Climate change policy, conflict and transformative governance

Climate change is the behemoth of our age. It defies description, is too large to comprehend, and what we do understand about it is often terrifying. This is for many, a good reason to stop thinking about it or, like Scarlett O’Hara, decide to “think about it tomorrow”. Thinking about the role of conflict in climate change policy is an even more challenging exercise, but one that this paper tries to address. Briefly I propose that climate change governance could productively utilise conflict as a transformative agent for decision making, rather than try and avoid it, or ‘solve it’ by embedding conflict resolution mechanisms within those governance frameworks.There are many points at which governance and climate change intersect, there are multiple entry and exit points, and policies need embedding from local to international levels to work. At the heart of the problem however is conflict: between states and territories, between cultures, between the ideas of rights and responsibility and between the environment and economics. But as with Scarlett O’Hara, our society is fundamentally incapable of dealing with conflict. We seek answers based on win-win solutions, and ways of engaging with each other that are diplomatic, and politically correct.Conflict as such, is feared as the blunt stone that will bludgeon and ruin negotiations and damage already fragile egos, societies and potential environmental outcomes. When societies cannot or will not change, or when the changes required necessitate unacceptable cultural compromise, disjuncture between them can develop into forums of conflict. Conflicts arising are partly explained by the fact that worldviews, perceptions of the problem, and ideas about solutions differ.I argue for the transformative potential of conflict to facilitate adaptive governance and policy around climate change and climate change adaptation.Key Points:Climate change governance could productively utilise conflict as a transformative agent for decision making, rather than try and avoid it, or ‘solve it’ by embedding conflict resolution mechanisms within governance frameworks.Climate governance frameworks should enable the conflict to become the conflict resolution process itself. This means identifying likely conflicts up front and then using them as the basis on which decisions about the most appropriate policies and planning are made, ensuring that such decisions are cognisant of and provide forums for effective ways around conflict in implementation.This process might take longer to negotiate, but will mean less likelihood of climate related policies stalling in implementation due to intractable conflict.One way of operationalising this model is to employ a three-dimensional local adaptive conflict governance framework comprising: (i) adaptive management (which includes anticipatory adaptation/foresight), (ii) communications, and (iii) reflexive practice

Local governance for local governments: A framework for addressing climate change

Climate science has established that climate change and associated global warming will impact the world. Already the global temperature has risen by between 0.2 and 0.6 degrees centigrade since the late 19th century, and in Australia, average temperatures have increased by 0.8 degrees centigrade (Pillora 2010). Furthermore, the last IPCC report concluded for the first time not only that climate change was real but reported a 90% certainty that it was also human induced (IPCC 2007). Moreover, Australia is predicted by 2030 to experience the following: (i) a further 1ºC of warming; (ii) up to 20% more months of drought; (iii) up to 25% increase in days of very high or extreme fire danger; (iv) increases in storm surges and severe weather events; and (v) a rise in mean sea level, with the anticipated range of sea level rise to be between 18 to 76 cm by 2100 (Pillora 2010: 4; IPCC 2007)

Old Ways for New Days

This Open Access book provides a critical reflection into how indigenous cultures are attempting to adapt to climate change. Through detailed first-hand accounts, the book describes the unique challenges facing indigenous peoples in the context of climate change adaptation, governance, communication strategies, and institutional pressures. The book shows how current climate change terminologies and communication strategies often perpetuate the marginalisation of indigenous peoples and suggests that new approaches that prioritise Indigenous voices, agency and survival are required. The book first introduces readers to Indigenous peoples and their struggles related to climate change, describing the impacts of climate change on their everyday lives and the adaptation strategies currently undertaken to address them. These strategies are then detailed through case studies which focus on how Indigenous knowledge and practices have been used to respond to and cope with climate change in a variety of environments, including urban settings. The book discusses specific governance challenges facing Indigenous peoples, and presents new methods for engagement that will bridge existing communication gaps to ensure Indigenous peoples are central to the implementation of climate change adaptation measures. This book is intended for an audience of Indigenous peoples, adaptation practitioners, academics, students, policy makers and government workers. ; Documents for the first time how some of the world's oldest living indigenous cultures are attempting to adapt to climate change Summarizes key issues facing indigenous peoples in the context of adaptation to climate change impacts Offers critical reflection on specific governance challenges faced by indigenous people

Old Ways for New Days

This Open Access book provides a critical reflection into how indigenous cultures are attempting to adapt to climate change. Through detailed first-hand accounts, the book describes the unique challenges facing indigenous peoples in the context of climate change adaptation, governance, communication strategies, and institutional pressures. The book shows how current climate change terminologies and communication strategies often perpetuate the marginalisation of indigenous peoples and suggests that new approaches that prioritise Indigenous voices, agency and survival are required. The book first introduces readers to Indigenous peoples and their struggles related to climate change, describing the impacts of climate change on their everyday lives and the adaptation strategies currently undertaken to address them. These strategies are then detailed through case studies which focus on how Indigenous knowledge and practices have been used to respond to and cope with climate change in a variety of environments, including urban settings. The book discusses specific governance challenges facing Indigenous peoples, and presents new methods for engagement that will bridge existing communication gaps to ensure Indigenous peoples are central to the implementation of climate change adaptation measures. This book is intended for an audience of Indigenous peoples, adaptation practitioners, academics, students, policy makers and government workers. ; Documents for the first time how some of the world's oldest living indigenous cultures are attempting to adapt to climate change Summarizes key issues facing indigenous peoples in the context of adaptation to climate change impacts Offers critical reflection on specific governance challenges faced by indigenous people

Conflict to co-management : eating our words : towards socially just conservation of green turtles and dugongs in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Indigenous communities worldwide face multiple challenges to maintain their unique cultural identity and value systems. In the natural resource management arena, these challenges include the imposition of western solutions to environmental management and biodiversity protection. This imposition has caused the dispossession or relocation of Indigenous peoples from their lands, a loss of traditional ecological knowledge, social disempowerment and economic inequity. Indigenous peoples are responding to these challenges by asserting their cultural identity, developing cultural re-vitalisation programs, and actively participating in western political processes for ongoing involvement in the environmental and natural resource management domain. Nonetheless, to date, many of these programs are faltering or have failed in their long-term implementation. Using a case study approach, my thesis examines this issue through an examination of Indigenous hunting of threatened species in a protected area. My research is based on the contention that language matters, as it is an enabling tool which reveals the knowledge and power relations in natural resource management. To this end, I compare perspectives held by Indigenous people on the one hand and government Management Agencies on the other, about traditional hunting, planning and the management of Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and Dugongs (Dugon dugon) in Australia's Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA). To compare these perspectives I used a combination of discourse analysis, historical analysis and participant observation to analyse the development, implementation and subsequent failure of the Hope Vale Turtle and Dugong Hunting Management Plan, ‘Guugu Yimmithirr Bama Wii: Ngawiya and Girrbithi. My research yielded four key findings: (i) that significant differences exist between Management Agencies and Hope Vale Community about hunting, planning and management (Management Agency discourse for example prioritised biodiversity protection, while Indigenous discourse was primarily about ensuring cultural survival); (ii) that language in resource management does matter because different linguistic interpretations within such programs have a direct impact on their efficacy (iii) that social justice dimensions must be incorporated within management regimes in order to achieve both cultural survival and biodiversity protection objectives; and (iv) that resource management initiatives can never be divorced from the impact of external events, actors and power regimes. I thus confirm my thesis or argument that the use and understandings of language in resource management reflect power and knowledge relations, which in turn influence and impact upon the effectiveness of natural resource management programs. Through the integration of these findings my thesis concludes with the presentation of a socially just conservation methodology to guide future collaborations between Indigenous peoples and Management Agencies when addressing the ongoing cultural harvest of wildlife (such as Green turtles and Dugongs) in protected areas

Co-management and protected area management: Achieving effective management of a contested site, lessons from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA)

Marine protected management has gained acceptance as a way forward to achieve enhanced biodiversity outcomes. Simultaneously, co-management has gathered momentum as a mechanism to incorporate indigenous cultural aspirations within environmental management domains. Each management process has its own methodologies; when the two models intersect, they present a number of challenges to overall management outcomes. We review the journey of an indigenous co-management initiative within a marine protected area (MPA), the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA), Australia, to explore how different management paradigms intersect with both negative and positive results. We argue that lessons learned from this initiative will help participants to adapt and innovate, so as to implement effective on ground management despite the region being a contested site.Co-management Indigenous Protected area management Australia Girringun