Understanding ‘forest transitions to sustainability’ better by mapping and analysing forest history in detail: case of Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, Vietnam

October 6, 2023
Figure 6 from the paper (” Land cover ~1966 (a) and 1973 (b), and natural forest cover and transformations 1966–1979 (c, d).”)

The FT Viet project’s new paper in the journal Land Use Policy is a major contribution both to studies of “forest transitions” (the idea that as places develop over time, forest loss switches to forest regrowth) and to the specific history of forest dynamics in central Vietnam’s Thừa Thiên-Huế province. Led by Roland Cochard, with remote sensing whizzery contributed by Mathieu Gravey and colleagues, this paper is a very rich and careful historical analysis of fifty years of forest change based on remote sensing and documentary sources.

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Leave a Comment » | Acacia, Conservation, Development, Environmental History, Research, Sustainability, Vietnam | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by christiankull

Tuna fishing in the Indian Ocean – marine political ecology (PhD Mialy Andriamahefazafy)

July 15, 2020

With pride and pleasure I’d like to announce the successful doctorate of Mialy Andriamahefazafy, which she defended publicly on July 13. Mialy’s previous work with a marine conservation organisation in coastal Madagascar showed her that local fishers were complaining about big boats fishing offshore, while in the inland capital, government officials were keen on the revenue they could gain through access agreements with foreign tuna fleets. This inspiration led to her thesis work, in which investigated the socio-material matrix through which fishing occurs. She narrowed in on three main topics: how diverse actors ‘access’ the fish, how these actors ‘narrate’ their concerns over overfishing, and whether there is any sense in approaching this issue by appealing to a sense of ‘regional identity’. Mialy undertook fieldwork in three countries (Madagascar, Seychelles, and Mauritius), interviewing more than 223 individuals including small-scale fishers, industrial boat captains and sailors, government officials, cannery workers, retailers and more. Mialy also observed landings of tuna in ports both big and small, and practiced event ethnography by joining delegations to attend two international negotiations.

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Leave a Comment » | Development, Doctoral students, Madagascar, Political ecology, Research, Sustainability | Tagged: , , | Permalink
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A space for interdisciplinarity

March 31, 2014

Recently, several geography programs I am familiar with – notably my own at Monash – have been in the throes of administrative reshuffling and identity crises.  In written submissions, hallway chats, and meeting room polemics we have all declared, at one point or another, that the strength of Geography is its interdisciplinarity, its crossing of bridges between the natural and the social, between science and arts.  We have also declared that the integrity of the discipline depends on it staying together as one, even though a climate modeller will have different needs than an analyst of urban indigenous social movements. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments | Interdisciplinarity, Sustainability, Teaching | Tagged: , , | Permalink
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Sustainability and school choice

July 11, 2013

Imagine two 9 year-old children.  One gets driven across town to a school that his parents find best fits his learning needs, or social values, or cultural community.  He barely knows the kids on the street where he lives, as they all go to other schools.  He sits in traffic everyday, contributing carbon to the atmosphere and pollutants to the city air.  The other child walks to the local primary school, joining friends along the way, kicking stones down the sidewalk, plucking leaves from the hedge, learning to avoid dangerous street crossings and engaging in little mischiefs.  Obviously, I exaggerate and simplify.  But the point I wish to make is that the impacts of school choice (or school vouchers, or proliferating private schools) on traffic, air quality, carbon emissions, health, family time, and neighbourhood cohesion are far from sufficiently discussed in debates over school choice.

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Posted by christiankull

Melting pots of biodiversity

March 20, 2013

What happens when you combine human labour, introduced plants, and particular societal histories and structures in a certain tropical landscape?  You end up with anthropogenic or cultural landscapes – the “matrix” in current ecological jargon – such as the domesticated forests1 of southeast Asia, the tree gardens of Caribbean or Pacific islands, the shambas of Africa, the rice terraces of Madagascar.  Despite their aesthetic and cultural attractions, these smallholder farming landscapes are directly or implicitly critiqued by many – for not being as productive as modern industrial agriculture, for trapping people in rural poverty, and for taking up space at the expense of natural habitats.  In two recent papers with French collaborators, I argue instead that such landscapes can be sustainable sources of useful products, can facilitate vibrant and resilient rural communities, and can be resilient contributors to the functioning of local and global biophysical systems.

Kull et al 2013 Melting pots first page

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Leave a Comment » | Conservation, Development, Introduced and Invasive Plants, Research, Smallholder farming, Sustainability | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by christiankull