Protected area governance in Sweden: new modes of governance or business as usual?

This paper explores whether ambitions to open up the traditional Swedish model of top-down conservation methods to local influences are indicative of an actual transition in governance of Swedish national park policy (NPP), and examines whether such a shift entails an increase in local influence over local interests and needs. Methodologically, we analyse a combination of governance types and incorporate theoretical definitions of power and accountability. The establishment of new governance arrangements – where power is shared, interactions promoted and accountability is directed downwards – indicates that Sweden's NPP is undergoing a change in its mode of governance. This change also seems to include ceding some influence to local interests, and the possibility of combining conservation with the utilisation of certain natural resources. The results of our research also provide valuable insights into when the establishment of shared-governance arrangements are likely to succeed; in short, this seems more likely when there are established sectors sited in a robust legal framework and where strong international commitments potentially play a role. In conclusion, we contend that when seeking diversified governance arrangements it is not enough simply to take local practices and customs into consideration – they have to be strengthened.     

Chilean congressional politics under President Lagos: environment and politics in Chile 2000–2006

Little is known about the legislative process and in particular how this relates to environment in Latin America. This article attemps to partially close this gap by discussing the dynamics of congressional environmental politics in Chile under former President Lagos (2000–2006). At first, this article discusses the role of the executive branch in the legislative process, congressional authority and environmental policy. This sometimes uneasy relationship is explored, and its consequences over environmental politics are discussed. The second part of the article attempts to explain legislator's choices in the area of environmental policy, developing and testing four main hypotheses that eventually help to explain why legislators support/reject laws of positive/negative environmental relevance. Finally, this article draws general conclusions on Chilean congressional politics and environmental policy, to then propose some recommendations on how to improve the process of creating environmental policy in Congress.     

Framing Dynamics and Political Gridlock: The Curious Case of Hydraulic Fracturing in New York

‘Fracking’ was on New York's agenda since 2008, yet no decision was made about it until late 2014. The gridlock is an intriguing puzzle given that the Marcellus shale is considered a ‘world class’ energy supply, and development has been aggressive in other US states. While policy scholars typically conceptualize gridlock as policy stability, this paper examines it as a dynamic process by which competing discourse coalitions engage in interactive framing processes that (re)structure the discussion. This suggests that the interaction between contending coalitions influences gridlock. Yet, we lack knowledge about interactive framing between competing coalitions during policy controversies. Our main finding is that a central mechanism of gridlock is the production of conflict through interactive framing dynamics that deny a shared discursive space capable of ushering in a consensus, or reasoned agreement. In New York, this contest evolved from a policy consensus about the economic benefits of fracking to policy negotiation that incorporated environmental threats, and to prolonged policy controversy in which competing discourse coalitions contested notions of fracking in relation to energy production, environmental protection, public health, economic development, and governance. While a ban has been instituted, the failure to bridge discourse coalitions suggests that controversy will persist unless meaning disputes are resolved.     

Are EMS environmentally effective? The link between environmental management systems and environmental performance in European companies

Based on the analysis of a large dataset on the environmental performance of European companies in five industrial sectors, this paper examines the question of whether the presence of an environmental management system (EMS) has a positive impact on the eco-efficiency of companies. It begins with a review of evidence about the link between EMS and environmental performance in business organisations, finding that, despite much research, there is still little quantitative evidence. The second part of the paper uses three independent statistical methods (simple correlations, Jaggi-Freedman indices and a ‘trend differences’ approach) to assess whether companies and production sites with EMS perform better than those without and whether performance improves after an EMS has been introduced. The paper shows that there is currently no evidence that EMS have a consistent and significant positive impact on environmental performance. Policy action based on the simple assumption that companies with an EMS perform better than those without therefore seems inappropriate.     

Fair fracking? Ethics and environmental justice in United Kingdom shale gas policy and planning

The exploitation of shale gas resources is a significant issue of environmental justice. Uneven distributions of risks and social impacts to local site communities must be balanced against the economic benefits to gas users and developers; and unequal decision-making powers must be negotiated between local and central governments, communities and fracking site developers. These distributive and procedural elements are addressed in relation to UK policy, planning, regulatory and industry development. I adopt an explicitly normative framework of policy evaluation, addressing a research gap on the ethics of shale gas by operationalising Shrader-Frechette’s Principle of Prima Facie Political Equality. I conclude that UK fracking policy reveals inherent contradictions of environmental justice in relation to the Conservative Government’s localist and planning reform agendas. Early fracking policy protected communities from harm in the wake of seismic risk events, but these were quickly replaced with pro-industry economic stimulation and planning legislation that curtailed community empowerment in fracking decision-making, increased environmental risks to communities, transferred powers from local to central government and created the conditions of distributive injustices in the management of community benefit provisions. I argue that only by “re-localising” the scale of fracking governance can political equality be ensured and the distributive and procedural environmental injustices be ameliorated.     

Assessment practices in the policy and politics cycles: a contribution to reflexive governance for sustainable development?

ABSTRACT

This article examines systematic assessment practices linked to sustainable development policies. We consider five types of assessment—monitoring, policy evaluation, formal audit, peer review, and specialist reporting—and explore their fate in the policy and electoral politics cycles. In contrast to traditional views of the policy cycle, we note that systematic assessments provide complementary feedback around the entire policy cycle. However, despite this omnipresence, their policy relevance is usually severely limited, inter alia because the policy cycle captures only parts of the political reality. A major concern for politicians (but not necessarily for policy or governance scholars) that goes far beyond the formulation and implementation of policies is the broader cycle of electoral politics that determines the state's political personnel as well as government priorities. Here, we highlight that the findings of systematic assessments are often lost in a cacophony of voices to which politicians are more carefully attuned, such as media responses and opinion polls, implying that scientific evidence is simply ‘overwritten’ with other kinds of evidence representing alternative rationalities and priorities. Despite numerous shortcomings, the true value of systematic assessment practices lies in their potential to furnish ammunition to state and non-state actors interested in securing change.     

Environmental management systems: Opportunities for improved environmental and business strategy?

Less than four years after publication of ISO 14001, thousands of organizations worldwide have adopted the standard. In this article, researchers working with the National Database on Environmental Management Systems (NDEMS) review some preliminary data on organizations' experiences with EMS adoption and implementation. Their findings indicate that, although organizations may face hurdles in implementing EMSs, the majority believes the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

What motivates farmers to participate in the Nova Scotia environmental farm plan program? Evidence and environmental policy implications

Program stakeholders are interested in better understanding farmers' experience, and factors that affect farmer participation in the relatively new Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) program, implemented in several provinces in Canada. To increase relevance of the research findings to EFP program administrators and policy makers, the research methods emphasised determining whether relationships exist among program-related variables, and how such relationships affect farmers' decision choices and behaviour. Traditional farmer and farm attributes that have contrasting effects in agricultural innovation adoption and conservation management (namely age, and formal education completed), were not associated with EFP program participation. Farm income, years of farming experience, and type of agribusiness managed were associated with participation in the Nova Scotia EFP program. Although program participants tended to have higher incomes, overall, non-financial considerations dominated monetary considerations in Nova Scotia farmers' reasons for participating in the Nova Scotia EFP. Helping to publicize positive farm stewardship practices was reported as the most important reason for participating in the EFP scheme, followed by its use to help improve relationships with non-farming neighbours, and to comply with government environmental regulations. In contrast, and somewhat a surprising finding, minimizing potential farm environmental risk, program administrators' raison d'être for promoting the NS EFP, was ranked the lowest, with no respondent rating that as a "very important" or "extremely important" reason for participating in the EFP program.     

Local environmental monitoring in Sweden: The need for a new strategy?

This paper discusses the present character of environmental monitoring in Swedish municipalities. We have found that local environmental monitoring in Sweden is insufficient. There is very little connection between monitoring activities and local environmental goals, and environmental goals have been established without considering information from the environmental monitoring. In practice, this means that local environmental monitoring has only a limited influence on political decisions and priorities in the municipalities. Our study also showed that local environmental monitoring was almost entirely focused on monitoring the state of the environment and showed a lack of flow-oriented information. There is a strong need to develop a unified strategy for local environmental monitoring to avoid sub-optimisations in local environmental management. A new strategy would, to a much higher degree, have to focus on monitoring diffuse sources of pollution and personal lifestyles. In this case, monitoring only the state of the environment would not be sufficient. It would have to include also the flows of materials through society, i.e. the whole metabolism of society, including biogeochemical as well as anthropogenic material flows.     

What is in a name? Language,framing and environmental justice activism in California's Central Valley

According to the environmental justice (EJ) literature, one important factor in the movement's success is the development of a frame linking inequality to the disproportionate presence of environmental toxins in low-income communities of colour. This article highlights the resonance of this frame among grassroots activists and professional advocates in California's Central Valley. However, through interviews and focus groups with activists and advocates in six Central Valley communities, we found that only the latter identified their work as EJ. Grassroots activists instead identified their work as about health, community development and environmentalism. Moreover, some were unfamiliar with EJ as a concept while others denied its applicability to their work. Theoretically, our findings suggest that frame resonance needs to be delinked conceptually from movement identification; it is possible for a movement's analysis of social problems and solutions to resonate among those who do not identify with the movement itself. Pragmatically speaking, this can prevent some grassroots activists who are directly affected by environmental racism from accessing the resources and networks that the EJ movement has painstakingly built, and suggests that movement leaders may need to increase their outreach to community groups.     

Football and climate change: strange bedfellows or a means of going beyond the usual suspects in encouraging pro-environmental behavioural change?

Academics and policy-makers claim that community-based organisations may be able to encourage individuals to adopt pro-environmental behavioural changes; however, at present, there is limited research-based evidence to support this assertion. This paper sets out to provide a contribution to the evidence base by examining the role that community can play in tackling climate change. It does this through a case study analysis of a community-based pro-environmental behavioural-change campaign – Ipswich Town Football Club's “Save Your Energy for the Blues” campaign. The paper examines existing theories on encouraging behavioural change based on a range of cognitive and contextual constraints. Based on the findings of this research, the paper goes on to suggest that by focusing on the individual as the appropriate unit of change, much current policy fails to incorporate the contextual constraints that may limit an individual's ability to adopt behavioural change regardless of their willingness to do so. The case study analysis indicates how framing of appropriate responses to climate change in a largely positive light, with a range of individual, collective and environmental benefits, is shown to have resonated strongly with many participants in the campaign, including a significant number whose participation was not based on pro-environmental values.     

College and university environmental programs as a policy problem (part 1): integrating knowledge, education, and action for a better world?

The environmental sciences/studies movement, with more than 1000 programs at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, is unified by a common interest??ameliorating environmental problems through empirical enquiry and analytic judgment. Unfortunately, environmental programs have struggled in their efforts to integrate knowledge across disciplines and educate students to become sound problem solvers and leaders. We examine the environmental program movement as a policy problem, looking at overall goals, mapping trends in relation to those goals, identifying the underlying factors contributing to trends, and projecting the future. We argue that despite its shared common interest, the environmental program movement is disparate and fragmented by goal ambiguity, positivistic disciplinary approaches, and poorly rationalized curricula, pedagogies, and educational philosophies. We discuss these challenges and the nature of the changes that are needed in order to overcome them. In a subsequent article (Part 2) we propose specific strategies for improvement.     

Injustice and organisation in Anchicayá, Colombia: an environmental legal case in a hydropower watershed

The paper looks at Colombia's first major environmental justice legal case involving a riparian Afro-Colombian community and the Pacific Energy Company (EPSA). Riverine Afro-Colombian communities gained political recognition as a culturally distinct group largely based on their conservation practices in riparian environments. The work contrasts the complexities of the case with the vulnerable reality of the people of Anchicayá who largely live in conditions of poverty, violence and political isolation. It also describes the institutions that frame watershed management, the ethnic rights to collective land and self-governance and the property rights of energy companies in the backdrop of decentralisation reforms that clarified different types of property rights and refounded Colombia as a multicultural nation. The legal suit, however, demonstrates that the government failed to offer equal protection to collective versus private cultural and socio-economic uses of land and water in order to protect energy investments. The Constitutional Court's jurisprudence ultimately privileged technical and legal know-how and overlooked the limits community intermediaries face offering similar evidence. By doing so, the court not only disregarded the constitutional rights of Afro-Colombians, but it also failed to mitigate a socio-environmental conflict.     

Who's greener? Comparing urban and suburban residents' environmental behaviour and concern

While various studies have compared metropolitan and rural residents' displays of environmentalism, recent shifts in the housing and energy markets make intra-metropolitan differences in urban and suburban attitudes and actions more interesting. The housing market crash and accompanying rise in fuel costs are prompting a return of centralisation to many communities and, it is believed, are drawing environmentally conscious residents downtown closer to work and play. Past research has found that this trend – demonstrated by a re-centralising housing market – was already underway, pre-crash, in Louisville, Kentucky over the “boom” period from 2000 to 2006. Drawing on original 2006 survey data for Louisville, this study regresses two components of environmentalism (behaviour and concern) on socio-demographics and residence. Findings show urbanites in Louisville are indeed significantly more environmentally friendly in their behaviour but not in their concern. Countering some claims, residents of single-family homes also exhibit significantly higher levels of environmental behaviour and concern than those residing in apartments and condominiums. Finally, in a surprise finding, recent movers from the suburbs to the city do not differ in their behaviour and are significantly less concerned about the environment than urbanites, suburbanites, and all metropolitan residents.     

Community energy initiatives to alleviate fuel poverty: the material politics of Energy Cafés

Community action has an increasingly prominent role in the debates surrounding transitions to sustainability. Initiatives such as community energy projects, community gardens, local food networks and car sharing clubs provide new spaces for sustainable consumption, and combinations of technological and social innovations. These initiatives, which are often driven by social good rather than by pure monetary motives, have been conceptualised as grassroots innovations. Previous research in grassroots innovations has largely focused on conceptualising such initiatives and analysing their potential for replication and diffusion; there has been less research in the politics involved in these initiatives. We examine grassroots innovations as forms of political engagement that is different from the 1970s’ alternative technology movements. Through an analysis of community-run Energy Cafés in the United Kingdom, we argue that while present-day grassroots innovations appear less explicitly political than their predecessors, they can still represent a form of political participation. Through the analytical lens of material politics, we investigate how Energy Cafés engage in diverse – explicit and implicit, more or less conscious – forms of political engagement. In particular, their work to “demystify” clients’ energy bills can unravel into various forms of advocacy and engagement with energy technologies and practices in the home. Some Energy Café practices also make space for a needs-driven approach that acknowledges the embeddedness of energy in the household and wider society.     

Continuity and change: understanding livelihood shifts and adaptation in coastal Belize 1830–2012

This paper situates livelihood adaptations in two coastal villages within the broader context of Belize's colonial and post-colonial history and environmental processes of change. Through observations, qualitative interviews, and archival reviews, we explore the dynamics of livelihood change and analyse the diverse factors that have been influencing options and adaptation over time. The results reveal that both villages have undergone profound changes in livelihoods and productive activities on several occasions. While the villages' histories, geographies, and cultures are different, similarities in long-term trends include the transition from land-based to marine resources and the decline of small-scale agriculture. Our analysis illuminates the deep connections between local livelihoods and national as well as global political–economic processes, which favour extraction and export of natural resources throughout the period investigated, whereby resource access and market mechanisms create and constrict adaptation options for the villagers. Gradual environmental changes, such as erosion, and episodic events, such as hurricanes, have also influenced livelihood shifts and adaptations in combination with a wide range of political–economic factors. Despite the demonstrated importance of the influence of history and dimensions of political economy on contemporary adaptation options in the communities studied, the literature on climate change adaptation inadequately accounts for these factors. This paper adds new perspectives to current debates in climate change research by emphasising that longer temporal dimensions of livelihood change are important for understanding the current context for adaptation.     

Does the selection of ISO 14001 registrars matter? Registrar reputation and environmental policy statements in China

This study investigates the relationship between characteristics of environmental policy statements and the reputations of ISO 14001 registrars who had performed certification audits of firms operating in mainland China. Three characteristics of environmental policy statements were examined: (1) The conformance of the policy to strict interpretations of the international standard; (2) The policy statement's adherence to the good practice guidelines specified in ISO 14004; and, (3) Self-reported evaluations of the policy statement's effectiveness as implemented. Data from 106 facilities in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou reveal that registrar quality has a relatively weak, positive relationship with conformance to both ISO 14001 standards and to ISO 14004 guidelines, but no relationship was observed with the self-reported data. Additional findings are that the use of foreign registrars is significantly associated with the adoption of ISO 14004 guidelines and that conformance with ISO 14001 standards is somewhat higher for international joint ventures and foreign-owned firms than for state-owned enterprises.