Wetlands as social ecological systems, and relationality in the policy domain
Pierre Horwitz
A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Centre for People Place and Planet, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 6160, Australia.
Marine and Freshwater Research - https://doi.org/10.1071/MF22018
Submitted: 25 January 2022 Accepted: 31 May 2022 Published online: 19 July 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
A wetland policy perspective based on social ecological systems accepts that wetlands are part of landwaterscapes, that people are part of wetland ecosystems, and that the health of wetlands and the health of people are interdependent, evidence of the close, reciprocal and indivisible relationships between nature and culture. These relationships are storied and place-based, associated with place attachment, and are representations of relational values. They are most easily located wherever and whenever Indigenous and local peoples’ knowledge and interests are at play in wetland settings. Legal and administrative processes that recognise Chthonic law and rights for wetlands will elevate relational values and provide the governance arrangements for their inclusion in wetland (and other ecosystem) management. Co-designing with Indigenous and local communities in developing wetland policies and operationalising practices will allow for wetland stories to be shared, respectfully cared for, and built into educational curricula and ecosystem valuation models. (Warning: this article contains the name of deceased Aboriginal person.)
Keywords: Chthonic law, cultural ecosystem services, landwaterscapes, natureculture, relationality, settings, social ecological systems, wetlands.
References
Acharya A (2015) The cultural politics of waterscapes. In ‘The international handbook of political ecology’. (Ed. RL Bryant) pp. 373–386. (Edward Elgar Publishing)Advisory Group on the Reform of Australian Government Administration (2010) ‘Ahead of the game: blueprint for the reform of Australian Government Administration.’ (Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra, ACT, Australia)
Agoramoorthy, G (2015). Sacred rivers: their spiritual significance in Hindu religion. Journal of Religion and Health 54, 1080–1090.
| Sacred rivers: their spiritual significance in Hindu religion.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 25183514PubMed |
Bataille, CY, Malinen, SK, Yletyinen, J, Scott, N, and Lyver, PO (2021). Relational values provide common ground and expose multi-level constraints to cross-cultural wetland management. People and Nature 3, 941–960.
| Relational values provide common ground and expose multi-level constraints to cross-cultural wetland management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Britton, E, Kindermann, G, Domegan, C, and Carlin, C (2020). Blue care: a systematic review of blue space interventions for health and wellbeing. Health Promotion International 35, 50–69.
| Blue care: a systematic review of blue space interventions for health and wellbeing.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 30561661PubMed |
| Gapu, water, creates knowledge and is a life force to be respected.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Colloff, MJ, and Pittock, J (2019). Why we disagree about the Murray–Darling Basin Plan: water reform, environmental knowledge and the science-policy decision context. Australasian Journal of Water Resources 23, 88–98.
| Why we disagree about the Murray–Darling Basin Plan: water reform, environmental knowledge and the science-policy decision context.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cunsolo, A, and Ellis, NR (2018). Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss. Nature Climate Change 8, 275–281.
| Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Davidson, NC, Dinesen, L, Fennessy, S, Finlayson, CM, Grillas, P, Grobicki, A, McInnes, RJ, and Stroud, DA (2020). Trends in the ecological character of the world’s wetlands. Marine and Freshwater Research 71, 127–138.
| Trends in the ecological character of the world’s wetlands.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Davies, GT, Finlayson, CM, Okuno, E, Davidson, NC, Gardner, RC, Moomaw, WR, and Pritchard, DE (2021). Reply to Bridgewater (2021), ‘Response to Davies et al., ‘Towards a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands’’. Marine and Freshwater Research 72, 1401–1407.
| Reply to Bridgewater (2021), ‘Response to Davies et al., ‘Towards a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands’’.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Eakin, H, Shelton, RE, Siqueiros-Garcia, JM, Charli-Joseph, L, and Manuel-Navarrete, D (2019). Loss and social–ecological transformation: pathways of change in Xochimilco, Mexico. Ecology and Society 24, 15.
| Loss and social–ecological transformation: pathways of change in Xochimilco, Mexico.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fabiano, E, Schulz, C, and Martín Branas, M (2021). Wetland spirits and Indigenous knowledge: implications for the conservation of wetlands in the Peruvian Amazon. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 3, 100107.
| Wetland spirits and Indigenous knowledge: implications for the conservation of wetlands in the Peruvian Amazon.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Gardner, G (2021). The effect of salt marsh on residential property values. Coastal Management 49, 662–681.
| The effect of salt marsh on residential property values.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Garibaldi, A, and Turner, N (2004). Cultural keystone species: implications for ecological conservation and restoration. Ecology and Society 9, 1.
| Cultural keystone species: implications for ecological conservation and restoration.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Glenn PH (2010) ‘Legal traditions of the world’, 4th edn. (Oxford University Press)
Gorenflo, LJ, Romaine, S, Mittermeier, RA, and Walker-Painemilla, K (2012). Co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity in biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversity wilderness areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109, 8032–8037.
| Co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity in biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversity wilderness areas.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 22566626PubMed |
Horwitz, P, and Finlayson, CM (2011). Wetlands as settings for human health: incorporating ecosystem services and health impact assessment into water resource management. BioScience 61, 678–688.
| Wetlands as settings for human health: incorporating ecosystem services and health impact assessment into water resource management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Horwitz P, Roiko A (2015) Ecosystem approaches to human exposures to pollutants and toxicants in wetlands: examples, dilemmas and alternatives. In ‘Wetlands and human health’. (Eds C Finlayson, P Horwitz, P Weinstein) pp. 75–94. (Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands)
Ioris, AAR (2012). Applying the strategic-relational approach to urban political ecology: the water management problems of the Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Antipode 44, 122–150.
| Applying the strategic-relational approach to urban political ecology: the water management problems of the Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kumar R, Pattnaik AK, Finlayson CM (2020) Ecosystem services: implications for managing Chilika. In ‘Ecology, conservation, and restoration of Chilika Lagoon, India’. (Eds CM Finlayson, G Rastogi, DR Mishra, AK Pattnaik) pp. 63–94. (Springer: Cham, Switzerland)
Kumar, R, McInnes, R, Finlayson, CM, Davidson, N, Rissik, D, Paul, S, Cui, L, Lei, Y, Capon, S, and Fennessy, S (2021). Wetland ecological character and wise use: towards a new framing. Marine and Freshwater Research 72, 633–637.
| Wetland ecological character and wise use: towards a new framing.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Maund, PR, Irvine, KN, Reeves, J, Strong, E, Cromie, R, Dallimer, M, and Davies, ZG (2019). Wetlands for wellbeing: piloting a nature-based health intervention for the management of anxiety and depression. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, 4413.
| Wetlands for wellbeing: piloting a nature-based health intervention for the management of anxiety and depression.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
McInnes, RJ (2014). Recognising wetland ecosystem services within urban case studies. Marine and Freshwater Research 65, 575–588.
| Recognising wetland ecosystem services within urban case studies.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
O’Donnell, E, Poelina, A, Pelizzon, A, and Clark, C (2020). Stop burying the lede: the essential role of Indigenous law(s) in creating rights of nature. Transnational Environmental Law 9, 403–427.
| Stop burying the lede: the essential role of Indigenous law(s) in creating rights of nature.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Parkes, MW (2022). River conversations: a confluence of lessons and emergence from the Taieri River and the Nechako River. River Research and Applications 38, 443–452.
| River conversations: a confluence of lessons and emergence from the Taieri River and the Nechako River.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Parkes, MW, and Horwitz, P (2009). Water, ecology and health: ecosystems as settings for promoting health and sustainability. Health Promotion International 24, 94–102.
| Water, ecology and health: ecosystems as settings for promoting health and sustainability.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 19171669PubMed |
Pascua, P, McMillen, H, Ticktin, T, Vaughan, M, and Winter, KB (2017). Beyond services: a process and framework to incorporate cultural, genealogical, place-based, and Indigenous relationships in ecosystem service assessments. Ecosystem Services 26, 465–475.
| Beyond services: a process and framework to incorporate cultural, genealogical, place-based, and Indigenous relationships in ecosystem service assessments.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Prescott, SL, Millstein, RA, Katzman, MA, and Logan, AC (2016). Biodiversity, the human microbiome and mental health: moving toward a new clinical ecology for the 21st century? International Journal of Biodiversity 2016, 2718275.
| Biodiversity, the human microbiome and mental health: moving toward a new clinical ecology for the 21st century?Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pretty, J, Adams, B, Berkes, F, Ferreira De Athayde, S, Dudley, N, Hunn, E, Maffi, L, Milton, K, Rapport, D, Robbins, P, and Sterling, E (2009). The intersections of biological diversity and cultural diversity: towards integration. Conservation and Society 7, 100–112.
Rose DB (2002) Indigenous ecologies and an ethic of connection. In ‘Global ethics and environment’. (Ed. N Low) pp. 189–201. (Routledge)
Russell, S, Ens, E, and Rangers, NY (2020). Connection as country: relational values of billabongs in Indigenous northern Australia. Ecosystem Services 45, 101169.
| Connection as country: relational values of billabongs in Indigenous northern Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Saraswati A (2012) Swamp: walking the wetlands of the Swan Coastal Plain; and with the exegesis, a walk in the anthropocene: homesickness and the walker-writer. PhD thesis, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Saravanan, VS, McDonald, GT, and Mollinga, PP (2009). Critical review of integrated water resources management: moving beyond polarised discourse. Natural Resources Forum 33, 76–86.
| Critical review of integrated water resources management: moving beyond polarised discourse.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
