
David Harnesk
Postdoctoral Fellow

David Harnesk is a sustainability scientist with a thematic focus on land, climate change, and social movements. His research is interdisciplinary and use-inspired, currently focusing on the climatic and environmental conditions of Sámi reindeer pastoralism, and its surrounding social and political mobilization, in Sweden. His teaching profile is broad and interdisciplinary.
Research Interests
I am interested in what causes environmental problems, how these can be addressed, and how social movements seek to address them. Analytically, I focus on how prevailing social structures and institutions interact with natural systems and landscapes to generate concrete environmental problems and sustainability challenges, and how social movements mobilize collective action to address such social and environmental harms. My research analyzes multi-scalar dynamics of land-use change, climate change and social movement mobilization, and also covers methodological development in sustainability science. To develop use-inspired research outcomes, I approach these diverse and intertwined nature-society interactions through problem-driven interdisciplinary research where I draw on ecology and energy research as well as political economy, radical geography and social movement theory.
I have a 3-year international post-doc project called Sámi social movements – indigenous mobilization around the ecological conditions of reindeer husbandry under climate emergency. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council and I will be based at LUCSUS (Lund University), Noragric (Norwegian University of Life Sciences) and IFRO (Copenhagen University).
I am also part of the Climate Change Resilience in Small Communities in the Nordic Countries (CliCNord) project, coordinated by University College Copenhagen. I am the case leader of the Lund University division, where we focus on how reindeer herding communities can build capacity to deal with basal ice formation. The project is funded by Nordforsk and more information can be found on this website.
Teaching
Since 2012 I have taught and supervised master - and bachelor students at Lund University. I coordinated, and taught extensively at, the courses Gender and Sustainability in Theory and Everyday Life, Sustainability and Popular Culture and Sustainability and Sustainable development from a local, regional and global perspective. I was responsible for the social science component of the course Climate, Science and Society, and supervised many students taking the course Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science: Master’s Thesis.
Other courses where I have taught include: Urban & Rural Systems and Sustainability; Economy and Sustainability; Energy and Sustainability; Governance of Sustainability; Social Movements and Sustainability; Deciphering Landscape; Historical Aspects of Development; Gender, Global Development, and Postcolonialism; Forest & landscape biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services; Political Ecology; Social Science Lab; Methods for Climate Risk Management; Environmental Science: Industrial Environmental Economics, and; Environmental Science: Instruments for preventative environmental protection.
Outreach and Workshops
Harnesk, D., Brännström, M., Östlund, L. 2022. Samiska skogslandskap under förändring. Arjeplog, June, 2022. Lead organizer of combined conference and workshop.
LUCSUS News Letter 2021 Historical perspectives and mobilization important for the future of reindeer winter pastures. Lund, February, 2021
Lunds Universitet Nyheter & Press 2021 Historiska processer viktiga när vinterbetesmarkernas framtid diskuteras. Lund, February, 2021
Lunds Stadsbibliotek 2020 Gruvkonflikter i norr/Sápmi. Lund, February, 2020. Presentation.
Moderna Museet 2020 Sensing Nature From Within, Theme 3: Nature as a (legal) subject. Malmö, January, 2020. Presentation and panel member.
Lunds Universitet 2019Fighting Climate Change – Mapping the pathway with social movements (public event) Lund, March, 2019. Panel member.
Lunds Universitet News & Press Releases 2019 ”What local people?” Sveriges största gruvkonflikt visar på samers möjlighet att göra motstånd. Lund, February, 2019.
Lunds Universitet News & Press Releases 2018 EU biofuel regulation is not sustainable long-term. Lund, May, 2018.
Lunds Universitet Nyheter & Press 2018 EU:s biodrivmedelspolitik är inte hållbar. Lund, Maj, 2018
Nyhetsbrevet Apropå 2017Storsatsningar på biodrivmedel skapar svårigheter för småjordbrukare. Lund, October, 2017.
Harnesk, D., Brogaard, S., Sjöberg, Ö. & Tambang, G. Y. 2017. Workshop om global handel med biomassa, Stockholm, September, 2017. Lead organizer.
Publications
Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.
Utopianism for a Dying Planet: Life after Consumerism
David Harnesk
(2023) Environmental Politics
ReviewThe decreasing availability of reindeer forage in boreal forests during snow cover periods: A Sámi pastoral landscape perspective in Sweden
David Harnesk
(2022) Ambio: a Journal of Human Environment , p.1-16
Journal articleThree crucial considerations when presenting alternative paradigms in sustainability research
Chad Boda, David Harnesk
(2022) Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences
Journal articleEthics of Probabilistic Extreme Event Attribution in Climate Change Science : A Critique
Lennart Olsson, Henrik Thorén, David Harnesk, Johannes Persson
(2022) Earth's Future, 10
Journal articleSustainability as a Real Utopia – Heuristics for transformative sustainability research
David Harnesk, Ellinor Isgren
(2022) Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 5 p.1678-1695
Journal articleA collective alternative to the Inward Turn in environmental sustainability research
Chad Boda, David O'byrne, David Harnesk, Turaj Faran, Ellinor Isgren
(2022) Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 12 p.291-297
Journal articleSociala rörelser för hållbarhet på den svensk-samiska landsbygden : Om vikten av ekologiska perspektiv för koalitionsbyggande inom civilsamhället
David Harnesk
(2022) Urban and rural reports, 2022:3 p.91-91
Book chapterSociology for sustainability science
Stefano Longo, Ellinor Isgren, Brett Clark, Andrew K. Jorgenson, Anne Jerneck, et al.
(2021) Discover Sustainability, 2
Journal articleCritical social science and resilience
Henrik Thorén, David Harnesk
(2021) Routledge Handbook of Social and Ecological Resilience
Book chapterVill du rädda klimatet? Välj verkliga alternativ
David Harnesk, Chad Boda, Ellinor Isgren
(2020) ETC
Newspaper article”Fakta och statistik om temperaturökning och förlust av biologisk mångfald räcker inte.”
David Harnesk, Ellinor Isgren, Chad Boda, David O Byrne, Maryam Nastar, et al.
(2019) Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Debatt
Newspaper articleScience has much to offer social movements in the face of planetary emergencies
Ellinor Isgren, Chad Boda, David Harnesk, David O Byrne
(2019) Nature Ecology and Evolution, 3 p.1498-1498
Journal articleBiomass-based energy on the move – The geographical expansion of the European Union’s liquid biofuel regulation
David Harnesk
(2019) Geoforum, 98
Journal articleSustainability as a Real Utopia – heuristics for emancipatory sustainability research
David Harnesk, Ellinor Isgren
(2019)
Conference paper: abstractFinding an academic space: reflexivity among sustainability researchers
Åsa Knaggård, Barry Ness, David Harnesk
(2018) Ecology & Society, 23
Journal article”What local people?” : En analys av gruvkonflikten i Gàllok och den samiska befolkningens rättigheter ur ett rättvise- och maktperspektiv
David Harnesk, Mine Islar, Sofia Stafström
(2018) Svensk gruvpolitik i omvandling : Aktörer, kontroverser, möjliga världar , p.101-124
Book chapterAdding Fuel to the Fire : North-South dynamics in the geographies of transport energy: the case of EU biofuels
David Harnesk
(2018)
DissertationWhat local people? Examining the Gállok mining conflict and the rights of the Sámi population in terms of justice and power
Sofia Persson, David Harnesk, Mine Islar
(2017) Geoforum, 86 p.20-29
Journal articleSocial Dynamics of Renewable Energy—How the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive Triggers Land Pressure in Tanzania
David Harnesk, Sara Brogaard
(2017) Journal of Environment and Development, 26 p.156-185
Journal articleRegulating a global value chain with the European Union's sustainability criteria – experiences from the Swedish liquid transport biofuel sector
David Harnesk, Sara Brogaard, Philip Peck
(2017) Journal of Cleaner Production, 153 p.580-591
Journal articleA Review of 'Energy and Transport in Green Transition: Perspectives on Ecomodernity'
David Harnesk
(2016) Challenges in Sustainability, 4 p.15-16
ReviewWhat kind of, and whose, sustainability counts? – Implications of EU’s Renewable Energy Directive in sub-Saharan Africa
David Harnesk, Sara Brogaard
(2015)
Conference paper: abstractBiofuel policy and stakeholder perspectives in Sweden – Initial impacts of EU sustainability criteria on the biofuels sector and implications for land use
Sara Brogaard, David Harnesk
(2014)
Conference paper: abstractThe Integrated NORDIC Power Market and the Deployment of Renewable Energy Technologies: Key Lessons and Potential Implications for the Future ASEAN Integrated Power Market
Luis Mundaca, Carl Dalhammar, David Harnesk
(2013) Energy Market Integration in East Asia : Renewable Energy and its Deployment into the Power System , p.25-97
Book chapter
Biography
David Harnesk is a post-doctoral researcher and teacher at LUCSUS. He holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Science from Lund University, as well as a master's degree and a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science from Lund University.

Sámi social movements – indigenous mobilization around the ecological conditions of reindeer husbandry under climate emergency
Interdisciplinary and use-inspired research on social movement mobilization around the degrading ecological conditions of reindeer husbandry in Sweden.

Climate Change Resilience in Small Communities in the Nordic Countries
Collaborative research on how reindeer herding communities can build capacity to deal with basal ice formation.