Disequilibrium, adaptation and the Norse settlement of Greenland

This research was supported by the University of Edinburgh ExEDE Doctoral Training Studentship and NSF grant numbers 1202692 and 1140106.There is increasing evidence to suggest that arctic cultures and ecosystems have followed non-linear responses to climate change. Norse Scandinavian farmers introduced agriculture to sub-arctic Greenland in the late tenth century, creating synanthropic landscapes and utilising seasonally abundant marine and terrestrial resources. Using a niche-construction framework and data from recent survey work, studies of diet, and regional-scale climate proxies we examine the potential mismatch between this imported agricultural niche and the constraints of the environment from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries. We argue that landscape modification conformed the Norse to a Scandinavian style of agriculture throughout settlement, structuring and limiting the efficacy of seasonal hunting strategies. Recent climate data provide evidence of sustained cooling from the mid thirteenth century and climate variation from the early fifteenth century. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Norse made incremental adjustments to the changing sub-arctic environment, but were limited by cultural adaptations made in past environments.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Debt-for-Nature: The Second Generation

Debt-for-nature programs-negotiating debt reductions in less developed countries in return for increased conservation-are a key link between international environmental management and major issues of international finance and trade. There are several important secondary aspects of debt-for-nature programs; for example, illuminating creative uses of the debt crisis to structure cooperative ventures between governments, and linking conservation and international economic and financial relations. This Article explores these aspects in relation to the international environmental economics issues of resource management in tripartite economies, debt servicing and balancing, trade regulation, subsidies, resource valuation, and sovereign debt conversions

The Organization of the Impossible

Proposals for the creation of a World Environment Organization (WEO) are considered in light of the wide range of arrangements for environmental management at the national level. Organizational difficulties are compounded at the international level, suggesting that a WEO is neither possible nor desirable. Proposals to improve international environmental management must consider not only the weaknesses of current arrangements but also the sources of their effectiveness. Carefully designed steps to strengthen the institutions of international environmental management are desirable. Organizational proposals, other than strengthening the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), are a diversion from the pressing international environmental agenda. Copyright (c) 2001 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Governments and International Civil Society inSustainable Development: A Framework

competitiveness, economic citizenship, efficiency, foreign direct investment, goodwill, international civil society, international standards, subsidiarity,

Misappropriation of Institutions: Some Lessons from the Environmental Dimension of the NAFTA Investor-State Dispute Settlement Process

accountability, arbitration, dispute settlement, impartiality, institutions, investment and environment, participation, transparency,