Iron Men on Wooden Boats: Connection and Isolation Between Local Culture and the Sea in Coastal Donegal

The Anthropocene epoch soberly encapsulates the human-nature relationship and reach that human activities have on the planet. Using coastal communities in County Donegal, Ireland, as a case study, this work focuses on how cultural identity and well-being is connected to, and shaped by, interdependent ecological and socio-cultural systems. Specifically, this research examines how communities plan and use their local environment, which reflexively requires adapting to the subsequent changes in their human-nature relationship over time. Using participatory-photo mapping to engage the Donegal community, this work ultimately captures community insights regarding their sense of connection to their environment, resource use priorities, and conceptualisations of how well subsequent policies and decision-making reflect their lived experience. Local perspectives contextualise insights in how communities situate themselves within the human-nature relationship. Decisions which adversely affect the human-nature relationship can damage a community’s economy and erode cultural identity. Community perspectives inform needed planning discussions, opening opportunities for inclusive, representative policies that support the human-environment relationship sustainably.