Browsing by study line "Global hållbarhet"
Now showing items 1-20 of 69
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(2024)Although scientific knowledge is centered around academic institutions of the Global North, publications claiming to be “global” have surged recently. This thesis used a rigorous systematic literature review to identify articles with “global” in the title or author keywords, then analyzed the exact locations from where their dataset originates. Furthermore, it examined circulation metrics of each assessed article, as determined by their journal’s impact factor, to investigate if there are any discrepancies among an article’s impact factor and its global representativeness. Finally, it compared the impact factor of these “global” papers to similar non-global articles to get an idea if “global” papers are published in more reputable journals than their non-global counterparts. The results of this thesis show there is an overrepresentation of “global” environmental science data from Eastern Asia, Northern America, Western Europe, Southern Europe and Northern Europe, and an underrepresentation of environmental science data from Southern America, Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, Eastern Africa, Western Africa, Northern Africa, Middle Africa, and Central Asia. Moreover, all journals, regardless of their prestige, publish articles with these globally unrepresentative results. Yet, articles with “global” in the title or keywords circulate in journals with higher impact factors than non-global papers. My results signal that data from only a few regions dilute “global” environmental studies, while marginalizing many parts of the world. Therefore, “global” environmental science research needs a stricter threshold of globality.
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(2020)The production and consumption of foodstuffs has a strong impact on climate change, and vice versa. Agriculture and the food industry are responsible for over 25% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, food choices are a significant way in which individuals can influence greenhouse gas emissions. By comprehensively changing one’s food consuming habits to align with the principles of sustainability, an individual can decrease the climate impact of their total consumption by approximately ten percent. Sustainable habits, such as food consumption, are part of wider social and cultural processes. Therefore, in research relating to food consumption, it is important to consider both the background of the research participants and the community and society in which they live. Through food choices, an individual expresses their identity, status, and belonging in the community. Eating is a social event that is affected by the values and attitudes of the surrounding community and society. These things strongly influence an individual’s food choices, but on the other hand, individuals can also reshape the attitudes and values of their community through their choices. In order to advance sustainable food decisions on a societal level, it is important to examine what factors influence people’s consuming and eating habits. There has been a considerable amount of research done on sustainable foods, but the research focus has not often been on aware consumers. Studying aware consumers provides information about which factors hinder the making of sustainable decisions when the obstacle is not a lack of awareness. As more is known about the reasons behind people’s food choices, it becomes possible to consider new methods for getting people to make more sustainable choices. The students of the Environmental Change and Global Sustainability program at the University of Helsinki are interesting subjects of research, because they presumably are aware of and interested in the impacts of their food choices. Therefore, in studying them it is possible to focus on other factors determining their food choices, rather than obstacles related to a lack of awareness. In addition, Helsinki as a study location offers good possibilities for making sustainable choices, because there is a diverse supply of sustainable foods in the urban centre. In this master’s thesis, I aim to answer the question: What kinds of perceptions of a sustainable diet do the students of the University of Helsinki program of Environmental Change and Global Sustainability have and what kinds of obstacles do they face when making sustainable food choices? My study is a qualitative case study. I gathered the research material by conducting semi-structured theme interviews with eight students. I analyzed the material by employing thematic analysis methods. My study indicates that the students found it most difficult to follow a totally plant-based diet, even though they consider it to be a sustainable choice. Choosing plant-based food was challenging for them especially in certain social situations. These included situations in which the students felt pressured into eating animal-based food, or situations in which they wanted to please another person by eating the animal-based food they were offering. In such situations, the students were inclined to make choices that differ from those they make in their everyday lives. In social situations that involve food and eating, people have a human need to indicate a sense of community and respect towards people important to them. The students I studied have a lot of knowledge and awareness of the sustainability impacts of their food choices. However, my study indicates that in some situations the need for social cohesion is more important than the need to make a sustainable food choice. The social meaning of eating is important to take into account when considering how to get people to make more sustainable food choices.
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And they save energy happily ever after? : persistence of post-intervention practices in households (2020)Behavior change can be seen as one cornerstone in transiting to more sustainable energy cultures. Various implemented behavioral intervention experiments have been popular and successful in creating behavioral change during and/or right after the intervention period, however follow-up research examining the persistence of changed behavior has been limited. The empirical material of this thesis builds on a set of data collected in a European research project ENERGISE. The analysis utilizes the data collected from two Finnish living lab experiments performed in 2018, focusing the examination on the closing interviews conducted by the research team and the participants’ self-reported practices in the follow-up survey three months after the intervention. The analysis examines the formation of new practices in relation to their persistence in everyday life. Answers to open questions presented in the follow-up survey are also examined in the analysis, to fuller the representation of events. The sample of the research is not enough to make comprehensive statistical generalizations, instead it gives interesting insight on the durability of the effects of one energy intervention. The research questions guiding this thesis are: How did household practices change when households participated in an intervention? How persistent are the observed changes in practices post-intervention? What contributes to the persistence of treatment effects? This examination observed persistence of behavioral change post-intervention. This examination suggests that these encouraging results may be supported by a number of different factors; the broad perspective of energy practices that the intervention designed on practice theory provided and the making of household routines visible to participants to question and experiment with. In addition, the intervention techniques used as making commitments, goal setting, social comparison elements and providing energy feedback, which corroborate with prior intervention follow-up studies that have noted the importance of a carefully thought intervention design with these techniques, to support creating permanent behavioral change. Intervention designs should also in-clude a longer-term evaluation and further study investigating the factors contributing to creating permanent change should be implemented.
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(2024)Forest fires are a growing issue of concern because of climate change. Forest fires impact forest ecosystems partially or completely and can cause negative and positive consequences. Negative consequences include, for instance, carbon release, and positive consequences include, for instance, increase in biodiversity. Forest fires are prevented by various measures, among which there are those targeted at human behavior. The aim of this thesis is to research current forest fire prevention strategies of Finnish national parks, find gaps and problems, and suggest possible solutions. The thesis focuses on the five largest Finnish national parks ac- cording to the number of visits, because the parks can demonstrate examples of education and modification of people’s behavior. The focus is on human behavior because the majority of forest fires are human-caused. The research questions of the thesis are: 1) “What are the behavior-oriented forest fire prevention measures in Finnish national parks?” and 2) “What are the problems of the current prevention measures?” The data of this study was collected via semi-structured interviews with national parks' workers who have knowledge about the topic. This method was chosen because interviewees can provide explanations and case examples. Five interviews were done via Zoom or Teams, while two responses were received via email. The content analysis of the data was performed in qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.ti. The theoretical frame- work of the thesis is risk governance and, more precisely, risk management and communication. In addition, the framework includes prevention practices identified in previous research. Behavior-oriented forest fire prevention measures identified in this thesis classify as risk management and risk communication. Risk management includes construction and maintenance of safe facilities, forbidding unsafe campfire ignition methods, and regulations mentioned online and on-site. Risk communication, in turn, includes safety instructions, wildfire warnings, organized activities, promotion of visits without campfires, nudge, and verbal advice. The problems related to the measures are making campfires when and where it is forbidden, irresponsible behavior in the context of ashes and rubbish, and leaving fires unattended. In addition, problems are related to how and where forest fire safety information is provided. The knowledge and findings of this study can be used to improve current forest fire prevention measures. Possible solutions include delivering explanations of measures’ reasons to visitors, highlighting the urgency of a problem, and organizing more educational group activities.
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(2020)Innovation in food packaging interlinks many sustainability challenges ranging from food loss and waste through the value chains, to resource extraction and growing amounts of plastic waste globally. Food packaging innovations arising from regulation often focus on material waste and ignore other facets of sustainability such as food loss and waste. Simultaneously, conventional notions of innovations are focused on firm growth and competitiveness. This study investigates the perceptions of sustainability in food packaging among expert actors in Finland. Moreover, it examines how notions of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) are reflected in the research and development processes in the field. Here, RRI is understood as a framework for examining the role of socio-ethical considerations in research and development. The study aimed to find out which packaging attributes are considered sustainable, what motivations actors in the field have, what type of obstacles exist to innovation in the field, and which actor groups are perceived to be responsible for accelerating the food packaging transition towards sustainability. Semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with 14 participants, and the interview data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis (QCA). The results show that perceptions of sustainability in food packaging vary across the field. However, reducing food waste and loss was considered the most important facet of sustainability in food packaging. Actors in the field are motivated by personal reasons and the anticipated profitability of sustainable innovations. However, innovations in the field are slowed down because of regulatory issues, food safety requirements, unpredictable future changes, and technological lock-ins. Finally, the results of this study indicate that actors in the sector believe the Finnish government and brand owners in the food and beverage industries should be responsible for driving innovation towards improved sustainability. However, the qualitative approach taken here limits the generalizability of the results. The results suggest an ongoing narrative shift in innovation towards greater inclusion of social and ethical considerations in the research and development process.
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(2024)Luonnon monimuotoisuus on vähentynyt dramaattisesti ihmisten toimien seurauksena, mikä on herättänyt tarpeen ymmärtää paremmin ihmisen ja biodiversiteetin välistä vuorovaikutusta. Tutkimusnäyttö luonnon terveys- ja hyvinvointivaikutuksista on vahvaa, mutta biodiversiteetin roolia näiden vaikutusten taustalla ymmärretään edelleen melko huonosti. Tämä maisterintutkielma tarkastelee koetun biodiversiteetin ja hyvinvoinnin välistä yhteyttä ja pyrkii selvittämään: 1) miten kaupunkimetsän kävijät havainnoivat luonnon monimuotoisuuden eri osa-alueita ja 2) miten luonnon monimuotoisuuden eri osa-alueet vaikuttavat kävijöiden koettuun hyvinvointiin? Luonnon monimuotoisuuden eri osa-alueet viittaavat biodiversiteetin havaittaviin ominaisuuksiin. Tässä tutkielmassa sovelletut biodiversiteetin osa-alueet ovat lajien kohtaaminen, määrä ja monipuolisuus, lajien väliset suhteet, ekologiset prosessit, luonnon äänet, värit, muodot, tekstuurit, hajut/tuoksut sekä vuodenaikojen muutokset. Tutkielman aineisto kerättiin Lahden terveysmetsän kävijöiltä (n=12) kahden retken aikana. Molemmilla retkillä kierrettiin oppaan johdolla 3,4 kilometrin mittainen luontopolku. Tutkielma toteutettiin monimenetelmätutkimuksena, johon kuului teemahaastatteluja sekä BIO-WELL kyselymittaristo. Laadullinen aineisto oli tutkielmassa pääosassa. Terveysmetsän kävijät kiinnittivät vaivattomasti huomiota ääniin, väreihin ja vahvoihin tuoksuihin, kun taas prosessien, tekstuurien ja muotojen huomioiminen vaati enemmän keskittymistä. Tulosten mukaan moniaistinen kokemus luonnon monimuotoisuudesta on keskeistä metsän elvyttävyydelle ja potentiaalille vähentää stressiä. Prosessit, vuodenaikojen muutokset ja tekstuurit ovat taas tärkeitä henkisen hyvinvoinnin kokemukselle. Monimuotoinen luonto voi parantaa hyvinvointia kokonaisvaltaisesti, joten monimuotoisuutta vaalimalla sekä turvaamalla pääsy monimuotoiseen luontoon voidaan tukea sekä biodiversiteetin suojelua että kaupunkilaisten hyvinvointia. Hajujen ja tuoksujen vaikutuksia psyykkiseen hyvinvointiin sekä biodiversiteetin vaikutuksia sosiaaliseen hyvinvointiin olisi syytä tutkia tarkemmin, sillä näitä on toistaiseksi tutkittu melko vähän.
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(2020)In this paper, I examine the discussions around the concept of carbon sinks. From those discussion of Finnish forestry, I identify frames based on a media material of 108 news articles combining the methodologies of frame analysis and content analysis. I aim to contextualize the carbon sink discussions of the latter half of 2010s and examine how the natural science-based term is used to support varying policy agendas. Building from background literature on the media as a societal actor and a context around Finnish forest discussions and mismatches between science and forest policy, I reflect on the ways that Finnish media frames and contextualizes carbon sink-related forest discussions. Eventually, I identify three dominant and eight secondary frames that describe the ways of using and the transforming of carbon sink as a term in detail. The dominant frames divide the discussion into two clashing ways to communicate carbon sink issues and a third middle ground way of understanding and using the term. The middle ground frame identifies the conflict between the clashing frames and suggests reaching to an understanding as a priority goal in terms of optimal climate change policy. I discuss the results in terms of the frames' policy implications. In addition, I ask how they signal potential developments in forest and climate policy and discourse. The analysis shows that the clearest disagreements in the carbon sink conflicts raise from how forestry restricting policies are seen to affect carbon sink levels and how prominent a role should forest industry have in meeting national and international climate policy targets. The study confirms that carbon sink as a term transforms into altering forms to support distinct, even controversial policy goals because of both definitional and calculative uncertainties.
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(2021)Mobility, the somewhat regular and recurring physical movement of people from place to place, is a very important part of a broader transition to sustainability. In Finland the transport sector accounts for 20 % of total greenhouse gas emissions and while emissions have been steadily declining, the pace is not sufficient to meet current emission cut targets. When looking at household generated greenhouse gas emissions, mobility is the single largest contributor. Previous research has focused a lot on technological advancements and individuals’ choices as causes and solutions to sustainable mobility. These approaches have been criticized for underemphasizing the importance of social conditions. Practice theories have been presented as an alternative way of understanding mobility behaviors, challenging the mainstream individualistic explanations. Practices are routinized human behaviors that are made of several elements of materials, meanings, and competences. This thesis adopts a practice theoretical view in analyzing people’s mobility before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to learn what practice theory can teach us about sustainable mobility, and how the pandemic has affected people’s mobility in Finland. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted, asking the participants about their mobility practices before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, forming a comprehensive picture of their daily lives from a mobility point of view. The results were analyzed using qualitative theory-based content analysis. The results indicated that people’s mobility is a complex system which was largely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Various elements either enabling or hindering the use of different transport modes were identified, as were important connections between different mobility practices. Practice theory has been often used to research one mobility practice at a time and the broader look of this study, focusing on multiple mobility practices, is potentially the most important contribution this thesis makes to previous mobility research. While not providing direct answers to how people’s mobility could be made more sustainable, this thesis makes an important contribution to practice theoretical mobility research which in a Finnish context is very scarce.
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(2021)This thesis is a case study that examines the reasons for the lack of citizen participation in the planning process of Kalasataman keskus, and, more generally, in the planning of megaprojects. The main observation of this thesis is that there are several reasons for this. Based on the interviews of main characters taking part in the planning of Kalasataman keskus and the planning documents of Kalasataman keskus (as well as the previous research on the topic) the reasons for lack of citizen participation were: the location of planning area with few inhabitants, the large size of the planning project, technical difficulty of the planning project, the weight on the commercial aspects of the planning, and the view of the planners (relying on experts in the planning). When these results were viewed together with the previous research, it was noted that, as the previous research suggests, the traditional practices of urban planning hinder citizen participation in planning. (For example, seeing that urban planning relies on the technical knowledge of experts.) Moreover, based on the findings of the thesis as well as the previous research, it is possible to see that when the tradition, which emphasizes expert knowledge, is paired with a planning project where the city has a commercial partner, the structures and procedures of planning tend to exclude citizens’ views from the planning process. Partly based on such findings, the thesis suggests that, if the intention is to strengthen citizen participation in, especially large, planning projects, the city should aim to strengthen, for example, local community organizations.
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(2021)As the effects of climate change have become increasingly more visible in recent years, interest in climate adaptation has grown in both research and policy contexts. However, although Southeast Asia is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change impacts, there has not yet been an effort to comprehensively track how Southeast Asian countries and communities are adapting to climate change. I apply a systematic review methodology developed for adaptation research to map adaptation responses identified in the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) projects in Southeast Asia in 2016-2020. My results show that close to a fifth of the ADB’s adaptation projects in Southeast Asia is implemented in Cambodia, while Thailand and Timor-Leste are the least covered countries. In general, the characteristics of my examined projects are relatively similar to global adaptation trends. Flooding, drought, storms, and other heavy rainfall events are the most frequently addressed climate hazards by both the projects I examined as well as by UNFCCC climate fund projects and by adaptation responses documented in scientific papers. The sectors addressed and actors targeted by ADB projects were also typical to multilateral funding institutions, focusing on the agricultural and water sectors as well as national and local governments and farmers. Capacity building was the most frequent adaptation response category, indicating that adaptation implementation as delivered by the ADB is still in a relatively early phase in most Southeast Asian countries. In addition to results related to climate adaptation in Southeast Asia, I also demonstrate the applicability of a systematic review methodology for tracking climate change adaptation responses implemented by multilateral development banks, given sufficient information is made available on relevant projects.
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(2021)Concern about global warming can lead to climate change anxiety, a form of anxiety characterized by excessive worry about the climate crisis and associated consequences on the natural world and human society. It has been suggested by previous research that humor can be used to manage feelings of anxiety. This study seeks to determine if this phenomenon can be applied specifically to climate change anxiety. The research combines a comprehensive literature review with an online survey that leveraged climate change themed internet memes as a proxy for humor to gather opinions about the intersections between these two topics. The survey data supplemented claims made by existing literature, indicating that climate change themed internet memes and humor in general can be useful coping mechanisms to mitigate feelings of climate anxiety. The survey was completed by 93 respondents; most of these participants were women, located in the US, and/or between the ages of 20 and 29. Results from the survey showed that people tend to feel best about their environmental anxiety when they are taking active steps to solve the problem. Conscious decisions such as reducing waste or participating in activist movements are easier to recognize and self-report than more passive coping skills. Reliance on humor was reported as a supplementary coping skill, but many respondents indicated that looking at humorous climate change themed memes did influence their feelings about climate change overall. The scope of this study was relatively small in scale, therefore the results presented in this thesis may not be indicative of broader social trends and likely require further research.
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(2024)Despite promises of economic growth and prosperity through international trade, a continued divergence in national incomes demonstrates the continuously rising inequality between countries of the Global North and South. While many studies have attributed factors such as availability of capital resources and political and economic institutions to the uneven economic development of countries over time, very little has been said about the role of historical relations and colonial legacies in this prevailing state of global (economic) inequality. This thesis aims to shed light at the impact of colonial legacies on economic inequality between countries based on a unique database on forest commodity trade between Germany and Cameroon from 1892 to 2022, derived from the German governments statistical office. The findings of the trade data analysis indicate major structural inequality starting from the period of German colonialism from 1892-1912. The imported forestry commodities benefitted the industrialization and development of the German economy, while the exported commodities mainly served the German community in Cameroon. After the German colonial period, a drastically declining export of forest products demonstrates the changing ownership structures of the colonial plantations into French and British hands as well as the role of political rivalries in the accessibility of colonial markets. From 1950 onwards, timber plank exports appeared as a new commodity, implying an emerging timber processing industry in Cameroon. However, the value of those exports did not exceed the log exports, suggesting the struggle of the local industry to establish itself. After market liberalization in the 1990s, a second attempt at establishing a plank industry succeeded, suggesting a strong role of foreign companies within the industry. Overall, albeit other sectors, such as oil and gas becoming Cameroon’s main export sector over time, the forestry sector clearly remained the dominant German import sector throughout time, suggesting a strong path dependency from colonial times. Through an additional analysis of tracing German financial actors presence through a historical network analysis approach, this thesis further aims to show how historically established structures facilitate the reproduction of colonial relations in economic flows, by arguing that first mover advantages of German companies, made possible through colonial occupation, allowed companies to establish and manifest their position in the forest industry, making it harder for local companies to enter the industry. Albeit the limited sample size, the findings suggest confirming this pattern, as several German financial actors remain in the Cameroonian forestry sector over time. These notably include one of the companies that was a signatory of the treaty establishing German colonial rule in 1884.
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”CSRD on kuin hyökyaalto” – Suomalaiset elintarvikeyritykset yritysvastuulainsäädännön murroksessa (2024)A striking change has taken place in the corporate responsibility reporting, when reporting obligation under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, approved by the European Parliament and of the Council came into effect from the beginning of 2024. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive sets new requirements to the companies regarding the amount and quality of reported data. Changes in the reporting process introduced by the directive pose challenges for companies as they need to be able to identify the material sustainability issues most relevant to their own activities as well as manage large amounts of data. This thesis studies the corporate responsibility reporting challenges of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive from the perspective of six Finnish food companies, whose reporting obligation will start from the beginning of 2025, in the second phase of the directive’s implementation. The study for this thesis was conducted as semi-structured thematic interviews with a total of six experts responsible for corporate responsibility reporting. The interviews were conducted in February 2024 and the analysis was made as thematic content analysis. Institutional theory was used as a theoretical framework to better understand the impacts of institutional changes on companies’ operations and how they adapt their own operations to them. The results show that companies face several different challenges in their corporate responsibility reporting related to project management, data collection and interpreting and understanding reporting requirements. The key finding from this study is that the challenges faced by the companies are significantly affected by the tight schedule for the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. The changes introduced by the directive, such as the double materiality analysis and the machine-readability of reports, have posed major challenges for companies, as they are very different from one another and therefore require the input of different experts.
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(2024)Abstract As part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework business are expected to make commitments for halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity. The political drivers are forcing ministries, regions, and cities but also companies to create their own strategies and actions to conserve biodiversity. Despite the considerable attention given to climate policies within businesses, there exists a lack of attention to the roles and responsibilities of businesses in conserving biodiversity. While concerns are escalating, many businesses seem less aware of the scale of their influence and the necessary actions needed to conserve biodiversity. Also, their understanding of the significance of actions concerning biodiversity loss remains relatively low. This study addresses the critical need for increased business involvement in multi-level and cross-sectoral biodiversity governance while emphasizing the leadership necessary to facilitate this endeavor. I aim to bridge this gap by identifying barriers and opportunities for enhancing business engagement in preserving biodiversity and investigating the emerging new leadership needs. This study examined the Business@Biodiversity network, which is the leading business network for biodiversity in Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders across various industries (n=12). These interviews assessed member companies’ awareness, commitment, and strategies toward biodiversity conservation. Through this context, the study seeks to clarify the underlying issues that hinder effective business involvement in biodiversity conservation, while capturing the opportunities for biodiversity-focused leadership. Results show that Swedish businesses face barriers such as regulatory complexities, and the absence of standardized measurements in engaging with biodiversity. However, they also recognize opportunities within a shifting labor market, underscoring the need for balanced regulations and collaborative platforms to enhance conservation efforts. Finally, this study suggests actionable areas for enhancing business involvement in biodiversity conservation, including prioritizing imperfect action over inaction, establishing a common language and baseline, leveraging political and economic instruments, and mainstreaming biodiversity. This research contributes to advancing the discourse on business engagement in biodiversity conservation, offering insights and recommendations to inform policy and practice, driving meaningful action toward preserving biodiversity.
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(2021)Electronic waste is the fastest growing type of waste stream in the world, and this development results from the rapidly accelerating digitalization. Electronic devices become obsolete on an accelerating speed, as there are constantly more powerful devices coming to the market. The most significant environmental impacts of this development are greenhouse gas emissions and natural resource consumption. Circular economy has been proposed as a solution to these environmental challenges, and the goal of this approach is to preserve the value of the materials in the circulation as efficiently as possible. One way of implementing the principles of circular economy is the product-as-a-service-based business model. This research examines the differences between the product-as-a-service-based model and ownership-based model in terms of the environmental impacts that are related to the laptop and tablet procurements. The results of this thesis will be utilized in implementing the actions of the City of Helsinki’s Roadmap for Circular and Sharing Economy. This research was conducted as streamlined life cycle assessment, in which the systematic literature review was used for tracking the environmental impacts of the products’ life cycle stages and components. In addition, expert interviews were carried out in order to collect information about the reuse and recycling practices of the supplier companies that follow these previously mentioned business models. Finally, based on the results of the systematic literature review and the interviews, the company specific differences were assessed in terms of the greenhouse gas emissions and material waste that result from the procurements. The City of Helsinki’s annual procurement volumes were used in this assessment. Based on the results of this research, production and use are the most significant life cycle stages in terms of the devices’ greenhouse gas emissions. Printed circuit boards/printed wiring boards, integrated circuits, displays, and casings are the components with the most significant impact. The results suggest that increasing the lifespan of the devices provides opportunities for significantly lowering impacts in both impact categories, if the devices are efficiently recycled after this.
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(2020)It is widely acknowledged that previous efforts to communicate the severity and rate of climate change have failed. Science communication has for decades relied on the presumption that more information leads to more informed decisions, thus so far, the scientific consensus about human-caused climate change has not resulted in required changes in behaviour. Previous communication efforts have, for the most part, attributed inaction to the lack of information, but in doing so, have excluded many social and psychological elements of communication. Although raising the level of awareness about climate change has been successful, climate change remains to be perceived to be a distal threat. Recently, more sophisticated approaches have been developed to meaningfully communicate climate change, drawing attention to the framing of the communication. In this study, a new approach to science-based environmental communication is evaluated. The case study seeks to address how immersive Virtual Reality (VR) can be used as a tool in science-based environmental communication for policymakers in a locally relevant context. Via immersive VR, information about forests’ role in climate change is mediated to forest policymakers. In the science communication, climate change is framed as an experiential, local, and present risk, promoting a problem definition that focuses on the climate effects of forest utilisation. I evaluate the success of the science-based environmental communication by measuring participants’ personal responses. I focus on measuring enjoyment, interest, trust, and usability. The study participants are members of the Parliament of Finland and governmental officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; and the Ministry of the Environment. The study material consists of feedback forms from participants (N=65) and interviews of the key actors (N=7). To consider the historical background and many conflicting interests in Finnish forest and climate politics, I focus on the comparison between the natural resource position and the environmental position. The results of this study offer compelling evidence for how differently policymakers representing these two positions perceive the usage of immersive VR in science-based environmental communication. The environmental position indicated significantly higher levels of success on all measured components. Considering that the science communication framed forest utilisation as an environmental issue, it is not surprising that participants holding the environmental position perceived the science communication to be more enjoyable, interesting, trustworthy, and usable. Accordingly, the study results provide additional support for the idea of Finnish forest policy as a polarised field of policy with two main positions. With the means of immersive VR, I was able to induce strong personal responses to the science communication. Participants holding the natural resource position were more likely to challenge the legitimacy of the information and the use of VR in science communication than participants holding the environmental position. The results point to the likelihood that communicating climate change via immersive VR can induce strong negative emotions in the participants, but when the communication is comparable with the policymaker's policy preferences, they respond more positively. The study results also suggest, that to communicate climate change more meaningfully, immersive VR should be further explored as a supplementary tool in science communication.
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(2024)This thesis aims to illuminate expert dissensus on the policy instruments for reducing the carbon footprint of household consumption. In this thesis, I focus specifically on the policy instruments for addressing Finnish households’ consumption, proposed in the policy Delphi study by Salo et al. (2023), and experts’ responses regarding the measures’ importance. Exploring expert dissensus regarding consumption policy instruments is essential since identifying the measures that elicit expert dissensus and unveiling experts’ opinions on these measures promotes transparency in policymaking, helps to identify underlying assumptions, inconsistencies, and potential blind spots within the proposed measures, and therefore, contributes to better policy formulation. Two research questions are answered in this thesis to explore expert dissensus regarding consumption policy instruments: 1) What policy instruments to reduce the carbon footprint of household consumption elicit the most dissensus among experts? and 2) On what grounds do experts agree or disagree on the instruments exhibiting expert dissensus? A quantitative analysis involving calculating the interquartile range of experts’ responses was done to reveal which policy instruments exhibited expert dissensus. As a result, 26.8% of all proposed policy instruments were identified to exhibit expert dissensus. Subsequently, experts’ open comments regarding these policy instruments were examined through a thematic analysis to understand the grounds for expert dissensus. As a result of this research, seven themes emerging from experts’ open comments were identified: 1) Effectiveness, 2) Feasibility and practicality, 3) Content of policy mix, 4) Content of policy measure, 5) Consideration of other factors guiding consumption, 6) Consideration of possible side effects of utilizing the measure, and 7) Normative claims. Of these themes, the most prevalent was effectiveness, and the least prevalent were normative claims. As previous literature points out, the evaluation of policy instruments involves a blend of normative and empirical aspects. While it is unclear to what extent experts resorted to implicit normative assumptions within their evaluation process, this thesis concludes that information and uncertainty-related aspects, especially regarding effectiveness, require further consideration in sustainable consumption policymaking and research regarding policy measures exhibiting expert dissensus.
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(2024)Since the current climate change mitigation efforts are inadequate to meet the goals and targets of the Paris Agreement, there is an accelerated need for climate change adaptation. With the increased attention to designing and implementing adaptation measures, monitoring the progress and effectiveness is also essential. The indicator-based systems are widely considered as an approach to monitor adaptation. While specific aims and objectives of adaptation vary by context, reducing the vulnerability of human and natural systems to the impacts of climate change continues to be one broad aim associated with adaptation policies and actions. To further build an understanding of how the existing indicator systems reflect or measure climate vulnerability dimensions as adaptation benefits, I applied a prominent framework of vulnerability dimensions to categorise 1765 climate change adaptation indicators and their associated actions and objectives in nine city-level planning documents. Content analysis revealed that the vulnerability dimensions of exposure, sensitivity and adaptative capacity are a recognisable part of the indicator systems. Indicators and their association with these dimensions vary by planning context, their association with different benefiting units, and hazard description. In addition, the indicators do not necessarily measure the vulnerability dimensions as an outcome-level change but relate to the adaptation process or adaptation rationale towards the reduction of the vulnerability. The findings suggest further avenues for research on adaptation monitoring and indicators utilizing adaptation benefits typology on exposure, sensitivity, and adaptative capacity.
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(2020)Food literacy is a noteworthy topic to be studied due to food’s considerable environmental and health effects. When food literacy and its characteristics are known, food literacy can be used as a tool to improve people’s health and the condition of the environment. Thus, this thesis aims to reveal the extent of food literacy among Finnish upper secondary school students. In this context, food literacy emphasises food-related environmental and health knowledge. Environmental knowledge is understanding of the global environmental impact of food. Health knowledge, on the other hand, is the familiarity with the relationship between excessive meat consumption and Finnish common diseases along with beliefs regarding diets and food products as a source of protein. This thesis also aims to identify to what extent does the food literacy differ based on gender, study year and living area. This study was performed as a quantitative sample survey and the data was collected using an online Typeform -questionnaire. The questionnaire reached respondents from many different Finnish localities, mainly from cities. The final data consisted of 1320 individuals and it was analysed using IMB SPSS Statistics 24 software. The following methods were used to analyse data: frequency analysis, an Independent Samples t Test, a One-way ANOVA, and a Post-hoc LSD test. Gender, study year and living area were used as grouping variables to examine the differences between groups. The results show that the students named school as the main source of food literacy. Moreover, the results indicate that awareness regarding food production, dietary health and proteins increase significantly from the first to the third study year. The students acknowledged food production causing environmental problems and that the share of food in the consumer’s climatic impact is considerable. Nevertheless, the students underestimated the climatic impact of cheese and they were unaware of the more specific characteristics of food’s environmental impacts. They also had food-related environmental misconceptions considering packaging, transportation and meat consumption. Moreover, approximately half or more of the students were aware of the connection between excessive meat consumption and the increased risk of distinct common diseases. Most of the students acknowledged a versatile vegetarian diet as being a healthy choice. The study also reveals that female students had notably higher dietary health knowledge than male students. This Master’s thesis study mainly supports the findings of previous studies on food-related knowledge. The results elucidate the extent, characteristics, gaps and misconceptions of students’ food literacy. These findings may be utilized to improve school education on food literacy, alter misconceptions and fill the gaps of knowledge in pursuit of improving the health of people and the condition of the environment.
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(2019)In this thesis I focus on a novel disaster response and preparedness mechanism called forecast-based financing. The mechanism is linked to the changing paradigm of humanitarian response that calls for more localized and more resilience building solutions to addressing and preventing humanitarian crisis. It is also in the core of the anticipation agenda which argues that waiting for disasters to happen is not a sustainable option and that forecast data and pre-agreed triggers and actions should be used in order to prevent both loss of lives and mitigate the cost and impact of disasters. Main hypothesis is that climate related hazards to livelihoods and food security seems to be the sector where forecast-based financing could have most potential for increasing resilience and sustainability. Slow onset crises with long lead-time allow for better targeting and more variety of actions. As the lifetime of the action is longer, there is less chance of action which is in vain. Furthermore, the actions which are more localized, for example direct support to farmers, can decrease their vulnerabilities. I aim at taking a critical approach to assessing this potentiality associated with the forecast-based financing mechanism through case study. The three cases (Mongolia, Kenya, Zimbabwe) were selected from pilots implemented by the main actors: the Red Cross, World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Start Network. This thesis uses a combination of evaluative and heuristic approach to qualitative case study analysis. To answer the first research question, 1) is the forecast-based financing mechanism successful in prioritization of actions in a way that best address the needs and resources of vulnerable populations, I aim at finding out if mechanism is effective (or potentially effective) in delivering impact. For the second research question, 2) are the actions sustainable and do they bring socio-economic benefits that go beyond meeting acute humanitarian needs, I will see if new pathways are found for confirming the defined hypothesis. I am using heuristic approach in terms of finding new links e.g. between actions and needs of either donors, actors or beneficiaries. I asses and analyse available reports and evaluations (secondary data) of the selected operations. I conducted eleven (11) semi-structured key informant interviews (primary data) using practitioner’s perspective for retrieving qualitative data, for further understanding and for triangulation. All key informants were affiliated to the cases. My analysis show that the potentiality for development impacts and long-term transformation of the forecast-based financing is there but it is not utilized in the cases reviewed nor is it perceived in a same way across practitioners of different backgrounds. Currently the mechanism is used more for effective response, not for addressing the root causes of vulnerability. In general, the entitlement or empowering of a person who is affected by disaster currently does not go beyond securing bridge over lean season, avoiding negative coping mechanisms or e.g. better yield or survival of livestock. Sustainability potential of the forecast-based financing seems to be currently underutilized and international funding envelopes do not offer an alternative to the humanitarian funding launched case-by-case. Most of the practitioners interviewed were clearly in favour of linking and using forecast-based financing in some way to long-term programming, thinking outside of the framework of humanitarian response, extending lead time significantly and adding positive reinforcement inputs. I argue that with a lead time that goes long in advance, towards development actions, the mechanism needs to be reframed for the donors and the sources of funding might need to be reconsidered. To implement meaningful resilience actions in slow onset cases, triggers need to be early enough and actions in two phases: 1) anticipatory and benefiting from forecast and 2) early response. At beneficiary level the actions should be geared up to better address underlying socio-economic vulnerabilities and take advantage of the long lead time.
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