Homecoming without Nostalgia: Local Communities and the Reintroduction of the Wild Forest Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus sennicus) in Finland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Hiedanpää ◽  
Jani Pellikka
Keyword(s):  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Relational Value ◽  
Local Acceptance ◽  
Target Locations ◽  
Integrated Impact Assessment

Wildlife translocations often raise concerns about the purpose and impact among people living in target locations. We applied the integrated impact assessment in planning the reintroduction of wild forest reindeer in Finland. We investigated the variety of expected socioecological impacts, the relative importance of these impacts and local willingness to participate in local-level reintroduction activities. The reintroduction project organised interactive forums in 2013 and 2016 in each of the four regions suitable for wild forest reindeer. The variety of recognised potential impacts was high, but the relative importance given to the expected impacts varied relatively little from forum to forum. Importantly, we found a contextual and relational value of wild forest reindeer that extended beyond their intrinsic and instrumental value. The results indicate high local acceptance of reintroduction and willingness to participate in it.

Halting Forest Encroachment in Terai: What Role for Community Forestry?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-34
Author(s):  
Prabin Bhusal ◽  
Naya Sharma Paudel ◽  
Anukram Adhikary ◽  
Jisan Karki ◽  
Kamal Bhandari
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Adaptive Learning ◽  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Community Forestry ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Local Livelihoods

This paper highlights the lessons of using adaptive learning in community forestry that effectively help to resolve forest based conflicts in Terai region of Nepal. The paper is based on a three-year action research carried out in Terai. Qualitative methods including participatory rural appraisal tools and documentation of engaged action and reflections were used. Methods and tools that largely fall under adaptive learning were deployed. The field data was complemented by review of secondary data and literature on environmental history of Terai. We found that policies on land and forest in Terai for the last fifty years have induced and aggravated conflicts over access and control between state and communities and also within diverse groups of local communities. These conflicts have had serious negative impacts on sustainable management of forests and on local people’s livelihoods, particularly resource poor and landless people. Centralised and bureaucratic approaches to control forest and encroachment have largely failed. Despite investing millions of Rupees in maintaining law and order in forestlands, the problem continues to worsen often at the cost of forests and local communities. We found that transferring management rights to local communities like landless and land poor in the form of community forestry (CF) has induced strong local level collective action in forest management and supported local livelihoods. Moreover, adding adaptive learning, as a methodological tool to improve governance and enhance local level collective action significantly improves the benefit of CF. It implies that a major rethinking is needed in the current policies that have often led to hostile relationships with the local inhabitants- particularly the illegal settlers. Instead, transferring forest rights to local communities and supporting them through technical aspects of forest management will strengthen local initiatives towards sustainable management of forests.

Incentives for the development of industrial parks (on the example of the border regions of Poland)

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-87
Author(s):  
Yaroslava Kalat
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Cost Minimization ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Financial Assistance ◽  
Industrial Park ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Industrial Parks ◽  
Spatial Policy

In the search for efficient decisions directed at the stimulation of regional development and improvement of regions’ innovativeness and investment attractiveness, the EU regions have long ago started paying attention to local communities. In particular, Polish local governments are granted an opportunity to conduct an active spatial policy of investment attraction using various instruments. In this context, the industrial parks play an important role among the created institutes of the business environment, because they create advantages for local communities and businesses. In particular, they promote investment attraction, entrepreneurship activation, employment and jobs increase, material cost minimization, etc. At the same time, the development of entrepreneurship environment institutes requires support at national, regional, and local levels. The development will be almost impossible without the creation of proper legal, political, economic, and social conditions for their activity. The paper aims to define major stimuli of industrial park development based on the Polish experience, the economic structure of which is similar to the Ukrainian one. This will contribute to the development of the ways to boost industrial park development in Ukraine, especially in the border areas. For the matter, the author outlines the major instruments used by Polish local communities to boost investment and entrepreneurship activity in the framework of industrial park development. The scientific paper emphasizes the analysis of legislation on creation, functioning, and support of Polish industrial park development, and further perspectives of their activity. Special attention is paid to general characteristics of the condition of industrial parks located in Polish border regions. The advantages of each of them are determined and examples of their creation and development are given. The research resulted in the allocation of two groups of stimuli of industrial parks development which are the precondition, according to the author, of industrial parks becoming the instrument of investment attraction, economic boost of the territories, and entrepreneurship activity growth: the stimuli of development of industrial parks’ organizational structure (public financial assistance; information and advisory support; grans of European funds; international cooperation / partnership; independent spatial policy at the local level) and the stimuli of entrepreneurship development in industrial parks (infrastructure (physical and soft); public financial assistance; tax incentives; investment grants; financial loans).

scholarly journals Managing sustainability risks of bioenergy in four Nordic countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Chr. Hansen ◽  
Nicholas Clarke ◽  
Atle Wehn Hegnes
Keyword(s):  
Resource Competition ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Carbon Pools ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Government Planning ◽  
High Degree

Abstract Background Bioenergy plays a key role in the transition to a sustainable economy in Europe, but its own sustainability is being questioned. We study the experiences of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, to find out whether the forest-based bioenergy chains developed in the four countries have led to unsustainable outcomes and how the countries manage the sustainability risks. Data were collected from a diversity of sources including interviews, statistical databases, the scientific literature, government planning documents and legislation. Results Sustainability risks of deforestation, degradation of forests, reduced carbon pools in forests, expensive biopower and heat, resource competition, and lack of acceptance at the local level are considered. The experience of the four countries shows that the sustainability risks can to a high degree be managed with voluntary measures without resorting to prescriptive measures. It is possible to add to the carbon pools of forests along with higher harvest volumes if the risks are well managed. There is, however, a marginal trade-off between harvest volume and carbon pools. Economic sustainability risks may be more challenging than ecological risks because the competitiveness order of renewable energy technologies has been reversed in the last decade. The risk of resource competition harming other sectors in the economy was found to be small and manageable but requires continuous monitoring. Local communities acting as bioenergy communities have been agents of change behind the most expansive bioenergy chains. A fear of non-local actors reaping the economic gains involved in bioenergy chains was found to be one of the risks to the trust and acceptance necessary for local communities to act as bioenergy communities. Conclusions The Nordic experience shows that it has been possible to manage the sustainability risks examined in this paper to an extent avoiding unsustainable outcomes. Sustainability risks have been managed by developing an institutional framework involving laws, regulations, standards and community commitments. Particularly on the local level, bioenergy chains should be developed with stakeholder involvement in development and use, in order to safeguard the legitimacy of bioenergy development and reconcile tensions between the global quest for a climate neutral economy and the local quest for an economically viable community.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the effects of health impact assessment practice at the local level in Monteregie

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kareen Nour ◽  
Sarah Dutilly-Simard ◽  
Astrid Brousselle ◽  
Pernelle Smits ◽  
Jean-Marie Buregeya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Health Impact Assessment ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Assessment Practice

scholarly journals How Blue Carbon Ecosystems Are Perceived by Local Communities in the Coral Triangle: Comparative and Empirical Examinations in the Philippines and Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Jay Mar D. Quevedo ◽  
Yuta Uchiyama ◽  
Kevin Muhamad Lukman ◽  
Ryo Kohsaka
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Blue Carbon ◽  
Utilization Rate ◽  
Coral Triangle ◽  
Factors Affecting

Blue carbon ecosystem (BCE) initiatives in the Coral Triangle Region (CTR) are increasing due to their amplified recognition in mitigating global climate change. Although transdisciplinary approaches in the “blue carbon” discourse and collaborative actions are gaining momentum in the international and national arenas, more work is still needed at the local level. The study pursues how BCE initiatives permeate through the local communities in the Philippines and Indonesia, as part of CTR. Using perception surveys, the coastal residents from Busuanga, Philippines, and Karimunjawa, Indonesia were interviewed on their awareness, utilization, perceived threats, and management strategies for BCEs. Potential factors affecting residents’ perceptions were explored using multivariate regression and correlation analyses. Also, a comparative analysis was done to determine distinctions and commonalities in perceptions as influenced by site-specific scenarios. Results show that, despite respondents presenting relatively high awareness of BCE services, levels of utilization are low with 42.9–92.9% and 23.4–85.1% respondents in Busuanga and Karimunjawa, respectively, not directly utilizing BCE resources. Regression analysis showed that respondents’ occupation significantly influenced their utilization rate and observed opposite correlations in Busuanga (positive) and Karimunjawa (negative). Perceived threats are found to be driven by personal experiences—occurrence of natural disasters in Busuanga whereas discerned anthropogenic activities (i.e., land-use conversion) in Karimunjawa. Meanwhile, recognized management strategies are influenced by the strong presence of relevant agencies like non-government and people’s organizations in Busuanga and the local government in Karimunjawa. These results can be translated as useful metrics in contextualizing and/or enhancing BCE management plans specifically in strategizing advocacy campaigns and engagement of local stakeholders across the CTR.

METHODOLOGICAL EURO-ORIENTATIONS FOR EVALUATION OF ECOSYSTEM ASSETS OF TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES RELATED TO WATER RESOURCES

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-47
Author(s):  
Valentyna Kolmakova
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Asset Valuation ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
European Experience ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Methodological Principles ◽  
Spatial Entities

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the theoretical and methodological approach to determining the key characteristics of the assessment of ecosystem assets of territorial communities related to water. The study considers the theoretical and methodological principles of assessing ecosystem assets for sustainable development of local communities. The initial methodological approaches of the accumulated world experience on the assessment of ecosystem services and ecosystem assets of local level territories in the context of three components (ecological, economic and social) in the context of water-related ecosystems are specified. An algorithm for estimating ecosystem assets is proposed. The key guidelines for assessing the ecosystem assets of territorial spatial entities based on European experience are revealed. The list of scientific recommendations for the assessment of water-related ecosystem assets to enhance the capacity of local communities and preserve and restore ecosystems is substantiated. The novelty of the study lies in the proposals for the implementation in Ukrainian practice of general approaches to the methodology of assessment of ecosystem assets and services, according to the recommendations of the international project of the European Commission “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB). The key Euro-benchmarks proposed by the author for the assessment of water-related ecosystem assets will help increase the investment attractiveness of spatial territorial formations and create preconditions for the development of a new economy on an ecosystem basis. Further research has prospects in the following areas: formation of a comprehensive strategic approach to the introduction of ecosystem asset valuation at the local level; development and introduction of effective methodological approaches to the assessment of ecosystem assets for the formation of investment attractiveness of the territory through the use of local natural resources, including water, as ecosystem assets of sustainable spatial development.

scholarly journals МОДЕЛЮВАННЯ МЕРЕЖІ НАДАННЯ ПУБЛІЧНИХ СЕРВІСІВ ТА ПОСЛУГ У СФЕРІ КУЛЬТУРИ ХАРКІВСЬКОЇ ОБЛАСТІ

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-50
Author(s):  
Н. А. Плотнік
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Cultural Services ◽  
Basic Network

In the article the author considers the peculiarities of modeling the basic network of cultural institutions of local level in Kharkiv region, the use of scientific methods and approaches during modeling, identifies problems in ensuring the provision of quality cultural services by cultural institutions and services to local communities.

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