Staat, Gesellschaft und grüne Transformationen im globalen Süden

Die Anbahnung und Umsetzung grüner Transformationen ist ein komplexer, sektoren- und ebenenübergreifender Prozess, der auf die Unterstützung mächtiger Akteurskonstellationen angewiesen ist. Solche Transformationen müssen von staatlichen Akteuren angestoßen oder begleitet werden, wie das Beispiel der „grünen“ Republik Costa Rica zeigt

The Climate Justice Community: Theoretical Radicals and Practical Pragmatists?

The objective of this paper is to promote a better understanding of the link between normative climate justice claims—originating in Political Theory and Philosophy—and concrete social practices of the climate justice movement active at the international climate negotiations. We argue that the climate justice movement can be understood as a community of practice. Empirically, we zoom into this community of practice and comparatively analyse three case studies on human rights networks, faith-based groups and gender justice advocates. Methodologically, our analysis is based on a review of primary and secondary documents, participatory observations and expert interviews at the climate negotiations in Warsaw (2013), Bonn (2014), and Paris (2015) and via skype/phone (2013–2016). Our analysis reveals that each network within the community of practice, even those with more radical objectives minimise the demands formulated at the outset in order to successfully cooperate with state negotiators

Beyond PES and REDD+: Costa Rica on the way to climate-smart landscape management?

Costa Rica has a strong international reputation for conservation and sustainable management of forests, including through its national payments for environmental services (PES) system and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). However, to be able to take those achievements to the next level, new approaches need to be developed that integrate agriculture and environmental politics, e.g., to foster climate-smart landscape management. This would be in line with the idea of a green transformation as a necessary contribution to bring human social-ecological action back within planetary boundaries. We start from a general conceptualization of a green transformation and its potential drivers, then analyze the basis and prospects for such developments by providing a review of the country’s forest politics, including a mapping of relevant stakeholders that have been influential in designing and implementing the national PES and REDD+ approaches. Based on original empirical analysis that was conducted throughout 2017, we further analyze recent institutional developments of setting up a cross-sectoral policy for agriculture and environment as part of a broader landscape management approach, including the opportunities and challenges that might arise with a view to realizing this idea on the ground

Low-carbon energy, sustainable development and justice: towards a just energy transition for the society and the environment

Governments and civil society are increasingly aware that the decarbonization of energy systems needs to be aligned with justice principles of recognition, distribution, and process. This paper establishes a conceptual linkage between “sustainable development”, “low‐carbon energy transitions” and “energy justice” and examines social priorities to address peoples' competing priorities associated with low‐carbon energy interventions. By analyzing a renewable energy project in Vietnam as a case study, the paper shows that linking social priorities to energy justice provides a useful contribution for energy policy makers toward a better understanding of the multidimensional and complex aspects of low‐carbon energy transitions, and how different segments of society prioritize and perceive them for the achievement of socially just energy decisions

Transforming institutional quality in resource curse contexts: The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Myanmar

Many resource-rich countries face the paradoxical situation that their wealth in natural resources coincides with low economic and human development rates. To address this so-called resource curse, academics and practitioners turn their hopes to institutional quality. Yet whether, how and with what consequences institutional quality is transformed in resource curse contexts remains poorly understood, especially so at subnational levels. The most widely implemented initiative that seeks to address the resource curse through enhanced institutional quality is the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). This article analyses to what extent and how the EITI transforms institutional quality at national and subnational levels in Myanmar, focusing on transparency, civil society participation and accountability. We show that many transformations go beyond the official EITI process and report. While the EITI report itself is not heavily used by civil society organisations (CSOs), the EITI process motivated CSOs to gather data and organise themselves both around and beyond EITI-related issues at subnational levels. Such participatory processes of constituting transparency improved relations between the (regional) government, CSOs and private companies, but also created new forms of in- and exclusion among civil society. While avenues opened up for CSOs to demand accountability regarding the impacts of resource extraction, the extent to which they are able to trigger action of extractive industry actors in their region remains limited. In conclusion, we argue that transformations in institutional quality are not characterised by a linear trajectory from transparency in the form of the EITI report to accountability, facilitated by civil society participation in EITI multi-stakeholder groups, as the EITI standard posits. Rather, transformations in institutional quality are characterised by spin-offs, dynamic interlinkages, trade-offs, limitations and a reinforcing cycle between participation and transparency within and beyond the EITI

Safeguards, Standards, and the Science-Policy Interfaces of REDD+: Greening Land Use Through Forest-Based Mitigation in Costa Rica?

publishedVersio