Cover photo: L-R: James Cosier, Clint Richards & Francesca Ferrara – Prospex Institute’s WaterLANDS team at the Dragoman Marsh (BG)
As part of our WaterLANDS "Meet the Team" series, we'd like to introduce you to James Cosier, who works as a general consultant with Prospex Institute! James is part of the team leading Work Package 2, which deals with community and stakeholder engagement, a vital part of wetland restoration.
Hi James, thanks for taking the time to sit down with me! Can you tell us a bit about your background and what led you to work with Prospex Institute?
Already in high school, I was able to get a taste of university by sitting in on an environmental philosophy course. I went on to finish my undergraduate studies in economics, international relations and human geography, and carried on with the human geography for my masters, focussing on urban & rural studies. So, you can see I was never interested in sticking to a single topic, while environmental and community issues are close to my heart.
What are you working on as part of the WaterLANDS project?
Our focus in the project is to ensure that communities and stakeholders connected to the six WaterLANDS Action Sites are actively involved in restoring these wetlands in the long term.
We’ve also had the privilege in the project to be responsible for capturing and facilitating the exchange of engagement and co-creation lessons among partners, including also the project’s 15 Knowledge Sites, who have a wealth of experience across a range of different contexts and restoring diverse wetland areas.
These lessons combine with diverse other engagement tasks in the project (citizen science, artists’ residencies, environmental deliberation…plus more) to feed into a mosaic of on-the-ground engagement activities in the Action Sites designed to stimulate and enable stakeholders to co-create restoration activities with us.
What inspired Prospex Institute to join the WaterLANDS project, and how does the project align with your overall mission as an organisation?
Prospex Institute believes that decisions for society need to be taken in consultation, participation & co-creation with those affected by it. Thus, it’s a perfect fit within WaterLANDS, where the goal is not just to restore these critical ecosystems but develop a co-created approach to do so, that respects and empowers communities in and around these landscapes.
Stakeholder engagement is at the core of your work in WaterLANDS. Can you share some of the key principles or strategies that guide your approach to involving diverse stakeholders in the project?
For us at Prospex Institute, and we are happy to say the WaterLANDS Action Sites have this attitude as well, stakeholder engagement is not a box ticking exercise. We really do want to listen and learn from stakeholders, as much as possible involve them in the project and empower them such that they’ll carry on as custodians of their wetlands long into the future. A few tips that are really important to remember when engaging local communities, and other stakeholders, are 1) start talking to people as early as possible; 2) always be really up front and communicate honestly and openly, this also helps setting expectations of how stakeholders can contribute to the project; 3) Design activities around stakeholders – plenty of people will be participating in their own free time, so the activities should be interesting and actually engaging themselves. Participants should understand how it feeds into the project and also get something out of it. People need to see how their views and efforts impact the project.
What do you believe is the most crucial consideration when designing or implementing projects that benefit the environment and local communities and economies?
For me, the most crucial thing is to remember that these landscapes and local communities will be there long after the project ends, and there are limitations to what you can achieve in 3-5 years. Thus for me it is critical that projects are designed and implemented with legacy as a core objective, so we constantly think about what can we do now that will support co-creation and restoration in the long term.
Wetland restoration often involves balancing ecological needs with community interests. What are some challenges you’ve encountered when engaging with stakeholders, and how have you addressed them?
There are so many issues that are tied up in the local histories and cultural contexts of each site but just to give an example of one challenge which is being encountered in some restoration initiatives, I think the aesthetics of restoration is a really interesting issue. So for instance, communities can find it quite confronting to see trees being cut down as part of rewetting initiatives. This is an issue we have talked about at depth with our Action and Knowledge Sites, there is no silver bullet in responding to these concerns but again talking openly with stakeholders about why trees are being removed and being clear about how the landscape will change visually over time is critical. It is also really important to spotlight the hidden aspects of wetlands and highlight the critical services wetlands provide the communities.
What has been the most rewarding part of working on the WaterLANDS project so far? Can you share a memorable moment or achievement?
On a personal note, I’ll never forget my first foray into peatlands, visiting a bog in Ireland and the experience of walking across the spongy wet surface that moved underfoot. It was a completely new landscape for me.
But the most rewarding aspect of working in WaterLANDS is seeing and supporting the Action and Knowledge site partners – on-the-ground they put inordinate amount of time and passion into these landscapes and efforts to bring the community in as partners to ensure the wetlands will be healthy functioning ecosystems and places for people.
Thank you so much, James, this has been really educational! If you're interested in chatting to James and learning about the community engagement in WaterLANDS, you can email him at james.cosier@prospex-institute.org. If you'd like to learn more about Prospex Institute, check out their website or LinkedIn below.
