Coastal and Marine Environmental Education
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Master’s thesis Coastal and Marine Environmental Education A study of community involvement in the Westfjords of Iceland and Southern New Zealand Maria Wilke Advisors: Brad Barr, Ph.D. Jenny Rock, Ph.D. University of Akureyri Faculty of Business and Science University Centre of the Westfjords Master of Resource Management: Coastal and Marine Management Ísafjörður, June 2019 Supervisory Committee Advisors: Brad Barr, Ph.D. Jenny Rock, Ph.D. External Reader: Anna Guðrún Edvardsdóttir, Ph.D. Program Director: Catherine Chambers, Ph.D. Maria Wilke Marine and Coastal Environmental Education: A study of community involvement in the Westfjords of Iceland and in Southern New Zealand 45 ECTS thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of a Master of Resource Management degree in Coastal and Marine Management at the University Centre of the Westfjords, Suðurgata 12, 400 Ísafjörður, Iceland Degree accredited by the University of Akureyri, Faculty of Business and Science, Borgir, 600 Akureyri, Iceland Copyright © 2019 Maria Wilke All rights reserved Printing: Háskólaprent, Reykjavík, June 2019 vi Declaration I hereby confirm that I am the sole author of this thesis and it is a product of my own academic research. __________________________________________ Maria Wilke Abstract Coastal communities are among the most vulnerable to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts on the environment. Adaptive community-driven resource management is vital to build resilience. Only communities committed to ongoing learning can adapt to a continuously changing environment. This is why environmental education (EE) should be community-focussed and part of coastal and marine management. Key informants were interviewed in Ísafjörður in the Westfjords of Iceland to gather perceptions about local coastal and marine environmental issues and EE. Resulting statements were then tested on the wider community via an online survey. From the survey results, opportunities for EE were identified. They formed the basis for studying through an action research approach several best practice examples of EE in coastal New Zealand where such programmes are more established than in Iceland. The results from both sites suggested a lack of political empowerment perceived by community members, a narrow focus of EE target groups and a lack of collaboration between providing institutions of EE. Recommendations are made on how to further links between EE and community-driven management in the study sites and beyond by widening target audiences and creating communal learning platforms supporting transparent communication. By offering community-focussed EE, coastal communities can become more empowered and adaptive in community-driven marine resources management. v vi Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ x Acronyms ............................................................................................................................. xi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... xiii 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research questions .................................................................................................. 3 1.1.1 Aims .......................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Delimitation of research scope ............................................................................... 4 1.3 Ethics considerations .............................................................................................. 5 1.4 Scientific significance and justification .................................................................. 5 2 Literature review ............................................................................................................ 9 2.1 Human-nature relationships .................................................................................... 9 2.2 The role of environmental education in human and natural systems.................... 11 2.3 Taking responsibility and collective action for the ocean .................................... 15 3 Assessing the need for environmental education in Ísafjörður ................................ 19 3.1 Iceland and the environment ................................................................................. 20 3.1.1 Icelandic relationships with land and sea ................................................ 20 3.1.2 Environmental education in Iceland ........................................................ 26 3.2 Informant interviews in Ísafjörður ........................................................................ 31 3.2.1 Methods ................................................................................................... 31 3.2.2 Results and discussion ............................................................................. 32 3.2.3 Conclusion of interviews in Ísafjörður .................................................... 49 3.3 Online survey ........................................................................................................ 51 3.3.1 Methods ................................................................................................... 51 3.3.2 Results and discussion ............................................................................. 56 3.3.3 Conclusion of online survey in Ísafjörður ............................................... 67 3.4 Emergent research aims for further study in New Zealand .................................. 69 4 Action research in marine environmental education in Southern New Zealand ... 73 4.1 New Zealand and the environment ....................................................................... 74 4.1.1 New Zealanders’ relationships with land and sea ................................... 74 4.1.2 Marine and coastal environmental education in New Zealand................ 78 4.2 Methods ................................................................................................................ 80 vii 4.3 Results and discussion .......................................................................................... 82 4.3.1 Interview analysis .................................................................................... 82 4.3.2 Aquavan education programme .............................................................. 84 4.3.3 Marine Metre Squared programme ......................................................... 88 4.3.4 Seabirds education programmes .............................................................. 89 4.3.5 Marine education community days in Karitane ...................................... 91 4.3.6 Marine and freshwater education cooperation in Tapanui ...................... 96 4.4 Conclusion of action research in New Zealand .................................................... 97 5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 103 5.1 Integration of results from both research sites .................................................... 103 5.1.1 Challenges and opportunities identified in Iceland ............................... 103 5.1.2 Challenges and opportunities identified in New Zealand ..................... 105 5.1.3 Common challenges of both study sites ................................................ 106 5.2 Implications for marine and coastal management .............................................. 107 5.2.1 Recommendations for environmental education in Ísafjörður .............. 107 5.2.2 Recommendations for environmental education in New Zealand ........ 114 5.2.3 Recommendations for coastal communities beyond the study sites ..... 115 5.3 Strengths and limitations of research .................................................................. 117 5.4 Further research recommended .......................................................................... 119 5.5 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................ 119 References ........................................................................................................................ 123 Appendix A: Ethics clearance letter .............................................................................. 129 Appendix B: Project summary ....................................................................................... 131 Appendix C: Informed consent protocol ....................................................................... 133 Appendix D: Interview prompts .................................................................................... 135 Appendix E: Introduction to online survey .................................................................. 137 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Ísafjörður between mountains and sea .................................................................. 9 Figure 2: Ísafjörður is situated in