The seventh episode of the convivial conservation podcast is all about the special section
'Exploring convivial conservation in theory and practice' in the journal Conservation & Society, featuring eleven diverse contributions from a diversity of backgrounds, geographical and thematic foci. The conversations were recorded in July 2022.
After
episode 6 featured a conversation with the guest editorial team Kate Massarella, Judith Krauss, Wilhelm Kiwango and Rob Fletcher, and with
Wilhelm Kiwango about two papers which he co-authored, this episode gives space to three papers written by Revati Pandya, Hanna Pettersson, and finally Valentina Fiasco and Kate Massarella.
First, we speak to Revati Pandya (formerly Wageningen University, NL; now Azim Premji University, Bangalore, IN) about her paper (01:05) '
Micro-Politics and the Prospects for Convivial Conservation: Insights from the Corbett Tiger Reserve, India', which is part of the convivial conservation special section. As a key message from her paper (01:50), Revati emphasises the importance of paying attention to diversity within communities, and how factors including gender, caste or class shape the lived experiences of progressive conservation policies. She explains how she challenges convivial conservation through a feminist political ecology and intersectionality lens (04:30), before detailing her ethnographic fieldwork in two forest villages near Corbett Tiger Reserve and the lived experiences of villagers in light of market-based ecotourism initiatives (08:15).
Next, Hanna Pettersson (University of Leeds, UK), discusses her co-authored paper with Claire H. Quinn, George Holmes and Steven Sait:
“They Belong Here”: Understanding the Conditions of Human-wolf Coexistence in North-Western Spain" (17:50). She explains that her title is a quote from participants in her ethnographic fieldwork (18:20) before highlighting her paper's key message (19:00) of the need for dedicating more time, effort and recognition to spaces which lead convivial lives with "problematic species". She highlights how she has used both natural and social science methods (22:30) in her work, before reflecting on how her paper challenges or confirms what we know, emphasising that notions such as of harmonious coexistence in her case-study, the successes of tourism and preventative methods all need nuancing and problematising based on her participants' experiences (27:50).
Finally, Valentina Fiasco and Kate Massarella share reflections on their paper
'Human-Wildlife Coexistence: Business as Usual Conservation or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?' (35:10). First, they answer the question that is their title (35:55) before reflecting on their methods (38:00) and their key research question (39:00) of 'What does coexistence mean for transformative change?'. They highlight the importance of politicising and pluralising the debate on human-wildlife coexistence (41:30) before sharing how this paper has shaped their current work (47:55), i.e. Valentina's upcoming PhD research on coexistence with an emphasis on traditional practices of coexistence with a more-than-human approach, as well as Kate's research on how big conservation ideas (e.g. 30x30, nature-based solutions) travel and are implemented on the ground in Tanzania. The CONVIVA - convivial conservation research project is funded by NORFACE/Belmont Forum.
Thank you for listening!
All music by
KO:MI.
More info about convivial conservation: convivialconservation.com / conviva-research.com / @convivconserv