Answer one simple guiding questions sheet - Essay Example

Political Ecology Robbins makes a distinction between what he calls a “political approach” and an “apolitical approach” to human-environment relations. What are each of these and what is the difference between them?According to Robins, the political approach seeks to alleviate human population from the natural wildlife setting as they are viewed as interfering with the natural biodiversity while the apolitical approach recognizes human as part of the biodiversity system and thus against their isolation from the natural wildlife setting.

The apolitical approach is different from the political approach in the sense that it is more contextual and identifies a broad system in this issue rather than blaming the proximate and local forces ( as in the case the political approach).2. Is an “apolitical approach” actually devoid of a political stance?The apolitical approach is not devoid of a political stance since acknowledges the effects of human activities on a natural wildlife setting but denies their isolation from it as they are regarded part of the biodiversity 3.

What are the “ecoscarcity” and “modernization” accounts? Does Robbins classify them as “political” or “apolitical”? Why? Ecoscarcty account shows that a crisis due to scarcity of natural resources in the human-environment-relationship affects the whole biodiversity system and this means there is clever use of substitutes and new technologies and techniques are put in place to increase efficiency thus more alternative ways of sustaining the growing population. This results to infinite resource production bringing an ecological balance in the whole system.

The Modernization account shows how modern technologies can guide natural resource management; exploitation and conservation through taming resource degradation and environmental destruction. The two accounts are apolitical since they view the human-environment relation as being interdependent.4. What is political ecology as “hatchet” and what is it as “seed”?The political Ecology as a hatchet prunes away methods, stories and policies that create pernicious environmental and social outcomes.

It is also an hatchet to stories and myths that seek to explain the influence of the accounts on political and ecological change.( Davis, 2007,p.10).On the other hand the political ecology as a seed is progressive and not retrospective and reactive since does local knowledge documentation and seeks to recover disappearing knowledge and practices and how they became part of the alternative development strategies.5. What are the four main theses of political ecology? Name and briefly define each one.

The first thesis is the Degradation and Marginalization shows how overexploitation on local production systems can lead to poverty and this can occur in a cyclic manner leading to a sustainable community management and a decrease in the equity of resource distribution when state authorities seek to improve foreign institutions or enclosing traditional collective property. The environment conflicts thesis on the other hand states that an increasing scarcity of resources and their enclosure by an authority can result to long-term conflicts.

the conservation and control thesis shows that strict resource control and conservation by officials or due to global concern can disable the local system’s livelihood, production and socio-political organization. Lastly the Environmental identity and social movement thesis argues that changes in the management regimes and environmental conditions has created opportunities for local groups to political represent themselves and this has undermined the otherwise global political and economic forces.6. In a short paragraph, outline Davis’s main argument – what’s he trying to get us to understand, in your view?

In other words, what are the larger political ecological and economic issues that, for Davis, Dubai is representative ofDubai represents countries and regions that have had rich natural and artificial resources that have gone through a transition of great political influence and economic transformations. Its huge number of resources has made the country to be a hub of big commercial investment opportunities with certain groups and individuals trying to dominate the country for the sake of industrial investiment.

Its great economic resources have been politically influenced making the place seem a political-economic war zone. Though with the great economic opportunities it has faced economic and political challenges of human enslavery, forced labour, and smuggling of national resources by the intruders. This city is a representative of a society where the political class has got a great influence and control over the state natural assets in terms of conservation utilization and policy formulation. Davis (2007).

ReferencesDavis, M. (2007). Sand, fear and money in Dubai. Evil paradises: Dreamworlds of neoliberalism, 48-68.Robbins, P. (2004). The Hatchet and the seed. Political ecology, 3-16.