Iatrogenisis, community psychology and natural resource management

Reflections and learnings from our involvement in contextual analyses of large collaborative/participatory research and development programs within NRM are captured within this paper. The authors deconstruct community psychology's involvement in NRM with reference to a metaphorical understanding of the concept of iatrogenesis, a term used to refer to the unintended consequences of any form of intervention by health care professionals. Such a deconstruction creates an awareness of the lack of recognition of community psychology's involvement in the replication of systems of NRM which 'do no harm', rather than create structural change. Although new structural processes that take into account the issues raised within this paper are yet to be defined, concepts such as biopolitics and biogovernmentality, are considered as platforms for understanding how these processes may begin to be conceptualised, for the future of community psychology's role within NRM.