www.brinccexpedition.org

People Orientated ResearchDominic Rowland

RGS Explore 2011

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• About BRINCC Expedition

•Why engage with communities?

•Types of engagement

•People centered research on BRINCC

•Building capacity for conservation

Outline

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About BRINCC Expedition

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About BRINCC Expedition

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About BRINCC Expedition

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About BRINCC Expedition

Social TeamBiodiversity Team

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About BRINCC Expedition

Social Team

• Participatory Mapping

• Resource and land use

• Political Ecology

• Economics of resource use

• Anthropology

Biodiversity Team

• Gibbons

• Amphibians

• Butterflies

• Small Mammals

• Nocturnal Mammals

• Birds

• Botany

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About BRINCC ExpeditionPeople Orientated Research

• Participatory and GIS mapping of

• Community forest and traditional

forest

• Sites of cultural and spiritual

importance

• Ecosystem services

• Social science research focussing on

• Land use by local people

• Livelihoods and forest resources

• Economic value of forest resources to

communities

• The political ecology of land use by

local people and companies

Biodiversity Surveys in Community

Forest

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Why engage with local communities?

• Building good relations

• Mutual benefit

• Local knowledge, history, background and context

• It’s their land!

• Poor and remote, marginalised communities

Without local communities the landscape doesn’t make any sense

• Influencing spatial planning process

• Community prioritised conservation

• High Conservation Value (HCV) assessments

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Types of Engagement

• Partnership

• Collaborative Research

• Participatory Research

• Consultation

• Permission Seeking

Increasing Level of Engagement

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BRINCC Social ResearchSocialisation

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BRINCC Social ResearchParticipatory mapping

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BRINCC Social ResearchResource Use and Land Use

• Focus Group Discussions (e.g.

timelines and seasonal calendars)

•Pebble Distribution Method

•Formal and informal interviews

•Questionnaires

•Types of forest and use patterns

•Species used for food, medicine,

trade, construction, fuel etc

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BRINCC Social ResearchSocial Anthropology

• Aim: to understand how areas

of habitat and species relate to

traditional culture.

•Participant observation

•Informal Interviews.

•Researchers were postgraduate

students from same ethnic

background.

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BRINCC Social ResearchPolitical Ecology

• To understand the process

by which land rights, mining

and logging concessions are

granted

•Understanding the power

relations between and within

the community regarding

decision making

•Tracing the investment and

supply chains for extractive

resources

•Mapping the actors and

stakeholders involved

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BRINCC Social ResearchLivelihood Economics

• Analyse the transition between

subsistence and market based

economy

•Gain understanding of local

perspectives on impacts on

livelihoods and forest

•Understand concerns and

benefits of resource extraction to

the local communities

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Training and Capacity Building

Students

• Research Design

• Fieldwork Experience

• Data Analysis

Local People

• GPS training

• Biological

Research

• Local to Latin

Names

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•Engagement can be powerful but the level of engagement must be

suitable to the context and setting

•It’s not wilderness if people live there

•Take it slowly, try to gain a broad understanding before detailed

research

Two final thoughts:

•Don’t raise expectations

•Investigate data rights and discuss this openly with the communities

Conclusions

THANK YOU!

To our sponsors and supporters

www.brinccexpedition.org