Dr Clare Fitzsimmons

I have experience across several fields, but a common theme is the analysis of complex systems. Since moving into the group I have been developing my work on management and governance, and exploring these as part of marine socio-ecological systems.

I am interested in the ways in which human activities and their organisation, impact upon the marine environment; for example, how decisions are made in natural resource management, and the associated values, ethics and trade-offs made at multiple scales. My present research is developing social network techniques to explore marine resource management and governance through large-scale regional work (Caribbean see FORCE) and at a much smaller scale in the UK (Sheppey see NESTA Ethics).

Current Research

FORCE: Future of Reefs in a Changing Environment: an ecosystem approach to managing Caribbean coral reefs in the face of climate change.

Funding: EU FP7 ENV.2009.2.2.1.5 (Total to Newcastle €950,460; €6,612,602 Overall)

Governance of coral reefs

Good governance for Caribbean coral reef ecosystems requires articulation of complex feedbacks in the observed social-ecological systems, their dynamics, and how these play out across spatial and temporal scales. The project aims to address such gaps, working at multiple scales alongside an extensive ecological programme, and with the geo-political scope to generate new understanding of such systems in a changing environment. The project responds to the need for more effective and integrated governance systems in a number of ways.

1. Understanding complexity: The geopolitical complexity of the Wider Caribbean region presents greater challenges to regional governance than in most other regions. At national and local levels there is a host of government and nongovernmental organizations with diverse aspirations and perspectives. The project will quantify and map the complexity of marine resource governance, in a variety of societal contexts, to highlight potential conflicts among agencies and opportunities for inter-agency coordination.
2. Linking governance structure and implementation of reef management: To complement the mapping, detailed case studies of governance and management implementation, in five countries stratified by their economic and governance status will be developed. Case studies will generate hypotheses concerning the links between governance structure and management implementation. These will then be tested at a Caribbean-wide scale combining governance maps with recorded implementation of reef management tools.
3. Social networks across scales: Social networks are increasingly considered in discussions of adaptive natural resource management that involve stakeholders and co-management. Most studies have been confined to stakeholders within a fairly well-defined management or governance area. The project will extend this, linking multiple networks across scale boundaries. For example, examining linkages among different livelihoods and the cross-scale linkages to trans-national governance networks.
4. Social-natural science linkage to explore peoples’ environmental perceptions and identify optimal means of communicating complex scientific information: It is increasingly recognized that governance systems that underpin effective management strategies can only be developed in a close dialogue between stakeholders and science. The interaction between science and management, governance structures, or policy decisions is not trivial and requires explicit consideration of the perception of science by users, as explored here.
5. Develop adaptive governance framework for sustainable development: With rapid changes in the health of ecosystems, human population, and socio-economic factors such as fuel prices and access to finance, governance systems capable of adapting to suit new environments and pressures are required; the project will create a participatory framework that can be used by practitioners to define future challenges for reef management.

Worth Less: People or Nature?

Funding: NESTA (http://www.nesta.org.uk/) (£14,980)

Identifying ethical considerations in socio-ecological trade-offs; a scoping study on the Isle of Sheppey to inform environmental decision making.

Ecosystems worldwide are in decline, leading to a real need to identify mechanisms which encourage individuals to invest in maintaining natural resources. However, decisions are often made at a scale which does not allow full consideration of the values of the individuals affected. Fundamental conflicts arise in local communities as either ecological or societal needs are compromised, depending on which imperatives are currently privileged by decision makers. Trade-offs between society and nature with little critical refection are frequently made, and concepts of environmental justice and ethics neglected. This often leads to decisions which are prejudicial to already disadvantaged members of society.

Aimed at producing an original, innovative, and timely examination of ethical considerations in trade-offs between society and nature, this study will examine these issues in one of the UK’s most marginalised communities, on the Isle of Sheppey. Formerly a holiday destination for Londoners, it is now better known for its three prisons and an RSPB nature reserve. Conservation areas are seen as separate from communities, relatively few attempts having been made to integrate the local people. Public policy tends to ignore the local natural resource base, and environmental policy neglects community interests. Outputs from the project will include ethical guidance documents aimed at public policy makers and communities, aim to address such gaps, as well as research proposals for future work.

This study brings together researchers from socio-ecological systems research, environmental science, coastal management, bioethics, and social anthropology, utilising different research methodologies (empirical and doctrinal) to test a novel socio-ecological decision making process in one of the UK’s most socially deprived areas.

Between October 2009 and 2010, this project will conduct a novel socio-ecological assessment, using the Isle of Sheppey as a case study. It will focus on the explicit incorporation of ethical analysis at all stages within the existing environmental decision making process. Over the first 6 months, three disciplinary desk studies (social, ecological and ethical) will develop the project framework, prior to a one week long period of intensive, integrated fieldwork on Sheppy in March 2010. Doctrine, ethical discourse, environmental and social assessments, and ethnographic research will then be analysed and combined during a series of three workshops over the summer of 2010, where an ethical framework will be developed, and worked examples based on the Sheppey case study provided.

Collaborators: Dr Clare Fitzsimmons, Marine Scientist, Newcastle University; Dr Alison Holt, Catchment Socio-ecologist, University of Sheffield; Dr Karen Johnson, Terrestrial Environmental Scientist, Durham University; Dr Robin Pharoah, Anthropologist, ESRO Ltd.; Dr Muireann Quigley, Bioethicist, Manchester University.

Other research

Aside from my principal research topics and interest I have been involved with various other studies. Foci being environmental decision making, methods of linking socio-ecological systems for natural resource assessment and management and the development of future scenarios to inform resource management in a changing environment.

Examples of MSc project supervision

Tropical Coastal Management MSc:

• James Catlin - Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Underwater Visual Census (UVC): Comparison of methods for researching the abundance of Bolbometopon muricatum in the Solomon Islands
• Madeline Hodge - Improving MPA management through intergenerational support and education
• Allison Mione - Motivations and Barriers of Expatriate Entrepreneurs in Praia do Tofo, Mozambique
• Vanessa Smith - What do fishers think of scuba divers? Socio-economic impacts of the scuba diving industry in the Solomon Islands

International Marine Environmental Consultancy (IMEC) MSc:

• Jane Lister - Does the proposed Marine Bill improve the UK’s marine conservation and development of offshore wind farms? (with AMEC)
• Stuart McCallum - Driving Regeneration: An Analysis of Social and Environmental Regeneration Projects in the Coastal zone (with Woood Holms)
• Abby Mohon - A Critical Evaluation of the Consultation Process and Outputs in the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Teesside Offshore Wind Farm

Funding partners

• EU-FP7 (€950,460)
• NESTA (£14980)
• ONE – Capacity Building Funding – develop North East consultancy network to support IMEC (£5700)
• NESTA Crucible 2008 £4000)
• Heritage Lottery Fund: HLF funded project 'Sustaining our coastal heritage: value of local knowledge' (£215,415)
• Catherine Cookson Foundation – local dissemination for the above maritime heritage project (£3658)

Current collaborators

As above, plus:

• Foresight
• Institute for Advanced Studies
• JNCC