Access, power and adaptation:

Researching the emergence of markets for biodiversity

offsets

Dr Carlos Ferreira
Methods and Ethics Seminar

Outline
Biodiversity offsets
Researching market emergence
Context
Approach
Constraints

Ethical approval process

Adapting methods
Boundaries and questions

Biodiversity Offsets

Biodiversity offsets?

Biodiversity offsetting is a measure that essentially permits developments that

sacrifice the conservation values of one area in return for improved conservation
values of another.

Like it or not, biodiversity offsetting is part of our future

Objectives

1. To correct negative impacts of development

and consumption;
2. To improve companies social license to
operate, managing reputation and assuring
stakeholders (ten Kate & Inbar 2008);
3. To re-organise the relationship between society,
the economy and nature (Ferreira 2013).

Markets for Biodiversity Offsets

Biodiversity offsets may be bought from third

parties;
Acceptable offsets include:
Compensation areas, close to the developed area;
Specifically created biodiversity banks;
Land management activities;

No Net Loss of Biodiversity (ten Kate et al. 2004;

BBOP 2012)

No Net Loss of Biodiversity

Researching market emergence

Research Context
PhD Project;
Financed by the Sustainable Consumption
Institute (University of Manchester);
Project started on the Department of Economics
Ontological, epistemological, methodological issues

Project concluded on the Business School

Strong ANT component to the approach

Approach
Think of markets as forms of governance;
Research processes involved in emergence of
markets
not on market schedule or economic efficiency;

Look for possible causes of those processes

Agents;
Geographies;
Technologies.

Three research foci

Agents

Case
studies

Geographies

Technologies

Ethical approval process

Why ethical approval matters

The ethical approval process

Best Practice
Highlights issues surrounding:

Integrity in analysis/presentation of results;

Avoidance of harm to all involved;
Confidentiality, anonymity & data protection;
Independence of researchers, conflicts of interest.

Candidates must:

Demonstrate a clear research plan;

Understand potential problems and pitfalls;
Indicate strategies to mitigate problems;
Collect appropriate and proportionate information.

Adapting Methods

An a-typical set of obstacles

Very small network of agents

Potential number of interviewees is very small

Secondary and Primary data come from same

sources
Report authors and promoters are the same;

All interviewees belong to elite groups

Interviewing elites: challenges

Power

Elites
Access

Time

No interviewees, no PhD

Biodiversity Offsets: over-researched given their actual

impact
Research often very critical;

Social science research not the natural academic fit for

potential interviewees
No incentive in taking part;

Geographical spread of sample vs research budget.

Bad sample, bad data

Majority of agents ignored/refused invitations to

participate
Problems with theoretical saturation.

Time/location constraints
Most interviews in VOIP.

Self-censoring participants
Lack of non-verbal cues may have been involved.

Adapting
Participant-as-observer ethnographic observation
(Gold 1958)
Researcher to go to workshops on the topic;
Public presentations and informal conversations with
relevant agents.

No ethical approval was sought for the new

strategy
Time and cost concerns.

Getting on with it

About 40% of the total material comes from

ethnographic observation;
Participant-as-observer riven with ethical
challenges (Bryman & Bell 2007);
Supervisors supported the decision
Not sure about ethical implications

PhD successfully completed, no questions

about methodology!

Boundaries and questions

Approval is only the beginning

The strength of the ethical approval process is its
instituted character:
Rules-based;
Clear boundaries & procedures;
Binds researchers to best practice.

That is also its main weakness:

Research throws up difficult questions;
Participants do not follow the ethical script;
Limited room for adaptation.

Expect the unexpected?

No amount of ethical forms can cover all possibilities

Obligation to demonstrate parsimony in data collected vs
capacity to adapt
Beyond a legalistic approach, sense & sensibility have a
role in academic research

Fieldwork: 3 mottos

1. No plan survives contact with the enemy

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

2. If youre going through hell, keep going

Winston Churchill

3. Always look on the bright side of life

Monty Python

Addendum

4. Always buy volcano insurance

Anonymous, c.2010

Thank you!
Any questions?

carlos.ferreira@coventry.ac.uk

@FerreiraCEM