climbeco phd course module 1 session 2
DESCRIPTION
Module 1 Session 2 of climBEco PhD course, Lund UniversityTRANSCRIPT
Dr. Joshka Wessels
Module 1Scales in Environmental Governance
Session 2: introduction to scales
Save the Planet !
• Do we own the planet or does the planet own us ?
• Does the environment unite (peace) or divide (war) ?
• How can we work together peacefully to save ourselves without relying heavily on (human) engineering ?
• Adaptation or mitigation ?
• Altruism or selfishness ?
The problem of fit
• Ecosystems: life support systems, dynamically variable systems, spatially heterogeneous systems, complex and evolving systems
• Lack of fit between conventional management institutions and ecosystem properties
• Disturbance; Human beings
Anthropogenic disturbances
“Many human activities (e.g., aquifer depletion, wetland drainage) serve to divert water to the ocean that would otherwise have been stored on the continents. Dam building, on the other hand, impound continental runoff that would otherwise have been transported to and stored in the ocean. The balance between these positive and negative alterations can be used as a measure of net anthropogenic disturbance to the global hydrologic cycle”.
Vörösmarty & Sahagian
Scales and levels
“With the growing realization that the insights of social science are crucial to understanding the relationships between people and the natural environment, it is necessary for social scientists to identify more clearly the effects of diverse levels on multiple scales in their own analyses, to comprehend how other social scientists employ diverse kinds of levels and scales, and to begin a dialogue with natural scientists about how different conceptions of scales and levels are related”
IHDP (International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change) 1998
Scales and levels• Scale
• Extent
• Resolution
• Grain
• Hierarchy
• Inclusive Hierarchy
• Exclusive Hierarchy
• Constitutive Hierarchy
• Levels
• Absolute Scale
• Relative Scale
Scales and levels
• Natural sciences
• Social sciences
• Functionalism, analysis, governance of conflict, hegemony and counter-hegemony, complex systems, rational choice, cognitive theory
• Multiple meanings:
– spatial extent (observational scale)
– resolution of data (measurement scale)
– spatial extent of process (operational scale)
– dimensions of maps (cartographic scale)
Scales and levels
• Atmosphere
• Terrestrial vegetation
• Animal populations
• Watersheds
• Groundwater
• Oil and gas fields
• Forest size
• Ethnic groups
• Language groups
Spatial levels of political jurisdiction
Constitutional choice level
Collective choice level
Operational choice level
International Treaties, charters
External international agency
Management and supervision of international agencies
National Constitutions National legislature
National governance
Regional Provincial or federal state
Regional focus legislature, civil society
Regional elected representatives
Community County, city, village
Community policy
Local projects and initiatives
Household Family, responsibility and duties
Household policy and culture
Income, time management, private initiative
Local Governance
“Structures and processes of societal decisionmaking at the local level” (Helmsing, 2002)
Environmental problems and nesting ?
Role of globalisation processes ?
Scale and explanation of causal processes ?
Global to Local and Vice Versa
• When is the local reaching the global and when is the global reaching the local ?
Global to Local and Vice Versa
HOME:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
AGE OF STUPID:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpSdPP9b0pc
SAVE LOCAL, SOLVE GLOBAL:
http://www.thewaterchannel.tv/es/videos/categorias/viewvideo/222/integrated-water-resource-management/water-save-local-solve-global
Groups A and B
A: Emil Dickson, Fika Lutengano Mwakabungu, Jurate Miliute-Plepiene, Lina Herbertsson, William Davis, Lovisa Nilsson
B: Emma Li Johansson, Hanna Alfredsson, Karmen Sumic Lina Eklund, Natalya Yakusheva, Nina Weitz, Satu Kapiainen
Group exercise (one hour)
• Write as many environmental spaces and places you can think of, each on a separate post-it note (10 mins).
• Write as many levels and scales you can think of (local, regional, national etc.) (10 mins)
• Group the environmental spaces according to best levels of governance, if there are interlinkages include those too.
(15 mins)
• Prepare and present results to the other group and discuss (20 mins)