Search

“Honest broker” refers to scientists facilitating complex political decisions from a neutral position, aiming to expand the scope of choice available instead of advocating a certain policy. This article reflects on the experiences of three scientists acting as honest brokers while carrying out a multicriteria evaluation to help politicians choose the water supply option for the city of Oulu, Finland. The process was considered successful and many politicians said that they have never before been that well informed when making a decision. The case primarily shows that besides the common knowledge brokerage roles targeting knowledge exchange, the honest brokerage approach relates more to managing social relationships and balancing political games and rapidly evolving discussions. Trustful relationships increased the perceived credibility of the brokers and ensured two-way communication. On the other hand, the brokers faced ethical dilemmas and difficulties of staying impartial while finding out conf...

MCDA is increasingly used to support participatory and collaborative processes. In this paper, we describe and evaluate four real-life environmental planning projects where MCDA was used in different ways to evaluate the alternatives and to support stakeholder involvement. Based on our experience, we present five approaches for eliciting preferences or criteria weights of stakeholders, which vary from an expert-driven to a personal interview approach. We compare the pros and cons of these approaches, and give recommendations regarding their use. We believe that better awareness of different approaches and their applicability would enable MCDA experts to design more effective, meaningful and practical participatory processes. Our cases are from environmental planning, but the framework and conclusions are generic and thus applicable to other fields as well.

The major part of the attractiveness of Nordic tourism relies on natural resources and features such as the landscape, the flora, the fauna and the four seasons. Lately, it has been predicted that climate change will alter these preconditions of nature-based tourism destinations, which may have severe consequences for the tourism industry. Nevertheless, tourism is also bound to many other societal changes that may influence the economics and the development of peripheral communities dependent on tourism and bring new challenges in maintaining their vitality. For assessing these challenges and potential adaptation measures a multidisciplinary and participatory approach was developed in the EU LIFE+ project VACCIA (Vulnerability Assessment of ecosystem services for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation) Action 12: Tourism. The aim of this article is to evaluate this approach for assessing the local vulnerability and adaptation of tourism to the challenges of climate change in two tourism municipalit...

Knowledge integration in transdisciplinary projects can help to achieve a more comprehensive, balanced and relevant understanding of real-world problems and their potential solutions. In this paper, a project on reindeer management in northern Finland, RENMAN, is used to identify and examine some challenges that transdisciplinary projects face regarding knowledge integration and the roles taken by scientists to overcome the challenges as well as to explain why integration has or has not been successful. We identify and examine four challenges to knowledge integration: (1) the need for integration during the design of study questions and settings, (2) the need to manage competitive deliberative settings, (3) the potential mismatch between providing “optimal” policy recommendations and outputs integrating facts and values, and (4) the need to harness the benefits of the process to contribute to managing the problem in the future. Scientist in the RENMAN project used four roles to cope with these challenges: reflective scientist, intermediary, facilitator or capacity builder. Our key argument is that the metaphor of sensitivity can often explain the successes and failures regarding integration pursued by using the above mentioned roles. Sensitivity in transdisciplinary research encompasses attention toward the needs and problem definitions of knowledge holders and knowledge users, respect toward various worldviews, divergent perspectives and forms of knowledge, and the understanding of biases, power relations and possible marginalizations embedded in and resulting from knowledge production. Finally, flexibility to act on the knowledge gained through sensitivity is needed to design evolving processes able to contribute to the resolution of complex real-world problems.

Analytic–deliberative techniques have been suggested as a promising approach to ecosystem service (ES) valuation but are still at an experimental stage. This paper contributes to the development of ES valuation in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure by introducing an analytic–deliberative approach to assessing restoration options for a regulated river in Finland. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) with a value-focused approach was applied and compared with a desktop application of the ES-focused MCDA approach. We found out that the concept of ES could bring added value to the assessment process by: 1) enabling the framing and valuing especially of provisioning services — final ecosystem services, such as salmon catch in a more understandable way for the stakeholders, and 2) taking into account ecosystem processes and supporting services more precisely. However, some potential dangers of using the ES-based approach could include ES's appearing as a distant mode of thinking to affected groups and other stakeholders, and neglect of the trade-offs between ES and other relevant value and impact categories. Thus, although the ES framework is promising, it should not form a rigid ‘checklist’ way of making assessments but should rather be used to widen perspectives about potential issues in linking ecosystem properties to human benefits and values. It is argued that by combining the ES framework with the interactive MCDA approach, we can form a comprehensive and integrated approach to incorporating ESs into EIA.

Recreational fishing is one of the most popular leisure activities in western countries. From a conceptual viewpoint, recreational fishing includes fishing tourism. Over the last few decades, due to economic restructuring, nature-based tourism and related activities such as fishing are seen as a tool for revitalising the economic base of rural areas. In spite of the importance of fishing tourism as an economic activity, fishing tourism suffers from a lack of basic information on the sub-regional and local economic impacts of the phenomenon and this impedes, among other things, the development of the industry. The purpose of this study is to develop a process model to assess the regional economic impacts of fishing tourism. The idea of the model is to utilise as much as of the existing statistics provided by the authorities as possible. The benefits of using the existing data are, above all, to reduce the burden of empirical data collection. Thus, the aim of the study is to create a practical model that can be applied by researchers, planners and developers. Despite ignoring multiplicative effects, the model is useful for calculating basic regional economic indicators of fishing tourism in a simple, quick and cost-effective way, using a rigorous and comparable method. The model is applied in the case of the catchment area of the Iijoki, a river in northern Finland.

Scientists can use a number of strategies to inform policymakers. They can be “honest brokers” by communicating a variety of management options and opening up discussion about a range of uncertainties, or they can be “issue advocates” by arguing for specific management options. This article looks at a forestry debate between two groups of scientists in northern Finland and maps their argumentative strategies. Three strategies are distinguished relating to: (1) the state of the resource and its indicators; (2) scalar framing; and (3) future uncertainties due to climate change. Use of these strategies revealed polarized arguments about risks and sustainability, but seemed not to provide middle ground proposals for management options. This can be explained, we argue, because the conflict situation produces an easily polarized debate where it is a risk to play “honest broker”. It seems that the deeper scientists go in the defence of the preferred management option, the more they reduce their ability to provid...

This article presents an application of the choice experiment method in order to provide estimates of economic values generated by water quantity improvements in the environment. More importantly, this is the first choice experiment study valuing scientific information and in particular scientific information on climate change. The case study of interest is Rokua in Northern Finland, a groundwater dependent ecosystem very sensitive to climate change and natural variability. The study deals with the uncertainty about the actual dynamics of the system and the effect of future climate change by exploring whether the public values sustained provision of resources for scientific research to better understand long-term environmental changes in Rokua. Data are analysed using a nested multinomial logit and an error component model. Evidence from this study suggests that individuals are willing to pay in order to assure scientific research so as to better understand long-term environmental changes. As a result, policy should consider investing in and supporting related research. Other aspects of water management policy valued by the public are water quantity, recreation, and total land income., We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the European Union via the 7th Framework Program GENESIS: Groundwater and dependent ecosystems: New Scientific basis on climate change and land-use impact for the update of the EU Groundwater Directive; WP-6 Groundwater systems management: scenarios, risk assessment, cost-efficient measures and legal aspects. We finally thank two anonymous referees for constructive and insightful comments

Groundwater in sufficient amounts and of suitable quality is essential for potable water supplies, crop irrigation and healthy habitats for plant and animal biocenoses. The groundwater resource is currently under severe pressure from land use and pollution and there is evidence of dramatic changes in aquifer resources in Europe and elsewhere, despite numerous policy measures on sustainable use and protection of groundwater. Little is known about how such changes affect groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs), which include various aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems above ground and inside the aquifer. Future management must take this uncertainty into account. This paper focuses on multiple aspects of groundwater science, policy and sustainable management. Examples of current management methods and practices are presented for selected aquifers in Europe and an assessment is made of the effectiveness of existing policies such as the European Water Framework Directive and the Habitat Directive in practice and of how groundwaters and GDEs are managed in various conditions. The paper highlights a number of issues that should be considered in an integrated and holistic approach to future management of groundwater and its dependent ecosystems. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd., The work was carried out as part of the GENESIS project on groundwater systems (http://www.thegenesisproject.eu) funded by the European Commission 7FP large scale project contract 226536.

In this paper we discuss how the legitimacy of the impact assessment process is a key issue in conflict mediation in environmental impact assessment. We contrast two EIA cases in hydro-power generation plans made for the Ii River, Finland in different decades, and evaluate how impact assessment in these cases has contributed to the creation, mediation and resolution of conflicts. We focus on the elements of distributional and procedural justice that made the former EIA process more legitimate and consensual and the latter more conflictual. The results indicate that it is crucial for conflict mediation to include all the values and interests of the parties in the goal-setting process and in the definition and assessment of alternatives. The analysis also indicates that procedural justice is the most important to help the people and groups involved to accept the legitimacy of the impact assessment process: how different parties and their values and interests are recognized, and how participation and distribution of power are organized in an impact assessment process. It is confirmed in this article that SIA may act as a mediator or a forum providing a process through which competing knowledge claims, various values and interests can be discussed and linked to the proposed alternatives and interventions.

Fisheries management aimed at sustainable exploitation may affect fish populations indirectly by influencing human behaviour. We propose a methodology that includes stakeholders’ opinions, perceptions, and resulting behaviour, within assessment models designed to evaluate the impact of different management measures on the stocks. Based on interviews and a questionnaire, we use a Bayesian belief network to examine which factors determine fishers’ commitment to sustainable fisheries goals, what impact commitment has on exploitation rate, and what measures can be taken to improve commitment. In addition to exploring alternative management measures, the analysis evaluates knowledge actions (providing information to fishers) and commitment actions (intended to increase trust, consensus, and cooperation). The method is applied in a Baltic Sea case study in which commitment is important for successful recovery of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) stocks. The results indicate that the more fishers rely on fishing as their source of income, the less is their commitment and the smaller is the impact of changes in commitment on subsequent catches. The results suggest that commitment can be improved by selecting management measures favoured by fishers and by combining them with commitment and knowledge actions.

Using interdisciplinary field research in the Usa Basin, northeast European Russia, we compared local inhabitants' perception of environmental problems with chemical and remote-sensing signatures of environmental pollution and their local impacts. Extensive coal mining since the 1930s around Inta and Vorkuta has left a legacy of pollution, detected by measuring snowpack, topsoil, and lichen chemistry, together with remote-sensing techniques and analysis of lake water and sediments. Vorkuta and its environs suffered the worst impacts, with significant metal loading and alkalization in lakes and topsoils, elevated metals and cations in terricolous (reindeer) lichens, and changes in vegetation communities. Although the coal industry has declined recently, the area boasts a booming oil and gas industry, based around Usinsk. Local perceptions and concerns of environmental pollution and protection were higher in Usinsk, as a result of increased awareness after a major oil spill in 1994, compared with Vorkuta's inhabitants, who perceived air pollution as the primary environmental threat. Our studies indicate that the principal sources of atmospheric emissions and local deposition within 25 to 40 km of Vorkuta were coal combustion from power and heating plants, coal mines, and a cement factory. Local people evaluated air pollution from direct observations and personal experiences, such as discoloration of snow and respiratory problems, whereas scientific knowledge played a minor role in shaping these perceptions.

Based on field research in villages and towns in the Komi Republic (northeastern European Russia), this article compares the perception of the environment with environmental knowledge, and examines their interrelations in local contexts. An individual's perception of the environment is embedded in his/her everyday engagement with the surroundings ('the environment' as seen from within). Environmental knowledge is of more cognitive character: it originates mainly from outside the context of everyday life and is imparted via various forms of communication ('The Environment' as seen from the outside). From the interplay of these two levels arises what we call local environmental knowledge, a kind of knowledge which has its own moral and symbolic dimension within the social, cultural and political setting. Similarly, the concept of environmentalism is increasingly recognised as a wide diversity of 'green' views and actions rather than as a single project of a globally consistent normative character; thus there is a need to examine the contextuality of environmental concern. Our findings explain the failure of the 'information deficit' model, according to which the dissemination of scientific knowledge about environmental problems should result in local inhabitants changing their attitudes towards 'The Environment'. Instead, our findings support the insight that, rather than accepting environmental knowledge from external sources as a factual given, individuals restate it in terms of their everyday life contexts and local discourses about socio-political issues.

We draw on the concept of ‘fit’ to understand how co-management and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) as governance instruments could better acknowledge local social complexities. Achieving ‘participatory fit’ requires well-designed and fair processes, which enhance local acceptance towards the implemented rules. Thus, such fit can contribute to establishing new institutions in conservation governance. However, previous literature on participation has had strong focus on properties of decision-making processes, which often neglects the question on how local realities effect on local people’s ability and willingness to participate in the work of governance instruments. We approach ‘participatory fit’ by identifying six properties of heterogeneous local social systems that governance instruments need to acknowledge to nurture balanced bottom-up participation: 1) economic resources and structures, 2) relationships to land, 3) level of education, 4) relationships between diverse actors, 5) divergent problem definitions, and 6) local identities. We discuss related sources of misfits and develop proposals on how conservation instruments could function as bridging organizations facilitating polycentric institutional structures that fit better to the social systems they are intended to govern. Such hybridization of governance could avoid pitfalls of considering one particular instrument (e.g. co-management or PES) as a panacea able to create win-win solutions.

Rokua in Northern Finland is a groundwater dependent ecosystem very sensitive to climate change and natural variability. As such, the water level of most of the lakes is a function of the level of the groundwater table of the esker which is naturally recharged. The management of an ecosystem like this is very challenging and complex because of the many associated use and non-use values. The scope of this study is to expose, apart from the use values, the nonmarket values attached to the ecosystems services of groundwater systems and reveal their importance. In particular, this chapter illustrates the contribution of stated preference methods to orient policy making and presents results from an application of a choice experiment and contingent valuation method regarding ground water quantity. General public�s elicited values highlight the importance of water management policy which contributes to the sustainability of groundwater dependent ecosystems. Importantly results highlight the need to broaden the policy options beyond the consideration of market and use values of groundwater systems. Instead these systems should be considered as part of the broader ecosystems and broader services considered in decision making.

[EN] Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods are increasingly used to facilitate both rigorous analysis and stakeholder involvement in natural and water resource planning. Decision making in that context is often complex and multi-faceted with numerous trade-offs between social, environmental and economic impacts. However, practical applications of decision-support methods are often too technically oriented and hard to use, understand or interpret for all participants. The learning of articipants in these processes is seldom examined, even though successful deliberation depends on learning. This paper analyzes the potential of an interactive MCDA framework, the decision analysis interview (DAI) approach, for facilitating stakeholder involvement and learning in groundwater management. It evaluates the results of an MCDA process in assessing land-use management alternatives in a Finnish esker aquifer area where conflicting land uses affect the groundwater body and dependent ecosystems. In the assessment process, emphasis was placed on the interactive role of the MCDA tool in facilitating stakeholder participation and learning. The results confirmed that the structured decision analysis framework can foster learning and collaboration in a process where disputes and diverse interests are represented. Computer-aided interviews helped the participants to see how their preferences affected the desirability and ranking of alternatives. During the process, the participants knowledge and preferences evolved as they assess their initial knowledge with the help of fresh scientific information. The decision analysis process led to the opening of a dialogue, showing the overall picture of the problem context, and the critical issues for the further process., This study was funded by the GENESIS project (contract number 226536) under the EU’s 7th Framework Programme and the Academy of Finland (project number 128377).

Designing and implementing long-term management plans is difficult both because of the complexity of the fisheries system, and the behaviour of humans. We compared four alternative management plans for the Baltic salmon stocks through approaching experts who interpreted and expressed the views of different stakeholder groups on the options. The focus of the study was on stakeholders’ commitment to the alternative management plans. Committing enhances the probability of achieving the ultimate objective of a plan, while if stakeholders do not commit, the effects of the plan may be less predictable. Thus commitment is an important part of implementation uncertainty in fisheries management. We present how we coupled qualitative analysis with probabilistic Bayesian networks in analysing expert knowledge related to alternative long term management plans in terms of group commitment. Using a Bayesian net provides potential for creating a holistic picture of a fishery by combining the data describing fishers’ commitment with biological data regarding fish stock dynamics and with economic data analyzing economically sound fisheries management.

There are often contradictions between environmental and social sustainability. This friction is clearly manifested in protected areas, which are increasing throughout the world. This article examines the relationships between protected areas and local people in order to map problems, to identify possible solutions and related challenges, and to make suggestions for further research. This paper examines two kinds of solutions to protected area - local community confrontations: 1) co-management arrangements, which promise increased possibilities for participation for local people; 2) tourism-protected area partnerships, which promise more income to the local level. However, our work illustrates that finding synergies between environmental and social objectives requires conscious effort, because promises to find such synergies often fail to deliver the intended objectives in practice. We identify a set of research questions for tackling these problems in protected areas, which is relevant for combining social and environmental sustainability even in other contexts.