Thursday 16 April 2015

2 Recent articles that struck me!


This week, there were 2 articles that particularly caught my eye and that were actually a sort of relief to spot. Whilst one comes from public administration research, and the other from geography, they both argue to go beyond the comfort zone of a disciplinary field, and argue for interdisciplinary work to understand the (governance) challenges climate change brings us: 


1) A new article from Christopher Pollitt (2015), "Wickedness will not wait: climate change and public management research", in Public Money and Management (vol. 35 (3), pp. 181-186). 
He abstracts his article as: "This paper shows that climate change is a ‘wicked’ problem, which presents multiple challenges for public management. These challenges are already with us, but are likely to increase in the short and medium terms, possibly very rapidly. Academic public management research appears to have been slow to address these issues. Yet potentially there are several strong points of contact between climate change issues and current public management research themes. This will, however, require interdisciplinary and international approaches."

2) A new article from Noel Castree (2015): "Geography and Global Change Science: Relationships Necessary, Absent, and Possible", in Geographical Research (vol. 53 (1), pp. 1-15). 
Castree abstracts his paper as: "Initiated by geoscientists, the growing debate about the Anthropocene, 'planetary boundaries' and global 'tipping points' is a significant opportunity for geographers to reconfigure two things: one is the internal relationships among their discipline's many and varied perspectives (topical, philosophical, and methodological) on the real; the other the discipline's actual and perceived contributions to important issues in the wider society. Yet, without concerted effort and struggle, the opportunity is likely to be used in a 'safe' and rather predictable way by only a sub-set of human-environment geographers. The socio-environmental challenges of a post-Holocene world invite old narratives about Geography's holistic intellectual contributions to be reprised in the present. These narratives speak well to many geoscientists, social scientists, and decision-makers outside Geography. However, they risk perpetuating an emaciated conception of reality wherein Earth systems and social systems are seen as knowable and manageable if the 'right' ensemble of expertise is achieved. I argue that we need to get out from under the shadow of these long-standing narratives. Using suggestive examples, I make the case for forms of inquiry across the human-physical 'divide' that eschew ontological monism and that serve to reveal the many legitimate cognitive, moral, and aesthetic framings of Earth present and future. Geography is unusual in that the potential for these forms of inquiry to become normalised is high compared with other subjects. This potential will only be taken advantage of if certain human-environment geographers unaccustomed to engaging the world of geoscience and environmental policy change their modus operandi."


Wednesday 1 April 2015

Case study summaries



There will be a 1-day workshop on Monday 11 May (the day before the ECCA conference in Copenhagen starts) to share experiences between all the cases that are being studied for the BASE project. We were asked to provide short summaries of our case studies, attached here below. Everyone was also asked to invite and bring a stakeholder from the cases we're studying. this didn't work out for our cases, as people were too busy or had already other plans. Interactive, participatory, knowledge-exchange platforms may be very laudable and beneficial. But in practice, sometimes the ambitions or intentions of the organising party doesn't always match with the agenda, resources, strategy or interests of the invited groups...


SECTOR CLUSTER: COASTAL ZONES
South Devon Coast around Dawlish
Objective:To understand what influences the process of adapting this part of the coast to a changing climate, in terms of institutional barriers and enablers. This is a small retrospective and current case study on adaptation in coastal areas. In this case, the main railway line (and only line connecting the Southwest) runs straight along the rocky cliff shore, and is vulnerable for storm impacts and erosion. Last winter (after severe storms in Feb 2014), the railway was closed for two months. The institutional setting around this case is rather complex and fragmented. For example the seawall and railway tracks are owned and managed by a government-owned company, the train services are run by a private company, the local authorities do not have the resources and capacity to make major decisions around this part of the coast, and the national authorities claim adaptation in in this areas is a matter of the local authorities. There were several adaptation measures considered (e.g. raising the sea wall, rerouting the railway more inland), after extreme weather events severely damaged the seawall and railway last winter. The seawall and railway have been repaired (to the way they were before the big damages). However adaptation to the impacts of storm surges and erosion seems to be losing priority again, and it appears everything regarding adaptation has been put on hold. This making it an interesting and important case to study barriers and enablers for climate change adaptation.
    

SECTOR CLUSTER: AGRICULTURE & BIODIVERSITY
Dartmoor National Park
ObjectiveTo understand barriers and enablers in climate change adaptation in this National Park. After a brief moment of attention for climate change adaptation (in 2011), the national park authority was instructed by higher level government to take climate change off the agenda again. Whilst the national park authority states not to be currently active in climate change adaptation, there other initiatives taking place that do address several adaptation issues. One of these was initiated by local farmers, another was a 5year project initiated by a drinking water company and university researchers. The farmer-led initiative includes measures such as measures to maintain public access (e.g. after damages from extreme weather events); to enhance biodiversity; to maintain mosaic landscape with openness and some parts with higher vegetation; to maintain training of commoners to able to fight wildfires and remove vegetation where needed to reduce potential of wildfires. It is expected to be hampered by the new agri-environmental schemes policy starting 2016. The 5year project is focused on preservation of the blanket bog (e.g. by gully blocking to keep wetness), is led by the drinking water company and university researchers, and will not be continued after it finishes this year. The variety and number of local actors, together with dynamics between local and national priorities, make this case valuable to study and learn from.