I remember having a conversation with a good friend about the Murray River, and how most of us just treat it as a river or something to drive over. Yet it’s a state border, has deep meanings for indigenous/first nations people of the area and......
“Why isn’t the Mirka here?” I was in a valley deep within the Himalayas, discussing my list of local endangered animals with a group of herders. “They’re very difficult to find. But you can if you follow their trails.” The comment certainly didn’t have all......
Over the last few years there’s been increasing debates in some quarters about the rights of nature and the feasibility of bestowing ‘personhood’ to landscapes or parts of landscapes. This is something that has many parts. It can be about legal protections, recognition of the......
Do you want to know more about how LoST ideas can be incorporated into a guidebook on trekking? Let me know what you think. Following on from my Trekking in the Indian Himalaya (Cicerone, 2025) which is now out, you can find some behind the......
Conversations with communities matter because communities can’t be understood from a distance. They can’t be fully understood through reports, plans, statistics, maps or strategies alone – these have value, but they only ever give us part of the picture. Communities are made through relationships, memory,......
When we talk about communities, we often talk about people. We talk about relationships, networks, participation, identity and belonging. We talk about needs, aspirations, strengths and challenges. These conversations matter. But there is something that is often left in the background – literally and conceptually.......