
Barry Ness
Senior Lecturer, Docent

Structuring sustainability issues: the case of the Swedish sugar system
Author
Summary, in English
This paper suggests an approach to conceptualize problems of unsustainability situations by embedding the Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) scheme within a system of jurisdictional levels represented by Torsten Hägerstrand’s system of nested domains. Taken together these frameworks offer one way to decipher complex situations at different levels by identifying specific problem areas, their associated driving forces, actors, discover where problem-solving attempts are occurring, and where applicable, spot where contradictions and/or disconnects may lie (e.g. conflicting policy goals, policy gaps, technological deficiencies). To illustrate the scheme the case of the multiple problems associated with the sugar production system in Sweden is used. The result is a representation of the important driving forces at a number of levels and better insights as to where contradictions, scalar disconnects within the system lie.
Publishing year
2007
Language
English
Document type
Conference paper
Topic
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Conference name
NGM (Nordic geographers Meeting), 2007
Conference date
2007-06-15 - 2007-06-17
Conference place
Bergen, Norway
Status
Unpublished