Little or no research on marketing codes, sustainability, employee protections, and diversity within the industry has been performed, including whether incubator programs provide applicants with full business autonomy. Additional research is also needed to address the reasons cannabis companies choose to focus on some issues and exclude others in their CSR activities . Otañez and Vergara note that additional research using qualitative interviews as well as quantitative employee and customer surveys are needed to understand certain CSR activities by individual businesses. Ju et al37 also state that communications staff at cannabis companies should be interviewed to determine CSR intentions and drivers. Forzely suggested that CSR should be incorporated as part of the 7C Framework to better analyze cannabis industry marketing methods. Additionally, Paul posited that community infrastructure theory and media systems dependency models may be used to understand development and consumption of CSR messages. These approaches could be expanded in the future to explore CSR foci and intentions among larger companies in a scope similar to that of our study.The rise of epidemiological crises, resource extraction and depletion, pollution ,grow table extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation among many other intensifying ecological threats demand resilient solutions that are grounded in communication and engagement, policy, education, community driven knowledge creation, and personal action .
Scientific research and discovery drive innovative solutions to environmental problems; however, public engagement and policy remain one of the main hurdles in addressing today’s global ecosystem threats. The disconnect between discoveries made and implementation of these discoveries into policies remains one of the main issues in ecological and environmental science. One source of disconnect is an issue of science communication; scientists have not consistently made discoveries accessible or understandable to the public and policy makers. Additionally, scientists often research a specific phenomenon without necessarily relating it back to policy implementation . Most importantly, scientists don’t necessarily know what research questions are relevant to communities or ecosystems of concern and what types of solutions will work in practice. In the last 20 years, the intellectual and practical gaps seen between research and policy have spurred discussion of how to integrate scientific findings into effective collaborative, community-based solutions, leading to a more relatable, and equitable approach to ecological research called translational ecology. The heart of translational ecology is apparent in its bidirectional learning process – to collaboratively co-produce knowledge that is informed by empathetic, equitable, transparent partnerships , among all individuals within the ecosystem of impact. Translational ecology, as a term, was taken from the field of ‘translational medicine,’ which is dedicated to demystifying and communicating new research findings to medical patients.
Like ‘translational medicine’, translational ecology connects “end-users of environmental science to field research conducted by scientists” . Brunson and Baker name competencies and skill sets needed to conduct translational work in addition to providing learning processes that would be suitable for acquiring these skill sets. Enquist et al. further expand on the definition by highlighting six principles that typify translational ecology including: 1) collaboration, 2) engagement, 3) commitment, 4) communication, 5) process, and 6) decision framing. They stress that translational ecology consists of a transparent participatory process involving long-term capacity-building and engagement between all stakeholders at all stages of the science-to-management process . Researchers further highlight the need for translational ecology to identify shared stakeholder goals, acknowledging that effective problem-solving is based on relationship-building, which demands time investment . Translational ecology actively acknowledges the common dissociation of ecological research from policy outcomes by attempting to resolve it through a framework of collaboration and co-productive partnerships upheld by transparent, effective methods to create informed policies . Translational ecology addresses an apparent need in society to make science applicable and understandable to all, not just to researchers generating results through data-driven methodologies. There are numerous reasons to employ translational ecological methodologies.
By building partnerships and long-term relationships, scientific research can become more effective since multiple stakeholders are part of the decision-making process. Effective research is accessible research. For example, research can become more accessible to communities and applicable to policy decisions through fact sheets and interdisciplinary articles . Accessibility in today’s world implies download ability from the internet, which includes the ability to easily access and obtain policy briefs, short papers, web-based applications of case studies, stories, and maps, as well as incorporating the use of social media which allows for multi-modalities of dialogue. The result of translational approach is ultimately more resilient than other approaches because it provides actionable scientific results with more informed policy making along with increased investment in science-driven partnerships . A powerful example of translational ecology was seen in the spring of 2014, when the Colorado River ran from the Rocky Mountains to the California Gulf for the first time in 16 years. Approximately 105,392-acre feet of water were released into a parched waterbed below the Morelos Dam, on the U.S.-Mexico border. Karl Flessa, a geoscience professor from the University of Arizona, along with an international team of government and nongovernmental agencies, started this pivotal work in the 1980s . Flessa, seeing the Colorado River flow again, stated, “It doesn’t get any better than this” . Over three decades of collaboration, community engagement, and co-partnerships, and discussions with various stakeholders resulted in a momentous ecological occasion, restoring the river’s parched delta, with the hopes of also restoring the river’s riparian habitat and communities’ water tables. The Colorado River running again is one of most powerful examples of translational ecology in action; it is a result of a time-intensive, interdisciplinary, and transboundary ecological restoration project. The Minute 319 Science Team behind this transboundary restoration project, includes more than 21 scientists from nongovernmental agencies, government agencies, universities from both the U.S. and Mexico including the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey, the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, the Sonoran Institute and Pronatura Noroeste . The science team will continue to environmentally monitor the Colorado River Delta’s hydrologic pulse response and vegetation as a part of a five-year program, under the auspices of the International Boundary and Water Commission. Other researchers have highlighted translational ecological approaches in climate-change adaptation planning project for Navy and Marine Corps installations in Southern California , fire science and management efforts seen in addressing changes in fire ignition patterns , and improvement of aquatic ecosystem health through agricultural conservation methods , among many others. All of these research projects encountered similar challenges including difficulties in measuring ‘success’ since progress is seen incrementally, as well as the time investment needed to build long-term individual and institutional relationships through trust. The focus of this dissertation is the Eastern Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, specifically in a region called Hutsulshchyna with Hutsul communities, an ethnographic group of traditional, pastoral highlanders, who live with a deep, extensive history of ethnobotanical knowledge and TEK, grounding culture to relationships with landscape. Additionally, this region is facing rapid socio-economic development, with factors such as cultural, climatic and ecosystem changes. The integrated relationship between cultural and biological diversity is apparent here; This multi-directional feedback loop of changes will impact TEK loss,vertical rack which will drive biodiversity loss and vice versa. This beginning chapter focuses on the time-intensive process of collaborative work and the dimensions of resilience-building seen in the translational approach to interdisciplinary ecological research.
Using a translational ecology framework outlined in Rubert-Nason et al. and adapted from the Climate Center , I will be exploring the five essential dimensions present in the translational approach undertaken in my dissertation research: 1) communication and engagement, 2) policy, 3) education, 4) knowledge creation, and 5) personal actions . My methodologies, built upon concepts from community-based participatory action research were interdisciplinary and collaborative due to the nature of the research questions, and as a result employed a translational approach. CBPR can be broadly defined as research methods that are action-oriented, community-driven, collaborative, and democratic and are very much in line with the translational approach. The links of these questions to policy were explicit. The role of ethnobotany and access to land is critically linked to political and ecological challenges in the region including impacts of illegal logging, tourism, and climate change which ultimately impacts ecological successions of culturally important species found in a diversity of habitats. Collaborations with the Verkhovyna National Nature Park, the Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park, and the Ukrainian National Forestry University were foundational in the development of these research questions. My three main research questions were: 1) What is the role of traditional ecological knowledge in Hutsulshchyna? 2) How has TEK been impacted by ecosystem, climatic and cultural changes seen in the region? and 3) What does the path to food sovereignty look like in Hutsulshchyna? The second chapter of my dissertation contextualizes the role and importance of ethnobotany in the day-to-day lives of communities in Hutsulshchyna by identifying taxa and quantifying various ethnobotanical indices of cultivated and wild culturally important species of plants, fungi, and lichens. Traditional ecological knowledge is impacted by ecosystem, cultural, and climatic changes in terms of access to landscape and supports gathering practices of culturally important species in a diversity of habitats. In my final chapter, I collaborate with Hutsul scientists from the Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park to explore various coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies present in Hutsul communities that support food sovereignty through the lens of traditional ecological knowledge . The results and discussion of this co-created third chapter will be supported by official Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park documents and implemented under policy strategies titled, “Territorial Community Development Strategy.” n the Ukrainian Carpathians, 59-91% of the population lives in rural areas ; this broad range is due to the socioeconomic inequality between rural and urban areas in the region . The interdependence between nature and need is explicit. Communities are self-sufficient in terms of their nutritional needs. Food is grown, gathered, and stored . Many households in this region rely on subsistence-based agriculture with homes surrounded by chickens, pigs, cows, and goats, and with additional income derived from family members going abroad for work. Low salaries demand multiple avenues of revenue from subsistence farming, gathering, and selling of culturally important wild species, as well as opening one’s home to tourist stays . The foundation of Hutsul lifeways in the Carpathian Mountains is driven by traditional ecological knowledge . Lived and experienced by local and Indigenous communities worldwide, TEK is cultural, spiritual, intergenerational, dynamic, place-based, environmental wisdom for survival and interconnection that is revisited, reinterpreted, and re-evaluated consistently . TEK, the scientific method brought to life through culture, plays a significant role in meeting community needs, while adapting with ecosystem, climatic and cultural changes. The environmental threats present in Hutsulshchyna are recognized by forest-dependent community members and many of these threats are also cited in an extensive literature review of the region . Table 1.1 includes a column titled, “Descriptions cited in literature” in which specific threats mentioned in the literature review are listed because they were also mentioned by Hutsul community members under the column titled, “Converging Hutsul community observations.” Ecosystem change observed by community members include illegal logging and pollution with major impacts seen on culturally important species. Effects of climatic change include increased frequency of invasive species , shifts of plant habitats, and uptick of extreme weather events impacting plant phenological cycles. Thirdly, cultural change is seen through the synergistic interactions of both ecosystem and climatic changes in the region. Specifically, historical colonial logging policies have impacted the cultural use of an ecologically important and endangered species, Pinus cembra and restructuring of grass plant communities. It is important to note that cultural changes, including commercial harvesting and the legacy of colonial practices stated by community members, are not captured in earlier literature, and serve as critical drivers impacting both ecosystem and climatic changes. Ecosystem, climatic, and cultural changes create challenges to maintaining socio-ecological resilience in the region. A resilience-based approach to addressing environmental threats within ecosystems applies to the collaborative translational research process as well. These approaches strive to mitigate disturbances and challenges through direct action by supporting and strengthening existing relationships.The first dimension, communication and engagement, is pivotal in creating trust-based relationships and networks. Continuous and transparent communication takes place through trusted channels and includes a diversity of voices and interests in discussing outcomes .