Future narratives for two locations in the Barents region

What does the future look like from the perspective of municipalities in various locations in the Barents region? What climatic, social and environmental challenges might there be, and how might local people respond? This report documents the results from two workshops held in Kirovsk and Bodø in 2015, addressing above questions. These workshops are part of a series of four workshops across the Barents region with the aim to build visions of different local futures in the Barents region under different climatic and socio-economic contexts. All workshops use the same methodology and research question, and connect local change to global scenarios. A secondary aim of this report is to offer a description of and reflection on the methods employed as a basis for further development of the approach. The method follows a bottom-up, participatory scenario building approach, and is based on identifying local drivers of change which are of especial importance or uncertainty in the region. These locally important drivers are then evaluated in the form of narratives in context of four different global scenarios of alternative futures of societal development, known as the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). The entire exercise, from driver identification to narrative development, involves a mixture of local actors together with researchers, using knowledge and understanding from both communities. The resulting narratives highlight locally important issues different from pan-Arctic evaluations of future change. They also show that local development is perceived as closely linked to global processes, such as changes related to climate, but especially socio-economic factors such as demography, resource markets or politics

Trapped in the TAC Machine: Making a Fisheries-Based Indicator System for Coastal Cod in Steigen, Norway

acceptedVersio

Bærekraftig fisketurisme: Muligheter og utfordringer på Helgeland. En skisse til forskningsagenda.

publishedVersio

Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals for Marine and Coastal Management in Norway: A Venture Overdue

Meeting global challenges requires regional and local alignment of institutional and business practices. The purpose of our work is to understand, using qualitative systems analysis, how the Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved through local, cross-sectoral solutions. In this chapter, we start by reviewing the status quo of marine and coastal management in Norway and contrast with the United Nations’ expectations for localization of the Sustainable Development Goals. One key finding is that despite vast knowledge on ocean and coastal use and management, Norway has very few examples of actual localization of the Sustainable Development Goals. We present a case study from Andøy Municipality where we use Social-Ecological Systems mapping to spawn awareness and spur local businesses to harness relevant sustainability targets at the local level.publishedVersio

Effect of composition and preparation of supported MoO3 catalysts for anisole hydrodeoxygenation

A series of zirconia supported molybdenum oxide materials with Mo loadings of 7, 12, and 19 wt% were synthesized using incipient wetness impregnation. The as synthesized oxide materials were further modified under H-2/CH4 (80/20%, v/v) at 550 and 700 degrees C. The obtained catalysts were characterized by ICP-OES, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, H-2-TPR, NH3-TPD, XPS, (S) TEM-EDX, BET, CHNS and CO chemisorption. While the Mo species, i.e., MoO3 and Zr(MoO4)(2), in the 7 wt% Mo loaded material were found to be of rather amorphous nature, their crystallinity increased significantly with Mo loading. The anisole hydrodeoxygenation performance of the catalysts was evaluated at gas phase conditions in a fixed bed tubular reactor in plug flow regime. A predominant selectivity towards hydrodeoxygenation and methyl transfer reactions rather than to hydrogenation was observed, irrespective of the Mo loading and further treatment, yet interesting differences in activity were observed. The highest anisole conversion was obtained on the catalyst(s) with 12% Mo loading, while the 7% Mo loaded one(s) exhibited the highest turnover frequency (TOFanisole) of 0.15 s(-1). CO chemisorption, XPS analysis and kinetic measurements indicate that treatment under H-2/CH4 slightly reduced the initial anisole conversion, yet enhanced catalyst stability as well as TOF, probably due to the increased amounts of Mo5+ species. The importance of appropriate tuning of the reduction and/or preparation procedures has been addressed to improve the catalysts' performance during anisole HDO

Coping Strategies Under Uncertain Environment: The Case of Mexican Coastal Fishers

Fishers from coastal communities have been facing hazards of different nature. Those stressors plus high fishing pressure have contributed to resources deterioration, which in turn affects peoples livelihood, creating a vicious circle. In order to understand this vicious circle and to explore how this could be turned around, in this paper we identified the main socioeconomic and environmental hazards people are confronted with and the coping strategies they have developed to face them. Based on community perception, we undertook a study in two coastal communities in Yucatan, Mexico during 2008, using participatory observation and interviews. The study is based on theories of resilience and coping theory. High dependency on fishing makes coastal communities economy extremely vulnerable to fluctuations on fishing resources. Factors that have been affecting their fisheries include: hurricanes, red tides, pollution and illegal fishing. Social problems reported by members of both communities include alcoholism, drugs and political conflicts. A mix of proactive and reactive strategies has been developed by different groups of fishers in order to deal with uncertain ecological and social environment. Socio-economic conditions, skills, and networking, seem to influence the strategies each group of fishers have been developing to face different types of hazards. We present a conceptual framework to discuss the link between the type of strategies people develop and their adaptive capacity that allows them to respond to increasing stressors that affect their livelihoods.Keywords: Fisheries Economics, Risk and Uncertainty in the Fishing Industry, Fish and Aquaculture Sectors Developmen

Plasma linoleic acid levels and cardiovascular risk factors:results from the Norwegian ACE 1950 Study

Background A high intake of linoleic acid (LA), the major dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), has previously been associated with reduced cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality in observational studies. However, recent secondary analyses from clinical trials of LA-rich diet suggest harmful effects of LA on CV health. Methods A total of 3706 participants, all born in 1950, were included in this cross-sectional study. We investigated associations between plasma phospholipid levels of LA and CV risk factors in a Norwegian general population, characterized by a relative low LA and high marine n-3 PUFA intake. The main statistical approach was multivariable linear regression. Results Plasma phospholipid LA levels ranged from 11.4 to 32.0 wt%, with a median level of 20.8 wt% (interquartile range 16.8–24.8 wt%). High plasma LA levels were associated with lower serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (standardized regression coefficient [Std. β-coeff.] −0.04, p = 0.02), serum triglycerides (Std. β-coeff. −0.10, p < 0.001), fasting plasma glucose (Std. β-coeff. −0.10, p < 0.001), body mass index (Std. β-coeff. −0.13, p < 0.001), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (Std. β-coeff. −0.04, p = 0.03 and Std. β-coeff. −0.02, p = 0.02, respectively) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (Std. β-coeff. −0.09, p < 0.001). We found no association between plasma LA levels and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, glycated hemoglobin, carotid intima-media thickness, or C-reactive protein. Conclusion High plasma LA levels were favorably associated with several CV risk factors in this study of a Norwegian general population

The Agrarian Life of the North 2000 BC AD 1000

The 14 articles presented in this publication represent some of the latest and most relevant research on rural settlement and farming from the Late Neolithic through the Early Medieval Period in Norway. It deals with the impact of climate change, plague and the AD 536â 7 volcanic event and some of the earliest farms north of the Arctic Circle. It provides new perspectives and archaeological evidence for the Viking age farm of Norway, differences in regional settlement structures of agrarian societies, the relation between houses and graves in the Iron Age, and varying food practices as indicators of societal change

Working Group on Social Indicators (WGSOCIAL; outputs from 2023 meeting)

The Working Group on Social Indicators seeks to improve the integration of social sciences in ICES Ecosystem Overviews and Integrated Ecosystem Assessments through the development of culturally relevant social indicators. To advance progress on this, WGSOCIAL has broadly discussed the context of the social di-mension of fishing. This has led to coordination with other working groups within ICES and outside ICES with the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries Expert Working Group Social and with the Regional Coordination Group on Economics Issues. WGSOCIAL develops methods for qualitative and quantitative approaches. It has also continued providing input to the updating of ecosystem overviews finalizing those of the Celtic Seas and North Sea. WGSOCIAL has advanced work on the definition and context of trade-offs and trade-off analy sis in the social context of fisheries. To assess social and cultural significance of commercial fishing, WGSOCIAL members have advanced case studies in a number of ICES Member Countries: two regions in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. Each case study tackles a different approach with a different context. In addition, WGSOCIAL has advanced work on the topic of what a fishing community is and how the definition can change in different contexts. Lastly, WGSOCIAL has developed a database of social and economic indicators for evaluating fisheries management and identified a comprehensive list of categories and sub-categories of social and economic indicators that could be used to structure the selection of social indicators that inform fisheries managers. As a nest step, WGSOCIAL will identify key social indicators and data gaps for selected ICES Member Countries with recommendations for approaches to close the gaps. To support integrated socio-ecological evaluations in ecosystem-based management, WGSOCIAL has contributed to the development of work on the impacts of wind farms on com-mercial fishing activities. This work will continue in collaboration with WGECON, with whom several parallel terms of reference (ToRs) are shared. WGSOCIAL decided to transfer to the new ICES Human Dimension Steering Group.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Agrarian Life of the North 2000 BC AD 1000

The 14 articles presented in this publication represent some of the latest and most relevant research on rural settlement and farming from the Late Neolithic through the Early Medieval Period in Norway. It deals with the impact of climate change, plague and the AD 536â 7 volcanic event and some of the earliest farms north of the Arctic Circle. It provides new perspectives and archaeological evidence for the Viking age farm of Norway, differences in regional settlement structures of agrarian societies, the relation between houses and graves in the Iron Age, and varying food practices as indicators of societal change