Kate Harriden
The Australian National University
Wasted Resource? Perceptions of Stormwater and its Management in Two Locations in Australia and Thailand
This presentation draws on my ongoing research that investigates the influence different knowledge systems have on the values placed on natural resources, in this case stormwater. The research compares the values attached to stormwater generated through what can be broadly called the scientific ecological knowledge (SEK) system dominating the Australian policy landscape, and the local ecological knowledge (LEK) system that was, till very recently, pervasive in Chonburi, Thailand. By examining the commonalties and differences between SEK & LEK, this research challenges the ‘waste product’ tag given to stormwater within the SEK system. The complexity of the relationship between the two knowledge systems is addressed as the values attached to stormwater are considered across scales. While acknowledging nature, and natural resources, as socio-cultural construct(s), this research outlines how the SEK system came to regard stormwater as wastewater by applying ideas of (hyper) commodification, increased technologicalization and genderization of water. Ethnographic methodological tools based on field interviews are used in the study presented here.
The significance of the research lies in its connection to important international debates in natural resource management and development circles, including the role of traditional/local knowledge, and its relationship with scientific-bureaucratic knowledge in natural resource management; and the role of hydrology in combining social, cultural and economic behaviours in hydrological models to help generate more equitable and effective policies.
Email : u3594595@anu.edu.au