Ecological Politics and Practices in Introduced Species Management

Abstract

The surveillance and control of introduced species has become an increasingly important, yet often controversial, form of environmental management. I investigate why and how introduced species management is initiated; whether, why and how it is contested; and what relations and outcomes emerge ‘in practice’. I examine how introduced species management is being done in the United Kingdom through detailed social scientific analyses of the processes, practices, and disputes involved in a series of management case studies. First, I demonstrate how some established approaches to the design and delivery of management initiatives can render them conflict-prone, ineffective and potentially unjust. Then, examining a disputesurrounding a state-initiated eradication of monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus), I show why and how ‘parakeet protectors’ opposed the initiative. I identify the significance of divergent evaluations of the risks posed by introduced wildlife; personal and community attachments between people and parakeets; and campaigners’ dissatisfaction with central government’s approach to the issue. By following the story of an unauthorised (re)introduction of Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber) to England, I show how adiverse collective has, at least temporarily, been united and empowered by a shared understanding of beavers as ‘belonging’ in the UK. I consider how nonhuman citizenship is socio-politically negotiated, and how the beavers have become enrolled in a ‘wild experiment’. Finally, through a multi- sited study of grey squirrel (Sciuruscarolinensis) control initiatives, I find important variations in management practitioners’ approaches to killing squirrels, and identify several ‘modes of killing’ that comprise different primary motivations, moral principles, ultimate aims, and practical methods. I identify multiple ways in which people respond and relate to introduced wildlife, and demonstrate how this multiplicity produces both socio-political tensions and accords. Furthermore, throughout this thesis I make a series of propositions for re-configuring the management of introduced species in ways that explicitly incorporate inclusive, constructive, and context-appropriate socio-political deliberations into its design and implementation.