Stakeholders ’ involvement and reflections on preserving sacred swamps in the Western Ghats, India, as revealed by participatory visioning

AbstractLack of a shared vision has been identified as a major obstacle in transdisciplinary research involving both  scientists and other stakeholders. Without a shared vision, the implementation of scientific findings is difficult. The diverse partners of collaborative research, however, imply a plurality in the valuation of nature and a need for deliberative mechanisms. If visioning processes are to do justi ce to local contexts, research must apply deliberative mechanisms to cover the plurality in the valuation of nature. This paper proposes a visioning approach for local communities, based on prior transdisciplinary research. This participatory workshop method invites stakeholders to approach natur e conservation and livelihoods via a deliberation of desirable futures, barriers for achieving them and associated responsibilities for taking action. The paper explores this method via a case study of visioning workshops on sacred swamps in the Western Ghats (India), and their role for both fresh water swamp protection and livelihoods. The visioning exercise offered discussion opportunities facilitating conscientization, conciliation and collaboration in local bottom-up nature conservation. For conserving the tropical freshwater swamps, the results show the need for a more participatory f orest governance, providing space for shared value creation. They also point to the need for further research on inter-faith nature conservation possibilities, along with innovat...
Source: Sustainability Science - Category: Science Source Type: research