Human and Political Ecology

Geography gives a crucial contribution to the study of human ecologies of small island systems by promoting a trans-scalar perspective and by re-discussing the narratives on the environmental vulnerability of local communities. Within the international scenario, the Maldives are a symbol of vulnerability to climate change, at the same time, the discourse on the Maldives’ environmental vulnerability coexists, on the inhabited islands, with a set of critical environmental processes pervading the human ecology of small islands. Local communities adopt practices, politics, adjustments and knowledge to cope with these critical environmental processes. Among the complex socio-environmental interactions shaping the human ecology of the Maldives, researches focus on waste management, energy production, food production and ecosystem protection. Geographers of MaRHE point, in particular, the elements strongly linked to the Maldivian case: the coexistence of different models within the same State; the balance among center and peripheries; the development of  regional and national regulations; the impact of exogenous consumption models and lifestyles introduced by the international tourist market; the distance among top-down measures and bottom-up adjustments; and the role played by international agencies within the regional chessboard.