François Melard

The diplomacy of practitioners: for an ecology of practices about the problem of the coexistence of wind farms and red kites

Abstract Gathering information, comparing points of view, and designing actions in and about problematic situations are no longer purely academic activities. Learning about complex state of affairs is becoming an increasingly widely-distributed necessity and practice, including within civil society. We propose to give first-hand information – as practitioners and members of a citizens’ wind energy co-operative in Belgium – about the problematic and highly controversial coexistence between wind farms and red kite (Milvus milvus). Will be reported the implementation of a community-based management scheme involving active, original practices of collaboration between citizens with local knowledge and skills and experts or scientists in order to produce research and intervention questions, methods, and results that are claimed to be more sustainable. The sustainability challenges are to design and set up in context a local space for collaboration and learning that departs from traditional public regulatory procedures (i.e. impact studies, public information meetings, etc.). However, the outcomes of this collaborative approach remain fragile. We shall argue in this regard that both the Transdisciplinary Environmental Research and the art of diplomacy may be central to the emergence of reflexive governance within transition processes that strive to be sustainable.

From Fair Milk to Fair Enterprise: The Consequences of an Unexpected Bricolage

In recent years, the European Union and the Common Agricultural Policy have made considerable changes in policy related to the dairy sector. After two successive dairy crises in 2009 and 2012, the dairy sector in Belgium was weakened considerably. The Belgian fair-trade milk enterprise, Fairebel, was created by dairy farmers a few months after the 2009 European milk crisis, seeking to develop their alternative, supported, owned by and for traditional dairy farmers. This case study brings into question ‘fair trade’ as a concept and practice in terms of trade between enterprises in Europe, and the surprise effects of interaction when analysed at both European and regional scales. The study concludes that the best innovation processes are not necessarily radical, and that tinkering – or bricolage – is the path taken by many innovations.