Ecosystem approaches to health and knowledge-to-action: towards a political ecology of applied health-environment knowledge

Abstract

Political ecology pushes back against the apolitical and ahistorical ecologies frequently found in mainstream scientific accounts of nature and the environment, and has increasingly focused on how scientific knowledge is 'socially constructed.' In this article, we argue for political ecological engagement with the highly influential knowledge-to-action (KTA) movement in science about health and the environment. We introduce KTA using results of a survey conducted under the auspices of a Canada-Latin America-Caribbean 'ecosystem approaches to health' (ecohealth) collaboration, and then narrow our focus to a single illustrative ecohealth project, dealing with the health impacts of small-scale gold mining in southwestern Ecuador. We employ an ecology of knowledge framework for integrating insights from science and technology studies, illustrating the interacting actors, material artifacts, institutions and discourses involved in not only the generation but also the application of health-environment science. The origins of ecohealth research in the Americas reflect interacting epistemological and political factors, as sophisticated, complex systemic analyses of health-environment interactions occurred amidst increasing neoliberalization of knowledge production. Simultaneously, corporate actors such as large mining companies influenced both the distribution of healthdamaging environmental conditions in the Americas, and the ways in which they were studied. This analysis motivates our advocacy of specifically political ecologies of health-environment knowledge, in which inequitable power dynamics and non-human actors are foregrounded in studies of the social production and application of science. The political ecology of knowledge framework that we envision would allow for simultaneous consideration of how societal contexts influence scientific knowledge production, and how the resulting knowledge can be better applied to protect the health of communities facing environmental injustice. Key words: ecohealth; mining; praxis; science and technology studies; knowledge-to-action; Canada; Ecuador Résumé L'écologie politique remet en question las explications apolitiques et anhistoriques fréquemment rencontrées dans les compte-rendu scientifiques sur la nature et l'environnement et met de plus en plus l'accent sur la manière dont la connaissance scientifique est socialement construite. Dans cet article, nous soutenons la pertinence de l'écologie politique pour le mouvement « du savoir à l'action », très influent dans les sciences de la santé de l'environnement. Nous présentons la perspective « du savoir à l'action » en nous appuyant sur les résultats d'une enquête menée dans le cadre d'une collaboration Canada-Amérique latine et Caraïbes sur les approches écosystémiques à la santé (écosanté), pour ensuite concentrer notre attention sur un unique projet écosanté, qui porte sur les effets sur la santé de l'extraction de l'or à petite échelle dans le sud-ouest de l'Équateur. Nous employons un cadre conceptuel d'écologi...

Addressing the Environmental, Community, and Health Impacts of Resource Development: Challenges across Scales, Sectors, and Sites

“…Also of note is what gets hidden, or overlooked, in planetary health conversations that emerged, primarily, from the domain of the environmental and health sciences. Embedded in these disciplinary spaces are issues of power, political economy, and political ecologies of knowledge [140]. Noticing the intersections between social relations of power, political economy, and related sexed, gendered, and racializing processes opens up not always easy but absolutely necessary ways of building health and wellbeing across environments, communities and health.…”

“…Despite the textual similarities between intersectoral and intersectional action, the different ontological, theoretical, and practical implications of these two words warrant particular attention, when considering issues relating to resource development and health. These considerations may be informed by political ecologies that work at the intersection of territory, difference and context [140,[142][143][144][145]. A subgroup of the Network is currently working on a project that examines if and how intersectionality and intersectorality can be meaningfully put into conversation.…”

Onde ecossistemas, pessoas e saúde se encontram:

“…No entanto, essas distinções não são absolutas, uma vez que a Ecologia Política e da Saúde se envolveu cada vez mais com a teoria da resiliência (INGALLS et al, 2016;TURNER, 2013;WIDGREN, 2012) e os acadêmicos das relações entre saúde humana e animal clamam por "Uma Saúde Estrutural" (WALLACE et al, 2015). Os pesquisadores da Ecossaúde estão ativamente levando em consideração a dinâmica do poder (BRISBOIS et al, 2017), com grupos especificamente latinoamericanos influenciados por estudos de longa data da Medicina Social Latino-Americana, Saúde do Trabalhador e tradições da Saúde Coletiva (BETANCOURT et al, 2016;LAWINSKY et al, 2012). Praticamente todos os campos promovem alguma forma de colaboração com atores de fora do ambiente acadêmico, geralmente como uma ferramenta para realizar pesquisas mais inclusivas e projetar intervenções e políticas mais efetivas (O'FALLON et al, 2002;WICKSON et al, 2006).…”

“…Para outros campos, a investigação qualitativa é priorizada, o que inclui o estudo de narrativas de doenças e de bem-estar e considera os aspectos relacionais e experienciais da saúde, que são exclusivos das pessoas, do lugar e do tempo. Para os profissionais críticos, essas últimas orientações também contrabalançam a autoridade da causalidade determinista tanto na ciência quanto na tomada de decisões baseadas em evidências, nas políticas públicas (BIEHL et al, 2014;BRISBOIS et al, 2017;.…”

“…Apesar dos discursos em torno do controle compartilhado das metas, recursos e benefícios do projeto em campos de conhecimento, como Ecossaúde, Saúde Única e outros campos com fortes influências médicas e de ciências naturais, as dinâmicas de poder são, às vezes (embora nem sempre) negligenciadas e, assim, naturalizadas (BRISBOIS et al, 2017;DAKUBO, 2010;WALLACE et al, 2015). As práticas desenvolvidas no Hemisfério Norte são frequentemente impostas aos "parceiros" e comunidades em todo o mundo e a autoridade de decisão (em seu sentido mais significativo) permanece, em grande parte, fora de suas mãos (BEHAGUE et al, 2009;CRANE, 2013).…”