Max Whitman: Reframing Bush-Fire Communication for Sustainability

Abstract

Human-fire relationships have been and continue to be a pivotal part of human and planetary development. In the mainstream news, we see and hear how fire drives the global economy through internal combustion and how it, in its "wild form", engulfs landscapes. However, mainstream culture often forgets how fires also regenerate, rejuvenate and enable life to thrive. This thesis departs from the diverse, existential, multifaceted relationship between humans and fires. Specifically, it delves into two case studies with different human-fire relationships, exploring transformation pathways to enable landscape regeneration.

In the La Mosquitia case in eastern Honduras, annual fires uncontrollably spread across the landscape. This undermines the regeneration of Caribbean Pine, transforming large swaths of the savannah into grasslands and amplifies vulnerability amongst the Mosquito communities. In the Voxnadalen case, in the central parts of Sweden, fires are virtually extinct from the forest landscape and entangled in the struggle between traditional forestry and biodiversity loss. As illustrated throughout this thesis, human-fire relationships are contextually unique, diverse, multifaceted, shifting, and manifest across multiple scales - or, in other words, wicked. This thesis departs from the La Mosquitia and Voxnadalen contexts with a twofold aim: (1) Support and enable ongoing change processes to regenerate the landscapes, and (2) Explore the role of, and approaches to, co-creation in facilitating these transformations.

Co-creation is a collaborative approach to navigating the inherent complexity of wicked problems and is thus highly relevant in supporting transformation in human-fire relationships. While co-creation processes can differ, this thesis draws on social innovation, systems thinking, futures thinking, and relational philosophies to inform the co-creation processes. By implementing an iterative action learning process in the two cases, this thesis contributes to developing the theory and practice of co-creation in landscape transformation processes. In Mosquitia, the co-creation process has contributed to designing a project that uses the voluntary carbon market to support equitable ecosystem restoration and rural development. In Voxnadalen, the process has expanded an understanding of multifunctionality and barriers to scaling continuous cover forestry. This thesis presents these insights and the processes underpinning them through papers and a film.

The paper in Chapter 2 draws on a literature review that unpacks the wicked nature of (wild)fires and the need for contextually sensitive processes capable of integrating multiple ways of knowing in researching and managing human-fire relationships. The following chapters present the planning, implementation and outcomes of the co-creation approaches in the case studies.

The paper in Chapter 3 zooms in on the process deployed in La Mosquitia and presents six principles for co-creating equitable ecosystem restoration using the voluntary carbon market. The paper suggests that co-creation can enable equitable restoration and rural development, provided that the structures afford adequate time and flexibility.

The film in Chapter 4 delves into the La Mosquitia case. It illustrates how fires undermine the integrity of the savannah, how they affect local livelihoods, and how a co-created ecosystem restoration project can transform the fire regime. The accompanying exegesis focuses on the film production process and the film artefact's ability to mediate sense-making, learning and decision-making within and beyond La Mosquitia.

The paper in Chapter 5 draws on the empirical insights from La Mosquitia, Voxnadalen and the Baltic Sea Region to explore co-creation as a governance approach to enable multifunctional landscapes.

The thesis's final chapter 6 reflects on the barriers and opportunities of co-creation in navigating wicked problems related to human-fire relationships and introduces critical questions for future research.

This thesis supports the claim that co-creation can meaningfully navigate wicked problems and contribute to landscape regeneration. The La Mosquitia case illustrates how co-created interventions and goals can anchor diverse local perspectives and aspirations and enhance the capacity to adapt to emerging challenges. Similarly, the process from Voxnadalen shows how fostering safe spaces enables social learning and dialogue between previously disconnected actors, supporting incremental but essential steps to breaking with the status quo. Co-creation is, however, challenging. Enabling structures that afford the time and the space to foster relationships and resist rigid predefined outcomes is hugely important, as is the process design. A process design that is considered meaningful can take various forms. However, it should be mindful of the context in which it is taking place. Generally, it should be characterized by iterative sequences of inquiry, design, action, reflection and adaptation. Additionally, it should use methods that promote the integration of different forms of knowledge to enhance sense-making and decision-making.