Environmental Science & Policy最新文献_第2页

Institutional dependencies shape adaptation pathways for local service providers: A study of US water utilities responding to climatic stressors

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103982

Alexandra Smialek , Tamee R. Albrecht , Anita Milman

Local governments around the world face mounting pressures that affect their provision of public services. To prepare for and respond to stressors and shocks, local service providers can choose from among a wide variety of actions. The adaptive actions they choose will influence which risks are addressed, when, and how. Selection of adaptive actions can also have long-term implications if the actions affect future options for adaptation. This research investigates the influence of institutions on selection of adaptive actions by local public service providers as they seek to respond to climatic stressors. Drawing on insights from focus groups with local drinking water utilities across the USA, the research identifies five institutional dependencies that affect the selection of adaptive actions and examines the pathways through which those institutional dependencies influence decision-making. These pathways are then combined to present a conceptual model of factors shaping selection of adaptive actions. Findings indicate that the polycentric institutional environment in which local service providers are embedded limits control over adaptation decisions, can constrain the set of feasible actions, and can add substantial transaction costs. As a result, selection of adaptive actions includes consideration of the effect of institutional dependencies on the feasibility and ease of implementation.

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引用次数: 0

Political embedding of climate assemblies. How effective strategies for policy impact depend on context

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.103993

Janosch Pfeffer, Jens Newig

Scholars and practitioners discuss how to increase the policy impact of climate assemblies (CAs) noting that their proposals tend to be more ambitious than government policy. CAs comprise groups of randomly selected citizens (minipublics) who deliberate on climate policy issues. We argue for greater focus on how political actors strategically use CAs and suggest welcoming some of this strategic use. We propose that CAs, and minipublics more generally, need political embedding. That means, minipublic designers should first consider how political actors will likely interact with a process given their interests and political context, and subsequently make deliberate use of strategies to foster objectives like policy impact. Using a thought experiment, we then demonstrate that the effectiveness of such political embedding strategies to promote CAs’ policy impact depends on political context. Our analysis shows that the impacts of mass publicity, commissioning actors, inclusion of perspectives, and strategic framings vary with the constellation of interests of climate political actors. This exercise challenges sweeping statements about optimal CA and minipublic design, contributing to more realistic theorizing. Considering political embeddedness will help democratic reformers assess potential models for minipublic institutionalization more accurately.

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引用次数: 0

A scoping review of Indigenous Cultural Mapping of coastal, island, and marine environments

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.103991

Redbird Ferguson , Karen E. Joyce , Christian Reepmeyer , Rachel Groom , Kellie Pollard

Indigenous Cultural Mapping (ICM) has the capacity to contribute to sustainably managing Sea Country. While there is a growing community of practice using ICM of marine, island, and coastal areas to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and cultural values into sustainability and conservation efforts, the literature is widely dispersed, and the method is not clearly defined or described. This scoping review evaluates the breadth and depth of practice undertaking ICM in island, coastal, and marine areas as captured within the English language scientific and grey literature. The objectives of this review were: 1) to determine the extent to which ICM is used a tool to manage Sea Country; 2) to evaluate the methods used throughout the process of ICM; and 3) to assess the studies against Arnstein’s (1969) ladder of participation. We used the Population Concept Context framework, searched Scopus, Web of Science, and Informit databases and Google Scholar, and identified studies that mapped Indigenous culture and/or cultural values in Sea Country. We included 54 studies that used ICM methods and were focused on Sea Country. These studies contribute to a growing body of work that demonstrates the value Indigenous knowledge adds to the sustainability of Sea Country now and into the future. High-level power-sharing and partnership throughout the research process is critically important. However, a lack of consistent standards of practice perpetuates research practices that exclude Indigenous communities from the research cycle. This limits the ability of ICM to improve sustainable practices that conserve and protect Sea Country.

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引用次数: 0

Women in development minerals: Artisanal and small-scale mining, governance, and the SDGs

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103980

Abigail Efua Hilson

The world is confronted with numerous global challenges, including rising inflation, wars, energy crisis, cybersecurity threats, supply chain disruptions, and pandemics. Central to these challenges is the issue of climate change, which threatens social, environmental, and economic stability, potentially leading to an unprecedented global catastrophe if left unchecked. In developing economies, these problems are further exacerbated by poverty, poor-quality institutions, and unemployment rates. Recent global efforts to combat climate change and other environmental damages include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite their strengths, one of the major weaknesses of the SDGs is the conflictual nature of SDG 1 (No Poverty) and the environmental SDGs (SDG 12, 14, 15 and 17). This paper aims to demonstrate that for small-scale miners in sub-Saharan Africa, these conflicting SDGs coupled with fragile socio-political environments, exacerbate the issue. Using a qualitative lens and Zambia and Ghana as case studies, the paper first argues that the ‘informal spaces,’ in which these artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) operators function are a result of their socio-political context. Within such contexts, survival transcends all else and the environment unwittingly suffers due to poor policies and inadequate health and safety education. Secondly, drawing on multistakeholder platform collaborative governance theory, the paper underscores the need for formalisation and argues that a collaborative governance approach, modelled on existing Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) schemes, is crucial for achieving the goals of reconciling conflicts between the environmental, social and economic SDGs.

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引用次数: 0

Knowledge for change or more of the same? The role of policy knowledge systems in the Nationally Determined Contributions of Ghana, Kenya and South Africa

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104016

Michael Boulle , Britta Rennkamp, Emily Tyler, Mark New

The sum of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) continue to be inadequate for achieving the global climate goals articulated in the Paris Agreement, despite their five-yearly updates. The role of knowledge in formulating and implementing NDCs is critical for identifying how individual Parties can improve their NDCs. This paper applies a policy knowledge systems perspective, to analyse the evolution of the knowledge systems responsible for formulating the 2015 intended NDCs (iNDCs) and the 2021 NDC Updates, in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. The analysis showed in varying degrees that: i) improving design and access to NDC processes increased credibility, legitimacy and relevance of their outcomes; ii) knowledge bases for the Updates improved upon the knowledge bases of the iNDCs, thereby delivering more robust and ambitious targets, with local universities playing key roles; iii) local representation, transparency, inclusivity and communication were critical factors to strengthen the knowledge bases. Where a knowledge base was strong and well communicated, ideological differences could be bridged and consensus built, while less developed parts of a knowledge base were more contested; iv) inclusivity and transparency in the processes were critical to balance access and representation of actors; v) the NDC processes connected national and international climate processes, exerting pressure on one another. Finally, the evolution of the NDCs has demonstrated their impact as agenda-setting policy instruments but they have demonstrated less evidence of impact in terms of implementation. In sum, designing and conducting robust processes, developing strong knowledge systems, and inclusive actor participation, drove change towards stronger NDC formulation processes and outcomes. At the same time change was resisted, evident in the legacies and lock-ins of these processes.

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引用次数: 0

Transformative change from below? Linking biodiversity governance with the diversity of bottom-up action

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104000

Helena Valve , Dalia D'Amato , Aniek Hebinck , Anita Lazurko , Mara de Pater , Romana Jungwirth Březovská , Heli Saarikoski , Chrysi Laspidou , Hans Keune , Konstantinos Ziliaskopoulos , Zuzana Veronika Harmáčková

Individual actors and actor groups are vital catalysts of transformative change as they are able to initiate interventions that nurture and protect biodiversity. This paper analyses biodiversity-focused practices across the civil, market and public spheres to identify the modes of intervention that actors in Europe utilise when they seek to fight biodiversity loss as part of their every-day work or voluntary activism. Studying how actors locate and engage with biodiversity issues allowed us to develop a typology of intervention modes and to unravel interlinkages between biodiversity governance and bottom-up action in a new manner. The seven modes of intervention identified from the rich qualitative data demonstrate how bottom-up practices vary in terms of the tangible issues they seek to address. Practitioners and activists locate options for change in resource management practices, production and consumption systems, market conditions, and land-use, amongst others. The findings enact a Europe in which cohesion policies, land-use pressures and power lobbies controlling resource management generate resistance and spark innovation. The aspirations to affect policymaking and biodiversity governance vary from one mode to another. In some cases, governance is positioned as a target of bottom-up action. Governance can also be assigned an action-conditioning role or regarded as a critical part of the assemblage that can generate transformative change. The typology also grants visibility to potentially unrecognised modes and mediations along which transformative change is and might be further catalysed.

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引用次数: 0

Participatory scenario planning: A social learning approach to build systems thinking and trust for sustainable environmental governance

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.103997

Elson Ian Nyl Ebreo Galang , Elena M. Bennett , Gordon M. Hickey , Julia Baird , Blane Harvey , Kate Sherren

Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP), the collaborative process of envisioning plausible futures, is a promising approach to aid environmental management and governance in the Anthropocene. Emerging scholarship on PSP emphasizes its potential for social learning to enhance knowledge, values, and competencies for more sustainable governance. However, empirical evidence that PSP leads to social learning is limited. We explored a PSP exercise for the Bay of Fundy landscape in Nova Scotia, Canada, to assess the degree and durability of three social learning effects among participants (n = 18): changes in systems thinking (cognitive effects), rational (also known as calculative) trust (relational effects), and environmental aspirations (normative effects). We implemented a mixed-methods explanatory design, starting with a quasi-experimental study of the learning effects followed by a qualitative exploration of the influence of composition, process design, and facilitation. Our findings from our case showed that the PSP had multiple positive social learning effects. It enhanced systems thinking by expanding actors’ mental models of which parts of the landscape they perceive to be important for decision-making. It increased rational trust among those involved in the PSP. It shifted environmental aspirations from being outcomes-oriented (e.g., increasing tidal wetlands) toward being process-oriented (e.g., ensuring landscape multifunctionality). These significant learning effects lasted three months after participation in the PSP. Operational attributes, such as the diversity of participants, the activities implemented, and facilitation, were found to heavily influence these social learning effects in different ways.

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引用次数: 0

Redefining co-design for social-ecological research and practice: A systematic literature review

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.103998

Mairéad O’Donnell , Marcus Collier , Melissa Pineda-Pinto , Clair Cooper , Fiona Nulty , Natalia Rodriguez Castañeda

Collaborative processes such as co-design are increasingly crucial in generating social-ecological research and practice. Fostering change within complex adaptive systems requires collaboratively working with real-world actors or stakeholders to resolve complicated issues. Co-design is a distinct and fundamental component of the co-paradigm, a collective term for co-design, co-production, and co-creation. However, scientific literature currently provides limited definitions of the key concepts within the co-paradigm, leading to misinterpretations or inconsistent usage. Improving the clarity of these definitions is essential because it permits scientific progress and better implementation of processes and engagement in practice. To address this gap, the following paper presents research which critically examines the practice of co-design through a systematic literature review. Using a systematic approach, this study identifies fifty-two papers with empirical methodologies, which are thematically analysed to understand the purpose and process of the co-design approach within social-ecological research and practice. The paper identifies effective co-design methods and discusses the implications of their utilisation within social-ecological study and practice. The review also identifies and examines definitions of co-design and the challenges of implementing a co-design approach, highlighting potential solutions. The paper concludes by proposing an integrative definition of co-design to further understand and enhance the process's implementation within social-ecological systems. The definition proposed in this paper can serve as a roadmap for researchers and practitioners aiming to use co-design as part of sustainable transformation efforts in social-ecological systems.

{"title":"Redefining co-design for social-ecological research and practice: A systematic literature review","authors":"Mairéad O’Donnell , Marcus Collier , Melissa Pineda-Pinto , Clair Cooper , Fiona Nulty , Natalia Rodriguez Castañeda","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.103998","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.103998","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Collaborative processes such as co-design are increasingly crucial in generating social-ecological research and practice. Fostering change within complex adaptive systems requires collaboratively working with real-world actors or stakeholders to resolve complicated issues. Co-design is a distinct and fundamental component of the co-paradigm, a collective term for co-design, co-production, and co-creation. However, scientific literature currently provides limited definitions of the key concepts within the co-paradigm, leading to misinterpretations or inconsistent usage. Improving the clarity of these definitions is essential because it permits scientific progress and better implementation of processes and engagement in practice. To address this gap, the following paper presents research which critically examines the practice of co-design through a systematic literature review. Using a systematic approach, this study identifies fifty-two papers with empirical methodologies, which are thematically analysed to understand the purpose and process of the co-design approach within social-ecological research and practice. The paper identifies effective co-design methods and discusses the implications of their utilisation within social-ecological study and practice. The review also identifies and examines definitions of co-design and the challenges of implementing a co-design approach, highlighting potential solutions. The paper concludes by proposing an integrative definition of co-design to further understand and enhance the process's implementation within social-ecological systems. The definition proposed in this paper can serve as a roadmap for researchers and practitioners aiming to use co-design as part of sustainable transformation efforts in social-ecological systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"164 ","pages":"Article 103998"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143099388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

How to promote green energy transition in the age of geopolitical crises and international shocks: Evidence from the EU-27

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104007

Raffaele Boffardi , Carlotta D’Alessandro , Luisa De Simone , Katarzyna Szopik-Depczyńska

The transition towards green energy systems has become a key goal for policymakers worldwide in an attempt to both reduce the environmental implications of energy generation and increase energy supply security. This objective is even more pressing in a global context characterised by the rapid succession of economic shocks, non-economic crises and geopolitical tensions. The present research aims to evaluate how international crises and geopolitical threats can influence renewable energy sector efficiency, which we measure in terms of consumption levels, in the 27 European Union Member States. We found that during the main international shocks occurring between 2000 and 2022, inefficiencies have been reduced, with a special case for the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, we identified a positive nexus between the exposure to geopolitical risk and the reduction of inefficiencies in RE consumption. Crises-specific evidence and policy implications are provided accordingly.

引用次数: 0

Evaluating riverine flood policy: Land use planning trends in Aotearoa New Zealand

IF 4.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Science & Policy

Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104006

Christina Hanna , Pip Wallace , Silvia Serrao-Neumann

Globally, the responsibility to develop flood risk policy is often devolved to local government. However, local governments can lack the capacity to keep up with increasing and changing flood risk and information provision without external guidance and support. Central and state governments can deliver policy support and consistency by providing policy direction or standards based on best practice. Due to diverse localised modelling, plans and policies, there is often limited understanding of the nature of flood policy, the degree of variation between localities, and how authorities are improving practice and responding to increasing and changing risk. In this study, we develop and apply an evaluation tool for riverine flood planning that captures the modelling parameters, policies, and information used by regional authorities, distinguishing between traditional and emerging approaches. We examine three primary categories of regional flood policy: modelling parameters and associated planning regulations, risk-based policy approaches, and information provision processes. Our findings reveal evolving practices, policy variances, and aspects of contention, demonstrating where central and state governments can provide greater direction for policy development. Our evaluation tool therefore provides a basis to guide complex policy transitions, from static hazard-based planning towards a more comprehensive, risk-based approach.

{"title":"Evaluating riverine flood policy: Land use planning trends in Aotearoa New Zealand","authors":"Christina Hanna , Pip Wallace , Silvia Serrao-Neumann","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Globally, the responsibility to develop flood risk policy is often devolved to local government. However, local governments can lack the capacity to keep up with increasing and changing flood risk and information provision without external guidance and support. Central and state governments can deliver policy support and consistency by providing policy direction or standards based on best practice. Due to diverse localised modelling, plans and policies, there is often limited understanding of the nature of flood policy, the degree of variation between localities, and how authorities are improving practice and responding to increasing and changing risk. In this study, we develop and apply an evaluation tool for riverine flood planning that captures the modelling parameters, policies, and information used by regional authorities, distinguishing between traditional and emerging approaches. We examine three primary categories of regional flood policy: modelling parameters and associated planning regulations, risk-based policy approaches, and information provision processes. Our findings reveal evolving practices, policy variances, and aspects of contention, demonstrating where central and state governments can provide greater direction for policy development. Our evaluation tool therefore provides a basis to guide complex policy transitions, from static hazard-based planning towards a more comprehensive, risk-based approach.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"164 ","pages":"Article 104006"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143099370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0