Deb Cleland is one of the rocking crew of students who completed Honours in Human Ecology at the Australian National University in 2007. Her innovative honours’ research took advantage of opportunities to work with the Modelling and Decision Support Working Group in the Coral Reef Targeted Research Project to carry out practical research on approaches to sustainable reef management. Deb worked with the MDS-WG to design interactive models and role play games to engage stakeholders in coral reef management and conservation issues. Deb has kindly allowed us to post her honours thesis on “Practice makes perfect? An iterative approach to participatory modelling for coral reef management” on the Human Ecology Forum website.

Deb studied a combined degree in Arts/Science, majoring in Development Studies and Human Ecology/Sustainability Science, after a brief taste of law. She took a series of courses on ecology, climatology, biology and environmental management before getting involved in the coral reef management project by accident after asking to do an introductory computer modelling course through RSPAS (Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies).

Deb went on going on to do an independent research project (a semester-long course) with the course coordinator, which led to an opportunity to focus exclusively on it for a year studying Honours. On the topic of finding great research opportunities, Deb says “students are a cheap way for overextended full-time researchers to get things done, so if you hear about an interesting project, it is always worth asking if you can participate in some way.”

For those of you not familiar with the Australian tertiary studies system, Honours is the final year of an undergraduate degree. Studying Honours in some programs may involve coursework, but programs such as Human Ecology are solely research-based theses, similar to Masters research programs, and as such can be a direct pathway to PhD studies.

“Practice makes perfect? An iterative approach to participatory modelling for coral reef management”

ABSTRACT

As human activities continue to devastate coral reefs across the globe, new and innovative approaches are needed to link government, communities and researchers to improve reef management. As these new approaches are developed, it is crucial to explore how effectively they are able to bring together diverse stakeholders to integrate knowledge and build relationships to support sustainable reef management. To this end, this thesis takes the example of companion modelling, a participatory modelling method which is associated with combining computer models and role-play games. Using an iterative methodology, it draws upon companion modelling work previously completed in Mexico to guide the design of a new model and role-play game ‘ReefGame’, which was presented at a one-day stakeholder workshop in the Philippines. This experience demonstrated that the companion modelling approach successfully supported social leaning in a participatory setting, by encouraging reflection and discussion among participants. However, it was not able to usefully build relationships across community, researchers and government. Building effective collaboration between these three sectors will require a long-term commitment to building a local mandate and integrating research into existing management, power and communication structures. This research process revealed two important lessons for implementing companion modelling for improving reef management. Firstly, a comprehensive understanding of local complexities is critical in developing models which can effectively engage local people in dialogue and learning processes. Secondly, and notwithstanding the central role of contextual detail, explicitly extracting structural similarities over differing social and economic contexts to draw out lessons for practice plays an essential role in improving outcomes in the field, both for reefs and the people who depend on them.

ReefGame workshop in the Phillipines

Please contact Deborah for a copy of her thesis. deborah dot cleland at gmail.

“Why is the world’s largest fish now vulnerable to extinction? One of the most successful Australian conservation campaigns has been Ningaloo Reef out from North West Cape (Exmouth) in Western Australia, where whale sharks aggregate and migrate annually. This Friday’s Forum will explore the issues for effective on-going conservation management, human interactions with and threats to the whale sharks, and the changes these bring to oceanic ecosystems, political processes and personal values (there will be a short video of swimming with whale sharks).”