Political ecology: where is the policy?

Walker, Peter A.

doi:10.1191/0309132506ph613pr

Cited by 112 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Combined materialist and discursive political ecology research remains urgent in less developed countries of the Global South, especially in the face of climate change where many winners and losers will emerge from uneven adaptation policies. What Forsyth (2011) thus calls a "situated environmental science" also echoes calls for more ecological analysis (Walker 2005) as well as critical engagement with policy-makers in political ecology (Walker 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mangroves, mudbanks and seawalls: whose environmental knowledge counts when adapting to sea level rise in Suriname?

Nijbroek

2014

Journal of Political Ecology

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Coastal communities in Suriname are highly vulnerable to sea level rise and will need to adapt. Global assessments of climate risk and vulnerability, such as IPCC reports, play an important role in the development of local adaptation policies. The aim of this article is to explore global and national discourses on climate change vulnerability and their local expressions in national policies. These discourses are juxtaposed with local understandings of vulnerability and adaptation possibilities. These different epistemologies are examined to understand how different knowledge claims and existing power structures lead to contested adaptation solutions. In Suriname, conflict arises in understandings of the coastal geomorphology and ecology of mangroves, and what role they play in adaptation to sea level rise. Conflicting environmental knowledges of mangrove ecology, species diversity, and their potential role in coastal erosion have led to conflict between the state and some local communities, resulting in potential maladaptations. New approaches for a 'situated environmental science' are explored to find more socially inclusive adaptation solutions. Key words: Adaptation, sea level rise, mangrove, seawall, knowledge, Suriname RésuméLes communautés côtières au Suriname sont très vulnérables à l'élévation du niveau de la mer et devront s'adapter. Les évaluations globales du risque climatique et de la vulnérabilité, tels que les rapports du IPCC, jouent un rôle important dans le développement des politiques d'adaptation locales. Le but de cet article est d'explorer les discours nationaux et mondiaux sur les changements climatiques et la vulnérabilité et leurs expressions locales dans les politiques nationales. Ces discours sont juxtaposés avec les conceptions locales de la vulnérabilité et des possibilités locales d'adaptation. Ils nous permettent de comprendre comment les différentes prétentions à la connaissance, et les structures de pouvoir existantes, conduisent à des solutions d'adaptation contestées. Au Suriname, le conflit se pose à propos de la connaissance de la géomorphologie côtière, et de comprendre le rôle des mangroves dans l'adaptation à l'élévation du niveau de la mer. Des connaissances conflictuelles de l'environnement a conduit à des conflits entre l'Etat et certaines communautés locales, ce qui conduit à la possibilité de mal-adaptation. Je explorer de nouvelles approches pour une «science de l'environnement situé» à trouver plus de solutions d'adaptation qui sont plus socialement inclusive. Mots clés: adaptation, élévation du niveau marin, mangrove, la digue, la connaissance, le Suriname AbstractGemeenschappen gelegen aan de kust van Suriname zijn zeer kwetsbaar voor de gevolgen van zeespiegel stijging en zullen aanpassingen moeten plegen. Wereldwijde evaluaties van de risicos en kwetsbaarheden van klimaatsverandering, zoals de IPCC rapporten, spelen een belangrijke rol in de ontwikkeling van lokale adaptatie plannen. Het doel van dit artikel is om te onderzoeken wat de invloed is van inte...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mangroves, mudbanks and seawalls: whose environmental knowledge counts when adapting to sea level rise in Suriname?

Nijbroek

2014

Journal of Political Ecology

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“…Analyzing resource distribution using IS-plots may be fruitful in such disciplines as political ecology (Martínez-Alier, 2002, Walker, 2006, the new field of study of the environmental component of world systems theory/analysis (Jorgenson et al, 2009) and others (for a survey see Fisher et al, 2013). In a dynamic context, concepts like exploitation, colonization, migration or the shaping of general inequality can be demonstrated in a new way by using the Intenscope.…”

Section: Political Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the Netherlands sustainable as a global-scale inner-city? Intenscoping spatial sustainability

Kocsis¹

2014

Ecological Economics

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Is the Netherlands sustainable or not? The answer inherently involves addressing the issues of system boundaries, statistical units and a vision of sustainability. As an analytical answer we offer the Intenscope (IS), a two-dimensional graphical tool based on dimensionless percentages of triple rate ratios which overcomes several limitations of sustainability analyses. First, it is not sensitive to the size of statistical units so an area with twice the amount of resources of another, with double the population (and double the total consumption) would have the same triple ratio of population:biocapacity:consumption.Second, the IS is sensitive to anomalies which may originate either from the use of arbitrary statistical units (e.g. the boundaries of a city) or those which may indicate truly unsustainable practices. To judge spatial sustainability we use ecological footprint data from which we construct a plausible country plot based on the IS. Despite the relative nature of IS-analyses, the employed consumption:biocapacity ratio inherently refers to the absolute limit of sustainability: we cannot continually use more resources on a global scale than nature provides us with. The analysis introduces some associations of human preferences and attributions of settlement types which may help to elaborate sustainability policies based on voluntary action.

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“…The focus on material and discursive dimensions of power means that 'struggles', and all the subjectivity they produce [14], are central to my argument. Critics rightly note that this does not translate easily into neat policy recommendations and much-craved templates of 'best practices' and 'evidencebased optimal allocations' [15]. However, I submit that rather than such an 'unrigorous' analysis miscasting water security, risk and energy development in Africa, it is subjectivity itself that matters tremendously to knowledge creation, problem diagnosis and policy implementation [16] and that needs to be studied to help to explain the ostensibly irrational decisions and oppositions that technocrats so often deplore.…”

Section: Introduction: Three Ways Of Thinking About Water Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The politics of African energy development: Ethiopia’s hydro-agricultural state-building strategy and clashing paradigms of water security

Verhoeven

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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As key economic, ecological and demographic trends converge to reshape Africa and its relationship with the outside world, a new politics is emerging in the twenty-first century around the water–food–energy nexus, which is central to the continent's relevance in the global economy. On the one hand, Malthusian anxieties are proliferating; pessimists link population growth and growing water scarcity to state failure and ‘water wars’. On the other hand, entrepreneurs, sovereign wealth funds and speculators consider Africa's potential in water resources, energy production and food output as one of the last great untapped opportunities for the global economy: Africa is on the brink of an agro-industrial transformation. This article examines how African actors are not merely responding to economic and environmental changes but also thinking politically about water, food and energy security. Many of them are seizing the new opportunities to redefine their national politics, their relationship with local communities and their ties with external players, regionally and globally. Ethiopia's project of hydro-agricultural state-building helps to identify the most important fault lines of this new politics at the national, local and international level. The politics of water security and energy development simultaneously puts African states and their populations on the defensive, as they grapple with huge challenges, but also provides them with unique opportunities to take advantage of a more favourable global configuration of forces.

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Political ecology: where is the policy?

Cited by 112 publications

References 21 publications

Mangroves, mudbanks and seawalls: whose environmental knowledge counts when adapting to sea level rise in Suriname?

Mangroves, mudbanks and seawalls: whose environmental knowledge counts when adapting to sea level rise in Suriname?

Is the Netherlands sustainable as a global-scale inner-city? Intenscoping spatial sustainability

The politics of African energy development: Ethiopia’s hydro-agricultural state-building strategy and clashing paradigms of water security

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