A final paper submitted to the School of Psychology in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Science
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97401
Zintars Beldavs
March, 2005
Committee:
Paul Slovic, chairperson
Sara Hodges, member
§Acknowledgments
As with any large project there are far too many to acknowledge all of those who helped shape my work. If I fail to mention any particular name, it is not because of a lack of appreciation, but a difficulty in keeping track of so many wonderful and helpful people.
I am forever indebted to my family, Vid, Aija, Aris, and Raitis Beldavs. From the very beginning to the end of this sometimes difficult, always fascinating process they have always been loving, caring, and willing with their sagely advice. I also give thanks to my long time friend Noelle Elliott who was extremely helpful throughout the writing of the first section of this paper.
I give many thanks to both my graduate committee of Paul Slovic and Sara Hodges and my undergraduate committee, both initial and final: Charlene D’Avanzo, Brian Schultz, and Herb Bernstein. I am grateful for their critical examination, statistical knowledge, sound comments, and readiness to help throughout the construction of my work.
I thank all of the Fulbright staff, both in Latvia and in the US for the opportunity to continue the work as a graduate student, which I’d begun at Hampshire College. I also maintain my thanks to Clay Hubbs, the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), and the Institute for Central American Development (ICADS) for providing a means for me to do my field research. I am undeniably grateful to the friendship and advice of Mellissa Johnson who found me the incredible opportunity to work at the Belize Center for Environmental Studies (BCES). I thank the BCES, particularly Will Heyman and Terrence, for providing me a wonderful opportunity to work on an exciting and important project (the Port of Honduras marine protected area), the opportunity to use data that has been collected over a much longer period than I personally was involved (data for the paper presented on the Port of Honduras project in chapter four), and for the enchanting conversations and remarkable trips.
It’s almost impossible to thank all of the other amazing people who helped me with friendship and advice during my time abroad in Latvia, Belize, and Fiji. All of the people, especially Janis at the Green Library and the NGO Green Liberty, as well as the Institute for Social Policy for were particularly helpful for opportunities to work on various projects, including translations, conferences, and seminars. It was particularly pleasing to work with Guntra Aistars on a project with the Institute for Social Policy where we were able to put some of the ideas into practice with our benefit concert, combining my interests in ecology, increased public participation, as well as my love of music. I also thank Savenaca Madanavosa, and the entire staff of the University of the South Pacific who were generous and caring during times that would be difficult and trying for anyone. I graciously thank the Locario family of Belize and Dona Isabel of Costa Rica for providing me a home, food, and friendship during my time in Central America. I plan and hope to live up to my promise to visit the Solomon Islands to re-establish my close friendship with my best friend while in Fiji, George Asitewa; thank you! I profusely thank Semi Leweniqili, Viliame Rabici, and Pau for their collaboration on the study presented in this thesis on the benthic distribution of the Suva Barrier Reef flat (chapter 3).
A million thanks to all of my friends I met traveling from nearly every country in Latvia, the South Pacific and throughout the rest of the world, including (in no particular order): Bobby Naimawi, Andi Wagner, Ali Rilwan, Dominic Ruwemai, Jos Allersma, Fergus Cleverly, John (from PNG), Stan Ariah, Patrick Arahatara, John Pule, John Maetia, Nathaniel Nhapps, Hugo Bugoro, Dako Nating, Katy Soapi, Fereti Pue, Toni Ma’asi, Viliami Fifita, Vili Pele, Gabe Whetmore, Emily Shavers, Shamenna Gall, Shem Ganileo, Karlos Pakoa, Gerard Williamson, Goose Jungblut, Fereti Pue, Butch, Josef Israelsstraat, Wonter Olsthoorw, Elizabeth Peters, Tiroam Kneeri, Richard Hargrove, Henry Murphy, Jason Marurai, Sam Spurret, and everyone I missed!
§Forward
This paper summarizes my Bachelors and Masters multidisciplinary work on environmental policy and management from a bio-psychological perspective, encompassing a diverse spectrum of fields and an array of countries.
Along with the work directly presented here based on an international exchange to Fiji, an international internship in Belize, and a Fulbright scholarship, I was involved in a number of other projects during these experiences which, while not directly related have helped in the process of completing this work.
During my Fulbright in Latvia, in addition to the specific goals outlined in my Fulbright proposal whose result is presented here, as part of my Fulbright project extension, I translated into English the 73 page Latvian NGO Report to the 2002 World Sustainable Development Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, worked with several organizations to organize multimedia events which used music as a forum to draw the public to provide an interesting avenue for their participation, and participated in numerous seminars and conferences on environment and development related issues.
Latvia can be a challenging place to adapt to, not only due to the long, dark and cold winter, but also due to cultural issues. I found that it took significant effort before many local people felt comfortable interacting with me as an expat Latvian-American. The positive side of this is that I found that once I had put the effort in, I was often rewarded with a strong commitment to further our relationships. Doing a Fulbright in Latvia was very important to me. Latvia is an important part of my cultural heritage and I speak Latvian from birth and have participated in many cultural events as well as basic Latvian education. I was born and grew up in the United States and did not visit Latvia until after I had graduated from Hampshire College, taught English in Korea and begun a career as a social science researcher in Eugene, Oregon. I saw the prospect of working in Latvia as an exciting opportunity to integrate my own Latvian American background while contributing to the development of a better relationship between Latvia and the United States.
The experience outlined in this paper has been invaluable in terms of my personal and professional growth. My year-and-a-half experience in Latvia provided me with the knowledge and contacts to write a serious grant proposal involving ten researchers from multiple institutions in the US and Latvia to the Global Development Network (GDN – http://www.gdnet.org/). GDN is a global network of research and policy institutes working together to address the problems of national and regional development. I prepared and submitted the “Understanding Reform in Latvia” proposal on behalf of my host organization in Latvia to build on the work begun with my Fulbright. GDN indicated satisfaction with the strength of the proposal but were limited to only one project from the Baltic region with a very strong proposal from Estonia. Even though we did not win the grant, I now have a much better sense of how to design multidisciplinary projects, which involve public policy issues whether in the Baltic region, the United States, or elsewhere in the world.
My Fulbright experience was challenging – often in ways that I could not have anticipated. I have been significantly enriched by the experience, the knowledge that I have gained and by the people I have befriended. I see the need and am excited by the prospect of further work with the issues I examined in Latvia, Fiji, and Belize, including developing more effective methods for facilitating public participation in decision-making. I arrived primarily with an academic interest overlaying a deep curiosity about the place where both of my parents were born. I became somewhat frustrated when seeing how little of the potential beneficial impact from academic research was realized in the everyday lives of people. I have become both more interested and more aware of ways to foster practical mechanisms of change. My Fulbright experience has also introduced me to some of the complexities involved in achieving real world results – especially with limited resources. I am now motivated to work to find funding to achieve some of the more ambitious goals which I found too difficult to achieve with the limited resources that were available.
§Abstract
The project is an outgrowth and extension the thesis I wrote as an undergraduate at Hampshire College, An Integrative Approach to Environmental Management in the Suva Barrier Reef, Fiji, and the Port of Honduras, Belize. In this paper, I use psychological and ecological fieldwork, cultural experience, and literature to address the importance of the integration of cultural, socio-economic, and scientific factors for eco-system management. This summarizes work conducted at the University of Oregon the Green Library and Social Policy Institute in Riga Latvia, Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts, the University of the South Pacific in the Fiji Islands, the Institute for Central American Development Studies in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the Belize Center for Environmental Studies, in Punta Gorda, Belize. This paper is divided into two sections of five chapters each. The first section provides analysis of two case studies of tropical marine biozones and the second section provides a case study of a temperate Northern climate.
In the first section, stemming from my undergraduate work , I examine the environmental status of two areas through ecological studies based on my collaborative fieldwork. Following this, I examine specific cultural and socio-economic variables associated with these areas, in attempt to devise appropriate management strategies that are environmentally, culturally, socially, and economically sustainable.
The second section provides five chapters based on my graduate Fulbright work in Latvia where I provide another case study to advance the theoretical framework established in the earlier chapters by examining and using methods for public involvement developed in the literature of decision making psychology. While the first section provides an ecological argument for the need for public participation, the second provides psychological arguments as well as an examination of how to best incorporate the views of the public. This project is an outgrowth and expansion of my earlier work, which focused on ecological research and presented participation in more theoretical terms. My aim is that all of these sections work together to provide a multidisciplinary argument for both the need and possible methods for public participation.
Key Issues: Integration of scientific, cultural, psychological, and socio-economic factors for environmental management; importance of local involvement in environmental management.
§Introduction
What are the key elements to environmental management? How can socio-economic and environmental factors be best considered to establish workable and effective management? In this thesis I address these broad questions by first displaying broad theoretic ideas, second focusing in on two specific scientific case studies with a discussion of relevant cultural background, and then attempting a synthesis of theory and practicality by discussing how the broad theoretic ideas might be specifically applied to the case studies in the form of recommendations for environmental management . To clarify this summary, an outline of each chapter follows.
I begin in chapter 1 with an essay titled, Humans as Part of Nature and the Implications for Workable Environmental Conservation. I use this essay to examine the relevance of the question of, “what is nature”. I draw on many sources from diverse disciplines to forward the argument that industrialized society faces a fundamental problem in considering that there is a basic difference between nature and culture. This dichotomy, results from a colonial exploitative mindset, which considered that there are always new lands to conquer with no need for investing in sustaining immediate surroundings. This exploitative mindset leads to unsustainable environmental destruction. The view of our natural environment as an unending resource base is fundamentally opposed to basic ecological and physical principles; matter can not be created or destroyed and thus there must be a finite amount of matter. Through inference of this argument, it is obvious that the resource base on the earth is limited and that environmental conservation must naturally follow with consideration for this natural connection.
In chapter two, I present a comparative examination of the contextual elements necessary to understanding the first two case studies. I look at the cultural and economic histories of these two countries. I particularly focus on the impact of colonialism and the relation of all of these socio-economic factors to environmental attitudes and policies. This is all related back to the essay in chapter one to examine attitudes towards nature and the impact of colonialization on these attitudes.
I use chapter three to present the case study of the Suva Barrier Reef off of the Fiji Islands as an examination of potential effects of nearby development and what, if any, management strategies should be used in areas which are regularly subjected to industrial pressures and already appear highly damaged. In this ecological study, I examine the factors influencing the benthic distribution of the Suva Barrier Reef flat to attempt to better determine the condition of the reef and furthermore, the possible reasons for the observed conditions. This was done by laying line-intercept transects (long tape measures) on 5 areas of the reef and determining what lay under the tape measure; this data was then analyzed to determine the nature and potential causes of reef distribution patterns. Salinity, and temperature measurements were conducted synchronously with a localized literature search of the Suva area to help determine potential causative factors.
I hypothesize that sewage effluent and industrial pollutants, along with natural stressors including low salinity and hurricane damage are responsible for the apparently disturbed environment. Are these valid hypotheses? If so, how can this be determined? Possibly examination of distribution patterns can be helpful; certain species are known to respond to certain stresses in different ways and thus their patterns of distribution might implicate certain chemical or environmental conditions. I present analysis used to determine whether the species I found are new colonizers or old survivors in order to help determine the potential future direction of this reef.
In conclusion and discussion section, I briefly tie results to management and interactions with human environment. Is there a solution, marine or terrestrial, to the degradation of this reef. Is the reef degraded by natural or anthropogenic causes? Should management be considered if natural causes are most implicated?
In chapter four, I present the case study of the Port of Honduras, Belize. This serves as an example of an area in a “pristine state”. Furthermore, in this area, the local scientists, along with NGO’s are currently working on implementing some of the interdisciplinary ideas presented in this paper. I use this study to examine the potential effectiveness of such implementation and see where these organizations might want to go in the future to realize sustainable management objectives.
The paper presented is a scientific study on the ecological interaction between freshwater inflow, mangrove swamps, and sea grass secondary productivity. The study focuses on the specific interconnections between mangroves and sea grasses and differences between their productivity and growth on two different rivers. Are the flora closer to one river more productive than the other? If so, why? Is freshwater inflow, or watershed size a factor in this difference in productivity?
The purpose is to extend the four terrestrially protected corridors from onshore wetlands to a marine protected zone encompassing much of Port Honduras. There exists the potential to establish such a zone that would enable eco-tourism and sport fishing in the marine area. The marine area would exclude large scale commercial fishing using nets or long lines and impose limits on small scale fishing. Currently a management plan is being constructed which incorporates socio-economics, local interaction with science. In this paper, I will help develop this plan, and use its multi-integrative management approach for a model to critique and possibly support. In this chapter, I am primarily introducing the scientific study with the integration and critique in the following chapters.
In chapter five, I present an integration of the cultural/socio-economic analysis of Fiji and Belize outlined in chapter two, with the scientific studies of chapters three and four examining relationship to environment. How are the complexities of multi-ethnic countries like Fiji, Belize, and Latvia related to environmental management? How can an integrative approach be used to meet the needs of peoples of diverse backgrounds?
I use this the socio-economic context and specific scientific studies to synthesize recommendations for management options incorporating different human and environmental factors. I further examine the role that local involvement should play in management of these areas. How can the imperialistic colonial legacy be broken to allow for a real sustainable future. If the legacy continues, the environment will remain considered as something to be exploited.
In this chapter I integrate the broad ideas of chapter one by displaying my argument that the specific management strategies for the two case studies should reflect a connection with the environment. I argue that this connection is most likely to be present through localized grass roots controlled management; the people most affected by the environment (i.e. representatives from all local groupings) must be the primary decision makers. I believe that locally controlled environmental management strategies will tend to be environmentally and socio-economically sustainable.
I conclude this chapter with a discussion of the potential benefits and concerns for eco-tourism in both study areas and elsewhere. Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in Belize, Fiji, and the world as a whole. I argue that sustainable tourism might be possible in Belize if it is planned for beforehand. I believe that sustainability is ultimately dependent on the degree of local involvement; the locals must be in control of all fundamental environmental and economic issues.
In chapter six, I begin the second section of this work by presenting evidence from decision making psychology both to further support the need for public participation and to point to potential biases which must be addressed in effecting decision making for policy. This chapter goes into more depth on some of the issues outlined in earlier chapters by examining the specific processes and biases which are necessary to consider in any effective decision making process and provides more reasons for the need for including a wide grouping of the general populace.
In chapter seven, I review the literature examining cultural effects on group decision making to further build the theory for potential impact in the case studies. This chapter examines specific literature from cross cultural and decision making psychology to provide support for the earlier ideas where I stated that culture was an important factor to consider. In this chapter I use a brief literature review of empirical research to demonstrate the importance of accounting for cultural differences in individual cognition, group dynamics, and decision making processes.
In chapter eight, I present a comparative examination of the contextual elements necessary to understanding the Latvia case study. I look at the cultural and economic histories of Latvia. I particularly focus on the impact of the Soviet Union and the relation of all of these socio-economic factors to environmental attitudes and policies. As examined in the Fiji and Belize chapters, I delve into the issues surrounding a multi ethnic society with a long history of being a colonial satellite and their implications for environmental management and policy. This is all related back to the essay in chapter one to examine attitudes towards nature and the impact of Soviet policies and on these attitudes.
I use chapter nine to present my survey of public perceptions in Latvia. This chapter is used to provide preliminary examination at how certain groups differ in perception in Latvia and what potential implications there are for both policy and future research. In this chapter I use exploratory post-hoc analyses to determine areas potentially fruitful for future research. Analyses, including factor and reliability analyses as well as visual presentation, analysis of variance, and multiple regression are used to look at group, age, gender, ethnic, income, and other potential differences within a sample of employees of the Environmental Ministry, three schools in geographically differing regions, farmers, expats, and a sub sample of the general populace of Riga.
In chapter ten I complete this paper by providing a summary and conclusions of how an integrative approach to policy should be used to best meet the needs of various stakeholders. In this chapter I first propose a model that incorporates all of these interests groups as well as the need for facilitators trained in psychological biases. Following this, I consider and develop ideas for potentially innovative and exciting methods to incorporate the public in decision making. I conclude this chapter and this paper with a brief discussion of the possibility of using this process in Latvia and statement on the consideration of such methods in general.