Smallholder farmers are key players in agrarian value chains, particularly in the Global South. I... more Smallholder farmers are key players in agrarian value chains, particularly in the Global South. In the planning of technology-oriented agricultural interventions featured prominently in bioeconomy policies they are however often neglected. As global demand for food and biomass is expected to rise, production increase through (bio) technological means is framed as a necessity. Yet its ecological and social sustainability has been debated. We add to this debate by investigating the possibilities and challenges for smallholder farmers to participate in the intensification of production in an emerging bioeconomy. We scrutinize the case of Pakistan, an agricultural country where 65% of farms operate less than 2 ha of land and where bioeconomy approaches such as biotechnology and advanced plant breeding have gained momentum in policy debates. We specifically analyze a cornerstone of the bioeconomy value chain-namely 'improved' seed varieties by looking at the experiences of smallholder farmers with genetically modified cotton and hybrid maize. We build on qualitative data from South Punjab collected between 2019 and 2022. Smallholders value improved seeds. However, the poorest strata are hindered from adopting improved seed varieties due to lack of resources, established crop rotation patterns, and frequent oscillations of the cropping trends. Market and climatic factors also limit the profitability of improved seed varieties as higher input costs disproportionately affect smallholder farmers. Furthermore, highly productive crops and frequent crop cycles result in surging tenancy rates for smallholders and can lead to their expulsion from agriculture. Our results contribute to the understanding of the complex role of smallholder farmers in the Global South under a bioeconomy scenario.
Land use is central to addressing sustainability issues, including biodiversity conservation, cli... more Land use is central to addressing sustainability issues, including biodiversity conservation, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, and sustainable energy. In this paper, we synthesize knowledge accumulated in land system science, the integrated study of terrestrial social-ecological systems, into 10 hard truths that have strong, general, empirical support. These facts help to explain the challenges of achieving sustainability in land use and thus also point toward solutions. The 10 facts are as follows: 1) Meanings and values of land are socially constructed and contested; 2) land systems exhibit complex behaviors with abrupt, hard-to-predict changes; 3) irreversible changes and path dependence are common features of land systems; 4) some land uses have a small footprint but very large impacts; 5) drivers and impacts of land-use change are globally interconnected and spill over to distant locations; 6) humanity lives on a used planet where all land provides benefits t...
Global land-use change is increasingly characterised by a spatial disconnect between the main env... more Global land-use change is increasingly characterised by a spatial disconnect between the main environmental, socioeconomic and political drivers of land change and the main impacts and outcomes of those changes. This presents substantial challenges for research and the governance of land systems towards sustainability. This chapter describes how the interdisciplinary field of land system science has started to address these challenges through the concept and framework of telecoupling. The chapter sets the scene for the present work that brings together leading land-use change and sustainability scholars to take stock of the telecoupling concept and framework and its relevance for studying global interconnectivity and complexity in relation to land-use change and sustainability.
Land use planning as strategic instruments to guide urban dynamics faces particular challenges in... more Land use planning as strategic instruments to guide urban dynamics faces particular challenges in the Global South, including Sub-Saharan Africa, where urgent interventions are required to improve urban and environmental sustainability. This study investigated and identified key challenges of land use planning and its environmental assessments to improve the urban and environmental sustainability of city-regions. In doing so, we combined expert interviews and questionnaires with spatial analyses of urban and regional land use plans, as well as current and future urban land cover maps derived from Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing. By overlaying and contrasting land use plans and land cover maps, we investigated spatial inconsistencies between urban and regional plans and the associated urban land dynamics and used expert surveys to identify the causes of such inconsistencies. We furthermore identified and interrogated key challenges facing land use planning, includin...
Understanding land-use change requires attention to local contexts and global processes. In this ... more Understanding land-use change requires attention to local contexts and global processes. In this chapter, zooming techniques and multi-sited research are presented as two qualitative approaches that can capture both aspects of change within the same research project. This chapter describes how zooming techniques and multi-sited research enable the in-depth contextual knowledge needed in qualitative research while allowing the researcher to follow processes outwards in space and backwards in time. Practical advice and examples as well as trade-offs associated with the two approaches are also presented. It is argued that qualitative research is important in telecoupling analysis, as it allows the research to ask who, what, where, and when, in order to get to the how and the why of a certain land-use event or change.
Interdisciplinarity is needed in order to address and solve the sustainability challenges of the ... more Interdisciplinarity is needed in order to address and solve the sustainability challenges of the twenty-first century. Telecoupling research is a clear response to this need. This chapter explores how, by being aware of the different modes and logics of interdisciplinary collaboration, telecoupling research can emerge as a flexible rather than a merely integrative interdisciplinary research framework. This chapter also illustrates how discussions around scale and distance in telecoupling research indicate how telecoupling research is striving for insights concerning global land-use change that are not reducible to understandings and definitions within either the natural or the social sciences. To encourage and facilitate this interdisciplinary process, this chapter argues that telecoupling research needs to not only focus on the how to of interdisciplinarity, but also actively focus on and discuss what political, economic or research logics drive the need for interdisciplinarity.
The agricultural use and conversion of tropical peatlands is considered a major source of land-ba... more The agricultural use and conversion of tropical peatlands is considered a major source of land-based greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, the protection and restoration of tropical peatlands has recently turned into an important strategy to mitigate global climate change. Little research exists that has investigated the impacts and dynamics that such climate mitigation efforts evoke in local communities living in and around peatlands. We present insights on this from Sumatra, Indonesia and use a climate justice lens to evaluate local outcomes. We show how an increasingly transnational network of state and non-state actors has become involved in developing new laws, policy programs and land-use agreements on Sumatra's coastal peatlands, aiming at supposedly win-win lowcarbon development pathways. We argue that such efforts are open to much of the same criticism that has been raised regarding previous policies and projects aimed at reducing GHGE from deforestation and forest degradation. These projects disregard local perspectives on development, fail to deliver the promised benefits and, through a reconfiguration of local land-use rights, reduce the capabilities of smallholder farmers to benefit from their land. In sum, our analysis suggests that recent policies and projects aimed at mitigating GHGE from tropical peatlands contribute to a redistribution of the global climate mitigation burden onto smallholder farmers in Indonesia. This occurs through their threefold assignment to protect forests, prevent fires and help restore degraded peatlands.
The concept of telecoupling has recently been proposed in Land System Science as an analytical fr... more The concept of telecoupling has recently been proposed in Land System Science as an analytical framework to address the increasing importance of distal connections and flows in driving current land use change. In this IRI THESys Discussion Paper the emergence and development of the telecoupling concept is traced. Particular attention is given the two telecoupling frameworks currently proposed in the literature. The paper then illustrates the applicability of these two frameworks using the case of rubber expansion in the Uplands of Northern Laos as an example. There, local land use change is increasingly influenced by a complexity of globalised drivers that transcends multiple spatial and temporal scales. Based on the case, the potentials, as well as the caveats of the frameworks are discussed. Regarding the latter, focus is on issues of simplicity and holism, temporal and spatial scales and the establishment of system boundaries. The paper concludes by discussing the potential for a...
In recent research on rural-to-urban migration in sub Saharan Africa, a major point of discussion... more In recent research on rural-to-urban migration in sub Saharan Africa, a major point of discussion has been to what extent cities in this region are growing as fast as previously assumed and what role rural-to-urban migration plays in this process. Some of the literature suggests that the extent of rural-to-urban migration has been exaggerated and that some cities are even experiencing a migration reversal. A much used example of this ‘reversal’ is Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In this paper, we argue that most of the published literature regarding rural-to-urban migration in Burkina Faso relies on retrospective survey data covering the period prior to 2000 and that in fact little is known about migration trends in the last 15 years. Based on ethnographic field data, our results suggest that recent socio-political and environmental developments in Burkina Faso give rise to at least six distinct reasons for leaving the villages to settle in Ouagadougou. The paper therefore raises the que...
Abstract Centralized state governance systems have been criticized for being ineffective and inef... more Abstract Centralized state governance systems have been criticized for being ineffective and inefficient in tackling complex climate change challenges. Consequently, governance models that integrate collaboration among diverse stakeholders are seen as crucial in increasing adaptation efforts around the world. However, at present, there is little insight into the mechanics of collaborative adaptation governance (CAG) at the local, regional, national or global levels. Drawing on collaborative governance theory and literature on climate change adaptation, we use multiple qualitative research methods to identify and explore CAG in northern Ghana. We examine the conceptualization and implementation of CAG projects as well as the motivation behind them and their ensuing benefits. Results show that perceived climatic changes, diminishing agricultural livelihoods, adaptation resource needs and opportunities largely drive CAG. Local state actors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide leadership in CAG, bridging gaps in access to adaptation resources through the provision of agricultural inputs, climate services, infrastructure and human capacity development. However, in parallel to these, there exist interwoven governance challenges that include questions of trust, commitment, transparency, accountability and the representation of diverse interests. We demonstrate how powerful state actors and NGOs set the agenda, frame problems, and implement rules and incentives that are contrary to the normative tenets of collaborative governance theory. Ultimately, the results of this study shows that CAG is attempted but the challenges of CAG in northern Ghana are large, while also providing insight into the extent to which CAG approaches can facilitate adaptation to climate change globally.
Despite the popularity of integrated conservation and development approaches to protected area ma... more Despite the popularity of integrated conservation and development approaches to protected area management, adjacent communities increasingly face livelihood dilemmas. Yet understanding of how market processes and conservation enforcement interact to influence livelihood responses remains limited. Targeting eight villages in Nam Et-Phou Louey (NEPL) National Park in northern Lao PDR, we draw on survey data with 255 households, 93 semi-structured interviews, and meso-level data on village conditions to examine how residents navigate associated livelihood dilemmas. A cluster analysis reveals five livelihood types with divergent capacities to engage in market development and cope with enforcement pressures. We show how market linkages, historical conservation interventions, and local access conditions shape livelihoods and differences between villages. Our approach yields a nuanced picture of how global conservation efforts result in an uneven distribution of costs and benefits at local scales. Conservation measures must account for highly divergent capacities to cope with access loss and diversify livelihoods.
Abstract In the resource curse literature, resource abundance is portrayed as a threat to peace r... more Abstract In the resource curse literature, resource abundance is portrayed as a threat to peace rather than an opportunity for socio-economic development. Moving away from natural resource competition and conflict, concepts like environmental peacebuilding as well as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focus on win–win cooperation around social and environmental issues. While some overlaps exist between environmental peacebuilding, CSR and the related concept of Social License to Operate (SLO), little systematic evidence exists on the potential role of the extractive sector in the environment-peace nexus. By examining the case of Guinea, this article questions whether bauxite mining companies’ CSR activities can contribute to peacebuilding. To do so, it deconstructs these activities into their conditions, mechanisms and expected outcomes. Besides reputation and funding, companies’ desire to avoid business-threatening social unrest and their need to obtain a social license are found to feature prominently. However, disparities also exist between how companies engage in CSR. These findings are used to discuss if and how mining companies, through their engagement with CSR and SLO, contribute to sustainable development and peace. By reconceptualizing the extractive sector as an actor of environmental peacebuilding, this article creates linkages between the environmental peacebuilding and CSR/SLO literatures.
Abstract Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a vital livelihood practice around the world, ... more Abstract Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a vital livelihood practice around the world, especially in the Global South. In Tanzania, millions of people depend on artisanal and small-scale gold mining and many of these people are in Geita, the main gold mining region of Tanzania. Based on qualitative research conducted in this region, this paper engages the artisanal and small-scale miners’ experiences of gold mining. It highlights how extracting gold is experienced as increasingly difficult and how miners worry that gold reserves will be exhausted in the near future. Academic attention and policy making have focused on formalization and sustainable management of ASM, addressing current practices and their social and environmental impacts. However, a knowledge gap remains in the understanding of livelihood implications that emerge when mineral sources are nearing exhaustion and they become harder to extract. In Geita, this has led miners to diversify their investments and consider alternative livelihood strategies. With a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this paper calls for a broader sustainability discussion on ASM, as well as a better integration of ASM into the SDG agenda. This integration should consider exit strategies for miners as their livelihoods depend upon non-renewable resources.
Abstract In Jambi province, Sumatra, Indonesia, flooding is a recurrent rainy season phenomenon. ... more Abstract In Jambi province, Sumatra, Indonesia, flooding is a recurrent rainy season phenomenon. Historically considered manageable, recent political economic developments have changed this situation. Today, flooding is an environmental hazard and a threat to people’s livelihoods and health. Based on qualitative research and literature that has developed relational approaches to risk and water, we investigate past and present hydrosocial relations in Jambi province and reconstruct the changing meaning of flooding. We suggest that flooding as a hazard in Jambi was produced through the introduction of the plantation industry to the area and its prioritization of dry land for agro-industrial development. This development altered the materiality of water flows, reconfigured power relations and changed the socio-cultural dimensions of flooding. Together, these changes have led to a separation of flooding from its original social and geographic realm, producing new risks and vulnerabilities. This paper provides insights into the material and symbolic dimensions that influence how environmental processes come to be imagined, controlled and contested. It shows how tracing the socionatural production of hazards may help explain the increasingly systemic nature of risks and provide insights into the wider social meaning of environmental risks.
The term “sustainability” is flexible as it needs to function in many different contexts and acro... more The term “sustainability” is flexible as it needs to function in many different contexts and across many issues. At the same time, this flexibility makes it difficult to assess and easy to misuse. Over the last three decades, numerous sustainability assessment tools have been developed to better define the term. In this paper, we critically address these attempts and argue that the flexibility of the term is not solely problematic, but allow people to create their own sustainability imaginaries, by which we mean a society’s understanding of how environmental resources should be used. We show this through a case study, the Martin Brod village in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where, within a few years, the inhabitants changed their sustainability imaginaries in parallel with shifting external socio-economic conditions and expectations. We primarily applied qualitative research methods. Our results show that changing sustainability imaginaries was made possible due to the flexibility of the ...
In the Global South, including the Sub-Saharan African city-regions, the possible future urban ex... more In the Global South, including the Sub-Saharan African city-regions, the possible future urban expansion patterns may pose a challenge towards improving environmental sustainability. Land use planning strategies and instruments for regulating urban expansion are faced with challenges, including insufficient data availability to offer insights into the possible future urban expansion. This study integrated empirical data derived from Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing, and surveys of experts to offer insights into the possible future urban expansion under spatial planning scenarios to support land use planning and environmental sustainability of city-regions. We analyzed the spatial determinants of urban expansion, calibrated the land cover model using the Multi-Layer Perceptron Neural Network and Markov, and developed three scenarios to simulate land cover from 2017 to 2030 and to 2050. The scenarios include Business As Usual that extrapolates past trends; Regional Land ...
This article examines the factors shaping the perception of climate change and the relationship b... more This article examines the factors shaping the perception of climate change and the relationship between climate change perception and migration. Drawing on a 691-case survey of climate perceptions in Cambodia, it explores three dimensions of climate change perception. The first is the relationship of climate change perceptions to space, geography, and scale. Second is the influence of livelihoods to climate change perceptions, and third is the relationship of climate perceptions to migration. The results show that perceptions of climate change are not significantly influenced by spatial distance, meaning that divergent or even opposite climate perceptions might coexist within a relatively small geographical area. The data, however, show that climate perceptions are significantly influenced by both engagement in certain primary livelihoods and contextually specified socioeconomic marginality. Despite this subjectivity of climate perceptions, a strong, statistically significant relationship exists between climate change perception and the prevalence of migrants in the household. Overarchingly, the article challenges efforts to infer direct linkages between climate data and human behavior, arguing instead for a more subjectively attuned understanding of the impacts of climate change on migration, to account for the multiple factors that influence perceptions of and responses to climate change.
Smallholder farmers are key players in agrarian value chains, particularly in the Global South. I... more Smallholder farmers are key players in agrarian value chains, particularly in the Global South. In the planning of technology-oriented agricultural interventions featured prominently in bioeconomy policies they are however often neglected. As global demand for food and biomass is expected to rise, production increase through (bio) technological means is framed as a necessity. Yet its ecological and social sustainability has been debated. We add to this debate by investigating the possibilities and challenges for smallholder farmers to participate in the intensification of production in an emerging bioeconomy. We scrutinize the case of Pakistan, an agricultural country where 65% of farms operate less than 2 ha of land and where bioeconomy approaches such as biotechnology and advanced plant breeding have gained momentum in policy debates. We specifically analyze a cornerstone of the bioeconomy value chain-namely 'improved' seed varieties by looking at the experiences of smallholder farmers with genetically modified cotton and hybrid maize. We build on qualitative data from South Punjab collected between 2019 and 2022. Smallholders value improved seeds. However, the poorest strata are hindered from adopting improved seed varieties due to lack of resources, established crop rotation patterns, and frequent oscillations of the cropping trends. Market and climatic factors also limit the profitability of improved seed varieties as higher input costs disproportionately affect smallholder farmers. Furthermore, highly productive crops and frequent crop cycles result in surging tenancy rates for smallholders and can lead to their expulsion from agriculture. Our results contribute to the understanding of the complex role of smallholder farmers in the Global South under a bioeconomy scenario.
Land use is central to addressing sustainability issues, including biodiversity conservation, cli... more Land use is central to addressing sustainability issues, including biodiversity conservation, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, and sustainable energy. In this paper, we synthesize knowledge accumulated in land system science, the integrated study of terrestrial social-ecological systems, into 10 hard truths that have strong, general, empirical support. These facts help to explain the challenges of achieving sustainability in land use and thus also point toward solutions. The 10 facts are as follows: 1) Meanings and values of land are socially constructed and contested; 2) land systems exhibit complex behaviors with abrupt, hard-to-predict changes; 3) irreversible changes and path dependence are common features of land systems; 4) some land uses have a small footprint but very large impacts; 5) drivers and impacts of land-use change are globally interconnected and spill over to distant locations; 6) humanity lives on a used planet where all land provides benefits t...
Global land-use change is increasingly characterised by a spatial disconnect between the main env... more Global land-use change is increasingly characterised by a spatial disconnect between the main environmental, socioeconomic and political drivers of land change and the main impacts and outcomes of those changes. This presents substantial challenges for research and the governance of land systems towards sustainability. This chapter describes how the interdisciplinary field of land system science has started to address these challenges through the concept and framework of telecoupling. The chapter sets the scene for the present work that brings together leading land-use change and sustainability scholars to take stock of the telecoupling concept and framework and its relevance for studying global interconnectivity and complexity in relation to land-use change and sustainability.
Land use planning as strategic instruments to guide urban dynamics faces particular challenges in... more Land use planning as strategic instruments to guide urban dynamics faces particular challenges in the Global South, including Sub-Saharan Africa, where urgent interventions are required to improve urban and environmental sustainability. This study investigated and identified key challenges of land use planning and its environmental assessments to improve the urban and environmental sustainability of city-regions. In doing so, we combined expert interviews and questionnaires with spatial analyses of urban and regional land use plans, as well as current and future urban land cover maps derived from Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing. By overlaying and contrasting land use plans and land cover maps, we investigated spatial inconsistencies between urban and regional plans and the associated urban land dynamics and used expert surveys to identify the causes of such inconsistencies. We furthermore identified and interrogated key challenges facing land use planning, includin...
Understanding land-use change requires attention to local contexts and global processes. In this ... more Understanding land-use change requires attention to local contexts and global processes. In this chapter, zooming techniques and multi-sited research are presented as two qualitative approaches that can capture both aspects of change within the same research project. This chapter describes how zooming techniques and multi-sited research enable the in-depth contextual knowledge needed in qualitative research while allowing the researcher to follow processes outwards in space and backwards in time. Practical advice and examples as well as trade-offs associated with the two approaches are also presented. It is argued that qualitative research is important in telecoupling analysis, as it allows the research to ask who, what, where, and when, in order to get to the how and the why of a certain land-use event or change.
Interdisciplinarity is needed in order to address and solve the sustainability challenges of the ... more Interdisciplinarity is needed in order to address and solve the sustainability challenges of the twenty-first century. Telecoupling research is a clear response to this need. This chapter explores how, by being aware of the different modes and logics of interdisciplinary collaboration, telecoupling research can emerge as a flexible rather than a merely integrative interdisciplinary research framework. This chapter also illustrates how discussions around scale and distance in telecoupling research indicate how telecoupling research is striving for insights concerning global land-use change that are not reducible to understandings and definitions within either the natural or the social sciences. To encourage and facilitate this interdisciplinary process, this chapter argues that telecoupling research needs to not only focus on the how to of interdisciplinarity, but also actively focus on and discuss what political, economic or research logics drive the need for interdisciplinarity.
The agricultural use and conversion of tropical peatlands is considered a major source of land-ba... more The agricultural use and conversion of tropical peatlands is considered a major source of land-based greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, the protection and restoration of tropical peatlands has recently turned into an important strategy to mitigate global climate change. Little research exists that has investigated the impacts and dynamics that such climate mitigation efforts evoke in local communities living in and around peatlands. We present insights on this from Sumatra, Indonesia and use a climate justice lens to evaluate local outcomes. We show how an increasingly transnational network of state and non-state actors has become involved in developing new laws, policy programs and land-use agreements on Sumatra's coastal peatlands, aiming at supposedly win-win lowcarbon development pathways. We argue that such efforts are open to much of the same criticism that has been raised regarding previous policies and projects aimed at reducing GHGE from deforestation and forest degradation. These projects disregard local perspectives on development, fail to deliver the promised benefits and, through a reconfiguration of local land-use rights, reduce the capabilities of smallholder farmers to benefit from their land. In sum, our analysis suggests that recent policies and projects aimed at mitigating GHGE from tropical peatlands contribute to a redistribution of the global climate mitigation burden onto smallholder farmers in Indonesia. This occurs through their threefold assignment to protect forests, prevent fires and help restore degraded peatlands.
The concept of telecoupling has recently been proposed in Land System Science as an analytical fr... more The concept of telecoupling has recently been proposed in Land System Science as an analytical framework to address the increasing importance of distal connections and flows in driving current land use change. In this IRI THESys Discussion Paper the emergence and development of the telecoupling concept is traced. Particular attention is given the two telecoupling frameworks currently proposed in the literature. The paper then illustrates the applicability of these two frameworks using the case of rubber expansion in the Uplands of Northern Laos as an example. There, local land use change is increasingly influenced by a complexity of globalised drivers that transcends multiple spatial and temporal scales. Based on the case, the potentials, as well as the caveats of the frameworks are discussed. Regarding the latter, focus is on issues of simplicity and holism, temporal and spatial scales and the establishment of system boundaries. The paper concludes by discussing the potential for a...
In recent research on rural-to-urban migration in sub Saharan Africa, a major point of discussion... more In recent research on rural-to-urban migration in sub Saharan Africa, a major point of discussion has been to what extent cities in this region are growing as fast as previously assumed and what role rural-to-urban migration plays in this process. Some of the literature suggests that the extent of rural-to-urban migration has been exaggerated and that some cities are even experiencing a migration reversal. A much used example of this ‘reversal’ is Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In this paper, we argue that most of the published literature regarding rural-to-urban migration in Burkina Faso relies on retrospective survey data covering the period prior to 2000 and that in fact little is known about migration trends in the last 15 years. Based on ethnographic field data, our results suggest that recent socio-political and environmental developments in Burkina Faso give rise to at least six distinct reasons for leaving the villages to settle in Ouagadougou. The paper therefore raises the que...
Abstract Centralized state governance systems have been criticized for being ineffective and inef... more Abstract Centralized state governance systems have been criticized for being ineffective and inefficient in tackling complex climate change challenges. Consequently, governance models that integrate collaboration among diverse stakeholders are seen as crucial in increasing adaptation efforts around the world. However, at present, there is little insight into the mechanics of collaborative adaptation governance (CAG) at the local, regional, national or global levels. Drawing on collaborative governance theory and literature on climate change adaptation, we use multiple qualitative research methods to identify and explore CAG in northern Ghana. We examine the conceptualization and implementation of CAG projects as well as the motivation behind them and their ensuing benefits. Results show that perceived climatic changes, diminishing agricultural livelihoods, adaptation resource needs and opportunities largely drive CAG. Local state actors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide leadership in CAG, bridging gaps in access to adaptation resources through the provision of agricultural inputs, climate services, infrastructure and human capacity development. However, in parallel to these, there exist interwoven governance challenges that include questions of trust, commitment, transparency, accountability and the representation of diverse interests. We demonstrate how powerful state actors and NGOs set the agenda, frame problems, and implement rules and incentives that are contrary to the normative tenets of collaborative governance theory. Ultimately, the results of this study shows that CAG is attempted but the challenges of CAG in northern Ghana are large, while also providing insight into the extent to which CAG approaches can facilitate adaptation to climate change globally.
Despite the popularity of integrated conservation and development approaches to protected area ma... more Despite the popularity of integrated conservation and development approaches to protected area management, adjacent communities increasingly face livelihood dilemmas. Yet understanding of how market processes and conservation enforcement interact to influence livelihood responses remains limited. Targeting eight villages in Nam Et-Phou Louey (NEPL) National Park in northern Lao PDR, we draw on survey data with 255 households, 93 semi-structured interviews, and meso-level data on village conditions to examine how residents navigate associated livelihood dilemmas. A cluster analysis reveals five livelihood types with divergent capacities to engage in market development and cope with enforcement pressures. We show how market linkages, historical conservation interventions, and local access conditions shape livelihoods and differences between villages. Our approach yields a nuanced picture of how global conservation efforts result in an uneven distribution of costs and benefits at local scales. Conservation measures must account for highly divergent capacities to cope with access loss and diversify livelihoods.
Abstract In the resource curse literature, resource abundance is portrayed as a threat to peace r... more Abstract In the resource curse literature, resource abundance is portrayed as a threat to peace rather than an opportunity for socio-economic development. Moving away from natural resource competition and conflict, concepts like environmental peacebuilding as well as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focus on win–win cooperation around social and environmental issues. While some overlaps exist between environmental peacebuilding, CSR and the related concept of Social License to Operate (SLO), little systematic evidence exists on the potential role of the extractive sector in the environment-peace nexus. By examining the case of Guinea, this article questions whether bauxite mining companies’ CSR activities can contribute to peacebuilding. To do so, it deconstructs these activities into their conditions, mechanisms and expected outcomes. Besides reputation and funding, companies’ desire to avoid business-threatening social unrest and their need to obtain a social license are found to feature prominently. However, disparities also exist between how companies engage in CSR. These findings are used to discuss if and how mining companies, through their engagement with CSR and SLO, contribute to sustainable development and peace. By reconceptualizing the extractive sector as an actor of environmental peacebuilding, this article creates linkages between the environmental peacebuilding and CSR/SLO literatures.
Abstract Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a vital livelihood practice around the world, ... more Abstract Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a vital livelihood practice around the world, especially in the Global South. In Tanzania, millions of people depend on artisanal and small-scale gold mining and many of these people are in Geita, the main gold mining region of Tanzania. Based on qualitative research conducted in this region, this paper engages the artisanal and small-scale miners’ experiences of gold mining. It highlights how extracting gold is experienced as increasingly difficult and how miners worry that gold reserves will be exhausted in the near future. Academic attention and policy making have focused on formalization and sustainable management of ASM, addressing current practices and their social and environmental impacts. However, a knowledge gap remains in the understanding of livelihood implications that emerge when mineral sources are nearing exhaustion and they become harder to extract. In Geita, this has led miners to diversify their investments and consider alternative livelihood strategies. With a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this paper calls for a broader sustainability discussion on ASM, as well as a better integration of ASM into the SDG agenda. This integration should consider exit strategies for miners as their livelihoods depend upon non-renewable resources.
Abstract In Jambi province, Sumatra, Indonesia, flooding is a recurrent rainy season phenomenon. ... more Abstract In Jambi province, Sumatra, Indonesia, flooding is a recurrent rainy season phenomenon. Historically considered manageable, recent political economic developments have changed this situation. Today, flooding is an environmental hazard and a threat to people’s livelihoods and health. Based on qualitative research and literature that has developed relational approaches to risk and water, we investigate past and present hydrosocial relations in Jambi province and reconstruct the changing meaning of flooding. We suggest that flooding as a hazard in Jambi was produced through the introduction of the plantation industry to the area and its prioritization of dry land for agro-industrial development. This development altered the materiality of water flows, reconfigured power relations and changed the socio-cultural dimensions of flooding. Together, these changes have led to a separation of flooding from its original social and geographic realm, producing new risks and vulnerabilities. This paper provides insights into the material and symbolic dimensions that influence how environmental processes come to be imagined, controlled and contested. It shows how tracing the socionatural production of hazards may help explain the increasingly systemic nature of risks and provide insights into the wider social meaning of environmental risks.
The term “sustainability” is flexible as it needs to function in many different contexts and acro... more The term “sustainability” is flexible as it needs to function in many different contexts and across many issues. At the same time, this flexibility makes it difficult to assess and easy to misuse. Over the last three decades, numerous sustainability assessment tools have been developed to better define the term. In this paper, we critically address these attempts and argue that the flexibility of the term is not solely problematic, but allow people to create their own sustainability imaginaries, by which we mean a society’s understanding of how environmental resources should be used. We show this through a case study, the Martin Brod village in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where, within a few years, the inhabitants changed their sustainability imaginaries in parallel with shifting external socio-economic conditions and expectations. We primarily applied qualitative research methods. Our results show that changing sustainability imaginaries was made possible due to the flexibility of the ...
In the Global South, including the Sub-Saharan African city-regions, the possible future urban ex... more In the Global South, including the Sub-Saharan African city-regions, the possible future urban expansion patterns may pose a challenge towards improving environmental sustainability. Land use planning strategies and instruments for regulating urban expansion are faced with challenges, including insufficient data availability to offer insights into the possible future urban expansion. This study integrated empirical data derived from Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing, and surveys of experts to offer insights into the possible future urban expansion under spatial planning scenarios to support land use planning and environmental sustainability of city-regions. We analyzed the spatial determinants of urban expansion, calibrated the land cover model using the Multi-Layer Perceptron Neural Network and Markov, and developed three scenarios to simulate land cover from 2017 to 2030 and to 2050. The scenarios include Business As Usual that extrapolates past trends; Regional Land ...
This article examines the factors shaping the perception of climate change and the relationship b... more This article examines the factors shaping the perception of climate change and the relationship between climate change perception and migration. Drawing on a 691-case survey of climate perceptions in Cambodia, it explores three dimensions of climate change perception. The first is the relationship of climate change perceptions to space, geography, and scale. Second is the influence of livelihoods to climate change perceptions, and third is the relationship of climate perceptions to migration. The results show that perceptions of climate change are not significantly influenced by spatial distance, meaning that divergent or even opposite climate perceptions might coexist within a relatively small geographical area. The data, however, show that climate perceptions are significantly influenced by both engagement in certain primary livelihoods and contextually specified socioeconomic marginality. Despite this subjectivity of climate perceptions, a strong, statistically significant relationship exists between climate change perception and the prevalence of migrants in the household. Overarchingly, the article challenges efforts to infer direct linkages between climate data and human behavior, arguing instead for a more subjectively attuned understanding of the impacts of climate change on migration, to account for the multiple factors that influence perceptions of and responses to climate change.
Increasing evidence-synthesized in this paper-shows that economic growth contributes to biodivers... more Increasing evidence-synthesized in this paper-shows that economic growth contributes to biodiversity loss via greater resource consumption and higher emissions. Nonetheless, a review of international biodiversity and sustainability policies shows that the majority advocate economic growth. Since improvements in resource use efficiency have so far not allowed for absolute global reductions in resource use and pollution , we question the support for economic growth in these policies, where inadequate attention is paid to the question of how growth can be decoupled from biodiversity loss. Drawing on the literature about alternatives to economic growth, we explore this contradiction and suggest ways forward to halt global biodiversity decline. These include policy proposals to move beyond the growth paradigm while enhancing overall prosperity, which can be implemented by combining top-down and bottom-up gov-ernance across scales. Finally, we call the attention of researchers and policy makers to two immediate steps: acknowledge the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation in future policies; and explore socioeconomic trajectories beyond economic growth in the next generation of biodiversity scenarios.
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Papers by Jonas Nielsen