Panel Discussion 3: The workings of politics and power behind social-ecological systems research

There is an increasing recognition in research of the impact of power on social-ecological dynamics, biodiversity conservation, and ecological restoration, as well as the distribution of ecosystem services among social actors. Yet, what is less recognized, and maybe because this is an uncomfortable truth, is that all research is shaped by power and politics. In the panel discussion on 20th, June, 2024 this power was discussed. The power that shapes the ways by which social-ecological research is done, including the visible power but also the hidden and invisible power, the type of power that shapes our own beliefs of what is good science and scientific practice, and the type of power that defines the logics of the scientific structures.

Disclaimer
We noticed that several inappropriate animations were automatically added to the video, presumably by an AI. To maintain the flow of the discussion, we opted against cutting the recording. Instead, we agreed to state the following here for transparency: The animations are misplaced, misleading, and do not reflect any opinion or reactions of any of the panelists. Therefore, we ask the viewers of the panel discussion to ignore the animations for the sake of an uninterrupted discussion flow. Thank you for understanding, and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Panelists
Milena Gross.
Milena is a(n advanced) PhD Candidate who researches what nature contributes to people’s quality of life and why nature matters to people. Her research focuses on the stakeholder nexus of nature conservation and nature-based tourism to promote inclusive conservation. One of her hidden agendas is to reveal and discuss how researchers’ positionality - including hers - and related methodological choices pre-determine/shape/navigate the characteristics/the nature of scientific insights.

Katharina Loehr.
Katharina Löhr is a researcher based at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V. in Germany working on sustainable land use and governance in the Global South. Her works focuses on social ecological transformation in Sub Sahara Africa. She is very much interested at the interface of the social and ecological dimensions and societal aspects in particular. Having a background in peace and conflict studies and being a trained mediator, it is at her heart to better understand how land use and governance can be designed to positively impact on community cohesion and peace and to reduce (unintended albeit) negative effects. Hereby her works, closely relate to question on power, inequalities, and justice. In her PhD she critically studied Global South North collaborations and developed a conflict prevention and management system to facilitate collaboration.

Jamila Haider.
Jamila Haider is a researcher and theme leader at Stockholm Resilience Centre. Her research focuses on farming resilience in landscapes with high biological and cultural diversity. She also works with integrating social theory into social-ecological systems theory, and is committed to enacting an ethos of care in academia.

Zuzana Harmáčková.
Zuzana leads the Department of Social-Ecological Analysis at the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She works with stakeholders, experts and policy-makers across geographic and cultural contexts (Europe, Central Asia, Africa) to co-develop scenarios of potential future development, and pathways to sustainable and just futures for people and nature. Zuzana has been involved in IPBES for the past 10 years and acts as a coordinating lead author in the current IPBES Nexus Assessment.