scholarly journals The Remaking of Institutions for Local Climate Governance? Towards Understanding Climate Governance in a Multi-Level UK Local Government Area: A Micro-Local Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13817
Author(s):  
Erica Russell ◽  
Ian Christie
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Local Case ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Multi Level

The crisis of climate disruption and shortcomings in top-down approaches has focused attention on the effectiveness of governance to achieve climate goals. New sub-national governance models such as business alliances, city networks and NGO coalitions have emerged; such institutional ‘re-making’ is often motivated by frustration at national inaction, and by a belief thatlocal actors offer an effective ‘bottom-up’ approach. Literature on the emergence of climate-led multi-level and polycentric governance focuses primarily on cities; the role of urban-rural counties and of the micro-level of local government, and the challenges and opportunities before them, is less well studied. This paper draws on work in progress in a study exploring progress, challenges and failings in UK climate governance across multiple levels of county-based government: Surrey, an area of towns, peri-urban districts and countryside, is offered as a case study, with a focus on micro-level action in small towns and parishes. We find that despite a lack of national government orchestration or sub-regional frameworks, climate action is occurring voluntarily at all levels of governance. However, the nature of action is variable and irregular and there is little evidence as yet to demonstrate effectiveness. A fragmented form of multi-level governance is observed, with limited upward flows of ideas and no indication of national interest in micro-local climate lessons and experience. We identify the importance of ‘wilful actors’ and the need for greater coordination, information- and knowledge-sharing networks to achieve effective institutional ‘remaking’ for climate action.

scholarly journals Sanitation Upgrading as Climate Action: Lessons for Local Government from a Community Informal Settlement Project in Cape Town

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8598
Author(s):  
Alma Elisabeth Peirson ◽  
Gina Ziervogel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Informal Settlement ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

In light of the increasing call for climate action, there is a growing body of literature studying the ways in which informal settlements in the Global South are adapting to the impacts of climate change. In these particularly vulnerable communities where the existing infrastructural vulnerabilities faced by residents are exacerbated by the hazards of climate change, multi-level approaches involving more inclusive forms of governance are needed for the implementation of climate action. Drawing from the case of a sanitation upgrading project in the informal settlement of Murray, located in Philippi, Cape Town, this paper adds to current understandings of multi-level rapid climate action in informal settlements by endeavouring to address two gaps in this body of literature. Firstly, this paper demonstrates a link between climate change and sanitation which has received little attention by showing that improving sanitation infrastructure makes communities more resilient to extreme weather events associated with climate change. Secondly, the paper addresses how and by whom rapid climate action can be implemented in complex socio-institutional contexts such as informal settlements where the impacts of climate change are felt particularly strongly. This paper identifies what enabled and constrained climate action in the Murray informal settlement in an attempt to provide lessons for local government from the case of the sanitation upgrading project. Bottom-up initiation of multi-level climate action is dependent on fragile partnerships which require the support and involvement of a skilled and dedicated local government. Nevertheless, co-operative and transparent engagements across levels hold the potential to contribute to transformative adaptation through the establishment of new partnerships and forms of governance which recognise community groups as legitimate stakeholders and acknowledge the importance of lived experiences and mentalities.

scholarly journals Research and Technology Organizations as Super Intermediaries: A Conceptual Framework for Policy and a Case Study From Tanzania

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gussai H. Sheikheldin
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Policy Environments ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Innovation Processes

Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) have key roles in stories of national industrial development in many countries, and in various contexts they have transformed according to changes in their surrounding economic and policy environments. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of ‘RTOs as super intermediaries’ as they play multiple intermediary roles in the triple helix (government, research and industry), the overlap of industrial policy and research policy, and research-industry frontiers. The framework helps in understanding and advancing the role of RTOs in industrial development, particularly in developing countries. For a case study, the paper showcases research in Tanzania that explored possibilities of revamping RTOs and whether investing in them would help in spurring Tanzania's industrial development. Through key informant interviews and systemic literature review, a case study on the challenges and opportunities of RTOs was designed to examine their role and potential in industrial development and technology innovation processes. The study findings were overall in-line with two main lenses of inquiry: 1) that for RTOs to play their key roles in Tanzania, industrial policies shaped by the command economy era before the 1990s need to be reviewed and modified; and 2) that more investment in revamping RTOs will take place if policymaking processes acknowledge RTOs as super intermediaries. To organize policy lessons drawn, a multi-level policy map—micro, meso and macro—was utilized as an analytical tool.

scholarly journals Divest New York: The City of New York, C40, Fossil Fuel Divestment, and Climate Litigation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Rimmer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New York ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The City

Refereed Article. Matthew Rimmer, ‘Divest New York: The City of New York, C40, Fossil Fuel Divestment, and Climate Litigation’, (2019) 14 The Newcastle Law Review 51-77. Abstract In a case study of the City of New York, this paper explores and analyses civic, municipal narratives about climate activism, local government, fossil fuel divestment and climate litigation. Part 1 considers the integral part of the City of New York in the establishment and the evolution of the C40 Network. Part 2 focuses upon the fossil fuel divestment decision of the City of New York, and its commitment to reinvestment in respect of renewable energy and climate solutions. Part 3 examines the unsuccessful climate litigation by the City of New York against a number of major oil companies for damage caused by climate change, and the prospects of a future appeal. This paper contends that the City of New York provides an exceptional example for other cities seeking to support climate action.

scholarly journals What next for local government climate emergency declarations? The gap between rhetoric and action

2021 ◽  
Vol 167 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Candice Howarth ◽  
Matthew Lane ◽  
Sam Fankhauser
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Global Nature ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Constructive Engagement

AbstractThe UK, like other countries, has seen a proliferation of declarations of local climate emergencies. While these declarations have been interpreted as a demonstration of ambition, little is known about how and why they actually came about when they did and the implications this will have for what happens next. Focusing on London, UK, we present evidence collected via semi-structured interviews with experts and practitioners involved in the propagation of climate emergency declarations to critically explore how and why these declarations emerged, and the various different roles they are perceived to play for different local actors. Our findings reveal four journeys to local government declaration of a climate emergency (made actively from above, passively from above, actively from below, and passively from across) and three interwoven purposes (statements of intent, acting as a political gesture, and stimulating local action). We argue that these three purposes combine and coalesce to correlate the declaration of climate emergency with a local responsibility for emissions reduction, leaving little analytical space to question the scalar disconnect between the immediacy of the narrative at local scales and the slow-burning (and) global nature of the threat in question. If these emergency declarations are to be an opportunity for change in the governance of climate change, then the question of ‘what next?’ requires more in-depth, thorough and constructive engagement with the type of climate action the declarations are expected to induce while considering how this aligns with existing responsibilities and resource bases of local government.

scholarly journals Challenges and opportunities of hydrothermal carbonisation in the UK; case study in Chirnside

RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (55) ◽  
pp. 34870-34897
Author(s):  
Eloise Bevan ◽  
Jile Fu ◽  
Mauro Luberti ◽  
Ying Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Hydrothermal Carbonisation ◽  
The Uk

The latest research and development in hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) processes are reviewed and the feasibility of application to small towns in the UK is assessed.

scholarly journals From Ecophany to Burnout? An Anthropologist’s Reflections on Two Years of Participating in Council-Citizen Climate Governance in Eastbourne

World ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 521-537
Author(s):  
Pauline von Hellermann
Keyword(s):  
Specific Area ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Borough Council ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
Action Network ◽  
Collaborative Climate ◽  
Engaged Anthropology

In July 2019, Eastbourne Borough Council declared a climate emergency and committed to making Eastbourne carbon neutral by 2030. In order to achieve this, citizens together with Council created a unique model of council-citizen collaborative climate governance, the Eastbourne Eco Action Network (EAN). EAN’s main strategy has been the setting up of targeted working groups, each bringing together Councillors, engaged citizens and providers, and each tackling a specific area of climate action through a combination of infrastructure, institutional and behavioural changes. As an environmental anthropologist living in Eastbourne, I was involved in this process right from the beginning, having had my own ‘ecophany’—the realisation that the climate emergency required urgent action—in February 2019. Two years and one pandemic later, in this paper I reflect on the overall experiences and challenges of EAN’s and Eastbourne Borough Council’s work towards town-wide carbon neutrality to date, discussing possible factors (structural and other) determining varying successes and failures. At the same time, this paper provides an auto-ethnographic account of what ‘engaged anthropology’ means in practice, mapping out the real contributions anthropologists can and should make in local climate action, but also reflecting on challenges encountered along the way.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document