The social-ecological system framework in the global south - an illustrative case: river basin pollution in Nairobi, Kenya

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School of Business | Master's thesis
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Date

2021

Department

Johtamisen laitos

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Mcode

Degree programme

Creative Sustainability

Language

en

Pages

136+15

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Abstract

Since the industrial revolution, humanity’s impact on the biosphere – the foundation of our well-being - has increased magnificently. This impact is caused primarily by the Global North and results in numerous social-ecological challenges that are felt around the globe. Countries of the Global South are particularly vulnerable and less prepared to build resilience to these emerging challenges. One such challenge is the pollution of the Nairobi river basin by a broad range of pollutants, including faecal matter, consumer waste, industrial waste, and chemicals. The basin has been polluted for decades and multiple regeneration attempts have failed. The successful regeneration of Kenya’s surface waters is key to ensure the availability of safe wa-ter in the water-scarce country. To enable an in-depth analysis of social-ecological system challenges such as the pollution of the Nairobi river basin, tools tailored to the context of the Global South are needed. This thesis contributes towards the development of such a tool, based on Elinor Ostrom’s Social-Ecological System Framework. The theoretical part of this thesis is concerned with the following research question: How applicable is the Social-Ecological System Framework to social-ecological phenomena in the Global South? I review Ostrom’s framework and the various amendments proposed by differ-ent scholars to allow for the application of the framework in the broader area of sustainability, going beyond the original focus on collective action. Furthermore, I argue that the concept of well-being must be integrated in the framework to be applicable to the context of the Global South. In the second part of the thesis, I illustrate the framework developed in the theoretical sec-tion by applying it to the Nairobi river basin pollution. I tend here to my second research ques-tion: How can these insights be used to analyse river basin pollution in Nairobi? Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I rely predominantly on secondary data complemented by ex-pert interviews. I conclude that the proposed framework allows for a thorough and systematic analysis of sustainability questions of social-ecological systems. It enables its users to analyse both the processes and dynamics producing an emergent social-ecological system phenomenon, as well as the human and non-human ecological actors that participate in it. Thus, it enables an analysis of reciprocal interactions between the actors and the consideration of micro- and macro-levels. Moreover, the proposed framework is a first step away from the predominant use of language which re-enforces an anthropocentric view on social-ecological systems. The integration of well-being has proven useful for the illustrative case, allowing for a con-sideration of the motives and realities of the participating human actors. Based on the appli-cation of the proposed frameworks, ten leverage points to regenerate the river basin were identified. They refer to the role of governmental authorities, NGOs, the media, and commu-nities.

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Thesis advisor

Halme, Minna

Keywords

social-ecological system framework, Nairobi, surface water pollution, global south

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202108088262

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