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LUCSUS Recent Publications

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Islar, Mine (2013) Private Rivers: Politics of Renewable Energy and the Rise of Water Struggles in Turkey
Lund Dissertations in Sustainability Science Vol 4, Lund University

Keywords:
neoliberal state, Renewable energy, water rights, privatisation, Turkey, sustainability.

Popular science abstract
We won’t give up Anatolia! Shouting this slogan, thousands of villagers marched towards Ankara, protesting against the projects that threaten to channel Anatolian rivers into hydro-power plants. The majority of demonstrators did not reach Ankara. The police stopped them at the city gates for disturbing the public order: hydroelectricity development is a national priority for the Turkish government.
The path chosen for promoting renewable energy in Turkey is to allow the private sector to lease the use rights of rivers for 49 years. But what happens to rural life and to the rights of people and nature when parts of a river system are privatized and diverted for hydroelectricity purposes? Who owns the water? Engaging with current debates about water privatization, environmental justice and land and water grabbing, this thesis explores the ‘flowing politics’ of renewable energy in Turkey.

Link:
http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24732&postid=3735486

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Bettini, Giovanni (2013) Climatised Moves - Climate-induced Migration and the Politics of Environmental Discourse Lund Dissertations in Sustainability Science Vol 5, Lund University

Keywords:
migration, climate change, climate security, adaptation, resilience, post-politics

Popular science abstract
Climate migration has become an iconic topic in international climate politics and policy. This work, combining political ecology, critical security studies and post-foundational theories, traces the changes of conflicting discourses across time and space, and assesses the different forms of security they interpellate.
While initially attracting attention as a security issue, visualised by the spectre of mounting waves of climate refugees, it is now mainstreamed and (re)signified in the soft terms of human security. The motto of governed migration as an adaptation strategy seems to configure climate migration as an object for mundane governance rather than any exceptional measures.
The exceptionalism of security and the mundanity of governance appear to congrue to a depoliticization of climate migration. A biopolitical government of disordered and dangerous populations at the fringes of capital and development appears at the horizon, once the blurred distinction between exception and rule dissolves.

Link:
http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24732&postid=3736729

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Ness, B. (2013) Editorial: Sustainability science: Progress made and directions forward. Challenges in Sustainability, 2013, Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages 27–28

Abstract:
I am honored to contribute an editorial for the inaugural issue of Challenges in Sustainability (CiS). It has provided the opportunity for me to take a step back and reflect on both the developmental progress in the field of sustainability science since its formal launch, now over twelve years ago [1,2], and where the field might head in coming years. While it may always feel that the field is changing too slowly to keep up with the challenges it addresses, the developments have been noteworthy, especially in academia. I will discuss three areas: education, research and institutional development.

DOI: 10.12924/cis2013.01010027

Link:
http://librelloph.com/ojs/index.php/challengesinsustainability/article/view/cis-1.1.27

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Anna Kaijser (2013) White Ponchos Dripping Away? Glacier Narratives in Bolivian Climate Change Discourse In: (De)constructing the Greenhouse. Interpretive Approaches to Global Climate Governance. Eds. Chris Methmann, Delf Rothe, Benjamin Stephan. Published 30th April 2013 by Routledge – 266 pages, p-189-197.

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Giovanni Bettini (2013) (In)Convenient Convergences: ‘Climate Refugees’, apocalyptic discourses and the depoliticization of climate induced migration. In: (De)constructing the Greenhouse. Interpretive Approaches to Global Climate Governance. Eds. Chris Methmann, Delf Rothe, Benjamin Stephan Published 30th April 2013 by Routledge – 266 pages. p.122-138.

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Brandstedt, E., Bergman, A-K (2013): Climate rights: feasible or not?, Environmental Politics, 22:3, 394-409.

Keywords
climate change; human rights; climate rights; feasibility; enforceability

Abstract:
Scholars have argued that we have compelling reasons to combat climate change because it threatens human rights, referred to here as ‘climate rights’. The prospects of climate rights are analysed assuming two basic desiderata: the accuracy of the concept in capturing the normative dimension of climate change (reasons to prevent/mitigate/adapt to climate change), and its ability to generate political measures. In order for climate rights to meet these desiderata, certain conditions must be satisfied: important human interests are put at risk by global climate change; there is an identified rights-holder and obligation-bearer; this relationship is codified in a legitimate formal structure; it is feasible to claim the rights; an ‘enforcement mechanism’ (not necessarily of legal character) could strengthen compliance. When asserting climate rights, it is insufficient to consider the moral ground or actual enforcement possibilities by themselves. Normative and practical aspects are closely interlinked and must be studied in tandem.

DOI:10.1080/09644016.2013.775723

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Jerneck A., Olsson L. (2013) More than Trees! Understanding the agroforestry adoption gap in subsistence agriculture: insights from narrative walks in Kenya. Journal of Rural Studies, Volume 32, October 2013, Pages 114–125

Keywords:
Agroforestry; Food security; Grounded theory; Narrative walks; Social differentiation; Stratified ontologies

Abstract:
Agroforestry can contribute to the mitigation of climate change while delivering multiple benefits to sub-Saharan farmers who are exposed to climate variability, land degradation, water scarcity, high disease burden and persistent poverty. But adoption is slow. Based on a critical problem solving approach and grounded theory as a strategy, we study agroforestry and subsistence agriculture as integrated, yet separate, socio-ecological systems with different organisational logics and temporal dynamics. Using ‘narrative walks’ as a qualitative method to construct grounded data, we explore the social and natural dimensions of the complex, diverse and uncertain landscape and life-worlds of subsistence agriculture. In the grounded analysis, we clarify how social stratification constructs incentives and disincentives to adopt agroforestry. To exemplify, food secure and opportunity seeking farmers may invest land and labour in trees, nurseries and social networks while risk evading farmers are constrained by the ‘food imperative’, the ‘health imperative’ and poverty in and of itself. By recognising material, symbolic and relational aspects we show how the ontology of global policies focussing on the merits of agroforestry differs from the ontology of everyday practices and strategies in subsistence agriculture. Such ontological stratification constitutes another constraint to agroforestry adoption as a comprehensive form of socio-technological change.

Link:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2013.04.004

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Parker, J., Tiberi, L. J., Akhilova, J., Toirov, F., Almedom, A. M. (2013) "Hope is the engine of life; "Hope dies with the person": Analysis of meaning-making in FAO-supported North Caucasus communities using the Sense and Sensibilities of Coherence (SSOC) methodology. Journal of Loss & Trauma: International Perspectives on Stress & Coping 18 (2): 140-151.

Keywords:
food security; hope; North Caucasus; resilience; Sense and Sensibilities of Coherence (SSOC)

Abstract:
The previously adapted Sense of Coherence Scale, short form (SOC-13), was administered in Russian to 232 randomly selected consenting participants from three groups of FAO-supported farming-based intervention project beneficiaries in the North Caucasus. Analysis of SOC-13 subscales revealed that “meaningfulness“ scores were significantly higher than “comprehensibility“ and “manageability“ scores for all three groups. Qualitative data gathered with the integrated Sense and Sensibilities of Coherence (SSOC) methodology illuminated the quantitative data. Hope was highlighted as the key component of meaning making, anchoring human resilience as measured by the SOC-13. Methodological and humanitarian policy questions for further research are outlined.

Link:
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/ulat/2013/00000018/00000002/art00004

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Astier Almedom, (2013) "Resilience: Outcome, Process, Emergence, Narrative (OPEN) Theory", On the Horizon, Vol. 21 Iss: 1 (Date online 20/10/2012)

Keywords:
Adaptation, Anticipation, Complex Systems, Emergence, Human resilience, Resilience narratives, Sense and Sensibilities of Coherence (SSOC)

Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to synthesize coherent theory that identifies and links the cognitive and structural elements in both the psychosocial and organizational dimensions of resilience.

Design/methodology/approach – The approach takes the form of the author's review of and reflections on the dynamics of resilience in living systems in general, and in humans in particular, drawing on seminal scholarly publications across trans-disciplinary fields of scientific research.

Findings – Human resilience is recounted and documented in narrative form across spatial and temporal gradients: retrospectively - in historical perspective; introspectively - in the immediate aftermath of traumatic events and/or experiences; and prospectively - in anticipation of crisis. Measurements or assessments of human resilience vary according to the research questions being addressed. The variables may relate to resilience as an outcome or a process. Resilience is also assessed as an emergent attribute of individuals and communities who may have undergone post-traumatic growth, and/or transformation associated with self-organized and self-governing systems. Complex systems where key functions and core identity and integrity are sustained may be examined under an integrated explanatory theoretical model that allows for systems’ resilience to be measured as an Outcome; monitored as a Process; identified as an Emergent property; and Narrated - hence, OPEN theory.

Practical implications – Decision makers faced with contemporary questions of how best to embark on the fast-moving sort of “runaway train” concept of resilience may find OPEN useful as a tool for identifying, understanding and promoting human resilience - a basis for sustainable futures.

Originality/value – This conceptual paper offers original insights with a pragmatic analytical tool that coherently links the cognitive and structural elements of human resilience.

Link:
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17065751&show=html

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Anne Jerneck and Lennart Olsson. (2013). Food first! Theorising assets and actors in agroforestry: risk evaders, opportunity seekers and ‘the food imperative’ in sub-Saharan Africa. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. DOI:10.1080/14735903.2012.751714

Keywords:
agroforestry adoption, carbon sequestration, climate change, entrepreneurs, food security, grounded theory, narrative walks, risk, sustainability science, time poverty

Abstract:
Despite widely recognised and well-established benefits, it is difficult to adopt the multifunctional activity of agroforestry into the landscape and lifeworld of small-scale agriculture, if poverty, itself a main reason for adopting agroforestry, stands in its way. Based on participant observations and interviews with small-scale farmers in western Kenya, we explore and theorise agroforestry adoption as a process of socio-ecological and socio-technological change. Proceeding from sustainability science and a modified livelihoods approach we use grounded theory in ‘narrative walks’ to analyse adoption and non-adoption of agroforestry in a setting where farmers continuously interpret, adjust to and invest in their environment. Given the diversity and complexity of such livelihoods, the analysis is structured around reproductive and productive chains, strategies and practices defined by uncertainty and risk, and conflicting interests. Findings indicate that food secure farmers may act as entrepreneurially inclined ‘opportunity seekers’ and venture into agroforestry, whereas the ‘food imperative’(alongside the ‘health imperative’) makes it more difficult for agroforestry to take root among the ‘poorest of the poor’ who act as ‘risk evaders’. Hence, agroforestry adoption must be understood within an integrated human–environment frame recognising the socio-ecological relations of technology adoption and the wider political aspects and power structures of food security.

Link:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14735903.2012.751714#preview

2012

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Viers, JH, JN Williams, KA Nicholas, O Barbosa, I Kotze, L Spence, L Webb, A Merenlender, and
M Reynolds (2013) “Vinecology: Pairing wine with nature.” Conservation Letters 6(1).
doi: 10.1111/conl.12011

Keywords:
New world mediterranean; vineyard; footprint; winelands; working landscapes; best practices; viticulture

Abstract
With some of the highest biodiversity on the planet, the Mediterranean Biome is experiencing a conservation crisis driven by high human population density, development, and habitat fragmentation. While protected areas safeguard some critical habitat, economic realities require conservation efforts in human-dominated landscapes to maintain biodiversity in practice. As an essential component of food security for a growing human population, agricultural landscapes must play a key role in such efforts because they occupy large areas of land, are adjacent to critical habitat, and both depend on and provide ecosystem services. Winegrapes are a high-value specialty crop that can both benefit from and contribute to conservation, as producers and consumers increasingly value environmental stewardship. At the same time, potential expansion of cultivated areas, either to meet future wine demand or in response to climate change, means that decreasing the environmental impact of viticulture is critical for biodiversity conservation. We propose that vinecology—the integration of ecological and viticultural practices—can produce win-win solutions for wine production and nature conservation, where the goal is a diverse landscape that yields sustainable economic benefits, species and habitat protection, and long-term provision of a full range of ecosystem services.

Link:
http://www.dx.doi.org/10.1111/conl.12011

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Gabrielsson, S., V. Ramasar (2012) ”Widows: agents of change in a climate of water uncertainty”
Journal of Cleaner Production, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.01.034

Keywords:
Agency; Climate variability and change; Collective action; Water stress; Widows; Kenya

Abstract:
The African continent has been severely affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic and as a consequence, development is being obstructed. Agriculture and food production systems are changing as a result of the burden of the pandemic. Many farming families are experiencing trauma from morbidity and mortality as well as facing labour losses and exhaustion. To further exacerbate the situation, climate variability and change reduce the available water supply for domestic and productive uses. This article describes how these multiple stressors play out in Nyanza province in Western Kenya and explores livelihood responses to water stress in Onjiko location, Nyanza. In this community, widows and divorced women affected by HIV and AIDS have become agents of positive change. Data from local surveys (2007), mapping of seasonal calendars (September 2009) and numerous focus group meetings and interviews with women in Onjiko (October 2008, January 2010, January 2011), reveal that despite a negative fall-back position, widows are improving their households’ water and food security. This adaptation and even mitigation to some of the experienced climate impacts are emerging from their new activities in a setting of changing conditions. In the capacity of main livelihood providers, widows are gaining increased decision making and bargaining power. As such they can invest in sustainable innovations like rain water harvesting systems and agroforestry. Throughout, they work together in formalized groups of collective action that capitalize on the pooling of natural and human resources as well as planned financial management during hardship periods.

Link:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652612000546

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Gabrielsson, Sara (2012) Uncertain Futures - Adaptive capacities to climate variability and change in the Lake Victoria Basin. Lund Dissertations in Sustainability Science, Volume 3, pp. 164. ISBN: 978-91-7473-310-5

Keywords:
climate vulnerability, adaptive capacities, collective action, Lake Victoria Basin, smallholder farmers, sustainable adaptation, sustainability science.

Abstract:
The Lake Victoria basin (LVB) in East Africa can be considered a climate change hotspot because of its large rural population dependent on rain-fed farming. Drawing on extensive fieldwork (2007-2011) in rural communities along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya and Tanzania, I explore adaptive capacities to climate variability and change and discuss how they interrelate in situ. Using multiple methods, tools and techniques, including survey and rainfall data, individual and group interviews, interactive mapping of seasonal calendars and a multi-stakeholder workshop, I locate the place-based effects and responses to a number of converging climate induced stressors on smallholder farmers’ wellbeing and natural resources. Research findings show that adaptive capacities to climate variability and change in the LVB are complex, dynamic and characterized by high location-specificity, thereby signifying the value of using an integrative and place-based approach to understand climate vulnerability. Specifically, the study demonstrates how increased unpredictability in rainfall causes chronic livelihood stress illustrated by recurring and worsening periods of food insecurity, growing cash dependency and heavy disease burdens. The study also reveals that food and income buffers increase when and where farmers, particularly women farmers, collectively respond to climate induced stressors through deliberate strategies rooted in a culture of saving and planning. Nevertheless, the study concludes that smallholders in the LVB are facing a highly uncertain future with discernible, yet differentiated adaptation deficits, due to chronic livelihood stress driven by unequal access to fundamental adaptive capacities such as land, health, cash and collective networks.

Link:
http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=12683&postid=2438316

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Gabrielsson, Sara, Broggard, Sara, Jerneck Anne (2012) Living without buffers—illustrating climate vulnerability in the Lake Victoria basin. Sustainability Science, DOI 10.1007/s11625-012-0191-3

Keywords:
Climate vulnerability, Exposure, Sensitivity, Differential adaptive capacity, Smallholder farmers, Lake Victoria Basin

Abstract:
Exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity are essential, albeit theoretically vague, components of climate vulnerability. This has triggered debate surrounding how these factors can be translated into, and understood in, an empirical context subject to present and future harm. In this article, which draws on extensive fieldwork in the Lake Victoria Basin of Kenya and Tanzania, we illustrate how exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity play out in the context of climate vulnerability and discuss how they interact in situ. Using a mixed methods approach including survey data, rainfall data and a suite of participatory methods, such as focus groups and interactive mapping of seasonal calendars, we identify how climate-induced stressors affect smallholder farmers’ well-being and natural resources. Drawing on the seasonal calendar as a heuristic, and climate vulnerability terminology, we illustrate when, where and how these climate-induced stressors converge to constrain farmers’ livelihoods. Our analysis indicates that farmers in the basin face a highly uncertain future with discernible, but differentiated, adaptation deficits due to recurring, and potentially worsening, patterns of hardship.

Link:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11625-012-0191-3#

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Jerneck, A. and L. Olsson (2012) A smoke-free kitchen: initiating community based co-production for cleaner cooking and cuts in carbon emission. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume xxx (2012) 1-8 (8 pages) (In Press). dx.doi.org/10.1016/jclpro.2012.09.26

Keywords:
Climate change; Cooking; Gender equality; Global health; Improved stoves; Indoor air pollution; Neglected diseases; Resources-sociology; Respiratory diseases; Social norms; Soot

Abstract
Cooking over open fire with solid fuels results in incomplete combustion and indoor air pollution (IAP) causing respiratory and other diseases leading to nearly two million premature deaths per year. In urban areas, IAP interacts with outdoor pollutants in toxic chemical mixtures affecting also other citizens and damaging regional air quality in terms of 'brown clouds'. Deaths result mainly in women, children and infants, who are directly exposed to smoke in unventilated kitchens, thus reflecting differentiated and unequal impacts across population groups. Despite the heavy health burden and discomfort, IAP has only recently been recognised as associated with neglected diseases. In search of synergies between adaptation and mitigation, we seek gender sensitive social innovations to halt smoke, soot and early death while reducing deforestation and carbon emissions. Using transition arenas as a participatory method for experiments and social learning we engaged with local entrepreneurs and peasant farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to initiate co-production of efficient flue-piped stoves that save energy, labour and lives. Findings indicate that successful design, production and adoption of improved cooking stoves is possible, but the structural challenges of poverty, inequality and distrust may inhibit further diffusion and more profound processes of social learning. Insights from local studies must therefore be contextualised into broader understandings, as attempted here, while local adoption must be combined with wider initiatives and government policies into complex micro-to-macro solutions that provide forceful effects against IAP and its drivers.

Link:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095965261200491X

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Jönsson, Kristina, Jerneck, Anne, Arvidson, Malin (2012) Politics and development in a globalised world. An introduction. Lund. Studentlitteratur. ISBN:9789144081649

With increased communications, migration and integration, distances are shrinking in a changing and globalised world. At the same time, the gaps between different groups of people are widening and there is growing complexity. How is development to be understood in such a context?

Politics and development in a globalised world is a comprehensive introduction to this broad and exciting field. It presents historical and contemporary theories and approaches to social change and discusses the policies and practice adopted by various actors in promoting development in myriad local and global processes. In so doing the book crosses boundaries in time, place and subject matters.

More specifically, the authors analyse the interplay between states, markets and societies and consider old and new actors in international development co-operation. In addition, they highlight core issues in development such as democratisation, poverty, equality, justice, security, migration, global health, environment and climate change. Finally, they discuss ways to study and bring about development and also to tackle future political and developmental challenges.

The book is suitable for university courses but is also aimed at a broader public with an interest in development questions.

Link:
https://www.studentlitteratur.se/#produkt/355/39166

The book is also available in Swedish:
Jönsson, Kristina, Jerneck, Anne, Arvidson, Malin (2011)
Politik och utveckling i en globaliserad värld. En introduktion
Lund. Studentlitteratur. ISBN:9789144070179

Link:
https://www.studentlitteratur.se/#produkt/355/32623

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Andersson, E. and S. Gabrielsson (2012) ”Because of poverty we had to come together – Collective action as a pathway to improved food security in rural Kenya and Uganda”. Journal of International Agricultural Sustainability, DOI: 10.1080/14735903.2012.666029

Keywords:
communities of practice, collective action, food security, Kenya, smallholder farming, Uganda

Abstract:
Agricultural productivity in East African smallholder systems is notoriously low and food production faces multiple challenges, including soil degradation, decreasing land availability, poor market integration, disease burdens and climate change impacts. However, recent evidence from an in-depth study from two sites in Kenya and Uganda shows signs of new social dynamics as a response to these multiple stressors. This paper focuses on the emergence of local social institutions for collective action, in which particularly women farmers organize themselves. Although previous research on collective action has largely focused on common-pool resource management, we argue that collective action is one potential pathway to livelihood and sustainability improvements also in a setting of private land ownership. Trust building, awareness raising and actions to improve livelihood security through risk sharing and pooling of labour and other limited assets have given people more time and resources available for diversification, preventative activities, experimentation and resource conservation. It thereby strengthens farmers' capacity to cope with and adapt to change, as well as contributes to the agency at the local level.

Link:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14735903.2012.666029

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Islar, Mine (2012) Privatised hydropower development in Turkey: A case of water grabbing?
Water Alternatives 5(2): 376-391

Keywords:
Hydropower, water use rights, neoliberalism, privatisation, Turkey

Abstract:
This paper investigates how river privatisation in Turkey is deployed to expand renewable energy production and the implications this has for issues of ownership, rights to water and community life. Recent neoliberal reforms in Turkey have enabled the private sector to lease the rights to rivers for 49 years for the sole purpose of electricity production. The paper focuses on the re-scaling and reallocation of control over rivers through technical-legal redefinition of productive use, access and rights; and on discursive practices that marginalise rural communities and undermine alternative framings of nature. In order to actuate hydropower projects, what previously constituted legitimate water use and access is being contested and redefined. This process involves redefining what is legal (and therefore also what is illegal) such that state regulatory mechanisms favour private-sector interests by the easement of rights on property, government incentives and regulation of use rights to water. Through this lens, in some cases this particular privatisation in Turkey can be understood as an instance of 'water grabbing', where powerful actors gain control over use and increase their own benefits by diverting water and profit away from local communities living along these rivers despite their resistance. The analysis is based on empirical evidence derived from semi-structured interviews, newspapers, governmental and NGO reports, and observations during 3 months of fieldwork in Ankara and several villages in North and South Anatolia.

Link:
http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=175

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Alf Hornborg, Eric Brandstedt, Eric Clark, Kenneth Hermele, Torsten Krause, Andreas Malm, Lennart Olsson, Johannes Persson and Henrik Thoren (2012) A Lucid Assessment of Uneven Development as a Result of the Unequal Exchange of Time and Space

The first LUCID Assessment departs from a text, written by Alf Hornborg, focused on conceptual issues in relation to what is called ‘unequal exchange’ and concerns the ecological basis of economics. It is an attempt to steer clear of objections directed towards his previous studies of these ecological flows. In particular it is a defense against the critique that “the very notion of ‘unequal’ exchange must imply some kind of value judgment”.

Link:
http://www.lucsus.lu.se/LUCID_ASSESSMENT_ECOLOGICALLY_UNEQUAL_EXCHANGE.pdf

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Kanie, Norichika, Michele M. Betsill, Ruben Zondervan, Frank Biermann, and Oran R. Young (2012)
A Charter Moment: Restructuring Governance for Sustainability. Public Administration and Development (in press)

Abstract:
We are living in a highly dynamic, human-dominated Earth System in which non-linear, abrupt, and irreversible changes are not only possible but also probable. These changes require institutional structures capable of steering human society away from critical tipping points and irreversible change and ensuring sustainable livelihoods for all. We see 2012 as a “charter moment”, a historic opportunity to transform the institutional framework for sustainable development (IFSD) to better address the critical issues and political dynamics in the twenty-first century. In this paper, we present “The Hakone Vision on Governance for Sustainability in the 21st Century,” which calls for a fundamental restructuring of the IFSD that 1) clearly articulates the aspirations of governance for sustainability including objectives and underlying values and norms; 2) allows for meaningful and accountable participation by a wide range of actors to develop solutions from people for people; and 3) creates an architecture to include better configuration of actors, actor groups and their networks, as well as improved institutions and decision-making mechanisms. We situate the Hakone Vision in the context of discussions of the IFSD and discuss our process for developing the Hakone Vision through a series of “world café” discussions involving academic experts on global environmental governance and policy practitioners working at the local, national and global level. Based on our assessment of the IFSD and the challenges we face, we suggest that proposals for a Sustainable Development Council in the UN warrant further consideration, among others.

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Biermann, Frank, Kenneth Abbott, Steinar Andresen, Karin Bäckstrand, Steven Bernstein, Michele M. Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley, Benjamin Cashore, Jennifer Clapp, Carl Folke, Aarti Gupta, Joyeeta Gupta, Peter M. Haas, Andrew Jordan, Norichika Kanie, Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravská, Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman, James Meadowcroft, Ronald B. Mitchell, Peter Newell, Sebastian Oberthür, Lennart Olsson, Philipp Pattberg, Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez, Heike Schroeder, Arild Underdal, Susana Camargo Vieira, Coleen Vogel, Oran R. Young, Andrea Brock, and Ruben Zondervan (2012) Navigating the Anthropocene: Improving Earth System Governance. Science, Vol. 335 No. 6074, 1306-1307, 16 March 2012

Science assessments indicate that human activities are moving several of Earth's sub-systems outside the range of natural variability typical for the previous 500,000 years (1, 2). Human societies must now change course and steer away from critical tipping points in the Earth system that might lead to rapid and irreversible change (3). This requires fundamental reorientation and restructuring of national and international institutions toward more effective Earth system governance and planetary stewardship.

Link:
http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/publication/biermann-frank-navigating-anthropocene-0

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Biermann, Frank, Kenneth Abbott, Steinar Andresen, Karin Bäckstrand, Steven Bernstein, Michele M. Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley, Benjamin Cashore, Jennifer Clapp, Carl Folke, Aarti Gupta, Joyeeta Gupta, Peter M. Haas, Andrew Jordan, Norichika Kanie, Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravská, Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman, James Meadowcroft, Ronald B. Mitchell, Peter Newell, Sebastian Oberthür, Lennart Olsson, Philipp Pattberg, Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez, Heike Schroeder, Arild Underdal, Susana Camargo Vieira, Coleen Vogel, Oran R. Young, Andrea Brock, and Ruben Zondervan (2012) Transforming Governance and Institutions for Global Sustainability: Key Insights from the Earth System Governance Project. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 4(1): 51-60.

The current institutional framework for sustainable development is by far not strong enough to bring about the swift transformative progress that is needed. This article contends that incrementalism—the main approach since the 1972 Stockholm Conference—will not suffice to bring about societal change at the level and speed needed to mitigate and adapt to earth system transformation. Instead, the article argues that transformative structural change in global governance is needed, and that the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro must turn into a major stepping stone for a much stronger institutional framework for sustainable development. The article details core areas where urgent action is required. The article is based on an extensive social science assessment conducted by 32 members of the lead faculty, scientific steering committee, and other affiliates of the Earth System Governance Project.

Link: http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/publication/biermann-frank-transforming-governance-and-institutions-0

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Wamsler, C., E. Brink and O. Rentala (2012) Climate Change, Adaptation, and Formal Education: the Role of Schooling for Increasing Societies' Adaptive Capacities in El Salvador and Brazil. Ecology and Society 17 (2): 2.

Key Words:
adaptation; adaptive capacity; Brazil; climate change; coping capacity; disaster; education; El Salvador; flood; income; informal settlement; landslide; risk reduction

Abstract:
With a worldwide increase in disasters, the effects of climate change are already being felt, and it is the urban poor in developing countries who are most at risk. There is an urgent need to better understand the factors that determine people’s capacity to cope with and adapt to adverse climate conditions. This paper examines the influence of formal education in determining the adaptive capacity of the residents of two low-income settlements: Los Manantiales in San Salvador (El Salvador) and Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), where climate-related disasters are recurrent. In both case study areas, it was found that the average levels of education were lower for households living at high risk, as opposed to residents of lower risk areas. In this context, the influence of people’s level of education was identified to be twofold due to (a) its direct effect on aspects that reduce risk, and (b) its mitigating effect on aspects that increase risk. The results further suggest that education plays a more determinant role for women than for men in relation to their capacity to adapt. In light of these results, the limited effectiveness of institutional support identified by this study might also relate to the fact that the role of formal education has so far not been sufficiently explored. Promoting (improved access to and quality of) formal education as a way to increase people’s adaptive capacity is further supported with respect to the negative effects of disasters on people’s level of education, which in turn reduce their adaptive capacity, resulting in a vicious circle of increasing risk.

Link:
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol17/iss2/

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Mine Islar (2012) Struggles for recognition: privatisation of water use rights of Turkish rivers. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, DOI:10.1080/13549839.2012.665858

Keywords:
water use rights – privatisation – neoliberalism – recognition – Turkey

Abstract:
This paper inquires into privatisation of water use rights for energy production. It is argued that contemporary struggles over rivers in Turkey are not only about conflicts of interest, but also reflect a discursive struggle of recognition. On the one hand, discourses associated with modernisation and neoliberalism construct the rivers as governable resources in ways that are normalised through legal and political practices. On the other hand, alternative framings of rivers are promoted by resistance movements that strive to challenge these hegemonic and power-laden representations of the rivers that dominate formal legal, political, and institutional frameworks. By framing water as a hybrid resource incorporating social, discursive, and physical relations, this article deals with the question of how rivers have become sites of contestation, in which various actors struggle for their representations, and thereby recognition.

Link:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.665858

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Wiek, A., Ness, B., Schweizer-Ries, P., Brand, F. S., Farioli, F. (2012) From complex systems thinking to transformational change: A comparative study on the epistemological and methodological challenges in sustainability science projects. Sustainability Science. Online First

Keywords:
Transformational sustainability research – Evaluation – Actionable knowledge – Sustainability problems – Solution options – Impact

Abstract:
Sustainability science is being developed in constructive tension between a descriptive–analytical and a transformational mode. The first is concerned with analyzing problems in coupled human–environment systems, whereas the second conducts research on practical solutions to those problems. Transformational sustainability research is confronted with the challenges of generating actionable knowledge, incorporating knowledge from outside academia, and dealing with different values and political interests. This study approaches the theory and promise of sustainability science through a comparative appraisal of five empirical sustainability science projects. We exemplarily appraise in how far sustainability science succeeds and fails in yielding solution options for sustainability problems based on an evaluative framework (that accounts for the particularities of sustainability science). The selected sustainability projects cover a range of topics (water, bioenergy, land use, solar energy, urban development), regions (from coastal to mountainous, from rural to urban areas, in several countries in Africa, Europe, and South and North America), spatial levels (from village to country levels), and research approaches. The comparative results indicate accomplishments regarding problem focus and basic transformational research methodology, but also highlight deficits regarding stakeholder participation, actionable results, and larger impacts. We conclude with suggestions on how to fully realize the potential of sustainability science as a solution-oriented endeavor, including advanced collaborative research settings, advances in transformational research methodologies, cross-case generalization, as well as reducing institutional barriers.

Link:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j2314rn727868n67/

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Genesis T. Y., Brogaard, S. and Olsson, L. (2012) Crop Water Requirements in Cameroon’s Savanna Zones Under Climate Change Scenarios and Adaptation Needs. Crop Production Technologies, Peeyush Sharma and Vikas Abrol (Eds.), InTech

Keywords:
crop water – savanna zones – Cameroon – climate change – yield reduction

Abstract:
Climate change is expected to have profound effects on food crop production in Sub-Saharan Africa. The savanna zones of Cameroon produce the bulk of food that is both consumed within the country and exported to neighboring countries. This study assesses the effects of climate change on the potential for rain-fed production, the yield reduction resulting from soil moisture stress, and the desired irrigation water requirements for five major food crops in Cameroon’s savanna zones. The CROPWAT model is used to compute these variables with inputs from baseline climate data (1961-1990) and data from SERES scenarios (A2, A1B, and B1) for 2050. We find that for three of the crops, beans, potatoes and groundnuts, the area with rain-fed potential is low in the baseline and declines considerably in the A2 and A1B scenarios. The area with rain-fed potential is substantial for maize and sorghum in the baseline, but falls considerably too for the A2 and A1B scenarios. A majority of the area under which optimal yields for all five crops would be attainable requires irrigation water requirements of up to 50 mm for all scenarios by 2050. In the absence of irrigation, the greatest yield reductions are suffered by potatoes and beans in the A2 and A1B scenarios. Notwithstanding the considerable fall in potential for rain-fed cultivation, sorghum and maize suffer the least reduction of yields in all scenarios. Implications for agricultural planning at national, regional and local level are discussed and a climate change mitigation portfolio for small-scale farming systems in savanna zones of Sub-Saharan Africa is proposed.

Link:
http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/crop-water-requirements-in-cameroon-s-savanna-zones-under-climate-change-scenarios-and-adaptation-ne

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Nicholas, KA, and WH Durham (2012) Farm-scale adaptation and vulnerability to environmental stresses: Insights from winegrowing in Northern California. In press at Global Environmental Change.

Keywords:
Climate change adaptation – Resilience; Agriculture – Climate change – Frost – Heat – Pests – Vulnerability Scoping Diagram

Abstract:
The wine industry is increasingly recognized as especially vulnerable to climate change due to the climate sensitivity of both winegrape yields and quality, making it an important model system for the agricultural impacts of global changes. However, agricultural production is strongly influenced by the management decisions of growers, including their practices to modify the microclimate experienced by the growing crop; these adaptations have not been studied at the vineyard level, where managers on the ground are on the front lines of responding to global change.

We conducted 20 in-depth interviews with winegrowers to examine farm-scale adaptive responses to environmental stresses, to understand the views and motivations of agricultural managers, and to explore adaptive capacity in practice. We found that growers tend to respond to stresses individually rather than collectively, except when facing severe, unfamiliar pests and diseases. Responses may be reactive or anticipatory; most anticipatory strategies have been short-term, in response to imminent threats. Growers tend to rely on their own experience to guide their management decisions, which may offer poor guidance under novel climate regimes. From using a Vulnerability Scoping Diagram, we find that changing exposure (vineyard location) and sensitivity (planting choices such as vine variety) have the biggest impact on reducing vulnerability, but that adaptations in growing or processing the crop in the vineyard and winery are easier to implement, much more commonly undertaken, and may also offer substantial adaptive capacity. Understanding the context of adaptations, as well as the decision-making processes motivating them, is important for understanding responses to global change.

These findings highlight some innovations in adapting to global change, as well as some of the barriers, and point to the need for strategic investments to enhance agricultural resilience to climate change. In particular, strategies to enhance both effective and easy to implement farming adaptations, as well as broader-scale anticipatory, collective responses, could reduce vulnerability in the context of climate change.

Link:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.01.001

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McCormick, K., S. Anderberg, L. Neij (2012): Sustainable Urban Transformation and the Green Urban Economy In: ICLEI (2012): The Economy of Green Cities: A World Compendium on the Green Urban Economy., International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, Bonn, Germany pp. 33-43
ISBN: 978-94-007-1968-2

Summary
Green Economy is a key theme triggered by the process around the June 2012 Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The inclusive Green Urban Economy approach embodies a challenge to local government leaders and city practitioners to apply existing tools and methods in new ways to develop innovative approaches by engaging economic-environmental considerations and stakeholders in a much more active fashion.
This volume bridges the gap between the global promotion of the Green Economy and the manifestation of this new development strategy at the urban level. Green cities are an imperative solution, not only in meeting global environmental challenges but also in helping to ensure socio- economic prosperity at the local level.
Environmentalists must learn to understand the language and dynamics of the economy, and to combine important economic interests (such as cost savings) with ecological interests (such as saving of resources). Business and economic leaders must also understand and accommodate ecological interests to advance social improvement and sustainable development.

2011

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Jönsson, Kristina; Anne Jerneck; Malin Arvidsson (2011) Politik och utveckling i en globaliserad värld.
Lund: Studentlitteratur. (190 p).

Sammanfattning:
I en globaliserad, ständigt föränderlig och alltmer sammansatt värld krymper avstånden genom ökad kommunikation, migration och integration. Samtidigt vidgas klyftorna mellan olika grupper av människor. Hur kan vi förstå utveckling i ett sådant sammanhang? Politik och utveckling i en globaliserad värld problematiserar olika perspektiv på samhällsutvecking och diskuterar hur aktörer försöker skapa utveckling via politik och biståndspraktik genom lokala och globala processer.
Författarna utgår från idén att det krävs gränsöverskridande kunskap – över tid, ämnen och sakområden – för att förstå och förklara utveckling som ett komplext samhällsfenomen. I boken analyseras därför samspelet både mellan stat, marknad och samhälle och mellan gamla och nya aktörer i internationellt utvecklingssamarbete. Förutom välfärdsökning och demokratisering behandlas centrala utvecklingsområden som fattigdom, jämlikhet, rättvisa, säkerhet, migration, global hälsa, miljö och klimat. Boken avslutas med en diskussion om hur vi kan studera och praktisera utveckling och även tackla framtida politiska och utvecklingsmässiga utmaningar.
Boken kan användas i undervisning på universitet och högskolor men riktar sig även till en bredare publik med intresse för utvecklingsfrågor.

Länk:
https://www.studentlitteratur.se/#34122-01

The book is also available in English:
Jönsson, Kristina, Jerneck, Anne, Arvidson, Malin (2012) Politics and development in a globalised world. An introduction. Lund. Studentlitteratur. ISBN:9789144081649

Link:
https://www.studentlitteratur.se/#produkt/355/39166

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Jerneck, A., L. Olsson, B. Ness, S. Anderberg, M. Baier, E. Clark, T. Hickler, A. Hornborg, A. Kronsell, E. Lövbrand, J. Persson (2011) Structuring Sustainability Science. Sustainability Science, Volume 6:1, pp 69-82. (14 p). DOI 10.1007/s11625-010-0117-x

Keywords:
Climate change Critical research, Problem-solving research, Sustainability challenges, Sustainability pathways, Transdisciplinarity

Abstract:
It is urgent in science and society to address climate change and other sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, depletion of marine fish stocks, global ill-health, land degradation, land use change and water scarcity. Sustainability science (SS) is an attempt to bridge the natural and social sciences for seeking creative solutions to these complex challenges. In this article, we propose a research agenda that advances the methodological and theoretical understanding of what SS can be, how it can be pursued and what it can contribute. The key focus is on knowledge structuring. For that purpose, we designed a generic research platform organised as a three-dimensional matrix comprising three components: core themes (scientific understanding, sustainability goals, sustainability pathways); cross-cutting critical and problem-solving approaches; and any combination of the sustainability challenges above. As an example, we insert four sustainability challenges into the matrix (biodiversity loss, climate change, land use changes, water scarcity). Based on the matrix with the four challenges, we discuss three issues for advancing theory and methodology in SS: how new synergies across natural and social sciences can be created; how integrated theories for understanding and responding to complex sustainability issues can be developed; and how theories and concepts in economics, gender studies, geography, political science and sociology can be applied in SS. The generic research platform serves to structure and create new knowledge in SS and is a tool for exploring any set of sustainability challenges. The combined critical and problem-solving approach is essential.

Link:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11625-010-0117-x?LI=true#

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Kaijser, Anna (2011) Intersektionalitet för klimatsolidaritet: Om klimatdiskussionen i Bolivia och vikten av analytisk komplexitet (Intersectionality for climate solidarity: On climate discussions in Bolivia and the importance of analytical complexity). In Tidskrift för Genusvetenskap 2011:4

English Summary:
Climate change illustrates the entanglement of “society” and “nature”, and the problems associated with this binary division. For humans, climate change plays out on a social arena. In light of climate change, pre-existing power structures based on categorizations such as gender, class and ethnicity may be reinforced or challenged. I argue that intersectionality, developed within feminist theory, is a useful tool for analyzing the power dynamics of climate change. Feminist research on climate change is still small, and an intersectional perspective has not been applied to the topic to any significant extent. The intersectional framework that I propose is constructivist; even though social categories are highly relevant in their specific contexts, they are subject to constant reconstruction and negotiation, and thereby inherently fluid. This stance enables identifying social categorizations as crucial for how people relate to climate change, comprehending how climate change may (re)construct social categorizations and power dynamics, and finding motivation for engagement and solidarity beyond identity politics. To illustrate how an intersectional perspective is useful in this regard, I present the example of Bolivia. Bolivia is an interesting case because of its recent political development, in which a left-wing assembly of indigenous movements and workers’ unions has reached government power, and because of the vivid debate on climate change within the country. The government has promoted a radical discourse in international climate negotiations, but in turn been criticized by their own supporters for not living up to their high moral standards domestically. In these debates, climate and environment issues have been framed mainly in relation to the categories of ethnicity and class, while for instance gender has until recently remained quite invisible. Climate change and environment debates have thus become a stage for construction and negotiation of social categories in Bolivia. In my article, I provide an analysis of this situation, based on an intersectional understanding.

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Jerneck, A. and L. Olsson (2011) Breaking out of sustainability Impasses: how to apply frame analysis, reframing and transition theory to global health challenges. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, Volume 1(2011) 255-271. (17 p).

Keywords:
Boundary work – Critical research – Problem solving research – Sustainability science – Transition management

Abstract:
We combine frame analysis and transition theory into a thinking tool in sustainability science and analyse three serious and persistent problems in global health subject to sustainability impasses: HIV/AIDS, malaria, and indoor air pollution. Frame analysis identifies how problems are encased by scientific understandings and captured by transition barriers: policy cooptation, techno-institutional lock-in, and knowledge trap. Transition theory locates the transition barriers on a temporal scale and a conceptual level: landscape, regime, and niches. Frame analysis reveals how problems are embedded in particular narratives while reframing stimulates alternative understandings and problem solutions. Boundary work facilitates knowledge integration across units and transition management promotes actor oriented problem resolution. The thinking tool unites critical with problem solving research and ties reframing to analytical and temporal understandings of social change. The aim is dual: to advance methodology while stimulating critical problem solving in the quest for environmental innovations, social justice and sustainability.

Link:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210422411000384

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Wamsler, C. & Lawson, N. (2011) The Role of Formal and Informal Insurance Mechanisms for Reducing Urban Disaster Risk: A South-North Comparison. Housing Studies Vol. 26(2):197–223, special issue on ‘Disasters, Housing and Actuarialism: On the Securitisation of Risk’.

Key words:
Disaster risk reduction – climate change – risk financing – insurance, planning – social housing

Abstract:
Climate change and disasters pose a serious and growing risk to sustainable urban development planning, with disasters having quadrupled in the last three decades. The extent of the changing climatic conditions, in combination with growing urbanisation, is making both Southern and Northern institutions and associated social security and governance systems increasingly inadequate in dealing with extreme weather events. This results in an urgent need to discover innovative ways to adapt ‘outdated’ institutional responses and to increase local-level engagement. This paper analyses current risk financing mechanisms at local and institutional levels in both a Southern and a Northern city (San Salvador and Manchester respectively). The North’s dependency on insurance fails to contribute to resilience whereas the South’s reliance on non-governmental aid organisations (NGOs) has driven a range of bottom-up approaches that support improved risk reduction. Although measures for risk financing are still not part of the NGOs’ repertoire, this provides lessons from which Northern cities could also learn.

Link:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02673037.2011.542087

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Andersson, E., Brogaard, S., Olsson, L. (2011) ”The Political Ecology of Land Degradation”. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Vol. 36: 295-319.

Abstract:
Land degradation, as a threat to smallholders in the tropics, attracts less attention than other global challenges. In addition, gaps between scientific understandings of land degradation and international policy regimes are problematic. We identify the three most significant debates including their different policy implications: desertification in the Sahel, nutrient depletion in Africa, and rural reforms in China. Using a political ecology frame across disciplines, scales of inquiry, and regional experiences, we nuance the often polarized scientific debate while seeking to bridge the gap between science and policy. Three main findings emerge: State-led rural reforms in China represent an important approach to land degradation; a renewed focus on agriculture and sustainability in development discourses opens new ways for tackling nutrient depletion with combined sociotechnological reforms; and a policy void in Africa paves the way for market mechanisms, such as payment for environmental services, that are insufficiently understood and put fairness at risk.

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Wamsler, C. & Lawson, N. (2011) Complementing Institutional with Localized Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation: A South–North Comparison. Disasters 36(1) (Journal of Disaster Studies, Policy and Management) (forthcoming).

Keywords:
adaptation – adaptive capacity – climate change – coping strategies – distributed governance – urban planning

Abstract: Climate change and disasters pose a serious risk to sustainable development. In the South, local coping strategies are an important element of adaptation to climate and disaster risk. Such strategies have emerged because of the limited assistance provided by urban actors and associated social security and governance systems. In the North, in contrast, local coping strategies are comparatively poorly developed. However, the extent of the changing climatic conditions is also reducing the capacity of Northern institutions to deal with climatic extremes and variability, which emphasizes the need for more local-level engagement in the North. This paper analyses the differences in local and institutional responses to climate change and disasters in a Southern and a Northern city (San Salvador, El Salvador, and Manchester, United Kingdom, respectively), and highlights how the lessons learned might be translated into an improved distributed governance system; that is, an ‘integrated engagement model’, where local and institutionalised responses support rather than hinder each other, as is currently the case.

Link:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2011.01248.x/abstract

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Anderberg S. and E. Clark (2011): Green sustainable Øresund region or Eco-branding Copenhagen and Malmö? In I Vojnovic (ed) Sustainability: A global urban context. Michigan State University Press.

Keywords:
eco-branding – sustainability – ecologically unequal exchange – Copenhagen – Malmö

Summary:
A positive image of a city or region attracts people, investors and enterprises. High-quality environment and local sustainability initiatives can be used for creating a positive image. A growing number of regions and cities around the world have in recent years attempted to exploit this opportunity through sustainable development strategies and innovative environmental initiatives combined with green image marketing. The Øresund region in Southern Scandinavia is an example of such a region that has gone to great effort to brand itself as green and sustainable. One of the central visions for the region when the Øresund cooperation was launched in 1994--after the decision to build a bridge across the Sound (Øresund) connecting Denmark and Sweden--was to become “one of the cleanest big city regions in Europe”. This goal was representative of the new environmental policy agenda that had emerged in the early 1990s. Environmental efforts came to be considered important not only for the sake of health, quality of life, and sustainability, but also for stimulating growth and enhancing attractiveness of the region. Stimulating environmentally sustainable development signals that this is an advanced region and encourages environmental innovations and export of related products and services. Particularly the major cities Copenhagen and Malmö have developed sustainability profiles and eco-branding strategies. They are often mentioned, particularly in European contexts, as eco-city forerunners and achieve high rankings in international comparisons.
In this chapter we discuss the recent development of the region--the decades prior to and the decade since the rise of eco-branding in the region--and analyze the relation between environmental quality in the region and policy programs to undergird the image of Øresund, Copenhagen and Malmö as green environmental forerunners of urban sustainability. Have the latter had marked impact on the environment? Or has eco-branding primarily capitalized on previous environmental improvement--much of which was exogenously driven? Is this a place where sustainable living is in the becoming? Our aim is not to provide exhaustive answers to these questions, but more modestly to present an analysis supporting the relevance of these questions while indicating conclusions which more thorough analyses may reach.

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Kanie, Norichika, Michele M. Betsill, and Ruben Zondervan (2011) New Visions of Sustainable Development Governance. UNU.edu article. United Nations University. Re-published in OurWorld. United Nations University, 18 May 2011, www.ourworld.unu.edu on 16.01.2012.

Although reforms of the institutional framework for sustainable development have been discussed for decades, both in scholarly and political terms, the process has not yet shown an indication of converging expectations. Incremental changes have enabled some progress towards sustainability. However, the current system governing sustainable development is no longer sufficient, given the number, impact, interdependence and complexity of problems associated with global change. What is required is a transformative reform of sustainable development governance. The Hakone Vision Factory on Earth System Governance evaluated the state of the institutional framework for sustainable development, identified key challenges and assessed reform options. Governance for sustainability requires transformative reforms with clear vision, which are clustered around three interrelated issues: Aspirations, Actors and Architecture.

Link:
http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/publication/kanie-norichika-new-visions-sustainable-development-governance

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Brock, Andrea, and Ruben Zondervan (2011) Assessing the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development. Contribution to the Stakeholder Forum / Earth Summit 2012 blog

Link:
http://www.earthsummit2012.org/blog/item/268-assessing-the-institutional-framework-for-sustainable-development

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Earth System Governance Project (editor) (2011) Towards a Charter Moment. Hakone Vision on Governance for Sustainability in the 21st Century. Tokyo: International Environmental Governance Architecture Research Group.

The issues and political dynamics in the 21st century are different from those in 1945 when the institutions in the United Nations were founded. Today’s problems are characterized by temporal, spatial, and sectoral interdependencies, complexity, as well as uncertainty. While incremental changes have enabled certain progress towards sustainability, the current system governing sustainable development is no longer sufficient given the number, impact, interdependence and complexity of problems associated with global change. Governance for sustainability requires transformative reforms with clear vision. The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) could be a charter moment—the beginning of a reform process leading to transformative change of sustainability governance. The Hakone Vision Factory proposes principles and recommendations to guide this transformation clustered around three interrelated issues: Aspirations, Actors, and Architecture.

Link:
http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/publication/earth-system-governance-project-editor-towards-charter-moment

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Biermann, Frank, Kenneth Abbott, Steinar Andresen, Karin Bäckstrand, Steven Bernstein, Michele M. Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley, Benjamin Cashore, Jennifer Clapp, Carl Folke, Aarti Gupta, Joyeeta Gupta, Peter M. Haas, Andrew Jordan, Norichika Kanie, Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravská, Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman, James Meadowcroft, Ronald B. Mitchell, Peter Newell, Sebastian Oberthür, Lennart Olsson, Philipp Pattberg, Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez, Heike Schroeder, Arild Underdal, Susana Camargo Vieira, Coleen Vogel, Oran R. Young, Andrea Brock, and Ruben Zondervan (2011) Transforming governance and institutions for a planet under pressure. Revitalizing the institutional framework for global sustainability: Key Insights from social science research. Planet Under Pressure Policy Brief, 3.

Global environmental protection has featured high on the international political agenda since the United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. Yet, despite more than 900 environmental treaties coming into force over the past 40 years, human-induced environmental degradation is reaching unprecedented levels. Human societies must change course and steer away from critical tipping points in the earth system that might lead to rapid and irreversible change, while ensuring sustainable livelihoods for all. This requires a fundamental transformation of existing practices. If we are to achieve more sustainable development in the future, we have to reorient and restructure our national and international institutions and governance mechanisms. Incrementalism will not suffice to bring about societal change at the level required; the world needs structural change in global governance. The 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development must become a major stepping stone towards introducing a stronger institutional framework for sustainable development. We urge decision makers to seize this opportunity to develop a clear and ambitious roadmap for institutional change and bring about fundamental reform of current sustainability governance within the next decade. This policy brief outlines the core areas needing most urgent action.

Link:
http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/publication/biermann-frank-institutional-framework-global-sustainability

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