Suchergebnisse

The long-distance transportation of horses to slaughter has been strongly criticized in various political arenas: in Europe there is now a campaign underway to end transportation that takes over 8 hours. This debate is investigated here by means of a case study. The research data consists of regulatory texts used in the EU and in Finland. These texts are analyzed initially according to their contents, that is, a content analysis, designed to find out how and in which connections the animal is conceptualized. This analysis is then amplified by means of critical discourse analysis to discover the kinds of discourse that are most powerful and stabilized, and also to reveal their institutional origins. The results show that there is a strong difference between market-driven and animal-centric interpretations of unnecessary suffering. It is also evident that pressure has been growing in favour of the animal-centric perspective on the part of both animal welfare NGOs and of citizens. Nevertheless, it has been observed that the fields of science that could offer expertise on the issue have been poorly utilized in the process of devising policies.

The wolf is an endangered species, and its conservation has been agreed on internationally. International agreements often contradict the needs and opinions at national and local levels. This politics from the top down may lead to lack of commitment at the local level. Ultimately, the wolf suffers. The research data from which this article is drawn were collected in Finland and consist of interviews, observations, policy follow-ups, and literary documents. Kooiman's theory of social-political governance is used for the analysis of the data, which shows that there is strong pressure for more cooperative instruments of policy and that actors outside the state administration are active in developing these instruments. This raises questions regarding the relation between administrative and nonadministrative policy actions and national government's roles in conflict management. In addition to the existing ecological strategy, the Finnish national government is facing a challenge to create a societal strategy for Finland's wolf policy.

This article aims to reveal the political positioning of 'mire nature' in Finnish peatland policy and law. The data analysed include the latest policy documents, laws and regulations related to mires and peat extraction. Analysis is based on frame analysis (i.e. how an object is defined and positioned) and ideas drawn from a political ecology approach. Two main frames can be identified within the Finnish legal and policy framework: peat as a natural resource to be utilised for national energy sufficiency and economic competitiveness, and peat as a valuable source of biodiversity and an integral element of global ecosecurity. Analysis reveals the degree to which the definition of issues or objects in legal and policy terms is important in determining outcomes. It also reveals that national policies have swung back and forth and are prone to economic power struggles. Furthermore, while laws and regulations have offered strong and longstanding support for the extractive use of peat, the latest regulatory developments show a break from this trend. However, the arguments and facts concerning climate change are poorly integrated with Finnish peatland policy and law.

Abstract
While societies are facing complex problems involving multiple stakeholders and interdependencies, interest in collaborative governance as a potential solution is rising. Research-based interventions in policy, planning, and management processes have been introduced to test different approaches and tools for collaboration. The nature of these processes, tools, and approaches varies substantially, as do researchers' cultures of making contributions to and in collaboration with society. This paper outlines the various possibilities and means for researchers to intervene in and explore steps towards collaborative governance. It utilises literature-based descriptions of potential roles for researchers and draws on insight from Finnish collaborative governance interventions in environmental decision-making. The conventional role of researchers as providers of knowledge was complemented with roles needed to foster favourable conditions for collaboration. Tensions regarding these roles show that collaborative governance requires a reflexive position from researchers, enabling them to adapt their ideas about collaboration to specific governance settings.

Mainstreaming ecosystem services in EU decision making processes requires a solid conceptual and methodological framework for mapping and assessing ecosystem services that serve the multiple objectives addressed by policies. The PRESS-2 study (PEER Research on Ecosystem Service – Phase 2) provides such an analytical framework which enables the operationalization of the present scientific knowledge base of environmental data and models for application by the EU and Member States for mapping and assessment of ecosystem services. This study was structured along three strands of work: policy and scenario analysis, mapping and valuation. Linking the maps of ecosystem service supply to monetary valuation allowed an analysis of the expected impact of policy measures on benefits derived from ecosystem services. The recreation case, which Marianne participated in, presents evidence that millions of people visited forests several times per year and they expressed their willingness to pay to continue doing so. The visitor statistics that were used in this study confirmed the usefulness of the ROS approach (Recreation Opportunity Spectrum) to identify areas in terms of their accessibility and potential to provide recreation services. In addition, PRESS-2 presents a spatial analysis of city population density and green urban areas.