OPINIONOpen‐minded Geographers: Their Potential Role in Integrated Adaptive Environmental Management

Abstract

There are three key factors to be considered in comprehensive environmental management: (a) integration across disciplines and interests; (b)¯exibility and adaptability based on feedback; and (c) interactions between policy and implementation at different scales. Successful management is both integrated and inclusive, and also adaptive and¯exible. It involves a synthesis of work, requiring empathy among contributors and active synthesis. Furthermore, there is a need for a dialectical consideration of processes acting at various scales. Geographers who are not too narrowly specialised have a key role to play, and, collectively, might have been more centrally involved in environmental management than they have been.

Transformative Approaches to Sustainable Development at Universities

“…Geography therefore supports ESD well, although there is variation in coverage (depth/scope) of sustainability concepts within various offerings by different higher education institutions (Higgitt et al 2005). Ideally speaking geographers should be trained to step back from the detail and consider the bigger picture (Aplin and Batten 2004), which is valuable when dealing with sustainability issues. In addition, in terms of their integrative skills, their ability to adopt flexible approaches and to take location and scale into account, geographers have much to offer to this field.…”

“…In a multi-inter-trans-disciplinary context, Geography is pressured to provide tools and selections of geographical insights for vocational programmes, which may be at expense of attention to the requirements of the discipline. Following Aplin and Batten (2004), the value that Geography can add to environmental sustainability study programmes is not necessarily only interdisciplinarity, but also to address human-environment interactions and to incorporate spatiotemporality. As the human-environment position has a long standing in Geography, multi-inter-trans-disciplinarity need not necessarily be seen as threat but rather opportunity to link the human-environment approach, spatial technologies and measurements/observations enabled through it.…”

“…Noteworthy is that the major subject for the EM Programme is Geography as well, with its inter-and multidisciplinary nature, integrative approach and sensitivity towards place and scale (Aplin and Batten 2004) complementing the overarching sustainability theme of this programme. Together with the implementation of the EM Programme, the Geography curriculum was redesigned in order to no longer provide separate options for BA and BSc students.…”

Implementing Campus Greening Initiatives

“…The traditional reductionist approach of science (Armstrong and Rutherford 1999) is therefore abandoned. Geography is a truly inter-and multidisciplinary subject with an integrative approach and sensitivity towards place and scale (Aplin and Batten 2004) and is the major for the EM programme. It examines interactions between humans and nature, therefore straddling the biophysical and social sciences, which is exactly what is required.…”

Exploring the challenges of integrated coastal zone management and reflecting on contributions to ‘integration’ from geographical thought

“…May 1955; Fellman and Slutsky 1962; Beaujeu‐Garnier 1975), with a recent resurgence of interest in exploring the geographers’ role (e.g. Aplin and Batten 2004; Murphy et al 2005; Pitman 2005; Fletcher and Smith 2007; Kesby 2007). From a perspective of coastal management, geographers have clearly contributed to advancing knowledge for the sustainable management of coasts.…”