Fernando Morgado, Paula Bacelar-Nicolau, Jaime Rendon von Osten, Paulo Santos, Leonor Bacelar-Nicolau, Harith Farooq, Fátima Alves, Amadeu M.V.M. Soares and Ulisses M. Azeiteiro
Higher education system has a critical role to play in educating environmentally aware and participant citizens about global climate change (CC). And, as shown by the 21st…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher education system has a critical role to play in educating environmentally aware and participant citizens about global climate change (CC). And, as shown by the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Climate Change – COP 21, held in Paris in December 2015, there is still a path to be followed regarding the role played by universities in the negotiations and in influencing decision-making on a matter of such global importance. The purpose of this first study conducted within Portuguese (Europe), Mexican (Spanish-speaking North America University) and Mozambican (Africa) universities is to investigate higher education system students’ perceptions on CC.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through a questionnaire aiming at characterising students from the socio-demography, and from their perceptions, motivations, attitudes and knowledge relating to the topic of CC. Statistical analysis was used to compare and characterise the three national groups under study.
Findings
This study did not show significant perception differences among the analysed subsamples, although there was a tendency for Mexican students to express lesser belief that CC was happening, and for Mozambicans to show a greater belief in CC issues and motivation to mitigate its effects which may be related to the specifics contexts. The results show that relevant differences among nationalities mostly concerned the magnitude of choices (e.g. most respondents of each nationality expressed interest in CC issues, but the magnitude of this expression differed according to nationality). The principal component analysis (second and third components) clearly embodied nationality profiles (discussed in the context of different cultures, educational structures and CC impacts).
Research limitations/implications
Further research is warranted to understand the integration of CC into higher education curriculum to improve and target educational efforts to suit students’ needs.
Practical implications
How CC perceptions vary cross-nationally and how research studies that examine the integration of CC into higher education curriculum are areas for which more research is needed.
Originality/value
The results highlight the importance of socio-cultural dimensions of each country in relation to the understanding or perception of CC issues, namely, in what concerns aspects related with gender roles, age, active learning and citizenship. This study’s data evidenced that despite the surveyed students being familiarized with CC phenomena, this knowledge does not translate necessarily into concrete mitigation practices and behaviours.
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Carla Sofia Ferreira Fernandes, João Loureiro and Fátima Alves
This paper aims to define a proposal of a theoretical–methodological framework aimed at supporting researchers in conducting studies on the topic of environmental mobility.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to define a proposal of a theoretical–methodological framework aimed at supporting researchers in conducting studies on the topic of environmental mobility.
Design/methodology/approach
The complexity of environmental change and the frequent subsequent human mobility raises challenges in the research process. The variety of theoretical and methodological approaches that can be applied to each of the phenomena contributes to different layers of analysis when focusing on the decision-making process of migration due to environmental factors. Drawing from the theoretical and methodological frameworks used by scholars, this paper includes an analysis of how they are applied in empirical studies that focus on environmental change and mobility in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Findings
Empirical studies in this field for the MENA region are focused on collecting and analyzing data but are not linking it with wider human mobility theoretical and methodological frameworks. The proposal included in this study privileges the use of a qualitative methodology, aimed at obtaining an overview of the individuals’ experience.
Originality/value
This study adds to existing overviews of empirical studies of environmentally induced mobility by analyzing in detail the dimensions used to frame the methodological and theoretical research approaches in the empirical studies used in different disciplines that study the environment and/or human mobility. The studies analyzed focus on the different countries in the MENA region, which has the highest level of forced migratory movements in the world while facing challenges in terms of environmental degradation.
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Sara C. Carvalho, Fátima Alves, Ulisses M. Azeiteiro and Pablo A. Meira‐Cartea
Environmental threats of immediate risk in areas such as coastal zones (CZ) have aroused new trends of citizenship and participatory democracy. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Environmental threats of immediate risk in areas such as coastal zones (CZ) have aroused new trends of citizenship and participatory democracy. The purpose of this paper is to analyse elements within those trends, such as environmental culture, socio‐political context, dynamics of social associative movement and integration of local knowledge. It also aims to contribute to an overview of the opportunities and barriers found in considering socio‐cultural and educational challenges in CZ.
Design/methodology/approach
In this analysis, case studies of integrated coastal management occurring worldwide were selected and reviewed, considering several nuances of socio‐economic and political contexts of CZ. Experiences of public response to coastal catastrophes such the Prestige oil spill in Spain, are also described.
Findings
Whether implementing sustainable coastal management through either balanced systems (between large and small‐scale strategies) or through largely bottom‐up approaches, participation is detected as one of the main factors for a successful integrated approach. Principles such as participatory governance and social justice should be adopted in initial phases of sustainable management processes and preferably involve all of the implied actors of CZ.
Originality/value
The literature reviewed highlighted specific factors that have empirically contributed to participatory sustainability of CZ, integrating three dimensions of citizenship: education, society's dynamics and culture.
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Gustavo J. Nagy, Leonardo Seijo, José E. Verocai and Mario Bidegain
The purpose of this article is to discuss the assessment and inclusion of stakeholders' perception, and citizen participation instances to implementing management options to deal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to discuss the assessment and inclusion of stakeholders' perception, and citizen participation instances to implementing management options to deal with climate threats within the existing institutional framework in Uruguay.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach being followed has different directional approaches and integrates them within a single assessment. First, a prescriptive climate change top-down path. Second, stakeholders' perception is assessed within a bottom-up risk-management model. Third, institutional agreements, arrangements, and consensus are reached. Considering the need for agreed and effective options, the approach is customized and turned flexible enough to accept inputs from scientists, managers, and stakeholders.
Findings
The co-production of knowledge and the achievement of agreed and feasible options is achieved by means of a consultation process which results in adaptive co-management agreements and collective decisions. This process is seen as both an empowerment of local actors and a multi-stakeholder learning-by-doing experiment. This allows for both an increase in coping capacity to climate threats and facilitates long standing conflict resolution.
Originality/value
Much literature discusses the importance of the role of social power in inclusive processes towards adaptation, and how difficult is ceding a genuine voice to stakeholders. The co-production of knowledge is a way to achieve the rapprochement of scientists with institutional and community actors. Thus, the participatory process gives stakeholders responsibility for identifying their specific needs and priorities and helps to establish community ownership.
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Cristina Pita, Ratana Chuenpagdee and Graham J. Pierce
The purpose of this paper is to describe the fisheries governance system in the European Union (EU) and review fishers’ participation in the decision‐making process in the EU.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the fisheries governance system in the European Union (EU) and review fishers’ participation in the decision‐making process in the EU.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was based on a variety of sources, such as review of the literature, including scientific articles and reports, and data collected by the Coastal Transects Analysis Model (CTAM) online decision support tool.
Findings
The review reveals major improvements in involving fishers in the decision‐making process in Europe, but participation and empowerment are still generally lacking.
Social implications
The lack of fisher participation in the decision‐making process leads to limited acceptance of management measures which in turn results in management objectives not being met, with negative effects on environmental, economic and social sustainability.
Originality/value
The paper provides a review of participation in the EU decision‐making process. The results could give management bodies an insight into the failures of participation and point to possible ways forward.
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Iain R. Elgin-Stuczynski and Simon Batterbury
The article surveys dairy farmers' lay knowledge of climate change and the adaptation strategies they have implemented to respond to climatic and economic drivers. Dairy farming…
Abstract
Purpose
The article surveys dairy farmers' lay knowledge of climate change and the adaptation strategies they have implemented to respond to climatic and economic drivers. Dairy farming is highly dependent on local weather and climate. The case study is in Western Victoria, Australia, part of a major dairy farming region that contributes 26 per cent of national milk production and 86 per cent of the country's dairy exports. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilised a survey and semi-structured interviews in Corangamite Shire, to document dairy farmers' perceptions of climate variability and the adaptation strategies they have implemented, compared to meteorological data collected on climate variability in the recent past.
Findings
Farmers in this region perceive a change in rainfall and temperature broadly in line with meteorological records. Those that have experienced a greater degree of climate variability in drier regions were found to perceive it more accurately. Almost all respondents had already made changes to their dairy businesses, but in doing so only a small percentage were responding directly to seasonal variability or to longer term changes (9 and 15 per cent, respectively); the majority said they were responding to changing economic conditions in the industry.
Originality/value
A primary survey of dairy farming adds to knowledge of how climate variability is perceived, and how it is adapted to in a region heavily reliant on rainfall for its prime economic activity.
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José Ângelo Guerreiro da Silva, Raquel Curto Fernandes e Castro Ribeiro, Ana de Carvalho Cameira Mocinho Viras and Catarina Bentes Silva Grilo
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), set specific targets for halting biodiversity loss, including the need to establish 10 per cent of coastal/marine areas conserved…
Abstract
Purpose
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), set specific targets for halting biodiversity loss, including the need to establish 10 per cent of coastal/marine areas conserved through, among other things, well‐connected systems of protected areas by 2020. The reality is that whereas nearly 15 per cent of land is protected, just over 1 per cent of marine space is similarly protected. The challenge is to reach “a global representative system” of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), recognizing that countries need to establish cooperative mechanisms at ecoregion level. The purpose of this paper is to address the options and trends for countries to develop transboundary cooperation through MPAs.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors address several case studies, focusing on political, governance and financing frameworks.
Findings
The main findings revealed that countries use MoU, MoA or Joint Declaration supported on international conventions as the WHC, Ramsar Convention and CMS. Governance models seem to include political/management/technical levels, with political decisions translated into action plans carried out by joint committees, supported by national institutions and scientific/technical boards. Also the involvement of civil society in management is a growing driving force. Financing transboundary MPAs is going through an evolutionary process, from an exclusive binomial national budgets/UNEP‐GEF to a wider financial net through ecotourism income and private donors.
Originality/value
The different solutions found point out myriad possibilities where transboundary cooperation is envisaged. States can benefit from the experiences already acquired to jointly achieve the target of protecting 10 per cent of the marine environment by 2020.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of lived experiences, as complementary knowledge to that provided by the sciences, for policy and intervention on climate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of lived experiences, as complementary knowledge to that provided by the sciences, for policy and intervention on climate change.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper draws on several strands within the context of climate change: knowledge and power; human engagement; the meaning of “lived experience” (and its association with “local/indigenous knowledge”); its capture through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary inquiry; post-normal science; rationalist and public action approaches to policy and intervention. The paper combines these strands from their different literatures, previous work by the authors and interdisciplinary deliberation in a European climate change education project.
Findings
The case is made for taking account of lived experiences in climate change policy and intervention, and the dangers of not doing so. The paper, however, also identifies the challenge of establishing the validity of lived experience alongside forms of scientifically derived knowledge, and the practical challenge of capturing it in a form that is accessible to practitioners. It concludes by arguing that a public action approach to policy provides a better lens than the conventional rationalist approach to analyse the contested nature of climate science and the potential of lived experience to inform debates through active engagement.
Research limitations/implications
There has been no empirical study on climate change that addresses the research concerns. This would be necessary to forward the paper's agenda.
Practical implications
The paper makes a case for formalising evidence that is based on lived experience in policy making and intervention, and the approach that is needed.
Originality/value
The work develops the concept of lived experience in the context of climate change. Its public action theory of knowledge provides a novel means of analysing and meeting the challenge of diverse knowledge on climate change.
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Sandra Sofia Caeiro, Tomas Angel Del Valls and Peter Michael Chapman
The purpose of this paper is to discuss integrative environmental assessments applicable to estuarine sediments, including the advantages and limitations of different lines of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss integrative environmental assessments applicable to estuarine sediments, including the advantages and limitations of different lines of evidence that could form part of such assessments and their application to ecosystem services.
Design/methodology/approach
Weight of evident framework integrating multiple lines of evidence for sediment quality assessment.
Findings
Integrative environmental assessments are required to fully address the risks to resident fauna of anthropogenic contaminants deposited in estuarine sediments.
Originality/value
The paper presents an updated discussion of the methodologies for environmental assessments of contaminated estuarine sediments.
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Religious organizations are among the non-government groups in the USA that are addressing climate change phenomena from their various faith perspectives and, despite the…
Abstract
Purpose
Religious organizations are among the non-government groups in the USA that are addressing climate change phenomena from their various faith perspectives and, despite the differences in their traditions and practices, are collaborating with one another to achieve their mutual goal – the establishment of policies that will mitigate the real and anticipated perils scientists are forecasting. If sufficiently motivated by their faith, informed by climate science, and politically astute, these groups may be reliable allies for climate change decision-makers to tap as they strive to achieve their mutual goal. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Focusing on the Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, and Interfaith Power and Light, the author explores the diverse religious faith-based motivations underpinning their efforts, the extent to which they remain cognizant of the latest climate science, the structures through which they share their particular faith perspectives and collaborate with one another, and their efforts to reach decision makers at various levels of governance.
Findings
Motivated by their religious faiths, these three organizations demonstrate that they are scientifically informed, politically astute, and collaborative with others in striving to achieve their mutual goal of mitigating the adverse effects of climate change locally to globally.
Research limitations/implications
The three groups on which the author focuses are based in the USA and collaborate with one another. In an earlier presentation prepared for an international conference, the author included two other groups outside the USA, but manuscript length precluded their inclusion in this submission. Perhaps the author's limited study will stimulate scholars to explore other groups in various parts of the world.
Practical implications
To assure and strengthen the momentum already underway, scholars of religions need to probe their foundations for responding to climate change, leaders of religious communities must heighten their efforts to educate their followers accordingly, adherents of religions must be open to embracing their motivating traditions, and religiously based groups must seek to collaborate with one another at various bioregional and political levels to demand actions that will advance a life-sustaining climate.
Originality/value
The author is unaware of studies exploring these three groups using the methodology the author employs for the purposes of describing and assessing the effectiveness of religious groups in addressing human-forced climate change.