Geographies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam: The Merry Band of Retirees

This review explores the recent development of research on rainbow herbicides as chemical weapons and the geographies of chemical warfare in what is now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. While the use and impacts of Agent Orange have previously been well documented, the production and extensive application of five other rainbow agents by the United States military has only recently been investigated in detail. What is exceptional about this research of chemical warfare landscapes is that the 23 refereed journal publications in this review were designed, implemented, and published in a unique collective research project by Ken Olson and a Merry Band of Military Retirees. Their groundbreaking research portfolio includes many geographical dimensions and the political ecology of chemical warfare. This includes the extensive exposure of civilians in Vietnam to these chemical agents, exposure of US military personnel in Southeast Asia and Panama, exposure of civilians near the private industrial sites that produced these rainbow agents in North America and the hazardous soil contamination that perseveres at these sites in Vietnam and the US. Given this impressive research depth and global scope, this review explores the unique way this research portfolio was developed by a Merry Band of Retirees through an interview with its leader, Ken Olson. It examines the goals and ethical orientation of these military veterans, the political ecology involved, the creative strategies they utilized to produce this innovative research, and how they changed the way Veterans exposed to chemical warfare agents are treated by the US government.

Utilisation and Management Changes in South Kyrgyzstan's Mountain Forests

Using political ecology as its conceptual framework,this paper focuses on the changes in forest utilisation and management of South Kyrgyzstan’s walnut-fruit forests over the last century. The aim of this study on human-environment interactions is to investigate the relationship between actors on the one side,their interests and demands,and the forests and forested lands on the other. Forest resource utilisation and management — and even the recognition of different forest products as resources — are connected with political and socio-economic conditions that change with time. The walnut-fruit forests of South Kyrgyzstan are unique,characterised by high biodiversity and a multiplicity of usable products;and they have been utilised for a long time. Centralised and formal management of the forests started with the Russian occupation and was strengthened under Soviet rule,when the region became a part of the USSR. During this era,a state forest administration that was structured from Moscow all the way down to the local level drew up detailed plans and developed procedures for utilising the different forest products. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union,the socio-political and economic frame conditions have changed significantly,which has brought not only the sweeping changes in the managing institutions,but also the access rights and interests in the forest resources. At present,the region is suffering from a high unemployment rate,which has resulted in the forests’ gaining considerable importance in the livelihood strategies of the local population. Political and economic liberalization,increased communication and trans-regional exchange relations have opened the door for international companies and agents interested in the valuable forest products. Today,walnut wood and burls,walnuts,wild apples and mushrooms are all exported to various countries in the world. Scientists and members of various international organisations stress the ecological value of the forests and are trying to establish nature conservation areas. Nevertheless,it is to fear that a multiplicity of interrelated factors — the present transformation and globalization processes,the appearance of new actors,the local population’s insecure economic situation and the erosion of managing institutions — are all leading to an intensified and unregulated exploitation of the forests,resulting in their degradation.

Kentos: Socio-ecologies of care

What is the relation of humanity to the‘rest of nature’?Situated in the epoch of the Anthropocene and as concerns about climate emergency dramatically rise,the paper looks beyond the human/nature ontological separation and narratives of domination,in order to investigate the possibility of alternative worldviews and practices,instrumental for socio-ecological repair.Kentos,deriving from the greek verb kentaw(embroider or sting),describes the harvest practice of mastiha tree,which grows solely on Chios island.In the precision of the manual labour and the rituality of Kentos,one can read beyond pure production,a relationship of mutuality and a socio-ecological bond unfolding between human bodies,trees and their environment.The paper revisits the mastiha landscapes of Chios island,at North Aegean in Greece and narrates the story of relations that have occurred between humans and a tree native to the island,the Pistacia lentiscus var.Chia.It unpacks this socio-ecological bond and its various social,political and economic extensions,investigating how this interspecies relation has operated in history as a productive force and how it has survived in the present time,entangled in capitalist flows,climatic and urban pressures.The aim is to explore knowledge latent in interspecies relations that occurre in territories entangled in capitalist processes of extended urbanisation.Gathering this knowledge aims at informing alternative concepts and strategies for dealing with the contemporary socio-ecological challenges.The paper employs a methodology of relational thinking:it problematises and retracts strict ontological boundaries between human and‘the rest of Nature’.By doing so it reveals a whole new space of relations between species and sets for an exploration of the relations that we encounter there.This space is examined and conceptualised through qualitative ethnographic work,analysis of documentary sources,oral history and secondary sources that have captured intentionally or unintentionally facets of the socio-ecological bond.Concluding,the paper identifies a socio-ecology of care nested in interspecies relations.It reveales care as a latent interspecies practice,as situated knowledge,as a more-than-human collective,and as an intrinsic value of reciprocity between forms of life,within and beyond capitalism,generating alternative socio-political formations and alternative vision.The paper ends with a proposition:care is a choice,a valid alternative option for design space,strategy and practice to re-engage productively with the‘rest of nature’,material and living world.

Fish trader’s gender and niches in a declining coral reef fishery:implications for sustainability

Introduction:The state of natural resources is greatly influenced by market access.Consequently,resource trader's incentives,decisions,and willingness to comply with manage-ment an influence efforts to achieve sustainabi lity.Trader's impacts will depend on their economic niches,which are influenced by cultural norms,skill,social relationshi ps,profitability,and the spatial scale of markets.Consequently,we examined the potential of traders to influence fisheries'sustainability by evaluating their jobs,gender roles,religion,socioeconomic status,association and perceptions of management systems,and future plans.We studied 142 traders in 19 Kenyan coral reef fisheries landing sites distributed among four gear management systems.Outcomes:We found a strong role of gender,geography,and religion in the participation of these fisheries that was primarily driven by fisheries'profitability.The associations suggest that overfished fisheries should retain traders with low education,capital,and savings-often women;whereas sustainable stocks favor the opposite characteristics,and often men.Conclusions:Therefore,managing for increasing yields,profits,and sustainability could exclude women traders unless they successfully access or adopt the more traditional male economic niche.Gender coexistence is most likely to be achieved by managing for inter-mediate resource levels where net production,catch,and fish body size diversity are high.Further,reducing risk and increasing the capital and mobility of women traders should reduce their chances of exclusion when fisheries are sustainable.