| 1. |
- Uhrqvist, Ola, et al.
(författare)
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Narratives of the Past for Future Earth: The Historiography of Global Environmental Change Research
- 2015
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Ingår i: The Anthropocene Review. - : Sage Publications. - 2053-0196 .- 2053-020X. ; 2:2, s. 159-173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper analyses the auto-historiography of global environmental change research. It traces how participating researchers make sense of and rationalise research strategies through narratives of the history of global change and Earth System science. Our study draws on personal and programme accounts of Earth System science’s background related to the international global environmental change research programmes International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and Future Earth, from 1983 to 2013. The study finds three core narratives: the science history narrative motivates the future development of the programme by building on the successes of earlier international projects. The Earth System departs from an enhanced understanding of environmental change over time. Finally, the Anthropocene narrative underpins arguments for a science-based management of human–environment systems. We argue that including reflexive analytical perspectives in the history writing of Future Earth contributes to making environmental change research relevant and useful for democratic decision-making.
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| 2. |
- Amars, Latif, et al.
(författare)
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The transformational potential of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions in Tanzania : assessing the concept’s cultural legitimacy among stakeholders in the solar energy sector
- 2017
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Ingår i: Local Environment. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1354-9839 .- 1469-6711. ; 22:1, s. 86-105
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While energy-sector emissions remain the biggest source of climate change, many least-developed countries still invest in fossil-fuel development paths. These countries generally have high levels of fossil fuel technology lock-in and low capacities to change, making the shift to sustainable energy difficult. Tanzania, a telling example, is projected to triple fossil-fuel power production in the next decade. This article assesses the potential to use internationally supported Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) to develop solar energy in Tanzania and contribute to transformational change of the electricity supply system. By assessing the cultural legitimacy of NAMAs among key stakeholders in the solar energy sector, we analyse the conditions for successful uptake of the concept in (1) national political thought and institutional frameworks and (2) the solar energy niche. Interview data are analysed from a multi-level perspective on transition, focusing on its cultural dimension. Several framings undermining legitimacy are articulated, such as attaching low-actor credibility to responsible agencies and the concept’s poor fit with political priorities. Actors that discern opportunities for NAMAs could, however, draw on a framing of high commensurability between experienced social needs and opportunities to use NAMAs to address them through climate compatible development. This legitimises NAMAs and could challenge opposing framings.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Ballantyne, Anne Gammelgaard, 1981-
(författare)
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Exploring the Role of Visualization in Climate Change Communication – an Audience Perspective
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Climate change communication is a topical and relevant issue, and it is widely acknowledged that public communication about causes, impacts and action alternatives is integral to addressing the challenges of the changing climate. Climate visualization concerns the communication of climate information and data through the use of different information technologies and different modes of visual representation. In the context of climate change communication, climate visualization is highlighted as a potential way of increasing public engagement with climate change. In particular, developments within information technology have provided significant advancements that are claimed to be transformative in engaging lay audiences with issues relating to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research exploring climate visualization from an audience perspective. This thesis addresses this gap. The overarching aim is thus to explore the role of climate visualization in climate change communication from an audience perspective, focusing specifically on how lay audiences make meaning of climate change as represented in two examples of climate visualization. In addition, the thesis discusses the potential contributions and/or limitations of climate visualization from a communication perspective.Based on a social semiotic theoretical framework, this thesis employs focus group interviews to study participants’ meaning-making related to two cases of climate visualization: a dome theatre movie developed for Swedish high school students with the aim of encouraging reflection on climate change causes, impacts and mitigation alternatives, and a web-based tool for climate change adaptation developed to assist Nordic homeowners in adapting to the local impacts of climate change.The results of this thesis show that climate visualization can help audiences concretize otherwise abstract aspects of climate change, and that the localized focus can make climate change appear more personally relevant and interesting for targeted audiences. Nevertheless, despite these communicative qualities, the analyses also show that participants’ interpretations are shaped by their preconceptions of climate change as a global and distant issue to be solved by other actors, such as national governments, or through international policy negotiations. Although climate visualization can enhance a sense of proximity with climate change, the localization of climate risk can also lead to participants downplaying the significance of climate impacts. In addition, despite the intentions of inducing a sense of agency in both cases of climate visualization, participants critically negotiated messages concerning their roles as individuals in mitigating or adapting to climate change, and assigned this responsibility onto other actors. These findings show that although climate visualization presents certain communicative qualities, it is not a panacea for engaging lay audiences with climate change. This also underlines the importance of considering cultural and social aspects of the communicative event when studying and developing climate visualization tools as a means of communication.
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| 5. |
- Bohman, Anna, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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On the call for issue advocates, or what it takes to make adaptation research useful
- 2018
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Ingår i: Climatic Change. - : SPRINGER. - 0165-0009 .- 1573-1480. ; 149:2, s. 121-129
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This essay discusses the concept of usefulness of research for climate change adaptation. Based on prior research and stakeholder interactions with policymakers and practitioners in the Nordic countries, we contend that critical issues related to the usefulness of adaptation research seem less associated with content (i.e. research outputs), but rather centre around the efforts made to design and communicate research, that is, to put research at the service of society and make the case for adaptation on the political agenda. This, we argue, to some extent mirrors the situation and political context in the Nordic countries, where adaptation in many locations still is an issue in its infancy, not firmly established on the political agendas, and where working procedures are not yet institutionally settled. In this context, science is considered and sometimes used as a discursive tool to make the case for adaptation. Based on the calls for research that inspires, raises hope and helps to raise the issue of adaptation on the political agendas, we elaborate the role of honest issue advocates for researchers in the field of adaptation science.
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| 6. |
- Fridahl, Mathias, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Objectives for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) : Moving from Mitigation to Sustainable Development for more Ambitious Climate Policy
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- he new global climate agreement due in Paris, late 2015, will most likely be the sum of envisioned, nationally determined, actions. The concept of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) was agreed in 2007 to incentivise developing countries to enhance the implementation of the Climate Convention. A strategic choice for the international policy makers is whether NAMAs should emphasize mitigation or if emission reductions can be a supplementary benefit of pursuing sustainable development objectives. The International Negotiations Survey at the UN Climate Change Conferences shows critical differences among developing and developed countries’ governmental representatives on the primary goal of NAMAs. Yet substantial overlaps exist, which allows for probing common ground to build agreement. There seems to be support for making mitigation a co-benefit of NAMAs. Doing so would take the negotiations toward a very explicit low-emission development trajectory focus for developing countries, which may result in a more effective treaty. It is imperative to stress that mitigation prospects alone will not sell NAMAs to decision makers in most developing countries; the possibility of attracting international financial support to nationally defined development opportunities, with ancillary mitigation benefits, on the contrary, can be sold politically. Greater adherence to a wider development focus of NAMAs, with sustainable development as primary objective and mitigation as co-benefit, may well stimulate broader participation and spur enhanced national ambitions for Paris.
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| 7. |
- Fridahl, Mathias, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Perspectives on the Green Climate Fund : Possible compromises on capitalization and balanced allocation
- 2016
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Ingår i: Climate and Development. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1756-5529 .- 1756-5537. ; 8:2, s. 105-109
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Finance is at the heart of UN climate diplomacy. Through the long-term finance pledge, developed countries have committed to mobilize USD 100 billion annually from 2020 onwards to support climate action in developing countries. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is also expected to become a key player in the climate finance landscape. This viewpoint presents the views of representatives of developed and developing countries’ governments on how the annual sum of USD 100 billion should be dispensed by the GCF, based on a survey conducted at the 2013 UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw. Respondents’ give their views on (1) the mitigation/adaptation ratio in GCF support and (2) the public/private ratio in financial sources. Respondents from developing countries would prefer to channel a substantially higher amount of the long-term finance pledge through the GCF. The extent to which the long-term finance pledge should be governed by the GCF is contentious, because governments pledge long-term finance without specifying the mitigation/adaptation ratio, whereas the GCF Board is tasked with balancing the allocation of its funds between adaptation and mitigation. This contention is fuelled by the fact that developing countries have a greater say in the allocation of funds from the GCF than from alternative sources of finance for the long-term finance pledge. We suggest that it is time to (1) reformulate the pledge to clarify its mitigation/adaptation ratio and (2) agree to definitions of key concepts such as “climate finance” and “private finance” to allow for more distinct negotiating positions on sources of finance.
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| 8. |
- Glaas, Erik, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Facilitating climate change adaptation through communication : Insights from the development of a visualization tool
- 2015
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Ingår i: Energy Research and Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296. ; 10, s. 57-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate change communication on anticipated impacts and adaptive responses is frequently presentedas an effective means to facilitate implementation of adaptation to mitigate risks to residential buildings.However, it requires that communication is developed in a way that resonates with the context of thetarget audience, provides intelligible information and addresses perceived barriers to adaptation. In thispaper we reflect upon criteria for useful climate change communication gained over a three year developmentprocess of a web-based tool – VisAdaptTM – aimed at increasing the adaptive capacity amongNordic homeowners. Based on the results from continuous user-testing and focus group interviews weoutline lessons learned and key aspects to consider in the design of tools for communicating complexissues such as climate change effects and adaptive response measures.
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| 9. |
- Glaas, Erik, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Visualization for supporting individual climate change adaptation planning: Assessment of a web-based tool
- 2017
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Ingår i: Landscape and Urban Planning. - : Elsevier. - 0169-2046 .- 1872-6062. ; 158, s. 1-11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Homeowners are important actors in implementing climate change adaptation. However, individual socio-cognitive constraints related to risk perceptions and perceived capacity may hamper their action. Climate change visualization could help planning and management overcome such constraints by offering accessible information to increase individual adaptive capacity. Such visualization would require that information be perceived as legitimate and credible by emphasizing the diversity of impacts and alternative options, and simultaneously as salient by highlighting context-specific risks and measures. Based on focus group interviews and test sessions, we analysed how homeowners made sense of and discussed a specific interactive planning support tool – VisAdapt™ – integrating climate scenarios, local risk maps, and adaptation measures for various house types. The tool combines precise and general depictions in visualizing climate change to support adaptation among Nordic homeowners. Results reveal that the tool spurred reflection on concrete local risks and various adaptation actions. The tool was less successful in providing a framework for assessing the magnitude of anticipated changes, making these appear as generally small. Visualization aspects that are important for spurring reflection on adaptive action are specifying various climate parameters, relating climate impacts to established practices for managing weather risks, and emphasizing diverse concrete short- and long-term measures.
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| 10. |
- Jernnäs, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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A discursive cartography of nationally determined contributions to the Paris climate agreement
- 2019
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Ingår i: Global Environmental Change. - : ELSEVIER SCI LTD. - 0959-3780 .- 1872-9495. ; 55, s. 73-83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The 2015 Paris Agreement was adopted in a geopolitical context that is very different from the post-Cold War era when the Climate Convention was negotiated. This new global climate deal responds to a more fragmented and multipolar world signified by the rise of major economies in the South. This paper examines the geopolitical landscape in which the Paris Agreement is enacted and implemented. We conduct a discursive analysis of the Nationally Determined Contributions submitted by parties to the Paris Agreement. We ask what policy discourses emerge in these national climate plans, which states cluster around them and how they compare to UNFCCC annex, geographical location, income group, and negotiation coalitions. Our findings suggest that liberal environmentalism retains a strong hold over the political imagination in the post-Paris landscape. However, we see points of diffraction and tensions that might give rise to conflict. While liberal environmentalism is only challenged in Nationally Determined Contributions from the global South, we conclude that conventional geopolitical patterns only partly explain the formation of discourse coalitions. In the Paris Agreements implementation stage discursive struggles are likely to become increasingly prominent. Discourse analysis facilitates understanding of disagreements on the Paris rulebook and the global stocktake.
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