From parachute science to internationally collaborative science
SANParks participated in a virtual workshop of the American Geophysical Union (AGU, December 2021, New Orleans) entitled ‘Bringing “parachute science” back to Earth to improve remote sensing of biodiversity for all’.
Parachute science is broadly defined as science where international researchers (typically from wealthier nations) do research in other countries (typically less wealthy nations), without engaging meaningfully with the local scientists and involving the individuals from the host country in the research and in the dissemination of results. The workshop unpacked the concept of parachute science and shared experiences from a range of scientists, both from wealthier and less wealthy nations.
The workshop focused more specifically on how parachute science plays out within the remote sensing community and practices that could be used to encourage worthwhile and valid engagements between local and international scientists. Izak Smit presented SANParks as a positive case study where the risk for parachute science has, through various enabling factors, largely been turned into a catalyst for internationally collaborative science. The internationally collaborative nature of research in SANParks was illustrated by analysing the authorships, funding sources and acknowledgments from publication outputs emanating from the Kruger National Park over the past five years. The take-away message from the SANParks case study was that there is a working alternative to the practice of parachute science. More details on the workshop and outputs can be found online.
Workshop participants’ ranked aspects that can possibly contribute to parachute science (Source: https://www.bioscape.io/workshops/parachute). Issues like access to funding and language (with English not the first language of many scientists) were identified as primary causes that may inadvertently lead to some biases in what science gets done and by whom.
This article was written by Izak Smit, Nikisha Singh, Samantha Mabuza, Mbali Mthombeni, Abel Ramoelo and Adam Wilson and originally published in the 2021/2022 Research Report.
