Simo Sarkki

Improving the science-policy dialogue to meet the challenges of biodiversity conservation: having conversations rather than talking at one-another

A better, more effective dialogue is needed between biodiversity science and policy to underpin the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity. Many initiatives exist to improve communication, but these largely conform to a ‘linear’ or technocratic model of communication in which scientific “facts” are transmitted directly to policy advisers to “solve problems”. While this model can help start a dialogue, it is, on its own, insufficient, as decision taking is complex, iterative and often selective in the information used. Here, we draw on the literature, interviews and a workshop with individuals working at the interface between biodiversity science and government policy development to present practical recommendations aimed at individuals, teams, organisations and funders. Building on these recommendations, we stress the need to: (a) frame research and policy jointly; (b) promote inter- and trans-disciplinary research and “multi-domain” working groups that include both scientists and policy makers from various fields and sectors; (c) put in place structures and incentive schemes that support interactive dialogue in the long-term. These are changes that are needed in light of continuing loss of biodiversity and its consequences for societal dependence on and benefits from nature.

Local discourses and international initiatives: sociocultural sustainability of tourism in Oulanka National Park, Finland.

National parks have become important tourist attractions and tools for regional development. New international initiatives, such as PAN (Protected Area Network) Parks in Europe, now promote sustainable tourism in protected areas. This paper examines the sociocultural sustainability of tourism perceived by local stakeholders of Oulanka National Park in northeastern Finland. The central question concerns the role of PAN Parks certification in community and tourism development. Four discourses were identified, based on 40 semi-structured interviews exploring different views on sociocultural development pertaining to tourism in the national park: (1) integrating nature-based tourism and conservation, (2) defending the rights of local people, (3) stressing the economic utilization of nature and (4) accepting tourism development and the national park. Although local stakeholders mostly have a positive perception of tourism in the park, it cannot be concluded whether the park facilitates development in a sustainable manner or not. Key problems identified are lack of participation opportunities and contradictions with traditional subsistence economies. The various positions of stakeholders in these discourses tend to influence their views on sustainability. Findings imply the necessity to monitor the distribution of benefits and burdens of park development holistically to multiple stakeholders.

Social Movements' Pressure Strategies during Forest Disputes in Finland

Abstract Environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and rural social movements have become influential actors in natural resource governance. This article analyzes forestry dispute strategies in three cases from northern Finland, applying Actor-Network Theory (ANT), with special attention to its concept of translation, to analyze emerging multilevel stakeholder networks that include both human actors and non-human interests. Our particular focus is on the race for spokesman status on behalf of such ‘third parties’. We find that the more heterogeneous actor-networks the stakeholders build, the better opportunities they have to reach their goals. Successful strategies build environmental policy actor-networks in particular by combining different levels of human interests with different ecological arguments.

Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic

In recent decades, the mining industry has expanded globally especially in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Mines often boost rural economies, but may have also negative impacts on environment and local livelihoods, such as tourism and reindeer herding. That is why acceptability and undeniable right to operate – the social licence (SL) to mine has become more and more important in mining related discussions. We examine empirically issues relating to SL in two mining projects in Finnish Lapland, Hannukainen in Kolari and Suurikuusikko in Kittila. The main results emphasise the importance of transparency in mining operations and the continuity of communications with local stakeholders in building and maintaining the SL to mine. If the transparency of operations is lacking and issues come to publicity only via the media, this may affect the public image of a company and finally challenge its SL to operate and, in the long term, potentially effect the financing decisions of mining investors. We show that acquiring and keeping up a SL links not only to the developments in the actual mining site, but is also connected to processes taking place in other localities. These connections may emerge in various scales; between various local communities, mining companies and global financing principles, for instance. We use and propose ‘multi-sited ethnography’ as a method to describe and better understand complex linkages which may effect the SL to mine.

Benefits from and threats to European treeline ecosystem services: an exploratory study of stakeholders and governance

The concept of ecosystem services (ES) is being increasingly applied in environmental governance and science. To safeguard key ES in changing and complex social–ecological systems such as treeline areas, we need to (1) map key ES in different types of treeline landscapes, (2) identify the stakeholders benefiting from and threatening ES, and (3) examine how ES could be governed more sustainably. We explore these questions in European treeline areas by using quantitative and qualitative social science techniques to analyse responses from a survey of local scientific experts in 20 altitudinal and polar treeline areas in 15 European countries. In contrast to the prevalent consideration of treeline areas as a single type of a social–ecological system, we show that European treeline areas can be divided into two types that significantly differ in the delivery of ES. Our analyses allowed us to categorize stakeholders according to their benefits from and threats to ES; “Green key players” formed the most numerous group, while smaller number of stakeholder groups was categorized as “Harmless crowd”, “Occasional stressors”, and “Risky users”. However, behaviour of stakeholders is very much site-specific. Of 595 pairs of stakeholders analysed, we found <5 EU-wide “Allies” and “Opponents”. Recommendations for improved governance include adjusting governance instruments to specific problems in divergent treeline systems and creating participatory structures where stakeholders better interact with scientists and can genuinely influence management decisions.

Managing predators, managing reindeer: contested conceptions of predator policies in Finland's southeast reindeer herding area

Preserving biodiversity and establishing healthy and thriving populations of predator animals are the expressed aims of many wildlife and ecosystem conservation projects and initiatives. However, such conservation strategies are often in conflict with the traditions, practices and land-use priorities of local communities. This article concentrates on the situation concerning the predation of reindeer (mainly by wolves) in Finlands southeast reindeer herding area and its immediate vicinity, but makes reference to the broader situation of predation and reindeer herding in Finland. Based on analysis of statistics and interviews with local stakeholders, the research findings refer to the intermingled contradictions related to conceptual, statistical and other management relevant knowledge and resulting problems, for example, in conservation hunting licensing. The article concludes that the wolf comprises a complex case for nature conservation initiatives and sustainable reindeer husbandry and that, in practice, it has particular implications compared to other policy approaches to dealing with the problem of animal predators. The article ends with some theoretical considerations as to whether we can improve our understanding of modern human-environment relations by deriving ideas from the actor-network theory debates.

Science and issue advocacy in a forestry debate in Northern Finland

Scientists can use a number of strategies to inform policymakers. They can be “honest brokers” by communicating a variety of management options and opening up discussion about a range of uncertainties, or they can be “issue advocates” by arguing for specific management options. This article looks at a forestry debate between two groups of scientists in northern Finland and maps their argumentative strategies. Three strategies are distinguished relating to: (1) the state of the resource and its indicators; (2) scalar framing; and (3) future uncertainties due to climate change. Use of these strategies revealed polarized arguments about risks and sustainability, but seemed not to provide middle ground proposals for management options. This can be explained, we argue, because the conflict situation produces an easily polarized debate where it is a risk to play “honest broker”. It seems that the deeper scientists go in the defence of the preferred management option, the more they reduce their ability to provide neutral and credible policy advice.

Science-policy interfaces for biodiversity: dynamic learning environments for successful impact

To address the pressing problems associated with biodiversity loss, changes in awareness and behaviour are required from decision makers in all sectors. Science-policy interfaces (SPIs) have the potential to play an important role, and to achieve this effectively, there is a need to understand better the ways in which existing SPIs strive for effective communication, learning and behavioural change. Using a series of test cases across the world, we assess a range of features influencing the effectiveness of SPIs through communication and argumentation processes, engagement of actors and other aspects that contribute to potential success. Our results demonstrate the importance of dynamic and iterative processes of interaction to support effective SPI work. We stress the importance of seeing SPIs as dynamic learning environments and we provide recommendations for how they can enhance success in meeting their targeted outcomes. In particular, we recommend building long-term trust, creating learning environments, fostering participation and ownership of the process and building capacity to combat silo thinking. Processes to enable these changes may include, for example, inviting and integrating feedback, extended peer review and attention to contextualising knowledge for different audiences, and time and sustained effort dedicated to trust-building and developing common languages. However there are no ‘one size fits all’ solutions, and methods must be adapted to context and participants. Creating and maintaining effective dynamic learning environments will both require and encourage changes in institutional and individual behaviours: a challenging agenda, but one with potential for positive feedbacks to maintain momentum.

How pragmatism in environmental science and policy can undermine sustainability transformations: the case of marginalized mountain areas under climate and land-use change

Global warming, land-use change, mass tourism and a deteriorating socio-economic situation pose serious threats to the sustainability of mountain areas. The future development of these areas could be an example of the Great Transition scenario. Based on iterative and collaborative discussions with 60 treeline experts, we (1) envisioned plausible futures of treeline ecosystems in Europe and (2) explored the role of pragmatism in scenario development and use. The three global change scenario classes (Conventional Worlds, Barbarization, and Great Transitions) and four European scenarios (Economy First, Fortress Europe, Policy Rules, and Sustainability Eventually) were downscaled using the drivers-pressures-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework. The scenarios that emerged, i.e., Global Markets, Self-sufficient Economies, Tyranny of Climate Governance, and Sustainable Use of Ecosystem Services, show that pragmatism can have either a propitious role or pernicious role in scenario analysis. Instead of being truly honest brokers, scenario producers are likely to manipulate, reconstruct, and change scientific knowledge to avoid socially and politically undesired trajectories. We showed by mathematical optimization that scenario users are likely to miss the Sustainable Use of Ecosystem Services scenario if they search within the pragmatic decision space which optimally justifies the two pre-existing global policies: climate policy and economic growth. We conclude that pernicious pragmatism leads to “the trap of the day”—a tendency of both users and producers of scenarios to use pre-existing policy agendas and scientific narratives as a pretext to promote their own objectives instead of being open to transformation in science and policy.

Fit between Conservation Instruments and Local Social Systems: Cases of Co-management and Payments for Ecosystem Services

Abstract We draw on the concept of ‘fit’ to understand how co-management and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) as governance instruments could better acknowledge local social complexities. Achieving ‘participatory fit’ requires well-designed and fair processes, which enhance local acceptance towards the implemented rules. Thus, such fit can contribute to establishing new institutions in conservation governance. However, previous literature on participation has had strong focus on properties of decision-making processes, which often neglects the question on how local realities effect on local people’s ability and willingness to participate in the work of governance instruments. We approach ‘participatory fit’ by identifying six properties of heterogeneous local social systems that governance instruments need to acknowledge to nurture balanced bottom-up participation: 1) economic resources and structures, 2) relationships to land, 3) level of education, 4) relationships between diverse actors, 5) divergent problem definitions, and 6) local identities. We discuss related sources of misfits and develop proposals on how conservation instruments could function as bridging organizations facilitating polycentric institutional structures that fit better to the social systems they are intended to govern. Such hybridization of governance could avoid pitfalls of considering one particular instrument (e.g. co-management or PES) as a panacea able to create win-win solutions.