Communication Technology Reshaping Environmental Institutions

Abstract

Environmental problems are immensely social and collaborative: their governance requires coordination among many different stakeholders, and the parties o en must choose to compromise their immediate self-interests in a prisoner’s dilemma to protect the shared resource. For example in Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” model, one single shepherd can destroy a pasture by over-grazing so they all must collectively find a mechanism to limit their consumption. Researchers in political, social, and environmental sciences have developed an extensive literature about the conditions that support successful environmental governance. However, the relationships among the diverse actors in environmental governance are being rapidly reshaped by the evolution of communication technology and its continuing spread around the world. This thesis maps out the technology design space for environmental institutions and public engagement, and investigates communication technology’s effects on institutional structures and community relationships. I present three case studies of communication technology in environmental institutions: first, a system using basic phone services like SMS and USSD for Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya to engage communities living around its border. Second, I study wildlife-tracking maps with EarthRanger, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, and Atlantic White Shark Conservancy to investigate the uses and limitations for interactive data visualizations towards environmental communication goals in high-connectivity, media-saturated settings. Third, I present a formative design study for an anti-poaching hotline in Laikipia, Kenya to probe at security contexts. Finally, I present a cross-sectional interview study of staff at various environmental institutions to generalize and cross-validate my findings. Together, these projects describe the mechanisms by which communication technology is reshaping environmental organizations’ structures, operations, and social relationships; and stake out a technology design space to help environmental organizations have more meaningful, productive engagements with local communities and the pubic.