TRENDS AND SHIFTS IN OUR SORT OF SCIENCE

DOUG COCKS

(PAPER TO A SCIENCE FORUM HELD BY CSIRO RESOURCE FUTURES PROGRAM  OCTOBER 1-2, 2002)

OUR SORT OF SCIENCE?

WHILE WE DO OTHER THINGS SUCH AS STUDY PESTS AND DISEASES AND FLOWS IN THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL ECONOMY, THE MAIN THEME OF THIS DIVISION’S RESEARCH IS STILL THE MANAGEMENT OF LAND-BASED NATURAL RESOURCE SYSTEMS (BIOMES, LANDSCAPES, ECOSYSTEMS, LAND SYSTEMS ETC) WITH A PARTICULAR INTEREST IN THE ENHANCEMENT OF THEIR PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION FUNCTIONS AND THE TRADEOFFS BETWEEN THESE FUNCTIONS.  FOR THE PURPOSES OF TODAY’S TALK,  THAT’S WHAT I MEAN BY ‘OUR SORT OF SCIENCE’ AND, FOR SHORT, I WILL REFER TO IT AS ‘RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE’ OR R&E SCIENCE.  AND OF COURSE OUR SORT OF SCIENCE IS NOT RESTRICTED TO CSE.

PARADIGM SHIFTS

I AM BUILDING MY TALK AROUND THE QUESTION ‘HAVE THERE BEEN OR CAN WE FORESEE PARADIGM SHIFTS IN AUSTRALIAN R&E SCIENCE’?  AND TO CONSTRAIN MY REMARKS I WILL ADD ‘WITHIN THE PAST OR NEXT TEN YEARS’.  WHILE I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO SCENARIO THE FUTURE (THERE’S A NEW VERB FOR YOU), I DO BELIEVE THAT OFTEN THE BEST WAY OF THINKING ABOUT THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME IS TO TAKE A RUNNING JUMP AT THEM OUT OF THE PAST.  ARTHUR KOESTLER WAS FOND OF MAKING THE SAME POINT USING THE FRENCH PHRASE ---‘RECULER POUR MIEUX SAUTER’---‘RUN  BACK IN ORDER TO LEAP FURTHER FORWARD’.     

FOR MOST SCIENTISTS, THE TERM PARADIGM SHIFT COMMONLY REFERS TO A KUHNIAN PARADIGM SHIFT MEANING THAT SCIENTISTS IN A PARTICULAR DISCIPLINE COME TO OVERVIEW THE SYSTEMS THEY STUDY, THEIR ‘TARGET’ SYSTEMS, IN A NEW WAY WHICH SEEMS TO BE MORE CONSISTENT WITH THE FACTS.  FOR EXAMPLE, THE EARTH GOES ROUND THE SUN RATHER THAN VICE VERSA.  BUT, I THINK THERE IS AN ADDITIONAL (NOTE: NOT DIFFERENT) WAY IN WHICH THE TERM CAN BE USED, AND THAT IS TO REFER TO THE SITUATION WHERE A COMMUNITY OF SCIENTISTS COMES TO AGREE, TACITLY PERHAPS, THAT THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT THEY ARE STUDYING NEED TO BE REDEFINED.  FOR EXAMPLE, ‘PERHAPS WE SHOULD BE STUDYING CROP ROTATIONS RATHER THAN CROP X’.  I WILL CALL THESE TWO VERSIONS OF ‘PARADIGM SHIFT’ THE ‘NEW OVERVIEW’OR TYPE 1 AND THE ‘NEW SYSTEM’ OR TYPE 2 VERSIONS.  AND I WILL FURTHER RECOGNISE THAT ‘NEW SYSTEM’ SHIFTS CAN NORMALLY BE THOUGHT OF AS EITHER A SHIFT IN FOCUS TO A NEW SUB-SYSTEM OR TO A NEW SUPER-SYSTEM.  AN EXAMPLE OF THE FORMER IS A SHIFT IN FOCUS FROM A CROP’S AGRONOMY TO A CROP’S GENETICS.  SOMETIMES, THE TERMS ‘MORE HOLISTIC’ AND ‘MORE REDUCTIONIST’ ARE APPLIED TO NEW-SYSTEM SHIFTS BUT THESE TERMS CARRY EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE WHICH WE CAN LEAVE IN THE LOCKER-ROOM TODAY.

SO, FROM A LIMITED PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE, BECAUSE IT IS NOT SOMETHING I HAVE HAD TIME TO RESEARCH MORE WIDELY, I AM LOOKING FOR PARADIGM SHIFTS IN AUSTRALIAN R&E SCIENCE.

FIVE R&E RESEARCH THEMES

LET ME START WITH A FIRST DISAGGREGATION OF WHAT R&E SCIENTISTS DO AND HAVE BEEN DOING; AND I WILL DO IT BY REFERENCING MYSELF. TEN YEARS AGO I HAD JUST PUBLISHED A BOOK CALLED USE WITH CARE: A GUIDE TO MANAGING AUSTRALIA'S NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE 21ST CENTURY.  TRYING HARD TO GENERALISE, I IDENTIFIED THEREIN ‘FIVE CHALLENGES FOR AUSTRALIAN RESOURCE SCIENTISTS’, TASKS WHICH I THOUGHT PEOPLE LIKE US BOTH WOULD BE AND SHOULD BE TACKLING; AND OF COURSE THEY WERE NOT TOO FAR AWAY FROM WHAT PEOPLE WERE ACTUALLY DOING (NO PARADIGM SHIFTS FOR ME).  I WILL QUOTE THEM VERBATIM:

I THINK THAT THE FIRST FOUR OF THESE THEMES HAVE BEEN A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE RESEARCH EFFORT IN R&E SCIENCE IN THE LAST DECADE AND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN MAJOR SUCCESSES IN ALL FOUR AREAS.  HOWEVER, I CANNOT SEE CLEAR PARADIGM SHIFTS, CERTAINLY NOT OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK TYPE IN THESE FOUR THEMES.   I AM MORE THAN HAPPY TO HAVE MY BLIND SPOTS POINTED OUT BUT I WILL ASK FOR A ‘VOTE’ FROM THE AUDIENCE AFTER ANY SUGGESTIONS.  BEFORE YOU SPEAK, REMEMBER THAT THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO A PROBLEM, THE MORE LIKELY ANY ADVANCE IS TO BE SEEN AS A BREAKTHROUGH OR A RECONCEPTUALISATION.  TO ME, THE CORE OF ANY RECONCEPTUALISATION WILL NORMALLY BE A PERCEPTION OF A RELATIONSHIP PREVIOUSLY UNSUSPECTED OR UNSUBSTANTIATED, LIKE THE HOLE IN OZONE LAYER OR AIR BUBBLES IN ICE CORES

LET ME DEFEND MY ASSERTION WITH A BRIEF COMMENT ON RECENT PROGRESS WITHIN EACH OF THESE THEMES. I WILL ALSO MENTION SEVERAL EXAMPLES OF WHAT I SEE AS FAILURES. NOTE THAT I AM TALKING ABOUT THEMES 1-4 AT THIS STAGE, NOT THEME 5.

UNDERSTANDING AND MODELLING KEY LANDSCAPE AND ECOSYSTEMS PROCESSES

THANKS TO NORMAL SCIENCE, WE KNOW A LOT MORE ABOUT MANY LANDSCAPE PROCESSES THAN WE DID A DECADE AGO.  PART OF THIS HAS COME FROM A REFOCUSSING OF ATTENTION ON PROCESSES INCREASINGLY SEEN AS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND FOR ECONOMIC REASONS.  EXAMPLES INCLUDE SALT MOVEMENTS, WATER QUALITY, GROUNDWATER BEHAVIOUR.  

SOME OF THE PROGRESS IS ASSOCIATED WITH INSTRUMENTATION GAINS, INCLUDING A REVIVAL OF THE 1970S ENTHUSIASM FOR SIMULATION METHODS (EG IBP) ON THE BACK OF NEW GENERATIONS OF POWERFUL COMPUTERS.  

THERE HAS BEEN A STEADY DAWNING OF UNDERSTANDING AS TO JUST HOW ENORMOUS MANY OF THE PROBLEMS IN OUR AGRO-ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES ARE, EG SPECIES LOSSES, LAND DEGRADATION, FERAL PLANTS AND ANIMALS.  AND THAT WE DO NOT HAVE PRACTICABLE SOLUTIONS.

AS FAR AS ECOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING IS CONCERNED, AND HERE I AM TRULY ENTERING THE LION’S DEN, THE PROCESS-FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING ECOSYSTEMS HAS CONTRIBUTED MORE INSIGHTS TO R&E SCIENCE IN THE LAST DECADE THAN THE POPULATION-COMMUNITY APPROACH WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON ECOSYSTEMS AS EQUILIBRIUM-SEEKING NETWORKS OF INTERACTING POPULATIONS.

THE IDEA OF ECOSYSTEMS AS ENERGY PROCESSING SYSTEMS GOES BACK AT LEAST TO LINDEMAN (1942) AND VIA ODUM’S ENERGETICS WE HAVE ARRIVED AT HOLLING’S ADAPTIVE CYCLE THEORY WHICH SAYS THAT, IF THEY ARE NOT RUDELY INTERRUPTED, ECOSYSTEMS GO THROUGH LIFE CYCLES WHICH CAN BE INTERPRETED IN ENERGY PROCESSING TERMS.  THAT IS THE TEMPORAL SIDE OF PROCESS-FUNCTIONAL THINKING. 

THE INCREASING SPATIAL UNDERSTANDING OF ECOSYSTEMS, AT LEAST IN AUSTRALIA, HAS ITS ROOTS IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM OF LAND SYSTEMS AND CATENARY SEQUENCES IN SOIL LANDSCAPES.  A FURTHER LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING CAME WITH SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO RELATE COMMUNITIES AND SPECIES TO ENVIRONMENTAL ENVELOPES AND GRADIENTS.   

CURRENT THINKING WHICH SEES ECOSYSTEMS IN TERMS OF PATCH DYNAMICS BRINGS THE SPATIAL AND THE TEMPORAL TOGETHER AND (SOMEONE MAY BE ABLE TO TELL ME) OPENS THE WAY PERHAPS FOR AN INTEGRATION WITH THE POPULATION–COMMUNITY STRAND OF ECOLOGICAL THOUGHT.

ANYHOW, THE POINT I AM MOVING TOWARDS MAKING IS THAT THE EVOLUTION OF THE ECOLOGICAL PARADIGM HAS PROVIDED THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATION FOR WHAT I WILL IDENTIFY AS AN EMERGING PARADIGM IN R&E SCIENCE AND THAT IS THAT AGRO-ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES HAVE TO BE MANAGED AT LANDSCAPE SCALE AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES.  FOR WANT OF A BETTER NAME, I WILL CALL IT THE AGRO-ECOLOGICAL PARADIGM.  AND IT IS GENERATING SOME VERY POWERFUL IDEAS FOR LANDSCAPE MANAGERS, FOR EXAMPLE, THE IDEA OF ROTATING PERENNIALITY, SHIFTING PATCHES OF PERENNIAL VEGETATION IN THE LANDSCAPE.  BUT I DO NOT THINK WE CAN YET CLAIM A PARADIGM SHIFT.  WHEN IT DOES COME, IN THE SENSE OF BECOMING THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, IT WILL BE BOTH A TYPE 1 AND A TYPE 2 PARADIGM SHIFT---A REFOCUSING TOWARDS THE LARGER LANDSCAPE AND A PERCEPTION OF THAT LANDSCAPE AS AN EVOLVING SYSTEM REQUIRING EVOLVING MANAGEMENT. 

I WILL RETURN TO THE AGRO-ECOLOGICAL PARADIGM PRESENTLY BECAUSE I BELIEVE IT IS PART OF A LARGER PARADIGM SHIFT WHICH DID ARRIVE IN THE LAST DECADE OR SO.  BUT LET ME CONTINUE WITH THE NEXT OF THE R&E RESEARCH THEMES I IDENTIFIED IN 1992.

IMPROVING RESOURCES INVENTORY AND MONITORING METHODS

UNDER THIS HEADING, THE MOST NOTABLE IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN IN

  1. THE SPECTRAL RANGE AND RESOLUTION OF REMOTE SENSING OPERATIONS
  2. USER-FRIENDLY AND POWERFUL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
  3. REMOTE INSTRUMENTATION AND GPS
  4. SOFTWARE FOR UNPACKING SIGNATURES FROM NOISY DATA AND, MORE GENERALLY, PATTERN DETECTION
  5. STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES THAT RELY ON POWERFUL COMPUTERS AND DEEP STRUCTURES IN THE DATA.

GROUND TRUTHING AND FIELD DATA COLLECTION ARE EXPENSIVE AND SO INVENTORY WORK WHICH DEPENDS ON MEASURING THINGS THAT CANNOT BE REMOTELY SENSED HAS BEEN INCREASINGLY NEGLECTED IN THE LAST DECADE.

I WILL MENTION ONE SPECTACULAR FAILURE WHICH I THINK COMES UNDER THIS HEADING AND THAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT.  A PRIMARY REASON HAS BEEN OUR INABILITY TO QUANTIFY THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACTS AS DISTINCT FROM THEIR SIZE.

IMPROVING DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR MANAGERS

THE PAST DECADE HAS CONFIRMED TWO BIG DISAPPOINTMENTS UNDER THIS HEADING:

  1. RECOGNISING THAT EXPERT SYSTEMS ARE ONLY WORTH DEVELOPING IN A VERY LIMITED RANGE OF SITUATIONS
  2. RECOGNISING THAT DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEMS THAT LEAD DECISION-MAKERS THROUGH STRATEGIC RATHER THAN TACTICAL DECISIONS AND WHICH NEED BIG DATA BASES WILL NOT BE WIDELY ADOPTED.

THESE DISAPPOINTMENTS HAVE BEEN OFFSET BY THE READY ACCEPTANCE OF SYSTEMS WHICH PROVIDE LANDSCAPE MANAGERS WITH BACKGROUND INFORMATION, PROCESSED TO A GREATER OR LESSER DEGREE, EG WEATHER INFORMATION, MARKET INFORMATION.

 DEVELOPING BENIGN AND PROFITABLE MATERIAL TECHNOLOGIES

BEFORE COMMENTING ON PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE NINETIES LET ME MAKE ONE COMMENT ON WHAT MIGHT BE CALLED CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES AND THAT IS TO NOTE THE LACK OF RECENT SUCCESS HERE.  TO GIVE FOUR EXAMPLES, WE R&E SCIENTISTS HAVE FAILED TO FIND ECONOMICAL AND EFFECTIVE LARGE-AREA TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADDRESSING SPECIES LOSS, FERAL PESTS, THE LOSS OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND THE CHALLENGE OF RESTORATION ECOLOGY.

MODERN AGRICULTURE DEPENDS HEAVILY ON FOUR FAMILIES OF TECHNOLOGIES: MECHANISATION, IRRIGATION, FERTILISATION AND CHEMICALS.  THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS INESCAPABLY DEPENDENT ON CHEAP ENERGY.  ONE MAJOR TREND IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES HAS BEEN THE MOVEMENT TOWARDS PRECISION OPERATIONS IN ALL FOUR GROUPS OF TECHNOLOGIES.  PRECISION CROPPING IS A GOOD EXAMPLE BECAUSE IT INVOLVES ALL FOUR FAMILIES.  PRECISION IN ANIMAL MANAGEMENT INVOLVES MANAGING EACH ANIMAL AS AN INDIVIDUAL.  WE HAVE GONE FAR BEYOND TAILORED FEEDING OF MILKING COWS TO SUCH THINGS AS FLEECE TESTING AND FEED CONVERSION TESTING.  AND THE POINT IN TERMS OF BEING ‘BENIGN AND PROFITABLE’ IS THAT PRECISION BRINGS BENIGNITY (THERE’S A NEW WORD FOR YOU), MAINLY BY REDUCING RESIDUES AND DISTURBANCES ASSOCIATED WITH FARMING OPERATIONS.

HOWEVER, WE NEED TO NOTE THAT THESE NEW BENIGN AND PROFITABLE MATERIAL TECHNOLOGIES HAVE NOT BEEN PRODUCED BY OUR SORT OF SCIENTISTS BUT BY VETS AND CHEMISTS AND ENGINEERS.

YOU ARE HERE

BEFORE MOVING ON TO THEME 5, WHERE I PROMISE TO FIND YOU A PARADIGM SHIFT, I WANT TO DRAW TOGETHER A COUPLE OF GENERAL OBSERVATION ABOUT R&E SCIENCE IN THE LAST DECADE.

THE MANAGEMENT OF LAND-BASED NATURAL RESOURCE SYSTEMS HAS CHANGED MARKEDLY IN THE LAST DECADE.  THERE HAS BEEN A REFOCUSING UPWARDS TOWARDS THE MANAGEMENT OF WHOLE LANDSCAPES AND A REFOCUSING DOWNWARDS TOWARDS MANAGEMENT OF SMALL SUB-SYSTEMS LIKE ANIMALS AND LAND UNITS WITHIN THOSE LANDSCAPES.  I DO NOT WANT TO CALL THOSE CHANGES A PARADIGM SHIFT BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE ONLY CONFUSING IN A PAPER WHERE I AM CONCERNED WITH PARADIGM SHIFTS IN R&E SCIENCE, NOT IN LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT. PERHAPS I CAN CALL IT A REVOLUTION.

WHILE I DO NOT THINK THAT R&E SCIENCE HAS CONTRIBUTED FUNDAMENTALLY TO THE SHIFT TOWARDS MICRO-MANAGEMENT, I DO THINK THAT ECOLOGICAL THINKING HAS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE SHIFT TOWARDS MANAGING LANDSCAPES RATHER THAN PADDOCKS OR BLOCKS OR OTHER CADASTRAL UNITS.  I AM IN TWO MINDS AS TO WHETHER TO CALL THE GROWTH IN ECOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OVER THE LAST DECADE A PARADIGM SHIFT.

MY SECOND GENERAL OBSERVATION IS THAT, TO THE EXTENT THAT THERE HAS BEEN PROGRESS, IF NOT PARADIGM SHIFT, IN R&E SCIENCE IN THE NINETIES, THAT PROGRESS IS SIMILAR TO THE PAST IN THE DEGREE TO WHICH IT HAS BEEN DEPENDENT ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND NEW METHODS---NEW RESEARCH TOOLS IF YOU LIKE.  SCIENCE PIGGYBACKS ON (RESEARCH) TECHNOLOGY AS THIS PERCEPTIVE QUOTE FROM HANBURY BROWN  (THE WISDOM OF SCIENCE 1986) SHOWS:

 

AT THE TIME BACON WROTE---THE EARLY 17TH CENTURY---... SCIENTISTS WERE MAKING RAPID PROGRESS LARGELY DUE TO THE NEW SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS---THE TELESCOPE, MICROSCOPE, THERMOMETER, BAROMETER, PENDULUM CLOCK AND THE AIR PUMP.

HISTORIES OF SCIENCE ARE OFTEN WRITTEN IN TERMS OF OUTSTANDING PEOPLE LIKE NEWTON AND EINSTEIN, SO THAT THEY GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE DEPENDS LARGELY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW THEORIES.  IT WOULD BE NEARER THE TRUTH TO SAY THAT IT DEPENDS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW INSTRUMENTS AND HENCE ON NEW MATERIALS AND NEW WAYS OF MAKING THINGS ... OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE REAL WORLD IS LIMITED BY THE TOOLS WHICH ARE AVAILABLE AT THE TIME.

SCIENCE DEPENDS ON TECHNOLOGY AS MUCH AS TECHNOLOGY DEPENDS ON SCIENCE AND THE COMPUTER OF COURSE IS THE GENERIC TECHNOLOGY.

MY THIRD OBSERVATION IS THAT TO THE EXTENT THAT THEMES 1-4 CONTINUE TO BE IMPORTANT IN R&E SCIENCE, I CAN FORESEE STEADY PROGRESS DURING THIS DECADE IN THE AREAS WHERE THERE HAS BEEN PROGRESS AND LITTLE PROGRESS IN THE AREAS WHERE THERE HAS BEEN LITTLE PROGRESS IN THE PAST DECADE.  BECAUSE I AM NOT IN A POSITION TO FORESEE PARADIGM SHIFTS IN THESE THEMATIC AREAS, THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT I CAN SAY.

THEME FIVE:  LEARNING TO DESIGN SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES

A TECHNOLOGY IS A RECIPE FOR PRODUCING SOMETHING, USUALLY SOMETHING MATERIAL, BUT SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES, AS DISTINCT FROM MATERIAL TECHNOLOGIES, ARE RECIPES FOR PRODUCING IMPROVED INTERACTIONS OF PARTICULAR SORTS BETWEEN PEOPLE, EG LANDCARE GROUPS, TRANSFERABLE WATER RIGHTS, MULTI-PARTY LAND USE PLANNING PROCEDURES SUCH AS SIRO-PLAN

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEMES 1-4 AND THEME 5 IS THAT THEMES 1-4 ARE ABOUT DOING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INTENDED TO IMPROVE THE MANAGEMENT OF A CHUNK OF NATURAL RESOURCES BY A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL, PARTY OR INTEREST GROUP HAVING MORE-OR-LESS COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE USE AND MANAGEMENT OF THOSE RESOURCES.  THEME 5 WAS A RECOGNITION THAT MANY RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS HAVE TO BE UNDERSTOOD IN TERMS OF THE NEEDS OF MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS, EACH WITH THEIR OWN ISSUES, VALUES AND GOALS.  AND IT IS IN THIS AREA THAT A PARADIGM SHIFT HAS OCCURRED IN RECENT YEARS.  THERE IS NOW A WIDE AGREEMENT THAT OUR SORT OF SCIENCE SHOULD BE STUDYING A MUCH MORE INCLUSIVE TYPE OF SYSTEM THAN PREVIOUSLY.  I AM HAPPY TO DESCRIBE SUCH SYSTEMS AS SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL (BRIAN WALKER’S TERM I THINK) BUT WE COULD ALSO DESCRIBE THEM AS ECO-SOCIAL SYSTEMS WHERE THE ECO- BIT REFERS TO BOTH ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL.  [I CONFESS THAT WHEN I IDENTIFIED THE DESIGNING OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES AS A CHALLENGE FOR R&E SCIENTISTS I DID NOT ENVISAGE DEALING WITH SYSTEMS OF THIS SIZE AND COMPLEXITY.]

I NEED TO EMPHASISE AT ONCE THAT I AM TALKING ABOUT A TYPE 2 PARADIGM SHIFT, IE A NEW  SYSTEM IS BEING STUDIED, NOT A PARADIGM SHIFT INVOLVING A NEW CONCEPTUALISATION.  I WILL RETURN PRESENTLY TO THE CHALLENGE OF FINDING A NEW CONCEPTUALISATION TO MATCH OUR NEW TARGET SYSTEMS.

SO, WITH MUCH ARM-WAVING, THE PARADIGM SHIFT HAS BEEN FROM STUDYING THE MANAGEMENT OF PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION IN LAND-BASED NATURAL RESOURCE SYSTEMS TO STUDYING THE WELL-BEING OF COMMUNITIES THAT ARE DEPENDENT ON NATURAL RESOURCE SYSTEMS SEEN AS HAVING MULTIPLE USE AND FUNCTIONAL POSSIBILITIES.

WHY THE CHANGE?

I CAN SEE SEVERAL REASONS WHY R&E SCIENCE HAS ADOPTED THE STUDY OF ECO-SOCIAL SYSTEMS SO STRONGLY OVER THE PAST DECADE.

THE PRIMARY REASON HAS BEEN THE ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL SQUEEZE ON AGRICULTURE.  CONVENTIONAL AGRICULTURE CAN NO LONGER BE SEEN AS A SUFFICIENT INFRASTRUCTURE OR FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESSFUL RURAL AND REGIONAL COMMUNITIES.  COMMUNITIES ARE GROPING FOR NEW WAYS TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE AND BECAUSE OUR SORT OF SCIENCE IS APPLIED SCIENCE WE ARE RESPONDING BY SAYING WE WILL TRY TO HELP.  FINDING NEW AND DIFFERENT WAYS OF USING A COMMUNITY’S LANDSCAPES TO MEET ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL TARGETS IS PART OF THIS SEARCH, EG DEVELOPING A TOURISM INDUSTRY. 

A SECOND REASON IS THAT VALUES AND ATTITUDES IN AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY ARE SHIFTING.  ECONOMIC RATIONALISM IS UNDER SIEGE.  SCIENTISM IS UNDER SIEGE AND TECHNO-SCEPTICISM IS ON THE RISE.  PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO REALISE THAT NEW TECHNOLOGIES OFTEN ‘BITE BACK’.  I AM NOT SURE WHETHER ENVIRONMENTALISM IS ON THE RISE OR NOT.  PARTICIPATION HAS BECOME A MANTRA, POSSIBLY AS A RESPONSE TO PEOPLE FEELING THAT THEY ARE LOSING CONTROL OVER THEIR LIVES.

THESE VALUE SHIFTS AFFECT R&E SCIENTISTS DIRECTLY.  AFTER ALL THEY ARE PART OF THE COMMUNITY.  BUT THEY HAVE AFFECTED FUNDING AGENCIES TOO.  LET ME EXAGGERATE AND SAY THAT THE ATTITUDE IS ‘DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE SCIENCE, JUST MAKE SURE THAT ALL THE STAKEHOLDERS ARE INVOLVED’.

UP SHIT CREEK WITHOUT A PADDLE

THAT HEADING ORIGINALLY READ ‘NEED FOR AN OVERVIEW PARADIGM’ BUT I THOUGHT I’D REVIVE YOUR FLAGGING ATTENTION.

HERE IS THE SITUATION WE HAVE GOT OURSELVES INTO.  IN RESPONSE TO COMMUNITY NEEDS AND PRESSURES FROM FUNDING AGENCIES, WE HAVE MADE A TYPE 2 PARADIGM SHIFT FROM STUDYING THE MANAGEMENT OF LAND-BASED NATURAL RESOURCE SYSTEMS TO STUDYING COMMUNITY WELFARE IN ECO-SOCIAL SYSTEMS.  THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE DO NOT AS YET HAVE AN OVERVIEW PARADIGM FOR THINKING ABOUT AND STUDYING ECO-SOCIAL SYSTEMS.  I’LL CALL IT THE ‘NO PARADIGM’ PROBLEM.

IS THERE A ‘NO PARADIGM’  PROBLEM?

WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE IDEAL MOMENT FOR ME TO STOP TALKING. WHY IS THAT?  IT IS BECAUSE EVERYBODY HERE WILL HAVE A RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION ‘IS THERE A ‘NO PARADIGM’ PROBLEM?’ AND I WOULD NOT WANT TO STEAL YOUR THUNDER.  LET ME FINISH BY FLAGGING SOME OF THE ANSWERS I WILL NOT BE SURPRISED TO HEAR: