| 1. |
- Sandström, Camilla, et al.
(author)
-
Understanding consistencies and gaps between desired forest futures : An analysis of visions from stakeholder groups in Sweden
- 2016
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In: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 45, s. S100-S108
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Conflicting perspectives on forests has for a long time challenged forest policy development in Sweden. Disagreements about forest futures create intractable deadlocks when stakeholders talk past each other. The purpose of this study is to move beyond this situation through the application of participatory backcasting. By comparing visions of the future forest among stakeholder groups, we highlight contemporary trajectories and identify changes that were conceived as desirable. We worked with four groups: the Biomass and Bioenergy group, the Conservation group, the Sami Livelihood group and the Recreation and Rural Development group; in total representatives from 40 organizations participated in workshops articulating the groups' visions. Our results show well-known tensions such as intrinsic versus instrumental values but also new ones concerning forests' social values. Identified synergies include prioritization of rural development, new valued-added forest products and diversified forest management. The results may feed directly into forest policy processes facilitating the process and break current deadlocks.
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| 2. |
- Beland Lindahl, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Clash or concert in European forests? Integration and coherence of forest ecosystem service–related national policies
- 2023
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In: Land use policy. - : Elsevier. - 0264-8377 .- 1873-5754. ; 129
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper compares how forest ecosystem service–related policies are integrated in different national European forest governance contexts. Efforts to achieve policy integration at the EU and national levels are often described in terms of limited success. Our analysis of forest, energy/bioeconomy, climate, and conservation policies suggests that notions of progress or failure merit careful assessment. Combining theories of policy integration (PI), environmental policy integration (EPI), and policy coherence, we argue that integration outcomes depend on the combined effects of the degree and nature of PI, EPI, and multilevel coherence in the context of the prevailing forest governance system. The nature of the interdependencies, specifically anticipated synergies, and the scope of FES-related climate objectives, are crucial. Realizing the range of FES-related objectives entails safeguarding objectives not synergistically aligned with economic aims. Failures to safeguard biodiversity and regulating and cultural ecosystem services in the process of integration may have far-reaching consequences.
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| 3. |
- Beland Lindahl, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Competing pathways to sustainability? : Exploring conflicts over mine establishments in the Swedish mountain region
- 2018
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In: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 218, s. 402-415
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Natural resource (NR) exploitation often gives rise to conflict. While most actors intend to manage collectively used places and their NRs sustainably, they may disagree about what this entails. This article accordingly explores the origin of NR conflicts by analysing them in terms of competing pathways to sustainability. By comparing conflicts over mine establishments in three places in northern Sweden, we specifically explore the role of place-based perceptions and experiences.The results indicate that the investigated conflicts go far beyond the question of metals and mines. The differences between pathways supporting mine establishment and those opposing it refer to fundamental ideas about human nature relationships and sustainable development (SD). The study suggests that place-related parameters affect local interpretations of SD and mobilisation in ways that explain why resistance and conflict exist in some places but not others. A broader understanding of a particular conflict and its specific place-based trajectory may help uncover complex underlying reasons. However, our comparative analysis also demonstrates that mining conflicts in different places share certain characteristics. Consequently, a site-specific focus ought to be combined with attempts to compare, or map, conflicts at a larger scale to improve our understanding of when and how conflicts evolve. By addressing the underlying causes and origins of contestation, this study generates knowledge needed to address NR management conflicts effectively and legitimately.
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| 4. |
- Beland Lindahl, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Future forests: Perceptions and strategies of key actors
- 2012
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0282-7581 .- 1651-1891. ; 27, s. 154-163
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Abstract This paper investigates how key actors perceive the future of the forest sector: how they position themselves in relation to climate, energy and demography related trends. Actors’ perceptions of future challenges and opportunities influence their choice of strategy and action. Actors’ relative capacity to realise their visions, in turn, shape future forest use. Frame analysis is used to explore selected actor’s perceptions and strategies and the existence of major divisions, i.e. frame conflicts. Empirically, the study is based on the case of Sweden as a typical boreal forest producing region. Actors’ perceptions of the challenges facing the forest sector diverge widely. Yet, most actors see the future of the forest sector as linked to broader issues of climate mitigation and energy transition. These issues trigger fundamental discussions about social change and the role of forests in future society. A major division separates actors who perceive biomass supply as unlimited, or at least not constraining, and those who stress scarcity and re-distribution of resources. This difference, or frame conflict, is reflected in actors’ forest related strategies and may fuel future forest debates and conflicts
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Beland Lindahl, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Place Perceptions and Controversies over Forest Management: Exploring a Swedish Example
- 2013
-
In: Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. - 1523-908X .- 1522-7200. ; 15, s. 201-223
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article explores the role of place perceptions in controversies over forest management. A neo-Durkheimian approach to frame analysis is used to explore actors' perceptions of places, forests and policy. This is combined with an examination of actors' varying capacity to influence policy-making using an interpretive policy analysis framework. Empirically, the analysis investigates a controversy over natural resource management in Jokkmokk municipality, northern Sweden. The research draws upon qualitative data collected from a variety of state, economic and social actors. It shows how a systematic analysis of place-related frames can elucidate the policy-making process. It demonstrates how conflicting place meanings divide actors, their frames and interpretive communities. However, social organization and loyalties are also important in shaping actions. The analytical framework offers a sociologically based approach to exploring the role of place perceptions in natural resource politics. It facilitates in-depth understanding of policy-making and may thus contribute to strengthening efforts to manage conflicts and to develop equitable governance systems for natural resource management.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Beland Lindahl, Karin
(author)
-
The Legacy of Sweden’s Social Democratic State for Extractive Bargains with Indigenous Sámi Reindeer Herding Communities
- 2023. - 1
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In: Extractive Bargains. - : Springer Nature. ; , s. 75-96
-
Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter explores how the Swedish state justifies its extractive bargains with Indigenous Sámi reindeer herding communities (RHCs). The conflict over the Kallak/Gállok mine project in northern Sweden serves as an example. The chapter explores the logic underlying the Swedish state’s contemporary extractive bargaining strategies in light of a policy style moulded by historical social democratic politics. A corporatist and consensus-oriented policy style and a productivist approach assuming win-wins between social rights, equality and economic growth permeated historical Swedish bargains. Currently, Sweden justifies its bargains with climate benefits, but the former social democratic legacy created path dependencies which continue to shape extractive bargains today. While this approach has served the needs of the industry, the state and the working class, it severely compromises the needs of Indigenous Sámi RHCs. Applied in a pro-extractivist political economy with little concern for Indigenous rights, it maintains and reinforces social injustices.
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| 9. |
- Beland Lindahl, Karin, et al.
(author)
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To Approve or not to Approve? A Comparative Analysis of State-Company-Indigenous Community Interactions in Mining in Canada and Sweden
- 2024
-
In: Environmental Management. - : Springer Nature. - 0364-152X .- 1432-1009. ; 73:5, s. 946-961
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This Special Section explores the interplay between Indigenous peoples, industry, and the state in five proposed and active mining projects in Canada and Sweden. The overall aim is to identify factors shaping the quality of Indigenous community-industry-state interactions in mining and mine development. An ambition underlying the research is to develop knowledge to help manage mining related land-use conflicts in Sweden by drawing on Canadian comparisons and experience. This paper synthesizes the comparative research that has been conducted across jurisdictions in three Canadian provinces and Sweden. It focuses on the interplay between the properties of the governance system, the quality of interaction and governance outcomes. We combine institutional and interactive governance theory and use the concept of governability to assess how and why specific outcomes, such as mutually beneficial interaction, collaboration, or opposition, occurred. The analysis suggests there are measures that can be taken by the Swedish Government to improve the governability of mining related issues, by developing alternative, and more effective, avenues to recognize, and protect, Sámi rights and culture, to broaden the scope and increase the legitimacy and transparency of the EIAs, to raise the quality of interaction and consultation, and to develop tools to actively stimulate and support collaboration and partnerships on equal terms. Generally, we argue that Indigenous community responses to mining must be understood within a larger framework of Indigenous self-determination, in particular the communities’ own assessments of their opportunities to achieve their long-term objectives using alternative governing modes and types of interactions.
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Fjellborg, Daniel, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Division of Labour in Swedish Mining Resistance: The Interplay between Legal Mobilization and Public Protests in Social Movements
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- More knowledge is needed about how the design and implementation of legal processes shape the strategies and actions of social movements. We explore how movement actors’ interpretations of opportunities and constraints within legal processes shape their choices of strategies and actions. We particularly investigate how actors’ interpretations relate to their access to legal processes (i.e. legal standing) and to their understanding of opportunities in alternative action arenas in society, such as policy-making processes and street protests. We investigate an anti-extraction movement and its mobilization against a mining project in northern Sweden over eleven years. Using social movement theory and frame analysis, we explore the interpretations, strategies, and actions of movement actors who have or lack legal standing within the project’s permit process (i.e. legal insiders or outsiders). Key results indicate that action choices are shaped by how movement actors understand their opportunities in different societal arenas and by their traditions and interpretations of appropriate roles amongst other actors in the movement. To understand how legal standing shapes actions, we must acknowledge that actions are shaped by both a logic of consequences and a logic of appropriateness. Results also indicate that insiders’ legal engagement did not diminish outsiders’ use of public protests. On the contrary, outsiders’ motivation to use protests increased via a division of labour emerging in the movement, with actors specializing into either legal mobilization or protests. Integration of some movement actors into legal processes may not lead to a phasing out of protests in the growing resistance against mining in Europe.
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| 12. |
- Fjellborg, Daniel, 1988-
(author)
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Strategies and Actions in Swedish Mining Resistance : Mapping Anti-Extraction Movements and Exploring How Their Interpretations of Socio-Political Context Shape Mobilization Against Mining Projects
- 2024
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Across the world, the demand for minerals is steadily increasing. In Europe, the push for mining coincides with rising public mobilization against extraction projects, and mining-related conflicts will likely be a feature of Europe’s foreseeable future. To understand the trajectories of mining conflicts, and to find just ways of handling them, it is important to understand the strategies and actions of the networks of actors that oppose extraction projects, that is, anti-extraction movements. While previous research has primarily explored mining resistance in the Global South, our knowledge about mining resistance in Europe is lacking. I contribute to filling this gap by investigating anti-extraction movements in Sweden, a long-term producer of minerals. The aim of the thesis is thus to explore what strategies and actions anti-extraction movements in Sweden use and how and why they choose them. I use social movement theory and emphasize how choices of strategies and actions are shaped by the socio-political context in which movements are embedded. With the help of frame analysis and an interpretive research approach, I explore how movement actors’ interpretations of contextual opportunities and constraints shape their actions, thus contributing to the ongoing research debate about how surrounding societal actors and institutions influence movement agency. In four papers, building on an extensive document analysis and interviews with movement actors, I systematically map and analyse anti-extraction movements in Sweden and provide in-depth studies of selected cases. I ask two research questions: 1. What anti-extraction movements are there in Sweden, in what socio-political contexts are they embedded, and what actions have they taken? 2. How do anti-extraction movements’ goals and interpretations of contextual opportunities and constraints shape their strategies and actions?The thesis presents the first comprehensive mapping of anti-extraction movements in Sweden and shows that mining resistance has increased across Sweden during the last two decades. My results reveal that movements use a wide range of actions, from civil disobedience and public demonstrations to litigation and political lobbying, and are composed of heterogeneous mixes of actors, including newly formed activist networks, organizations for farmers and Indigenous Sámi, and environmental organizations. Movements promote several visions for societal development, including environmental protection and sustainability, Sámi Indigenous rights and culture, and landowners’ rights and agriculture. In international comparison, the Swedish anti-extraction movements to a larger extent aim to influence political and legal actors and place less emphasis on project owners and corporate investors. Regarding how socio-political context shapes strategies and actions, my results indicate that movement actors’ interpretations of contextual opportunities do not always align with researchers’ understandings of what an opportunity is, thus producing unexpected actions. Movement actors’ interpretations of opportunities and constraints are found to be influenced by their goals, their comparisons of available options, their previous experiences, and their role in relation to other actors in the movement. My research shows that socio-political context often influences movement actors’ strategies and actions via their interpretations of opportunities and constraints for achieving goals. My results also suggest that socio-political context shapes movement actors’ strategies and actions by presenting them with appropriate ways to act in society. Lastly, my studies indicate that additional factors, including movement actors’ action traditions and identities, resources, and the diffusion of strategies, can influence movement actors’ interpretations of contextual opportunities and strategies and actions.
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| 13. |
- Fjellborg, Daniel, et al.
(author)
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What to do when the mining company comes to town? Mapping actions of anti-extraction movements in Sweden, 2009–2019
- 2022
-
In: Resources policy. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4207 .- 1873-7641. ; 75
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research on the actions of anti-extraction movements has primarily comprised single-case studies in developing countries. Despite increasing mobilization and policy objectives to increase mineral extraction in the EU, we have little systematic knowledge of forms of resistance in a European setting. This paper exhaustively and comparatively maps anti-extraction movements in Sweden and investigates how movements' actions relate to their socio-political contexts. Sixteen place-specific movements are identified and studied using frame analysis and political process theory. The results suggest that anti-extraction movements occur across Sweden and that their socio-political contexts differ in access to indigenous rights institutions, project owner engagement, and support/opposition from host municipalities and national interest groups. The frame analysis indicates that movements share several goals, sometimes interpret similar contexts differently, and that differences in actions reflect differences in interpretations of contextual opportunities. Our results show that anti-extraction movements in Sweden involve diverse actors, including environmental interest groups, new networks mobilizing against extraction projects, indigenous Sami organizations, farmers' organizations, and landowners. Broad repertoires of actions, including civil disobedience, are used to influence the public, permitting processes, political actors at various scales, and project owners. Differences in socio-political contexts often align with movements’ interpretations of opportunities and relate with differences in action choices.
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| 14. |
- Johansson, Andreas
(author)
-
Deliberating Intractability : Exploring Prospects of Deliberative Democracy in Intractable Natural Resource Management Conflicts
- 2023
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The increasing prevalence of intractable conflicts over natural resources, which defy technocratic solutions, highlights an urgent need for states, managers, and practitioners to find democratic methods for addressing them. In the normative debate over the optimal approach to managing these conflicts, deliberative democracy has emerged as a leading theoretical framework, sparking a deliberative turn in both political theory and natural resource governance. While the normative value of deliberative democracy—where the public collaboratively shapes collective decisions through reasoned discourse under conditions of equality and fairness—is widely acknowledged, its practical effectiveness in addressing intractable natural resource conflicts, particularly its capacity to foster productive reframing outcomes conducive to legitimate decisions or agreements, remains uncertain. In response to these uncertainties, this thesis explores the potential of deliberative democracy in intractable natural resource conflicts, using Swedish mining governance and its associated intractable conflicts as the empirical setting. It employs a qualitative case study design rooted in an interpretive analytical paradigm to investigate the possibility of achieving deliberation and associated reframing outcomes among disputing actors, examine the extent to which and how the ideal of deliberative democracy has manifested within the governance system entwined with the conflicts, and explore the interplay between contextual factors, deliberation, and associated reframing outcomes.The thesis concludes that while achieving consensus or mutually accepted agreement through deliberation in intractable conflicts may be unlikely, it is possible, given strict adherence to deliberative design principles and significant contextual knowledge, to realize ideal deliberation and the outcome of meta-consensus. This outcome holds substantial value as it can transform intractable conflicts into structured and respectful disagreements, thereby clarifying the conflicts and their dividing lines. Consequently, it makes intractable situations more manageable, facilitating efforts to reach compromises when feasible and make trade-offs when they are not. Furthermore, the thesis shows that meta-consensus can endure amid ongoing conflict and heightened polarization. However, the thesis also concludes that ideal deliberation and meta-consensus may not be attainable in all conflict scenarios due to contextual barriers. Factors, including strained pre-conflict community relations rooted in historical state decisions, a lack of prior foundation for inter-group engagement, entrenched affiliations among participants, and obstacles within the institutional design of the governance system, were identified as impediments to the realization of ideal deliberation and its associated outcomes. The thesis also reaffirms the challenges of extending deliberative democracy beyond isolated forums to pre-existing governance systems. Notably, while the investigated governance system has demonstrated an increasing commitment to deliberative norms and practices, a discernible gap exists between the system's current state and the principles of deliberative democracy, suggesting a "business as usual" scenario rather than a transition toward a deliberative democratic governance system.In light of these findings, this thesis provides several suggestions for aligning the system and other comparable governance systems with the deliberative democratic norms they aspire to achieve. It also proposes several directions for future research. These include exploring how deliberative processes can be optimally tailored to meet the unique demands of different contexts, continuing efforts to identify and address institutional and other contextual enablers and barriers to deliberation at both the micro and system levels. Addressing system-level barriers is particularly important if deliberation is to flourish beyond isolated forums. Furthermore, recognizing that meta-consensus does not provide a direct resolution to conflicts and cannot be enabled under all conditions, it is essential to identify mechanisms for trade-offs or outcomes that are deemed fair and acceptable even by those who do not get their preferences realized. Additionally, acknowledging the possibility of harnessing long-term democratization effects of conflicts, more research to determine when and under what conditions conflicts and various non-democratic actions yield positive effects is crucial.
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| 15. |
- Johansson, Andreas, et al.
(author)
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Exploring prospects of deliberation in intractable natural resource management conflicts
- 2022
-
In: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 315
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Deliberative processes are increasingly advocated as means to handle intractable natural resource management (NRM) conflicts. Research shows that disputing actors can deliberate and achieve higher degrees of mutual understanding and working agreements under ideal conditions, but the transferability of these findings to real-world intractable NRM conflicts can be questioned. This paper explores the possibilities of designing and realizing deliberation and its expected outcomes in real-world NRM conflicts. We used recommended design principles to set up deliberative processes in two intractable mining conflicts involving indigenous peoples in Northern Sweden and assessed the actors’ communication and outcomes using frame analysis.The results show that the recommended design principles are hard, but not impossible, to fully implement in intractable NRM conflicts. Both conflicts proved difficult to deliberate and resolve in the sense of reaching agreements. However, the findings suggest that deliberation, as well as meta-consensus, or structured disagreement, is possible to achieve in settings with favorable conditions, e.g. good and established inter-group relations prior to the conflict. In the absence of these conditions, where relations were hostile and shaped by historical and institutional injustices, deliberation was not achieved. In both cases, polarization among the participants remained, or increased, in spite of the deliberative activities. The study highlights the importance of understanding deliberation as embedded in place specific historical and institutional contexts which shape both process and outcomes in powerful ways. More efforts should focus on alternative, or complementary, ways to handle intractable NRM conflicts, including how contested experiences of history, institutions and Indigenous rights can be addressed.
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| 16. |
- Lindahl, Karin Beland
(author)
-
Actors’ Perceptions and Strategies : Forests and Pathways to Sustainability
- 2015
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In: The Future Use of Nordic Forests. - Cham : Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology/Springer Verlag. - 9783319142173 - 9783319142180 ; , s. 111-124
-
Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter discusses how the future is handled by actors in the present. It investigates how actors’ perceptions of the future—its challenges and its opportunities—influence their strategies and actions. The chapter starts with a frame analysis exploring the visions of a range of actors relevant to Swedish forest sector development. It aims to describe major divisions in the debate on future forest use and on a variety of ways to deal with uncertainty, ambiguity, and ignorance. The analysis relates to international processes important to the Swedish forest sector and feeds into a discussion of competing pathways to “sustainability”.
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Lindahl, Karin Beland, et al.
(author)
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Factors affecting local attitudes to mineral exploration: What's within the company's control?
- 2023
-
In: Resources policy. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4207 .- 1873-7641. ; 84
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study explores factors affecting local actors' and citizens’ attitudes to mineral exploration, and how attitudes to exploration relates to those of mining. The concept Social License to Explore (SLE), originating from Social License to Operate (SLO), is used to address the relationship between exploration companies and affected local communities. The study focuses on attitudes in three municipalities in northern Sweden and Finland and combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The results show that local attitudes to mineral exploration and mining correlate strongly and are intimately linked. Perceptions of impacts, the permit process, and trust in government and company affect local attitudes, but company performance seems to be most important where trust was not established. We argue that values about nature, economy, and value-based development preferences, are central as they shape local attitudes and perceptions of impacts and process. While company conduct and community engagement are within the control of companies, local values and development preferences are largely outside of their control. However, insights about contextual conditions shaping attitudes and values can be generalized and help companies make more informed decisions. Responsible target selection is a strategy within the control of the company which can help avoid intractable and costly conflicts.
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Lindahl, Karin Beland, et al.
(author)
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Food, Paper, Wood, or Energy? : Global Trends and Future Swedish Forest Use
- 2011
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In: Forests. - : MDPI AG. - 1999-4907. ; 2:1, s. 51-65
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper presents a futures study of international forest trends. The study, produced as part of the Swedish Future Forest program, focuses on global changes of importance for future Swedish forest use. It is based on previous international research, policy documents, and 24 interviews with selected key experts and/or actors related to the forest sector, and its findings will provide a basis for future research priorities. The forest sector, here defined as the economic, social, and cultural contributions to life and human welfare derived from forest and forest-based activities, faces major change. Four areas stand out as particularly important: changing energy systems, emerging international climate policies, changing governance systems, and shifting global land use systems. We argue that global developments are, and will be, important for future Swedish forest use. The forest sector is in transition and forest-, energy, climate- and global land use issues are likely to become increasingly intertwined. Therefore, the “forest sector” must be disembedded and approached as an open system in interplay with other systems.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Lindahl, Karin Beland, et al.
(author)
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Konflikter om gruvetablering : Lokalsamhällets aktöreroch vägar till hållbarhet : slutrapport
- 2016
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Gruvprospektering och gruvetablering kan ge upphov tilllokala konflikter. Syftet med den här studien är att undersökahur berörda aktörer och medborgare ser på fråganom framtida mineralutvinning och gruvetablering, vilketutrymme som finns för lokalt deltagande och inflytandei politik och regelverk, samt möjligheterna att hanteraeventuella konflikter med hjälp av dialog och samråd. Vihar analyserat tre gruvetableringsprocesser på tre olikaplatser i det fjällnära området: järnbrytning i Gállok/Kallak(Jokkmokks kommun), nickelutvinning i Rönnbäck/Rönnbäcken (Storumans kommun) samt guld, koppar ochjärnbrytning i Rakkuri (Kiruna kommun).
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| 24. |
- Lindahl, Karin Beland, et al.
(author)
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Nordic Forest Futures : An Introduction
- 2015
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In: The Future Use of Nordic Forests. - Cham : Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology/Springer Verlag. - 9783319142173 - 9783319142180 ; , s. 1-10
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This book focuses on how global trends are likely to affect the future use of Nordic forests. The aim is to contribute to a broad debate about future Nordic forest management. The book invites professionals in the forest sector, civil society organizations and decision makers to be part of a dialog about the opportunities, challenges, and trade-offs associated with future forest use. The book is produced within the Future Forests Research Program (www.futureforests.se), a major cross-disciplinary research effort to address future Swedish forest use in the light of climate change and an increasing demand for forest-related products and services
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| 25. |
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| 26. |
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| 27. |
- Lindahl, Karin Beland, et al.
(author)
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The Swedish forestry model : more of everything?
- 2017
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In: Forest Policy and Economics. - : Elsevier. - 1389-9341 .- 1872-7050. ; 77, s. 44-55
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- "The Swedish forestry model" refers to the forest regime that evolved following the 1993 revision of the Swedish Forestry Act. It is key to Swedish forest politics and used to capture the essence of a sustainable way of managing forests. However, the ideas, institutions and practices comprising the model have not been comprehensively analyzed previously. Addressing this knowledge gap, we use frame analysis and a Pathways approach to investigate the underlying governance model, focusing on the way policy problems are addressed, goals, implementation procedures, outcomes and the resulting pathways to sustainability. We suggest that the institutionally embedded response to pressing sustainability challenges and increasing demands is expansion, inclusion and integration: more of everything. The more-of-everything pathway is influenced by ideas of ecological modernization and the optimistic view that existing resources can be increased. Our findings suggest that in effect it prioritizes the economic dimension of sustainability. While broadening out policy formulation it closes down the range of alternative outputs, a shortcoming that hampers its capacity to respond to current sustainability challenges. Consequently, there is a need for a broad public debate regarding not only the role of forests in future society, but also the operationalization of sustainable development.
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| 28. |
- Lindahl, Karin Beland, et al.
(author)
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Theorising pathways to sustainability
- 2016
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In: International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1350-4509 .- 1745-2627. ; 23:5, s. 399-411
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using a Pathways approach, controversies over environmental and natural resource management are viewed as expressions of alternative, or competing, pathways to sustainability. This supports deeper understanding of the underlying causes of natural resource management controversies. The framework is composed of two elements: the STEPS (Social, Technological, and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Pathways approach and frame analysis. Many sustainable development dilemmas are played out in specific places and consequently, the Pathways approach is integrated with a place-based frame analysis. The resulting framework guides empirical investigation in place-based contexts. This theorising about sustainability science can be used to cast light on contested natural resource management issues, in this case mining in northern Sweden. By exposing the range of alternative Pathways to critical norms of sustainable development, we ascertain whether action alternatives are compatible with sustainable futures. The framework provides a way in which sustainability science can better understand the origins of natural resource management conflicts, characterise the positions of the actors involved, identify the potential for cooperation between stakeholders leading to policy resolution and judge what Pathways help or hinder the pursuit of sustainable development. In addition, it can enhance sustainability science by guiding integrative sustainability research at the project scale.
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| 29. |
- Lindahl, Karin Beland, et al.
(author)
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Transdisciplinarity in practice : aims, collaboration and integration in a Swedish research programme
- 2014
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In: Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1943-815X .- 1943-8168. ; 11:3-4, s. 155-171
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article discusses the practice of crossdisciplinarity in the context of future-oriented sustainability studies. Much research into crossdisciplinarity has concentrated on programmatic and epistemological questions. In this study, we focus on research practice and efforts to realize transdisciplinary aims across a research programme. We use the Swedish Future Forests programme as a case study and explore its aims, forms of collaboration and level of conceptual integration. The study demonstrates that efficient integration requires organizational settings able to support the development of a common conceptual framework. To achieve this, the aims and forms of collaboration and the means of integration ought to be consistent. Far-reaching integration and short-term instrumental objectives may be difficult to combine because integration requires intellectual space, specific boundary settings and time. Short-term instrumental objectives may also hamper open and reflexive discussion of alternative pathways to sustainability and of how participating actors shape the research process. These insights may help researchers and participating actors to design research programmes that enable a realization of their transdisciplinary ambitions.
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| 30. |
- Logmani-Aßmann, J., et al.
(author)
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Forest Set-Aside Policy for International Biodiversity Targets? : Obstructive Bureaucratic Territoriality in Germany and Sweden
- 2022
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In: International forestry review. - : Commonwealth Forestry Association. - 1465-5489 .- 2053-7778. ; 23:4, s. 448-461
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 requires setting aside vast currently managed areas for conservation purposes. Following bureaucratic politics theory, forestry and environmental domestic bureaucracies use these international targets in their struggle for power and territoriality over forested areas. Against this background, this study aims to analyze the resulting politics on setting aside forest areas from active forest management in Germany and Sweden. Employing a qualitative case study design and empirical data from policy documents and key informant interviews, our results indicate that bureaucracies prioritize instruments that are well aligned with their formal objectives, the interests of their informal constituencies, and their territorial interests. Such struggles dominate the development of policy instruments in both countries obstructing political compromise which results in a logjam in the development of substantial forest set-aside policy. We conclude that unless domestic politics and key bureaucracies provide conducive political conditions international commitments will be very difficult to achieve, even if they are formulated into clearly measurable international targets.
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| 31. |
- MacPhail, Fiona, et al.
(author)
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Why do Mines Fail to Obtain a Social License to Operate?: Insights from the Proposed Kallak Iron Mine (Sweden) and the Prosperity/New Prosperity Gold–Copper Mine (Canada)
- 2023
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In: Environmental Management. - : Springer. - 0364-152X .- 1432-1009. ; 72:1, s. 19-36
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Opposition to mines endures even in countries with relatively strong environmental assessment processes and regulations. Why proposed mines fail to obtain a social license to operate is analyzed by developing a framework comprised of three concepts—process legitimacy, distributional outcomes, and values compatibility—drawing from the social license to operate, interactive governance, and environmental justice literatures. The framework is applied to understand opposition from local Indigenous people to two mine projects, one in Sweden and the other in British Columbia, Canada. Evidence from interviews with Sami legal experts and Reindeer Herding Community representatives and an advisor with the Tŝilhqot’in National Government, as well as from secondary sources is used to analyze the contestation. Despite the proposed mines being situated in different governance contexts, the reasons for the opposition are markedly similar - environmental assessment processes are illegitimate, distributional outcomes unfair, and values incompatible. The comparative empirical analysis leads to refining the framework as a scaffold with values compatibility as the foundational plank, rather than three independent planks contributing to a social license to operate. The analysis offers insights into company commitments to Indigenous engagement, enhancements to process legitimacy, and evolving and paradigmatic shifts in governance processes, as articulated by Indigenous peoples and international governance mechanisms such as the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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| 32. |
- Mårald, Erland, 1970-, et al.
(author)
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Forest governance and management across time : developing a new forest social contract
- 2017
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Book (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The influence of the past, and of the future on current-time tradeoffs in the forest arena are particularly relevant given the long-term successions in forest landscapes and the hundred years' rotations in forestry. Historically established path dependencies and conflicts determine our present situation and delimit what is possible to achieve. Similarly, future trends and desires have a large influence on decision making. Nevertheless, decisions about forest governance and management are always made in the present – in the present-time appraisal of the developed situation, future alternatives and in negotiation between different perspectives, interests, and actors.This book explores historic and future outlooks as well as current tradeoffs and methods in forest governance and management. It emphasizes the generality and complexity with empirical data from Sweden and internationally. It first investigates, from a historical perspective, how previous forest policies and discourses have influenced current forest governance and management. Second, it considers methods to explore alternative forest futures and how the results from such investigations may influence the present. Third, it examines current methods of balancing tradeoffs in decision-making among ecosystem services. Based on the findings the authors develop an integrated approach – Reflexive Forestry – to support exchange of knowledge and understandings to enable capacity building and the establishment of common ground. Such societal agreements, or what the authors elaborate as forest social contracts, are sets of relational commitment between involved actors that may generate mutual action and a common directionality to meet contemporary challenges.
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| 33. |
- Poelzer, Gregory A
(author)
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Extracting Legitimacy : Input, Throughput, and Output Legitimacy in the Mining Industry
- 2018
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Legitimacy affects questions on constitutional design, international political regimes, and specific policy sectors. Although it permeates society at various levels, legitimacy becomes particularly crucial when decisions hold long-term or permanent consequences. In democratic societies, decisions on electoral reform or constitutional amendments typically include various checks and balances to increase the legitimacy of the outcome and similarly, on a smaller scale, resource development also undergoes of series of checks and balances to improve legitimacy. I investigate one such resource development, mineral extraction, to look at key factors of input, throughput, and output legitimacy in a policy sector with long-term or permanent outcomes.If the strength of the input legitimacy (democratic, participatory quality) is high, then a deficit of output legitimacy (decisions, outcomes) can be overlooked –and vice-versa. This interpretation of legitimacy focuses on the decision-making process and the outcomes, but with the active role companies take in mining operations it becomes critical to consider the non-state actors involved in the process. To address this additional piece of this equation, throughput legitimacy is utilized to analyze the effect of relationships in policy decisions. By looking at the quality of interaction, this thesis investigates where throughput fits within the three dimensions of legitimacy in the mining sector.Using interview and survey data from Sweden and Canada, this research in this thesis addresses both theoretical and empirical issues. Theoretically, the effect of multiple actors on the policy process legitimacy of policy processes are explored. Using the input, throughput, and output legitimacy trichotomy provides a basis through which to investigate the changes engendered by different governance arrangements and their effect on legitimacy. When support for policy also depends on activity outside the formal processes of government, the implications for legitimacy change –creating a new theoretical criterion. Empirically, the qualities and factors that affect the legitimacy of a process are identified. The findings of this thesis provide insight on future process designs; understanding the relationship between participation, interaction, and outcomes inresource development processes and the factors critical to legitimacy emerges and endures.
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| 34. |
- Poelzer, Gregory, et al.
(author)
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Licensing acceptance in a mineral-rich welfare state: Critical reflections on the social license to operate in Sweden
- 2020
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In: The Extractive Industries and Society. - : Elsevier. - 2214-790X .- 2214-7918. ; 7:3, s. 1096-1107
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Social License to Operate (SLO) continues to influence industry, government, and academia on issues of resource development, particularly mining. But it risks becoming a term that includes all types of company activity aimed at gaining public support. To delimit the term, we look at the malleability of the SLO in a highly-regulated context: Sweden. Comparing the academic literature on the SLO at the global level and in the Swedish context, we assess the usefulness of the term across three themes: institutions, corporate-community engagement, and sustainability. Through this review, we argue that the SLO is best understood as a tool and an indicator. A tool to address significant problems and issues and an indicator of deficiencies in the existing institutional framework
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| 35. |
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| 36. |
- Sandström, Camilla, et al.
(author)
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Comparing forest governance models.
- 2017
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In: Forest Policy and Economics. - : Elsevier. - 1389-9341 .- 1872-7050. ; 77, s. 1-5
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)
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| 37. |
- Sténs, Anna, 1976-, et al.
(author)
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From ecological knowledge to conservation policy : a case study on green tree retention and continuous-cover forestry in Sweden
- 2019
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In: Biodiversity and Conservation. - : Springer. - 0960-3115 .- 1572-9710. ; 28:13, s. 3547-3574
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The extent to which scientific knowledge translates into practice is a pervasive question. We analysed to what extent and how ecological scientists gave input to policy for two approaches advocated for promoting forest biodiversity in production forests in Sweden: green-tree retention (GTR) and continuous-cover forestry (CCF). GTR was introduced into forest policy in the 1970s and became widely implemented in the 1990s. Ecological scientists took part in the policy process by providing expert opinions, educational activities and as lobbyists, long before research confirming the positive effects of GTR on biodiversity was produced. In contrast, CCF was essentially banned in forest legislation in 1979. In the 1990s, policy implicitly opened up for CCF implementation, but CCF still remains largely a rare silvicultural outlier. Scientific publications addressing CCF appeared earlier than GTR studies, but with less focus on the effects on biodiversity. Ecological scientists promoted CCF in certain areas, but knowledge from other disciplines and other socio-political factors appear to have been more important than ecological arguments in the case of CCF. The wide uptake of GTR was enhanced by its consistency with the silvicultural knowledge and normative values that forest managers had adopted for almost a century, whereas CCF challenged those ideas. Public pressure and institutional requirements were also key to GTR implementation but were not in place for CCF. Thus, scientific ecological knowledge may play an important role for policy uptake and development, but knowledge from other research disciplines and socio-political factors are also important.
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| 38. |
- Stenseke, Marie, et al.
(author)
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Kris i naturen – vår existens har blivit sårbar
- 2019
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In: Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm. - 1101-2412.
-
Journal article (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Fler arter än någonsin i mänsklighetens historia hotas av utrotning och den biologiska mångfalden lokalt har förändrats kraftigt i en stor del av världens ekosystem. Grundläggande förändringar behövs både i samhället och för individer, för att bromsa den negativa trenden, skriver en rad debattörer.
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| 39. |
- Suopajärvi, Leena, et al.
(author)
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Social aspects of business risk in the mineral industry—political, reputational, and local acceptability risks facing mineral exploration and mining
- 2023
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In: Mineral Economics. - : Springer. - 2191-2203 .- 2191-2211. ; 36:2, s. 321-331
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mineral exploration is an industry of uncertainties. Only 0,1% of exploration projects become mines, as the volume, content, and quality of a deposit all must be economically justifiable to find funding in the global financial market. However, the business risk of mineral exploration is not limited to geotechnical and financial risks, as social aspects are now considered the biggest risk facing the industry. Here, we identify three social aspects of business risk that may challenge the industry: political, reputational, and local acceptability. Political risk arises when sectoral authorities and the related legislation come into conflict, such as mineral versus environmental legislation. Reputational risk lies in the relationship between a company’s past and current operations in combination with the legitimacy of the entire industry. Local acceptability risk parallels the social license to operate, with poor corporate conduct, competition with other livelihoods, intrusion into culturally sensitive areas, and local values critical of mining all potentially evoking resistance. Companies must be aware not only of the nuances of each social aspect but also of the interplay between them to understand the full scale and scope of the business risks associated with exploration.
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| 40. |
-
The Future Use of Nordic Forests : A Global Perspective
- 2015
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Editorial collection (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Discusses the balance between the various functions of boreal forests.Looks at global trends that may affect the future use of forests.Explores pathways to sustainability in the light of global population and economic growth forecasts.Considers challenges and possible responses for future forest governance.
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| 41. |
- Westholm, Erik, et al.
(author)
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The Nordic welfare model providing energy transition? : A political geography approach to the EU RES directive
- 2012
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In: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777. ; 50, s. 328-335
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The EU Renewable Energy Strategy (RES) Directive requires that each member state obtain 20% of its energy supply from renewable sources by 2020. If fully implemented, this implies major changes in institutions, infrastructure, land use, and natural resource flows. This study applies a political geography perspective to explore the transition to renewable energy use in the heating and cooling segment of the Swedish energy system, 1980–2010. The Nordic welfare model, which developed mainly after the Second World War, required relatively uniform, standardized local and regional authorities functioning as implementation agents for national politics. Since 1980, the welfare orientation has gradually been complemented by competition politics promoting technological change, innovation, and entrepreneurship. This combination of welfare state organization and competition politics provided the dynamics necessary for energy transition, which occurred in a semi-public sphere of actors at various geographical scales. However, our analysis, suggest that this was partly an unintended policy outcome, since it was based on a welfare model with no significant energy aims. Our case study suggests that state organization plays a significant role, and that the EU RES Directive implementation will be uneven across Europe, reflecting various welfare models with different institutional pre-requisites for energy transition.
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| 42. |
- Zachrisson, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Conflict resolution through collaboration : preconditions and limitations in forest and nature conservation controversies
- 2013
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In: Forest Policy and Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 1389-9341 .- 1872-7050. ; 33, s. 39-46
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Increasing competition over the world's forest resources will likely aggravate conflict, though conflict should not be seen as bad per se. As the challenge is to develop institutions and practices capable of handling conflict constructively, various collaborative approaches involving disputing actors are evolving worldwide. In Sweden, most such approaches pertain to protected areas and few involve commercial forestry. The reasons for the rise of different approaches to collaboration in protected areas and commercially managed forest lands are explored through a comparison of two conflicts embedded in different management regimes. The study suggests that actor interdependence is critical to how collaboration evolves. Interdependence is in turn affected by the institutions, discourses, and economic context in which the process is embedded. When contextual factors are unfavourable, power relations too unequal, and interdependencies between dominant and subordinated actors weak, the prospects for collaboration are slim. In an enabling context, in contrast, mobilization may alter power relations and interdependencies, making collaboration possible. This study suggests that the low occurrence of collaborative land use planning in many parts of Sweden may be related to the presence of strong economic land use interests, un-successful mobilization of weaker parties, and absence of enabling institutional and discursive factors.(C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 43. |
- Zachrisson, Anna, Docent, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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Extractive governance and mining conflicts: Challenging scalar hierarchies through ‘opening up’ to local sustainability pathways
- 2023
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In: Political Geography. - : Elsevier. - 0962-6298 .- 1873-5096. ; 105
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The development of new mines forefronts the contested nature of sustainable development. Various competing pathways of sustainability underlie mining-related conflicts, often reaching beyond the local scale of contested locations. While powerful actors tend to ‘close down’ around particular pathways, ‘opening-up’ through the consideration of multiple pathways might be necessary for addressing complex situations and conflicts. Whether closing-down or opening-up occurs depends on governance structures and actors' interventions, but little is known of the dynamics involved. This paper develops understudied spatial dimensions of protest by clarifying how political opportunity structures may play out differently at different scales and in consequence impact scalar strategies of both social movements and state actors. The study comparatively analyses three mine development processes in Arctic, peripheral Sweden facing socioeconomic challenges and where mining threatens indigenous reindeer husbandry. Formal interactions are mapped by data from administrative records, while informal strategies and underlying frames are assessed through interviews and focus groups. The study shows that when there is a multiplicity of government authorities and influential mining-sceptical allies at different scales, some subnational units ‘open-up’ in response to mining-sceptical actions. Such ‘opening-up’ may influence policy decisions at higher scales, even the international. Local participation therefore constitutes a way to challenge the scalar hierarchy of the state and promote a broader and more nuanced range of pathways to sustainability. As ‘opening-up’ is not legally required, the results between the different cases differed, and where the opportunity structures were ‘closed’ mining-sceptics turned to confrontation and litigation.
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| 44. |
- Zachrisson, Anna, Docent, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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Political opportunity and mobilization : The evolution of a Swedish mining-sceptical movement
- 2019
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In: Resources policy. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4207 .- 1873-7641. ; 64
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As demand for minerals is expected to increase due to the energy transition needed to meet climate targets, mineral exploration will continue intensifying. Surveys find that public acceptance of the mining industry is low, particularly in the EU, suggesting that mining conflicts may increase in both number and intensity. Conflict usually occurs in places where a significant number of local actors mobilize resistance against a mining company. Their success is dependent on the emergence of a broader social movement that jumps to the relevant scale of regulation, often the national level. Despite this, very little attention is being paid to the emergence of such a movement, as well as to the state and its institutions, in studies on mining conflicts. Most research into mining conflicts examines developing countries, while mining resistance is an emerging issue also in developed nations, not least in the Arctic. Understanding mining resistance is important in avoiding or addressing conflicts that can be costly for companies, communities, and the state. This paper explores the relationship between state politics and mining resistance at the national level, drawing on social movement research and the concept of political opportunity structures. The results show that confrontational mining resistance will grow at the national level when the state offers little access nor influence to mining-sceptical actors in either policy formulation or implementation, and where there is a sufficient number of simultaneously ongoing contested licensing processes. In cases where indigenous people are involved, weak or contested indigenous rights may also spur resistance.
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