Civil society roles in transition: towards sustainable food?

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are often conspicuously absent in policy discussions and strategic planning about food security and the environmental sustainability of food systems. However, findings from a recent study of UK-based CSOs indicate that these groups make a variety of important contributions towards innovation in both policy and practice. This briefing paper draws attention to the disconnection between the narrowly constrained treatment of CSOs within policy circles, and the broad range of different ways that they actually engage with and influence policy and market conditions. Its purpose is to provoke new ways of thinking about civil society and provide CSOs with a new logic (and evidence) to underpin their efforts to leverage resources. Key messages are as follows: - UK-based CSOs have historically made significant contributions to the innovation trajectories of our food and agriculture systems - In contrast to markets, which tend towards homogeneity and are fuelled by competition, characteristics of civil society that crucially underpin these contributions are diversity and collaboration - Policy ignorance of civil society – its purposes, how it operates and its contributions to the development of agro-food systems – must be addressed, e.g. by incentivising and creating spaces for exchange of ideas and practices between CSOs, policy-makers and academics - Established ways of engaging CSOs in the governance of agro-food systems must be re-thought and more appropriate modes and levels of intervention in and support for civil society must be sough

Lower Mekong Portfolio: Interim Evaluation

This report summarizes a portfolio evaluation of the MacArthur Foundation's conservation investments in the Lower Mekong region since 2011. It is explicitly a portfolio-level evaluation, focusing on common themes rather than individual grants. The evaluation involved understanding the portfolio context through reviewing relevant documents and speaking with donor partners; gathering data from MacArthur grantees; calibrating initial evaluation findings through consultations with independent regional experts and donor partner grantees; improving future evaluation ability by cooperating with NatureServe to improve the Lower Mekong Dashboard; and presenting results in this evaluation report and to MacArthur directly

Critical data literacy in praxis: An open education approach for academic development

This paper reports the pedagogical approach and outcomes of a series of academic development programmes organised between 2016 and 2022 in different countries, which are grounded in the ethos of open educational practices, critical thinking, citizenship and pedagogy as well as ideas around social justice, data justice and data ethics using Open Data as open educational resources, to enable critical reflections and practical exercises with academics from different regions. Our recommendations and conclusions provide practical advice promoting a dialogue between different stakeholders to facilitate the development of curricula, workshops and resources using an open model for academic development.&#x0D

Public Participation GIS for sustainable urban mobility planning: methods, applications and challenges

Sustainable mobility planning is a new approach to planning, and as such it requires new methods of public participation, data collection and data aggregation. In the article we present an overview of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) methods with potential use in sustainable urban mobility planning. We present the methods using examples from two recent case studies conducted in Polish cities of Poznań and Łodź. Sustainable urban mobility planning is a cyclical process, and each stage has different data and participatory requirements. Consequently, we situate the PPGIS methods in appropriate stages of planning, based on potential benefits they may bring into the planning process. We discuss key issues related to participant recruitment and provide guidelines for planners interested in implementing methods presented in the paper. The article outlines future research directions stressing the need for systematic case study evaluation

Post-automation: report from an international workshop

The purpose of this report is to share lessons from an international research workshop dedicated to post- automation. Twenty-seven researchers from eleven different countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, met at the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University on 11-13 September 2019, where we discussed empirical research papers and explored post-automation in group activities. We write this report primarily for researchers, but also for activists and policy advisors looking for more imaginative approaches to governing technology, work and sustainability in society, compared to those dominant agendas adapting automatically to the interests behind automation. The report is structured as follows. Section two introduces the workshop topic and papers presented, and which leads into two related areas that became a focus for discussion. First, some challenges in the foundations of automation theory (section three). And second, post-automation as a more constructive proposition to the challenges of automation, and that is happening right now (section four). Section five summarises some key points arising from the workshop, based on empirical observations from the margins of digital technology development, and that give both a flavour of the workshop and help elaborate the post-automation proposition. Some analytical and strategic themes are discussed in section six. We conclude in section seven with proposals for a post-automation agenda

An Annotated Bibliography of Recent Literature on Current Developments in Philanthropy

As philanthropic organizations play an increasingly important role in societies around the world, the research on philanthropy – from giving and volunteering practices to regulatory frameworks to digital innovations – has also evolved in recent decades. It is important to develop a thorough overview of the relevant scientific discourses and literature on current developments in philanthropy. This will allow researchers and practitioners to enhance the understanding of philanthropy and to improve its practice worldwide. This report provides new insights on current developments and important changes in the global philanthropic landscape, including trends in global philanthropy and its interaction with other sectors of society

The potential for transformative adaptation : Collaborative spaces and collective value development in local climate adaptation

Behovet for klimaomstilling, -tilpassing og -handling for å kunne handtere konsekvensane av menneskeskapte klimaendringar og tap av biologisk mangfald har aldri vore større. Dette prosjektet utforskar korleis heilskaplege klimatilpassingstiltak og løysingar kan påverke klimaomstilling og samfunnsendring, samt handtere klimasårbarheit på lang sikt. I dag dreier klimatilpassing seg ofte om å finne tekniske og konkrete løysingar på kriser og risiko. Nokre løysingar vil krevje større endringar knytt til indre menneskelege dimensjonar som tankesett, tru, verdiar, normer, og verdssyn. Å ta omsyn til slike indre dimensjonar kan påverke endringsprosessar sterkt og er difor ein viktig del av klimaomstillings- og tilpassingsstrategiar. Med mål om å forstå potensialet for å fremje tilpassingsstrategiar som kan skape klimaomstilling og samfunnsendring, studerer eg samspel og samarbeid mellom aktørar på to klimatilpassingsarenaer, (1) samproduksjonsprosessar for klimakunnskap og (2) planleggingsprosessar for blå-grøn infrastruktur. Avhandlinga diskuterer korleis ein kan handtere interesser og verdiar, rolla til kollektive verdiar, samt potensialet heilskaplege klimatilpassingstilnærmingar kan skape. Eg analyserer både samproduksjonsmetodar i eit workshop-format og samhandling mellom aktørar i faktiske planleggingskontekstar. Dei to perspektiva viser kor viktig det er å skape både konkrete og mentale rom for samarbeid og forhandling mellom aktørar med ulike verdiar og interesser. Avhandlinga føreslår konkrete metodar for å skape slike rom, og legg vekt på kor viktig det er å beskrive indre dimensjonar på måtar som gir mening for menneska som arbeider i tekniske tilpassingskontekstar. Aktørane innan klimatilpassing i arealplanlegging representerer ofte verdiar knytt til yrkesfaglege ansvar, mandat og mål. Samtidig kan dei og utvikle kollektive verdisett på tvers av sektorinteresser. Denne avhandlinga sitt hovudbidrag til klimaomstilling- og klimatilpassingslitteraturen er korleis den empirisk viser potensialet for kollektiv verdiutvikling, samt mogelegheitene i fysisk urban infrastruktur som kan gi rom for å implementere nye måtar å tenke og arbeide med lokal tilpassing på.The need for climate action, adaptation and transformation in order to address the consequences and vulnerabilities of human-induced climate change and biodiversity loss has never been more critical. Current approaches to adaptation often revolve around technical responses to changing climate parameters. These approaches are vital, but climate adaptation also requires holistic and integral approaches to adaptation that require changes in the mindset, beliefs, values, norms and practices of people and organisations. Addressing these internal dimensions could provide deep leverage points for change and are a crucial part of transformative adaptation strategies. Aiming to understand the potential for advancing transformative adaptation strategies, I study the interaction and collaboration between relevant adaptation actors in two arenas: (1) climate service co-production processes and (2) blue-green infrastructure (BGI) planning processes. This thesis discusses how to address interests and values in adaptation, the role of collective values in adaptation, and the potential of holistic approaches to adaptation. It has combined co-production workshop methods with analysing collaborative adaptation efforts in actual planning contexts. The two perspectives highlight the importance of providing physical and collaborative spaces for negotiations between actors’ values and interests and have proposed concrete ways of doing so. These spaces are particularly vital in actual planning processes. I have also emphasised the importance of conceptualising the internal dimensions of transformation in ways that resonate with people working in technical adaptation contexts. The actors in BGI development processes generally represent values associated with their professional mandates, responsibilities and objectives in local adaptation work. However, they can also develop collective value sets across sector interests. The main contribution of this thesis to the transformative adaptation literature is how it empirically shows the potential for collective value development and the opportunities in material urban infrastructures to implement new ways of thinking and working on local adaptation.Doktorgradsavhandlin