Recent research

1. Recent publications from the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI)
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CLIMATE CHANGE
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Tor Håkon Inderberg, Siri Eriksen, Karen O'Brien and Linda Sygna (eds)
Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Changing Paradigms and Practices
London, Routledge, 2015, 295 p.
Climate change poses multiple challenges to development. It affects lives and livelihoods,
infrastructure and institutions, as well as beliefs, cultures and identities. There is a growing
recognition that the social dimensions of vulnerability and adaptation now need to move to the
forefront of development policies and practices. This book presents case studies showing that
climate change is as much a problem of development as for development, with many of the risks
closely linked to past, present and future development pathways. Development policies and
practices can play a key role in addressing climate change, but it is critical to question to what extent
such actions and interventions reproduce, rather than address, the social and political structures and
development pathways driving vulnerability. The chapters emphasise that adaptation is about much
more than a set of projects or interventions to reduce specific impacts of climate change; it is about
living with change while also transforming the processes that contribute to vulnerability in the first
place. This book will help students in the field of climate change and development to make sense of
adaptation as a social process, and it will provide practitioners, policymakers and researchers
working at the interface between climate change and development with useful insights for
approaching adaptation as part of a larger transformation to sustainability.
> More information about the book: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138025981/
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LAW OF THE SEA AND MARINE AFFAIRS
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Anders Grønstad Friisk
Arctic Coastal State Jurisdiction in an Era of Climate Change. Vessel-Source Oil Pollution and
International Shipping in Norwegian and Russian Arctic Waters.
FNI Report 12/2014. Lysaker, FNI, 2014, 54 p.
The main objective of this report is to discuss whether the contemporary international legal
framework grants the coastal States of Norway and Russia adequate jurisdiction to prevent, reduce
and control vessel-source oil pollution from foreign commercial ships navigating off the coast of
Northern Norway and in the Northern Sea Route. It gives an introduction to the characteristics of the
Arctic marine environment, climate change and Arctic navigation, as well as a theoretical overview
over the contemporary international legal framework on coastal State jurisdiction under UNCLOS and
MARPOL 73/78. The report devotes special attention to the interpretation and application of Art. 234
UNCLOS concerning its geographical and temporal scope in Norwegian and Russian ‘ice-covered
areas’. A separate part is devoted to the latest drafts of the emerging Polar Code, currently being
negotiated under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization, and discusses whether it
will affect the existing jurisdictional powers under the current legal regime.

2. > Download the report here: http://www.fni.no/doc&pdf/FNI-R1214.pdf
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BIODIVERSITY AND GENETIC RESOURCES
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Tone Winge
Linking access and benefit-sharing for crop genetic resources to climate change adaptation
Plant Genetic Resources, Online 15.12.2014. DOI: 10.1017/S1479262114001038, 17 p.
This article links the concept of access and benefit-sharing as it pertains to crop genetic resources to
climate change adaptation and argues that systems for access and benefit-sharing can, and should,
be designed to contribute to climate change adaptation for agriculture. The access and benefit-
sharing provisions of the two international agreements that together provide the international legal
framework for access and benefit-sharing – the Convention on Biological Diversity (with its Nagoya
Protocol) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture – are
presented and analysed. How these agreements are implemented is central to adaptation, as the
effects of climate change threaten crop genetic resources and future adaptive capacity, and, if
properly maintained and utilized, crop genetic resources will be essential to climate change
adaptation across the globe. This article, therefore, argues that an important adaptation strategy
linked to such implementation is to direct benefit-sharing for crop genetic resources towards
adaptation efforts and to ensure facilitated and efficient access to crop genetic resources for
adaptation purposes. Some options for how this can be pursued at both the international and
national level are offered.
> Access the article here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1479262114001038
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Kristin Rosendal and Steinar Andresen
Realizing Access and Benefit Sharing from Use of Genetic Resources Between Diverging
International Regimes: The Scope for Leadership
International Environmental Agreements, Online 09.12.2014. DOI: 10.1007/s10784-014-9271-4,
2014, 18 p.
This article examines how access and benefit sharing (ABS) in international transactions with genetic
resources can be achieved and how Norway contributes to their realization. Regarding the first
question, progress on the ground has been slow, but important principles have been agreed within
the convention on biological diversity (CBD) and its Nagoya Protocol (NP). Although domestic
legislation is adopted, key user countries remain reluctant. They argue that the ABS regime needs to
be supplemented with sector approaches within forums such as the Food and Agriculture
Organization. In principle, this may sound logical, but sector approaches may risk undermining the
ABS regime of the CBD/NP. The principle of access is more user-oriented and benefit sharing is
weaker in the relevant FAO negotiations. Against this background, the future practical significance of
the ABS regime remains uncertain. Norway has played an important leadership role in ABS within the
CBD/NP framework. This stems in part from ‘fortunate circumstances’, as Norway has relatively few
stakes in this issue area, but also includes strong normative elements: The Norwegian position has
also been solidified by good coordination and strong institutional capacity among the actors
involved. However, there are indications of a growing split in the Norwegian position along sector
lines. We do not yet have sufficient empirical evidence that this is the case; but if it is, achieving an
effective ABS regime may be even more difficult.

3. > Access the article here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10784-014-9271-4
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Andreas Røise Myhrvold
Power to Protect? Participation in Decentralized Conservation Management. The Case of
Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, Nepal
FNI Report 16/2014. Lysaker, FNI, 2014, 98 p.
This report is based on a case study of participation in and decentralized management of
Kangchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) in north-eastern Nepal.
The report provides a broad theoretical framework for analysing management practices in KCA and
the potential consequences for balancing conservation objectives and local development aspirations,
with a focus on participation in and decentralization of PA management, common pool resource
theory and a three-dimensional approach to power analysis.
The key findings are that KCA can be considered the most decentralized PA in Nepal, but that it does
not constitute a fully decentralized PA, as substantial powers and rights are retained by the
government conservation authority and the previous implementing institution. Moreover, although
broad popular participation has been achieved in KCA, participation in the area does not amount to
the highest forms or ladders of participation presented in theory-based contributions on the subject.
This is linked to the degree of devolution of power in the decentralized management framework.
Finally, the report discusses the links between the decentralized management framework and the
balancing of conservation and development in the area under study. It identifies several possible
challenges for reconciling conservation and development, and argues that it is still too early to assess
whether the system will prove sustainable in conservational, managerial and financial terms.
> Download the report here: http://www.fni.no/doc&pdf/FNI-R1614.pdf
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ARCTIC AND RUSSIAN POLITICS
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Leiv Lunde
High North - Increasing Tension?: A Nordic Perspective
In D.S. Hamilton, A. Simonyi and D.L. Cagan (eds), Advancing U.S.-Nordic-Baltic Security Cooperation.
Washington DC (USA), Center for Transatlantic Relations, 2014, pp. 189-198.
> Download the chapter here: http://transatlantic.sais-jhu.edu/publications/books/Advancing_U.S.-
Nordic-Baltic_Security_Cooperation/Chapter_16_Leiv_Lunde.pdf
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EUROPEAN ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS
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Elin Lerum Boasson and Jørgen Wettestad
Policy invention and entrepreneurship: Bankrolling the burying of carbon in the EU
Global Environmental Change, Vol 29, 2014, pp. 404-412.

4. This article presents the case of a policy invention where various kinds of entrepreneurship and a
window of opportunity played important roles. In 2008 the EU adopted a new Carbon Capture and
Storage (CCS) policy with an inventive funding instrument at its core: the NER 300 fund, based on
revenues from the auctioning of emissions trading allowances. Thus far, the literature on policy
entrepreneurs has focused more on success factors that enable particular persons to be especially
influential than on the defining characteristics of entrepreneurship. We contribute to the literature
on entrepreneurship and windows of opportunity by distinguishing two entrepreneurial techniques –
framing and procedural engineering – and two categories of commitment – ‘tortoise’ and carpe
diem. We conclude that ‘tortoises’ who contributed to creating the broad and general climate policy
window paved the way for issue-specific carpe diemers who promoted the more specific NER 300
policy invention. Furthermore, we distinguish and discuss four different entrepreneurship
mechanisms that may influence policy invention processes.
> Access the article here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.09.010
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Jørgen Wettestad
Do New EU Agencies Mean Decreased National Powers? The Case of Chemicals and Norway.
FNI Report 14/2014. Lysaker, FNI, 2014, 17 p.
An important aspect of changing EU governance is the expanding role of regulatory agencies. These
agencies have been held to reduce the role of member states in policy-making, shifting powers to the
EU level and the intricate technical processes there. For Norway as an EEA country, there are
additional, specific formal barriers, like lack of voting rights and being barred from certain lead
positions. EU enlargement and the further diversification of member-state interests have been
assumed to complicate matters for Norway even further. However, closer scrutiny of the role of
Norway in the chemicals agency ECHA challenges this gloomy picture. Compared to pre-ECHA days,
where Norway had to hope that the EU Commission would to pick up domestic priorities and act on
them, ECHA and the new phase of EU chemicals governance has given Norway room for directly
proposing and steering through new legislation. As examined here, the case of mercury regulation is
the jewel in the crown for these new possibilities so far.
Download the report here: http://www.fni.no/doc&pdf/FNI-R1414.pdf
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Jon Birger Skjærseth
Implementing EU Climate and Energy Policies in Poland: From Europeanization to Polonization?
FNI Report 8/2014. Lysaker, FNI, 2014, 57 p.
This report examines Poland’s implementation of the EU climate and energy policy package to attain
2020 goals: the extent to which and how these policies have been implemented to date, why and
with what consequences for Poland’s positions on new EU climate policies. Because unanimity is
required on new long-term climate and energy policy goals, the relationship between the EU and
Poland is crucial. Indigenous coal accounts for nearly 90% of the country’s electricity production and
50% of its total CO2 emissions. The first observation is that there have been significant
implementation problems concerning the ETS, RES and CCS Directives. The EU package cannot be
said to have been a ‘game changer’ – Poland has mainly opposed and absorbed the package to make
it fit with existing policies and energy mix. Second, implementation challenges arise from EU
adaptation pressure and ‘misfit’ with national policies, negotiating position and energy mix. Domestic
politics has also proved important: The consistency in governmental prioritization of coal, opposition

5. to climate policy by state-owned energy groups and privileged access to decision making for these
groups. Moreover, lack of willingness, ability and opportunities at the national level to transform the
linking of various policies and issues that promoted EU level agreement has made Poland increasingly
resistant to long-term EU policies. This is partly reflected in the new 2030 climate and energy policy
framework adopted by the European Council in October 2014. Still, there are some signs of changes
that may drive Poland towards a ‘greener’ pathway in the future.
> Download the report here: http://www.fni.no/doc&pdf/FNI-R0814.pdf
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CHINESE ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS
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Emil Gjeset
Between Fragmentation and Harmony. The Political Economy of Shale Gas in China.
FNI Report 15/2014. Lysaker, FNI, 2014, 53 p.
The aim of this paper is to explore the evolution of government priorities, strategies and policies
towards the Chinese shale gas industry in the context of general theories on policy making in China’s
energy sector. The report begins with a review of the body of theory related to policy processes in
the Chinese energy sector, which describes China’s energy sector as consisting of a fragmented set of
institutions, where changes are incremental and policy making is disjointed. Flowing from this body
of work, the paper draws on Chinese official documents and interviews with industry insiders to
expose an inconsistency between the official strategy for development, market structure and
entrenched interests in maintaining the current system. It argues that the increasing urgency of
limiting coal consumption while expanding domestic natural gas production has created political
impetus behind utilizing shale gas resources. Moreover, a consensus has emerged among the most
important regulatory institutions in favor of a development strategy assimilating the US experience,
consisting of direct government support through subsidies and R&D programs, and market
deregulation and restructuring in favor of private and foreign access. However, there is a long way to
go before this initiative can become reality. First of all, due to material constraints, including complex
geological characteristics and water scarcity, shale gas extraction on the Chinese continental shelf
has been more technologically intensive, time consuming and expensive than the case in other more
favorable areas. Second, the chosen strategy faces many institutional constraints, including a heavily
regulated pricing structure, a monopolized natural gas industry, lacking environmental regulation
and a failure to incentivize foreign cooperation. The report concludes that despite coordination of
priorities and strategy among energy regulators, they have so far been unable to overcome these
institutional constraints, in part due to the strong dominance of the Chinese national oil and gas
companies and their entrenched interest in the status quo. Hence, this study argues that the
emerging shale gas industry generally supports the assumption that Chinese energy politics are
fragmented, but that the most important disjunct exists between the regulators and the NOCs,
rather than within the bureaucracy in charge of managing shale gas.
> Download the report here: http://www.fni.no/doc&pdf/FNI-R1514.pdf
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6. - Law of the sea and marine affairs
- Biodiversity and genetic resources
- Arctic and Russian politics
- European energy and environmental politics
- Chinese energy and environmental politics
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