Participatory Cognitive Mapping Workshop
Research Interests
Working Thesis Title: Rethinking Carbon Market and Offsetting Mechanisms | A Participatory Research Approach to Decolonized Climate Justice Future
Abstract: Carbon markets and offsetting mechanisms are often championed by market environmentalists and climate scientists as effective tools for mitigating climate change, promising a “triple win” for nature, development, and equity. Yet, mounting evidence and case studies expose the stark reality: these mechanisms frequently perpetuate environmental neocolonialism. Globally, they reinforce unequal market dynamics and unjust land territorialization from the Global North to the Global South. Locally, they exploit Indigenous communities by undermining land and carbon sovereignty, violating fundamental human rights, and marginalizing communities from equitable benefit-sharing. Procedurally, these systems neglect place-based environmental stewardship, excluding Indigenous voices from the initiation, negotiation, and decision-making processes of climate projects.
At the core of such coloniality lies an entrenched epistemological bias in environmental governance. This bias is rooted in three critical issues: the fragmentation of nature and society into isolated domains, the dominance of positivist techno-managerial frameworks, and the hegemony of Western knowledge systems and institutions. Addressing these structural shortcomings requires a fundamental rethinking of how knowledge is produced and applied in climate governance.
My research draws on insights from Indigenous studies, embodied and critical geographies, and postcolonial and decolonial theories to propose a pluralistic epistemological framework. This framework emphasizes:
- De-isolated, recognizing the interconnectedness of ecological, social, and economic systems, human and non-human.
- De-positivist, centering embodiment, emotions, reflexivity, and lived experiences to create pluralistic ways of knowing.
- Decolonial, amplifying place-based worldviews and the agency of Southern and Indigenous communities long marginalized by global environmental governance.
Building on this epistemological foundation, my research advances a set of methodological principles tailored to challenge epistemological biases and foster collaborative, inclusive, and decolonial climate research. These principles culminate in the use of “participatory cognitive mapping workshops”—an interactive and reflexive method that brings diverse stakeholders together to co-create knowledge about environmental governance. By prioritizing relationality and intersectionality, embodied lived experiences, and place-based southern and indigenous perspective, this approach seeks to expose neocolonial structures in carbon markets, while advocating for decolonized, justice-oriented climate futures.
Keywords: Carbon Market, Environmental Neocolonialism, Epistemological Bias, Plural Environmental Epistemologies, Participatory Cognitive Mapping, Workshop-based Research
Participatory Cognitive Mapping Workshop