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- Network ties, institutional roles and advocacy tactics:Exploring explanations for perceptions of influence in climate change policy networksPublication . Wagner, Paul M.; Ocelik, Petr; Gronow, Antti; Ylä-Anttila, Tuomas; Schmidt, Luísa; Delicado, AnaThe extent to which a policy actor is perceived as being influential by others can shape their role in a policy process. The interest group literature has examined how the use of advocacy tactics, such as lobbying or media campaigns, contributes to an actor’s perceived influence. The policy networks literature, in turn, has found that network ties and occupying certain institutional roles can explain why actors are perceived as influential. When investigating what explains perceptions of influence, interest groups scholars have not accounted for network interdependencies and network scholars have so far not examined the advocacy tactics used by interest groups. This paper addresses the gap at the intersection of these two literatures by investigating the relationship between network ties, institutional roles, advocacy tactics and the presence of influence attribution ties in climate change policy networks. Exponential random graph models are applied to network data collected from the organisations participating in the national climate change policymaking processes in six EU countries that vary by the extent to which they are majoritarian or consensual democracies: Czechia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, and Sweden. The results show that network ties and institutional roles are better predictors of influence attribution ties than advocacy tactics and that there is no pattern in the relationship between advocacy tactics and influence attribution ties across different institutional contexts. These findings suggest that because influence is primarily associated with structural factors (network ties and institutional roles) that more established policy actors are likely to have more influence, which may inhibit the need for a significant step change in climate policies.
- Agricultural vulnerability and adaptation strategies by farmers to climate change in south-western coastal BangladeshPublication . Ashrafuzzaman, Md.; Gomes, Carla; Cerdà, Artemi; Schmidt, Luísa; Guerra, JoãoAgriculture in the south-western coastal region in Bangladesh (SWCRB) has high vulnerability to climate change (CC) owing to its proximity to the rivers and the coast, frequent natural disasters, and sea level rise (SLR) causing intrusion of saline water into agricultural fields. Climate change and SLR have caused an increase in soil salinity in the SWCRB over the years, exerting significant pressure on farming, traditional agriculture and means of living. This study examines the impacts of SLR and climate change on the agricultural land of Shyamnagar Upazila in Satkhira District of the SWCRB. This conceptual framework integrates socio-economic and geophysical factors to understand the vulnerability of farmers to climate change. A mixed-methods approach is used in this study with data analysis (qualitative and quantitative), including close-ended questionnaires, interviews, surveys, focus groups with regional farmers. The survey was conducted among 320 households in Shyamnager Upazila in Satkhira District of Bangladesh to identify current adaptation measures adopted by farmers considering the effects of climate change and associated impacts. Land use change analysis from 1989 to 2019 demonstrated the expansion of water coverage in the region. The study analysed secondary rainfall data available from the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) from 1968 to 2018, showing the changes in the rainfall pattern. Multiple logistic regression (MLR) analysis was employed to understand the interrelationship between adaptive measures used by farmers. It was determined that age, gender, and total income of survey respondents affected the chosen adaptation measures.
- The Hegemony of Global Politics: News Coverage of Climate Change in a Small CountryPublication . Horta, Ana; Carvalho, Anabela; Schmidt, LuísaResearching media coverage of climate change may shed light on the different configurations of global and domestic factors affecting journalism and politics. This article analyzes climate change coverage in Portugal from 2007 to 2014 in comparison with 14 other countries. It shows that the Portuguese press tends to reproduce the global political agenda on climate change, mainly focusing on international events associated with global political decision-making processes, instead of providing a domesticated coverage, as observed in other countries. National and local levels of action are thus obscured. The interplay between global and domestic factors—including characteristics of Portugal’s press and politics, such as national political leaders’ lack of mobilization and communication on climate change, media’s deference to powerful sources, and reliance on international news feeds—creates the conditions for global politics to play an hegemonic role in media representations, which is likely to influence public engagement with climate change.
- Conflicting Climate Change Frames in a Global Field of Media DiscoursePublication . Broadbent, J.; Sonnett, J.; Botetzagias, I.; Carson, M.; Carvalho, A.; Chien, Y.-J.; Edling, C.; Fisher, D.; Giouzepas, G.; Haluza-DeLay, R.; Hasegawa, K.; Hirschi, C.; Horta, Ana; Ikeda, K.; Jin, J.; Ku, D.; Lahsen, M.; Lee, H.-C.; Lin, T.-L. A.; Malang, T.; Ollmann, J.; Payne, D.; Pellissery, S.; Price, S.; Pulver, S.; Sainz, J.; Satoh, K.; Saunders, C.; Schmidt, Luísa; Stoddart, M. C. J.; Swarnakar, P.; Tatsumi, T.; Tindall, D.; Vaughter, P.; Wagner, P.; Yun, S.-J.; Zhengyi, S.Reducing global emissions will require a global cosmopolitan culture built from detailed attention to conflicting national climate change frames (interpretations) in media discourse. The authors analyze the global field of media climate change discourse using 17 diverse cases and 131 frames. They find four main conflicting dimensions of difference: validity of climate science, scale of ecological risk, scale of climate politics, and support for mitigation policy. These dimensions yield four clusters of cases producing a fractured global field. Positive values on the dimensions show modest association with emissions reductions. Data-mining media research is needed to determine trends in this global field
- Editorial: Climate change and societyPublication . Alves, Fátima; Schmidt, LuísaClimate change presents one of the greatest challenges of the 21st Century. It will massively affect human societies in complex and multiple ways. And it seems to be almost uncontrollable in the near future. Our knowledge of the chemistry and physics of climate change, its causes and its consequences for planetary systems, is far greater than our understanding of the societal changes it poses. Climate change results from a complex process of societal transformations, which we all need to understand to better cope with the challenges it presents. Climatic conditions play a significant role and interfere with people's lives in multiple ways. The causes are essentially known, based on unequivocal human action. All solutions also involve human decision and action. It is social and human action in both individual and social settings that are decisive for the future pathways of climate change and its disentanglement.
- Outlining Community Perceptions of Climate Change in Local Adaptation Strategies Development: The Case of ClimAdaPT.LocalPublication . Schmidt, Luísa; Alves, Adriana Ferreira; Valente, Susana; Mourato, João MoraisClimAdaPT.Local’s goal was the development of 26 Municipal Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change (EMAAC). The project aimed to increase the capacity of these municipalities to incorporate adaptation to Climate Change (CC) in their planning instruments. To do so, several methodologies and tools were specifically developed. One of these, the local stakeholder engagement strategy, constitutes an innovation as far as the development of these strategies in Portugal is concerned. This paper focuses on this stakeholder engagement process and its achievements. ClimAdaPT.Local’s stakeholder engagement was workshop based. These were put in place in order to understand perceptions of CC, its impacts, local risks, but also survey potential inputs into the ongoing EMAAC development. Each session comprised several discussion tables, intending to: (i) obtain a global reference framework on perceptions and sensitivity to CC at the local level; (ii) complement the vulnerabilities assessment made by the technical staff from each municipality; (iii) inform, adjust and optimise the local adaptation strategies. In addition, stakeholders were asked to share their visions of the future, namely how CC and local territorial identity will be articulated in the near, and not so near, future. The analytical findings encompassed in paper refer to point (i). All in all, in Portugal, there is a widespread perception that CC is happening, in particular among social groups that engage in activities such as agriculture and fishing. And despite being considered to pose a threat, CC is, at the same time, broadly perceived as a window of opportunity to put in place measures that improve local living conditions.
- Understanding climate change policy and action in Portuguese municipalities: A surveyPublication . Campos, Inês; Guerra, João; Ferreira, José Gomes; Schmidt, Luísa; Alves, Filipe; Vizinho, André; Lopes, Gil PenhaRobust strategies and action-plans are essential in tackling climate change. Given the local and context-specific nature of climate impacts, the involvement of municipalities is key for effective mitigation and adaptation solutions. Due to its vulnerability and low level of adaptive capacity, Portugal offers insights into adaptation research and practice in Europe. This article hypothesizes that National and European climate change adaptation strategies are not effectively involving municipalities, and are thus losing out on the opportunity to take stock of local responses for climate change mitigation and adaptation. To address this issue, a survey by questionnaire was done to Portuguese municipalities, and data was collected regarding the following: the importance attributed to climate change; the mitigation and adaptation measures planned and implemented; the main drivers, concerns, and triggers promoting climate policy and actions; and access to information and knowledge. 109 valid responses were collected across the country from a universe of 308 municipalities. Results show climate change in planning agendas is still ‘little’ or ‘not important’. There is also a clear difference in the drivers and concerns motivating climate policy, and action between Littoral and Inland regions. Overall, there is a greater focus on mitigation than adaptation. The discussion highlights the need for capacity building, the issue of equity, the role of European networks, and the relevance of cultural differences between Littoral and Inland regions. The conclusion distils the main lessons learned concerning these challenges and needs, the role of transnational networks, and the cultural contexts for building resilience, through adaptation, across Europe.
- An adaptive governance for water justice in EuropePublication . Gomes, Carla; Schmidt, LuísaThe intense droughts of the last five years, which most recently led the Portuguese Government to approve water rationing in the region of Algarve, are stark reminders of the scarcity threat looming over Europe. The increase in consumption in recent decades - from households to agriculture to industry – compounded by climate change - has contributed to a growing pressure. Water stress is not just a concern of Southern Europe anymore and has already prompted the European Commission to announce a new strategy for water resilience to be launched in 2024. The active involvement of social scientists has never been so crucial for water management as today. 20% of the European territory and 30% of Europeans are affected by water stress during an average year, according to the European Environment Agency. Droughts alone already represent an estimated loss of 9 billion euros annually, coupled with the impacts of storms and floods. It is estimated that 17 per cent of the continent’s population and 13 per cent of its GDP will be affected by a high to extreme risk of scarcity by 2050. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has created in 2015 a set of principles for water governance, some of them especially crucial in face of the climate emergency. Policy coherence between sectors has been one of the most challenging and is paramount for implementing a circular economy across the nexus with energy, waste management and food production. The appropriate scales for governing water resources within basin systems are another key element in this governance model. Water governance has been mostly local and incremental, as noted by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (2023), in the wake of the UN Water Conference of March 2023. To develop a new water culture, it will be crucial to cultivate trust and engagement, one of the key dimensions of the OECD model. This requires finding balanced and negotiated solutions to address the trade-offs between competing water demands (e.g., tourism vs agriculture), which come to the fore especially during intense drought episodes. The new 332 models of governance require an effective and inclusive engagement of key stakeholders, but also social actors that are most vulnerable and historically underrepresented. This communication addresses the main challenges currently facing water governance in Europe. It is based on a policy review and also draws insights from recent analyses carried out in the six countries involved in the B-WaterSmart project (H2020, Grant No. 869171) (Portugal, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Norway), regarding models of governance and social acceptability of water-smart solutions (e.g., water reuse, stormwater management). We examine the key trends towards a more adaptive, fair and participatory governance of water resources in Europe, seeking to strike a balance between local priorities and the global nature of water adaptation.