10
1
Within other academic traditions, it is often the case that one or more of the
three aspects do not have a place in the analysis at all – or that they play a
subordinate role, while in political ecology each of these aspects are usually
included in the analysis.
Students who conduct a political ecology study of a case may start out acquiring knowledge to describe interesting features concerning each of the three aspects
of environmental governance. Thereafter, they may move upwards in . Fig. 1.1
and conduct a normative analysis of environmental governance. This implies comparing the observed situation with specific norms or ideals. Students may also
move downward in the figure to examine factors that explain the situation. As we
will show further in this chapter, actors and social structures here constitute a central conceptual combination, and it is important to examine forms of power that
actors exercise.
1.3 Third Synthesis: Normative and Empirical Analyses
Normative analyses can be implemented through the specification of goals, and
empirically examining whether the goals are fulfilled and to what degree. This goal
could for example be sustainable environmental governance (as in . Fig. 1.1)
meaning that all people today and in the future get their basic needs met. These
goals are in compliance with the most used definition of sustainable development
from the Brundtland Commission’s report ‘Our Common Future’: a development
that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs’ (The World Commission on Environment and
Development 1987).
Meeting these two goals implies first that natural resources today are used in a
manner that ensures the production of basic needs for all people, such as food and
medicines. Secondly, the use must not occur at the expense of conservation of
nature’s future ability to provide resources for such production. Thirdly, the income
and expenses from the current use and conservation must be distributed in a manner that make poor and disadvantaged people able to meet their basic needs.
In the fictional case of Pandora, it is easy to conclude that the mining operation
is in contrast to both goals, because it will imply a fast and irreversible degradation
of nature and thereby threaten the Na’vi’s livelihoods immediately and permanently.
Ever since the release of the Brundtland report, the notion of sustainable development has been used in very different ways and often as a vague idea of development that is based on economic growth and the present market-based economic
system (also called capitalism), and argued to improve both social conditions and
the environment. Since 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the
United Nations provide a set of 17 goals to be implemented in each country by
2030. The implementation of these goals involves a range of actors such as governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and private companies (United
Nations 2015). This approach may, however, be criticized for not taking into account
the structural changes necessary to achieve the two ultimate goals in . Fig. 1.1.
Chapter 1 · Political Ecology on Pandora
1
Within other academic traditions, it is often the case that one or more of the
three aspects do not have a place in the analysis at all – or that they play a
subordinate role, while in political ecology each of these aspects are usually
included in the analysis.
Students who conduct a political ecology study of a case may start out acquiring knowledge to describe interesting features concerning each of the three aspects
of environmental governance. Thereafter, they may move upwards in . Fig. 1.1
and conduct a normative analysis of environmental governance. This implies comparing the observed situation with specific norms or ideals. Students may also
move downward in the figure to examine factors that explain the situation. As we
will show further in this chapter, actors and social structures here constitute a central conceptual combination, and it is important to examine forms of power that
actors exercise.
1.3 Third Synthesis: Normative and Empirical Analyses
Normative analyses can be implemented through the specification of goals, and
empirically examining whether the goals are fulfilled and to what degree. This goal
could for example be sustainable environmental governance (as in . Fig. 1.1)
meaning that all people today and in the future get their basic needs met. These
goals are in compliance with the most used definition of sustainable development
from the Brundtland Commission’s report ‘Our Common Future’: a development
that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs’ (The World Commission on Environment and
Development 1987).
Meeting these two goals implies first that natural resources today are used in a
manner that ensures the production of basic needs for all people, such as food and
medicines. Secondly, the use must not occur at the expense of conservation of
nature’s future ability to provide resources for such production. Thirdly, the income
and expenses from the current use and conservation must be distributed in a manner that make poor and disadvantaged people able to meet their basic needs.
In the fictional case of Pandora, it is easy to conclude that the mining operation
is in contrast to both goals, because it will imply a fast and irreversible degradation
of nature and thereby threaten the Na’vi’s livelihoods immediately and permanently.
Ever since the release of the Brundtland report, the notion of sustainable development has been used in very different ways and often as a vague idea of development that is based on economic growth and the present market-based economic
system (also called capitalism), and argued to improve both social conditions and
the environment. Since 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the
United Nations provide a set of 17 goals to be implemented in each country by
2030. The implementation of these goals involves a range of actors such as governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and private companies (United
Nations 2015). This approach may, however, be criticized for not taking into account
the structural changes necessary to achieve the two ultimate goals in . Fig. 1.1.
Chapter 1 · Political Ecology on Pandora