The literature highlights how climate change might challenge the definitions of wine geographical indications (GIs) in Europe. The central issue addressed in this thesis is whether European GI viticultural systems could tackle climate change via initiating adaptive institutional change processes to relax the constraints imposed by GI production standards. To do so, drawing from institutional economics theory and literature on cooperatives and collective brand, we developed a novel agent-based model (ABM) representing an abstract GI wine production system in the European Union (EU). Using illustrative data, our model allows testing different impact scenarios driven by climate change, spatial heterogeneity, and alternative institutional settings (i.e., voting mechanism). We used the model to explore individual and collective components of climate resilience and the relationship between economic agents and their environment. We compared the average output of 100 simulations for each of the 12 different climate-landscape-institution scenarios. The inclusion of endogenous institutional change led to considerable variations in all target variables, including the emergence of complex/chaotic behaviours. It enabled the system to reduce farm exits, increase profitability and collective brand value. We showed how landscape heterogeneity has a twofold role in the climate resilience of the system. It increases individual adaptability but obstructs collective adaptive capacity through institutional change. The two different voting mechanisms considered (i.e., relative and absolute majority) did not produce any discernible result. The study highlights the importance of policies oriented to strengthening investments in intangibles and facilitating GI rule amendments, especially in sectors where cooperatives predominate due to poor intangible investments capability and other issues connected to member heterogeneity.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate cost-effective climate policy instruments for bioenergy and timber, adapted to the impacts on interdependent forest carbon pools, and applied in the EU climate policy to 2050. We develop a discrete time dynamic model including forest carbon pools in biomass, soil, and products, as well as fossil fuel consumption. The analytical results show that the optimal taxes on forest products depend on the growth in the respective carbon pool. The application to the EU 2050 climate policy for emission trading shows that total costs for target achievement can be reduced by 33 percent if all carbon pools are included, and the carbon tax on fossil fuel can be reduced by 50 percent. Optimal taxes on forest products differ among countries and over time depending on the potential for increased carbon sequestration over the planning period. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate policy instruments for interdependent carbon pools and how they can be applied in the EU climate policy to 2050. Cost-effective policy instruments for forest products which are adjusted for the impact on carbon pools are identified. A numerical, dynamic, chance-constrained model including the EU-27 countries shows that inclusion of only one forest carbon pool can reduce costs and increase emission reductions. Results also suggest that decentralized policy instruments for both carbon pools are less costly than uniform instruments at the EU level.
Large emissions of greenhouse gases are expected to cause major environmental problems in the future. European policy makers have therefore declared that they aim to implement cost-efficient and fair policies to reduce carbon emissions. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the cost of the EU policies for 2020 can be reduced through the inclusion of carbon sequestration as and abatement option while also equity is improved. The assessment is done by numerical calculations using a chance-constrained partial equilibrium model of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and national effort-sharing targets, where forest sequestration is introduced as an uncertain abatement option. Fairness is evaluated by calculation of Gini-coefficients for six equity criteria to policy outcomes. The estimated Gini-coefficients range between 0.11 and 0.32 for the current policy, between 0.16 and 0.66 if sequestration is included and treated as certain, and between 0.19 and 0.38 when uncertainty about sequestration is taken into account and policy-makers wish to meet targets with at least 90 percent probability. The results show that fairness is reduced when sequestration is included and that the impact is larger when sequestration is treated as certain.
The paper argues that policies towards upland communities in Vietnam tend to reinforce land use strategies that increase vulnerability to climate-related risk and undermine adaptive capacity of upland communities. It is argued that the division of land use between intensive agriculture/tree plantation and protected forest is increasing both livelihood- and environmental risk. Qualitative interviews and group discussion with upland villagers and local government staff in two districts of north and central Vietnam suggest that farmers are facing frequent loss and damage due to floods, storms and drought. Changing production patterns, together with the increase in climate-related hazards and stresses, is changing the character of vulnerability of upland communities. The study primarily explores village-level perspectives regarding impacts of hazards and stresses, ideas of how to reduce risk, along with how related policies and institutions influence local possibilities of risk reduction and adaptation. Our fieldwork results suggest that many villagers and local leaders see adaptation and risk reduction in terms of improved irrigation and in terms of access to land and forests for their livelihoods. The findings support arguments for more integration of agriculture and forestry land use, allowing for more flexibility in the development of upland livelihoods, with the aim of facilitating adaptation to climate change.
Policymakers and natural resource managers are increasingly recognizing the importance of broader geographic and gender participation in assessing climate vulnerability and developing effective adaptation policies. When such participation is limited, climate mitigation and adaptation polices may miss key opportunities to support vulnerable communities, and thus inadvertently reinforce the vulnerability of marginalized groups. This paper reports rich qualitative data from women leaders in conservation, development and climate adaptation projects to support local communities across seven Pacific Island nations. The results indicate the following priorities to support climate adaptation policies in the Pacific: (1) increased recognition for the importance of traditional knowledge; (2) greater support for local women's groups, including strategic planning and training to access climate finance mechanisms; and (3) climate policies that consider alternative metrics for women's empowerment and inclusion, formalize women's land rights, and provide land for climate refugees. Existing evidence is discussed which supports the importance of these priorities in the Pacific. Their input identifies research gaps in climate adaptation and provides important guidance for governments, non-governmental organizations, and development agencies leading climate adaptation efforts.
Adaptation research and practice too often overlooks the wider social context within which climate change is experienced. Mainstream approaches frame adaptation problems in terms of the consequences that flow from biophysical impacts and as a result, we argue, ask the wrong questions. A complementary approach gaining ground in the field, foregrounding the social, economic and political context, reveals differentiation in adaptation need, and how climate impacts interconnect with wider processes of change. In this paper, we illustrate how this kind of approach frames a different set of questions about adaptation using the case of Nepal. Drawing on fieldwork and a review of literature, we contrast the questions that emerge from adaptation research and practice that take climate risk as a starting point with the questions that emerge from examination of contemporary rural livelihoods. We find that while adaptation efforts are often centred around securing agricultural production and are predicated on climate risk management, rural livelihoods are caught in a wider process of transformation. The numbers of people involved in farming are declining, and households are experiencing the effects of rising education, abandonment of rural land, increasing wages, burgeoning mechanisation, and high levels of migration into the global labour market. We find the epistemological framing of adaptation too narrow to account for these changes, as it understands the experiences of rural communities through the lens of climate risk. We propose that rather than seeking to integrate local understandings into a fixed, impacts-orientated epistemology, it is necessary to premise adaptation on an epistemology capable of exploring how change occurs. Asking the right questions thus means opening up adaptation by asking: 'what are the most significant changes taking place in people's lives?', along with the more standard: 'what are the impacts of climate change?' Viewing adaptation as occurring between and within these two perspectives has the potential to reveal new vulnerabilities and opportunities for adaptation practice to act upon.
Forest management affects the quantity of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere by carbon sequestration in standing biomass, carbon storage in forest products and production of bioenergy that replace fossil fuels. The main question in this paper is whether forest sequestration is worth increasing at the expense of bioenergy and forest products to achieve EU's emission reduction target to 2050 cost-effectively. The assessment is based on numerical calculations using a dynamic, partial equilibrium model of cost-effective solutions, where three abatement methods in the forest sector are included together with abatement in the fossil fuel sector. The results show that forest sequestration in standing biomass is cost-effective compared to bioenergy. When sequestration is taken into account, net present costs for meeting EU carbon targets can be reduced by 18%. This is achieved through an increase in annual carbon sequestration by 30-158 million ton CO2. The overall cost of reaching the 80 per cent carbon reduction target amounts to 2,002 billion Euros when sequestration is included in the policy, but increases to 2,371 billion Euros without sequestration. Results suggest that forests can serve as a cost-efficient carbon sink over the considered time period.
The current share of sub-Saharan Africa in global carbon dioxide emissions is negligible compared to major contributors like Asia, Americas, and Europe. This trend is, however, likely to change given that both economic growth and rate of urbanization in the region are projected to be robust in the future. The current study contributes to the literature by examining both the direct and the indirect impacts of quality of institution on the environment. Specifically, we investigate whether the institutional setting in the region provides some sort of a complementary role in the environment-FEG relationships. We use the panel two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) technique to deal with the simultaneity problem. Data consists of 43 sub-Saharan African countries. The result shows that energy inefficiency compromises environmental standards. However, the quality of the institutional setting helps moderate this negative consequences; countries with good institutions show greater prospects than countries with poor institutions. On the other hand, globalization of the region and increased forest size generate positive environmental outcomes in the region. Their impacts are, however, independent of the quality of institution. Afforestation programs, promotion of other clean energy types, and investment in energy efficiency, basic city infrastructure, and regulatory and institutional structures, are desirable policies to pursue to safeguard the environment.
Den här rapporten ger en inblick i vår pågående forskning i projektet "Making Sense of Adaptation - Adaptation practice in a governance perspective" (härefter MASA). MASA har sedan år 2018 följt och följeforskat ett antal organisationer och institutioner med ansvar för klimatanpassning i en svensk kontext. Syftet med projektet är att bidra med kunskap om hur dessa aktörer uppfattar och genomför sitt arbete i praktiken, samt att baserat på detta underlag bidra till en bättre förståelse för om, och i så fall vilka, förändringar i klimatanpassningsarbetet som är önskvärda och möjliga. Med utgångspunkt i teorier om sociala praktiker har vi zoomat in på specifika klimatanpassningspraktiker genom att följa, observera och analysera pågående arbete. Nästa steg är att zooma ut och blicka framåt tillsammans med dem som befinner sig i dessa praktiker. Den workshop som vi genomförde tillsammans med myndighetsnätverket för klimatanpassning under våren 2021 inledde denna fas, och denna rapport kan ses som ett första avstamp för gemensam reflektion och diskussion om våra preliminära resultat. Myndighetsnätverket för klimatanpassning är en central aktör och viktig källa till kunskap i det svenska klimatanpassningsarbetet. Nätverket kopplar samman ett stort antal myndigheter och sektorer på olika nivåer (regionala och nationella) som är involverade i och har ett utpekat ansvar för samhällets klimatanpassning. Syftet med workshopen var att tillsammans med nätverket reflektera och prata om visioner kopplade till klimatanpassning utifrån nätverkets egenidentifierade behov och preliminära resultat från vår forskning. Vilken målbild och vision för klimatanpassning har myndighetsnätverkets medlemmar? Vad behöver utvecklas och förändras för att en sådan vision ska realiseras? Detta sökte vi svar på genom att diskutera frågan Hur ser ett samhälle ut där klimatanpassningen fungerar och genererar önskvärda resultat? Som riktlinje fick deltagarna förhålla sig till år 2040, varifrån vi sedan spårade oss bakåt i tiden mot nuläge (så kallad backcastingmetod) för att identifiera såväl prioriterade frågor som risker med nuvarande sätt att arbeta med klimatanpassning. Vision för klimatanpassning år 2040 - hur ser ett önskvärt läge ut? En viktig utgångspunkt i deltagarnas vision av klimatanpassning är tillgången till insti-tutionellt stöd och ledarskap, bättre kunskapsunderlag samt att klimatanpassning behandlas som en prioriterad fråga, politiskt, i samhällsdebatten samt i den egna organisationen. I deltagarnas vision är klimatanpassningen mer flexibel och proaktiv, samtidigt som det finns en tydligare ansvarsfördelning mellan samhällets olika aktörer och nivåer. Helhetssyn och långsiktighet präglar arbetet där globalt samarbete och rättviseaspekter har en självklar plats. Några deltagare lyfter även vikten av att existentiella frågor kopplade till klimatanpassning och klimatförändring diskuteras och ges mer utrymme än idag. Bärande för och underliggande visionen är en pågående samhällsomställning och transformation, eller strukturell förändring, av olika samhällssektorer. Förutsättningarna för klimatanpassning är avhängigt samhällsutvecklingen i stort och i visionen hanteras inte klimatanpassning längre som en enskild fråga. Frågor att fokusera på redan nu Deltagarnas övergripande vision, tillsammans med de nyckelområden och risker som vi identifierade i efterföljande diskussion, ger en viktig fingervisning om vilka frågor som är centrala att fokusera på och utveckla i klimatanpassningsarbetet redan nu. Politiskt mod, eller tydligt klimatledarskap, på alla nivåer identifierades i workshopen som helt centralt för framgångsrikt arbete med klimatanpassning. Baksidan av samma mynt är deltagarnas uttryck för en rädsla bland enskilda tjänstemän och myndigheter att göra "fel" vilket riskerar att skapa passivitet i klimatanpassningsarbetet. Därför krävs olika former av stöd såsom tydligare vägledning och målstyrning som kan underlätta myndigheternas avvägningar. En annan aspekt som pekas ut som viktig för klimatarbetet är möjligheter till gemensamt utforskande av svåra frågor där det saknas enkla svar eller stöd av tidigare erfarenheter. Kontinuerliga reflektionsprocesser inom nätverket och dess olika organisationer menar vi kan vara ett sätt att bidra till att skapa detta utrymme och samtidigt skapa förutsättningar för institutionaliserat lärande. Myndighetsnätverkets medlemmar poängterar särskilt vikten av tydligare ansvarsfördelning. Även om ansvarsfrågan lyfts tidigare och varit föremål för statliga utredningar, menar nätverket att många oklarheter består. Därför vill vi understryka att frågan om ansvar för och ledarskap i samverkan kring klimatanpassning bör ges större vikt. Ett helhetsgrepp är en förutsättning för att kunna nå önskvärda förutsättningar för fungerande klimatanpassning. Lärdomar och framåtblickar Lärdomar från denna process är att ett medvetet visionärt fokus och förhållningssätt kan skapa viktiga diskussionsytor för att angripa klimatanpassningsfrågans mer komplexa aspekter. Att göra som vi gjorde i projektet, formulera en vision i en halvt avlägsen framtid - tillräckligt långt borta för att inte uppfattas som låst av nuläget, men tillräckligt nära för att vara relevant för redan pågående beslut och processer - möjliggjorde för deltagarna att röra sig bortom sakfrågor och fragmenterade perspektiv till att ta ett bredare grepp på klimatanpassning. Vi ser en stor potential i myndighetsnätverket att fortsatt arbeta på detta sätt. Precis som deltagare framhåller under workshopen, bör nätverket värna rollen som ett öppet forum där frågor kan dryftas på ett prestigelöst sätt. Vi föreslår också att nätverket fortsätter att utforska möjligheterna att institutionalisera processer och skapa verktyg för olika former av återkommande reflektion och övergripande dialog som kan bidra till att utveckla och utnyttja nätverkets potential. Rapportens upplägg Den första delen i rapporten ger en inblick i forskningsprojektet MASA. Vi beskriver kortfattat projektets ansats, sammanfattar vad vi sett så här långt samt ger en bakgrund till workshopens inriktning. Del två återger upplägget på och resultaten av workshopen uppdelat i deltagarnas vision samt identifierade nyckelfrågor, riskområden och behov kopplat till klimatanpassningsarbetet. Del tre blickar framåt och fokuserar på myndighetsnätverkets nuvarande och framtida roll och potential.
We calculate values of forest carbon sequestration and nutrient recycling applying the replacement cost method. The value is then determined as the savings in costs by the replacement of more expensive abatement measures with these ecosystem services in cost-effective climate and nutrient programs. To this end, a dynamic optimization model is constructed, which accounts for uncertainty in sequestration. It is applied to the Stockholm-Malar region in southeast Sweden where the EU 2050 climate policy for carbon emissions and the Baltic Sea action plan for nutrient discharges are applied. The results show that the value of carbon and nutrient sequestration can correspond to approximately 0.5% of the region's gross domestic product, or 40% of the value of productive forest. The largest part of this value is attributed to carbon sequestration because of the relative stringency in targets and expensive alternative abatement measures. However, sequestration is uncertain because of stochastic weather conditions, and when society has a large risk aversion for not attaining climate and nutrient targets, the values of the forest carbon and nutrient sequestration can approach zero.
This study investigates the contribution of forest carbon sequestration to a cost-efficient EU climate policy from 2010 to 2050 under conditions of uncertainty. We note that there is a trade-off between sequestration and alternative uses of forests such as bioenergy and timber production. A dynamic and probabilistic cost-minimization model is developed, which includes fossil fuel use within the EU Emissions Trading System and forest management in the EU-27 countries. The results suggest that if policy makers wish to meet emissions targets with 80% certainty, this goal will be eight times more expensive than when they were unconcerned with uncertainty. Policy makers' risk attitudes affect forest management strategy primarily through the inclusion of wood products, where potential carbon emissions reductions are high but also highly uncertain. Excluding wood products from a climate strategy can be expensive if policy maker are insensitive to uncertainty.
The European Commission expects the use of biomass for energy in the EU to increase significantly between 2010 and 2020 to meet a legally binding target to cover at least 20% of EU's total energy use from renewable sources in 2020. According to estimates made by the member states of the EU, the direct supply of biomass from forests is expected to increase by 45% on a volume basis between 2006 and 2020 in response to increasing demand (Beurskens LWM, Hekkenberg M, Vethman P. Renewable energy projections as published in the national renewable energy action plans of the European Member states. ECN and EEA; 2011. http://https://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2010/e10069.pdf [accessed 25.04.2014]; Dees M, Yousef A, Ermert J. Analysis of the quantitative tables of the national renewable energy action plans prepared by the 27 European Union Member States in 2010. BEE working paper D7.2. Biomass Energy Europe project. FELIS Department of Remote Sensing and landscape information Systems, University of Freiburg, Germany; 2011). Our aims were to test the hypotheses that European private forest owners' attitudes towards supplying woody biomass for energy (1) can be explained by their responses to changes in prices and markets and (2) are positive so that the forest biomass share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target can be met. Based on survey data collected in 2010 from 800 private forest owners in Sweden, Germany and Portugal our results show that the respondents' attitudes towards supplying woody biomass for energy cannot be explained as direct responses to changes in prices and markets. Our results, furthermore, imply that European private forest owners cannot be expected to supply the requested amounts of woody biomass for energy to meet the forest biomass share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target, at least if stemwood is to play the important role as studies by Verkerk PJ, Anttila P, Eggers J, Lindner M, Asikainen A. The realisable potential supply of woody biomass from forests in the European Union. For Ecol Manag 2011;261: 2007-2015, UNECE and FAO. The European forest sector outlook study,II 2010-2030. United Nations, New York and Geneva; 2011 [abbreviated to EFSOS II] and Elbersen B, Staritsky I, Hengeveld G, Schelhaas MJ, Naeff H, Bottcher H. Atlas of EU biomass potentials; 2012. Available from: http://www.biomassfutures.eu [accessed 14.10.2013] suggest. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The purpose of IPBES assessments is to depict how the natural world and human societies interact with each other on a conceptual level. Habitat degradataion, eutrophication, fishing and climate change are examples of drivers of change that affect Nordic coastal habitats. Policy and governance are principal indirect drivers that both could lead to decline and deteriorations, as well as improvements and recoveries environments. Climate change will affect Nordic marine biodiversity profoundly in the future by changes in, for example, bio-chemical cycles and in the distribution of biodiversity. Such changes might lead to increased oxygen depletion in many areas, leakage of nutrients, changed thropic structures and spread of pathogens. It is therefore of paramount importance that effective governance is developed to mitigate impacts on nature's contributions to people (NCP) and to build sustainability and strategies for sustainability. Less overfishing, less euthropication, fewer pollutants and better land-use and nature protection are measures that will improve the overall resilience of Nordic coastal environments.
The European Commission adopted the European (EU) Forest Strategy in 2021, where forests and forest management practises such as closer-to-nature forestry (CNF) are identified as a key in solving the two crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. This interview study analyses the attitudes of different forest stakeholders towards CNF and their preferred regulation method of it. Seven stakeholders participated in the interviews, representing three stakeholder groups: forest owners, environmental organisations, and industry organisations. Two environmental organisations and one of the forest owners' organisations had their own definition of CNF, which entailed mainly natural regeneration and an avoidance of clear cuts. Their perceived purpose of CNF was the same as that of the EU Forest Strategy, as a forest management method aiming to promote climate change adaptation, biodiversity conservation and timber production. Those who did not have a definition, two of the forest owner's organisations and two industrial organisations, explained that the definitions of CNF varied depending on the purpose of using it. The three organisations that had a definition of CNF, were also in favour of an EU regulation of CNF. The four organisations that were opposed, argued that the conditions across Europe vary too much to have a common regulation. Instead, they preferred market solutions and other ways of reaching the same goals. The results might depend on a larger inclination of believing in legislation if you have a clear definition of it, but also on the attitudes towards legislation varying in general between stakeholder types. During the finalisation of this study, the European Forest Institute released a report with seven principles of CNF, which calls for further research.