Kathleen E. Halvorsen

An Evaluation of Three Democratic, Community-Based Approaches to Citizen Participation: Surveys, Conversations With Community Groups, and Community Dinners

In recent years, the thinking of practitioners and scholars from the fields of community development and public involvement has converged in supporting local, community-based approaches for citizen participation in making decisions about the management of public lands. Community-based approaches are supported because citizens have local knowledge, understand local conditions, can practice direct democracy, and can help develop solutions to problems of integrated and sustainable forest management. However, there is little information available to evaluate the effectiveness of community-based strategies. This study evaluates how well three participatory techniques-a mail survey, focused conversations with existing community groups, and community dinners-meet three key community oriented criteria: representativeness, working toward identification of communitywide common good, and incorporation of values and beliefs into the discussion. The evaluation conducted in this study indicates that the techniques prod...In recent years, the thinking of practitioners and scholars from the fields of community development and public involvement has converged in supporting local, community-based approaches for citizen participation in making decisions about the management of public lands. Community-based approaches are supported because citizens have local knowledge, understand local conditions, can practice direct democracy, and can help develop solutions to problems of integrated and sustainable forest management. However, there is little information available to evaluate the effectiveness of community-based strategies. This study evaluates how well three participatory techniques-a mail survey, focused conversations with existing community groups, and community dinners-meet three key community oriented criteria: representativeness, working toward identification of communitywide common good, and incorporation of values and beliefs into the discussion. The evaluation conducted in this study indicates that the techniques produce positive results for two of these criteria, but may not be representative of the communities as a whole.

Waterborne Disease-Related Risk Perceptions in the Sonora River Basin, Mexico

Waterborne disease is estimated to cause about 10% of all diseases worldwide. However, related risk perceptions are not well understood, particularly in the developing world where waterborne disease is an enormous problem. We focus on understanding risk perceptions related to these issues in a region within northern Mexico. Our findings show how waterborne disease problems and solutions are understood in eight small communities along a highly contaminated river system. We found major differences in risk perceptions between health professionals, government officials, and lay citizens. Health professionals believed that a high level of human-waste-related risk existed within the region. Few officials and lay citizens shared this belief. In addition, few officials and lay citizens were aware of poor wastewater-management-related disease outbreaks and water contamination. Finally, aside from health professionals, a few interviewees understood the importance of basic hygiene and water treatment measures that could help to prevent disease. Our results add to the literature on environmentally-related risk perceptions in the developing world. We discuss recommendations for improving future human-wastewater-related risk communication within the region.

Policies for the Sustainable Development of Biofuels in the Pan American Region: A Review and Synthesis of Five Countries

Rapid growth of biofuel production in the United States and Brazil over the past decade has increased interest in replicating this success in other nations of the Pan American region. However, the continued use of food-based feedstock such as maize is widely seen as unsustainable and is in some cases linked to deforestation and increased greenhouse gas emissions, raising further doubts about long-term sustainability. As a result, many nations are exploring the production and use of cellulosic feedstock, though progress has been extremely slow. In this paper, we will review the North–South axis of biofuel production in the Pan American region and its linkage with the agricultural sectors in five countries. Focus will be given to biofuel policy goals, their results to date, and consideration of sustainability criteria and certification of producers. Policy goals, results, and sustainability will be highlighted for the main biofuel policies that have been enacted at the national level. Geographic focus will be given to the two largest producers—the United States and Brazil; two smaller emerging producers—Argentina and Canada; and one stalled program—Mexico. However, several additional countries in the region are either producing or planning to produce biofuels. We will also review alternative international governance schemes for biofuel sustainability that have been recently developed, and whether the biofuel programs are being managed to achieve improved environmental quality and sustainable development.

Upper Midwestern USA Ethanol Potential from Cellulosic Materials

There is substantial interest in alternative fuels and vehicles for the transportation sector. One readily available alternative is grain ethanol with U.S. production largely based on corn. Since this supply-constrained crop has significant environmental costs, shifting toward ethanol based on cellulosic materials may be beneficial. We assess the technical potential for cellulosic ethanol using the upper Midwest states of Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin as a regional example. Policies that will facilitate the planting and harvesting of forestry and agricultural residues and switchgrass are discussed.

Understanding public perceptions of wood-based electricity production in Wisconsin, United States: the place-based dynamics of social representations

ABSTRACT Public support is critical to renewable energy sector growth, an important element of reducing fossil fuel dependence and mitigating climate change. Prevalent understandings of public support for renewable energy projects often work within a binary framework of acceptance and non-acceptance, arguably unable to capture the nuances of localized public responses to specific projects. Taking a place-based approach and insights from social representation theory, we report on public responses to wood-based electricity production in Wisconsin, USA. Findings indicate that public responses are tied to social and cultural contexts, varying in relation to community histories and identities shaped by other community resources. These results suggest that public perceptions of renewable energy technologies are shaped by representations formed in socio-spatial context, offering insight to inform future decisions in the renewable energy policy process.

Sustainable Development for Whom and How? Exploring the Gaps between Popular Discourses and Ground Reality Using the Mexican Jatropha Biodiesel Case

In the last decade, jatropha-based bioenergy projects have gotten significant attention as a solution to various social, economic, and environmental problems. Jatropha’s popularity stemmed out from different discourses, some real and some perceived, in scientific and non-scientific literature. These discourses positioned jatropha as a crop helpful in producing biodiesel and protecting sustainability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels and increasing local, rural development by creating jobs. Consequently, many countries established national policies that incentivized the establishment of jatropha as a bioenergy feedstock crop. In this paper, we explore the case of jatropha bioenergy development in Yucatan, Mexico and argue that the popular discourse around jatropha as a sustainability and rural development tool is flawed. Analyzing our results from 70 semi-structured interviews with community members belonging to a region where plantation-scale jatropha projects were introduced, we found that these projects did not have many significant social sustainability benefits. We conclude from our case that by just adding bioenergy projects cannot help achieve social sustainability in rural areas alone. In ensuring social sustainability of bioenergy projects, future policymaking processes should have a more comprehensive understanding of the rural socioeconomic problems where such projects are promoted and use bioenergy projects as one of the many solutions to local problems rather than creating such policies based just on popular discourses.

A case study of strategies for fostering international, interdisciplinary research

Bringing together and successfully managing a highly interdisciplinary (ID) research team of socioeconomic, biophysical, and engineering scientists is highly challenging, particularly when that team includes 20 scientists and students across six countries. This paper reports on the results of evaluating the success of such a team as it studies the socioecological impacts of bioenergy development across the Americas. We find that the team has succeeded according to several different metrics. We demonstrate that the literature on accelerated sustainability transitions and small group team creation, development, and management holds valuable lessons for the success of ID teams.

Decentralizing Payments for Hydrological Services Programs in Veracruz, Mexico: Challenges and Implications for Long-term Sustainability

Abstract In this policy review, we analyze two payments for hydrological services matching programs operating in the Antigua water basin in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Mexico’s Matching Program was created to transition from the national payments for hydrological services program to programs that would be financed by local governments, local water users and the private sector. Based on the analysis of organizational documents and key informant interviews with institutional actors, we describe the distinctive origins and organizational structures of these two programs, and how these differences have led to unique challenges for each program. We conclude that payments for ecosystem services programs that incorporate community-level organization and extensive technical assistance, along with expanded direct payments from ecosystem service users, have the greatest potential for achieving long-term sustainability.

Constructing a Sustainable Bioeconomy: Multi-scalar Perceptions of Sustainability

Bioenergy holds significant promise to mitigate the climate-related problems associated with fossil fuel use in heat, electricity, and transportation fuel production. Many governments are encouraging bioeconomy growth with new policies. International trade between bioenergy producing and consuming nations has increased over the years. Developed countries with significant greenhouse gas emission (GHG) emission reduction goals are replacing fossil fuels with bioenergy, creating new export commodities for developing nations. However, increased bioeconomy development can put local social, economic, and environmental conditions in bioenergy producing areas at risk. To minimize the potentially adverse impacts of bioenergy development on existing socioeconomic and environmental conditions, several sustainability certification programs have recently been developed. However, there may be significant differences in how actors across multiple scales, including international non-governmental organizations, state and national governments, and local community members perceive a sustainable bioeconomy. In this chapter, we look specifically at two bioenergy development cases, one in the context of economic development in Latin America (jatropha-based bioenergy development in Yucatan, Mexico) and another in the context of a post-industrialized nation (wood-based bioenergy development in Wisconsin, USA) to understand how different actors view sustainability. Our conclusions suggest that, first, developing a sustainable bioeconomy requires addressing sustainability in all stages in the supply chain, and that, second, community perceptions matter in developing a sustainable bioeconomy, thus there is value in a bottom-up approach to policymaking.

Community perceptions of socioecological stressors and risk-reducing strategies in Tabasco, Mexico

Rural inhabitants in many parts of the world face multiple stressors associated with socioecological and climatic change, yet their risk-reducing strategies have rarely been linked to these stressors. Extant studies present unclear and often unspecific definitions of adaptation or focus on just one type of stressor rather than acknowledging that there can be multiple responses to myriad stressors. In an attempt to overcome some of these gaps, we utilize a typology of adaptation strategies that addresses deficiencies in the current adaptation literature. This research draws on qualitative interview data to examine resident perceptions of water-related socioecological and climatic changes and potential risk-reducing strategies within small rural communities in Tabasco, Mexico. The increased frequency of drought and flooding in low-lying areas near the Usumacinta River has reduced local community members’ ability to sustain their livelihoods. Results from interview analysis show that residents are using four major strategies that they perceive as helping them respond to water-related problems. They are mobility, diversification, communal pooling, and environmental management. Our findings contribute to understandings of rural community risk reduction strategies that may be shared by other rural communities in places around the world experiencing negative climate change impacts.