The SGAS-saguf Conference 2015 took place on 23.10.2015 with international speakers and audience engaging in inspiring discussions about participatory and integrative research.
A truly stimulating one-day conference with interesting papers and discussions on "Participatory and Integrative Approaches in Researching African Environments – Opportunities, Challenges, Actualities in Natural and Social Sciences" was spent at the Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern.
Researching and managing natural environments increasingly involve the people inhabiting them. They are not only subjects actively shaping natural environments as cultural landscapes, they potentially also play key roles in the institutions (tenure rights, rules and regulations) governing access to and use of cultural landscapes. How does contemporary natural and social science research deal with the multitude of perspectives and interests? How can drivers such as environmental changes, political instability, power relations and economic pressures be consequently integrated without outweighing local perspectives? What can participatory, integrative and transdisciplinary approaches contribute to a more sustainable management of environments and use of natural resources?
The one-day conference brought together scholars from various disciplines and domains from natural and social sciences dealing with African environments as well as institution-building processes. Together they reflected on the way they perceive African environments and on the way they view how people in Africa as well as outsiders interact with environments and create, govern and transform them.
The organisers, SGAS and saguf, are now developing plans for further activities.