| 11. |
- Brogaard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Agricultural performance on marginal land in Eastern Inner Mongolia, China -- Development in the pre- and post-1978 reform periods
- 2005
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Ingår i: GeoJournal. - 1572-9893. ; 64, s. 163-175
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rapid economic development in the aftermath of the Chinese post-1978 reforms has resulted in a shrinking of grain grown area in the southern and eastern regions of the country which in turn is believed to have put the marginal northern regions under increased pressure. This paper examines key indicators of agricultural performance as well as cultivated land area development of the pre- and post-1978 reform periods focusing on the agro-pastoral Tongliao City Prefecture, eastern Inner Mongolia. The results are related to the village level development through a case study as well as to the provincial level. Average annual grain per capita production increased from about 400 kg in the late 1970s to more then 1000 kg in the late 1990s. This was achieved through a combination of intensification and reclamation of cropland, with the latter restricted to pastoral classified counties. Production variability, in particular for the low producing counties, has also increased possibly as an effect of the substitution of traditional mixed pattern of crops with HYV monocultures. Average living standards have improved but have been accompanied by widening income gaps. Poor farmers' livelihoods continue to be insecure, particularly during dry years. Concern is raised regarding the sustainability of the rapid agricultural development; an increased use of costly fertilisers constrains poorer farmer's economy and may lead to deteriorating water quality while increasing irrigation depletes water resources.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Brogaard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Biofuel policy and stakeholder perspectives in Sweden – Initial impacts of EU sustainability criteria on the biofuels sector and implications for land use
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Global demand for transportation biofuels has increased significantly stimulated by policy interventions seeking GHG emission reductions, improved security of supply and rural development opportunities. However the impact on an increasing use of biofuels on land use and cover has become a global concern. While policy interventions have led to increased use of biofuels, certification is often regarded as an institutional arrangement that can counter negative externalities. In the European Union sustainability criteria have been imposed on biofuels in order to qualify for government support and count towards national renewable energy targets set in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). Biofuels, locally produced or imported, have to comply with criteria that as a minimum avoids the use of high biodiversity, high carbon stock land for feedstock production and reaches set levels of greenhouse gas emission reductions. Voluntary certification schemes in addition often also include social criteria such as land and resource rights, food security perspectives and labor rights.In Sweden, one of the first countries to transpose the RED sustainability criteria into national law, a majority of the economic actors have opted for the national scheme supervised and regulated by the Swedish Energy Authority. More than one year passing since the first annual reporting of sustainability data, the aim of this paper is to analyse effects of this public-private governance initiative, emphasizing on perspectives provided by economic actors active on the Swedish biofuel arena. Acknowledging the importance of interlinking science and technology for sustainability with the perspectives of key actors, research design and analysis for this paper rests on three information attributes; salience, credibility and legitimacy (Cash et al 2002). A questionnaire submitted to all economic actors required to report sustainability data in order to receive tax exemptions was used to inquire about aspects such as: a) views on existing and further development of sustainability criteria including stakeholder participation b) methods and costs of compliance c) broader range of mechanisms affecting the biofuel market d) future investment strategies in a sustainability context. Alongside providing recent experiences of sustainability criteria implementation in Sweden, we discuss potential effects of suggested amendments of the EU RED encouraging greater market penetration of advanced biofuels and on inclusions of ILUC factors for biofuels.The study aims at contributing to the important question on if and how public-private policy mechanisms embedded in the EU RED can promote sustainable biofuels and land use practices in a Swedish as well as in a global perspective.
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| 14. |
- Brogaard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Climate extremes – a study of vulnerability, adaptation, and loss & damage in relation to the 2018 drought, focusing on Southern Sweden
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The extreme weather in terms of drought and heat, which prevailed in Northern Europe during the growing season 2018, had serious consequences for agriculture and farmers in Sweden. Many questions regarding farm production came to a head as drought struck directly against farmers land, economy and wellbeing. This paper argues that it is essential to deeper investigate farmer’s and other land user’s experiences and actions during the drought period and the immediately following situation, also in a high-income country context. The overall aim is therefore to increase the knowledge on multiple factor vulnerability and adaptive capacities with insights across selected rural livelihoods, focusing on Southern Sweden. We emphasize questions such as who, when and how rural land users are affected. In the study, we interpret loss and damage as “limits to adaptation” and consider both economic and non-economic dimensions for crop growers, animal keepers and horse businesses. The study is mainly based on qualitative data collection methods, such as semi-structured interviews in combination with seasonal calendars, and complemented with questionnaires.Preliminary findings indicate that impacts on crop growers are highly related to possibilities for irrigation and access to water use permits, but also to soil quality. In comparison to animal keepers their experienced impact can be considered being ‘intermediate’ in temporal terms. For animal keepers the experienced impacts are simultaneously more immediate, due to acute fodder shortage, and more long term, because of changing stock compositions, animal health, and reproduction – possibly also giving rise to higher levels of concern and worry. In the paper we further discuss if, and when, rural livelihoods are potentially given up in the wake of extreme weather events. We believe that this study can help define factors of vulnerability, loss and damage in a Global North context.
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| 15. |
- Brogaard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Does Gender matter in energy (justice) research? : A review on energy justice dimensions of the low carbon transition
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The expanding energy justice scholarship increasingly discusses the importance of equity concerns in the context of global decarbonization. How to equitably distribute the benefits and burdens of energy systems and ensure an inclusive and socially acceptable change, constitutes vital prerequisites for the transition to a low-carbon society. Energy, in a Northern context, is seen as gender-neutral; women and men are regarded as equal in their uses of and views about energy, and policies accurately reflect the needs and wishes of the population. In fact the research has shown that energy issues can be heavily gendered. There are also gender differences in environmental concerns and the ways in which men and women’s everyday lives are impacted by energy conservation.The aim of this research is to produce a gender - conscious database of research on renewable energy transitions in OECD countries. The geographical focus is responding to the limited analysis available on gender on renewable energy in the high income country context. Based on a selection of critical cases and a “narrative review procedure” the paper then aims to identify patterns in the existing research.
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| 16. |
- Brogaard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Food systems and farmers’ behavior during an extreme event: : an analysis of actions and governance following the 2018 drought in Sweden
- 2020
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The extreme weather in terms of drought and heat, which prevailed in Northern Europe during the growing season 2018, had serious consequences for food production and farmers in southern Sweden. Many questions regarding farm production came to a head as drought struck directly against farmers land, economy and wellbeing and hence created vulnerability. This paper analyzes how farmers experienced the turbulent time of a climate extreme and focuses on how they related to the societal institutions that generally govern the agricultural sector. The course of events showed how the existing agricultural institutions were struggling with the situation and partly lacked the capacity to handle a crisis of this kind. By studying more closely how farmers in this situation solved the problems, among other things through increased collaboration, measures to improve adaptability can be identified. In the paper we relate to the distinction in climate literature between autonomous and planned adaptation. Autonomous adaptation is understood as more improvised adaptation measures taken by individual actors (e.g. farmers) to deal with changing demands and conditions, while planned adaptation refers to the deliberate creation and implementation of policies to deal with the impacts of climate change. Our empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with farmers in southern Sweden and a larger survey material collected during 2019.From these concepts and by studying these challenges from the land users' perspective, we gain an expanded understanding of needed governance interventions for increasing the resilience in modern agriculture.
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| 17. |
- Brogaard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Governance of biofuel production in the transport sector through the renewable energy directive
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the search for viable pathways for transforming governance and institutions in the Rio+20 agenda, strengthening of public-private governance networks has been emphasized. Important initiatives are found in the expanding bioenergy sector where several certification schemes have been launched for ensuring that bioenergy feedstock meet environmental and social requirements. These initiatives are encouraged by the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED). RED states that biofuels should replace 10% of Europe's fossil fuel in transport by 2020. However, the production of bioliquids raises serious environmental and social sustainability concerns in producer countries. In order to contribute to the EU targets, economic operators most comply with a set of sustainability criteria through one of three reporting schemes. This study, emphasizing the Swedish case as one of the first countries to transpose RED into national law, focuses on which reporting system is chosen by economic operators and on what grounds. Are social concerns such as labor rights, land and resource rights considered important factors? Preliminary studies show that the national scheme is stressing environmental sustainability, showing fewer concerns of social aspects, while the EU recently accredited voluntary systems, driven by a range of actors, are more transformational concerning the inclusion of social concerns in producer countries. The study contributes to the important question on how to promote north-south justice and fairness aspects in governing a sustainable biofuel production by learning from the implementation of this potentially influential regulatory innovation.
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| 18. |
- Brogaard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Ground-truths or Ground-lies? : environmental sampling for remote sensing application exemplified by vegetation cover data
- 1997
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- During time of fast development of computer and sensor technology, ground data sampling strategies have achieved diminished attention in many remote sensing studies. This paper discusses the importance of designing an appropriate sampling scheme of ground data collection for remote sensing applications. The difficulties of achieving a balance between the size and the error of the samples are identified. Different techniques of vegetation cover estimations are evaluated to illustrate parts of the proposed sampling design. The study indicates that traditional methods of ground data collection for remote sensing applications do not have to result in "ground lies". Determination of a reliable and appropriate sampling scheme for the ground data collection should be given a more attention when assuring accurate results in remote sensing studies.
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| 19. |
- Brogaard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Innovation Region Sweden
- 2020
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Ingår i: Deliverable 4.2 : Set of reports on CINA workshop findings in case study regions, compiled for ongoing co-design and knowledge exchange - Set of reports on CINA workshop findings in case study regions, compiled for ongoing co-design and knowledge exchange. ; , s. 296-331
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Älska Skog educational competition (Gothenburg, Sweden)Gothenburg-based educational institute Universeum is running annual design competitions on forest topics for primary school pupils, starting in 2016. Based on various activities in which pupils gain knowledge about forest-related challenges and opportunities as well as forestry, they would design plans to deal with those problems. After a first setup which ended in 2018, an evaluation and potential redesign of the competition was desired. This is where the InnoForESt approach came in to structure and guide the innovation process of this educational programme. The aim of the innovation process was to update the competition programme to contemporary complexities and explore new actor and contributor constellations.At the time of writing, the Innovation Team has organized four workshops of different kinds, differing in distribution and number of stakeholders participating. A first workshop discussed a wide variety of scenarios which took up current topics of sustainability/climate and using forests as a means of integration. This meant a potential broadening of the previous range of topics which revolved specifically around forest management topics. However, this potential broadening was not without risk. Private forestry actors were strongly tied into the previous institutional arrangement of the educational competition and a critical view on climate activities in forests could result in their withdrawal from cooperation. Hence, any scenario that would involve climate change would need to be formulated very carefully.Nevertheless, during a second workshop the Team focused more on climate as a topic and presented the participants with three further developed scenarios fleshing out the contents of climate-focused educational competitions. The choice to intensify work on climate as a topic for the educational programme was reaffirmed by an increased awareness for climate change following the 2018 extreme drought and heatwave, which in turn spurred Greta Thunberg, the Swedish high school student turned global climate champion. Interest of high school students in the problematic surged along with Greta’s impact on global environmental policy and media. Afterwards, the Team planned to present the new direction to the private forestry actors. This was not yet successful, partly because they could not participate in subsequent workshops. In lieu of developments on that front, the Team picked up the further didactical development of the programme and met up with the Universeum in-house pedagogues. They discussed how the eventually chosen climate scenario could be implemented from a didactical perspective.In what has been the last workshop for now the Team convened teachers to discuss the current scenario and hear their opinions on different possibilities regarding the didactical setup of the programme now targeting the older age group of high school students. In InnoForESt terms, the Team has reached far into the prototype development process and is already on the verge of mapping the road ahead. It seems that the governance innovation is heading towards a new content and a new target group.
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| 20. |
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