‘This funny place’: Uncovering the ambiguity of saltmarshes using a multimodal approach

People and Nature

article

Merryn Thomas¹  Erin Roberts¹  Nick Pidgeon¹  Karen Henwood³ 

[1] Understanding Risk Research Group, School of Psychology, Cardiff University;Biosciences, Swansea University;School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

关键词: interviews;    mobile methods;    public perceptions;    qualitative research;    relational values;    salt marshes;    well-being;   

DOI  :  10.1002/pan3.10318

学科分类：护理学

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

1. Saltmarshes are increasingly recognised for the range of benefits they offer, including coastal protection, flood regulation and carbon sequestration. However,much less is known about how people perceive these environments and theirimportance for non-material aspects of human well-being.2. As climate change and sea-level rise render these environments increasingly vulnerable, there is a need to better understand how saltmarshes are valued. This isbecause these values influence—and are influenced by—the ways in which people interact with places and therefore gain well-being benefits from them. Thesevalues also shape management decisions, which in turn affect the well-being ofpeople and environment.3. To address this need, we use a multimodal qualitative approach (mobile interviews, photo elicitations, mapping and word association) to explore the valuesheld in connection to saltmarshes at two Welsh case study sites: the Taf Estuaryin Carmarthenshire and the Mawddach Estuary in Gwynedd.4. We find that saltmarshes are ambiguous places, not having one obvious meaning, and being open to more than one interpretation. They are both known andunknown; valued and (literally) overlooked. We suggest that this ambiguousnessis related to both the physical characteristics of saltmarshes, which change andshift on short and long time-scales, as well as to the ways in which people (can)relate with them.5. We discuss how ambiguity renders saltmarshes as places of exclusive, privilegedhuman–nature relationships, and reflect on the implications of our findings forhuman well-being and the management of threatened environments. We alsoconsider how multimodal, in-depth and place-based methods such as ours provide ways in which to explore the more intangible and changeable values associated with particular habitats.

【 授权许可】

CC BY