Negotiating conflict: Environmental violence, economic development and the everyday practices of islanders
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Environment, Education and Development
Abstract
In developing countries experiencing high levels of poverty and inequality, getting the balance right between economic development and protection of the natural environment can be a major challenge for policymakers. This is particularly the case when powerful people are able to manipulate the physical environment in which the poor live, to their advantage - a form of intervention known as 'environmental violence'. To date, most research addressing these types of conflict and conflict resolution has applied universalised principles, such as justice and fairness. However, this approach can overlook what is significant to ordinary people as they attempt to go about their day-to-day lives. This project will address this research gap using an innovative approach known as 'everyday studies': a way of investigating the routine and seemingly mundane. The specific objectives are to:
1. Undertake an analysis of the processes of environmental violence and the ways in which these types of conflict are challenged, resolved and/or endured through people's day-to-day actions and practices.
2. Develop novel research methods to capture the everyday and enable members of island communities to represent themselves to wider audiences.
3. Advance the policies of NGOs, governments and international agencies to implement locally meaningful and sustainable strategies to reduce environmental conflicts.
4. Strengthen the capacity of early-career researchers to undertake research and policy engagement on environmental conflict, sustainable livelihoods and the everyday.
Field research will draw on the Maldives, a country representative of the economic and environmental challenges facing small island developing states. Research insights will contribute to ongoing conflict resolution and poverty reduction efforts in the Maldives and beyond by emphasising the importance of engaging with people's everyday perceptions and experiences of environmental violence in developing country contexts.
1. Undertake an analysis of the processes of environmental violence and the ways in which these types of conflict are challenged, resolved and/or endured through people's day-to-day actions and practices.
2. Develop novel research methods to capture the everyday and enable members of island communities to represent themselves to wider audiences.
3. Advance the policies of NGOs, governments and international agencies to implement locally meaningful and sustainable strategies to reduce environmental conflicts.
4. Strengthen the capacity of early-career researchers to undertake research and policy engagement on environmental conflict, sustainable livelihoods and the everyday.
Field research will draw on the Maldives, a country representative of the economic and environmental challenges facing small island developing states. Research insights will contribute to ongoing conflict resolution and poverty reduction efforts in the Maldives and beyond by emphasising the importance of engaging with people's everyday perceptions and experiences of environmental violence in developing country contexts.
Planned Impact
Maldivian citizens, government-based policymakers, representatives of advocacy, NGO and business groups, and advisors in international development agencies will all benefit from this project. By helping to resolve ongoing problems of environmental violence, citizens will gain from more meaningful progress towards sustainable development and poverty reduction goals. Government, NGOs and international agencies will benefit through greater ability to advance policies that reduce conflicts and improve local livelihoods. Maldivian business groups will gain from improved understandings of the challenges in balancing economic and environmental priorities and awareness of the benefits of local job creation and economic inclusion. The project will employ several strategies from the outset to ensure that all stakeholders have the greatest opportunity possible to benefit from the research. During the inception and dissemination phases, stakeholder workshops will be held in the national capital, Malé, and on the two case study islands. They will be genuinely interactive, inviting participants to help shape key aspects of the proposed investigations and impact strategy, and discuss findings. Targeted policy briefs will be developed summarising research findings and a seminar will be delivered at one of the government ministries. We will publicise the research directly to the general public, principally through the Maldivian media and a photographic exhibition. To ensure lasting impact, we will maintain relationships with stakeholders in the Maldives via the in-country researchers and the project website, and track take-up of our findings through the newly-developed UoM 'PURE' research management tool. Lasting impact will be further supported via the photographic exhibition which will be displayed at international conferences in which we participate. We will also provide research summaries for other relevant websites (eg Small Island Developing States; UNDP).
Publications
Kothari U
(2021)
Multiplicities of sandscapes and granular geographies
in Dialogues in Human Geography
Kothari U
(2023)
Disaster mobilities, temporalities, and recovery: experiences of the tsunami in the Maldives.
in Disasters
Kothari U
(2020)
Shifting sands: The rhythms and temporalities of island sandscapes
in Geoforum
Arnall A
(2020)
Becoming an island: Making connections and places through waste mobilities
in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
McMichael C
(2021)
Spatial and temporal ways of knowing sea level rise: Bringing together multiple perspectives
in WIREs Climate Change
Title | Booklet accompanying photographic exhibition |
Description | A booklet with images and text from the project that illustrated key issues around environmental change on Maldivian islands |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | The booklet was widely distributed and made available for distribution at the UNDP offices and Ministry of Environment. |
Title | Photography exhibition |
Description | A photography exhibition in the Maldivian national capital, Malé. The exhibition, which ran over five days and was accompanied by a launch event and presentations, displayed 45 images taken by islanders to highlight what is important to them in their everyday lives and the changes to the physical environment that are occurring around them on a daily basis. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | The exhibition is bringing the perspectives and voices of marginalised communities living on outer islands to the 'centre', the capital, Malé, and to the attention of policymakers. |
Description | The research resulted in three main findings. First, that people's everyday lives, although often overlooked or dismissed for being 'ordinary' or 'mundane' and therefore not particularly worthy of study, are essential to understanding how environmental change takes place and how it affects us. This is because it is often in terms of people's day-to-day activities and routines that changes in the physical environment come about, or how people notice and respond to the ways in which their surroundings are changing. Second, the work has revealed the extent to which environmental change - including the erosion of the shoreline, the washing up of waste and discarded debris onto the coast, and changes in the built environment - is taking place. These changes, although highly significant for local populations that are experiencing them, are often overlooked by policymakers, politicians and the media, who tend to focus on 'big stories', such as climate change. Local initiatives exist for managing some of these changes but, without government support, they can become overwhelmed due to lack of resources. Third, the research has shown how the borders of small islands are constantly 'on the move' or in flux. This is despite ongoing attempts by island-based communities, policymakers and engineers to fix them in place through the installation of seawalls, groynes and other hardware, which can result in conflicts between island residents over different forms of land and sea use. These insights raise important questions about how to respond to sea level rise and other changes to coastal environments taking place due to economic development and climate change. 1. The research revealed the different forms of conflict that were occurring over different, competing uses of the environment, such as sand extraction and mining. We examined how these interventions were affecting people's day-to-days to lives in terms of their everyday mobilities and the ways in which people thought about and understood their futures. 2. In our research, we implemented a range of innovate, and sometimes experimental, methodologies, including life histories, participant observation, 'go alongs', interviews and workshop discussions. We ran participatory photography workshops with local communities; these resulted in a national exhibition in the capital city, Malé, which raised awareness of local environmental change taking place on islands outside the capital. 3. During our research, we worked closely with the national NGO, called ENDEVOR, where one of the project Co-Is was based, as well as the Ministry of Environment and UNDP. The results of the research were circulated widely, including via a report, a research workshop and seminar, an interview on Maldivian daytime television, and a project website. Dialogue between NGOs, governments and international agencies and local populations directly affected by environmental change was facilitated by the launch of the national photography exhibition. This event enabled people to explain how their islands were changing and what their ideas for managing, and adapting to, such changes were. 4. The capacity of early-career researchers to undertake research and policy engagement on environmental conflict, sustainable livelihoods and the everyday was strengthened. This occurred through the involvement of the early career Co-I and two research assistants in all aspects of the project, as well as engagement with a student intern and the employment of two early career consultants. |
Exploitation Route | Academically, the research has made an important step forward in demonstrating the relevance of the everyday for understanding environmental change. It has provided a set of ideas for researchers to take these key concepts forward in their own work. In terms of policy, the work has highlighted the need for decisionmakers to pay more attention to changes to the environment that are taking place in relation to people's everyday lives. This includes a need to relook at how coastlines can be defended in the face of climate change, and what it means to live with coastlines that resist being fixed and are constantly in flux. Empirically, the work has provided an important dataset on everyday life and environmental change from a little studied part of the world. The work has succeeded in bringing the voices of 'ordinary' people into debates on how to respond to global environmental change. |
Sectors | Environment |
URL | https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/everyday-lives/ |
Description | The research has raised awareness and contributed to knowledge by better informing policymakers about the effect of environmental change on island communities and raising public awareness in the national capital, Malé, of this issue on the outer islands. The project has also significantly built the capacity of the communities to articulate their concerns and propose locally driven solutions directly to decision makers. A member of an island council in the Maldives reported that one of the main outputs of the research, a photography exhibition at which islanders' photographs were displayed, was a highly effective method to demonstrate challenges and to propose possible solutions. One island council had its planning permission application for the erection of coastal defences to prevent rapid beach erosion approved the day immediately following the launch, and it was felt by the council that the exhibition had directly contributed to this positive outcome. The four-day photography exhibition raised public awareness in Malé. Two project investigators, Uma Kothari and Mizna Mohamed, were subsequently invited onto the national daytime television programme Hedhunu Hedhunaa to discuss the purpose of the exhibition and highlight environmental impacts on outer islands. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
Description | Arts-based Community Education in Fragile Contexts, University of Manchester GCRF Research Partner Development funds |
Amount | £35,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2018 |
End | 07/2019 |
Description | Australian Research Council Discovery Project |
Amount | $445,000 (AUD) |
Funding ID | DP190100604 |
Organisation | Australian Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | Australia |
Start | 06/2019 |
End | 06/2022 |
Description | Visualising and representing environmental change in island communities |
Amount | £97,980 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ES/T015942/1 |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2020 |
End | 04/2021 |
Title | Everyday lives and environmental change database - interview transcripts |
Description | This online database consists of the transcripts of approximately 120 interviews with academics, policymakers, and people living in the case study island communities. The interviews concern a wide range of topics but are especially focused on waste and waste management, coastal and beach erosion, the expansion of the built environment and fishing-based lives and livelihoods in the Maldives. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | None to date. |
Title | Everyday lives and environmental change database - participatory photographs |
Description | A set of approximately 100 photographs taken by islanders during participatory workshops depicting local environmental change on Maldivian islands. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | 40 of the 100 photographs were displayed at a photography exhibition in the Maldives National Art Gallery in April 2019. |
Description | ENDEVOR Maldives |
Organisation | ENDEVOR Maldives |
Country | Maldives |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The Maldivian Co-I on this project is a member of ENDEVOR, which is a not-for-profit research NGO based in the Maldives. As a result, the research team has made a number of contributions to this partnership. These are: - Provision of intellectual leadership concerning ideas and theories on the everyday and how this is linked to environmental change. - Provision of ideas and expertise on the links between academic theory, policy and practice in environment and development research. - Training in research design, methods, sampling and data analysis. The main research methods used are participatory photography techniques, interviews and observation. - Provision of facilities and IT equipment (including a fully furnished office, photocopier and desktop and laptop computers). |
Collaborator Contribution | ENDEVOR have provided a range of contributions to the collaboration. The main ones are: - Knowledge and understanding of people's everyday lives and environmental change in the context of the Maldives. - Assistance and advice on approaches to, and methods for, conducting research in the Maldives. - Conducting data collection with island communities and policymakers. - Advice regarding which island communities to conduct research with and assistance in providing access to those communities. - Data management, processing and analysis, as well as provision of research findings and feedback to island communities. - Assistance in the production of academic research outputs. |
Impact | - Three PowerPoint presentations providing feedback of research findings to island-based communities. - Two literature reviews (on the histories of i. environmental governance and policy and ii. tourism development in the Maldives). - Four island briefings, setting out the main socioeconomic, political and environmental characteristics of each case study island. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Maldives National University (MNU) |
Organisation | Maldives National University |
Country | Maldives |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | In this collaboration, the research team has brought knowledge about qualitative research, and how qualitative research findings can be used as a basis for research impact. |
Collaborator Contribution | MNU has brought experience of conducting research in the Maldivian context and advice and guidance on how to achieve research impact at the national level. |
Impact | There have been two main outputs from this collaboration: 1. A seminar, organised jointly with MNU, in which the links between research, policy and impact were explored. Approximately 15 people attended this event, during which people's experiences of achieving research impact were shared and deliberated. 2. A panel session at the launch of the photographic exhibition in Malé, during which the use of photo elicitation methods for research impact were discussed. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | UNDP Maldives |
Organisation | United Nations (UN) |
Department | United Nations Development Programme |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The research team and UNDP Maldives are collaborating in the production of a photography exhibition in the Maldivian capital, Male. The research team is the lead partner in this collaboration and, as such, is taking the intellectual lead in the production of the exhibition and providing oversight of the event's organisation. |
Collaborator Contribution | As part of this collaboration, UNDP Maldives is: - Providing organisational and logistical assistance for the production and running of the exhibition, including securing a venue for the event and sending out invitations. - Contributing financially to the event ($1000 USD), mainly to cover the catering costs. |
Impact | - This collaboration is resulting in the production of a major photography exhibition in the Maldivian capital, Male, displaying 45 islanders' photographs depicting everyday island life and environmental change. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Feeding back research findings to island communities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Three workshops were organised with the communities that participated in the research in order to feed back initial project findings. These events stimulated discussion and debate about directions for local economic development and the relationship between island economies and the physical environment. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
Description | Photographic Exhibition |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Curated a photographic exhibition depicting environmental change and displayed in public space on an island in the Maldives. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Photography exhibition |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A photography exhibition was displayed at the National Art Gallery in the Male, the Maldivian capital, from 18-24 April 2019. The photographs were taken by people in island communities to highlight the aspects of their everyday lives that were important to them. The exhibition brought the perspectives and voices of marginalised communities living on outer islands to policymakers and politicians based in the 'centre'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Photography exhibition launch |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Eighty people attended a photography exhibition launch held in the Maldivian national capital, Malé. The photographs were taken by people in island communities to highlight the aspects of their everyday lives that were important to them. The exhibition brought the perspectives and voices of marginalised communities living on outer islands to policymakers and politicians based in the 'centre'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Photography exhibition television interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project PI, Uma Kothari, and the Maldivian Co-I, Mizna Mohamed, were interviewed about the research project and photography exhibition live on a Maldivian television programme. The interview took place on a popular, daytime TV show called 'Hedhunu Hedhunaa'. During the interview, the main aims and findings of the research project were discussed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Photography workshops with community groups |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Participatory photography workshops were held with three community-based groups in the case study islands. These events raised local awareness about environmental issues and allowed participants to express themselves through visual imagery. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
Description | Project Report for The Impact Initiative for International Development Research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | An Project Report for The Impact Initiative for International Development Research, entitled 'Raising Awareness of Environmental Change in the Maldives', was produced. This has been distributed widely via the ESRC Impact Initiative website. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://theimpactinitiative.net/node/1592 |
Description | Project website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Project website, which is intended for a wide audience, including the general public. The website provides information on the project's main research themes, insights into research practices and methods, and news updates. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020,2021 |
URL | https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/everyday-lives/ |
Description | Public talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A public talk was given at the Maldives National University during which the project was introduced and some of the main research findings presented and discussed. Approximately 60 members of the public, academics and university students attended. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | RGS conference 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentation to over 100 academics at the Royal Geographical Society annual international conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Research Briefing Report for island councils |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Research briefing reports were distributed to councils on the Maldivian islands where the research took place. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/institutes/gdi/research/FINAL%20Briefing%20report%2031%20May%202019... |
Description | Research impact workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Twenty people (made up of researchers, policymakers and development personnel) attended a half-day workshop organised by the project team. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the links between research, environment and development policy in the Maldives, and research uptake/impact. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |