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WD-NACE End of Project Workshop

Final workshop of the WD-NACE project about understanding decision-making in coastal communities
Multiple Authors

On the 27th of September a global group of representatives of research and funding organisations alike gathered in London’s Wellcome center to evaluate and debrief the Whole Decision Network Analysis for Coastal Ecosystems (WD-NACE) project. Below we have the presentations for each speaker, and a short accompanying piece of introductory/descriptive text.

1. “The necessity of a multi-level framework for understanding coastal management” by Dr. David Obura from CORDIO

The “Ecosystem Health” aspect of WD-NACE was discussed by coral reef ecology expert, David Obura. An introduction to CORDIO and their work, and an ecological characterisation of the Kenyan sites, was followed by a look at climate trends/hazards, impacts on ecosystem services, and possible (adaptation) decision-making strategies.

2. “Resource use and human actions: Knowledge and Networks” by Dr. Dwijen Mallick from BCAS and Tahia Devisscher from SEI Oxford, UK

This presentation discussed WD-NACE participatory mapping of actor and stakeholder linkages at different organisational levels. It detailed different kinds of resources and decision-making contexts, different kinds of knowledge used in decision-making and different actor types, including those with potentially important characteristics, e.g. influential actors and bridging actors.

3. “A Kenya coast perspective” by Ms. Khyria Karama from KMFRI, Kenya

This presentation was an introduction to the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, part of the Ministry of Fisheries Development of the Government of Kenya. Khyria then described the WD-NACE study sites on the South Kenyan coast including types of activities and fishing gears used.

4. “WD-NACE approaches to meaningful inclusion” by Ms Nilufar Matin from SEI York UK

This presentation was part one of the “People Session”: it gave an overview of the conceptual and methodological approaches of the project. Focusing on social aspects, it discussed the activities conducted in Kenya and Bangladesh, how poverty was researched and stakeholder inclusion was attained.

5. “People as Agents” by Dr. Richard Taylor from SEI Oxford UK

Part two of the “People Session” introduced the agent-based social simulations developed in WD-NACE. Richard highlighted the simulation model of shrimp aquaculture based on work in SW Bangladesh. Assisted by Mostafa Akhteruzzaman and David Obura there was a discussion about the feedback received on both models.

6. “Lives and Livelihoods in the Sundarbans ecosystem: South-west Bangladesh” by Dr. Mostafa Aktheruzzaman

This presentation introduced us to the work of Shushilan, an NGO centred in SW Bangladesh (Satkhira region) whose name means ‘endeavours for a better future’. It included details about the study area and some narratives about changing coastal livelihoods.

7. “A transdisciplinary approach to understanding complex social problems in coastal ecosystem” by Dr. John Forrester from SEI York, UK

This presentation discussed “Transdisciplinarity” in WD-NACE.It reflected on what lessons had been learnt and what challenges remained in integrating the ecological and social aspects, and allowing for the subjective nature of understandings.

8. “Pressures on the ecosystem in the coastal area of Bangladesh”. Mr Giasuddin Ahmed Choudhury, Executive Director, CEGIS

This presentation gave an insight into CEGIS work, the high quality data they have collected and analysed on Bangladesh’s changing coastal ecosystems and deltas.

9. “Modelling interacting impacts of processes and decisions on ecosystem dynamics” by Dr. Ahmadul Hassan

This presentation introduced the decision analytic work on the ecosystem dynamics in the Sundarbans mangrove forest region, considering paddy/shrimp land use decisions in the context of climatic and demographic drivers.

10. “Presentation of WD-NACE’s People Models” by Howard Noble, Richard Taylor and Emmanuel Yaa (Bamburi Beach Management Unit, Kenya)

In the afternoon a session was held to demonstrate the agent-based models produced during WD-NACE. Howard Noble showed the Beach Management Unit (BMU) modelling that has been done in collaboration with CORDIO and the BMU groups themselves. Howard introduced the Modelling4All modelling platform at Oxford University. This platform/website is designed to make modelling accessible and transparent to people who do not necessarily have previous modelling and programming expertise – see this blog post about the event/session. See also this Youtube video showing the BMU model in action:

A few EoP event photographs …

Acknowledgement:

The ESPA programme is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), as part of the UK’s Living with Environmental Change Programme (LWEC).

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