Niamh Dawson
Biographic Data
| ID | 139835 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Niamh Dawson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Niamh |
| FAMILY NAME | Dawson |
| SIGNATURE | DAWSON N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of East Anglia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7312-9230 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 221 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Examining Motivational Profiles of Forgiveness in the Workplace: An Employee-Centered Approach
Forgiveness is often conceptualized as an ethical response to workplace transgressions with the potential to repair strained relationships between organizational members. However, the act of forgiveness is not always accompanied by prosocial intentions; scholars have theorized that there is a qualitative difference between forgiveness that genuinely expresses an internal sentiment of benevolence versus forgiveness that is expressed but lacks corr…
Assessing and improving social equity in marine conservation: Background, methods and guidance on three approaches
Social equity is increasingly recognised as a fundamental principle in marine conservation. Global conservation policies now contain commitments to equitable management and governance, yet practical guidance on how to understand and assess equity in marine conservation remains limited. In this methodological paper, we introduce our process for developing three conceptually grounded, practical and adaptable approaches for assessing equity in marin…
Towards just and transformative social–ecological restoration
Unveiling pervasive assumptions: Moving beyond the poverty-biodiversity loss association in conservation
This paper reflects on the continued persistence of the idea in conservation research and practice that poverty drives biodiversity loss (the poverty-biodiversity loss association [PBLA]). We draw on evidence to show how the PBLA has proven resistant to counter-evidence and is particularly visible at local-level implementation, and is often implicit in conservation strategies. We untangle three underlying reasons that help to explain why the PBLA…
No Asians” Because “No Femmes”? Racial Preferences in Gay White Australian Men and Their Relationship with Preferences for Masculinity and Femininity
The literature examining racial preferences in attraction among sexual minority men in Western contexts illuminates a stable racial hierarchy of desire. Within this hierarchy, White men are generally highly favored, and racially minoritized men are systematically stratified below them in terms of sexual appeal. The present research employed latent class analysis to empirically model gay White men's racial preferences in attraction, allowing us to…
Is it just conservation? A typology of Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ roles in conserving biodiversity
As conservation initiatives expand in response to biodiversity loss, there remains limited understanding about what forms of governance and roles for different actors produce the best ecological outcomes. Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ (IPs’ and LCs’) roles extend beyond participation to more equitable governance based on relative control and recognition of their values and institutions, but the relationship with conservation outcomes…
Protected areas and the neglected contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities: Struggles for environmental justice in the Caatinga dry forest
Despite evidence about the contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to conservation, prevailing strategies still seek their separation from nature, often triggering conflicts. Current pledges to expand global protected area coverage suggest a need for the critical analysis of governance quality and the way conservation interacts with the well‐being of IPLCs. We present the case of Catimbau National Park in the Caatinga dry…
Exploring the relationship between plural values of nature, human well‐being, and conservation and development intervention: Why it matters and how to do it
Globally, land and seascapes across the bioculturally diverse tropics are in transition. Impacted by the demands of distant consumers, the processes of global environmental change and numerous interventions seeking climate, conservation and development goals, these transitions have the potential to impact the relationships and plurality of values held between people and place. This paper is a Synthesis of seven empirical studies within the Specia…
Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research
We argue that solutions-based research must avoid treating climate change as a merely technical problem, recognizing instead that it is symptomatic of the history of European and North American colonialism. It must therefore be addressed by decolonizing the research process and transforming relations between scientific expertise and the knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples and of local communities. Partnership across diverse knowledge systems …
A Person-Centered Approach to Understanding Endorsement of Restorative Justice in Response to Workplace Mistreatment
Revisiting Rwanda's agricultural intensification policy: Benefits of Embracing Farmer Heterogeneity and Crop-Livestock Integration Strategies
The government of Rwanda is promoting agricultural intensification focused on the production of a small number of targeted commodities as a central strategy to pursue the joint policy goals of economic growth, food security and livelihood development. The dominant approach to increase the productive capacity of the land, crops and animal resources has been through large-scale land consolidation, soil fertility management, and the intensive use of…
"Agrarian modernization through "ideal agricultural subjects: A lost cause for smallholders in Rwanda
With an example from Rwanda, we ask how the State's policy strategy and attempts to construct "ideal agricultural subjects" resonate with the actual changes experienced by farmers themselves. We present three different empirical examples to show that a) when opportunities from agricultural transformation initially arise, only the wealthiest can capture them, and even then the government is seen as the main beneficiary; b) some priority crop growe…
Employee motivation profiles, energy levels, and approaches to sustaining energy: A two-wave latent-profile analysis
The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation
Dawson, N. M., B. Coolsaet, E. J. Sterling, R. Loveridge, N. D. Gross-Camp, S. Wongbusarakum, K. K. Sangha, L. M. Scherl, H. Phuong Phan, N. Zafra-Calvo, W. G. Lavey, P. Byakagaba, C. J. Idrobo, A. Chenet, N. J. Bennett, S. Mansourian, and F. J. Rosado-May. 2021. The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation. Ecology and Society 26(3):19. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12625-260319
Environmental Justice and Transformations to Sustainability
Global carbon emissions continue to rise,1 rates of global biodiversity loss continue to increase,2 and social and economic inequalities continue to widen.3 Significant global social movements suc...
Access and allocation in global biodiversity governance: A review
Access and allocation is one of the five analytical themes of the science plan of the Earth System Governance (ESG) project. Concerns over access and allocation are at the core of struggles and conflicts brought about by the often ineluctable trade-offs related to biodiversity conservation and the global, national and local governance systems that aim to contribute to global biodiversity conservation. Access and benefit-sharing mechanisms, integr…
Justice-related impacts and social differentiation dynamics in Nepal's Redd+ projects
Policies and projects aimed at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and the sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+), have been regarded as an opportunity to improve forest governance while supporting rural livelihoods. However, now that REDD+ policies are being increasingly implemented, a number of justice-related challenges have emerged, including how social heterogeneity sho…
Looking beyond justice as universal basic needs is essential to progress towards ‘safe and just operating spaces’
Taking point of departure in the ambitious framework for ‘safe and just operating spaces’ for social-ecological systems, this paper explores the applicability of this conceptual framing. Specifically, we draw attention to limitations in the conceptualisation of justice as a question of attaining a minimal level of (material) wellbeing. With an empirical case from Laos, we apply a broader notion of environmental justice based on interconnected dim…
Can agricultural intensification help attain Sustainable Development Goals? Evidence from Africa and Asia
Market-oriented agricultural intensification is a major development strategy, yet its alignment with sustainable development goals (SDGs) is unclear. We apply indicators for SDG 2 (eradicate hunger) regarding income, food production, food security and land tenure to recent intensifications in Rwanda and Laos to reveal their disaggregated impacts. We find while market-oriented intensification may generate poverty reduction, it also exacerbated mar…
Assessing Equity in Protected Area Governance: Approaches to Promote Just and Effective Conservation
With the inclusion of equity concerns in Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, equitable management has become an important objective for the world's protected areas. The way equity is defined and operationalized influences whether this strategic shift can help identify pathways commensurate with conservation effectiveness. We examined equity around a protected area in Laos, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to e…
Social-ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification
Barriers to equity in Redd: Deficiencies in national interpretation processes constrain adaptation to context
A national interpretation process involving diverse actors and interests is required to transform global environmental initiatives into policies appropriate to the national or subnational context. These processes of localising norms are critical spaces to formulate equitable pathways to environmental conservation, yet have received limited attention from policy makers and researchers. We explored national policy processes for Reducing Emissions f…
The Rwandan agrarian and land sector modernisation: Confronting macro performance with lived experiences on the ground
Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious policy package to modernise and professionalise the agrarian and land sector. Its reform fits into a broader call – supported by major international donors – to implement a Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. After 10 years of implementation, there is increased production output and value-addition in commercialised commodity chains. These are promising results. However, poverty reduction, particularly in mo…
The Park is Ruining our Livelihoods. We Support the Park! Unravelling the Paradox of Attitudes to Protected Areas
Despite considerable field-based innovation and academic scrutiny, the nexus between conservation approaches, local support for parks and park effectiveness remains quite puzzling. Common approaches to understanding notions of environmental justice are to understand distributional and procedural issues, representation in decision making, and recognition of authorities and claims. We took a different approach and analysed environmental justice cla…
Wild food collection and nutrition under commercial agriculture expansion in agriculture-forest landscapes
Wild food constitutes a substantial part of household food consumption around the world, but rapid land use changes influence the availability of wild foods, which has implications for smallholders' food and nutrient intake. With increasing commercial agriculture and biodiversity conservation efforts in forested tropical regions, many shifting cultivation systems are being intensified and their extent restricted. Studies examining the consequence…
Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications of Imposed Innovation for the Wellbeing of Rural Smallholders
Green Revolution policies are again being pursued to drive agricultural growth and reduce poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. However conditions have changed since the well-documented successes of the 1960s and 1970s benefitted smallholders in southern Asia and beyond. We argue that under contemporary constraints the mechanisms for achieving improvements in the lives of smallholder farmers through such policies are unclear and that both policy rationa…
The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation
Dawson, N. M., B. Coolsaet, E. J. Sterling, R. Loveridge, N. D. Gross-Camp, S. Wongbusarakum, K. K. Sangha, L. M. Scherl, H. Phuong Phan, N. Zafra-Calvo, W. G. Lavey, P. Byakagaba, C. J. Idrobo, A. Chenet, N. J. Bennett, S. Mansourian, and F. J. Rosado-May. 2021. The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation. Ecology and Society 26(3):19. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12625-260319
Social-ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification
Assessing the contribution of ecosystem services to human wellbeing: A disaggregated study in western Rwanda
The Rwandan agrarian and land sector modernisation: Confronting macro performance with lived experiences on the ground
Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious policy package to modernise and professionalise the agrarian and land sector. Its reform fits into a broader call – supported by major international donors – to implement a Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. After 10 years of implementation, there is increased production output and value-addition in commercialised commodity chains. These are promising results. However, poverty reduction, particularly in mo…
Wild food collection and nutrition under commercial agriculture expansion in agriculture-forest landscapes
Wild food constitutes a substantial part of household food consumption around the world, but rapid land use changes influence the availability of wild foods, which has implications for smallholders' food and nutrient intake. With increasing commercial agriculture and biodiversity conservation efforts in forested tropical regions, many shifting cultivation systems are being intensified and their extent restricted. Studies examining the consequence…
Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research
We argue that solutions-based research must avoid treating climate change as a merely technical problem, recognizing instead that it is symptomatic of the history of European and North American colonialism. It must therefore be addressed by decolonizing the research process and transforming relations between scientific expertise and the knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples and of local communities. Partnership across diverse knowledge systems …
Barriers to equity in Redd: Deficiencies in national interpretation processes constrain adaptation to context
A national interpretation process involving diverse actors and interests is required to transform global environmental initiatives into policies appropriate to the national or subnational context. These processes of localising norms are critical spaces to formulate equitable pathways to environmental conservation, yet have received limited attention from policy makers and researchers. We explored national policy processes for Reducing Emissions f…
Environmental justice research shows the importance of social feedbacks in ecosystem service trade-offs
Dawson, N. M., K. Grogan, A. Martin, O. Mertz, M. Pasgaard, and L. V. Rasmussen. 2017. Environmental justice research shows the importance of social feedbacks in ecosystem service trade-offs. Ecology and Society 22(3):12. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09481-220312
Revisiting Rwanda's agricultural intensification policy: Benefits of Embracing Farmer Heterogeneity and Crop-Livestock Integration Strategies
The government of Rwanda is promoting agricultural intensification focused on the production of a small number of targeted commodities as a central strategy to pursue the joint policy goals of economic growth, food security and livelihood development. The dominant approach to increase the productive capacity of the land, crops and animal resources has been through large-scale land consolidation, soil fertility management, and the intensive use of…
Can agricultural intensification help attain Sustainable Development Goals? Evidence from Africa and Asia
Market-oriented agricultural intensification is a major development strategy, yet its alignment with sustainable development goals (SDGs) is unclear. We apply indicators for SDG 2 (eradicate hunger) regarding income, food production, food security and land tenure to recent intensifications in Rwanda and Laos to reveal their disaggregated impacts. We find while market-oriented intensification may generate poverty reduction, it also exacerbated mar…
No Asians” Because “No Femmes”? Racial Preferences in Gay White Australian Men and Their Relationship with Preferences for Masculinity and Femininity
The literature examining racial preferences in attraction among sexual minority men in Western contexts illuminates a stable racial hierarchy of desire. Within this hierarchy, White men are generally highly favored, and racially minoritized men are systematically stratified below them in terms of sexual appeal. The present research employed latent class analysis to empirically model gay White men's racial preferences in attraction, allowing us to…
Justice-related impacts and social differentiation dynamics in Nepal's Redd+ projects
Policies and projects aimed at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and the sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+), have been regarded as an opportunity to improve forest governance while supporting rural livelihoods. However, now that REDD+ policies are being increasingly implemented, a number of justice-related challenges have emerged, including how social heterogeneity sho…
Looking beyond justice as universal basic needs is essential to progress towards ‘safe and just operating spaces’
Taking point of departure in the ambitious framework for ‘safe and just operating spaces’ for social-ecological systems, this paper explores the applicability of this conceptual framing. Specifically, we draw attention to limitations in the conceptualisation of justice as a question of attaining a minimal level of (material) wellbeing. With an empirical case from Laos, we apply a broader notion of environmental justice based on interconnected dim…
From food to pest: Conversion factors determine switches between ecosystem services and disservices
Ecosystem research focuses on goods and services, thereby ascribing beneficial values to the ecosystems. Depending on the context, however, outputs from ecosystems can be both positive and negative. We examined how provisioning services of wild animals and plants can switch between being services and disservices. We studied agricultural communities in Laos to illustrate when and why these switches take place. Government restrictions on land use c…
Assessing the contribution of ecosystem services to human wellbeing: A disaggregated study in western Rwanda
Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications of Imposed Innovation for the Wellbeing of Rural Smallholders
Green Revolution policies are again being pursued to drive agricultural growth and reduce poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. However conditions have changed since the well-documented successes of the 1960s and 1970s benefitted smallholders in southern Asia and beyond. We argue that under contemporary constraints the mechanisms for achieving improvements in the lives of smallholder farmers through such policies are unclear and that both policy rationa…
Justice and conservation: The need to incorporate recognition
In light of the Aichi target to manage protected areas equitably by 2020, we ask how the conservation sector should be incorporating concerns for social justice. We focus in particular on 'recognition', because it is the least well understood aspect of environmental justice, and yet highly relevant to conservation because of its concern with respect for local knowledge and cultures. In order to explore the meaning of recognition in the conservati…
The Park is Ruining our Livelihoods. We Support the Park! Unravelling the Paradox of Attitudes to Protected Areas
Despite considerable field-based innovation and academic scrutiny, the nexus between conservation approaches, local support for parks and park effectiveness remains quite puzzling. Common approaches to understanding notions of environmental justice are to understand distributional and procedural issues, representation in decision making, and recognition of authorities and claims. We took a different approach and analysed environmental justice cla…
Wild food collection and nutrition under commercial agriculture expansion in agriculture-forest landscapes
Wild food constitutes a substantial part of household food consumption around the world, but rapid land use changes influence the availability of wild foods, which has implications for smallholders' food and nutrient intake. With increasing commercial agriculture and biodiversity conservation efforts in forested tropical regions, many shifting cultivation systems are being intensified and their extent restricted. Studies examining the consequence…
From food to pest: Conversion factors determine switches between ecosystem services and disservices
Ecosystem research focuses on goods and services, thereby ascribing beneficial values to the ecosystems. Depending on the context, however, outputs from ecosystems can be both positive and negative. We examined how provisioning services of wild animals and plants can switch between being services and disservices. We studied agricultural communities in Laos to illustrate when and why these switches take place. Government restrictions on land use c…
Environmental justice research shows the importance of social feedbacks in ecosystem service trade-offs
Dawson, N. M., K. Grogan, A. Martin, O. Mertz, M. Pasgaard, and L. V. Rasmussen. 2017. Environmental justice research shows the importance of social feedbacks in ecosystem service trade-offs. Ecology and Society 22(3):12. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09481-220312
Assessing Equity in Protected Area Governance: Approaches to Promote Just and Effective Conservation
With the inclusion of equity concerns in Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, equitable management has become an important objective for the world's protected areas. The way equity is defined and operationalized influences whether this strategic shift can help identify pathways commensurate with conservation effectiveness. We examined equity around a protected area in Laos, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to e…
Social-ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification
Barriers to equity in Redd: Deficiencies in national interpretation processes constrain adaptation to context
A national interpretation process involving diverse actors and interests is required to transform global environmental initiatives into policies appropriate to the national or subnational context. These processes of localising norms are critical spaces to formulate equitable pathways to environmental conservation, yet have received limited attention from policy makers and researchers. We explored national policy processes for Reducing Emissions f…
The Rwandan agrarian and land sector modernisation: Confronting macro performance with lived experiences on the ground
Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious policy package to modernise and professionalise the agrarian and land sector. Its reform fits into a broader call – supported by major international donors – to implement a Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. After 10 years of implementation, there is increased production output and value-addition in commercialised commodity chains. These are promising results. However, poverty reduction, particularly in mo…
Looking beyond justice as universal basic needs is essential to progress towards ‘safe and just operating spaces’
Taking point of departure in the ambitious framework for ‘safe and just operating spaces’ for social-ecological systems, this paper explores the applicability of this conceptual framing. Specifically, we draw attention to limitations in the conceptualisation of justice as a question of attaining a minimal level of (material) wellbeing. With an empirical case from Laos, we apply a broader notion of environmental justice based on interconnected dim…
Can agricultural intensification help attain Sustainable Development Goals? Evidence from Africa and Asia
Market-oriented agricultural intensification is a major development strategy, yet its alignment with sustainable development goals (SDGs) is unclear. We apply indicators for SDG 2 (eradicate hunger) regarding income, food production, food security and land tenure to recent intensifications in Rwanda and Laos to reveal their disaggregated impacts. We find while market-oriented intensification may generate poverty reduction, it also exacerbated mar…
Environmental Justice and Transformations to Sustainability
Global carbon emissions continue to rise,1 rates of global biodiversity loss continue to increase,2 and social and economic inequalities continue to widen.3 Significant global social movements suc...
Access and allocation in global biodiversity governance: A review
Access and allocation is one of the five analytical themes of the science plan of the Earth System Governance (ESG) project. Concerns over access and allocation are at the core of struggles and conflicts brought about by the often ineluctable trade-offs related to biodiversity conservation and the global, national and local governance systems that aim to contribute to global biodiversity conservation. Access and benefit-sharing mechanisms, integr…
Justice-related impacts and social differentiation dynamics in Nepal's Redd+ projects
Policies and projects aimed at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and the sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+), have been regarded as an opportunity to improve forest governance while supporting rural livelihoods. However, now that REDD+ policies are being increasingly implemented, a number of justice-related challenges have emerged, including how social heterogeneity sho…
Employee motivation profiles, energy levels, and approaches to sustaining energy: A two-wave latent-profile analysis
The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation
Dawson, N. M., B. Coolsaet, E. J. Sterling, R. Loveridge, N. D. Gross-Camp, S. Wongbusarakum, K. K. Sangha, L. M. Scherl, H. Phuong Phan, N. Zafra-Calvo, W. G. Lavey, P. Byakagaba, C. J. Idrobo, A. Chenet, N. J. Bennett, S. Mansourian, and F. J. Rosado-May. 2021. The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation. Ecology and Society 26(3):19. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12625-260319
A Person-Centered Approach to Understanding Endorsement of Restorative Justice in Response to Workplace Mistreatment
Revisiting Rwanda's agricultural intensification policy: Benefits of Embracing Farmer Heterogeneity and Crop-Livestock Integration Strategies
The government of Rwanda is promoting agricultural intensification focused on the production of a small number of targeted commodities as a central strategy to pursue the joint policy goals of economic growth, food security and livelihood development. The dominant approach to increase the productive capacity of the land, crops and animal resources has been through large-scale land consolidation, soil fertility management, and the intensive use of…
"Agrarian modernization through "ideal agricultural subjects: A lost cause for smallholders in Rwanda
With an example from Rwanda, we ask how the State's policy strategy and attempts to construct "ideal agricultural subjects" resonate with the actual changes experienced by farmers themselves. We present three different empirical examples to show that a) when opportunities from agricultural transformation initially arise, only the wealthiest can capture them, and even then the government is seen as the main beneficiary; b) some priority crop growe…
Protected areas and the neglected contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities: Struggles for environmental justice in the Caatinga dry forest
Despite evidence about the contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to conservation, prevailing strategies still seek their separation from nature, often triggering conflicts. Current pledges to expand global protected area coverage suggest a need for the critical analysis of governance quality and the way conservation interacts with the well‐being of IPLCs. We present the case of Catimbau National Park in the Caatinga dry…
Exploring the relationship between plural values of nature, human well‐being, and conservation and development intervention: Why it matters and how to do it
Globally, land and seascapes across the bioculturally diverse tropics are in transition. Impacted by the demands of distant consumers, the processes of global environmental change and numerous interventions seeking climate, conservation and development goals, these transitions have the potential to impact the relationships and plurality of values held between people and place. This paper is a Synthesis of seven empirical studies within the Specia…
Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research
We argue that solutions-based research must avoid treating climate change as a merely technical problem, recognizing instead that it is symptomatic of the history of European and North American colonialism. It must therefore be addressed by decolonizing the research process and transforming relations between scientific expertise and the knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples and of local communities. Partnership across diverse knowledge systems …
Is it just conservation? A typology of Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ roles in conserving biodiversity
As conservation initiatives expand in response to biodiversity loss, there remains limited understanding about what forms of governance and roles for different actors produce the best ecological outcomes. Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ (IPs’ and LCs’) roles extend beyond participation to more equitable governance based on relative control and recognition of their values and institutions, but the relationship with conservation outcomes…
Economics (19 works) · Geography (17 works) · Political science (17 works) · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management (16 works) · Business (13 works) · Ecology (13 works) · Environmental resource management (13 works) · Agriculture (9 works) · Corporate governance (9 works) · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development (8 works)