Environments, societies, and the global economy are changing faster than ever before. This affects the livelihoods of rural people and the politics of environmental management, as well as the condition of the natural resources themselves. "Political ecology" is an approach to environment-society research that takes a fresh look at environmental issues previously considered to be simple technical questions. It is particularly concerned with how different people struggle over the control of natural resources, and how such struggles are shaped by social institutions, global economic forces, ideas and ideologies about nature, and by the ecology of the resource itself.

The Political Ecology Research Group at Monash University's School of Geography and Environmental Science (Melbourne, Australia) brings together staff and postgraduate students interested in such themes. Haripriya Rangan investigates regional change and sustainability in the Indian Ocean region through research on transoceanic plant exchanges, medicinal plant trade, and marketplaces.  Craig Thorburn’s research centres on governance and resilience in community management of natural resources in the rapidly changing institutional and economic context of Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.  Christian Kull is interested in struggles over natural resource management as one social driver of environmental transformations, and has investigated fire and invasive species in Madagascar and other Indian Ocean locations.  Bruce Missingham is an anthropologist with research interests in environmental movements in Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand, and minority groups in rural Australia.

Several colleagues across town at the University of Melbourne also work on political ecological themes.  Simon Batterbury has worked on land conflicts and livelihoods in East Timor, on agrarian change in New Caledonia, and spent many years working on the political ecology of development in West Africa. He is editor of the Journal of Political Ecology.  Fiona Miller works on the social dimensions of environmental change in the Asia Pacific, specialising in social vulnerability, water resources management, sustainable livelihoods and community participation in Vietnam and Australia.  Jon Barnett investigates the impacts of and responses to environmental change on social systems.  He has been conducting research on the social and institutional dimensions of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, including field-based research in the South Pacific, China, and East Timor.  Lisa Palmer focuses on natural and cultural resource management, tourism, and governmental and resource industry agreements with indigenous and local peoples in postcolonial states, particularly East Timor and the Northern Territory.

Our research efforts, together and individually, address a wide variety of changing and contested environments in Australia and nearby regions (Indian Ocean rim and South East Asia).  Current projects include:

1. Indian Ocean environmental history and the politics of ‘invasive species’:  Using the Indian Ocean as a space for post-nationalist research, we investigate how trees have historically moved from place to place, and the implications of this for current-day policies on biodiversity management.
2. Community mobilisation on environment and poverty issues in Thailand:  Based in a participatory philosophy, we investigate the intersection of globalisation, NGOs, and grassroots movements in both rural and urban Thailand. 
3. Community resource management and disaster recovery in Indonesia:  The ongoing democratisation process in Indonesia has created new spaces for community organising and collective action.  Research includes analysis of the adaptation of the Farmer Field School model to address issues of watershed management, community forestry and climate change adaptation strategies. Research in post-tsunami, post-conflict Aceh also focuses primarily on local governance and community-level initiatives.

For related publications and other interests please visit our individual websites.