Eco-social capital : a proposal for exploring the development of cohesiveness in environmental volunteer groups

Australians have a legacy of volunteering. Since the late 1960s, individuals have increasingly coalesced into environmental volunteering groups, typically focused on creating awareness of the natural environment's fragility. Environmental volunteering programs provide effective tools for community engagement, although their outcomes are not clearly understood. Most appear to oscillate between economic and ecological capital, with societal impacts largely ignored. We propose that eco-social capital that develops within groups result in social networks with a sense of place and ecological identity. Networks develop trust and reciprocal relationships within/among similar networks, and they connect through social-ties, such as bonding, bridging and linking, to generate eco-social capital that contributes to sustainable communities. However, to progress the concept will require further conceptualisation of the societal impact of environmental volunteerism, and the resultant direction of this impact on communities. There is also a need to seek to articulate the place of eco-social capital within ecological sustainable management.