New Book: ‘Defensive Environmentalists and the Dynamics of Global Reform’

Rudel, T. (2013). Defensive Environmentalists and the Dynamics of Global Reform. Cambridge University Press.

Description: As global environmental changes become increasingly evident and efforts to respond to these changes fall short of expectations, questions about the circumstances that generate environmental reforms become more pressing. Defensive Environmentalists and the Dynamics of Global Reform answers these questions through a historical analysis of two processes that have contributed to environmental reforms, one in which people become defensive environmentalists concerned about environmental problems close to home and another in which people become altruistic environmentalists intent on alleviating global problems after experiencing catastrophic events such as hurricanes, droughts and fires. These focusing events make reform more urgent and convince people to become altruistic environmentalists. Bolstered by defensive environmentalists, the altruists gain strength in environmental politics and reforms occur.

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New Article: ‘Multi-Level Governance: Opportunities and Barriers in Moving to a Low-Carbon Scotland’

Sugden, D. et al. (2013). Multi-Level Governance: Opportunities and Barriers in Moving to a Low-Carbon Scotland. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 1-12

Abstract: In view of the challenge posed by climate change and the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, The Royal Society of Edinburgh Inquiry(2011) examined the barriers making it difficult for Scotland to change to a low-carbon society. The single most important finding is that, whilst widely desired, change is held back by the lack of coherence and integration of policy at different levels of governance. There is activity at the level of the EU, UK Government, Scottish Government, local authorities, local communities, households and civil society, but there is often a disconnection between policies at different levels. This impedes progress and also leads to mistrust among the general public. This paper brings together the background to ten primary recommendations featured in the Inquiry addressing the principal barriers. Above all, it is important to integrate the activities within city regions and to exploit opportunities in local communities. Reflecting on the Inquiry findings, we stress the economic, social and environmental opportunities to be gained from a low-carbon society and outline the step changes that need to take place within governance, city regions and local authorities and civil society.

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New Article: ‘Emergence of Global Adaptive Governance for Stewardship of Regional Marine Resources’

Österblom, H. and Folke, C. (2013). Emergence of Global Adaptive Governance for Stewardship of Regional Marine Resources. Ecology and Society. 18(2): 1-13.

Abstract: Overfishing has historically caused widespread stock collapses in the Southern Ocean. Until recently, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing threatened to result in the collapse of some of the few remaining valuable fish stocks in the region and vulnerable seabird populations. Currently, this unsustainable fishing has been reduced to less than 10% of former levels. We describe and analyze the emergence of the social-ecological governance system that made it possible to curb the fisheries crisis. For this purpose, we investigated the interplay between actors, social networks, organizations, and institutions in relation to environmental outcomes. We drew on a diversity of methods, including qualitative interviews, quantitative social network and survey data, and literature reviews. We found that the crisis triggered action of an informal group of actors over time, which led to a new organization (ISOFISH) that connected two independent networks (nongovermental organizations and the fishing industry), and later (COLTO) linked to an international body and convention (CCAMLR). The emergence of the global adaptive governance systems for stewardship of a regional marine resource took place over a 15-year period. We describe in detail the emergence process and illustrate the usefulness of analyzing four features of governance and understanding socialecological processes, thereby describing structures and functions, and their link to tangible environmental outcomes.

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New Article: ‘A Fair Share? Perceptions of Justice in South Africa’s Water Allocation Reform Policy’

Movik, S. (2013). A Fair Share? Perceptions of Justice in South Africa’s Water Allocation Reform Policy. Geoforum.  1-9

Abstract: This paper examines the multiple meanings of justice embedded in the notion of environmental justice. It uses research on South Africa’s Water Allocation Reform policy to explore how ideas of justice have shifted in the course of crafting the policy, employing the notion of ‘allocation discourses’ to capture the changing conceptions of justice. South Africa’s reform efforts are part of a global trend that vests the ultimate authority over water resources with the State, which provides it with a large degree of discretion in allocating use rights to resources. Drawing on discourse analysis and interviews with key stakeholders, the paper demonstrates how the early versions of the policy were characterised by desert-oriented and utilitarian interpretations of justice, which then shifted to an explicitly egalitarian perspective in the final version, but which, to-date, has had little practical consequence, however. In the early versions, existing users were portrayed as unilaterally beneficial and productive, and the process of redistribution as a risky venture that could lead to environmental degradation and the economy being undermined, whilst failing to acknowledge the waste and pollution of existing users. The paper highlights the importance of unpacking key concepts and understanding how particular framings of human-nature relations influence ideas of justice, and how these may shift over time.

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New Article: ‘Crises in the South African Abalone and Chilean Loco Fisheries: Shared Challenges and Prospects’

Hauck, M., & Gallardo-Fernández, G.L. (2013). Crises in the South African Abalone and Chilean Loco Fisheries: Shared Challenges and Prospects. Maritime Studies. 12 (3); 1 -20.

Abstract: Worldwide there is an increasing realisation that there is an inextricable link between the natural and human systems, and there is a need to integrate these into the governance of small-scale fisheries. The critical importance of adopting such an approach is argued in this paper by exploring the challenge of resource over-exploitation in the abalone fishery in South Africa and the loco fishery in Chile, both of which faced unsuccessful fishery closures and the implementation of Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries (TURFs). By exploring similarities and differences in fisheries context and approaches, these case studies highlight that although management strategies have been progressive on paper, they are compromised, to different degrees, by a lack of understanding of the socio-economic and political factors that are influencing the fisheries system. We argue that unless a more integrated approach is adopted to understand the social-ecological system as a whole, few long-term benefits will be secured for both the resources and the livelihoods of fishers.

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New Article: ‘Epistemic Institutions and Epistemic Cooperation in International Environmental Governance’

Meyer, R. (2013). Epistemic Institutions and Epistemic Cooperation in International Environmental Governance. Transnational Environmental Law. DOI: 10.1017/S2047102513000010

Abstract: Under what conditions should epistemic institutions (institutions that provide policy-relevant scientific advice) be integrated into international legal institutions – for example, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change? Following work in law and economics on the theory of the firm, this article argues that where states will not implement environmental policies absent a collective decision to do so, greater hierarchical control of epistemic institutions by legal institutions may be necessary to ensure the credibility and availability of a usable scientific record. Hierarchy creates credibility because it allows all states necessary for cooperation in the legal institution to oversee the production of the scientific record that provides the basis for international legal rules. Hierarchy thus enhances the effectiveness of international law as a coordination tool, even at the expense of the autonomy of the scientific process. By contrast, where collective action is not necessary because states will unilaterally regulate an environmental problem once scientific uncertainty has been reduced, epistemic and legal institutions should be fragmented to ensure the unbiased production and dissemination of scientific information. In such situations, the credibility of the scientific record is demonstrated by decentralized adoption of science-based regulation.

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Book Chapter: ‘Inducing Pro-Environmental Behavior’

Sunderasan, S. (2013). Inducing Pro-Environmental Behavior in S. Sunderasan (ed). Enabling Environment. Springer.

Abstract: The global commons are jointly owned and their inhabitants are severally obligated to ensure their preservation. The major challenge facing pro-environmental behavior is the inter-temporal spread of the costs incurred and the benefits slated to be derived (or injury likely to be avoided), and that this difference in timing could span several decades or even centuries. Scientists, statesmen, planners, or technocrats could serve as “choice architects” and design plans for others: ultimately, however, it is individuals who make consumption-related choices on ways of living, traveling, or in preferring products or services over others. Notwithstanding political grandstanding, long-drawn negotiations, convoluted documentation, and international discord, the median individual’s willingness to align with a cooperative group and to bear the costs that would hopefully accrue distant benefits, and having a sizable number of such willing individuals representing the median, would determine eventual environmental outcomes.

This chapter draws on the resources of environmental economics, game theory, behavioristic psychology, and oriental philosophy to present an informal social network approach to achieving pro-environmental outcomes. The model begins with a morally committed, altruistic opinion – leader, “the man in the middle,” acting as a social nudge to induce anonymous altruism among a group of marginal consumers. This group then works through conspicuous consumption of pro-environmental goods and moral suasion to induce reciprocal altruism among a larger group of price-conscious and possibly reticent consumers. Finally, it is envisaged that this group would achieve the desired tipping point by inducing conformity and pro-social behavior among sizable numbers of common people, who otherwise fear isolation or derision.

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New Article: ‘Pathways of Integrated Coastal Management from National Policy to Local Implementation: Enabling Climate Change Adaptation’

Celliers, L. et al. (2013). ’Pathways of Integrated Coastal Management from National Policy to Local Implementation: Enabling Climate Change Adaptation. Marine Policy. 39: 72 – 86

Abstract: Integrated coastal management (ICM) has been developing concomitantly with the realisation of the severity of the potential impacts of climate change. The discourse on climate change and adaptation has also included the awareness that adaptation must take place at all levels of government, particularly local government. Climate change is expected to have significant impacts on the physical, social, environmental and economic environments of coastal cities and towns, and in particular on the poor and vulnerable communities within these cities and towns. The crucial role that local government can play in climate protection and building cities’ and communities’ resilience to climate change is widely recognised at the global level. This paper explores the legal and policy connexion between ICM, local government and climate change in Mozambique and South Africa, two developing countries in Africa. The state of institutionalisation of coastal management at national through to local government is also examined. The authors contend that the state, character and maturity of the ICM policy domain can create an enabling environment within which local government agencies can prepare for future impacts of climate change. Conversely it can also limit, delay and hinder climate change adaptation. The paper concludes with the identification of some key success factors for assessing the effectiveness of the existing policy and legal frameworks to respond to the challenges of climate change. It also identifies some key principles to be included in future legislative reform to promote ICM, cooperative governance and greater preparedness for climate change at local government level.

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New Book: ‘Post-Kyoto Climate Governance: Confronting the Politics of Scale, Ideology and Knowledge’

Zia, A. (2013). Post-Kyoto Climate Governance: Confronting the Politics of Scale, Ideology and Knowledge. Routledge

Description: In the midst of human-induced global climate change, powerful industrialized nations and rapidly industrializing nations are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Even if we arrive at a Hubbert’s peak for oil extraction in the 21^st century, the availability of technologically recoverable coal and natural gas will mean that fossil fuels continue to be burned for many years to come, and our civilization will have to deal with the consequences far into the future. Climate change will not discriminate between rich and poor nations, and yet the UN-driven process of negotiating a global climate governance regime has hit serious roadblocks.

This book takes a trans-disciplinary perspective to identify the causes of failure in developing an international climate policy regime and lays out a roadmap for developing a post-Kyoto (post-2012) climate governance regime in the light of lessons learned from the Kyoto phase. Three critical policy analytical lenses are used to evaluate the inherent complexity of designing post-Kyoto climate policy: the politics of scale; the politics of ideology; and the politics of knowledge. The politics of scale lens focuses on the theme of temporal and spatial discounting observed in human societies and how it impacts the allocation of environmental commons and natural resources across space and time. The politics of ideology lens focuses on the themes of risk and uncertainty perception in complex, pluralistic human societies. The politics of knowledge lens focuses on the themes of knowledge and power dynamics in terms of governance and policy designs, such as marketization of climate governance observed in the Kyoto institutional regime.

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New Book: ‘Climate Change: An Encyclopedia of Science and History’

Black, B. et al. (2013). Climate Change: An Encyclopedia of Science and History. ABC-CLIO

Description: This book provides a holistic consideration of climate change that goes beyond pure science, fleshing out the discussion by considering cultural, historical, and policy-driven aspects of this important issue.

Living patterns in the developed world have fueled the rapid pace of changes to our climate. The science underlying climate change has been understood by the scientific community for hundreds of years; as such, most developed nations have a strategy for mitigating the impacts of these changes. In the United States, however, our reluctance to accept the reality of climate change threatens our nation’s ability to adapt.

Climate change is a controversial topic that promises to reframe rudimentary ideas about our world and how we will live in it. The articles inClimate Change: An Encyclopedia of Science and History are designed to inform readers’ decision making through the insight of scholars from around the world, each of whom brings a unique approach to this topic. The work goes beyond pure science to consider other important factors, weighing the cultural, historical, and policy-driven contributors to this issue. In addition, the book explores the ideas that have converged and evolved in order to clarify our current predicament.

By considering climate change in this holistic fashion, this reference collection will prepare readers to consider the issue from every angle. Each article in the work is suitable for general readers, particularly students in high school and college, and is intended to inform and educate anyone about climate change, providing valuable information regarding the stages of mitigation and adaptation that are occurring all around us.

Features
• Contributions from more than 100 experts
• Excerpts from reports from international organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Transcripts of speeches from world leaders on the climate change issue
• Sidebars on the “climate-history connection” explore the possible links between climate and key events through history, such as the Classical Maya collapse
• Essential, annotated primary sources
• Quotes from policy makers, scientists, eyewitnesses to climate change, and social and cultural leaders

Highlights
• Provides not only scientific details but also the historical background and the intellectual, cultural, and political contexts of the issue
• Presents information that prepares readers for an inevitable future

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