Maria Schewenius - We Have to Harvest the Common Memory of Nature

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Nov 19, 2015
by Heather Jaber
Maria Schewenius - We Have to Harvest the Common Memory of Nature

Maria Schewenius, project manager at Stockholm Resilience Center, discussed raising awareness about sustainable solutions and engaging those who are struggling for survival

While Maria Schewenius grew up dreaming of saving the rainforest, she now targets the driver of impact on these natural areas — cities. “I’ve always wanted to work for sustainable development,” said the participant of the first Parks for the Planet Forum, “starting off as a childhood dream to save the rainforest, and then I realized that if we really want to achieve change, then we have to target the cities.”

Schewenius is project manager at Stockholm Resilience Center, where she works under the urban research theme. Some of her projects include the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook, the first global assessment of urbanization trends and impacts, and C/O City, which supports urban green infrastructure.

She pointed out some of the obstacles to dealing with nature preservation and urbanization in populations with large gaps in income and resources.

“If you have a population that is relatively poor,” said the Fellow, “then they will not first and foremost think ‘How can I live as sustainably as I can?’ They want money, they want to know that they can survive the next day, or even in luxury cases, the next month, because many people don't know if they can. Many people don’t even know if they will live through the day.”

To achieve change, she said, those with resources have to engage with these people. “If we really want to achieve change, we have to target those people and really understand their living situation and see what are their needs and fears, but also their wants and dreams.”

Schewenius' research in India provided insight into nature conservation and how religious beliefs can help protect urban greens, such as sacred trees. With India’s complex society and crowded cities, it might be expected that preserving nature may lead to tension. In this case, though, said Schewenius, diversity had positive implications for nature.

“What I found is also that this mix really helps preserving the nature in the city,” she said, “because different religions connected to nature in different ways, and so they provide a web of different forms of protection, which can be very strong.”

What can be done in urban space, said Schewenius, is remind people of collective memories of nature.

“Harvesting on that common memory is an opportunity for maintaining and including natural elements in the city and finding solutions for cities that are based on natural capital.” Informing people on their options, creating awareness about food and water origins, and implementing cost-effective solutions are ways to connect the public with sustainable solutions. Making people feel safe is key, she said, because security allows them to think beyond pure survival.

Some concrete solutions to nature preservation and urbanization, she said, may have sprouted from the Forum, entitled Nature, Health and a New Urban Generation.

“Anything we can get out of this meeting has a great chance of leading to real implementation across sector, reaching across stakeholder groups, across regions, and that is rare, because in academic settings the atmosphere is often very different,” she said. “This is a rare opportunity for people from completely different groups — people who don't know each other — to come together and discuss on neutral grounds.”

Check out the full interview below:


The Salzburg Global program Nature, Health and a New Urban Generation is part of the Parks for the Planet Forum. The list of our partners for Session 557 can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/557