Symposium - Dr Les Firbank
Dr Les Firbank
Head of Land Use, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster University -
Harnessing the Research Base
Les presented some of the fundamental issues around sustainable development in scientific research and at present there was a ‘top down’, problem solving approach. He presented a system that showed intrinsic value being fed back in: human well-being > response > driver of change > ecosystem service > human well-being… Les had also been developing a form of ‘participatory science’ that educated people in the need for species conservation. This ‘bottom up’ approach did not ‘measure things to death’, but explored appropriate solutions for people’s own living needs. Oddly, not for profit ecosystem services were being adopted in poor regions, by people who had already lost their livelihoods. Cuba was given as an example, where the citizens were regarded as the experts in producing local organic food, on a national scale – rural and urban were being re-connected in a different form of ‘dialoguing’.