Suchergebnisse

This is a book about the work of scientists in the era of the Anthropocene: where human beings appear to have become a driving force in the evolution of the planet. It is a diverse collection of empirical, methodological and theoretical chapters concerned with the practice of interdisciplinary social-ecological systems research. The aim of the contributors is to give the reader an appreciation for the range and complexity of the challenges faced by researchers, research institutions and wider communities trying to make sense of the causes and consequences of the this new era of global envir

We explore the theory and practice of participation in EU biodiversity governance, focusing on the implementation of the Birds and Habitat directives and Natura 2000 at the EU and member-state levels in the cases of France and Germany. We identify three shifts in EU biodiversity governance which potentially lead to intensifying participatory processes, but which may also be induced by more participation: (i) a shift from a top-down state-centred administrative understanding of policy making towards more flexible and bottom-up approaches; (ii) a shift towards more democratic, 'postnormal', types of science; and (iii) a shift from a conservation focus towards a more anthropocentric ecosystems goods-and-services approach framed in a normative context of sustainability. We look at whether these shifts happen in practice and also look at the link with participation. At all political levels a big gap remains between the rhetoric on participation and the real-life implementation of participatory processes.