Governance of interdependent ecosystem services and common-pool resources

Environmental governance is recognized as a key issue in many natural and social sciences. It is highly relevant for ecosystem services and common-pool resources as well. Both fields overlap yet have typically been studied separately. Therefore, this study aimed a) to examine the emerging body of literature that incorporates concepts from both fields of research and considers governance challenges, and b) to identify policy tools and recommendations presented for addressing those challenges. The analysis of thirty-nine selected peer-review papers revealed the multiplicity of interacting governance challenges with three major categories: environmental, socioeconomic, and problems of governance itself. Governance is impeded by institutional mismatches, exclusion of local actors, corruption, and perverse policies. The proposed policy recommendations most often suggest changes in institutional arrangements and increasing scientific understanding. Meeting human needs, and increasing social equity and justice were recognized broadly as integral for improving governance, yet correlations among governance problems and solutions appear elusive. These findings extend theoretical reasoning, while carrying practical implications for policy, governance and environmental stewardship. The analysis implies that policies to improve human conditions will be key for improved environmental governance, but more research is needed to learn which types of policy recommendations prove successful given diverse local contexts

Global heating: Attention is not enough; we need acute and appropriate actions

[No abstract available

Sustainable urban growth in ageing regions: Delivering a value to the community

Europe is wealthy but unbalanced, and the flows of people, money, information, goods and services are suffering from this situation. There is a crucial question in today's European economy: "How to balance the European wealth and facilitate the flows to achieve wellbeing for all generations (job opportunities for the young and proper care for seniors)". The answer is in Smart Silver Economy, by developing a firm understanding of space of flows and space of places as considered by Castells. The idea is to develop the knowledge to embed it in SUGAR ICT toolkit, based on SUGAR technology platform (SUGAR TP), which would facilitate understanding to increase intensity of processes. It is the ambition of SUGAR to establish roadmaps for action at EU, national and international level, bringing together scientific knowledge, art (architecture), technological know-how (GIS, ICT), industry (health care, real estate and facility management, ICT development companies), regulators (banks, insurance, health, municipalities and regional spatial planning authorities), and financial institutions to develop a strategic agenda for leading technologies for smart urban growth in face of an ageing society. The core of this idea is presented in article here