Anthropology and conservation conference 2021 Presentation on preliminary work on mapping for rights in the inner Ionian and adjacent coastline

Press release:2021 Anthropology and conservation conference and Terra Sylvestris

From the 26^th to the 29^th of October 2021 the Royal anthropological institute organized an online conference in Anthropology and conservation . In this conference we participated in the thematic area Institutional frameworks for coastal and marine resource management .

Here we presented our preliminary work with respect to mapping for rights in the inner Ionian archipelago and adjacent coastlines in Greece. Others presented similar work and a discussion followed. This included comments on how certain methodologies could be potentially applied in our area to resolve issues with environmental degradation and conflict. The work is ongoing in the area for our part so stay tunned for this!

We would like to thank the Royal anthropological institute and all the other attendees it was a great conference!

A big congragulations to all the community members from our area that graciously gave their time and knowledge  for this , we are moving on!!

 

 

Written Summary of presentation

Mapping historic rights in the inner Ionian archipelago:

Preliminary results for nomadic grazing and sea fishing and their implications for environmental decision making and spatial planning

 

          Theodore N.S. Karfakis* and Sophia E. Linn#

 

* Terra Sylvestris non governmental organization, Kalamos Lefkados, Levkas, Greece, PO 31081

# Geospatial Centroid, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  USA 80523-1019

Correspondence :tedkarfakis@terrasylvestris.org

 

Coastal communities in western Greece historically depended on both the land and sea for protein: fish from the sea and livestock from the land. People within the region generally specialized in one practice or the other, allowing for nutritional diversity and trade. Anthropological evidence suggests that mainland communities focused on grazing and livestock while island communities focused on fishing and other marine trade activities.

While grazing zones on land are generally understood to have historic rights, this is not the case with fishing zones. Using participatory GIS and an extensive literature survey, we created preliminary maps of two uses in the inner Ionian environmental conflict zone:  historic fishing zones/rights in the sea and nomadic grazing routes on the adjacent mainland of Akarnania. This reveals that space--both on land and in the sea--was demarcated and managed by traditional, pseudo-formal means.

These results have implications in the context of historic rights, especially with respect to marine spatial planning and decision making. Governments and non-governmental entities tend to treat marine space as one with no traditional borders or any historic rights at all. We argue that environmental decision making based on the notion that the sea is common undivided grounds for both mainland and island communities is an erroneous approach concerning rights, because communities in the past did, in fact, manage the sea “spatially” by traditional means that were both effective and sustainable.

Because different communities had different priorities, there is a logical argument against the “sea is for everyone” approach in community conservation. It also cancels the argument that people are excluded from the sea in unfair ways as the marine areas may never have been part of traditional commons of the mainland land-oriented communities. This has significant implications both for conservation initiatives and industrial uses in the area and beyond.

©Terra Sylvestris,2021