{"title":"Banning protests at oil and gas sites: The influence of policy entrepreneurs and political pressure","authors":"Sojin Jang, Jennifer A. Kagan","doi":"10.1002/eet.2130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2130","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Direct action by citizens has played a pivotal role in shaping environmental policies in the United States. However, several states have recently enacted legislation prohibiting protests at oil and gas project sites, thus undermining the historical legacy of free speech, the American environmental movement, and environmental justice. This study aims to elucidate the determinants influencing the adoption of bills that prohibit civic protests at oil and gas project sites. Existing policy adoption studies have paid limited attention to the impact of policy entrepreneurs and corporate lobbying on policy adoption. This study contributes to the public policy literature by examining the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and corporate political activities, and how their influence combines with other types of political pressure to influence the adoption of bills that outlaw protests at oil and gas sites (anti-protest bills) at the state level. Using event history analysis with Cox regression, we modeled the likelihood of adoption of anti-protest bills across 50 states from 2017 to 2021. Furthermore, to zoom in on a strategy employed by ALEC, we compared the similarity scores between the texts of ALEC model legislation and proposed anti-protest bills. This study found that the adoption of anti-protest bills is explained by the presence of ALEC-tied legislators, the composition of legislatures, gas production, and the oil and gas industry's contribution to the state economy. The influence of ALEC's model legislation in policy adoption, however, is not significant.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 1","pages":"172-184"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2130","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143248865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Theresa Jedd, Gregory N. Sixt, Anthony Schutz, Mark Burbach
{"title":"Legitimacy in polycentric groundwater governance: Framework conditions identified in Nebraska's Natural Resource Districts","authors":"Theresa Jedd, Gregory N. Sixt, Anthony Schutz, Mark Burbach","doi":"10.1002/eet.2132","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2132","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study considers how and why agricultural groundwater users would limit their own water consumption. We find that voluntary governance arrangements are based on a form of legitimacy that stems from informal social processes. Agricultural irrigation reform in Nebraska, U.S. took place after decades of collaboration in informal social settings; this background of decentralized rulemaking contributed to legitimizing extraction limits in times of water stress. The dimensions of social legitimacy are assessed through triangulation of interview data, integrated management plans, workshop facilitation, and recordings of legal proceedings related to the Natural Resources Districts in the state of Nebraska. These districts initially placed voluntary limits on extraction but evolved to sanction violators for over-consumption. Groundwater rules are accepted because they are set by publicly elected boards, leaders participate in a state-wide leadership training network, and the districts are granted rule-making authority by the state. Our results show that voluntary self-limiting behavior can form the basis for binding legal requirements. The legitimacy of polycentric governance stems from social acceptance, inclusive membership, a prior history of collaboration, and an understanding of rules. The rules themselves are context-specific and self-made. We summarize these elements in an evaluation framework to test whether and how authority in other polycentric groundwater governance arrangements is justified and accepted.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 2","pages":"187-200"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2132","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143749339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Susanne Wuijts, Morten Graversgaard, Cors Van Den Brink, Sandra Boekhold, Frode Sundnes, Luke Farrow, Nicolas Surdyk, Rozalija Cvejic, Helle Tegner Anker, Antti Belinskij, Marleen Van Rijswick
{"title":"Protection of water resources from agricultural pressures: Embracing different knowledge domains in governance approaches","authors":"Susanne Wuijts, Morten Graversgaard, Cors Van Den Brink, Sandra Boekhold, Frode Sundnes, Luke Farrow, Nicolas Surdyk, Rozalija Cvejic, Helle Tegner Anker, Antti Belinskij, Marleen Van Rijswick","doi":"10.1002/eet.2136","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2136","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The remediation of nitrate and pesticide pollution from agriculture in drinking water resources has manifested itself as a complex and multifaceted challenge in Europe and in other continents. Addressing agricultural pollution in water resources requires cross-sectoral approaches. The EU Water Framework Directive aims to build bridges among these sectors, but the often sectoral implementation by Member States prevents its potential from being fully explored. This study aims to contribute to the body of interdisciplinary knowledge on the driving forces towards water quality improvement from agricultural pollution by case study research in five European countries in an interdisciplinary setting. The cases have shown that the added value of voluntary practices is considerable for creating shared ambitions but limited for actual water quality improvement. Implementation of strategies should be supported by practical guidance and monitoring of outcomes that enables compliance testing and refines simulation models for the formulation of follow-up actions. Dynamic interactions among the knowledge domains, for example, social-economic context, the legal framework, and the state of the water system, help to identify necessary actions at the different stages of the policy cycle. Especially in the implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and adaptation stage of the policy cycle, there is a need for further studies in order to improve effectiveness, for example on the role of monitoring and evaluation, licensing, and the issue of scale in cross-sectoral approaches.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 2","pages":"201-213"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2136","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143749340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unpacking Forest Stewardship Council certification in Chile: The scope and limitations of neoliberal market-driven governance for achieving sustainable development","authors":"Tomas Undurraga, Mario Fergnani","doi":"10.1002/eet.2135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2135","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international NGO promoting sustainable forest management by setting standards and certifying timber as eco-friendly. After facing significant resistance from the Chilean forestry sector, which is plagued by environmental and territorial conflicts, FSC began certifying Chile's main forestry corporations in 2010. This article examines the implementation of FSC's standards by addressing two questions. First, how does FSC function in practice, including the roles of consultants, chambers, and instruments in the certification process? Second, what are the scope and limitations of FSC in achieving sustainable development and managing forestry industry conflicts? Elaborating on 24 interviews with key forestry stakeholders, ethnographic fieldwork, and documentary analysis, the findings indicate that FSC enhances management practices in the forestry industry by promoting legal compliance, rational production management, and improved relations between firms and local communities. FSC provides a green imaginary that ‘cleans up’ timber production as conflict-free, facilitating its free circulation in the international market. However, as a private governance system, FSC is based on an artificial consensus that has limitations such as power imbalances between firms and communities, limited sanctioning power, and close ties with large industry actors. This neoliberal form of governance fails to resolve structural problems between industry and indigenous communities, yet it creates strategic opportunities for mediating the relationships between actors. In Chile, FSC enables incomplete citizenship for communities and serves as a ‘soft regulation’ for firms, reducing the likelihood of increased State regulation in the forestry sector.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 1","pages":"159-171"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143253676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vulnerability, climate laws, and adaptation in the Middle East and North Africa","authors":"Tofigh Maboudi, Elisa D'Amico","doi":"10.1002/eet.2134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2134","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Laws aimed at tackling climate change problems have grown significantly in the last two decades. Following this global trend and under pressure from international institutions and lenders, both rich, oil exporting (i.e., major greenhouse gas [GHG] emitters) and poor, non-oil rich (i.e., mostly vulnerable nations with lower shares of emission) states in the Middle East and North Africa have hastened to adopt new laws and regulations to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change. The question remains, however, does the adoption of these laws have any measurable impact on these nations' climate change performance? That is, to what degree do these laws have an impact on greenhouse gas emissions or adaptation capacity and readiness? Utilizing a panel data of 660 country-year observations (22 countries over 30 years), our cross-national statistical analysis shows that while climate change laws seem to have an impact on GHG emissions, they have so far failed to boost these nations' adaptation capacity. Our case study shows that oil politics and basic development objectives seem to be the key to this failure.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 1","pages":"145-158"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2134","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143253717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Green path development: The agency of the City of Vaasa in establishing the battery industry","authors":"Ejike Okonkwo, Petra Berg, Rodrigo Rabetino","doi":"10.1002/eet.2133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2133","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Empirical studies on agency in green path development (GPD) have underexplored non-firm actors' roles. Through a semi-structured interview, this article provides insight into how the City of Vaasa exercises agency toward developing the battery industry and the concomitant effects. The findings reveal that the City of Vaasa provides place-based leadership, for example, through a local-based initiative, that is, the GigaVaasa, as a platform to increase participation and coordinate the actions of public and private actors. As an institutional entrepreneur, they govern the issuance of operating licenses to optimize their economic interest; as innovative entrepreneur, they strategically plan and coordinate infrastructure development to increase the region's attractiveness to external investors and talents. The City of Vaasa agency increases the chances for the region to participate in the global battery market and stimulate the region's economic development. Nonetheless, environmental sustainability concerns remain a profound unintended effect. Conceptually, the article introduces the <i>agency cyclicality and synchronization model</i> to enhance the understanding of the interplay and effect of agency in an emerging green industry's development trajectory.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 1","pages":"132-144"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2133","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143253492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tyreen Kapoor, Chris Cvitanovic, Kimberly Klenk, Vivian M Nguyen
{"title":"Taking knowledge exchange to practice: A scoping review of practical case studies to identify enablers of success in environmental management","authors":"Tyreen Kapoor, Chris Cvitanovic, Kimberly Klenk, Vivian M Nguyen","doi":"10.1002/eet.2128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2128","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A gap exists in the literature on how to implement theories of knowledge exchange (KE) into practice within an environmental management context. To support the improved practice of KE, we conducted a scoping literature review evaluating 56 empirical case studies globally to identify enabling conditions for implementing effective KE. Identified enabling conditions were organized into a core capacities framework, which highlighted essential elements of effective KE from organizational, individual, financial, material, practical, political, and social capacity dimensions. Results show that major enablers to effective KE relate to practitioners' individual and organizational capacity including the ability of practitioners (often boundary spanners) to establish trust with relevant actors through their interpersonal relationships and possessing sufficient background knowledge and skills to facilitate collaborations across disciplines and sectors. We also identified main challenges to engaging in KE (e.g., insufficient long- term funding for projects, lack of interpersonal skills for KE practitioners to build relationships and network, and inadequate background knowledge for practitioners to exchange knowledge in an accessible manner), and the outcomes and impacts that can emerge from effective KE work. We find that practitioners often perform quantitative evaluations that provide instantaneous and measurable impacts for the effectiveness of KE, but do not capture the impact of interpersonal relationships and trust that are best achieved through qualitative approaches. Lastly, the synthesis of enablers, challenges, outcomes, and impacts presented in this paper can be a resource for practitioners to identify what enablers may be missing from their KE strategies and in what capacity the KE work can be strengthened.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 1","pages":"114-131"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2128","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143253303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bracing urban governance against climate crises: How to integrate high reliability into strategic decision-making?","authors":"Peeter Vihma, Janne I. Hukkinen","doi":"10.1002/eet.2129","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2129","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Turning cities socio-ecologically resilient is one of the pressing challenges in the face of ongoing climate change and accompanying extreme weather events. Despite concentrated efforts within specific urban domains, there exists a necessity for a coordinating mechanism that can concurrently monitor signals of slowly maturing long-term crises, such as global warming and swiftly intervene to mitigate urgent threats, such as catastrophic floods. This article explores the potential of high reliability principles to inform such a governance mechanism through a novel policy operations room (POR) framework, conceptualizing urban strategic goals as critical infrastructure. We analyze the conditions for integrating elements from top-down crisis management with bottom-up participatory scenario exercises and policy simulations in urban governance. Based on pre- and post-POR interviews and meeting transcripts in three Finnish cities we examine the regulative, normative, and cognitive aspects of integration. The analysis indicates that the implementation of a high reliability framework in urban settings can provide valuable support for addressing challenges induced by climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 1","pages":"103-113"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2129","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143253203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Flavia Simona Cosoveanu, Dries Hegger, Heleen Mees, Jean-Marie Buijs, Teun Terpstra, Peter P. J. Driessen
{"title":"The roles and unexplored potential of policy experimentation in climate adaptation governance: A systematic literature review","authors":"Flavia Simona Cosoveanu, Dries Hegger, Heleen Mees, Jean-Marie Buijs, Teun Terpstra, Peter P. J. Driessen","doi":"10.1002/eet.2127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2127","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Policy experimentation has emerged globally as a novel governance approach to address complex socio-environmental problems. In the climate adaptation literature, policy experiments that test technical and governance innovations on a small scale in real-world conditions are increasingly utilized to explore new pathways for climate adaptation. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on how policy experiments lead to transformative change in climate adaptation governance, particularly regarding their role as a change strategy. This systematic literature review aims to thoroughly investigate the topic by mapping the empirical characteristics of policy experiments, their role and their outcomes. An existing analytical framework was adapted to fulfill this objective by qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing 27 empirical papers. The findings reveal that policy experiments in climate adaptation often address multiple climate hazards, sectors and actors, yet they are spatially and temporally limited, being predominantly located in Europe. Moreover, the study highlights the transformative potential of policy experiments in climate adaptation governance, emphasizing their effectiveness in testing technical and governing innovations, as well as implementing adaptation policies. Policy experiments predominantly contribute to social learning rather than direct policy changes, requiring specific strategies to upscale the knowledge generated. We conclude the paper with a research agenda that stresses the need for more cumulative and comparative (post)assessments of climate adaptation experiments. This is important given the potential of policy experiments as governing approaches in the advancement of climate adaptation.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 1","pages":"79-102"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2127","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143252481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Between science, authority, and responsibility: Exploring institutional logics to rethink climate governance","authors":"Sébastien Keiff, David Talbot","doi":"10.1002/eet.2126","DOIUrl":"10.1002/eet.2126","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article explores the logics mobilized by stakeholders involved in national climate governance to identify ways of conciliating them for sound governance. Based on the theoretical framework of institutional logics, the study offers an innovative perspective on climate governance and the management of green funds. Content analysis of the briefs submitted (<i>N</i> = 46) to a public hearing in Quebec (Canada) reveals three competing institutional logics: scientific governance, authority-based governance, and participative governance. The results of this research have significant managerial and political implications for our understanding of the interactions between the different logics and for identifying ways to optimize climate governance. It also addresses essential but under-researched aspects of national climate governance and green fund management.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"35 1","pages":"64-78"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.2126","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142257238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}