Martin J. Bunch, PhD - Research Interests

Martin J. Bunch, PhD
Research Interests

I am interested in the application of ecosystem approaches and complexity science to address environmental problems in developing areas - problems which are associated with high levels of complexity and uncertainty, and in which decision stakes are high. Currently I am exploring adaptive ecosystem approaches to human health and well-being (ecohealth), completing a project in low income communities (slums) in Chennai India that marries the ecohealth approach with participatory action research, and I am beginning work in southern Costa Rica that explores the integration of ecohealth and watershed management. I also have interests in the use of geographic information systems to support participatory planning and management processes.

I have methodological expertise in geographic information systems, adaptive management, soft systems methodology and ecosystem approaches to environmental management. I dislike stating a particular academic 'pigeon hole' in which I roost, however, depending on the perspective one takes on the problem, my research interests could be seen as lying within the realm of community development, urban geography, planning, environmental management, human ecology, international development, systems science, post-normal science, ecosystem management, geographic information systems (GIS) or environmental modelling.

Approach to Environmental and Geographic Research

My educational background is in the discipline of geography. However, my work is interdisciplinary (existing at the intersection of several of the disciplinary sciences and geographic subdisciplines) and transdisciplinary (as the problems I address require an approach that transcends traditional disciplinary bounds). It seems obvious to me that this type of work is fertile ground for geographers who (supposedly) are practitioners of a science which is both analytic and synthetic, makes use of qualitative as well as quantitative methods, and has a history of exploring the relationship among human beings and their physical environments.

My approach to environmental studies and geography is best illustrated by comments made by Leslie Currie in a 1991 issue of The Canadian Geographer. Currie has commented that,

people who write on the aims of geography but do not combine its analytic and integrative roles simultaneously are surely missing the boat.

Currie was referring to the need for cumulative synthetic theory in geography, and lamenting the tendency of some geographers to identify too strongly with neighbouring systematic fields. In opposition to the divisive influence of traditional disciplinary science on geography, and to emphasise the importance of synthesis, he stated (1991) that;

I really have no time at all for those great minds who emphasise a unity of science corresponding to a unity of reality and the divisiveness of petty disciplines. There are only ‘problems' to be tackled, applied or academic, and we must all contribute what we can. Essentially, this leaves the mature disciplines not only defining the problems but also judging the solutions in terms of their ground rules. One has to staunchly reject the numerous clarion calls to pursue knowledge where'er it may lead, since this means following physicists into their kind of climatology or economists into their sort of spatial economy, wherever their particular train tracks take them. We have to be willing to be naļve where specialist sciences are strong, knowing that we are sophisticated where they are weak.

It is a task of those who undertake environmental studies to bring together the knowledge and tools of physical and social sciences such as geology, chemistry, economics and sociology, to bear on the applied or academic problems on which they ply their trade. But merely applying a variety disciplinary tools and knowledge sets to the problem is insufficient. Knowledge must be integrated in a such a way that our understanding of the issue at hand is enhanced in a way that the cumulative contribution of disciplinary understandings is unable to achieve. The geographer's focus on space and place provides both a theoretical anchor and a set of methods and techniques to do this.

The Ecosystem Approach

However, as practitioners of a young discipline, geographers (and others) still have not mastered the art of integrating various disciplinary perspectives to consistently arrive at new insight to problems. We are lacking a core of what Currie referred to as "cumulative synthetic theory" in geography. General and complex systems theories can help to build such a core. Thus, I am interested in applying and further developing systems-based approaches to environmental problems. Specifically, ecosystem approaches which are rooted in systems thinking have great potential to integrate information and knowledge to arrive at new understandings of situations, and at the same time, to direct more focused scientific analyses. A framework for applying such an approach is illustrated in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: A an ecosystem approach framework for dealing with
environmental problem situations (from Bunch (2001) modified
from Kay et al. (1999) in consultation with James Kay).

The ecosystem approach does not reject traditional science. Rather, it integrates it into a more holistic means of inquiry. Ecosystem approaches recognise that problem situations can be usefully conceptualized as systems of inter-related elements and actors. The identification of system characteristics such as structure and processes, various levels of hierarchy (subsystems, wider systems), emergent properties, communication and control mechanisms and feedback loops, can be a powerful aid in the understanding of environmental problem situations. The ecosystem approach draws upon systems-based approaches and collaborative processes to develop a qualitative understanding of the problem situation, including its cultural and political context. This understanding, or conceptual model of the ‘system', is used to selectively direct further (likely traditional scientific) inquiry in the situation to develop knowledge about key actors, elements and interrelationships.

References

Bunch, Martin J. (2001) An Adaptive Ecosystem Approach to Rehabilitation and Management of the Cooum River Environmental System in Chennai, India. Geography Publication Series No.54. Waterloo, Ontario: University of Waterloo.

Curry, Leslie (1991) "Guest Essay: The Need for Cumulative Synthetic Theory" in The Canadian Geographer, 35(1): 2-9.

Kay, James J., Boyle, Michelle, Regier, Henry A. and George Francis (1999) "An Ecosystem Approach for Sustainability: Addressing the Challenge of Complexity" in Futures, 31(7):721-742.