Thesis

Cultivating a healthy social metabolism : a case study of community forestry in Scotland

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2023
Thesis identifier
  • T16731
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 201851169
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Community Woodland Groups (CWGs) have emerged in Scotland as a reparative measure for past socio-environmental losses and as a commitment to a fairer and more sustainable model of forest governance. Today, there are over 200 CWGs in Scotland, but little is known about them and their social and environmental impacts. Furthermore, research in the field of sustainability transition is dominated by a 'reformist' approach and assessment models that fail to challenge the capitalist system and integrate environmental and social problems effectively. This thesis employs an ecosocialist (transformative) paradigm to explore how these community-led groups are organised and to what extent they have contributed to system change. Data was gathered through participant observation and interviews in two case study CWGs, as well as from the official webpages of 128 CWGs and the review of 251 documents from the Community Woodlands Association (CWA). As a result, this thesis offers an empirically and theoretically grounded analysis of Scottish CWGs, providing insight into their organisation and common goals, their power struggles within the national socio-political structure, and both their strengths and weaknesses in terms of challenging the status quo. Its main theoretical contribution is an original socio-metabolic assessment model that facilitates the operationalisation of the ecosocialist critique of the capitalist system for empirical research in the field of sustainability and the formulation of strategies and policies for system change. This thesis shows that CWGs have worked to cultivate a socially fair and ecologically sound model of woodland governance on the local level. On a broader scale, however, there is an ongoing tension between serving to absorb the depredatory costs of capitalism and challenging them. This opens new research paths into how community-led organisations might challenge unequal power relations and increasingly seize metabolic processes on their own terms to promote a truly transformative sustainability transition.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Tuohy, Paul
  • Garvey, Brian
Resource Type
Note
  • This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 3rd October 2023 until 3rd October 2025.
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