Ecological livelihoods of farmers and pollinators in the Himalayas: Doing critical physical geography using citizen science

Abstract

In farming communities dependent on the cultivation of pollinator‐dependent crops, the livelihoods of farmers are inextricably linked with pollinator health. A global pollination crisis interlinked with a crisis of food production and farmer livelihoods, exacerbated by processes of socio‐environmental change, is emblematic of the Anthropocene and of the kinds of ecosocial problems with which critical physical geography (CPG) engages. We propose examining the farmer‐pollinator system in the Indian Himalayas through an ecological livelihoods approach using a range of collaborative citizen science methods including bloom observations to document pollinator visits, plant phenological observations to document year‐round floral resource availability, and farm diaries to document orchard management practices. An ecological livelihoods approach draws on posthumanist theory, which has remained largely disengaged with methodological questions that are of concern to CPG. Citizen science, although widely used across a range of disciplines, has seen limited engagement in CPG. After elaborating some of the opportunities and challenges that an engagement between CPG, posthumanist theory, and citizen science opens up, we propose a methodology that would be simultaneously epistemological (understanding interdependence between livelihoods of farmers and pollinators) and ontological (imagining and building worlds where farmer and pollinator habitats are recomposed).

Practicing critical physical geography: New trading zones and interactional expertise in an expanding field

“…Rather than rejecting manuscripts that failed to illustrate CPG's primary tenets in ways that we and other researchers had done so in the past, we worked together to think expansively about how to put those tenets into practice in new, and sometimes counterintuitive, ways. For example, while special section manuscripts by Anderson et al (2022) and Luthra et al (2021) did not present the results of new empirical research, in both cases an interdisciplinary team of researchers presented the hard work they had done to develop a CPG framework to guide their future research. In short, we ended up less with a clear boundary than with a permeable membrane.…”

“…In a similar vein, Luthra et al (2021) focus on making the methods of citizen science theoretically compatible with posthumanist theory.…”

“…A corollary of this tenet is that experimenting with multiple theoretical, methodological, and empirical approaches across disciplinary boundaries can allow researchers to think through such eco‐social relations and complexities (Biermann et al, 2020; Lave et al, 2018; Shaw & Corner, 2017). For example, papers in this special section provide frameworks on how to employ social empirical approaches, such as ethnography (e.g., Luthra et al, 2021, this special section), to contextualize biophysical processes, and biophysical empirical approaches, such as dendrochronology (e.g., Greer et al, 2023, this special section), and to examine socio‐historical processes. Other papers engage with CPG's first tenet by mixing quantitative and qualitative methods (e.g., Malone & McClintock, 2022, this special section) to highlight previously undetected eco‐social relations.…”

“…For example, papers examine how conducting environmental research can result in socially produced outcomes that are subsequently presented as biophysical patterns (e.g., Bradbury, 2022, this special section). Further, papers in the special section broaden who is normally allowed to participate and lead environmental studies through community‐engaged research approaches (e.g., Luthra et al, 2021, this special section). Finally, several papers present evolving research outcomes as opposed to final concrete conclusions, enabling CPG research to be truly iterative and adaptable to future eco‐social conditions.…”

“…In a similar vein, Luthra et al (2021) focus on making the methods of citizen science theoretically compatible with posthumanist theory. Using the ecological livelihoods framework, they bridge the ideas of posthumanist theory with the specific methods of ecology and citizen science.…”