, and the major urban trading centres of Jakarta, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The project offers novel insights into the trade’s sustainability across rural and urban regions of Asia and informs policy for poverty reduction and environmental management in the region.Read moreRead less
Australia's changing urban tree estate: a socio-ecological study of patterns, causes and consequences. The project will significantly advance social and environmental understanding of the patterns, causes and consequences of changes in the Australian urban tree estate, therefore having immediate relevance to the home-environment of the majority of Australians. This knowledge will be of direct benefit to researchers, planners, land managers and residents in improving the sustainability of Austral ....Australia's changing urban tree estate: a socio-ecological study of patterns, causes and consequences. The project will significantly advance social and environmental understanding of the patterns, causes and consequences of changes in the Australian urban tree estate, therefore having immediate relevance to the home-environment of the majority of Australians. This knowledge will be of direct benefit to researchers, planners, land managers and residents in improving the sustainability of Australian cities. In particular, better informed decisions about the urban tree estate will help to maintain Australia's biodiversity, mitigate local and global climate change effects, manage fire risk, contribute to water conservation, improve air quality, enhance environmental amenity, reduce tree-related social conflict and enhance sense of place. Read moreRead less
Rupture: nature-society transformations in mainland Southeast Asia. This project aims to understand the nexus between intense, cumulative processes of socio-ecological change and emerging forms of social agency. Three case studies of Cambodian and Vietnamese dams, and a review of Thai-Lao cases, will reveal local and civil society responses to nature-society rupture and how these responses affect the region, inform advances in environmental change management, and be relevant to Australia's secur ....Rupture: nature-society transformations in mainland Southeast Asia. This project aims to understand the nexus between intense, cumulative processes of socio-ecological change and emerging forms of social agency. Three case studies of Cambodian and Vietnamese dams, and a review of Thai-Lao cases, will reveal local and civil society responses to nature-society rupture and how these responses affect the region, inform advances in environmental change management, and be relevant to Australia's security policies.Read moreRead less
Reconnecting with water: Lessons from a diverse economy. In 2008, the Australian government identified as one of its major development themes water and sanitation services in the Asia Pacific region. Focusing on the complex socio-cultural circumstances impacting on the implementation of water and sanitation policies in Timor Leste, this research will provide an in-depth account of the current barriers and potential opportunities for moving forward and successfully achieving positive outcomes in ....Reconnecting with water: Lessons from a diverse economy. In 2008, the Australian government identified as one of its major development themes water and sanitation services in the Asia Pacific region. Focusing on the complex socio-cultural circumstances impacting on the implementation of water and sanitation policies in Timor Leste, this research will provide an in-depth account of the current barriers and potential opportunities for moving forward and successfully achieving positive outcomes in this area. It will identify effective conceptual and methodological approaches for advancing community engagement and the development of adaptive management strategies which could be applied to achieve greater understandings, sustainability and aid effectiveness elsewhere.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101918
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$417,990.00
Summary
Fair conservation: pathways to equitable and effective protected areas. This project aims to determine the conditions under which coral reef protected areas are likely to be considered fair by local stakeholders and how perceived fairness is related to cooperation with management. With protected areas set to cover 30% of the world’s surface by 2030, addressing the understudied question of what constitutes fairness for stakeholders is of pressing importance. This project will conduct the first mu ....Fair conservation: pathways to equitable and effective protected areas. This project aims to determine the conditions under which coral reef protected areas are likely to be considered fair by local stakeholders and how perceived fairness is related to cooperation with management. With protected areas set to cover 30% of the world’s surface by 2030, addressing the understudied question of what constitutes fairness for stakeholders is of pressing importance. This project will conduct the first multi-country comparative analysis of perceived protected area fairness, the factors that shape those perceptions and their implications for cooperation with management. Project outcomes include enhanced capacity to plan for and inform effective protected areas that are considered fair by the people most affected by them.Read moreRead less
Beyond the resource curse: charting a path to sustainable livelihoods for mineral-dependent communities. Over 20 million people in developing countries depend on informal mining for their livelihoods, producing large amounts of mineral commodities. This project challenges the current paradigm on informal mining and aims to improve the livelihoods of these people while enhancing environmental sustainability.