The IES is pleased to announce that the winner of the John Rose Award for 2014 is Brett Sylvester Matulis from the University of Edinburgh. Brett’s research takes a critical look at Payment for Ecosystem Service (PES) regimes, an approach to environmental management and conservation which has seen significant recent growth in popularity.
Brett argues that advocates of the PES approach have been highly successful in utilising new media to promote their vision and ‘financialise’ nature. However, in the course of his research, primarily based in Costa Rica, Brett argues that he has identified numerous unintended social and ecological consequences of such schemes. He will use the £1000 grant to develop a video which he hopes will allow stakeholders to come to more informed conclusions about PES schemes, embracing the media which PES advocates have so far utilised much more successfully.
Explaining his research in his own words, Brett writes:
“Sometimes it seems as though humans just don’t value the environment around them – we clear our forests, we deplete the ocean’s stocks, and we ignore our changing climate. No matter the damage, traditional environmentalism just hasn’t been enough to stop it. That’s why many people have started talking about “payments for ecosystem services”. These are programmes that place a monetary value on nature, with the idea that doing so will help people understand how much they really depend on it. It’s a logical notion – if society hasn’t appreciated the true value of nature, surely it’s because we haven’t recognized just how much it’s really worth. Already, these programmes have established financial relationships between ecosystem managers and beneficiaries with the objective of expanding conservation. Sadly, however, there have been some unintended consequences. If we look closely at what’s going on, we see that these programmes are actually contributing to the expansion of social inequity. In fact, the economic logics of these programmes are placing profit over stewardship and undermining the principles that have long sustained good environmental work. My research seeks to reveal this hidden side of conservation’s encounter with economic thinking and propose a more favourable course of action.”
Keep an eye on the IES website over the coming year for updates on Brett’s work.
The judges would also like to extend an honourable mention to Amy Woodget of the University of Worcester for the quality of her application. The judges were impressed with Amy’s research which utilises Unmanned Aerial Systems, or drones, to map and monitor the quality of river habitats. In the coming year Amy will be contributing an article on her work to the IES website, and speaking at an IES regional event.
The John Rose award, now in its sixth year, rewards one piece of outstanding postgraduate environmental research with a £1000 grant to promote and publicise its findings beyond the immediate scientific community. The reward, a memorial to the IES’ founder, John Rose, recognises rising talent in the sector and seeks to allow early-career researchers to maximise the impact of their research, whilst gaining valuable skills for a career in the environmental sciences.
