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An approach that has been suggested as potentially addressing the challenges of science-policy-interfaces (SPIs) is the mobilization of existing networks through a 'network-of-networks' (NoN) approach. This paper shares empirical findings from a mixed-method study, combining qualitative and quantitative data, that critically evaluates the 'network-of-networks' approach for SPIs. To establish whether and how a NoN can help existing networks act more effectively at the boundary of science and policy, we use the Eklipse Mechanism as a key example. We analyse the major characteristics of networks active in biodiversity-focused science-policy interactions, the potential roles and types of engagement of participants, and the major challenges faced by networks and individuals when acting at the boundaries of science and policy. Results suggest that the more diverse the actors involved, the more effective the SPI. While a formalized EU-level SPI for biodiversity is welcomed by most respondents, willingness and actual potential to contribute to such an entity differed amongst networks, highlighting that contributions to SPIs are highly dependent on individual and organizational capacities. The challenges faced by individuals and networks range from limited resources to effective communication and achieving meaningful impact even if the institutional context is unrewarding. To make a 'network-of-networks' model fully operational requires meeting the capacity building needs of networks, providing institutional support, and creating room for wider engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding uncertainties and risks can be considered to be the main motivation behind environmental scenario studies to assess potential economic, environmental, social or technical developments and their expected consequences for society and environment. The scenario study presented in this paper was designed to contribute to the question of how natural capital and ecosystem services may evolve in Europe under different socio-environmental conditions. The study was conducted as part of OpenNESS, an on-going EU FP7 research project. We present the iterative participatory scenario process, the storylines and drivers, examples for regional applications, as well as initial feedback from stakeholders. In a participatory iterative approach four scenarios were developed for the period to 2050, involving regional and EU-level users and stakeholders. Subsequently, scenarios were successfully contextualised and applied in regional place-based studies under widely differing socio-environmental conditions. Regional teams used different approaches to adapt storylines and drivers to the regional contexts. In an internal evaluation process among regional stakeholders some participants expressed concerns about the scenario method. Suggestions are made how to overcome these limitations. However, most participants approved the scenario method, especially in terms of provoking discussions, and confirmed the usefulness and applicability of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative food supply systems have been a subject of increasing interest for many decades in various perspectives of food and agriculture studies. This paper contributes to the discussion by examining how farmer led Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement in Hungary creates an alternative in the dominant food regime. To examine CSAs future potentials, semi-structured interviews with producers, consumers-members, and experts, a consumer-member survey, and secondary data sources were utilized. We analyse ambiguities or uncertainties of production, logistics, economic viability, and community formation to sort out social and material practices that co-produce goods and values centred on sustainability. We conclude that CSAs create open and democratic spaces of active and direct producer-consumer cooperation and thus present a model for rethinking our food system. However the scaling up of these experiences is the main challenge today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the participation opportunities and role of nominated experts from the Eastern European region in the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The governance of international knowledge-making spaces and events occurs through standardised institutional rules and expectations that affect experts as well as define accepted forms of knowledge. Within IPBES, experts may participate through United Nations Regional Groupings, which are regions that have complex geopolitical legacies and features. Between regions, experts have variable financial, networking and institutional capacities that in turn affect the operations and outputs of their contributions to science-policy interfaces. For IPBES, regional and localised environmental assessments and ecosystem services valuations require existing place-specific knowledge that may not be ‘available’, as well as understandings that are frequently in conflict with the standardised, homogenising practices of international environmental knowledge-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halting biodiversity loss is a critical aim for the forthcoming decades, but is hindered by the gap between research and practice. Bridging this gap is a significant challenge in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, where, compared to Western European countries, biodiversity is higher but the research budget is lower. Approaches to address bridging this gap include participatory research prioritizing exercises. These demand-driven collaborative ranking processes have proven to be a useful tool in providing a research agenda derived from a review of critical challenges based on stakeholder engagement. However, for research agendas to be effectively realized, they are best developed and implemented at the operative level of research financing and implementation. This paper shows the process and the outcome of an exercise conducted in Hungary aiming to compile the most important conservation research questions at the country-level and outlines a set of further measures and tools required for dissemination and advocacy for the research agenda. During the process 792 research questions were collated from conservation practitioners and natural resource managers based on interviews and via an online questionnaire; the final 50 most important questions were identified by practitioners and policy makers during an expert workshop. Questions are embedded in global and EU biodiversity targets and imply a pragmatic approach with the aim of identifying research that supports policy- and decision-making regarding habitat management, land-use and regional development, while also focussing on conflicting issues. The outcome of the process includes the potential for lobbying, therefore post-publication activities and dissemination strategies are outlined as an integrated part of the exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use changes induced by nature conservation regulation and management practices, especially in protected areas, often result in trade-offs between ecosystem services (ESs). Exploring trade-offs between ESs and linking them with stakeholders can help reveal the potential losers and winners of land use changes. In this paper, we demonstrate that ES trade-offs do not always go hand in hand with conflicts. The perception of local stakeholders about trade-offs between ESs at three protected sites in the Great Hungarian Plain were assessed through qualitative methods. In all areas significant conservation measures had been introduced since the 1990s resulting in land use changes. Locals (farmers at each site and inhabitants at one site) were the main ‘losers’ of the land use changes and related ES trade-offs, while there were many winners at different spatial and temporal scales. Conflicts appeared only between locals and the national park directorates, and not between locals and other beneficiaries of the new ESs. Due to scale mismatch, locals might not be in direct contact with other stakeholders, and vice versa, and therefore there is no interface between them for confrontation and negotiation. Integrating scale into the analysis also helps in advising policy instruments to minimise local-level conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We conducted a backcasting project on sustainable employment in Hungary. [•] Four main social theories are presented in relation to society and social change. [•] The topic, the method, the naive theories and the context mutually shape each other. [•] Involving social theories in backcasting projects leads to more fruitful processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Discussions about the potential role of academic and research institutions in regional sustainability initiatives (RSIs) inevitably raise the issue of the role of science in society in general. In democratic societies, it can be argued that science–society relationships should be based on establishing and institutionalizing mutual dialogues, making public concerns not only visible but the public as equal partner. In order to fulfil the social responsibilities of academic institutions involved in RSIs through establishing dialogues with diverse stakeholders, a possible methodology is conducting participatory action research (PAR) combined with the educational model of service learning. The PAR project reported here aims at facilitating a bottom-up, micro-region level sustainability planning and development process in one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged rural areas of north-east Hungary. Some of the main results of this university–community partnership were its contribution to sustainability, including the activation of local capabilities and networking across various local stakeholder groups through various small-scale projects and the co-production of a socially grounded and landscape-based rural development plan for the micro-region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• We explored the perception of ecosystem services (ES) in two communal forests (CFs). • Socio-cultural techniques were applied on stakeholders with different geo-profiles. • Differences in ES appreciation were detected between landowners and visitors. • Disservices were mostly related to anthropogenic areas and activities. • These multifunctional peri-urban CFs pose a great opportunity for rural development. Galician communal forests are private lands collectively owned by the neighbours of the rural settlement where they are located. Their societal role shifted from the support of the traditional agrarian system in the past, to a variety of situations nowadays. The intrinsic characteristics of these social-ecological units make them a promising opportunity for rural development in the region that calls for more scientific attention on the arena of ecosystem services. In this study, we investigated the social perception and valuation of a comprehensive range of ecosystem services and disservices on the peri-urban communal forests of Mount Xalo (NW Spain), distinguishing among the perspectives of landowners and various visitor types. For this, we used a socio-cultural approach consisting of 175 semi-quantitative surveys that included a basic Public Participation Geographic Information System. Our results showed that Mt. Xalo is a well recognised provider of ecosystem services that constitutes a local hotspot in the region. The most frequently perceived and most valued ecosystem services within ecosystem services classes were the provision of drinking water, the practice of sports, climate regulation and a group of three cognitive cultural ecosystem services: socializing, mythical features and sense of place. Nevertheless, nuances were noticed among landowners and visitor types following a rural–urban gradient where landowners and urban users presented the most significant differences. These findings address recognition to the actual role of these communal forests for society and call for collaboration with public institutions to facilitate the sustainable management of their resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]