scholarly journals Learning from experience: what the emerging global marine assessment community can learn from the social processes of other global environmental assessments

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-114
Author(s):  
Kyle Fawkes ◽  
Sebastian Ferse ◽  
Anja Scheffers ◽  
Valerie Cummins

In recent decades, international assessments of the ocean have evolved from specialized, technical evaluations of the state of the marine environment to more integrated and thematically extensive science-policy platforms. As assessment programmes such as the UN Regular Process blossom on the global stage and subsume responsibility for tracking progress on sustainable development, there is a need to consider how their processes wield influence and effectively translate knowledge into action. In the present paper, we undertake a comprehensive review of the literature on global environmental assessments (GEAs) and extract key principles that can be applied to global assessments of the marine environment. We were particularly inspired to identify how social processes could be arranged to best distill, communicate, and produce actionable knowledge. While we look to the advice of experts in the literature, we highlight specific examples from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the Global Environment Outlook (GEO). From this review, knowledge coproduction, multilevel collaboration, and futures thinking emerged as the dominant principles of influential and action-oriented assessments. We conclude the paper by contextualizing how these principles may be operationalized for Global Marine Assessments in the future.

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Adam Standring ◽  
Rolf Lidskog

To what extent has the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) succeeded in its ambition to shape a more diverse environmental expertise? In what ways are diversity important to the IPCC? What purposes does diversity serve in the IPCC’s production of global environmental assessments and thus environmental knowledge in general? These questions are explored by analyzing quantitative demographic data of the latest two assessment cycles (AR5 and AR6) and qualitative data from a semi-structured interview study with IPCC experts. The analysis shows that there have been improvements in diversity in recent years across measures of gender (women comprising 34% of authors in AR6 compared to 21% in AR5), regional representation and the proportion of authors from developing countries (35% in AR6 compared to 31% in AR5). These improvements have not, however, been distributed evenly when looking at the seniority of authors, nor when comparing across working groups, with WGI (the physical science) remaining much less diverse (28% female authors) than WGII (impacts) (41% female authors) and WGIII (mitigation) (32% female authors). The interviews suggest that rather than viewing diversity as a challenge it should be viewed as an opportunity to build capacity. Distinctions between scientific expertise and ‘diversity of voice’ need to be reconsidered in terms of both the substantive and instrumental value that a diverse range of knowledge, experience and skills add to the process of the scientific assessment of climate knowledge. In the concluding discussion, three points are raised: (i) the issue of diversity will probably grow in importance due to the fact that the complex task of transforming society has increasingly come into focus; (ii) the issue of diversity will be crucial for IPCC to maintain and develop its capacity to make assessments; (iii) the issue of diversity should not be reduced to simply a means for improving the process of making assessments, but should also improve the outcomes of the assessments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Bonetto ◽  
Fabien Girandola ◽  
Grégory Lo Monaco

Abstract. This contribution consists of a critical review of the literature about the articulation of two traditionally separated theoretical fields: social representations and commitment. Besides consulting various works and communications, a bibliographic search was carried out (between February and December, 2016) on various databases using the keywords “commitment” and “social representation,” in the singular and in the plural, in French and in English. Articles published in English or in French, that explicitly made reference to both terms, were included. The relations between commitment and social representations are approached according to two approaches or complementary lines. The first line follows the role of commitment in the representational dynamics: how can commitment transform the representations? This articulation gathers most of the work on the topic. The second line envisages the social representations as determinants of commitment procedures: how can these representations influence the effects of commitment procedures? This literature review will identify unexploited tracks, as well as research perspectives for both areas of research.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bayram Unal

This study deals with survival strategies of illegal migrants in Turkey. It aims to provide an explanation for the efforts to keep illegality sustainable for one specific ethnic/national group—that is, the Gagauz of Moldova, who are of Turkish ethnic origin. In order to explicate the advantages of Turkish ethnic origin, I will focus on their preferential treatment at state-law level and in terms of the implementation of the law by police officers. In a remarkable way, the juridical framework has introduced legal ways of dealing with the illegality of ethnically Turkish migrants. From the viewpoint of migration, the presence of strategic tools of illegality forces us to ask not so much law-related questions, but to turn to a sociological inquiry of how and why they overstay their visas. Therefore, this study concludes that it is the social processes behind their illegality, rather than its form, that is more important for our understanding of the migrants’ survival strategies in destination countries.


1992 ◽  
Vol 31 (4I) ◽  
pp. 535-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ali Khan

Harberger introduced his influential 1971 essay with the following words. This paper is intended not as a scientific study, nor as a review of the literature, but rather as a tract - an open letter to the profession, as it were - pleading that three basic postulates be accepted as providing a conventional framework for applied welfare economics. The postulates are: (a) The competitive demand price for a given unit measures the value of that unit to the demander; (b) The competitive supply price for a given unit measures the value of that unit to the supplier; and (c) When evaluating the net benefits or costs of a given action (project, programme, or policy), the costs and benefits accruing to each member of the relevant group (e.g., a nation) should normally be added without regard to the individual(s) to whom they accrue.


Author(s):  
Shenique S. Thomas ◽  
Johnna Christian

This chapter draws from a qualitative study of incarcerated men to investigate the social processes and interactions between both correctional authorities and family members that inform their sense of belonging and legitimacy. It reveals that prison visitation rooms present a complex environment in which incarcerated men have access to discreet periods of visibility and relevance to their family members and the broader community. There are, however, several precarious aspects to these processes. The family members who are central to enhancing men’s visibility and legitimacy are primarily women from economically disadvantaged, racial, and ethnic minority groups, resulting in their own marginalization, which is compounded within prison spaces. By illuminating both the challenges and opportunities of familial connections, this chapter informs a social justice framework for understanding the experiences of both incarcerated men and their family members.


Postcolonial studies, postmodern studies, even posthuman studies emerge, and intellectuals demand that social sciences be remade to address fundamentals of the human condition, from human rights to global environmental crises. Since these fields owe so much to American state sponsorship, is it easier to reimagine the human and the modern than to properly measure the pervasive American influence? Reconsidering American Power offers trenchant studies by renowned scholars who reassess the role of the social sciences in the construction and upkeep of the Pax Americana and the influence of Pax Americana on the social sciences. With the thematic image for this enterprise as the ‘fiery hunt’ for Ahab’s whale, the contributors pursue realities behind the theories, and reconsider the real origins and motives of their fields with an eye on what will deter or repurpose the ‘fiery hunts’ to come, by offering a critical insider’s view.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 386
Author(s):  
Jennie Gray ◽  
Lisa Buckner ◽  
Alexis Comber

This paper reviews geodemographic classifications and developments in contemporary classifications. It develops a critique of current approaches and identifiea a number of key limitations. These include the problems associated with the geodemographic cluster label (few cluster members are typical or have the same properties as the cluster centre) and the failure of the static label to describe anything about the underlying neighbourhood processes and dynamics. To address these limitations, this paper proposed a data primitives approach. Data primitives are the fundamental dimensions or measurements that capture the processes of interest. They can be used to describe the current state of an area in a multivariate feature space, and states can be compared over multiple time periods for which data are available, through for example a change vector approach. In this way, emergent social processes, which may be too weak to result in a change in a cluster label, but are nonetheless important signals, can be captured. As states are updated (for example, as new data become available), inferences about different social processes can be made, as well as classification updates if required. State changes can also be used to determine neighbourhood trajectories and to predict or infer future states. A list of data primitives was suggested from a review of the mechanisms driving a number of neighbourhood-level social processes, with the aim of improving the wider understanding of the interaction of complex neighbourhood processes and their effects. A small case study was provided to illustrate the approach. In this way, the methods outlined in this paper suggest a more nuanced approach to geodemographic research, away from a focus on classifications and static data, towards approaches that capture the social dynamics experienced by neighbourhoods.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402098852
Author(s):  
David Martínez Rojas ◽  
Wilson Muñoz Henríquez ◽  
Carlos Mondaca Rojas

In the last decades, Chile has become a receiving society of migrants, and this has overtaxed the social services in this country, among them the school system. According to the literature, the issue is that migration has not been addressed with a proper response from public policies. This article aims to examine recommendations for the development of these policies. To undertake this task, we have conducted a systematic review of the literature on this issue in Chile, Argentina, and Spain (1990–2018). The three cases show the presence of discrimination and racism, with a common response taking the form of intercultural education. In terms of differences, only in Spain there is a consolidated body of research and public policies that focus on migration. That said, although the policies are more robust in Spain, several studies critically assess them. Hence, this country is a good example to know what to do and what to avoid. That information is exactly what is needed in countries like Chile where migration has become pressing issue that demands a proper response.


2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 429-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Lewis

While there has been a noted variation in the ‘species’ of entrepreneur so that no single list of traits, characteristics or attributes is definitive, it is posited that to be an entrepreneur a certain amount of entrepreneurial capability is required. ‘Entrepreneurial capability’ is a concept developed to place some form of identity on the attributes that are needed to pursue an entrepreneurial career. The concept of entrepreneurial capability is linked to that of entrepreneurial capital, previously discussed by Erikson (2002) and Firkin (2003), but it provides greater depth and offers wider applicability. After reviewing the literature from the fields of economics, politics and the social sciences, the author proposes an ‘equation’ and a model for the factors that act as building blocks for an individual's entrepreneurial capability, which can be applied to nascent as well as experienced and serial entrepreneurs.


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