The Drum Beat 429 - Natural Resource Management

From The Communication Initiative Network - where communication and media are central to social and economic development.
Subscribe to The Drum Beat: click here!

===

This issue of The Drum Beat features the use and support of communication in natural resource management (NRM). It includes tools and strategies for information exchange; sources of statistics and surveys for resource management; strategies for messages and marketing; and project experiences and projects-in-process in diverse regions of the world.

If you would like your organisation's communication work or research and resource documents to be featured on The CI websites and in The Drum Beat newsletters, please contact Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com

===

Please make sure to visit our Natural Resource Management Theme Site, where communication and media are central to natural resource management.

===

NRM ACTION

1. A Mine of Information? This Panos London Illuminating Voices report discusses differences in understanding about Rio Tinto's ilmenite mine in the Fort Dauphin area of southern Madagascar, which, as stated in the report, have led to mistrust and social conflict. It examines the debates, grievances, consultations, and negotiations that have taken place between the mining company, QIT Madagascar Mining S.A. (QMM), the Government of Madagascar (GoM), and the many different stakeholders affected by the project, including members of the local community. The report intends to reveal the gaps in consultation and communication, and to assess the consequences. It raises questions to be considered by all stakeholders, making recommendations for improvements in communication.

2. LEISA Magazine, Vol. 22, Issue 1 This magazine focuses on small-scale farming. Its contents attempt to present technical and social options for farmers who seek to improve productivity and income in an ecologically sound way. This issue has a focus on documentation as a knowledge building process. According to its editors: "The articles in this issue show that the purpose of documentation is not only descriptive: the process needs to examine closely what results and impacts are achieved in a given case, and why. Going through this process is an opportunity to learn and to discover interesting and useful links, opinions and learning points."

3. Participatory Wetlands Management in the Caribbean This policy brief of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) summarises key findings of a project entitled "Policies and Institutions for Wetlands Management: Training for Managers from the Insular Caribbean" implemented by the institute in 2006 in Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago. The briefing describes Caribbean wetlands, participatory wetlands management, and challenges to the effective management of wetlands. The research component focused on analysing the actual and potential contribution of the international Convention on Wetlands (the Ramsar Convention) in facilitating participatory approaches to and integrated management of wetlands.

4. Education and Communication For Biodiversity Conservation in Nepal by Neelima Shrestha This paper, written for the Education for a Sustainable Future Conference in January of 2005, presents ways in which the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal programme implements conservation education. The paper examines case studies intending to show the role of the Conservation Education and Communication (CEC) programme of WWF Nepal in bringing about positive changes in the attitude and behaviour of schoolteachers, students, and community members in support of conservation and sustainable development. "...[S]uch efforts have been helpful in enhancing the capacities of community members to improve their livelihoods by conserving and sustainably managing Nepal's biological diversity."

5. Seeds of Hope - Global Seeds of Hope works towards cooperative global action for women. The effort is community-based in one sense, but global in another. It involves creating gardens, throughout the city of Hamilton, Canada, comprised of horticultural seeds donated from women's support centres and groups from around the world. To facilitate this process, the Women's Centre of Hamilton invited other women's centres around the world to contact them - via email - to express an interest in participating. A certified horticulturist will then request a packet of seeds specific to each centre's region that is safe to the eco-environment. The "Gardens of Hope" that result are designed to commemorate International Women's Day and to represent the solidarity of women and their ability for growth, renewal, and peace. Contact: Kelly Hilton kellyhilton74@hotmail.com OR womenscentre@on.aibn.com

6. Great Communities for People and Nature - United States Implemented by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Biodiversity Project in the summer of 2003, this research and public outreach initiative centred around the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to get the word out about innovative community-based solutions to the biodiversity crisis in the United States. Core goals of the project were to: raise public awareness about the connections between habitat protection and community quality of life; encourage individuals to support actions, policies, and initiatives that will institutionalise biodiversity protection at the local level; and promote innovative and responsible approaches to local biodiversity protection. In order to collect stories that could serve as models for how individuals can make a meaningful difference for biodiversity in their communities, the Biodiversity Project solicited nominations via the internet (a nomination form) and through its network of smart growth and local conservation allies. The goal was to identify stories that the Biodiversity Project could pitch to national and regional lifestyle media to raise the profile of the good things people are doing to protect nature at the community level. Contact: project@biodiverse.org

===

Please Vote in our newest NRM POLL:

Faced with a significant and serious local natural resource management issue, what would be your top priority action?:

• Bring in technical experts to review.
• Convene a stakeholders' conference.
• Facilitate negotiation of local rules.
• Publicise the issue as widely as possible.
• Seek government legislation.
• Support advocacy by local people.
• Other [please VOTE and then explain your choice in the Comments box provided below (SUBMIT)]

VOTE AND COMMENT [Top Right Side bar - see "Poll"].

===

NRM MARKETING/MESSAGES

7. The Case for Marketing Sanitation This field note analyses the social marketing of sanitation - the hygienic disposal of human excreta - as an approach to stimulate the market for private sector suppliers. The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) Field Notes describe and analyse projects and activities in water and sanitation that provide lessons for sector leaders, administrators, and individuals tackling the water and sanitation challenges in urban and rural areas. According to WSP research, "most progress in access has been achieved by the market - private suppliers supplying individual households. Marketing has been more successful than anything else in changing the behaviour of people when they can see direct personal benefits. The purpose of this field note is to explain the marketing."

8. Environmentalist or Conservationist, and Does it Matter? by Jane Elder This article discusses the terms "environmentalist" and "conservationist" and what they mean to the public (rather than the internal debate in the field) and how that affects their use in communication. The author suggests that the public does see a difference in the two and gives a cursory overview via a chart, which lists some of the following contrasts:

• driven by ideology.
• wishes to preserve environment.
• outsider.
• radical.
• watchdog.
• superior/righteous.
• stereotyped as political activist.
• looking for a practical solution to a particular problem.
• wishes to conserve the environment for current and future use.
• local.
• balanced and practical.
• pragmatic and solution-oriented.
• contributor to the community.
• stereotyped as a local duck hunter.