Nonhumans in the practice of development: Material agency and friction in a small-scale energy program in Indonesia

We develop the outlines of a new approach to study the role of nonhumans in constituting ‘implementation’ and calculative–discursive practices in development projects and programs. Developing a framework around the concept of friction (material resistance or recalcitrance encountered in processes of transformation), we analyze an Energy Self-sufficient Village program in Indonesia. Focusing on specific projects and episodes within this program, we identify multiple distinctive instances of friction. These were driven by nonhumans’ (and humans’) resistance, as remolding of development beneficiaries’ practices was attempted by project administrators, government officials, entrepreneurs and by the (scientific) calculations embedded in their policies, strategies and models. In concluding, we distill four ways in which nonhumans relationally shape development practices: (a) by resisting representations and calculations produced by human actors, (b) by re-directing planned/expected courses of action, (c) through biophysical change to their weight or textures as they move in space and time, and (d) by mediating competition for resources. Overall, nonhumans play a central role in making and unmaking asymmetric relations of power in practice and by constituting practices that diverge from prior expectations, problematize linear understandings of ‘policy implementation’. Their material and discursive agency is multiple, manifesting differently in different relational settings, which highlights the importance of broadening the range of spokespersons who speak on behalf of nonhumans and whose voices can be considered reliable and true. Our study thus provides support to calls for pluralizing and democratizing development ‘expertise’ beyond the usual suspects in science, government and civil society.     

三稀矿产资源新兴产业发展及政策建议

三稀矿产资源是战略性新兴产业发展的基础原料,广泛应用在国防、航天、高端电子设备、核工业、发光材料等高精尖技术领域。本文在系统收集国内外三稀矿产资源生产、消费领域、价格以及进出口资料的基础上,提出了促进三稀矿产资源新兴产业发展的政策建议     

Towards an EU Action Plan on Cetacean Bycatch

For decades, cetacean bycatch has been a major conservation and welfare concern in Europe, with high numbers of harbour porpoises, dolphins and whales continuing to die each year. Despite binding legal requirements to reduce bycatch, there has been limited effective monitoring or mitigation. Bycatch is also an important welfare issue. At this critical juncture, with discussion of incorporating monitoring and mitigation of bycatch of protected species in Europe into the Data Collection Framework and Technical Measures Framework taking place to help deliver the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), a clear, effective strategy could identify the steps that are required by all EU Member States to reduce bycatch towards zero. Here, implementation of current monitoring and mitigation obligations are reviewed. Recommendations are made for the provision of clear EU guidance in order to improve and unify population surveillance and bycatch monitoring, with enhanced implementation and enforcement from Member States. A more regionalised evidence-based approach to monitoring and mitigation is in line with the move to more regionalised management under the CFP, with Member States robustly showing that bycatch levels are decreasing over a set period of time (e.g. 5 years) by a specified amount. To this end, an EU Action Plan on Cetacean Bycatch, comparable to the existing 2012 Action Plan for reducing incidental catches of seabirds in fishing gear, might be beneficial and could ultimately form a model for an international Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Cetacean Bycatch Reduction Action Plan.     

Ocean governance and maritime security in a placeful environment: The case of the European Union

Adopting a critical geopolitics approach that accounts for the mutually reinforcing link between geo-informed narratives and projection practices, this article proposes that ocean governance and maritime security have translated into states' and regional organisations' increasing control over maritime spaces. This leads to a certain territorialisation of the sea, not so much from a sovereignty and jurisdictional perspective but from a functional and normative perspective. The article starts by discussing the ways oceans have been represented and shows that they are far from a placeless void, both in practice and in discourse. The article then frames the analysis of ocean governance and maritime security within critical geopolitics, and elaborates on the case of the European Union's narrative and practice. It concludes on the mutually reinforcing link between discourse and practice in the field of ocean governance and maritime security in general, and on the consequences for the EU in particular. Scholars working on ocean governance and maritime security are encouraged to challenge the traditional view that oceans are placeless.     

Policy mobilities,territorial knowledge dynamics and the role of KIBS: Exploring conceptual synergies of formerly discrete approaches

Although contemporary policy making is substantially affected by consultants, little is known about the interconnection of their role inside policy making networks and their key product – knowledge. This paper matches the approaches on Policy Mobilities (PM) and Territorial Knowledge Dynamics (TKD) to fill this theoretical gap. By exploring the synergies of both concepts, a research agenda is suggested that enables to investigate the multi-facetted entanglements of knowledge and policy making dynamics as well as what stake consultants have in this complex assemblage. Accordingly, this paper claims appreciation of ‘variegated consultocracies’ rather than global homogeneity of consultants’ engagement in policy making processes by explicating better integration of ‘scale, ‘time’, and actors’ embeddedness into PM. The paper thus primarily aims to provide a solid theoretical and methodological basis for exploring the complex dynamics consultants take part in, and how they in turn impact policy making processes.     

Science and Technology of Delimitation of Continental Shelf and Its Application in Maritime Silk Road Cooperation*

Delimitation of the continental shelf is an emerging interdisciplinary discipline in the field of international marine science and technology. It uses the scientific and technological means to expand the jurisdiction of coastal states based on the international rules of the 《United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea》. Therefore, it is related to the marine sovereignty rights and interests of a country and also a hot topic of science and technology that all countries have competed to develop. China has launched the research in this field simultaneously with the world's maritime powers, and formed its innovative advantages in such aspects as geological models, detection techniques and delimitation systems in the delimitation of continental shelf, which have become the brand new ties for China's cooperation with foreign countries in marine science and technology, and also the important field in the maritime silk road cooperation in the 21^st century. This paper introduced the basic principles and methods in the delimitation of continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (370 km), progress in the delimitation of the global continental shelf, and China's innovative science and technology as well as its application in maritime Silk Road cooperation, and provided the prospect of the future scientific and technological cooperation with foreign countries and development in this filed. And it was suggested China should develop the scientific and technological cooperation on the delimitation of the continental shelf along the Silk Road, promote the scientific and technological development of the delimitation of the continental shelf in China, and enhance China's influence and voice in international ocean affairs.     

What drives policy change for REDD+? A qualitative comparative analysis of the interplay between institutional and policy arena factors

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) has emerged as a promising climate change mitigation mechanism in developing countries. In order to identify the enabling conditions for achieving progress in the implementation of an effective, efficient and equitable REDD+, this paper examines national policy settings in a comparative analysis across 13 countries with a focus on both institutional context and the actual setting of the policy arena. The evaluation of REDD+ revealed that countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America are showing some progress, but some face backlashes in realizing the necessary transformational change to tackle deforestation and forest degradation. A Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) undertaken as part of the research project showed two enabling institutional configurations facilitating progress: (1) the presence of already initiated policy change; and (2) scarcity of forest resources combined with an absence of any effective forestry framework and policies. When these were analysed alongside policy arena conditions, the paper finds that the presence of powerful transformational coalitions combined with strong ownership and leadership, and performance-based funding, can both work as a strong incentive for achieving REDD+ goals.

Key policy insights

• The positive push of already existing policy change, or the negative stress of resource scarcity together with lack of effective policies, represents institutional conditions that can support REDD+ progress.

• Progress also requires the presence of powerful transformational coalitions and strong ownership and leadership. In the absence of these internal drivers, performance-based funding can work as a strong incentive.

• When comparing three assessments (2012, 2014, 2016) of REDD+ enabling conditions, some progress in establishing processes of change can be observed over time; however, the overall fluctuation in progress of most countries reveals the difficulty in changing the deforestation trajectory away from business as usual.

     

Measuring,mapping and quantifying the effects of trust and informal communication on transboundary collaboration in the Great Lakes fisheries policy network

Ecosystem-based management of fisheries and other transboundary natural resources require a number of organizations across jurisdictions to exchange knowledge, coordinate policy goals and engage in collaborative activities. Trust, as part of social capital, is considered a key mechanism facilitating the coordination of such inter-organizational policy networks. However, our understanding of multi-dimensional trust as a theoretical construct and an operational variable in environmental and natural resource management has remained largely untested. This paper presents an empirical assessment of trust and communication measures applied to the North American Great Lakes fisheries policy network. Using a scale-based method developed for this purpose, we quantify the prevalence of different dimensions of trust and in/formal communication in the network and their differentiated impacts on decision-making and goal consensus. Our analysis reveals that calculation-based ‘rational trust’ is important for aligning mutual goals, but relationship-based ‘affinitive trust’ is most significant for influencing decision-making. Informal communication was also found to be a strong predictor of how effectively formal communication will influence decision-making, confirming the “priming” role of informal interactions in formal inter-agency dealings. The results also show the buffering and interactive functions of these components in strengthening institutional resilience, with procedural trust undergirding the system to compensate for a lack of well-developed relationships. Overall, this study provides evidence to suggest that informal communication and multi-dimensional trust constitute a crucial element for improving collaboration and reducing conflict in the networked governance of transboundary natural resource systems.     

南方涛动年际变化与夏季亚澳季风环流及海洋性大陆区域气候异常的联系

利用美国NOAA卫星观测的SOI(Southern Oscillation Index,南方涛动指数)资料以及NCEP/NCAR、CMAP月平均资料,采用相关分析等方法,研究了南方涛动年际变化与夏季亚澳季风环流及海洋性大陆区域气候异常的联系。结果表明:南方涛动具有显著的年际变化特征,这种年际变化对夏季亚澳季风区及海洋性大陆区域的环流、降水及温度异常有重要影响。当SOI正位相时,赤道以南的澳大利亚东部地区以及西北太平洋海域高层为气旋,低层为反气旋,赤道地区的东部太平洋低层为辐散中心,高层为辐合中心,有利于下沉运动维持;加里曼丹岛附近低层辐合,高层辐散,有利于上升运动维持;海洋性大陆地区降水为显著的正异常,东亚地区降水存在较弱的正异常;海洋性大陆地区以及我国青藏高原到东海一带温度为正异常,孟加拉湾及印度半岛区域温度为负异常。     

The Relationship between Narratives,Wildlife Value Orientations,Attitudes, and Policy Preferences

Overabundance of white-tailed deer is a pervasive problem across the United States. Deer are blamed for increased risk of auto accidents, tick-borne diseases, and overbrowsing of native species. Lethal management techniques, cited as cost-effective and humane, are commonly employed for herd management. However, the approach frequently sparks outrage among various stakeholders who feel killing of animals is unjustified and prefer nonlethal measures. Wildlife managers then face the challenge of communicating with the public to build policy support for lethal management. The Narrative Policy Framework was used to test the effects of differing narratives on public opinion for lethal deer management. Results indicated narratives were influential in shifting attitudes toward and support for a proposed sharpshooting policy even in some cases where respondents were already familiar with the issue and held a previous opinion. This study also supported the utility of the Narrative Policy Framework for examining human dimensions of wildlife issues.