Developing an organic research agenda with stakeholder involvement promotes increased relevance in research

A Swedish organic research agenda was developed by EPOK, Centre for Organic Food and Farming, in an open process together with interested parties in the food chain. The main aim of the research agenda was to provide a well-supported document which would enable decision makers and research funding bodies prioritise future research calls. The agenda took on the most important future challenges and knowledge needs of the organic food chain on the road towards increased sustainability, efficiency and environmental and social benefits. Three cross-cutting themes were identified to describe the overall challenges that face organic agriculture and the organic food chain: Robust systems, Added value for the environment and society and Competitiveness and thriving rural communities. Based of the three overarching themes five prioritised focal areas were pointed out in the research agenda: 1) High productivity with maintained sustainability, 2) Innovative production systems with many functions, 3) Closed-loop cycles and renewable resources, 4) Sustainable enterprises and market development, 5) Healthy food with added value. Involving stakeholders in forming the research agenda promoted early interactions and cooperation between actors within organic agricultural research. Furthermore the involvement of numerous stakeholders enabled a broad view of the need for new knowledge in the organic food chain, from primary production and marketing questions to the performance of organic agriculture in respect of beneficial contribution to environment and society. A dialogue with researchers and agricultural research funding bodies was an important part of the process forming the agenda. The consequence of this cooperation was that the agenda has been used as a basis of a number of research calls

Eurooppalaiset hallintojärjestelmät vertailussa

Raportissa tarkastellaan kahdeksan EU-maan hallintojärjestelmiä kokonaisuudessaan, sekä tarkemmin valtio¬neuvostotason alaista virastorakennetta. Selvityksessä vertaillaan mm. valtionhallinnon virasto¬rakenteen muutosmekanismeja, virastorakennetta sekä valtionhallinnon jakautumista hierarkkisiin tasoihin. Selvityksen kohdemaat ovat Ruotsi, Norja, Tanska, Iso-Britannia, Alankomaat, Viro, Kroatia ja Portugali. Tuloksia analysoidaan suhteessa Suomen hallintoon ja sen kehittämiseen. Selvitys perustuu tutkimus¬kirjallisuuteen, dokumenttiaineistoihin sekä asiantuntijahaastatteluihin. Hallintojärjestelmät vaihtelevat merkittävästi tarkastelumaiden välillä. Vertailu päätyy viiteen johto-päätökseen: 1. Valtion virastorakenteen muuttaminen on hankalampaa Suomessa kuin muissa Pohjois-maissa, koska useimpien virastojen asemasta säädetään lailla, muissa Pohjoismaissa asetuksella tai ministeriön päätöksellä. 2. Erillisvirastojen lukumäärä on vähentynyt tuntuvasti kaikissa tarkastelumaissa. 3. Valtion paikallis- ja aluehallinto on voimakkaan muutoksen alaisena. 4. Valtionhallinnon uudistuksissa trendinä on siirtyminen itsenäisistä valtion paikallis- ja alue-hallintoviranomaisista kohti valtakunnallisia virastoja, jotka itse päättävät omasta paikallis- ja alueorganisaatiostaan. 5. Ministeriö- ja sektorijako ohjaa virastorakennetta voimakkaasti. Monialaiset virastot ovat poikkeuksia tarkastelumaissa

The making of a beach

In the Anthropocene, it becomes problematic to imagine a sustainable balance between society and the environment. This calls for post-sustainability modes of articulating human/non-human relationships. As an attempt towards an Anthropocenic understanding of society and the environment, we analyse how ecosystem services are mobilised in marine spatial planning in the south of Sweden. The study investigates how ecosystem services are understood and narrated in environmental strategy and interviews with environmental planners. We focus on seaweed and sand. These are two kinds of materials and potential resources that materially circulate and force together society and the environment in planning discourse and practice. Our findings show that although ecosystem services are readily understood as an anthropocentric construction, when mobilised in planning to manage an unruly nature they can be re-storied as an ontological mediator in human/non-human relations

The making of a beach: Ecosystem services as mediator in the Anthropocene

In the Anthropocene, it becomes problematic to imagine a sustainable balance between society and the environment. This calls for post-sustainability modes of articulating human/non-human relationships. As an attempt towards an Anthropocenic understanding of society and the environment, we analyse how ecosystem services are mobilised in marine spatial planning in the south of Sweden. The study investigates how ecosystem services are understood and narrated in environmental strategy and interviews with environmental planners. We focus on seaweed and sand. These are two kinds of materials and potential resources that materially circulate and force together society and the environment in planning discourse and practice. Our findings show that although ecosystem services are readily understood as an anthropocentric construction, when mobilised in planning to manage an unruly nature they can be re-storied as an ontological mediator in human/non-human relations