A weed by any other name? Comparing local knowledge and uses of environmental weeds around the Indian Ocean. This project investigates the different ways in which indigenous and rural communities in Australia, India, Madagascar and South Africa perceive, classify and use weeds in their everyday livelihood and cultural activities. It provides an innovative framework for sharing local knowledge and new ways of managing environmental weeds.
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100901
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,273.00
Summary
Agricultural skill development in India: Assessing acquisition and impact. This project aims to investigate the impact of new agricultural vocational training programs in rural India on processes of skill acquisition and youth livelihood trajectories. As India rapidly expands its capacity for formal skill development in agriculture, this study will be among the first to employ an innovative qualitative longitudinal research design to assess these programs’ ground-level impacts. Expected outcomes ....Agricultural skill development in India: Assessing acquisition and impact. This project aims to investigate the impact of new agricultural vocational training programs in rural India on processes of skill acquisition and youth livelihood trajectories. As India rapidly expands its capacity for formal skill development in agriculture, this study will be among the first to employ an innovative qualitative longitudinal research design to assess these programs’ ground-level impacts. Expected outcomes include deeper understandings of how agricultural skill development occurs in social contexts over an extended period. Research will inform policy in India and other developing countries on how to maximise the social impact of these initiatives. It will also provide insights on how Australia can deepen engagement with India in areas of vocational training.Read moreRead less
The influence of conflict and migration on adaptation. This project will develop and test theories about the ways in which violent conflict and migration influence the capacity to adapt to climate changed using case studies from Fiji, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu.
Indigenous solutions to global challenges in the Pacific Islands. The global COVID 19 pandemic represents a unique opportunity to understand the nature and potential of Indigenous sustainable development in Pacific Island communities, where Indigenous practices have been central in responses to closed borders and industry downturns. This project proposes to analyse the efficacy and cultural value of new, pandemic-era Indigenous sustainable development initiatives in sustaining island communities ....Indigenous solutions to global challenges in the Pacific Islands. The global COVID 19 pandemic represents a unique opportunity to understand the nature and potential of Indigenous sustainable development in Pacific Island communities, where Indigenous practices have been central in responses to closed borders and industry downturns. This project proposes to analyse the efficacy and cultural value of new, pandemic-era Indigenous sustainable development initiatives in sustaining island communities. It aims to culminate in a novel geographic theory of Indigenous sustainable development, and to identify new opportunities to support the expansion of Indigenous sustainable development. This should better enable the Pacific Islands region to respond to climate change, pandemics and other global challenges.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL160100072
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,840,132.00
Summary
Mining and society in a changing environment: Pathways to sustainability. Mining and society in a changing environment: pathways to sustainability. This Fellowship seeks to address an urgent, largely unstudied global challenge: how to govern mining activities so they enhance sustainability, justice and development. It will conduct a systematic comparative analysis of mining activities across Latin America, Australasia and South-East Asia, drawing on political ecology, sustainability science, Ind ....Mining and society in a changing environment: Pathways to sustainability. Mining and society in a changing environment: pathways to sustainability. This Fellowship seeks to address an urgent, largely unstudied global challenge: how to govern mining activities so they enhance sustainability, justice and development. It will conduct a systematic comparative analysis of mining activities across Latin America, Australasia and South-East Asia, drawing on political ecology, sustainability science, Indigenous geography and geographic information science. Such an in-depth, theoretically innovative study of government, company and civil society efforts to adapt mining projects and policy should make Australia a recognised centre of expertise and is likely to make the mining industry more socially and environmentally sustainable.Read moreRead less
Understanding contested human-plant geographies for urban greening success. Urban greening is vital for sustainable, liveable and climate-adapted cities. However, conflicts over urban greening continue to cause delays and even failure of initiatives. Such disputes, and the diverse socio-cultural relations that drive them, remain poorly understood. In ground-breaking research employing innovative concepts and methods developed by the team, this project aims to generate new knowledge about how peo ....Understanding contested human-plant geographies for urban greening success. Urban greening is vital for sustainable, liveable and climate-adapted cities. However, conflicts over urban greening continue to cause delays and even failure of initiatives. Such disputes, and the diverse socio-cultural relations that drive them, remain poorly understood. In ground-breaking research employing innovative concepts and methods developed by the team, this project aims to generate new knowledge about how people experience urban greening in their everyday lives and how urban greening is contested in three Australian cities. Expected outcomes include new, crucial understandings of key human-plant relationships, facilitated international collaborations, and significant findings for improving urban greening policies and governance.Read moreRead less
Transformative human mobilities in a changing climate. This project aims to investigate the potential for diverse forms of human mobility, particularly relocation and migration, with climate change adaptation across the Pacific Islands region. The project aims to utilise policy analysis and in-depth case study research, conducted across five countries, to inform the creation of a conceptual framework that integrates mobility with climate change adaptation and development goals, policy and practi ....Transformative human mobilities in a changing climate. This project aims to investigate the potential for diverse forms of human mobility, particularly relocation and migration, with climate change adaptation across the Pacific Islands region. The project aims to utilise policy analysis and in-depth case study research, conducted across five countries, to inform the creation of a conceptual framework that integrates mobility with climate change adaptation and development goals, policy and practice. The project expects to enhance the overall adaptive capacity and resilience for Pacific Island populations by uncovering pathways by which vulnerable populations can use.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100501
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$342,119.00
Summary
Where is the justice? Theorising the legacy of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. This project seeks to advance theories that explain the social and political effects of international criminal tribunals. It is widely claimed that international tribunals, in addition to providing legal justice, work to enhance the rule of law, respect for human rights and national reconciliation in post-conflict contexts. Taking the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as its case, this project aims to critically analyse such claims by i ....Where is the justice? Theorising the legacy of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. This project seeks to advance theories that explain the social and political effects of international criminal tribunals. It is widely claimed that international tribunals, in addition to providing legal justice, work to enhance the rule of law, respect for human rights and national reconciliation in post-conflict contexts. Taking the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as its case, this project aims to critically analyse such claims by interrogating the non-judicial legacies of documentation, memorialisation and the provision of collective reparations. Knowing more about these key non-judicial legacies and how tribunals enhance the rule of law, human rights and national reconciliation, may help inform the design of tribunals worldwide.Read moreRead less
Enabling social innovation for local climate adaptability. Climate variability and change is likely to be felt most acutely at the local scale in Australia. This is where inter/national and State policies are translated into practices to prepare for, and adapt to, anticipated impacts of heatwaves, bushfires and floods. This project will investigate tensions and potentialities between risk-based assessments by local governance agencies and innovations by local groups and Non-Government Organisati ....Enabling social innovation for local climate adaptability. Climate variability and change is likely to be felt most acutely at the local scale in Australia. This is where inter/national and State policies are translated into practices to prepare for, and adapt to, anticipated impacts of heatwaves, bushfires and floods. This project will investigate tensions and potentialities between risk-based assessments by local governance agencies and innovations by local groups and Non-Government Organisations. The research will utilise an innovative mixed-methods approach to investigate and to analyse the strategies and experiments of adaptation practices. It aims to develop new ways of identifying and implementing practical, local, adaptive responses that are contextually relevant, socially innovative and capacity building.Read moreRead less