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Protecting 30% of the planet’s terrestrial and marine ecosystems by 2030 (30x30) is the most recent call for global conservation action. Toward this end, the creation of protected areas is a central strategy. The various parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have committed to this global goal, including Chile. Against this backdrop, this article explores current narratives and practices around five protected areas in northern Patagonia, Chile. We argue that environmental discourses are key to understanding these narratives and practices. Environmental discourses influence the values central to the creation and development of protected areas, as well as the prevailing management approaches for these areas. Our findings show that two discourses are of particular importance: the ‘Patagonian wilderness’ discourse and the ‘cultural and natural heritage’ discourse. Based on our findings, we also discuss three emerging topics: the rewilding and rebranding of Patagonia, optimism around nature-based tourism, and implementation of global conservation goals within the national context. We reflect on the implications of our findings for further developments in Patagonia and for the global conservation debate. We contend that the future of protected-area management in northern Patagonia will depend on how community-based management initiatives are fostered and argue that aligning with such inclusive conservation approaches will be a critical requirement for the implementation of the 30x30 goal moving forward.]

Climate information plays a key role in adaptation to climate change, but providing and using it in effective ways is a challenge. Climate information often remains underutilized and even when used, its influence on policy making is far from clear. In the Netherlands, climate stress tests were introduced to inform and stimulate climate adaptation policy on a municipal level. In the stress tests, risks and vulnerabilities were estimated for scenarios of extreme precipitation, heat stress, drought, and flooding. This article examines whether and how this new tool has effectuated mainstreaming of climate adaptation information into municipal policy. Based on interviews with municipal officials and document analysis we show that the stress tests did so along two general pathways. In the ‘applied’ pathway, the stress tests were used in an instrumental way to influence policy goals and measures. In the ‘configuring’ pathway, stress tests were primarily used for learning and persuasion, and mostly influenced problem perceptions and actor involvement. In the ‘applied’ pathway, the accuracy and resolution of the information were key factors; in the ‘configuring’ pathway, its influence depended on the accessibility of information and the kind of interaction during policy formulation. Which of the pathways predominated depended on how an adaptation problem fitted with existing policy arrangements. The findings show that stress tests are a promising tool for policy mainstreaming and for promoting local climate adaptation. They also highlight the importance of identifying the pathways of information use, in order to increase the impact of climate information.

The term “biodiversity” is often used to describe phenomena of nature, which can be studied without a reference to the socially constructed, evaluative, or indeed normative contexts. In our paper, we challenge this conception by focusing particularly on methodological aspects of biodiversity research. We thereby engage with the idea of interdisciplinary biodiversity research as a scientific approach directed at the recognition and management of contemporary society in its ecological embedding. By doing this, we explore how research on and assessments of biodiversity can be enhanced if meaning, aspiration, desires, and related aspects of agency are methodically taken into account. In six sections, we substantiate our claim that the discourse on biodiversity (including the IPBES (Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) debate) is incomplete without contributions from the social sciences and humanities. In the introduction, a brief overview of biodiversity’s conceptual history is provided showing that “biodiversity” is a lexical invention intended to create a strong political momentum. However, that does not impede its usability as a research concept. Section 2 examines the origins of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) by way of sociological discourse analysis. Subsequently, it proposes a matrix as a means to structure the ambiguities and tensions inherent in the CBD. The matrix reemphasizes our main thesis regarding the need to bring social and ethical expertise to the biodiversity discourse. In Section 3, we offer a brief sketch of the different methods of the natural and social sciences as well as ethics. This lays the groundwork for our Section 4, which explains and illustrates what social sciences and ethics can contribute to biodiversity research. Section 5 turns from research to politics and argues that biodiversity governance necessitates deliberative discourses in which participation of lay people plays an im

The term “biodiversity” is often used to describe phenomena of nature, which can be studied without a reference to the socially constructed, evaluative, or indeed normative contexts. In our paper, we challenge this conception by focusing particularly on methodological aspects of biodiversity research. We thereby engage with the idea of interdisciplinary biodiversity research as a scientific approach directed at the recognition and management of contemporary society in its ecological embedding. By doing this, we explore how research on and assessments of biodiversity can be enhanced if meaning, aspiration, desires, and related aspects of agency are methodically taken into account. In six sections, we substantiate our claim that the discourse on biodiversity (including the IPBES (Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) debate) is incomplete without contributions from the social sciences and humanities. In the introduction, a brief overview of biodiversity’s conceptual history is provided showing that “biodiversity” is a lexical invention intended to create a strong political momentum. However, that does not impede its usability as a research concept. Section 2 examines the origins of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) by way of sociological discourse analysis. Subsequently, it proposes a matrix as a means to structure the ambiguities and tensions inherent in the CBD. The matrix reemphasizes our main thesis regarding the need to bring social and ethical expertise to the biodiversity discourse. In Section 3, we offer a brief sketch of the different methods of the natural and social sciences as well as ethics. This lays the groundwork for our Section 4, which explains and illustrates what social sciences and ethics can contribute to biodiversity research. Section 5 turns from research to politics and argues that biodiversity governance necessitates deliberative discourses in which participation of lay people plays an im

West and Central Africa ports have historically not paid much attention to environmental issues. In the past decade, however, environmental concerns are beginning to emerge with pockets of innovative responses to environmental risks as the ports undergo institutional and infrastructural reform – most notably, with concessions to multinational terminal operators. In this article, environmental management processes in the ports of Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Douala (Cameroon), Lagos (Nigeria) and Tema (Ghana) are compared. Three aspects of ecological modernization theory: changing role of the state, growing involvement of economic actors and economic incentives, and shifting roles for civil society organizations are focused on to analyse the dynamics of their environmental reform. Findings suggest that globalization processes are a common major trigger in enhancing a gradual but still fragmented and limited process of environmental reform in West and Central Africa ports, but paces and pathways of the reform are influenced by national politico-administrative arrangements rooted in colonial legacies. Consequently, understanding and advancing environmental reform processes of West and Central Africa ports requires following trends and significant developments but also taking into account national historical trajectories.

Since the 1970s academic environmental science curricula have emerged all over the world addressing a wide range of topics and using knowledge from various disciplines. These curricula aim to deliver graduates with competencies to study, understand and address complex environmental problems. Complex environmental problems span broad spatial, temporal and organisational scales, are multi-dimensional and involve political controversies. They are further characterized by many uncertainties and conflicting views on the nature of the problem and the best way to solve them. Generally accepted frameworks to educate environmental science graduates with the necessary competencies to address complex environmental problems are scarce. With this thesis, I aimed to explore and develop heuristic principles (i.e. ‘rules of thumb’) for teaching and learning activities that enable environmental science students to especially acquire boundary crossing skills. These skills are needed to develop sustainable solutions for complex environmental problems. I focussed on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cognitive skills as a sub-set of boundary crossing skills, and on the potential contribution of conceptual models and environmental systems analysis in teaching and learning these skills. In order to achieve this aim, I did four studies (see Chapters 2 - 5). These studies were based on an extensive literature review, analysis of existing courses and course material at Wageningen University and elsewhere, personal experience and analysis of reflection papers written by students in authentic learning settings. The last study (Chapter 5) was an empirical statistical study. Here, I developed a strategy for teaching and learning reflexive skills, a subcomponent of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cognitive skills, and evaluated this strategy in a quasi-experimental setting. The studies showed that operationalizing skills and developing teaching and learning activities are closely in

Natapol Thongplew Thesis title: Greening production and consumption: The case of the appliance and dairy industries in Thailand This research looked into the greening of the appliance and dairy industries in globalizing Thailand from a product chain perspective. It studied roles and strategies of appliance and dairy companies in greening consumption with an explicit involvement of consumers. This research finds that appliance and dairy have increasingly attempted to engage Thai consumers in buying and using more sustainable products. To do so, companies employ different consumer-oriented strategies, including providing environmental information; however, they do not yet have a full-fledged consumer-oriented strategy to activate and engage (silent green) consumers. The study summarizes that appliance and dairy companies in Thailand can advance their consumer-oriented strategies for better engaging Thai consumers (with green products and green markets) by acknowledging the role of consumers as citizens, recognizing emerging sustainable practices and lifestyles of citizens, and organizing consumer groups.

The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in terms of employment and income generation has been recognized worldwide. In Peru, SMEs are responsible for 85% of the employment at the national level and they represent 98% of the total companies registered. Around 12% of SMEs, organized in associations, clusters, and cooperatives or as single companies, are dedicated to productive actives; the others are engaged in commercial and services activities. However, next to their positive economic role, SMEs are also responsible for significant disturbances of nature, environmental degradation and threats to human health. Environmental pollution related to the increase of productive activities has become evident in Peru and the entire region of Latin America. The thesis aims to provide a better understanding of the changing roles of NGOs in promoting sustainability of SMEs in Peru, using the perspectives of networks and discourses. It focuses on three domains, which together are characteristic for promoting of SME sustainability in Peru: organic production (the first case study), business social responsibility (the second cases study) and sustainable production (the third case study). Three research questions have been outlined for this research: First, what are the networks of NGOs promoting sustainability of SMEs involved in the domains of organic production, business social responsibility and sustainable production in Peru, and what are the main changes in time in these networks? Second, what are the main discourses fostering sustainability that prevail and are articulated in these networks of NGOs and what are the main changes in time in these discourses? And finally, how to understand and assess the actual, new and potential roles of NGOs in promoting sustainability of SMEs in terms of network society theory and ecological modernization theory? In this study the universe of NGOs is narrowed to NGOs operating in Peru that provide support (a) to medium and

Soil erosion is a serious problem in the densely populated Uganda highlands and previous interventions were ineffective. This study, on the Ngenge watershed, Mount Elgon, was aimed at developing policy for the implementation of a new strategy for solving the problem, Integrated Watershed Management (IWM). For policy development, a user-friendly method for assessing erosion risk - using rainfall, slope and NDVI - enabled identifying priority areas for interventions, and a stakeholder analysis enabled identifying key stakeholders who participated in multilevel workshops for deliberating on appropriate interventions. In these workshops social learning was stimulated through constructing scenarios and developing action and work plans which are to inform policy. There was general satisfaction with the workshop processes and the participation of the stakeholders. However, considering IWM as a policy strategy, it was realized that it cannot be ‘rolled out’ but needs to be geared to specific biophysical and social context factors.

The rapid economic development accompanied by increasing manufacturing output in Malaysia for the past two decades is not balanced with sufficient environmental management. Although pollution control measures have been formulated and implemented by the Malaysian government, the improvements and achievements in environmental performance vary from one industrial sector to another. This raises the question on the reasons for the differences in environmental performances of industrial sectors in one country. In addition, most of the studies using Ecological Modernization Theory - a prevailing theory for analyzing and understanding environmental reform in western countries - have a national character, in the sense that the studies do not differentiate between sectors in analyzing and explaining environmental management and performance. And these Ecological Modernization Theory studies have prevailed up till now in Western OECD countries, and hardly in Asian developing economies. Moreover, most studies in the Ecological Modernization Theory tradition are more qualitative by making interesting use of case study research in analyzing environmental reform and further building theory. Limited quantitative research has been done up till now to test the central tenets laid down in Ecological Modernization Theory and no methodology has been developed yet to carry out a more substantive quantitative testing. Against this background, the current study aims to make a scientific contribution. This study aims to understand the differences in sectoral environmental performance in Malaysian industries by applying Ecological Modernization Theory. In investigating sectoral performances, the study has two objectives. The first objective is to develop a quantitative methodology for investigating the claims of successes and failures of environmental reform as hypothesized by Ecological Modernization Theory. This quantitative methodology focuses on two central tenets of Ecological Modernizat