Pub Date : 2024-10-03DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103916
Julian Rode , Thais Moreno Soares , Agathe Colléony , Anne Turbe , Paul Chadwick , Melissa Marselle
Biodiversity conservation is increasingly recognized as a main challenge for the sustainability agenda. With humans at the epicenter of the biodiversity crisis, conserving nature requires changes in individual behavior. This study reveals gaps regarding the incorporation of behavior change into national biodiversity policy. A total of 1306 policy actions proposed by ten National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) from all world regions were coded for target actors, target behavior and responsible agents as well as the policy options, intervention types and behavioral determinants listed in the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) framework. Results show that only 11 % (n=148) of the policy actions specified individual behaviors and 10 % mentioned individual actors to be targeted. Only 3 % (n=36) of the policy actions were specific about how interventions and policies could enable individual behavior change. Policy actions targeting individual behavior change were aimed mostly at increasing people’s capabilities (i.e., providing information) or providing opportunities (i.e., resources), and rarely addressed the motivation of individuals. More attention and specificity regarding behavior change and better incorporation of the behavioral sciences can improve the effectiveness of national biodiversity strategies.
{"title":"National biodiversity strategies under-utilize the potential for individual behavior change","authors":"Julian Rode , Thais Moreno Soares , Agathe Colléony , Anne Turbe , Paul Chadwick , Melissa Marselle","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103916","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103916","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biodiversity conservation is increasingly recognized as a main challenge for the sustainability agenda. With humans at the epicenter of the biodiversity crisis, conserving nature requires changes in individual behavior. This study reveals gaps regarding the incorporation of behavior change into national biodiversity policy. A total of 1306 policy actions proposed by ten National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) from all world regions were coded for target actors, target behavior and responsible agents as well as the policy options, intervention types and behavioral determinants listed in the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) framework. Results show that only 11 % (n=148) of the policy actions specified individual behaviors and 10 % mentioned individual actors to be targeted. Only 3 % (n=36) of the policy actions were specific about how interventions and policies could enable individual behavior change. Policy actions targeting individual behavior change were aimed mostly at increasing people’s capabilities (i.e., providing information) or providing opportunities (i.e., resources), and rarely addressed the motivation of individuals. More attention and specificity regarding behavior change and better incorporation of the behavioral sciences can improve the effectiveness of national biodiversity strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103916"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142428445","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}
Pub Date : 2024-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103915
Ramon Sala-Garrido , Manuel Mocholi-Arce , Alexandros Maziotis , Maria Molinos-Senante
To evaluate the energy performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), reliable, robust and holistic methods are needed. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, which allocates a flexible set of weights to input and output variables, has previously been used to benchmark the energy efficiency (EE) of WWTPs. However, this methodological approach suffers from discriminatory power, which makes it difficult to rank WWTPs and compare their performances because the EE scores are estimated under nonhomogeneous conditions. To overcome these limitations and to better understand the water-energy nexus, in this study, the EE of a sample of WWTPs was evaluated by allocating common weights to variables for all WWTPs in a DEA model (DEA-CSW). Evaluated WWTPs were shown to have a poor energetic performance, with an average EE score of 0.372. This means that WWTPs could save 62.8 % of their current energy use. Potential energy savings were estimated to be 118,206,789 kWh/year, which is equivalent to 29,552 tons of CO2eq/year. Based on a DEA-CSW approach, only one WWTP was identified as energy efficient; therefore, it is the best performer among the assessed WWTPs. Significant differences in the weights allocated to energy and pollutants removed from wastewater were reported by the DEA-CSW and DEA allocating flexible weights. Hence, under the latter methodological approach, some relevant variables, from the functionality perspective of WWTPs, were ignored in the EE assessment. This study demonstrates the relevance of using suitable methods to benchmark the energy performance of WWTPs to avoid misleading conclusions therefore, avoiding misguided regulatory decisions.
要评估污水处理厂（WWTP）的能源绩效，需要可靠、稳健和全面的方法。数据包络分析（DEA）方法为输入和输出变量分配了一套灵活的权重，以前曾被用于评估污水处理厂的能源效率（EE）。然而，由于 EE 分数是在非同质条件下估算的，因此这种方法存在歧视性，难以对污水处理厂进行排序和比较其绩效。为了克服这些局限性，并更好地理解水与能源之间的关系，本研究通过在 DEA 模型（DEA-CSW）中为所有污水处理厂的变量分配共同权重，对样本污水处理厂的 EE 进行了评估。结果表明，接受评估的污水处理厂的能效表现较差，平均能效指数为 0.372。这意味着污水处理厂目前的能源使用量可节省 62.8%。据估计，潜在的能源节约量为 118,206,789 千瓦时/年，相当于 29,552 吨二氧化碳/年。根据 DEA-CSW 方法，只有一家污水处理厂被认定为节能型污水处理厂；因此，它是接受评估的污水处理厂中表现最好的一家。据报告，DEA-CSW 和分配灵活权重的 DEA 在分配给能源和从废水中去除污染物的权重方面存在显著差异。因此，在后一种方法中，从污水处理厂的功能角度来看，一些相关变量在能源效率评估中被忽略了。这项研究表明，使用合适的方法对污水处理厂的能源绩效进行基准测试具有重要意义，可避免得出误导性结论，从而避免做出错误的监管决定。
{"title":"Energy efficiency evaluation of wastewater treatment plants: A methodological proposal for its benchmarking","authors":"Ramon Sala-Garrido , Manuel Mocholi-Arce , Alexandros Maziotis , Maria Molinos-Senante","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103915","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103915","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To evaluate the energy performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), reliable, robust and holistic methods are needed. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, which allocates a flexible set of weights to input and output variables, has previously been used to benchmark the energy efficiency (EE) of WWTPs. However, this methodological approach suffers from discriminatory power, which makes it difficult to rank WWTPs and compare their performances because the EE scores are estimated under nonhomogeneous conditions. To overcome these limitations and to better understand the water-energy nexus, in this study, the EE of a sample of WWTPs was evaluated by allocating common weights to variables for all WWTPs in a DEA model (DEA-CSW). Evaluated WWTPs were shown to have a poor energetic performance, with an average EE score of 0.372. This means that WWTPs could save 62.8 % of their current energy use. Potential energy savings were estimated to be 118,206,789 kWh/year, which is equivalent to 29,552 tons of CO<sub>2eq</sub>/year. Based on a DEA-CSW approach, only one WWTP was identified as energy efficient; therefore, it is the best performer among the assessed WWTPs. Significant differences in the weights allocated to energy and pollutants removed from wastewater were reported by the DEA-CSW and DEA allocating flexible weights. Hence, under the latter methodological approach, some relevant variables, from the functionality perspective of WWTPs, were ignored in the EE assessment. This study demonstrates the relevance of using suitable methods to benchmark the energy performance of WWTPs to avoid misleading conclusions therefore, avoiding misguided regulatory decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103915"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-30DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103908
Moritz J.F. Lauser
Climate change poses significant threats to ecosystems and biodiversity. Conventional management strategies often fall short, leading to uncertainties in addressing these challenges. Natural and environmental scientists play a crucial role by providing evidence-based guidance. Social science research, at the same time, highlights the complexity of transferring and applying knowledge across different social and professional groups and shows that further research is needed. Using a German case study, my research addresses this issue by examining the dynamics between predictive climate risk maps, intended as decision-support tool for forest management, the developing scientists, the receiving environmental managers and further political actors. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with representatives from these groups were conducted and analyzed, revealing that climate risk maps can function as predictive boundary objects, balancing flexibility and robustness. With their high level of visual and epistemic power, these maps generate knowledge tensions, facilitate interactions, and foster the implicit co-production of broader environmental management discourse. At the same time the maps are continuously contested, discussed, and updated through feedback, becoming themselves part of an ongoing informal co-productive process. This dual role creates ambiguity: they provide concrete answers to specific management related questions while highlighting simultaneously limitations that prompt more fundamental inquiries, driving an overall societal learning process. Hence, future efforts should enhance formal support for co-productive processes to ensure evidence-based advisory tools are scientifically robust, contextually adapted, and democratize knowledge dynamics through continuous dialogue, mutual learning, and integration of scientific as well as local knowledge.
{"title":"Climate risk maps as boundary objects for future forests","authors":"Moritz J.F. Lauser","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103908","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103908","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate change poses significant threats to ecosystems and biodiversity. Conventional management strategies often fall short, leading to uncertainties in addressing these challenges. Natural and environmental scientists play a crucial role by providing evidence-based guidance. Social science research, at the same time, highlights the complexity of transferring and applying knowledge across different social and professional groups and shows that further research is needed. Using a German case study, my research addresses this issue by examining the dynamics between predictive climate risk maps, intended as decision-support tool for forest management, the developing scientists, the receiving environmental managers and further political actors. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with representatives from these groups were conducted and analyzed, revealing that climate risk maps can function as <em>predictive boundary objects</em>, balancing flexibility and robustness. With their high level of visual and epistemic power, these maps generate knowledge tensions, facilitate interactions, and foster the <em>implicit co-production</em> of broader environmental management discourse. At the same time the maps are continuously contested, discussed, and updated through feedback, becoming themselves part of an ongoing informal co-productive process. This dual role creates ambiguity: they provide concrete answers to specific management related questions while highlighting simultaneously limitations that prompt more fundamental inquiries, driving an overall societal learning process. Hence, future efforts should enhance formal support for co-productive processes to ensure evidence-based advisory tools are scientifically robust, contextually adapted, and democratize knowledge dynamics through continuous dialogue, mutual learning, and integration of scientific as well as local knowledge.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103908"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359603","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}
Pub Date : 2024-09-28DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103911
Ryan Nehring
This article critically analyzes the social and political factors behind the advancement of technoscientific development in modern Brazilian agriculture. In the second half of the 20th century, Brazil underwent a rapid industrialization in the agricultural sector by more than doubling productivity in key global commodities and a widespread migration of people from rural to urban areas. Most observers point to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) as the technological engine that drove the industrialization of Brazilian agriculture. Existing approaches to analyze technoscientific development tend to overlook the role of the environment and individual scientists in enacting change. I argue that, especially in the case of agriculture, technoscientific development hinges on the extent to which the environment is disregarded or embraced by those who have the institutional support and capacity to innovate. To support my argument, I draw on two contrasting cases of crop development spearheaded by Embrapa scientists: the tropicalization of the carrot and participatory research on non-conventional vegetables. Through those two cases, the article demonstrates how the general and specific, the transnational and local, and the industrial and agroecological are all key contrasting factors for understanding technoscientific development in agriculture. This research is based on extensive interviews and participant observation at Embrapa’s vegetable research center near Brasilia, Brazil.
{"title":"The technopolitics of agronomic knowledge and tropical(izing) vegetables in Brazil","authors":"Ryan Nehring","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103911","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103911","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article critically analyzes the social and political factors behind the advancement of technoscientific development in modern Brazilian agriculture. In the second half of the 20th century, Brazil underwent a rapid industrialization in the agricultural sector by more than doubling productivity in key global commodities and a widespread migration of people from rural to urban areas. Most observers point to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) as the technological engine that drove the industrialization of Brazilian agriculture. Existing approaches to analyze technoscientific development tend to overlook the role of the environment and individual scientists in enacting change. I argue that, especially in the case of agriculture, technoscientific development hinges on the extent to which the environment is disregarded or embraced by those who have the institutional support and capacity to innovate. To support my argument, I draw on two contrasting cases of crop development spearheaded by Embrapa scientists: the tropicalization of the carrot and participatory research on non-conventional vegetables. Through those two cases, the article demonstrates how the general and specific, the transnational and local, and the industrial and agroecological are all key contrasting factors for understanding technoscientific development in agriculture. This research is based on extensive interviews and participant observation at Embrapa’s vegetable research center near Brasilia, Brazil.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103911"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359602","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}
Pub Date : 2024-09-27DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103909
Veruscka Leso , Tomas Rydberg , Maja Halling , Spyros Karakitsios , Fotini Nikiforou , Achilleas Karakoltzidis , Denis A. Sarigiannis , Ivo Iavicoli
The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) concept integrates safety and sustainability of chemicals and materials, throughout their entire life cycle and minimizes their environmental footprint. The European Commission (EC) in 2022 developed a framework to practically apply SSbD. This study investigated the knowledge on SSbD and the operationalization of such framework among the partners of the Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) program. Forty-one responses from 32 PARC Institutions were collected through a 21 item-online survey. Seventy-three % of the respondents had knowledge of SSbD, although only 49 % reported to have been directly engaged into SSbD projects. The EC-SSbD framework was applied by the 26 % of participants and in 47 % of cases it included a (re)design phase. With respect to the safety and sustainability, the assessment of the hazard, the human health and safety aspects in the production and processing, and the human health and environmental aspects in the final application of the chemical/material was addressed by the 74 %, 52 % and 65 % of the respondents. Lower percentages of positive responses regarded the environmental, social and economic sustainability assessment: 35 %, 20 % and 13 %, respectively. Overall, while the framework provided the necessary building blocks and opportunities for SSbD, concerted and iterative Research, Industry, and Academia efforts are necessary to develop/improve assessment methods, models and tools to make SSbD as an approach to chemical risk assessment and management to protect human health and the environment, and ensure to operate within the planetary boundaries.
{"title":"Safety and sustainability by design: An explorative survey on concepts’ knowledge and application","authors":"Veruscka Leso , Tomas Rydberg , Maja Halling , Spyros Karakitsios , Fotini Nikiforou , Achilleas Karakoltzidis , Denis A. Sarigiannis , Ivo Iavicoli","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103909","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103909","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) concept integrates safety and sustainability of chemicals and materials, throughout their entire life cycle and minimizes their environmental footprint. The European Commission (EC) in 2022 developed a framework to practically apply SSbD. This study investigated the knowledge on SSbD and the operationalization of such framework among the partners of the Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) program. Forty-one responses from 32 PARC Institutions were collected through a 21 item-online survey. Seventy-three % of the respondents had knowledge of SSbD, although only 49 % reported to have been directly engaged into SSbD projects. The EC-SSbD framework was applied by the 26 % of participants and in 47 % of cases it included a (re)design phase. With respect to the safety and sustainability, the assessment of the hazard, the human health and safety aspects in the production and processing, and the human health and environmental aspects in the final application of the chemical/material was addressed by the 74 %, 52 % and 65 % of the respondents. Lower percentages of positive responses regarded the environmental, social and economic sustainability assessment: 35 %, 20 % and 13 %, respectively. Overall, while the framework provided the necessary building blocks and opportunities for SSbD, concerted and iterative Research, Industry, and Academia efforts are necessary to develop/improve assessment methods, models and tools to make SSbD as an approach to chemical risk assessment and management to protect human health and the environment, and ensure to operate within the planetary boundaries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103909"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142326258","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}
Pub Date : 2024-09-25DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103912
Ibsen Chivata Cardenas
In this perspective paper, we are concerned with the general problem of how to increase the probability of achieving the expected outcomes of climate change mitigation actions. Climate change mitigation actions prevent, limit, reduce, delay or slow the rate of environmental changes produced by greenhouse gas emissions. A mitigation action can fail to achieve its intended outcome or create an adverse outcome elsewhere, which means uncertainty about mitigation outcomes or risk. Thus, mitigation risk can be defined by the deviation from a given mitigation goal and the associated uncertainties. We observe a lack of take-up of crucial concepts associated with risk in the climate change mitigation literature. Next, the concepts of risk, risk perception, risk acceptance and agents’ concerns are sometimes used interchangeably. As discussed in this paper, this has resulted in a lack of research about, for example, critical causes of mitigation failure. This situation means that some crucial knowledge gaps remain unaddressed or little researched. In this paper, we strive to identify those research gaps that need to be addressed in managing mitigation actions. Based on literature on risk, clarifications and distinctions regarding the potential meaning, scope, roles and implications among key concepts, such as risk knowledge, mitigation risk, uncertainty, agents’ concerns, risk perception and risk acceptance are given. A key distinction is that the central concept of concerns is associated with agentsʼ objectives, interests, visions, needs, preferences, norms, criteria or values and is different from risk perception. Following this, the gaps this perspective paper discusses are identified and justified by the analysis of how specialised literature in mitigation of climate change reflects aspects linked to the risk concepts. The discussed gaps entail the identification and operationalisation of agents’ concerns, the lack of knowledge about the influence of risk perception and risk acceptance on the weighting of agents’ concerns, and the impacts of the disparity in power relations among agents involved in mitigation.
{"title":"Mitigation of climate change. Risk and uncertainty research gaps in the specification of mitigation actions","authors":"Ibsen Chivata Cardenas","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103912","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103912","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this perspective paper, we are concerned with the general problem of how to increase the probability of achieving the expected outcomes of climate change mitigation actions. Climate change mitigation actions prevent, limit, reduce, delay or slow the rate of environmental changes produced by greenhouse gas emissions. A mitigation action can fail to achieve its intended outcome or create an adverse outcome elsewhere, which means uncertainty about mitigation outcomes or risk. Thus, mitigation risk can be defined by the deviation from a given mitigation goal and the associated uncertainties. We observe a lack of take-up of crucial concepts associated with risk in the climate change mitigation literature. Next, the concepts of risk, risk perception, risk acceptance and agents’ concerns are sometimes used interchangeably. As discussed in this paper, this has resulted in a lack of research about, for example, critical causes of mitigation failure. This situation means that some crucial knowledge gaps remain unaddressed or little researched. In this paper, we strive to identify those research gaps that need to be addressed in managing mitigation actions. Based on literature on risk, clarifications and distinctions regarding the potential meaning, scope, roles and implications among key concepts, such as risk knowledge, mitigation risk, uncertainty, agents’ concerns, risk perception and risk acceptance are given. A key distinction is that the central concept of concerns is associated with agentsʼ objectives, interests, visions, needs, preferences, norms, criteria or values and is different from risk perception. Following this, the gaps this perspective paper discusses are identified and justified by the analysis of how specialised literature in mitigation of climate change reflects aspects linked to the risk concepts. The discussed gaps entail the identification and operationalisation of agents’ concerns, the lack of knowledge about the influence of risk perception and risk acceptance on the weighting of agents’ concerns, and the impacts of the disparity in power relations among agents involved in mitigation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103912"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142319479","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}
Pub Date : 2024-09-24DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103893
Jaap Sok , Lieneke Bakker , Wopke van der Werf , Felix Bianchi
Ambitious environmental policies and regulations in Europe aim to reduce pesticide use, yet their implementation faces significant obstacles. Effective strategies that gain support within the farming community require a deeper understanding of the underlying intentions, considering that farmers are a heterogeneous group with diverse beliefs related to socio-demographic characteristics. Using an existing dataset with theory of planned behaviour data from 359 Dutch arable farmers (Bakker et al., 2021), we examined the heterogeneity in intentions and beliefs regarding pesticide reduction. Expanding the analysis with quantile regression models, we show that the influence of attitude becomes increasingly important as farmers' aspirations to reduce pesticide use grow. Additionally, we observed a small positive effect of injunctive norms at the 25th quantile and a small negative effect at the 75th quantile of intention. These findings indicate that the relative impact of these constructs varies across the intention distribution, emphasising the need for more nuanced quantitative analyses of heterogeneity in TPB studies. Using moderation models, we observed variations in the relative impact of attitude, injunctive and descriptive norms on intention across different segments of the farming community, particularly concerning age, educational level, and farm income dependencies. Younger, higher-educated farmers, and those less reliant on farm income demonstrated greater openness towards reducing pesticide usage and adopting alternative crop protection practices. These findings suggest that different farmer segments may respond differently to interventions and incentives. Policymakers can leverage this knowledge to develop more nuanced and targeted strategies that promote pesticide reduction while aligning with the diverse motivations and beliefs present among farmers.
{"title":"Not the average farmer: Heterogeneity in Dutch arable farmers’ intentions to reduce pesticide use","authors":"Jaap Sok , Lieneke Bakker , Wopke van der Werf , Felix Bianchi","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103893","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103893","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ambitious environmental policies and regulations in Europe aim to reduce pesticide use, yet their implementation faces significant obstacles. Effective strategies that gain support within the farming community require a deeper understanding of the underlying intentions, considering that farmers are a heterogeneous group with diverse beliefs related to socio-demographic characteristics. Using an existing dataset with theory of planned behaviour data from 359 Dutch arable farmers (Bakker et al., 2021), we examined the heterogeneity in intentions and beliefs regarding pesticide reduction. Expanding the analysis with quantile regression models, we show that the influence of attitude becomes increasingly important as farmers' aspirations to reduce pesticide use grow. Additionally, we observed a small positive effect of injunctive norms at the 25th quantile and a small negative effect at the 75th quantile of intention. These findings indicate that the relative impact of these constructs varies across the intention distribution, emphasising the need for more nuanced quantitative analyses of heterogeneity in TPB studies. Using moderation models, we observed variations in the relative impact of attitude, injunctive and descriptive norms on intention across different segments of the farming community, particularly concerning age, educational level, and farm income dependencies. Younger, higher-educated farmers, and those less reliant on farm income demonstrated greater openness towards reducing pesticide usage and adopting alternative crop protection practices. These findings suggest that different farmer segments may respond differently to interventions and incentives. Policymakers can leverage this knowledge to develop more nuanced and targeted strategies that promote pesticide reduction while aligning with the diverse motivations and beliefs present among farmers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103893"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901124002272/pdfft?md5=b7c17e70eab835d7af7df5296a150db3&pid=1-s2.0-S1462901124002272-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142314151","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}
Pub Date : 2024-09-21DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103898
Katharina Fellnhofer , Margarita Angelidou
Smart specialization has emerged as a vital strategy for driving responsible research and innovation across Europe. Despite its growing importance, the integration of web-based platforms to support decision-making in policy contexts remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining how such platforms can enhance stakeholder engagement and decision-making processes in regional innovation policies. Using structural equation modeling and survey data from 686 respondents across four European countries (United Kingdom/Scotland, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain), we uncover that the presence of both experienced and novice stakeholders does facilitate innovation policy effectiveness. Our findings reveal that stakeholders who find web-based applications valuable for smart specialization tend to have a more favorable view of the decision-making processes and express higher satisfaction with the consensus achieved. This research highlights that web-based platforms can effectively support stakeholder engagement regardless of policy expertise levels, offering significant benefits for regional policymaking. Based on our research, integrating web-based applications into smart specialization strategies will enhance decision-making, support diverse stakeholders and improve overall policy effectiveness.
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Pub Date : 2024-09-21DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103903
Moritz Latour , Frank van Laerhoven
In the face of growing pressures on the marine environment, evidence-based decision-making in the realm of marine conservation policies is of utmost importance. Through their boundary work, comprising the transfer of knowledge through the production of boundary objects and the facilitation of knowledge exchange, boundary organisations stand out as highly promising in bridging the gap between science and policymaking. However, so far, the research on knowledge exchange between marine scientists and policymakers as well as on boundary organisations in general is largely based on case studies in the Global North. This imbalance highlights the need to conduct studies on knowledge uptake in different geographical and political settings, with an increased focus on the Global South. By exploring the applicability of the current conceptual view on boundary organisations to the specific empirical reality of marine conservation in Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS), our research seeks to improve knowledge uptake in SIDS by identifying factors and strategies for successful boundary work in this context and to enrich the generic understanding of the role of boundary organisations with perspectives from the Global South. We conducted ten interviews with representatives from boundary organisations working on marine conservation in Pacific SIDS. Based on the findings, we developed a new framework for successful boundary work that is better adapted to realities in the Global South and reconceptualised the understanding of boundary work towards science-policy-community interfaces, emphasising that the gap between marine science and policymaking can only be bridged by engaging local communities and their knowledge.
{"title":"A new perspective on the work of boundary organisations: Bridging knowledge between marine conservation actors in Pacific Small Island Developing States","authors":"Moritz Latour , Frank van Laerhoven","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103903","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103903","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the face of growing pressures on the marine environment, evidence-based decision-making in the realm of marine conservation policies is of utmost importance. Through their boundary work, comprising the transfer of knowledge through the production of boundary objects and the facilitation of knowledge exchange, boundary organisations stand out as highly promising in bridging the gap between science and policymaking. However, so far, the research on knowledge exchange between marine scientists and policymakers as well as on boundary organisations in general is largely based on case studies in the Global North. This imbalance highlights the need to conduct studies on knowledge uptake in different geographical and political settings, with an increased focus on the Global South. By exploring the applicability of the current conceptual view on boundary organisations to the specific empirical reality of marine conservation in Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS), our research seeks to improve knowledge uptake in SIDS by identifying factors and strategies for successful boundary work in this context and to enrich the generic understanding of the role of boundary organisations with perspectives from the Global South. We conducted ten interviews with representatives from boundary organisations working on marine conservation in Pacific SIDS. Based on the findings, we developed a new framework for successful boundary work that is better adapted to realities in the Global South and reconceptualised the understanding of boundary work towards science-policy-community interfaces, emphasising that the gap between marine science and policymaking can only be bridged by engaging local communities and their knowledge.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103903"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901124002375/pdfft?md5=7efaca09b6ba5b172a1ac5a8949d2a2b&pid=1-s2.0-S1462901124002375-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142311610","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}
Pub Date : 2024-09-21DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103896
Annick De Witt , Margien Bootsma , Brian J. Dermody , Karin Rebel
Our world is arguably in existential crisis, with crises manifesting in nearly every facet of our existence, from education, mental health, and culture, to democracy, environment, and institutions. As our worldviews are often considered a root cause of this crisis, numerous voices emphasize the need for more transformative approaches that actively engage these deep leverage points (i.e., the places in complex systems where intervening may enable transformative, systemic change). To explore these ideas, we developed a new approach in the context of our sustainability education at Utrecht University, which we refer to as the Worldview Journey. In this article we use educational design research to present the first two phases of our intervention-design: 1) our needs analysis and problem identification, and 2) our design development and implementation, consisting of multiple iterations of conceptualizing and prototyping, while using student evaluations (n=360). Though the third phase of formal evaluation is still to be conducted, our results underscore that our intervention responds to a critical gap in current sustainability curricula (and arguably beyond) of learning to reflectively engage with diverse perspectives and worldviews, while offering an exemplary approach to address this gap. Simultaneously, our results offer a qualitative impression of students’ reception of this approach, demonstrating that 1) examining worldviews in a personal, transformative manner was greatly appreciated; 2) as was the usage of transformative learning methods; 3) with students frequently reporting small but meaningful perspective-shifts as outcome of the intervention; 4) which may thereby contribute to the development of important human, democratic capabilities. As the latter may be crucial in addressing the multiplicity of crises humanity is facing, our study arguably forges a new pathway for designing interventions that concurrently invite for personal, cultural, and systems transformation.
{"title":"Designing transformative interventions for a world in crisis: How the ‘Worldview Journey’ invites for personal, cultural, and systems transformation","authors":"Annick De Witt , Margien Bootsma , Brian J. Dermody , Karin Rebel","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103896","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103896","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Our world is arguably in <em>existential crisi</em>s<em>,</em> with crises manifesting in nearly every facet of our existence, from education, mental health, and culture, to democracy, environment, and institutions. As our worldviews are often considered a <em>root cause</em> of this crisis, numerous voices emphasize the need for more <em>transformative</em> approaches that actively engage these <em>deep leverage points</em> (i.e., the places in complex systems where intervening may enable transformative, systemic change). To explore these ideas, we developed a new approach in the context of our sustainability education at Utrecht University, which we refer to as the <em>Worldview Journey</em>. In this article we use <em>educational design research</em> to present the first two phases of our intervention-design: 1) our needs analysis and problem identification, and 2) our design development and implementation, consisting of multiple iterations of conceptualizing and prototyping, while using student evaluations (n=360). Though the third phase of formal evaluation is still to be conducted, our results underscore that our intervention responds to a critical gap in current sustainability curricula (and arguably beyond) of learning to reflectively engage with diverse perspectives and worldviews, while offering an exemplary approach to address this gap. Simultaneously, our results offer a <em>qualitative impression</em> of students’ reception of this approach, demonstrating that 1) examining worldviews in a personal, transformative manner was greatly appreciated; 2) as was the usage of transformative learning methods; 3) with students frequently reporting small but meaningful perspective-shifts as outcome of the intervention; 4) which may thereby contribute to the development of important human, democratic capabilities. As the latter may be crucial in addressing the multiplicity of crises humanity is facing, our study arguably forges a new pathway for designing interventions that concurrently invite for personal, cultural, and systems transformation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"162 ","pages":"Article 103896"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901124002302/pdfft?md5=92d4255242f9bcb752421114263c3b06&pid=1-s2.0-S1462901124002302-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142311609","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}
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