Module 1 Session 2 of climBEco PhD course, Lund University, 2014.

1. Dr. Joshka
Wessels
Module 1
Scales in Environmental Governance
Session 2: introduction to scales

2. Save the Planet !
• Do we own the planet or does the planet own us ?
• Does the environment unite (peace) or divide (war) ?
• How can we work together peacefully to save ourselves
without relying heavily on (human) engineering ?
• Adaptation or mitigation ?
• Altruism or selfishness ?

3. The problem of fit
• Ecosystems: life support systems, dynamically variable
systems, spatially heterogeneous systems, complex and
evolving systems
• Lack of fit between conventional management institutions
and ecosystem properties
• Disturbance; Human beings

4. Anthropogenic disturbances
“Many human activities (e.g., aquifer depletion, wetland
drainage) serve to divert water to the ocean that would
otherwise have been stored on the continents. Dam
building, on the other hand, impound continental runoff that
would otherwise have been transported to and stored in
the ocean. The balance between these positive and
negative alterations can be used as a measure of net
anthropogenic disturbance to the global hydrologic cycle”.
Vörösmarty & Sahagian

5. Scales and levels
“With the growing realization that the insights of social
science are crucial to understanding the relationships
between people and the natural environment, it is
necessary for social scientists to identify more clearly the
effects of diverse levels on multiple scales in their own
analyses, to comprehend how other social scientists
employ diverse kinds of levels and scales, and to begin a
dialogue with natural scientists about how different
conceptions of scales and levels are related”
IHDP (International Human Dimensions
Programme on Global Environmental
Change) 1998

6. Scales and levels
• Scale
• Extent
• Resolution
• Grain
• Hierarchy
• Inclusive Hierarchy
• Exclusive Hierarchy
• Constitutive Hierarchy
• Levels
• Absolute Scale
• Relative Scale

7. Scales and levels
• Natural sciences
• Social sciences
• Functionalism, analysis, governance of conflict,
hegemony and counter-hegemony, complex systems,
rational choice, cognitive theory
• Multiple meanings:
– spatial extent (observational scale)
– resolution of data (measurement scale)
– spatial extent of process (operational scale)
– dimensions of maps (cartographic scale)

8. Scales and levels
• Atmosphere
• Terrestrial vegetation
• Animal populations
• Watersheds
• Groundwater
• Oil and gas fields
• Forest size
• Ethnic groups
• Language groups

9. Spatial levels
of political
jurisdiction
Constitutional
choice level
Collective
choice level
Operational
choice level
International Treaties,
charters
External
international
agency
Management
and supervision
of international
agencies
National Constitutions National
legislature
National
governance
Regional Provincial or
federal state
Regional focus
legislature, civil
society
Regional
elected
representatives
Community County, city,
village
Community
policy
Local projects
and initiatives
Household Family,
responsibility
and duties
Household
policy and
culture
Income, time
management,
private initiative

10. Local Governance
“Structures and processes of societal decisionmaking at the
local level” (Helmsing, 2002)
Environmental problems and nesting ?
Role of globalisation processes ?
Scale and explanation of causal processes ?

11. Global to Local and Vice Versa
• When is the local reaching the global and when is the
global reaching the local ?

12. Global to Local and Vice Versa
HOME:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
AGE OF STUPID:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpSdPP9b0pc
SAVE LOCAL, SOLVE GLOBAL:
http://www.thewaterchannel.tv/es/videos/categorias/viewvid
eo/222/integrated-water-resource-management/water-save-
local-solve-global

13. Groups A and B
A: Emil Dickson, Fika Lutengano Mwakabungu, Jurate
Miliute-Plepiene, Lina Herbertsson, William Davis, Lovisa
Nilsson
B: Emma Li Johansson, Hanna Alfredsson, Karmen Sumic
Lina Eklund, Natalya Yakusheva, Nina Weitz, Satu
Kapiainen

14. Group exercise (one hour)
• Write as many environmental spaces and places you can
think of, each on a separate post-it note (10 mins).
• Write as many levels and scales you can think of (local,
regional, national etc.) (10 mins)
• Group the environmental spaces according to best levels
of governance, if there are interlinkages include those
too.
(15 mins)
• Prepare and present results to the other group and
discuss (20 mins)