Eco-social work and the contest of rural and regional water values

Eco-Social Work in Australia

Guest: Dr. Heather Downey, Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Social Policy and member of the Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems at Latrobe University, Albury Wodonga.

INTRODUCTION TO THIS EPISODE

The crucial importance of water as a resource to support the economic, social, cultural, recreational, and environmental wellbeing of human society and the natural world cannot be overstated. This is particularly the case in Australia, the driest inhabited continent, whose water security challenges have further intensified in response to global heating and climate disruption trends. As a key, multifaceted resource, water has received far too little attention even though it is directly linked to those trends.

Within Australia, the rural agricultural sector has become something of a test bed for growing concerns over water security and fair allocation of this precious resource to a range of users. So, what might be a potential role for eco-social work practice in this contested space of rural water access and the not always successful attempts to balance the social, economic and environmental justice needs of water users?

My guest in this podcast episode, Dr. Heather Downey, is well qualified to offer some answers to this question. Amongst her many roles, Heather is Chief Investigator of research within the Many Meanings of Water for Australian Rural River Communities project and participates in the collaborative, multidisciplinary Murray Darling Water and Environment Research Program. As a regional social work academic, Heather is well positioned to examine relationships between people and the natural environment, and more specifically, in the economic, social, cultural, recreational, and environmental meaning of water for all rural residents.

Heather talks with me today about the potential of eco-social work (ESW) approaches to regional community water security, value and meaning.

INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS – with approximate time elapsed location in minutes.

• General introduction - 0.50
• Guest self-introduction - 3.27
• What is ESW practice in 2021? - 7.25
• What are some ESW approaches linked to water? - 16.48
• Why should the SW mainstream be involved with ESW concerns in 2021? - 24.12
• What future for ESW interventions in the regions? - 29.44
• Some immediate steps to progress ESW practice - 37.48
• Guest short take home message on ESW practice - 39.57
• End of interview and closing comments - 41.48

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION

Heather Downey - profile and research outputs

• Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) – some background and perspectives
• ABC TV documentaries on MDBP in 2017 and 2019 and surrounding controversy
• Paper on discourse analysis of Murray Darling Basin issues (2019)
• Review of Lena Dominelli’s book Green Social Work (2012)
• ESW education article by Ellis, L. M., Napan, K., & O’Donoghue, K. ‘Greening social work education in Aotearoa/New Zealand’ in The Routledge Handbook of Green Social Work 535-546 (2018)
• Paper by Rigney et. al., on ‘Indigenous nation building for environmental futures: Murrundi flows through Ngarrindjeri country.’
• The Person in (social) Environment principle within traditional SW as critiqued by Zapf.
• The Torres Strait Islander climate change environmental law case brought against the Australian Federal Government in 2021
• The 26th Asia-Pacific Regional Social Work Conference 2021 program
• Heather Boetto – listen to her episode and view notes in the ESWA podcast series.
• Opportunities to work with clients in ‘blue’ and ‘green’ spaces, could involve activities taken from Nature Mindfulness, Forest Bathing, Forest Therapy or Awe Walk . All of these initiatives are aligned with a growing body of international psychological research, collectively designated under the umbrella term Nature Connectedness. Such research is pointing increasingly to the benefits of close psychological and emotional engagement with nature, both to enhance human wellbeing, but also to foster greater care for and greater stewardship of the natural world and living things.

GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS:

Guest: Dr. Dr. Heather Downey

E: [e-mail]

WEB: https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/hdowney

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Heather-Downey

Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE):

T 07 4639 2135 E [e-mail] WEB FACEBOOK

Production:

Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson E: [e-mail]

T: [phone]

This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 16th November 2021

Artwork: Daniela Dal'Castel Incidental Music: James Nicholson