Political ecology is an interdisciplinary field of research that connects politics, economics and culture to environmental issues. Political ecologists are interested in the ways in which natural resources are interpreted, represented, valued, governed and accessed. They are also interested in analysing the conflicts that occur around uneven control of and access to, natural resources. Political ecologists may also provide analysis and critiques of:

• institutions, policies, and legislation and their contributions and barriers to environmental and human health and justice;

• human politics versus ‘nature’;

• the efficacy of environmental activism;

• local and indigenous ecological knowledge and participation in research and environmental management projects;

• access to, and legitimacy of, science;

• the ecological impacts of cultural objects;

• relationships between politics, science, industry, and the environment;

• the combinations of bio-physical and politico-economic factors contributing to ‘disasters’;

• just and ecologically sustainable economic systems.