A Review of 'Green Growth: Ideology, Political Economy and the Alternatives'

This is a challenging book. It tests the reader on a number of fronts including a series of intensive theoretical discourses on the political economy of the green economy, a critique of the neoliberal green growth agenda, and the uncomfortable proposition that the trajectory offered by the green economy has significant implications for the equitable development of society. The ultimatum of the book suggests that the proposed solutions are politically difficult and involve radical social change

Leading from the front? Increasing Community Participation in a Just Transition to Net Zero in the North-East of Scotland

Acknowledgements We would like to thank our funder the Scottish University Insight Institute for funding and supporting this project. We would also like to thank our project partners NESCAN Hub and Power Circle and the community and civil society groups, local stakeholders and individuals who joined us at our events.Publisher PD

Public Perceptions of Europe's Seas: A Policy Brief

This survey across several European countries explores the values, concerns and aspirations of individuals regarding the marine environment. The policy agenda in Europe is moving forward as a result of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive; for planning and maritime development; through the Integrated Maritime Strategy; and in reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. Concerning the oceans, the views of communities across Europe are relatively unknown. While the positions of organised stakeholder groups are captured through responses to policy consultations, the opinion of the 'person in the street' is difficult to include in the decision making process. Yet, crucially, it is the collective choices made by communities in the resources they use, the places they visit, and live in that drive many pressures on the marine environment. Public viewpoints on the oceans will play an important (if yet undetermined) role in supporting reforms such as marine planning, the large scale deployment of marine renewables, and marine protected areas that have considerable social and economic consequences. Understanding the perspective of communities will be critical in how the policy process unfolds

A Review of 'Green Growth: Ideology, Political Economy and the Alternatives'

This is a challenging book. It tests the reader on a number of fronts including a series of intensive theoretical discourses on the political economy of the green economy, a critique of the neoliberal green growth agenda, and the uncomfortable proposition that the trajectory offered by the green economy has significant implications for the equitable development of society. The ultimatum of the book suggests that the proposed solutions are politically difficult and involve radical social change

Rapid Policy Network Mapping: A New Method for Understanding Governance Structures for Implementation of Marine Environmental Policy

Understanding the relationships and dependencies in the development and implementation of environmental policy is essential to the effective management of the marine environment. A new method of policy network analysis called ‘Rapid Policy Network Mapping’ was developed that delivers an insight for both technical and non-technical users into the lifecycle, relationships and dependencies of policy development. The method was applied to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Water Framework Directive in the UK. These case studies highlight the environmental policy challenges to protect the UK's marine coastal environment and they identify differences in the styles of policy implementation between the devolved authorities of the UK. Rapid Policy Network Mapping provides an opportunity to create a collaborative policy data environment with a relatively small investment. As a tool for civil society it should assist in their ability to understand and influence policy making and implementation

Just Transition for Workers and Communities in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire : Rapid Evidence Review

Publisher PD

Measuring Just Transition : Indicators and scenarios for a Just Transition in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire

Publisher PD

Perceptions of practitioners: Managing marine protected areas for climate change resilience

Climate change is impacting upon global marine ecosystems and ocean wide changes in ecosystem properties are expected to continue. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been implemented as a conservation tool throughout the world, primarily as a measure to reduce local impacts, but their usefulness and effectiveness is strongly related to climate change. MPAs may have a role in mitigation through effects on carbon sequestration, affect interactions between climatic effects and other drivers and be affected themselves as the distributions of protected species change over time. However, to date, few MPA programmes have directly considered climate change in the design, management or monitoring of an MPA network. This paper presents a series of international case studies from four locations: British Columbia, Canada; central California, USA; the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand; to review perceptions of how climate change has been considered in the design, implementation, management and monitoring of MPAs. The results indicate that some MPA processes have already incorporated design criteria or principles for adaptive management, which address some of the potential impacts of climate change on MPAs. Key lessons include: i) Strictly protected marine reserves are considered essential for climate change resilience and will be necessary as scientific reference sites to understand climate change effects ii) Adaptive management of MPA networks is important but hard to implement iii) Strictly protected reserves managed as ecosystems are the best option for an uncertain future. Although the case studies addressed aspects of considering climate change within MPA networks and provided key lessons for the practical inclusion of these considerations, there are some significant challenges remaining. This paper provides new insights into the policy and practical challenges MPA managers face under climate change scenarios

Scotland's Marine Protected Area network: Reviewing progress towards achieving commitments for marine conservation

Significant progress has been made towards implementing Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks in UK waters, with Scotland successfully designating 30 new Scottish MPA sites in July 2014. This paper reviews the Scottish MPA process up to the point of implementation, summarising the process that led to the designation of the MPA network. In particular, this paper investigates the extent to which the process i) effectively engaged stakeholders; ii) used ecological guiding principles; and iii) considered climate change. In doing so, this paper highlights several key issues if the Scottish MPA network is to move beyond an administrative exercise and is able to make a meaningful contribution to marine biodiversity protection for Europe: i) fully adopt best practice ecological principles ii) ensure effective protection and iii) explicitly consider climate change in the management, monitoring and future iterations of the network

Navigating future uncertainty in marine protected area governance: lessons from the Scottish MPA network

As international pressure for marine protection has increased, Scotland has increased spatial protection through the development of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) network. Few MPA networks to date have included specific considerations of climate change in the design, monitoring or management of the network. The Scottish MPA network followed a feature-led approach to identify a series of MPAs across the Scottish marine area and incorporated the diverse views of many different stakeholders. This feature led approach has led to wide ranging opinions and understandings regarding the success of the MPA network. Translating ideas of success into a policy approach whilst also considering how climate change may affect these ideas of success is a complex challenge. This paper presents the results of a Delphi process that aimed to facilitate clear communication between academics, policy makers and stakeholders in order to identify specific climate change considerations applicable to the Scottish MPA network. This study engaged a group of academic and non-academic stakeholders to discuss potential options that could be translated into an operational process for management of the MPA network. The results of Delphi process discussion are presented with the output of a management matrix tool, which could aid in future decisions for MPA management under scenarios of climate change