1970s

Cultural ecology emerged as the idea for a new academic subject from student/staff discussions during a zoology field course on the Welsh National Nature Reserve of Skomer Island in 1971.  These discussions originated within a group of students who were dissatisfied with the narrow view of world development taken by single honours science subjects.  Surprisingly, the idea it was enthusiastically taken up by staff in the pure and applied science faculties as the philosophical thread for an honours course in Environmental Studies organised in the University College of Wales, Cardiff, during the 1970s.  This course integrated the inputs from eleven departments, from archaeology, through metallurgy, to zoology.

Late in the decade this course was evaluated by a group of school teachers under the auspices of the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate (UCCLES), and emerged as the subject 'natural economy' (the organisation of people for production).  Natural economy was launched by UCCLES to fulfil their need for a cross-discipline arena to support world development education. This project was initiated by the Duke of Edinburgh, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, as a much-needed contribution to world development education.

It was also disseminated throughout Europe as part of the EC’s Schools Olympus Broadcasting Association (SOBA) for distance learning.  Through a partnership between the University of Wales, the UK Government's Overseas Development Administration and the World Wide Fund for Nature,  it was published as a central component of a cultural ecology model of Nepal with the help of a sponsorship from British Petroleum.

1980s

During the 1980s, an interoperable version of natural economy for computer-assisted learning was produced in the Department of Zoology, Cardiff University, with a grant from DG11 of the EC.  This work was transferred to the Natural Economy Research Unit (NERU) set up in the National Museum of Wales towards the end of the decade. 

1990s

In the 1990s NERU obtained a series of grants to integrate natural economy into a broader cultural framework.  For example, an  EC LIFE Environment programmeme with the aim of producing and testing a conservation management system for industries and their community neighbourhoods, used cultural ecology as the holistic framework.   The R&D was carried out in partnership with the UK Conservation Management System Partnership (CMSP), the University of Ulster and British industry. The aim was to provide a web resource for education/training in conservation management in schools and communities.

 

The GGD grew from a 1994 gathering of school teachers and academics in Wales. The meeting was sponsored by the Countryside Council for Wales, Dyfed County Council, and the local Texaco oil refinery. This partnership was based in the St Clears Teacher's Resource Centre. From here, a successful award- winning pilot was led by Pembrokeshire schools to create and evaluate a system of neighbourhood environmental appraisals, and network the local findings from school to school.

The scheme adopted the acronym SCAN (schools and Communities Agenda 21 Network). SCAN's aim was to help teachers create bilingual systems of appraisal within the National Curriculum to evaluate 'place' (historical, geographical, biological, and notional). The practical objective was to address environmental issues which emerged from the appraisals in the context of their community's Local Authority Agenda 21. You can reach SCAN in the National Museum of Wales at http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/scan

The objective of the GGD is therefore to promote practical conservation management through environmental appraisal and the long-term management of neighbourhood historical assets, green spaces and community services to promulgate a sense of place, improve quality of life and enhance biodiversity.

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