Solar water – ecosystem implications of the food/water/energy nexus
Transformation and governance in the water-energy-food nexus · 2018-08-20 · water-energy-food...
Transcript of Transformation and governance in the water-energy-food nexus · 2018-08-20 · water-energy-food...
Transformation and governance in the water-energy-food nexus
James Patterson
Postdoctoral Research Fellow Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam &
Earth System Governance Project
Starting point…
Outline
1. What are sustainability transformations?
2. What aspects of governance and politics matter and why?
3. What does this mean for the water-energy-food nexus?
Emergence of “transformations” agenda
to… •Describing
problems •Normative ideals
How can societal change actually happen?
Moving from:
Future Earth framework
Opportunity:
Needs:
Opportunities and needs
• Focus attention on processes of change • Create new (+ bolder) narratives of change
• Making sense of multiple (overlapping) perspectives and terms
• Place central focus on governance and politics
1. Conceptual perspectives of sustainability transformations
transitions
transformations
pathways transformative
socio-technical
social-ecological
resilience
justice
uptake
vulnerability
structural change
radical incremental
adaptation
decline
emancipation
Conceptual perspectives:
1. Socio-technical transitions
2. Social-ecological systems
3. Sustainability pathways
4. Transformative adaptation
Approach 1: Socio-technical transitions
• Formative influence
• Interplay between people and technology
• Rich and diverse, sub-schools
Geels & Schot (2007) Loorbach (2009)
• Transitions are cultivated, stimulated, shaped
Approach 2: Social-ecological systems
• Formative influence
• Interplay between people and environment
• ‘Transformability’ as a possibility
(Olsson et al. 2004, 2006; Moore et al. 2014)
• Transformations as actively navigated processes
(Walker, Gunderson, Holling)
Approach 3: Sustainability pathways
• Evolving lens (originally local, increasingly global)
• Power relations, development decisions
• Critical, emancipatory view
• Now drawing on ‘sustainability doughnut’ (Raworth, Rockstrom, Leach)
Approach 4: Transformative adaptation
• Emerging perspective
• Reframing climate change adaptation
• Normative goal: transform social and political relations of vulnerable groups (Pelling, O’Brien)
• Emancipatory view
(Pelling 2014)
Comparison
Release
Reorganisation Conservation
Exploitation
2) Social-ecological systems
Uptake
Decline
1) Socio-technical systems
4) Transformative adaptation
com
mu
nit
y
Environmental thresholds
Social foundations
3) Sustainability pathways
Comparison
Object Sectors of production and consumption
Ecosystems and dependent communities
Vulnerable groups, broader human societies
Vulnerable communities and groups
Release
Reorganisation Conservation
Exploitation
2) Social-ecological systems
Uptake
Decline
1) Socio-technical systems
4) Transformative adaptation
com
mu
nit
y
Environmental thresholds
Social foundations
3) Sustainability pathways
Comparison
Object Sectors of production and consumption
Ecosystems and dependent communities
Vulnerable groups, broader human societies
Vulnerable communities and groups
Subject Human-technology relations
Human-ecosystem relations
Power relations, development decisions
Power relations, political economic structures
Release
Reorganisation Conservation
Exploitation
2) Social-ecological systems
Uptake
Decline
1) Socio-technical systems
4) Transformative adaptation
com
mu
nit
y
Environmental thresholds
Social foundations
3) Sustainability pathways
Comparison
Object Sectors of production and consumption
Ecosystems and dependent communities
Vulnerable groups, broader human societies
Vulnerable communities and groups
Subject Human-technology relations
Human-ecosystem relations
Power relations, development decisions
Power relations, political economic structures
Change dynamic
Uptake/decline of technological innovations
Adaptive change cycle
Plurality of views, interests, voices
Vulnerability, constraining structures
Release
Reorganisation Conservation
Exploitation
2) Social-ecological systems
Uptake
Decline
1) Socio-technical systems
4) Transformative adaptation
com
mu
nit
y
Environmental thresholds
Social foundations
3) Sustainability pathways
Comparison
Object Sectors of production and consumption
Ecosystems and dependent communities
Vulnerable groups, broader human societies
Vulnerable communities and groups
Subject Human-technology relations
Human-ecosystem relations
Power relations, development decisions
Power relations, political economic structures
Change dynamic
Uptake/decline of technological innovations
Adaptive change cycle
Plurality of views, interests, voices
Vulnerability, constraining structures
Change focus
Niche innovation and steering transitions
Social innovation and navigating change
Cultivating sustainable and just pathways
Changing social and political relations
Release
Reorganisation Conservation
Exploitation
2) Social-ecological systems
Uptake
Decline
1) Socio-technical systems
4) Transformative adaptation
com
mu
nit
y
Environmental thresholds
Social foundations
3) Sustainability pathways
2. What aspects of governance and politics matter and why?
Role of governance
Several emphases:
2. Governance of transformations • ‘actively’ steering/shaping
transformation processes
1. Governance for transformations • creating conditions for
transformations to emerge
3. Transformations in governance • new and different governance
regimes (e.g. more adaptive)
• Transformations are political and contested
– Vested interests, winners and losers
– Who decides? Transformation for whom and why?
– Power to shape change differs
Some governance challenges …
• Co-evolutionary change processes (e.g. social, institutional, political, environmental, technological)
• Thinking about transformations in ex-ante (forward looking) sense – but unprecedented challenge
ARCHITECTURE
AGENCY
ADAPTIVENESS
ACCOUNTABILITY
ALLOCATION & ACCESS
PO
WE
R
KN
OW
LE
DG
E
NO
RM
S
SC
ALE
Research domains such as:
• Energy
• Food
• Water
• Climate change
• Biodiversity
• Others…
A broad governance lens
Analysing the four perspectives…
Commonalities Differences
Architecture Multilevel governance systems
Different conceptualisations of levels: • Niche/regime/landscape vs • Cross-scalar interactions vs • Community/political economy
Analysing the four perspectives…
Commonalities Differences
Architecture Multilevel governance systems
Different conceptualisations of levels: • Niche/regime/landscape vs • Cross-scalar interactions vs • Community/political economy
Agency Agency (e.g. social innovation) as key link btw micro and macro levels
Different ‘kinds’ emphasised: • Leaders/entrepreneurs vs • Empowering marginalised voices
Analysing the four perspectives…
Commonalities Differences
Architecture Multilevel governance systems
Different conceptualisations of levels: • Niche/regime/landscape vs • Cross-scalar interactions vs • Community/political economy
Agency Agency (e.g. social innovation) as key link btw micro and macro levels
Different ‘kinds’ emphasised: • Leaders/entrepreneurs vs • Empowering marginalised voices
Adaptiveness Strong emphasis, including learning and reflexivity
Different interpretations of this: • Governance dynamic vs • Critical lens for emancipation
Analysing the four perspectives…
Commonalities Differences
Architecture Multilevel governance systems
Different conceptualisations of levels: • Niche/regime/landscape vs • Cross-scalar interactions vs • Community/political economy
Agency Agency (e.g. social innovation) as key link btw micro and macro levels
Different ‘kinds’ emphasised: • Leaders/entrepreneurs vs • Empowering marginalised voices
Adaptiveness Strong emphasis, including learning and reflexivity
Different interpretations of this: • Governance dynamic vs • Critical lens for emancipation
Accountability Largely missing !
Analysing the four perspectives…
Commonalities Differences
Architecture Multilevel governance systems
Different conceptualisations of levels: • Niche/regime/landscape vs • Cross-scalar interactions vs • Community/political economy
Agency Agency (e.g. social innovation) as key link btw micro and macro levels
Different ‘kinds’ emphasised: • Leaders/entrepreneurs vs • Empowering marginalised voices
Adaptiveness Strong emphasis, including learning and reflexivity
Different interpretations of this: • Governance dynamic vs • Critical lens for emancipation
Accountability Largely missing !
Power Broadly recognised (emphasised to different extents)
Different interpretations of this: • Power as a ‘resource’ vs • Power as ‘domination’ Power to decide – not always critiqued
Other governance issues
• “Cockpitism” (Hajer et al. 2015)
• Narratives
1. Narratives of transformative change
2. Political economic narratives structuring these discussions
• Ethics and justice dimensions
– Processual
– Distributive
3. What does this mean for the water-energy-food nexus?
WEF nexus governance context
• Governance for nexus extremely challenging
• Different ‘character’ of governance for W,E,F
• Connectivity with broader political economies
World Economic Forum 2011 Global Risks Report
Addressing nexus issues
• Key suggestions in the literature include:
• Are these changes “transformative”? How do we decide when they are, or are not?
• Integrated knowledge and decision making
• Policy coherence
• Public-private partnerships • Institutional frameworks for
business-society relations
Triple loop learning
Pahl-Wostl 2009 Global Env. Change
Conclusions (contributions, concerns, next steps)
Conclusions I: contributions
• Opens up space for new imaginations
• Shifts focus to processes of change
• Multiple inter-dependent / co-evolving changes
– e.g. policies, practices, framings, institutions, knowledge, power relations, ideas and discourses, …
Conclusions II: concerns
• When is something genuinely a transformation and when not?
• How are transformation agendas decided?
– Eg. what is considered good/desirable and by whom?
• How much is "transformations” different from the existing difficult business of societal change?
Conclusions III: next steps
• Drawing on other traditions of scholarship
• Re-engaging with ‘nitty gritty’ of change in politics and society
• Linking incremental and transformative change
What value might ideas about “sustainability transformations” have for the WEF nexus (if any)?
Final thought: