Cyborg geographies of forest and biodiversity protection in the Philippines

Keywords: Cyborg, Lawin, forest, biodiversity, Philippines
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 49

Abstract

Deforestation, forest degradation, and biodiversity loss continue to be a major global concern in the Anthropocene. In the past century, there has been a steady decline in Philippine tropical forests—from 27 million hectares in 1900 to 7.2 million hectares at present. This unprecedented decrease in forest cover, attributed to longstanding extractive resources regime and punitive approach, also resulted to biodiversity loss and disenfranchisement of communities in the uplands. In 2018, the Philippine government through its lead environment agency has institutionalized a national strategy for forest and biodiversity protection with innovative monitoring technologies at its core of implementation. The Landscape and Wildlife Indicator Forest Biodiversity and Monitoring System (or Lawin, named after Philippine hawk eagle) uses smart phones and geospatial mobile application to digitally record observations within protected areas particularly the presence of wildlife, threats, and illegal activities. Protected areas as contested landscapes operate in a complex dynamics with humans, non-human, and more-than-human agency. This paper examines the geopolitical and sociotechnical hybridity of knowledge co-production in the context of Lawin among national and local governments, civil society groups, funding agency, private sector, and forest rangers who are the direct users and implementers of this technology. In scrutinizing the hybridity of knowledge co-production in protected area landscapes, this paper anchors its framework on Donna Haraway’s cyborg theory, the notion of cyborg as a “writing device” (Wilson, 2009), and the idea of cyborgs in contemporary world that arise from humans’ relationship with technological advancements and proliferation of big data (Schuurman, 2004).