Going beyond Western dualism: towards corporate nature responsibility reporting

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline an ecofeminist lens for the analysis of accounting, which is applied to: first, the critique of corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR); second, the elaboration of elements of a framework for a new accounting – corporate nature responsibility reporting (CNRR) – as a response to the critique of CSRR; and, third, the consideration of elements of an enabling and emancipatory praxis in the context of CNRR, including a sketch of a research agenda. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents a critical application of aspects of the ecofeminist critique of Western dualism and its emphasis on wholeness, interconnectedness and relatedness, including its particular delineation of nature, to the critique and design of accounting. Findings: Insights from the application of an ecofeminist lens to the critique of CSRR raise questions about the suitability of the western notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its associated accounting currently in use. In order to go beyond critique, the paper introduces the notions of corporate nature responsibility (CNR) and CNRR and offers an outline of key elements of CNRR and an emancipatory praxis in the context of CNRR, including a sketch of a research agenda. The author’s elaborations suggest that in order to overcome the limitations of CSR and CSRR, a corporation ought to be concerned about its broader and holistic CNR. And, it should provide a CNR report, as part of a holistic CNRR concerned with the performance of the company in the context of CNR. Social implications: Through creating new visibilities, CNRR has the potential to enhance the well-being of people and nature more generally. Originality/value: Ecofeminism’s critique of western dichotomous thinking has been given little consideration in prior studies of accounting. The paper thus draws attention to the relevance of an ecofeminist theoretical lens for the critique and design of accounting by focussing on CSRR. The paper introduces the concepts of CNR and CNRR to address the limitations of CSRR as currently practiced

Expansion rate & dispersal pattern of the non-native Roesel’s bush-cricket in Sweden

Environmental change and anthropogenic activities influence species distributions. Species introductions have become increasingly common in an era of globalization and increased international trade and travel. The establishment of introduced species outside their native range and subsequent spread are of great conservation concern. Introduced species that become invasive, spread rapidly and reach high abundance, may cause the extinction of native species, disrupt ecosystem functioning and pose a threat to human health and the economy. It is therefore of great interest to understand the processes and mechanisms involved in species range expansion in order to develop effective management strategies. In this thesis I examine the influence of the landscape on species’ distribution and analyse patterns of range expansion of a non-native insect in south-central Sweden. Roesel’s bush-cricket (Metrioptera roeselii) was chosen as a model organism as its biology is well studied and its range expansion has been documented not only in Sweden but also in several other European countries. The aims of this thesis were (I) to identify landscape variables that predict the species distribution, (II) to estimate the rate of range expansion, (III) to identify the source of range expansion in south-central Sweden and to assess the dispersal pattern using population genetic data, and (IV) to analyse the influence of landscape composition and structure on population connectivity. I analysed species distribution, genetic and landscape data using a range of statistical modelling techniques in combination with geographic information systems (GIS). The results showed that the amounts of arable land, pasture and rural settlements as well as linear habitat elements are important predictors of the species’ distribution. During the last three decades, Metrioptera roeselii has expanded its range from the northern shores of the Lake Mälaren at an estimated rate of 0.3 - 3.16 km/year. The genetic diversity across the range was surprisingly high and degree of population differentiation was low to moderate likely due to frequent gene flow between populations in the centre of the species range and decreased gene flow towards the range margin. It appears the species establishes populations through infrequent long-distance and frequent short-distance dispersal (natural, human-mediated)

Entanglement spectrum of the degenerative ground state of Heisenberg ladders in a time-dependent magnetic field

We investigate of the relationship between the entanglement and subsystem Hamiltonians in the perturbative regime of strong coupling between subsystems. One of the two conditions that guarantees the proportionality between these Hamiltonians obtained by using the nondegenerate perturbation theory within the first order is that the unperturbed ground state has a trivial entanglement Hamiltonian. Furthermore, we study the entanglement Hamiltonian of the Heisenberg ladders in a time-dependent magnetic field using the degenerate perturbation theory, where couplings between legs are considered as a perturbation. In this case, when the ground state is two-fold degenerate, and the entanglement Hamiltonian is proportional to the Hamiltonian of a chain within first-order perturbation theory, even then also the unperturbed ground state has a nontrivial entanglement spectrum.Comment: 1 figure, Refs. added, minor change