Remotely engaged? Towards a framework for monitoring the success of stakeholder engagement in remote regions

The importance of stakeholder engagement for the success of natural resources management processes is widely acknowledged, yet evaluation frameworks employed by administrators of environmental programmes continue to provide limited recognition of or insistence upon engagement processes. This paper presents a framework for monitoring and evaluation of engagement that aims to better incorporate community engagement into mainstream environmental programmes, in particular in remote regions such as arid and desert regions of the world. It is argued that successful monitoring of engagement should not only comprise a generic set of indicators but rather, in addition to the principles of good monitoring practice, should take into account a variety of the stakeholder interests as well as key regional drivers, addressing them at right geographic, institutional and time scale.     

The greening of Chicago: environmental leaders and organisational learning in the transition toward a sustainable metropolitan region

Urban sustainability literature calls for new governance relations to support green urban agendas. Privileging non-hierarchical relations, this literature fails to address the means by which organisations create these capacities. The author interviewed public, private and community environmental leaders in metropolitan Chicago regarding their disposition toward creating boundary spanning organisations (BSOs) in addressing the City's Environmental Action Agenda. Their responses reflect engaged efforts to enhance cross-boundary sharing of information, resources, and power. However, they also reflect the decisive role of central authority in initiating this process. These findings suggest the complexity of urban governance in transitions toward sustainability and the opportunities they provide to explore the implications of on-the-ground practice.     

Reconnecting to the Biosphere

Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere, with a significant imprint on the Earth System, challenging social-ecological resilience. This new situation calls for a fundamental shift in perspectives, world views, and institutions. Human development and progress must be reconnected to the capacity of the biosphere and essential ecosystem services to be sustained. Governance challenges include a highly interconnected and faster world, cascading social-ecological interactions and planetary boundaries that create vulnerabilities but also opportunities for social-ecological change and transformation. Tipping points and thresholds highlight the importance of understanding and managing resilience. New modes of flexible governance are emerging. A central challenge is to reconnect these efforts to the changing preconditions for societal development as active stewards of the Earth System. We suggest that the Millennium Development Goals need to be reframed in such a planetary stewardship context combined with a call for a new social contract on global sustainability. The ongoing mind shift in human relations with Earth and its boundaries provides exciting opportunities for societal development in collaboration with the biosphere--a global sustainability agenda for humanity.     

Leadership and lesson-drawing in the European Union’s multilevel climate governance system

ABSTRACT

The important role that climate leaders and leadership play at different levels of the European Union (EU) multilevel governance system is exemplified. Initially, climate leader states set the pace with ambitious policy measures that were adopted largely on an ad hoc basis. Since the mid-1980s, the EU has developed a multilevel climate governance system that has facilitated leadership and lesson-drawing at all governance levels including the local level. The EU has become a global climate policy leader by example although it had been set up as a ‘leaderless Europe’. The resulting ‘leadership without leader’ paradox cannot be sufficiently explained merely by reference to top-level EU climate policies. Local-level climate innovations and lesson-drawing have increasingly been encouraged by the EU’s multilevel climate governance system which has become more polycentric. The recognition of economic co-benefits of climate policy measures has helped to further the EU’s climate leadership role.     

Tightening the grip: environmental governance under Xi Jinping

In the space of a few years, China’s global image with regard to environmental matters has significantly improved. Particularly since Xi Jinping’s coming-to-power in 2012 China’s reputation in the global climate change regime has improved markedly and it has gained accolades for a new determination to reverse environmental degradation at home. China’s incipient green transformation is partly due to a new actor constellation in environmental governance, a striking feature of which is the prominence of ad hoc campaigns that offer quick results but that may undermine the creation of law-based enforcement mechanisms in the long term. Another development – China’s increasing use of emerging technologies and big data analytics – has given rise to new forms of government-business alliances. These new players and innovative approaches have injected momentum into China’s environmental governance system and suggest that, contrary to conventional wisdom, authoritarian regimes can be responsive to citizen demands under certain circumstances. Yet it remains to be seen whether long-term environmental goals can be met, due to a pervasive lack of accountability, the weakening of civil society and heavy constraints on public participation.     

The politics of curtailment: multi-level governance and solar photovoltaic power generation in China

The rise of China’s photovoltaic (PV) industry, and the concomitant curtailment problem, provides an opportunity to reconsider China’s industrial governance. It is argued here that the curtailment is intertwined with the multi-level character of China’s energy governance. Borrowing the insights of multi-level governance (MLG), we identify the relevant stakeholders situated at different levels and clarify their positions and considerations concerning the solar PV industry. MLG analysis reveals that curtailment in China’s solar PV industry was primarily the result of uncoordinated development at different levels – sub-provincial, provincial, national, and international. China’s response to the curtailment problem is then examined, considering whether such policy adjustments will contribute to greater societal participation, changes in development ideas, an improved coordination mechanism, or alternative institutional arrangements.     

Environmental policy innovations in China: a critical analysis from a low-carbon city

The Chinese state is squarely ‘back’ in the business of environmental governance with an increasing number of policy innovations or experiments to resolve environmental issues. These have been mostly enacted through the ‘experimentation under hierarchy’ framework, undergirded by compensation-for-performance incentive structures for local agents. Based on on-site ethnography in local China, a critical analysis is presented of low-carbon city policy experiments – one of the most prominent environmental policies introduced in the past decade. Using lessons from the agency theory, it is hypothesized that outcomes of these policy innovations are contingent on different policy dimensions. Although a number of positive outcomes have been achieved in output-oriented dimensions, the fundamental difficulty of specifying all aspects of complex, multidimensional work tasks involved in low-carbon city development has frequently led to policy unmaking. The findings raise important questions about China’s tendency to rely excessively on compensation-for-performance structures to promote environmental policies.     

城市生活垃圾分类强制实施背景下“一主多元”治理模式的主体策略演化分析

随着经济不断发展和人民消费水平提升,垃圾分类治理问题日益严峻。实践经验表明,强制实施背景下政府主导与承包商、公众和环保组织为核心的多元主体共同参与的“一主多元”协作模式,对于我国垃圾分类治理具有较好适用性。但该模式也存在“一主”突出、“多元”不足及其他系统性冲突。为明确多元主体参与策略对“一主多元”治理模式稳定性的影响,首先,本文分析了城市生活垃圾分类强制实施背景下该模式运行机制及主体动因。然后,构建以承包商、公众和环保组织为主体的三方演化博弈系统,对不同策略组合下系统的演化结果进行演绎。最后,借助数值仿真分析了参与成本、环境收益和政府补贴对主体策略选择及系统稳定性的影响。结果表明：环保组织参与垃圾分类治理的积极性最高,公众最低;对于系统运行风险,承包商属于风险偏好者,环保组织属于风险回避者,公众属于风险中立者;承包商对参与成本最敏感,对政府补贴最不敏感,公众则正好与之相反;环境收益的提升有助于提高多元主体的参与积极性。这些发现对于如何提升多元主体参与垃圾分类治理的积极性及“一主多元”治理模式的运行效能具有启示意义。     

Collaborative Science, Policy Development and Program Implementation in the Transboundary Georgia Basin/Puget Sound Ecosystem

The transboundary Georgia Basin Puget Sound ecosystem is situated in the southwest corner of British Columbia and northwest comer of Washington State. While bountiful and beautiful, this international region is facing significant threats to its marine and freshwater resources, air quality, habitats and species. These environmental challenges are compounded by rapid population growth and attendant uiban sprawl. As ecosystem stresses amplified and partnerships formed around possible solutions, it became increasingly clear that the shared sustainability challenges in the Georgia Basin and Puget Sound required shared solutions. Federal, state and provincial institutional arrangements were made between jurisdictions, which formalized small scale interest in transboundary management of this ecosystem. Formal agreements, however, can only do so much to further management of an ecosystem that spans international boarders. A transboundary regional research meeting, the 2003 GB/PS Research Conference, opened the doors for large-scale informal cross-boarder cooperation and management. In addition to cooperation, continued efforts to stem toxic pollution, contain urban growth, and protect and restore ecosystems, require a commitment from scientists, educators and policy makers to better integrate research and science with decision-making.Former Director of Planning and of Special Projects in the British Columbia Ministry of Municipal Affairs.     

外部压力＋内部能力：政府治理双重维度对碳排放强度的影响研究

碳排放峰值和碳中和的“30/60目标”对政府环境治理提出了更高的要求,如何从政府治理压力和治理能力的视角探寻其与碳减排的关系,为助力中国“双碳”目标的实现提供了新的思路。本文选取中国 30个省（区、市） 2010—2020年的面板数据,通过直接效应、中介效应、空间溢出效应系统考察了政府外部治理压力和内部治理能力对碳减排的协同影响路径。研究发现,外部治理压力和内部治理能力均显著降低了碳排放强度,且内外部治理双重维度产生了显著的协同减排效应,在运用倾向得分匹配法和工具变量法进行稳健性检验时,该结论依然成立。此外,内外部治理双重维度对碳减排的驱动作用因地区分布差异和产业结构差异而存在异质性。中介效应分析结果表明绿色技术创新是内外部治理双重维度降低碳排放强度的重要机制。空间溢出效应分析表明内外部治理双重维度对邻近地区的碳排放强度存在负向空间溢出效应。