what is governed and why?

In the last decade there has been a significant shift in the framing of climate governance. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has moved from an explicit focus on mitigation, to also include adaptation. Climate change is no longer simply about reducing emissions but also about enabling countries to deal with its impacts – be it on development, migration, or health. Yet most studies of the climate regime have focused on the evolution of mitigation governance, not adaptation. This tendency is partly because adaptation was considered a ‘taboo’ topic in the UNFCCC as many states did not want to concede that climate change was occurring, or did not want it to be considered a substitute for mitigation. In short, global adaptation governance is understudied and poorly conceptualized. In this paper, we ask: what constitutes and characterizes global adaptation governance? We attempt to characterize governance efforts in terms of what, who and how adaptation is governed. We examine: the constituent parts of an emerging regime (principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures), the institutions involved, and how these parts have been manifested in concrete modes of governance (standards and commitments, operations, finance, knowledge and networking). To aid this mapping, we use the mitigation regime as a heuristic for comparison. We find that there is indeed an emerging global regime around adaptation, although characterized by ‘soft’ procedural and facilitative modes of governance. Furthermore the institutional complexity and fragmentation we see in global adaptation governance arises for different reasons than for the mitigation regime. Namely the epistemic ambiguity around adaptation, including its scalar framing, and the power politics around controlling donor funds for adaptation. This paper contributes to our understanding of the shift in framing of global climate governance, from mitigation to adaptation, and the coherence of this regime

Democratising planetary boundaries:Experts, social values and deliberative risk evaluation in Earthsystem governance

Recent debates about the concept of planetary boundaries recall longstanding concerns about whether ecological limits are compatible with ecological democracy. The planetary boundaries framework (originally set out in Rockstrom et al., 2009a, 2009b) defines values for key Earth-system processes such as climate change and biodiversity that aim to maintain a safe distance from thresholds or levels that could endanger human wellbeing. Despite having a significant impact in policy debates, the framework has been criticised as implying an expert-driven approach to governing global environmental risks that lacks democratic legitimacy. Drawing on research on deliberative democracy and the role of science in democratic societies, we argue that planetary boundaries can be interpreted in ways that remain consistent with democratic decision-making. We show how an iterative, dialogical process to formulate planetary boundaries and negotiate planetary targets could form the basis for a democratically legitimate division of labour among experts, citizens and policy-makers in evaluating and responding to Earth-system risks. Crucial to this division of evaluative labour is opening up space for deliberative contestation about the value judgments inherent in collective responses to Earth-system risks, while also safeguarding the ability of experts to issue warnings about what they consider to be unacceptable risks.Funding Agencies|Australian Research CouncilAustralian Research Council [FL140100154]; Swedish Research Council Formas (Formas)Swedish Research Council Formas [211-2012-1842]</p

Choosing environmental policy instruments: case studies of municipal waste policy in Sweden and England

European governments have during the last couple of decades shown an interest in new types of environmental policy instruments (EPIs) such as environmental taxes, tradable permit schemes and voluntary approaches, as opposed to relying on traditional forms of regulation. The interest in so-called ‘new’ EPIs (NEPIs) has led many governments to commit both to a more diverse EPI mix and to a policy process characterised by procedural rationality, in terms of considering a wide range of alternative instruments and assessing them in a systematic and transparent way. The first aim of this thesis is to examine the success of the quest for NEPIs at the national level in the field of municipal waste policy in two countries; the UK (England) and Sweden. In addition to mapping out EPI diversity, two contrasting theories on the pattern of adoption of instruments over time are evaluated, specifically focusing on the degree of coercion associated with EPIs. It is found that the waste policy mix in England has become more diverse, while the Swedish mix is characterised by a higher degree of coercion. The second aim is to analyse whether the instrument choice process has become more procedurally rational, and, if so, conducive to the adoption of NEPIs. A range of instrument choice theories at the macro-, meso- and micro-levels drawn from the public policy and political science literature are used to explain whether the ideal of procedural rationality is achievable or not. A case study methodology is used, in which the processes leading to the landfill allowance trading scheme (LATS) in England and and the waste incineration tax in Sweden are studied. It is found that the procedural rationality was higher in the England case, but that it is not a necessary nor sufficient cause for adoption of a NEPI

Sustainable Distribution of Responsibility for Climate Change Adaptation

To gain legitimacy for climate change adaptation decisions, the distribution of responsibility for these decisions and their implementation needs to be grounded in theories of just distribution and what those aected by decisions see as just. The purpose of this project is to contribute to sustainable spatial planning and the ability of local and regional public authorities to make well-informed and sustainable adaptation decisions, based on knowledge about both climate change impacts and the perceptions of residents and civil servants on what constitutes a sustainable distribution of responsibility. Our aims are: (1) a better understanding of the practical implications of theories about just distribution of responsibility for the choice of local and regional climate adaptation measures; (2) knowledge about what residents and civil servants consider a sustainable distribution of responsibility for climate adaptation measures; and (3) a better understanding of conflicts concerning the distribution of responsibilities and systematic knowledge about the possibilities to manage them. In this interdisciplinary project, we study six municipalities and their residents, and two county administrative boards, all in Sweden, using mixed methods: value theory, document studies, interviews, focus groups, and surveys

A new non-invasive ultrasonic method for simultaneous measurements of longitudinal and radial arterial wall movements: first in vivo trial.

During recent years, the radial movement of the arterial wall has been extensively studied, and measurements of the radial movement are now an important tool in cardiovascular research for characterizing the mechanical properties of the arterial wall. In contrast, the longitudinal movement of vessels has gained little or no attention as it has been presumed that this movement is negligible. With modern high-resolution ultrasound, it can, however, be seen that the intima-media complex of the arterial wall moves not only in the radial direction, but also in the longitudinal direction during pulse-wave propagation. This paper describes a new non-invasive ultrasonic method that is able to measure simultaneously two dimensionally arterial vessel wall movements. The method is demonstrated in a limited in vivo trial. Results from the in vivo trial show that, apart from the well-known radial movement, there is a distinct longitudinal movement in the human common carotid artery with, in this case, the intima-media complex moving substantially as compared with the region of the tunica adventitia. Two-dimensional evaluation of the vessel-wall movements, taking not only the radial movement, but also the longitudinal movement into account, may provide novel information of importance in the evaluation of vessel-wall function

Health economic evaluation of the Lund Integrated Medicines Management Model (LIMM) in elderly patients admitted to hospital.

To evaluate the cost effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team including a pharmacist for systematic medication review and reconciliation from admission to discharge at hospital among elderly patients (the Lund Integrated Medicines Management (LIMM)) in order to reduce drug-related readmissions and outpatient visits