Rasmus Klocker Larsen

Resilience in the context of tsunami early warning systems and community disaster preparedness in the Indian Ocean Region

This paper discusses insights from post-tsunami early warning system (EWS) development in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia by analysing selected elements of resilience, based on the Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) framework, and by distinguishing between the cognitive, normative and procedural dimensions of EWSs. The findings indicate that (1) recent calls to develop participatory and people-centred EWSs as promoted by the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005—2015 have not been sufficiently translated into action in the implementation of national policies and strategies for early warning; (2) policy and guidance places significantly more emphasis on the procedural compared to the normative and cognitive dimensions of EWSs; (3) practitioners engaged in early warning and disaster risk reduction operate in contexts shaped by multiple stakeholder agendas and face considerable challenges in negotiating diverse needs and priorities; and (4) few platforms currently exist that enable stakeholders to coordinate and reconcile agendas, negotiate joint targets, share knowledge and critically reflect on lessons learnt, and to improve the integration of early warning with other priorities such as livelihoods improvement, natural resource management and community development.

Bioenergy production and sustainable development: science base for policy-making remains limited

The possibility of using bioenergy as a climate change mitigation measure has sparked a discussion of whether and how bioenergy production contributes to sustainable development. We undertook a systematic review of the scientific literature to illuminate this relationship and found a limited scientific basis for policymaking. Our results indicate that knowledge on the sustainable development impacts of bioenergy production is concentrated in a few well‐studied countries, focuses on environmental and economic impacts, and mostly relates to dedicated agricultural biomass plantations. The scope and methodological approaches in studies differ widely and only a small share of the studies sufficiently reports on context and/or baseline conditions, which makes it difficult to get a general understanding of the attribution of impacts. Nevertheless, we identified regional patterns of positive or negative impacts for all categories – environmental, economic, institutional, social and technological. In general, economic and technological impacts were more frequently reported as positive, while social and environmental impacts were more frequently reported as negative (with the exception of impacts on direct substitution of GHG emission from fossil fuel). More focused and transparent research is needed to validate these patterns and develop a strong science underpinning for establishing policies and governance agreements that prevent/mitigate negative and promote positive impacts from bioenergy production.

Meeting the ‘Anthropocene’ in the context of intractability and complexity: infusing resilience narratives with intersubjectivity

Insufficient attention has been paid to how concepts of resilience can be operationalised in wicked, contested situations. Within the environmental sciences, the contemporary social-ecological resilience narrative is not geared to examining social dilemmas in ill-defined problem contexts. These conditions require a different resilience narrative, one centred on epistemological and ontological considerations. This paper examines four resilience narratives (engineering, social-ecological, epistemic and intersubjective) in order to stimulate an improved awareness of the possibility of more deliberative choices for research and governance in the resilience domain. We argue that the resilience research community needs to be more cognizant of the diversity of resilience narratives in order to empower and learn from the perspectives and local practices of stakeholders, who will often express narratives better aligned to the wicked situation at hand. Ultimately, the resilience narratives of the research community can be little more than toolkits to support greater understanding of the diversity of people, perspectives and ‘performances’ jointly narrating the ‘real’ stories of our wicked and contested realities.

Integrated water resource management: a platform for higher education institutions to meet complex sustainability challenges

Higher education institutions in Sweden are increasingly exposed to international market conditions and rising competition from a more mobile student body. This increases the need for universities to adapt to their social and economic environment and to their clients, including the political trends and financial opportunities in Sweden and EU, if they are to successfully implement sustainability reforms. In this regard, we examine the barriers faced by a ‘post-normal’ education for sustainable development (ESD) inherent within the structures of a ‘normal’ University. We pose the question whether Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) as a post-normal process can contribute to increased capacity of normal higher education institutions to address complex sustainability problems? IWRM is conceptualised as an interactionist process of social learning and adaptive management to reflect on the experiences from one particular case, namely the Master Programme in IWRM at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. We illustrate how IWRM can contribute to address conflicts of interests in education arising from competing claims of stakeholders in real life management situations, but also to reconcile the conflicts associated with institutional adaptation under conditions characterised by a new international educational regime and rapidly changing market conditions. The paper brings together the discourse on ESD with lessons from IWRM and contends that the interactionist approach might offer a useful alternative to realist conceptions of ESD in learner-centred and institutional systemic approaches. Contrary to other reports on IWRM education, this paper reflects on this role of IWRM within higher education per se.

The politics of planning: assessing the impacts of mining on Sami lands

Abstract This article examines the implications of undertaking community-based impact assessment (CBIA) in the Swedish context where Indigenous rights receive little recognition and the institutional planning environment is disenabling. It explores how normative biases built into the permitting process for mines ontologically privilege non-Indigenous ways of defining what constitutes relevant impacts. We show how the CBIA, undertaken by an impacted Sami community together with the authors, attempted to challenge these biases by constructing narratives about future impacts from the perspective of the Indigenous community. We also discuss how the research itself became embroiled in contestations over what constituted legitimate knowledge.

TOWARDS A LEARNING MODEL OF ICT APPLICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT: Lessons from a networked dialogue in Sweden

This paper reports on a two-day workshop held in Sweden (7–8 April 2008) to bring together researchers and professionals to share insights and experiences in the application of information and communication technology (ICT) to sustainable development (SD). The third in a series of events sponsored by the Swedish Program for Information and Communication Technology in Developing Regions (SPIDER), this workshop was aimed at fostering experience sharing among participants, creation of opportunities for formulating new project and research ideas, and enabling the formation of new partnerships. The focal point of the workshop was the conjunction of ICTs, environment, and development. Beginning with pre-workshop conversations via a blog page, the workshop promoted involvement of participants in active exchanges and dialogue through the use of open space processes. Workshop discussions revolved around questions of power and equity, poverty reduction, collective learning, and private sector involvement. The workshop was intended to encourage development organizations to explore alternatives to the traditional deployment approach to ICTs. Workshop participants reflected on the challenges and opportunities of shifting to a systemic learning approach for applying ICTs to SD. A systemic learning model is outlined as a means to enable more effective use of ICTs by balancing technical knowledge with insights into the context and history of the stakeholders and their field of application.

Making Sense of Accountability in Baltic Agro-Environmental Governance: The Case of Denmark's Green Growth Strategy

Agro-environmental governance associated with the issue of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea Region relies on accountability as a central norm to secure legitimacy of transnational cooperation. However, owing to the coexistence of different traditions of governance the implementation of nutrient reduction targets requires negotiation between competing definitions of accountability. This paper presents results from an empirical analysis of the implementability of nutrient reduction targets in one riparian state, namely Denmark, focusing on the governments Green Growth Strategy. It charts the policy adaptation route to explore how stakeholders mobilise claims within different sense-making perspectives on governance in order to seek to keep each other accountable. Based on the findings, an analytical framework is derived which helps identify where professionals in agro-environmental governance may more explicitly address the subtle ways in which accountability is created and undermined through different modes of justification in spaces of ambiguity between competing governance traditions. In relation to the wider accountability literature, it is demonstrated how it is possible to apply theory and methods from the most recent multi-stakeholder school in natural resource governance research to broaden the work within social and environmental accounting to focus more explicitly on the totality of stakeholder interactions rather than single organisations.

Foreign Direct Liability Claims in Sweden: Learning from Arica Victims KB v. Boliden Mineral AB?

On 12 September 2013 what may be the first foreign direct liability claim in Sweden was filed in the County Court of Skelleftea, a court action reflective of a growing wave of civil liability suits in European jurisdictions to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations and environmental damages. This article examines the feasibility of foreign direct liability claims in Sweden, focusing on enabling conditions with regards to jurisdiction, collision rules and applicable law, substantial legal basis, procedural and practical circumstances, and the theories by which parent companies can be held liable for negligence in supervising acts of subsidiaries and contractors. It is demonstrated that foreign direct liability claims on environmental damage are indeed possible in Sweden, albeit with considerable constraints, primarily of a procedural and financial character. The conclusion provides some cautious remarks on the merits of the claim against Boliden and the reform options available to a Swedish government committed to improving the access to justice for victims of violations perpetuated by Swedish companies, their subsidiaries and contractors.

Building Hazard Resilient Communities in Coastal Southeast Asia: Lessons for Research, Policy, and Practice

Drawing on a systematic review of coastal hazard vulnerability in Southeast Asia, an analysis of emerging post-disaster vulnerabilities in Sri Lanka and Indonesia after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, and a global consultative process and expert analysis of the human dimensions of vulnerability to global environmental change that included an analysis of coastal urbanization and climate change, this paper aims to summarise key findings on the state of knowledge of the causal factors contributing to social vulnerability to coastal hazards and the relevance of current research for practitioners and policymakers. Whilst the scientific understanding of the increasingly complex and interacting socio-economic and environmental processes contributing to vulnerability has improved considerably during the last decades, important challenges remain in translating these insights into operational assessment methodologies for practitioners and tools for decision-makers to develop effective management strategies and policies to reduce vulnerability and build resilience against environmental risks. The results of this analysis indicate an urgent need to develop and apply approaches that focus more strongly on the needs of those affected by disasters and to create processes that enable better communication and learning between researchers, practitioners and policymakers.

Impact assessment and indigenous self-determination: a scalar framework of participation options

Abstract The implementation of the right of indigenous peoples to participate in impact assessment (IA) has moved rapidly in many jurisdictions. To facilitate comparative learning, this paper offers a scalar framework of participation options through standard IA phases and examines five IA regimes in Sweden, Norway, Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is shown how practice is moving toward co-management and community-owned IA, with developments driven by strong indigenous demands and political recognition of material rights to lands and resources. Yet, while influence in IA has allowed for shaping project outcomes it has rarely supported the rejection of unwanted projects altogether. Moreover, some jurisdictions, such as Scandinavia, retain a much more limited consultation and notification approach. Community influence tends to be in evidence generation and follow-up while developers or state authorities retain control over decisive phases of scoping and significance determination. It is argued that indigenous participation is most meaningful through IA co-management that takes places directly with the state and throughout all IA phases, complemented with strategic community-owned IA.