Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) shield ocean environments from hazardous human activities, including the extraction of marine resources and excessive urban development. Delimitation, zoning and governance structures are some of the environmental management tools that are provided by MPAs. These management tools may be contentious when human settlements exist within an MPAs' boundaries, since zoning affects existing human activities and potential developments, and managing structures overlap traditional governance arrangements. Varying perspectives emerge when each stakeholder is taken into consideration separately. Ideally all stakeholders with genuine interests in MPAs should take part in the delimitation, zoning and governance of these areas. However, governance is about reaching agreements amidst differences and is not just a matter of considering differences as singularities. In order to understand how multiple stakeholders would reach a shared environmental governance of an MPA, we took the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (ECLSP) in The Bahamas as a case study. The ECLSP, created in 1958, is co-managed by the Government of The Bahamas and the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), and contains within its boundaries uninhabited islands, islands occupied by local communities, and private islands mainly owned by foreigners or held in Bahamian trusts. In this study, we conducted an exercise with different stakeholders who were challenged to work together in redrawing the park's boundaries, zoning and governance structures. Their individual opinions mattered less than the discussion and outcomes of their joint work. We conclude that a shared environmental governance structure does not eliminate all the frictions among stakeholders, but rather it makes them all aware of the natural and social complexities involved in managing MPAs, which improves stewardship and enhances the ECLSP's legitimacy among stakeholders.
This paper makes three main points relative to anticipating vulnerabilities and climate change in urban contexts. First, climate change is an ecological issue as well as an environmental problem and its amelioration requires an ecological response where "ecology" includes social and aesthetic as well as environmental concerns. Second, that we might consider "anticipating" rather than "planning" for the future. And, lastly, the paper argues that the senses are a necessary complement to technology and design and that we need to think sensitively and sensually when anticipating future vulnerabilities. In doing so, anthropology offers a set of tools that are complementary to ecological urbanism.Keywords: Ecology; Anticipate; Sense; Design; Anthropology.
ResumoEste artigo ressalta três principais pontos relativos à antecipação de vulnerabilidades e mudanças climáticas em contextos urbanos. Primeiro, a mudança climática é uma questão ecológica bem como um problema ambiental, e sua melhoria requer uma resposta ecológica onde "ecologia" inclui, além de aspectos do meio físico preocupações sociais e estéticas. Segundo, que a abordagem de "antecipar acontecimentos" pode ser mais eficaz do que "planejar" em tempos futuros. E, por último, o documento defende que os sentidos são um complemento necessário à tecnologia e design, e que precisamos pensar de forma sensível e sensual ao antecipar futuras vulnerabilidades. Ao fazer isso, a antropologia oferece um conjunto de ferramentas que são complementares ao urbanismo ecológico.Palavras-chave: Ecologia; Senso de antecipação; Desenho urbano; Antropologia.
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