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Associate Professor Paul Munro

Associate Professor Paul Munro

Associate Professor

PhD in Geography, ; Master of Arts, in Environment and Development, ; Bachelor of Arts, Geography; History; Government & International Relations,

Arts, Design & Architecture (ADA)
School of Humanities & Languages

I ama Scientia Associate Professorin Human Geography within the Environment and Society Group at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney.

I have an established research record in the fields of political ecology and environmental history, and havewritten extensively on forest governance and energy justice, with a particular geographical focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. My current research is focusedon the changing geographies of energy poverty. This has include an interest in how the emergence of new technologies (e.g., small-scale photovoltaic power), new trade dynamics and financial platforms (e.g., mobile money) have reshapedhow people realise their energy needs in poor rural settings. I am currently engaged in research in Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi and Vanuatu.

I have also written extensively on forest governance in Sierra Leone, drawing from large-scale research projects that have been funded by the European Union, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and USAID. Drawing onthis research, in 2020 I authored the monograph:
E-mail
paul.munro@unsw.edu.au
Location
Room 366, Morven Brown Building
  • Books | 2020
    Munro P, 2020, Colonial Seeds in African Soil A Critical History of Forest Conservation in Sierra Leone, Berghahn Books,
  • Book Chapters | 2023
    Munro P, 2023, 'Energy justice, modernity and transitions: more-than-modern energy for all in the Global South', in Bouzarovski S; Fuller S; Reames T (ed.), Handbook on Energy Justice, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 213 - 225,
    Book Chapters | 2022
    Munro P; Jacome V; Samarakoon S, 2022, 'Off-Grid Enterprise: A Critical History of Small-Scale Off-Grid Solar in Sub-Saharan Africa', in Ojong N (ed.), Off-Grid Solar Electrification in Africa: A Critical Perspective, Palgrave MacMillan, Cham, pp. 25 - 64,
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Munro P, 2021, 'Colonial Wildlife Conservation and National Parks in Sub-Saharan Africa', in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, University of Oxford, Oxford,
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Jenkins K; Samarakoon S; Munro P, 2019, 'Energy economics as an energy justice dilemma: Case studies of normative trade-offs in Malawi, Mexico and Germany', in Soytaş U; Sarı R (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Energy Economics, Routledge, London, pp. 317 - 328,
    Book Chapters | 2015
    Munro PG; van der Horst G, 2015, 'Breaks with the Past: Conflict, Displacement, Resettlement and the Evolution of Forest Socio-Ecologies in Sierra Leone', in Lahai JL; Lyons T (ed.), African Frontiers Insurgency, Governance and Peacebuilding in Postcolonial States, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., pp. 119 - 130
  • Journal articles | 2024
    Munro PG, 2024, 'The City Electric: Infrastructure and Ingenuity in Postsocialist Tanzania. MichaelDegani. Duke University Press, Durham, USA and London, UK, 2022, pp. xii + 254. ISBN 978‐1‐478‐01914‐5 (pbk).', Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Agwor A; Melo Zurita M; Munro P, 2023, 'Underground Urbanism in Africa: splintered subterranean space in Lagos, Nigeria', Urban Studies: an international journal for research in urban studies, pp. 004209802311749,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Munro PG; Samarakoon S; Kearnes M; Paisley C, 2023, 'The right to repairable energy: A political ecology off-grid solar repair in Zambia', Political Geography, 106, pp. 102962,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Munro PG, 2023, 'Malebogo Mvimi, Past Environments and Plant Use in Holocene Southern Africa: A Study of Charcoal and Seed Remains from the Late Stone Age Sites of Toteng (Botswana), Leopard Cave and Geduld (Namibia). Oxford: BAR Publishing (pb £50 – 978 1 407 35717 1). 2022, 214 pp.', Africa, 93, pp. 435 - 436,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Manwaring K; Kearnes M; Morgan B; Munro P; Pala R; Samarakoon S, 2022, 'What does a right to repair tell us about our relationship with technology?', Alternative Law Journal, 47, pp. 179 - 179,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Munro P; Samarakoon S, 2022, 'Off-Grid Electrical Urbanism: Emerging Solar Energy Geographies in Ordinary Cities', Journal of Urban Technology, 30, pp. 127 - 149,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Munro PG; Samarakoon S; Hansen UE; Kearnes M; Bruce A; Cross J; Walker S; Zalengera C, 2022, 'Towards a repair research agenda for off-grid solar e-waste in the Global South', Nature Energy, 8, pp. 1 - 6,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Paudel G; Carr J; Munro PG, 2022, 'Community forestry in Nepal: a critical review', International Forestry Review, 24, pp. 43 - 58,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Samarakoon S; Munro P; Zalengera C; Kearnes M, 2022, 'The afterlives of off-grid solar: The dynamics of repair and e-waste in Malawi', Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 42, pp. 317 - 330,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Hawken S; Avazpour B; Harris M; Marzban A; Munro PG, 2021, 'Urban megaprojects and water justice in Southeast Asia: Between global economies and community transitions', Cities, 113, pp. 103068 - 103068,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Munro P, 2021, 'Energy political ecologies in the South Pacific: the politics of energy transitions in Vanuatu', Cambridge Journal Of Regions, Economy And Society, 14, pp. 361 - 378,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Samarakoon S; Bartlett A; Munro P, 2021, 'Somewhat original: energy ethics in Malawi’s off-grid solar market', Environmental Sociology, 7, pp. 164 - 175,
    Journal articles | 2021
    To LS; Bruce A; Munro P; Santagata E; MacGill I; Rawali M; Raturi A, 2021, 'A research and innovation agenda for energy resilience in Pacific Island Countries and Territories', Nature Energy, 6, pp. 1098 - 1103,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Macpherson-Rice B; Munro PG; de Rijke K, 2020, 'Energy solution or future pollution? Applying an energy justice perspective to coal seam gas in New South Wales', Australian Geographer, 51, pp. 69 - 85,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Munro P, 2020, 'On, off, below and beyond the urban electrical grid the energy bricoleurs of Gulu Town', Urban Geography, 41, pp. 428 - 447,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Munro PG; Samarakoon S; van der Horst GA, 2020, 'African energy poverty: A moving target', Environmental Research Letters, 15, pp. 104059,
    Journal articles | 2019
    Melo Zurita MDL; Munro PG, 2019, 'Voluminous territorialisation: Historical contestations over the Yucatan Peninsula’s subterranean waterscape', Geoforum, 102, pp. 38 - 47,
    Journal articles | 2019
    Munro P; Schiffer A, 2019, 'Ethnographies of Electricity Scarcity: mobile phone charging spaces and the recrafting of energy poverty in Africa', Energy and Buildings, 188-189, pp. 175 - 183,
    Journal articles | 2019
    Munro PG; Bartlett A, 2019, 'Energy bricolage in Northern Uganda: Rethinking energy geographies in Sub-Saharan Africa', Energy Research and Social Science, 55, pp. 71 - 81,
    Journal articles | 2019
    Munro PG; Bartlett AL; Dhizaala JT; Laloyo SA; Oswin SO; Walker S, 2019, 'International fieldschool reciprocity: using a whole-of-university approach to create positive change in Northern Uganda', Higher Education Research & Development, 38, pp. 1461 - 1474.,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Kirksey E; Munro P; Van Dooren T; Emery D; Kreller AM; Kwok J; Miller M; Morris K; Newson S; Olejniczak E; Ow A; Tuckson K; Sannen S; Martin J; Lau K, 2018, 'Feeding the flock: Wild cockatoos and their Facebook friends', Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 1, pp. 602 - 620,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Melo Zurita M; Cook B; Thomsen DC; Munro PG; Smith TF; Gallina J, 2018, 'Living with disasters: social capital for disaster governance', Disasters, 42, pp. 471 - 589,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Melo Zurita M; Munro PG; Houston D, 2018, 'Un-earthing the Subterranean Anthropocene', Area, 50, pp. 298 - 305,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Melo Zurita M; Thomsen DC; Holbrook NJ; Smith TF; Lyth A; Munro PG; de Bruin A; Seddaiu G; Roggero PP; Baird J; Plummer R; Bullock R; Collins K; Powell N, 2018, 'Global water governance and Climate Change: Identifying innovative arrangements for adaptive transformation', Water (Switzerland), 10, pp. 29,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Silva Ontiveros L; Munro PG; Melo Zurita M, 2018, 'Proyectos de Muerte: Energy justice conflicts on Mexico’s unconventional gas frontier', Extractive Industries and Society, 5, pp. 481 - 481,
    Journal articles | 2017
    Munro P; van der Horst G; Healy S, 2017, 'Energy justice for all? Rethinking Sustainable Development Goal 7 through struggles over traditional energy practices in Sierra Leone', Energy Policy, 105, pp. 635 - 641,
    Journal articles | 2017
    Samarakoon S; Christiansen A; Munro PG, 2017, 'Equitable and Quality Education for All of Africa? The Challenges of Using ICT in Education', Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 16, pp. 645 - 665,
    Journal articles | 2016
    Munro PG; van der Horst G; Willans S; Kemeny P; Christiansen A; Schiavone N, 2016, 'Social enterprise development and renewable energy dissemination in Africa: The experience of the community charging station model in Sierra Leone', Progress in Development Studies, 16, pp. 24 - 38,
    Journal articles | 2016
    Munro PG; van der Horst G, 2016, 'Contesting African landscapes: A critical reappraisal of Sierra Leones competing forest cover histories', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 34, pp. 706 - 724,
    Journal articles | 2016
    de Rijke K; Munro P; Melo Zurita MDL, 2016, 'The Great Artesian Basin: A Contested Resource Environment of Subterranean Water and Coal Seam Gas in Australia', Society and Natural Resources, 29, pp. 696 - 710,
    Journal articles | 2015
    Munro PG, 2015, 'Book Review: Global Population: History, Geopolitics and Life on Earth', Australian Journal of Politics and History, 61, pp. 476 - 477
    Journal articles | 2015
    Munro PG, 2015, 'Book Reviews: Global Population: History, Geopolitics and Life of Earth, By Alison Bashford"', Australian Journal of Politics & History, 61, pp. 450 - 483,
    Journal articles | 2015
    Munro PG, 2015, 'Geza Teleki and the Emergence of Sierra Leone’s Wildlife Conservation Movement', Primate Conservation, 29, pp. 115 - 122,
    Journal articles | 2014
    Jacobson C; Hughey KFD; Lynch AJJ; Nursey-Bray N; O'Connell M; Munro PG; Vella K; Whiley D; Dovers S; Carter, R RW, 2014, 'Twenty years of pacifying responses to environmental management', Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 21, pp. 143 - 174,
    Journal articles | 2014
    Kemeny P; Munro PG; Schiavone N; van der Horst G; Willans S, 2014, 'Community Charging Stations in rural sub-Saharan Africa: Commercial success, positive externalities, and growing supply chains', Energy for Sustainable Development, 23, pp. 228 - 236,
    Journal articles | 2011
    Hiemstra-van der Horst G; Munro PG; Batterbury S, 2011, 'Les réseaux illégaux du pillage: La demande globale de bois et la (re)commercialisation des forêts d’Afrique de l’Ouest', Écologie & Politique, 42, pp. 47 - 58
    Journal articles | 2011
    Munro PG; Hiemstra van der Horst G, 2011, 'Conserving exploitation? A political ecology of forestry management in Sierra Leone', The Australasian Review of African Studies, 21, pp. 59 - 72,
    Journal articles | 2011
    Munro PG; Hiemstra-van der Horst G, 2011, 'Conserving exploitation? A political ecology of forestry policy in Sierra Leone', AUSTRALASIAN REVIEW OF AFRICAN STUDIES, 32, pp. 59 - 78
    Journal articles | 2011
    Munro PG; Melo Zurita MDL, 2011, 'The Role of Cenotes in the Social History of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula', Environment and History, 17, pp. 583 - 612,
    Journal articles | 2011
    Munro PG, 2011, 'Africa's Turn? A Boston Review Book', PROGRESS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, 11, pp. 260 - 261,
    Journal articles | 2011
    Munro PG, 2011, 'BOOK REVIEW: Emma Christopher. A Merciless Place: The Lost Story of Britain's Convict Disaster in Africa and How it Led to the Settlement of Australia', The Australasian Review of African Studies, 32, pp. 152 - 153
    Journal articles | 2009
    Munro PG; Melo Zurita M, 2009, 'Aprendiendo del pasado: Impactos históricos de intervenciones en la agricultura de Sierra Leona', Ecología Política, 38, pp. 92 - 95
    Journal articles | 2009
    Munro PG, 2009, 'Deforestation: Constructing Problems and Solutions on Sierra Leone's Freetown Peninsula', The Journal of Political Ecology, 16, pp. 104 - 124
  • Reports | 2024
    Keane J; Kearnes M; McCloskey J; Munro P; Samarakoon S, 2024, State of Repair in the Off-Grid Solar Sector, Solar Aid, London
    Reports | 2023
    Munro P; Samarakoon S; Ngwenya T; Kanyanga K; Keane J; McCloskey J; Mwale F, 2023, Off-Grid Solar Repair in Africa: from burden to opportunity, SolarAid, London,
    Recorded / Rendered Creative Works | 2021
    Munro P; Samarakoon S, 2021, The Afterlife of Solar, UNSW, Published: 15 June 2021, Duration: 00"08"53, Recorded / Rendered Creative Works,
    Conference Presentations | 2017
    Melo Zurita M; Munro PG, 2017, 'The Subterranean Protagonist: Colonisation, water and the underground in Mexico', presented at Association of American Geographers Conference, Boston, 05 April 2017 - 09 April 2017
    Conference Presentations | 2016
    Munro P; Melo Zurita M, 2016, 'Exploring, Constructing and Commodifying the Underground: An environmental history of cave diving in the Yucatan Peninsula', presented at Environmental History and its Publics, American Society for Environmental History Conference, Seattle, 30 March 2016 - 03 April 2016
    Reports | 2012
    Munro PG; van der Horst G, 2012, The Domestic Trade in Timber and Fuelwood Products in Sierra Leone: current dynamics and issues
    Reports | 2012
    Munro PG; van der Horst G, 2012, The governance and trade of wood-based products in and around the Kambui Hills North Forest Reserve, Freetown
    Reports | 2012
    van der Horst G; Munro PG, 2012, Land cover assessment of the Kambui Hills North Forest Reserve and its surrounds, EFO, Freetown
    Conference Presentations | 2010
    Munro P; Melo Zurita M, 2010, 'The Role of Water? Henequen, Chicle and the Caste War on the Yucatan Peninsula; 1800 to 1950', presented at Mexico: Revolution, Independence and Beyond Conference 2010, Australian National University: Canberra, 05 July 2010 - 06 July 2010
    Conference Papers | 2010
    Munro PG; Hiemstra-van der Horst G, 2010, 'Conserving exploitation? A political ecology of forestry management in Sierra Leone', Melbourne: Victoria University, presented at 33rd conference of the African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific,, Melbourne: Victoria University, 02 December 2010 - 04 December 2010
    Conference Papers | 2010
    Munro PG, 2010, 'The Role of Water? Henequen, Chicle and the Caste War on the Yucatan Peninsula; 1800 to 1950', Canberra: Australian National University,, presented at Mexico: Revolution, Independence and Beyond Conference 2010, Canberra: Australian National University,, 05 July 2010 - 06 July 2010
  • Media | 2021
    Kearnes M; Manwaring K; Munro P; Pala R; Samarakoon S, 2021, The Productivity Commission has released proposals to bolster Australians’ right to repair. But do they go far enough?,
    Media | 2021
    Kearnes M; Manwaring K; Munro P; Pala R; Samarakoon S, 2021, What does a right to repair tell us about our relationships with technology?, UNSW Allens Hub for Technology, Law & Innovation,

M Kearnes and P G Munro, "Right to Repair". Allens Hub Stream Funding. University of New South Wales. 2021($9,912)

P G Munro, M Kearnes, V Sahajwalla and S Walker, "Solar Waste in Africa: emerging geographies in Keanya and Malawi." UNSW Digital Grid Futures Institute. Interdisciplinary Seed Funding Award ($30,000)

P G Munro, "The Photovoltaic Turn in Africa." Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), Australian Research Council. 2020-2014 ($384,146)

I am a member of, and , and the .

I am also the co-founder of Energy for Opportunity (EFO), a non-for-profit organisation based in West Africa that is dedicated to the spread of renewable energy in the region. Since 2009, EFO has completed over 200 renewable energy installations in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Benin, ranging from pico-solar dissemination projects to village-level micro-grids.

This is a short video of research work I have been involved in, relating to solar waste in Malawi:

My Research Supervision

*indicates secondary supervisor.

PhD

*Kayla Lochner, Thesis title (tentative):environmental Justice and Agriculture in the South Pacific; 2021 to present(Primary Supervisor: ).

*Bonaventure Muganga. Thesis title (tenative)The Pollinating Mesh: The Ecological Thought in Indigenous Speculative Australian Fiction;2019to present. (Primary Supervisors Prof Elizabeth McMahon, Prof Brigitta Olubas)

Govinda Paudel. Thesis title (tentative): A Political Ecology of Community Forestry in Nepal; 2019to present.

*Hai-Yuen Tuilima. Thesis title (tentative):Protecting Traditional Knowledge and Confronting Biopiracy.; 2018 to present. (Primary Supervisor: )

Han Ayshan.Video game trailers: how storytelling is used to create identification and appeal with audiences. Under examination.

Dr Shanil Samakaroon. Thesis title:How are issues of energy justice entangled in the process of household solar adoption in northern Malawi; Completed 2021.

*Dr Sue Slowikowski. Thesis Title: Making Sense of Disaster - Identity Challenges from a Bushfire. Completed in 2017. (Primary supervisor: )

Honours

Rhiannon Verschuer,Deep Sea Mining in the South Pacific. 2020.(co-supervised with)

Matylda Breva,Pelling the Avocado: recontextualising food security through exploitation. 2019. (co-supervised with Dr Monika Barthwal-Datta).

Taylor Coyne.Fishing for Answers: Sustainable small-scale fish farming in post-conflict Uganda. 2018. (co-supervised with ).

Amy Ow.Understanding Human-Tree Relationships: A Case Study of the CBD andSouth-East Lightrail Project.2016.

My Teaching

I am the course convenor for which forms part of the Environmental Humanities undergraduate major.

I am interested in supervising PhD, MRes and Honours students with a background in critical geography (or a cognate discipline) in the areas of environmental history,forest governance and energy geographies. Interested students should contact me with a CV, a short research proposal (include references tokey scholarship that want to buildupon) and a short statement explaining why they believe I would be a good fit as a supervisor.