Earth System Governance最新文献

European Union (EU) nature conservation law mandates the protection of more than 2000 species and habitats. Many of these species and their habitats rely on agricultural land, which means that Member State implementation of EU nature law necessarily interacts with national agricultural policies. The integration of EU biodiversity goals into sector-level and farm-level agricultural policies is therefore commonplace and, seemingly, in line with the discretion awarded to Member States. However, each stage of this multi-level implementation process brings the opportunity for goal dilution such that this may ultimately undermine the ambitions of the EU's nature conservation laws.

This article adds to existing literature on multi-level implementation through an empirical case study of the Dutch implementation of binding EU nature law through an agri-environmental scheme. In the Dutch model, implementation takes place through national and provincial governmental agri-environmental policies as well as implementing actions of (private) agricultural collectives. Our data confirms that that the degree of discretion of each actor within a multi-level implementation setting strongly affects overall goal dilution and goal achievement. By incorporating appropriate controls and monitoring at each governance level, benefits of multi-level implementation can be achieved while dilution and divergence are minimized.

International public climate finance is an important catalyst for curbing growing emissions from developing countries and enabling them to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Developing countries consider the fulfillment of their Paris Agreement emission reduction pledges to be conditional on receiving climate finance. Prior studies have hypothesized that increasing financial support to developing countries will likely increase their climate ambitions. With the availability of updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and climate finance data, this article empirically explores this question. Using two empirical strategies, this article found positive but statistically insignificant effect of climate finance on the mitigation ambitions of recipient countries. This effect on mitigation ambition was higher for least developed countries but weaker for small island developing states. This article's analysis should be seen as an initial piece of the puzzle. Findings of this article can inform climate financing strategies of donors enhancing trust with developing countries.

While being proud of comparatively high levels of energy efficiency and having experienced the Fukushima nuclear disaster, it may be presumed that Japan would become a leader in the global energy transition. On the contrary, however, Japan has demonstrated a degree of intransigence around deep decarbonization. Why does Japan not take leadership in the energy transition and arrest climate change? What is the context for Japanese climate/energy policymaking? What is the context for the 2050 net-zero target, what are the obstacles, and which actors could assist effectively in accelerating this transition? This article considers new drivers for national policy as well as the influence of exogenous domestic and international forces. This leads to the question of whether the 2050 carbon neutrality policy goal could deliver a rapid shift away from fossil fuels. It presents an analytical framework to explain Japan’s evolving climate-energy nexus, illuminating core variables hampering and enabling the attainment of the net-zero 2050 target.

As area-based marine conservation coverage expands to meet global targets, tension with fishing activities increases. While fully protected areas (FPAs) provide the largest range of long-term social-ecological benefits, their establishment has been constrained by difficulties arising from the short-term costs of protection, and associated limitations in economic incentives and in the resources required for effective implementation. Building on an existing bio-economic model for self-financed FPAs, we examine the economic and operational feasibility of establishing an ecolabel approach to balance the costs endured by fishers when implementing an FPA. Optimal increased profits can be achieved by designating the ecolabelled self-funded managed-fishing area for 20–25% of FPA. Multi-zone MPAs with a price premium derived from catch ecolabel certification inside partially protected areas surrounding FPAs provide incentives to help fishers engage into adopting sustainable fishing practices. Here we pave the way for more innovative approaches towards transformative changes for fisheries sustainability.

Multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) involving a diverse set of actors are assumed to reduce implementation gaps of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While existing research suggests that MSPs can complement state-led efforts in environmental and sustainability governance, a deeper understanding of the composition, thematic focus, and specific governance functions of MSPs for the SDGs is still wanting. In this article, we present the results of a survey of 192 MSPs registered on the United Nations Partnership Platform, analyzing their set-up and organization, partner composition, agency of partners, governance functions, SDG coverage, and effectiveness. We further complement existing research by investigating whether MSPs address SDG nexuses and relate our findings to previously identified interlinkages between the goals. Comparing our results to earlier studies, we find that MSPs have become more inclusive, involving more non-state actors overall, and as lead partners. Our results further indicate a complementary role of MSPs in SDG implementation by focusing on often underrepresented and cross-cutting goals such as climate action (SDG 13), quality education (SDG 4) and gender equality (SDG 5). However, there appears to be untapped potential for MSPs to capitalize on shared resources and capabilities to address combinations of SDGs that are likely to produce negative spillovers among each other. Moreover, we find partnerships between actors from multiple societal sectors to be potentially more effective than those involving only one societal sector.

The concept of bioeconomy is increasingly gaining prominence as a potential pathway to reconcile conservation objectives with economic and social aspects. However, so far, dominant bioeconomy approaches have paid little attention to potential risks and negative impacts on biodiversity. This Perspective argues that it is crucial to integrate biodiversity into bioeconomy approaches. We argue that this can happen in two ways; by mainstreaming biodiversity into dominant bioeconomy approaches which have previously not considered biodiversity in much depth, and by giving the sustainable use of biodiversity a more central place in bioeconomy strategies. Generally, biodiversity can become a central aspect of bioeconomy strategies, but questions around distribution, equity, and accountability need to be carefully considered.

Enforcement and management scholars alike expect that countries participating in an international agreement will more likely achieve predetermined targets than nonparticipating countries will. The management school ascribes this expected association to a constraining effect of the treaty; the enforcement school ascribes it to a screening effect. If the latter conjecture is correct, the association between participation and target achievement should significantly weaken (or even vanish) when controlling for targets' ambition level and other confounding factors. We test this hypothesis on a new dataset comprising three protocols under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). Our results suggest that the positive association between participation and target achievement is robust to controlling for confounding factors; hence, our data suggests that these CLRTAP protocols have indeed constrained participating states.

Groundwater salinization due to sea-level rise is a problem that governance actors in coastal areas of the North Sea region have overseen for a long period. As an ecological problem associated with climate change, it can be severely exacerbated by careless water management. This paper studies governance processes, actor perspectives and responses to groundwater salinization and sea-level rise in the East Frisian and Frisian regions of the German North Sea coast. Due to its low-lying landscape, large areas of land remain below sea-level, making groundwater salinization an urgent concern. Our research questions are: (i) What type of anticipatory governance approach can be found with actors in the study region concerning groundwater salinization and climate adaptation challenges? (ii) How can an alternative anticipatory governance approach promote proactive governance processes addressing the complex problem of groundwater salinization in terms of awareness, preparedness, methods, strategies and policy actions? We conducted semi-structured interviews and workshops between 2017 and 2021, including a group of 15 actors from private and civil society organizations as well as authorities on municipal, inter-municipal and state levels. Our study finds that problem awareness in municipalities and regional governance levels in East Frisia and Frisia is low. Current management of groundwater salinization mainly focuses on technical response measures, while precautionary measures are given low priorities. With regard to governance approaches, our study identifies apparent societal challenges of groundwater salinization at the complex interface between water management, human activities and natural processes, and sustainable ways to manage and protect groundwater resources. However, we found indication for a defensive anticipatory governance approach prioritizing risk management and assessing plausible futures. In participatory processes, we discussed possible technical, non-technical and institutional adaptation options for future implementation. Finally, conclusions will be drawn on how knowledge and awareness building can contribute to change actors perspectives on the overseen problem of groundwater salinization and increase adaptiveness.

Universities are increasingly engaging with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Appeal for the SDGs is partly based on their double transformation framing: they are seen as enablers of societal transformations and transformations within universities. This article aims to understand how the SDGs influence university transformations. We analyse how four universities have integrated the SDGs through a comparative case study. We propose a framework to determine the impact of the SDGs in universities by identifying their scope of change (i.e. discursive, institutional, relational, and resource effects) and depth of change (i.e. accommodative, reformative or transformative). This study shows that discursive effects are the most prominent hinting toward transformative change. To lesser extents, primarily accommodative, the SDGs have influenced institutional, relational, and resource changes. Overall, findings show that for the SDGs to fulfil their transformative potential in universities, they should be used as more than communications and legitimizing tools.

This paper presents the concept of climate commitment for measuring institutional effectiveness in global climate governance at the subnational level. The research scope is limited to a top-down perspective and the outcome dimension of institutional effectiveness. It considers the multi-level governance theoretical approach to assess subnational governments' behavior in global climate governance and defines subnational governments as the level between the national government and cities/municipalities. Climate commitment stands on two dimensions: governance processes and greenhouse gas emissions trajectory. The principal component analysis statistical method examines the climate commitment variables' behavior and the results for Brazilian subnational units (26 states and the federal district). The research's contribution offers an alternative approach to subnational actors' role in global climate governance architecture and an alternative model for policy design.