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As new technologies are developed, the operations of extractive industries are increasingly affecting indigenous peoples’ lands and natural resources. Thus, the environment has become an essential element in conflicts involving companies, governments and indigenous peoples. The main aim of this dissertation is to study, mainly through discourse analysis, how these different actors construct a particular concept of the environment to promote their interests. In concrete, the study focuses on the company Petrobras, the Government of New Zealand and the Māori people. The research is divided into two main sections. The first part consists of the analysis of the different concepts of environment elaborated by the actors, and these concepts are related to their particular interests. The second part analyses the specific case of Petrobras’ offshore oil exploration in the Raukumara Basin, an operation that encountered strong opposition from Māori communities and environmental groups. From the analysis, two main conclusions are made. First, each actor shapes the concept of environment for its own purposes, and they all use the Science knowledge discourse, whose credibility is recognised worldwide. The Māori knowledge system is mainly used by the Māori themselves to promote their right to self-determination, and sometimes by the government in an attempt to establish a positive relationship with Māori. Two main themes were found throughout all discourses, which are the consideration of the environment as both part of each actor’s identity and a resource for economic growth. All actors consider nature as an object which they can use at their will. The second main conclusion is that the environment has become a relevant space for power-related disputes. In the particular case of New Zealand, the conflict between the government and Māori is related to the long-lasting dispute between the country’s sovereign rights and the right of Māori to self-determination.

Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world. It has a highly diverse society and geography. However, Nepal is governed by various intersecting codes of hierarchy. Religion, language, caste, ethnicity, and gender are the most fundamental elements constituting its highly hierarchal structure. The hierarchal structure of the society, put enhances marginalisation of certain caste and women and put their livelihood in more vulnerable condition. Community forestry was introduced to improve Nepalese community livelihood and conserve country’s fragile ecosystem. However, it has experienced major changes during its history. In this study, by utilizing a critical discourse analysis, position of Nepalese women in community forestry is examined. To do so, the interplay of formal and informal institutions in Nepal which constitutes patriarchal norms and practices, is revealed. Moreover, in order to discover underlying reasons of women’s subordination in community forestry in Nepal and propose probable solutions, discursive relation of these gendered norms and practices with women, as active agents who can negotiate with those institutions, is unpacked.

Community-based development is an increasingly popular approach to development initiatives, one that in theory empowers the community by involving it in the development process. There are several methods that address development from a community-based stance, some of the most recently influential being those which promote social capital. These concepts have been widely adopted by policies at the governmental level and encouraged at the local level. The issue with these approaches lies in the way in which they attempt to quantify complex community relations. Reducing intricate political and personal interactions to objectified stakeholders, networks, or economic processes risks oversimplification to the point of misrepresentation. This dissertation uses a case study based on field research undertaken in a community in the West Highlands of Scotland to analyse these complexities and the influence they can have over development initiatives. It also analyses the ways in which the frameworks and best practices of community development literature and policies overlook these complexities. While in some cases the issues uncovered are not necessarily addressable through development or empowerment work, they must still be acknowledged if an accurate and complete representation of the community in question is desired. Overall, the findings indicate that although community-based development literature does progressively call for a more customised approach when promoting development, further recognition of personal and political intricacies and how they affect communication, collaboration, and advancement of collective goals is necessary when striving for true empowerment.

Food is at the nexus of a truly striking range of the global political, environmental, economic and human rights issues we face today, from climate change and water scarcity to poverty and economic stability. The consolidation of each step of food production in the hands of just a few companies has siphoned value and wealth from rural areas, edging out small producers and forcing farmers to becoming a part of the corporate production system. The food sovereignty movement has become one of the most outspoken critics of the globalization of the neoliberal industrial model of agriculture. The development of the global food sovereignty movement over the last two decades constitutes a significant political and social response to the inequalities present in and perpetuated by global food production and distribution systems. Recognizing the growing influence of the food sovereignty movement, this project posits that the movement may be seen as a modern expression of centuries-old debates about political and legal sovereignty. Thus, I attempt to analyze the theorization of the food sovereignty movement in relation to the historical evolution of the concept of sovereignty, and to anticipate what implications the present-day dialogue about sovereignty may have for the ongoing theorization of food sovereignty. A brief overview of the origins and historical development of the political and legal concept of sovereignty provides background for the development of food sovereignty and the political landscape into to which it emerged. Next, an analysis of the public and academic discourse on food sovereignty attempts to discern the “theorization” of the concept through the words and actions of food sovereignty movements, drawing as well on the body of academic work on food sovereignty and the use of the concept in policy and governance. By examining the movement’s self-conception, the political claims and justifications presented, the values system, organizational practices and structures, and forms of social and political action, the way in which the food sovereignty movements of the world have crafted a theory of food sovereignty begins to materialize. This working theory of food sovereignty is then framed in relation to other recent developments within the scholarship and practice of sovereignty, particularly studies of the fragmentation of governance and the international legal concept of permanent sovereignty over natural resources.

In an age of rising global environmental concerns, cities have come to play a key role in managing environmental issues such as climate change and food security on more regional and local scales and thus have become the locus for sustainable development. However, while sustainable urban development is perceived as a consensus-based planning approach that is beneficial to all and politically neutral, in practice sustainable development practices can be contested due to a raised emphasis on economic and environmental imperatives, whereas social objectives become increasingly neglected. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a critical analysis of sustainable urban development practices using the process of environmental gentrification as an analytical tool to shed light on the possible negative social outcomes of the drive for sustainability in Berlin, Germany. The two main objectives are; firstly the detailed elaboration of the concept of environmental gentrification and secondly the examination of the extent to which gentrification processes in Berlin have been fuelled by environmental urban policy. It will be argued that it is necessary to recognize the contradictions and conflicting objectives of urban environmental policy, in order to more effectively manage cities and ensure sustainable urban development.

In 1972, oil was first produced in the Ecuadorian Amazon region of el Oriente. This region, sparsely populated by indigenous communities, was found to contain the largest oil reserves in Ecuador. That same year, Ecuador witnessed a military coup, and seven years later the military dictatorship was replaced by democratic rule, with governments progressively adopting neoliberal political ideologies. This changing political landscape was reflected in the oil policies pursued, and in the varying attitudes towards foreign oil corporations. This dissertation examines how it is in this context, in the oil-rich disputed land of el Oriente, and throughout Ecuador’s turbulent political environment, that the notion of sovereignty was repeatedly used by the state to justify their oil policies, critique those policies pursued by past regimes and constantly portray the idea that sovereignty must be protected. Traditionally, this notion of sovereignty has been attributed with the meaning of embodying the legitimate claim to final and ultimate authority; as an inherent quality of the state. By following the story of oil development in Ecuador through three different governments, and their interaction with both corporations and indigenous communities, this dissertation aims to challenge these traditional understandings of sovereignty. Through an analysis of the practices employed by each government regarding the governing of oil resources, namely their policies, laws and discourse, this dissertation suggests that the notion of sovereignty must be constantly performed and communicated, in order for the idea of sovereignty to take shape and gain presence. Thus, this dissertation reveals how it is through these practices, that the Ecuadorian State actively constructs and gives meaning to the notion of sovereignty, in order to establish its own legitimacy to rule.

Participatory ecological monitoring aims to bring together conservationists and members of the public to collect scientific data about changes in nature – in species, habitats, ecosystems and natural resources. Given that such monitoring not only concerns measures of nature but inherently the participants doing the measuring, it is as much to do with social processes as it is to do with ecological ones. By drawing on detailed ethnographic work from the community forests of Nepal, this thesis aims to explore some of the social dimensions of participatory monitoring and of its consequences for socio-ecological regimes. Current debates in political ecology, development studies and nature-society studies provide the theoretical basis for the investigation. The novelty of the thesis lies in its extensive empirical data, which allows it to explore current understandings of participatory monitoring. The thesis establishes the following tentative theoretical findings. It firstly draws attention to the importance of the informal, often unconscious ways in which we all observe changes in nature and of the need to recognise such ‘local monitoring’ in relation to participatory monitoring. It draws attention to the situated nature of practices of monitoring and the heterogeneity of people involved, suggesting that this has consequences for how costs and benefits arising from participatory monitoring are distributed amongst participants and beyond. It argues that without attending to such consequences, participatory monitoring may serve to (re)produce social inequalities which are the basis for marginalisation and that it may become embroiled in local power struggles. The thesis argues that whilst participatory monitoring may provide useful data on changes in nature, that this information will not automatically influence decision-making over nature conservation or the use of natural resources. A multitude of other factors are important in such decision-making and the ways in which these relate to and potentially constrain the effectiveness of participatory monitoring are discussed. The thesis finally offers a typology with which to better understand the complexity amongst participatory monitoring projects – based on who and what they are for – and with which to approach the conflicts and inconsistencies they present. The thesis concludes that without a careful consideration of their inherent social dimensions, participatory monitoring projects will ultimately fail in attempts to both improve the condition of nature and the lives of societies that depend on it, for the two are intimately connected. Interdisciplinary studies such as this are therefore seen to offer great potential to participatory and community-based approaches to conservation and natural resource management more widely.

Scotland has adopted marine spatial planning (MSP) as a key instrument of its National Marine Plan. This follows a global trend in shifting marine governance techniques. MSP is turn away from sectoral governance of the sea and aims to provide an overall plan to better manage the use of marine spaces. It relies on mapping practices aided by geographical information systems (GIS). This paper considers the shortfalls of MSP from a theoretical perspective. Using a framework combining critical cartography and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) it highlights the instances where mapping exercises fail to capture the realities of situated marine conditions and interactions. By breaking down the strict binary divisions such as nature/society and science/society, some delicate networks between human and non-human actants have been exposed. These insights could be used to better inform MSP in Scotland and allow for more representative decision-making.

The research examined how inequality manifests itself through the processes of industrial gold mining using a case study of Newmont Mining Corporations’ Ahafo Gold Mine in Ghana. The pursuit of neoliberal development and widespread transnational capitalism has led to highly globalised patterns of production and consumption, and gold is representative of a single commodity whose production acts as a proximate mechanism through which globalisation could be linked to the growth of inequality. There are growing perceptions of inequality between stakeholders within the industrial gold mining industry. The research focused on what may be deemed a number of social and environmental injustices experienced by groups of individuals who do not value gold as it is valued in the contemporary industrialised world. The findings question the underlying motivations and assumptions that justify the implementation of industrial gold mining projects for the benefit of local communities, when in fact, it should be acknowledged that the benefits are not always equitably distributed and can produce highly stratified societies. The main grievances expressed by local communities affected by the operations of Newmont Mining Corporation in Ghana are documented and attempts are made to understand the perspectives of different stakeholders in framing social and environmental issues. The empirical observations help to identify where perceptions of inequality emerge and to uncover the processes through which inequality may be constructed or perpetuated within systems of embedded power relations. Various changes occur in stakeholders’ expectations and aspirations during the processes of industrial gold mining related to the transfer of power and sovereignty. Newmont’s CSR programmes may be understood as efforts to manage inequalities. However, in many ways, the company has failed to prevent the emergence of the same environmental and social injustices associated with industrial mining around the world, despite the company’s claims to be implementing ‘best practice’. Therefore, the research suggests that socially responsible mining may not be enough to prevent the production of inequality.

Community Forestry is a form of natural governance that is steadily growing in popularity. Community Forestry has numerous communal and environmental benefits: such as community cohesion, and stability, as well as increased biodiversity, conservation, and carbon sequestration. Community Forestry necessarily requires the decentralisation of power in one form or another, and is thus bound up in issues of decentralisation of governance, relations of power, and empowerment. Decentralisation of governance is fundamentally about the redistribution of power and resources from central government to local resource users. When decentralisation is carried out successfully it will lead to power being shared more equally among parties, and it should lead to the empowerment of local communities. However, despite being a political process, the Government and the Forestry Commission Scotland are not engaging as fully as they could be with the Community Forestry process. Policy makers need to realise the full potential of Community Forestry, and the FCS need to recognise how far Community Forestry could go to helping them meet their wider strategic aims. Therefore it is important to question the role decentralisation, power, and empowerment play within the Community Forestry movement in Scotland to gain a fuller understanding of exactly how they impact on Community Forestry, and therefore how Community Forestry could be improved, and made more successful.

Consumption in a global industrial economy has been linked to both environmental damage and community erosion. The local food movement has been shown to provide a catalyst to community building as well as increased agricultural sustainability. Given the environmental and social damage linked to conventional consumption, this dissertation aimed to examine an alternative form of consumption, that of local food, and the ways in which participants in the local food network understand the environment and community and the possibilities for the development of an ethical relationship with the environmental community as a result of local food consumption. Using quantitative research methods including in-depth interviews, observations and short semi-structured interviews among local food participants to investigate how the local food experience contributes to the development of environmental community awareness, it was discovered that experience, education and environmental concern play important roles in shaping conceptions of environment and community among local food producers and consumers.

The development of the offshore oil industry in the past fifty years has created heightened interactions at sea, where traditionally fishing activities dominated. This study explores the nature of liaison bodies that have formed between the offshore oil and gas and commercial fishing industries in Scotland and Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, necessitated by their operational conflicts in common sea areas. A comparative case study approach was used to research these two nations, as offshore oil and gas is very important to both countries’ economic security whilst their commercial fishing fleets face mounting pressures in the context of diminishing fish stocks. The findings of this study suggest that Scotland has a greater range of liaison positions than Canada, resulting in part from their more mature and extensive offshore oil industry. International collaboration was identified as playing a key role in the transference of knowledge and informing liaison practices in the Canadian offshore oil industry. This study corroborates previous research in finding that industry integration and collaboration is important in furthering goals of integrated coastal zone management.

This thesis examines the politics of managing the boreal forest in the Abitibi region of Québec in Canada. It pays particular attention to how the plurality of forest users produces multiple forest imaginaries that are involved in the constitution of the micropolitics of quotidian practices of the forest. The aim is to show how different forest imaginaries and their politics could inform current forest management and open up other possibilities for the governance of, and relationships with, the boreal forest. By investigating the power relationships involved in the production of boreal forest politics, this work shows how forestry science and ecology have established and exercised their authority over how the forest is imagined and experienced. This territoriality has been articulated through discourses and practices that promote dominant industrial relationships with the forest which undermine other ways of imagining the relationships between forest users and non-humans. Engaging with post-structuralism theory, phenomenology and political ecology, I demonstrate how the multiplicity of forest users comes to know and experience the boreal forest in various and unstructured ways which destabilise efforts to imagine and construct the forest as a static entity. By paying attention to everyday life practices of various forest users, I show how contestations and negotiations about different imaginaries and places of the boreal forest are interrelated and mutually constituted. These practices and the imaginaries that they construct work together to produce the forest as an open space which is capable of embodying a wide range of meanings. By investigating how the boreal forest is constituted by various unstable imaginary places and politics, I argue that the current territoriality and politics produced by the imbrication of forestry science and industrial forestry should be challenged by another form of governance. This new form of governance needs to acknowledge the relational quality of imaginaries and to democratize the politics of the forest. By showing how abstract concepts such as relational politics can become implemented in current forest policies, the significance of institutions that are already in place and that can serve to embody other politics of the forest is highlighted. Apart from contributing to political ecology and environmental politics, the findings of this research show that political projects which can seem utopian at first glance have the potential to become tangible agents of social and environmental change.