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Nathan Bennett

 

  • 2010 Trudeau Scholar

    nathan.bennett@trudeaufoundation.net

    Current Research

    Ph.D. Geography, University of Victoria
    Biodiversity, Livelihoods, and Climate Change in Marine Protected Areas on the Andaman Coast of Thailand

    Biography

    Raised in a resource-based town beneath the humbling peaks of the Rocky Mountains, Nathan Bennett has spent the last decade working as a teacher, guide, leader, development worker, and researcher in rural communities from Latin America to northern Canada. From the many individuals and communities with whom he has had the fortune to work, he brings the insight of grounded experience, the weight of hope and dream-filled stories, and the confident belief that anything is possible.
     
    Nathan's interest in environmental sustainability and conservation issues has been shaped by lifelong explorations of wilderness areas both in Canada and abroad. Exposure to wild places both professionally and personally, he says, has left him with an ethic of environmental responsibility and a desire to advocate for terrestrial and marine conservation.
     
    The success of past, current, and future conservation initiatives, Nathan argues, depends on local support and consideration of social and economic development in protected area gateway communities. "Achieving a balance between the conservation and development agendas", he adds, "will be increasingly challenging on a finite planet that is characterized by a growing population, increasing pressure on natural resources, and rapid global social and environmental change." As society's storytellers, Nathan believes, social scientists have a challenging and ever-important role in facilitating the creation of grounded, strategic, and effective solutions that will support both conservation and development outcomes at a local level. The solutions that we embrace in the 21st century will need to be increasingly creative and reflective of the particular social and ecological context within which they operate.
     
    As an early-career social scientist, Nathan seeks collaborative research projects that advocate for environmental protection while ensuring that communities neighbouring terrestrial and marine protected areas benefit from their existence. He is particularly interested in bringing local and often marginalized voices into discussions around resource management and conservation. To this end, his master's thesis focused on Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation perspectives on the benefits of conservation, capacity building efforts to maximize local benefit, and the role of social economy organizations in facilitating development relating to the creation of a national park on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories. His doctoral research will examine several questions related to the complex and evolving relationship between coral reef marine protected areas and local livelihoods on the Andaman Coast of Thailand through a solution-oriented lens.

    Project Description

    Biodiversity, Livelihoods, and Climate Change in Marine Protected Areas on the Andaman Coast of Thailand
     
    Two interdependent global issues are the conservation of biodiversity and the reduction of human poverty. A high priority for conservation is the creation of a global network of marine protected areas. The protection of coral reefs is of particular importance as these areas are high in biodiversity and marine productivity. Yet, many of the world's poorest people depend on marine ecosystems and tropical coral reefs for their livelihoods and survival. Further complicating these issues is the threat posed by a changing climate to the health of coral reef ecosystems and the viability of local livelihoods. Nathan Bennett's doctoral research will take a retrospective, circumspective, and prospective approach to exploring the relationship between coral reef MPAs and local livelihoods on the Andaman coast of Thailand. This case study will focus on a) the effects of MPA formation and policies, institutions, and processes on local livelihoods; b) factors that influence the resilience of livelihoods in consideration of a changing climate; and, c) livelihood options that will support the dual agendas of biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction.

    Trudeau Foundation Themes

    People and their natural environment  

     

 
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