149 research outputs found
Rethinking work for a just and sustainable future
Except for sleep, humans spend more of their lifetimes on work than on any other activity. Many people take for granted the centrality of work in society, conceiving the prevailing 40 h workweeks in high-income countries as a ‘natural’ configuration of time. However, work and working time have been fiercely contested phenomena and have taken many different forms throughout history as they were reshaped by technological development, social struggle, and changing cultural values. Drawing on insight from history, anthropological research, and time use studies, this paper attempts to broaden the frames harnessing current debates about the future of work. First, we examine evolving conceptions of work in different cultures. Second, we review patterns of working time throughout history, contrasting some widely held assumptions against the background of the long dur´ee. Finally, we present ideas and principles to rethink dominant conceptions about the meaning, purpose, volume, content, distribution, and remuneration of work along ecological economic principles of sustainability and justice. Work time reduction Post-growth Automation Sustainability Utopia History DegrowthpublishedVersio
Is there a future for indigenous and local knowledge?
By the late twentieth century, many doubted whether Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) would survive the millennium, but a surge in their recognition and new insight on their resilience open new perspectives about their future. This paper examines historical drivers behind the loss of ILK and discusses possibilities for its survival and revitalization. I first examine long-term impacts of modernization and unfolding capitalism on ILK. Next, I discuss future perspectives in the light of recent developments in science, law, and politics. The paper concludes with a reflection on the role ILK ought to play in a future post-industrial society. Traditional ecological knowledge; modernity; cultural diversity; revitalizationpublishedVersio
Classifying and valuing ecosystem services for urban planning
While technological progress has fostered the conception of an urban society that is increasingly decoupled from ecosystems, demands on natural capital and ecosystem services keep increasing steadily in our urbanized planet. Decoupling of cities from ecological systems can only occur locally and partially, thanks to the appropriation of vast areas of ecosystem services provision beyond the city boundaries. Conserving and restoring ecosystem services in urban areas can reduce the ecological footprints and the ecological debts of cities while enhancing resilience, health, and quality of life for their inhabitants. In this paper we synthesize knowledge and methods to classify and value ecosystem services for urban planning. First, we categorize important ecosystem services and disservices in urban areas. Second, we describe valuation languages (economic costs, socio-cultural values, resilience) that capture distinct value dimensions of urban ecosystem services. Third, we identify analytical challenges for valuation to inform urban planning in the face of high heterogeneity and fragmentation characterizing urban ecosystems. The paper discusses various ways through which urban ecosystems services can enhance resilience and quality of life in cities and identifies a range of economic costs and socio-cultural impacts that can derive from their loss. We conclude by identifying knowledge gaps and challenges for the research agenda on ecosystem services provided in urban areasacceptedVersio
Social Equity Matters in Payments for Ecosystem Services
Although conservation efforts have sometimes succeeded in meeting environmental goals at the expense of equity considerations, the changing context of conservation and a growing body of evidence increasingly suggest that equity considerations should be integrated into conservation planning and implementation. However, this approach is often perceived to be at odds with the prevailing focus on economic efficiency that characterizes many payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes. Drawing from examples across the literature, we show how the equity impacts of PES can create positive and negative feedbacks that influence ecological outcomes. We caution against equity-blind PES, which overlooks these relationships as a result of a primary and narrow focus on economic efficiency. We call for further analysis and better engagement between the social and ecological science communities to understand the relationships and trade-offs among efficiency, equity, and ecological outcomes
The resilience of indigenous knowledge in small-scale African agriculture: key drivers
The successful use of indigenous knowledge (IK) in development practice in rural Africa over the last couple of decades has proved to be elusive and disappointing. Using empirical field data from northern Malawi, this study suggests that the two key drivers for farmers in this area are household food security and the maintenance of soil fertility. Indigenous ways of knowing underpin the agricultural system which has been developed, rather than the adoption of more modern, ‘scientific’ ways, to deliver against these drivers. Such IKs, however, are deeply embedded in the economic, social and cultural environments in which they operate
Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020)
Some regions like Europe have experienced a net gain in forest areas over the last decades, but intact areas of natural forests are declining worldwide, accompanied by changes in forest ecosystem functions and benefits to humans. We conduct a biophysical assessment of trends, condition, and drivers of change of forest ecosystem services in Norway from 1950 to 2020. Four main results are highlighted. First, industrial forestry, large scale measures of re- and afforestation, and infrastructure development (e.g., roads and recreational homes) have been the main direct drivers of forest transformation. Second, deep transformations in the Norwegian economy shaped trends of forest ecosystem services over the study period. Third, with the shifts towards the tertiary (service) sector and the mechanization of forestry, the economic and material relations between forests and local communities are waning. Overall, people’s primary relationships to forests have shifted from livelihood to recreation. Fourth, forest management in Norway has largely favored provisioning services at the expense of supporting services and some cultural and regulating services. Consequently, while Norwegian forests retain strong capacity to deliver provisioning services, the overall ecological condition is relatively poor. Our assessment provides an approach to identify and explain trends of ecosystem services at a national scale, over a long period of time. We argue that growth in forest area and biomass are insufficient indicators for sustainable forest management, and that future forest polices would benefit from improved knowledge on forests ecological condition, resilience against climate change, and socio-cultural contributions to human well-being. Forest management Biophysical assessment Ecosystem service trends Ecosystem condition Fennoscandia NorwaypublishedVersio
Resilience of small-scale societies: a view from drylands.
To gain insights on long-term social-ecological resilience, we examined adaptive responses of small-scale societies to dryland-related hazards in different regions and chronological periods, spanning from the mid-Holocene to the present. Based on evidence from Africa (Sahara and Sahel), Asia (south margin of the Thar desert), and Europe (South Spain), we discuss key traits and coping practices of small-scale societies that are potentially relevant for building resilience. The selected case studies illustrate four main coping mechanisms: mobility and migration, storage, commoning, and collective action driven by religious beliefs. Ultimately, the study of resilience in the context of drylands emphasizes the importance of adaptive traits and practices that are distinctive of small-scale societies: a strong social-ecological coupling, a solid body of traditional ecological knowledge, and a high degree of internal cohesion and self-organization.SP2016http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol21/iss2/art53
The Trouble with Anthropocentric Hubris, with Examples from Conservation
Anthropocentrism in Western (modern industrial) society is dominant, goes back hundreds of years, and can rightly be called ‘hubris’. It removes almost all moral standing from the nonhuman world, seeing it purely as a resource. Here, we discuss the troubling components of anthropocentrism: worldview and ethics; dualisms, valuation and values; a psychology of fear and denial; and the idea of philosophical ‘ownership’. We also question whether it is a truly practical (or ethical) approach. We then discuss three troubling examples of anthropocentrism in conservation: ‘New’ conservation; ecosystem services; and the IPBES values assessment. We conclude that anthropocentrism is fuelling the environmental crisis and accelerating extinction, and urge academia to speak out instead for ecocentrism
Harmony in Conservation
Many authors have noted the role that anthropocentrism has played in creating humanity’s dysfunctional relationship with the natural world. As human hubris (excessive pride or self-confidence) is an ailment that contributes to the anthropogenic sixth mass extinction of Earth’s biodiversity, we argue instead for ‘harmony with nature’. In recent decades, even the conservation discourse has become increasingly anthropocentric. Indeed, justification for nature conservation has in part shifted from nature’s intrinsic value to ‘ecosystem services’ for the benefit of people. Here we call for a transformation to a more harmonious human-nature relationship that is grounded in mutual respect and principled responsibility, instead of utilitarianism and enlightened self-interest. Far from what Tennyson called ‘red in tooth and claw’, we argue nature is a mixture of cooperation as well as competition. We argue that the UN’s ‘Harmony with Nature’ program is an innovative and refreshing path for change. If we are to achieve harmony with nature, modern industrial society will need to abandon its anthropocentric ‘human supremacy’ mindset and adopt an ecocentric worldview and ecological ethics. We conclude it is thus both appropriate (and essential) for conservationists to champion harmony with nature
Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and Cost-Benefit Analysis : Comparing alternative frameworks for integrated valuation of ecosystem services
Highlights
• MDCA methods can account for multiple dimensions of well-being.
• They can facilitate open and transparent public debate on ecosystem services.
• Non-aggregative approaches to MCDA are recommended in the face of value conflict.
• MCDA cannot provide representative information of the values of wider population .
• Further research is needed on the potential of hybrid methodologies.Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods has been promoted as an alternative approach to monetary economic valuation of ecosystem services in Cost-Benefit Analysis framework (CBA). We discuss the potential of MCDA in providing a framework for integrated valuation of ecosystem services. We conclude that MCDA does in general perform better than CBA and associated monetary valuation techniques in several aspects that are essential in ecosystem service valuation. These include the ability of a valuation method to account for multiple dimensions of well-being, including ecological and economic as well as cultural and moral aspects of a policy or management problem and to facilitate open and transparent public debate on the pros and cons of alternative courses of action, including the distribution of gains and losses across beneficiaries of ecosystem services. The capacity of MCDA to articulate values related to ecosystem services depends on individual methods used in the MCDA process. More importantly, it depends of the ways in which the process is organized and facilitated. However, MCDA cannot provide representative information of the values of wider population. Further empirical and theoretical research is needed on the potential of hybrid methodologies to combine monetary valuation and MCDA in fruitful ways
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