Büro Karl Holmer Sachverständiger für Kraftfahrzeuge - Echinger Forum

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Human Ecology
The ECI’s Human Ecology research
focuses on the cultural, social, and
political aspects of environmental
management and the interaction
between people and the ecosystem.
We see humans as part of
ecosystems - not as actors having an
effect on the environment ‘out there’,
but each one of us as part of the
environment of everyone else and
as part of the environment of every
other species.
Human ecology is also a
methodology as much as an area of
research. Not only is human ecology
interdisciplinary (integrating lessons
from biology, development studies,
political ecology, psychology, and
anthropology, among others), it
is also participatory, experiential,
and reflexive. Examples of the
questions we research include:
‘How do our cultural, social and
political interactions affect nature,
informally or formally?’ and ‘How
can environmental management and
‘biodiversity conservation’ take on
board the ideas and understanding
of human ecology: the importance
of human values and the diversity of
those values?’
Human Ecology research approach
The common thread through all
our projects is a participatory
approach to learning. This helps
to elicit different values and
knowledge, enable assessment of
the compatibility of information
needs and perceptions of the
different stakeholder groups, and
allow the values and knowledge
of marginalised stakeholders to
be given a more prominent role in
decision-making.
Projects
Sustainable harvests of medicinal
plants from community forests
“Few projects have had a greater
impact on the target community or
have achieved more towards meeting
their long term objectives.” Reviewer
for UK Department for International
Development (DfID).
In collaboration with NGO partners
and four communities in India
and Nepal this project addressed
the question “Can non-timber
forest products (NTFPs) provide
communities with a reliable
livelihood at the same time as
conserving species and habitats?”.
Scientific methods were combined
with participatory approaches to
identify drivers of change in NTFP
populations and forest quality, and
help village research committees
formulate testable hypotheses
and establish monitoring and
experimental plots, in a scientifically
and socially acceptable manner. The
results stimulated recommendations
for management guidelines and
regulations for NTFPs. The scientific
basis of the participatory approach
also improved respect between the
foresters and forest users.
The ECI’s methodology has
contributed to DfID’s goals
of supporting environmental
sustainability in the interests of poor
people’s livelihoods by providing
tools to reduce variability and risk
in production and has enhanced
institutional capacity for decisionmaking.
The project is included
in the top 20% of DfID renewable
natural resource research projects
to go into a new Research Into Use
Programme (RIUP), which aims
to maximise the poverty-reducing
impact of the research outputs in
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Participatory forest management for
herbal medicinal production in Peru
In a similar project on sustainable
harvesting, ECI and a Peruvian
partner, Centro EORI, are working
with indigenous communities on
a 20-year plan for the cultivation
of medicinal plants. The project
includes a book on indigenous
knowledge of these plants, and a
market study to guide communities
in identifying species with economic
potential, and finding business
partners and available markets.
The black poplar: insights into UK
Biodiversity Action Plans
The UK has a unique and
highly structured approach to
biodiversity conservation through
its Biodiversity Action Plans
(BAPs). How do these affect local
conservation planning and practice?
We used a cross-cutting study of
35 local BAPs to examine how
black poplar has been treated.
This species possibly has cultural
as well as ecological significance,
contributing to the remarkable
diversity of ways in which it has
been included or excluded by
LBAPs. The study finds LBAPs to
be a blend of personal preference,
intuitive practice, and political
pragmatism – a blend which works,
given funding constraints and the
need to rely on existing interest
groups. Criticisms that the ‘rational
planning’ approach focuses too