Policy change implications for forest water protection in Sweden over the last 50 years

Ambio - Improving water quality has become an important environmental issue, spurred in part by the Water Framework Directive. However, the relationship of policy change with forest water...     

Devolving power from the state: local initiatives for nature protection and recreation in Sweden

ABSTRACT

Quests for devolving more power to local actors for nature protection stem from both international and national policies. Also, there is a growing recognition of the need for local governments to promote green infrastructure for citizens to recreate and learn about their environment. Starting in 2004, the Swedish government has allocated special funding towards these goals through the Local Nature Conservation Programme (LONA). Virtually all Swedish municipalities have received such funding in pursuit of facilitating wide access to nature and promoting recreational activities, including the protection of nature areas, creating pathways, information devices, and promoting these areas among new societal groups to enjoy. This study presents the results of ten years of experience with LONA. A survey with respondents from 191 municipalities and 20 county administrations, together with 20 key informant interviews, show that the programme has been a success in several respects. Not only have most municipalities created a wealth of new ways to engage local organisations and citizens in nature conservation and recreation, but they have also broadened the ways they think about how nature is important to their constituencies. Due to innovative ways to count voluntary work as local matching of funding, smaller and less resourceful municipalities have also become engaged. Still, the local needs for further initiatives are deemed considerable. State support coupled with knowledge sharing is important to show policy priority to such bottom-up initiatives.     

Environmental considerations in Swedish Forestry: A study of the administrative process

This report briefly describes the implementation process involving nature conservation considerations in forestry, according to a recently passed law in Sweden. Described are the forestry and political systems in Sweden regarding nature conservation in forestry, as well as of the administrative process involved when a forest is going to be clearcut. Conclusions are based upon the conditions and outcome of two clearcutting cases outlined in this report, and are focused on the interactions and control functions among various agencies and levels of government. The policy on the consideration of nature in forestry is, to a large extent, formed at a very low level in the bureaucracy and is subject to negotiation from case to case. Checkups between different agencies as a form of concurrent government become important means of implementing environmental considerations in forestry, having the split roles and interests of the authorities in mind.     

Policy Strategies to Reduce Nutrient Leaching from Agriculture and Forestry and their Local Implementation: A Case Study of the Laholm Bay,Sweden

This paper examines the use of policy instruments to reduce nutrient loading to water systems. A case study is made in the Laholm Bay on the west coast of Sweden, where an action programme was launched in 1986. However, while point sources have now largely been dealt with, diffuse pollution is still increasing. We apply implementation theory to discuss how public and private actors use regulative, market and communicative policy strategies in an attempt to combat this pollution. Despite consensus between the actors on the policy problem per se, disputes remain on the means for implementation and how the costs should be borne.     

Implementing agenda 21 in local government: The Swedish experience

Abstract

Chapter 28 of the UNCED agreement ‘Agenda 21’ asks for implementing sustainable development at the local level of government. Sweden is amongst the fore‐running nations in having responded quickly to these demands. Virtually all of Sweden's 288 municipalities have decided to embark on the Local Agenda 21 process. In this article, the progress so far and how LA21 has been interpreted at the local level are examined. The motives behind the process, the tensions between national and local policy making, and the role of municipal networks and NGOs are analysed. Four case studies of pioneer municipalities are used to illustrate how LA21 has sometimes inspired more far‐reaching goals at the local than at the national level, and the combination of economic development and marketing with environmental policy. It remains to be seen whether the most recent national government investment programme towards local projects for sustainable development will resolve the present conflicts between national goals and local priorities.     

The Use of Local Sustainability Indicators: case studies in two Swedish municipalities1

This article contributes to the debate on the role of local sustainability indicators in ongoing democratisation efforts. We examine the extent to which five different systems of local sustainability indicators within two Swedish municipalities—Stockholm and Sundsvall—are either expert or citizen oriented, and relate these findings to the indicator systems' profile, function and political/ administrative context. Even though three of the indicator systems can be classified as citizen oriented, there are few signs of true engagement and dialogue with the citizens over a longer period of time. The remaining two indicator systems are expert oriented with an environmental focus. Hence, we conclude that the systems in use are largely symbolic responses to the demands for democracy within the agenda for sustainable development albeit attempts to include environmental, economic, social and democratic perspectives of sustainability. Despite the fact that Stockholm and Sundsvall show differences in governing styles in their approaches to sustainability indicators it seems difficult for both municipalities to put sustainable development into practice in terms of citizen participation.     

The coalitional politics of the European Union’s environmental forest policy: Biodiversity conservation,timber legality,and climate protection

European forest policymaking is shaped by progressing European integration, yet with notable ideological divisions and diverging interests among countries. This paper focuses on the coalitional politics of key environmental forest issues: biodiversity conservation, timber legality, and climate protection policy. Combining the Advocacy Coalition Framework and the Shifting Coalition Theory, and informed by more than 186 key informant interviews and 73 policy documents spanning a 20-year timeframe, we examine the evolution of coalitional forest politics in Europe. We find that the basic line-up has remained stable: an environmental coalition supporting EU environmental forest policy integration and a forest sector coalition mostly opposing it. Still, strategic alliances across these coalitions have occurred for specific policy issues which have resulted in a gradual establishment of an EU environmental forest policy. We conclude with discussion of our findings and provide suggestions for further research.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01644-5.