Environmental Policy Group

The world's largest no-take Marine Protected Area in Chagos is examined in light of the Convention on Biological Diversity's provisions on Access and Benefit Sharing, as well as terrestrial experiences with fortress conservation. It is acknowledged that this closure presents a unique opportunity to preserve an ecologically 'pristine' area. However, the means by which the political process unfolded are brought into question. In particular, the fact that the UK proceeded with designating the area whilst the European Court of Human Rights was deliberating the right of native Chagossians to return to the island is questioned. In addition it is argued that the scale of the area poses significant management and enforcement challenges, which are not necessarily taken into consideration in the rush for large, no-take Marine Protected Areas.

The vulnerability of individuals and communities to climate change impacts is not simply determined by the location of their settlements, but also by how those settlements are serviced, how effective and capable their local governments are and to what extent communities are able to cope with climate change impacts. It is widely accepted that the poorest communities are the most vulnerable, because they lack access even to the most basic urban services placing them at a comparative disadvantage and challenging their capabilities to take on additional stresses caused by climate change. Such complex vulnerabilities require comprehensive responses that link climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts to the sustainable development of these communities enhancing their adaptive capacity.It is not sufficient to concentrate on either mitigation or adaptation, but a combination of these results in the most sustainable outcomes. Yet, these two strategies do not always complement each other, but can be counterproductive. A similar argument can be made for linking climate change adaptation with sustainable development. In order to avoid these conflicts, priorities need to be set.This calls for a methodology and comparison tool to assess the most cost-effective and appropriate strategies for each community. Strategies need to be evaluated in terms of their negative consequences and priority given to those that minimize these. This article includes case studies of successful adaptation and mitigation strategies suggesting that these successes be translated into local contexts and communalized with the involvement of local authorities using participatory approaches. Successful outcomes integrate different adaptation and mitigation strategies with the overall development goals of the community through local government leadership, comprehensive planning and prioritization.

As a thick variety of literatures studies can demonstrate, the discourses above mobility and transportation policies within medium/large cities has always been shaped by different kind of actors, of decisional and cultural processes , of power and resources' mobilitization and different rules of the game.

The new paradigm of sustainable mobility is challenging cities in the re-design of their mobility systems. Public transport and personal use of car are challenged by innovative mobility and social practices such as car and bike sharing systems, peer to peer ride sharing , taxi sharing systems and park sharing. Those mobility practices are displaying new networks of travel within cities  that are typically on demand , dynamic and resilient. In my thesis I have conducted a case study, with the aim to understand how  three institutional practices, recently emerged in the city of Milan, are contributing to envision and  realize the new mobility paradigm. The research wants to explore which are the constrains and the opportunities of  the different  institutional practices and to further investigate the policy change that the city of Milan is facing due to the new  sustainable mobility paradigm.

First the good news. It was the end of July 2013 and orcas were swimming in the Strait of Gibraltar again. And if there were orcas then they were looking for their favourite food: bluefin tuna. That was what made it so special, as it was precisely a year after the predicted Doomsday for the Atlantic bluefin tuna according to statistics drawn up by the ICCAT scientists. Now, in the middle of the summer, tuna was still in evidence. Not just a lost solitary individual desperately trying to find the rest of his shoal. The sea was full of tuna. Even tuna that, having mated, was on its way back from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. For decades, returning tuna had only rarely been registered during the summer months. Bluefin tuna stocks had been so paltry that hardly any tuna swam out to the Atlantic. Three years before, by 2010, it had been red alert for bluefin tuna. The ICCAT fishing quotas had been substantially reduced. The NGOs dealing with bluefin tuna did not think that was enough: they believed a total ban on fishing would be best. In 2010, a failed attempt was made to get the Atlantic bluefin tuna onto the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) list, in order to impose an international trade ban. But now, suddenly, a different story was going around the whitewashed streets of Zahara de los Atunes, Barbate, Conil de la Frontera and Tarifa, the same story that was circulating on the opposite shore in Morocco, in the fishing villages along the beaches from Tangiers to Ceuta. They were back again: sizeable bluefin tuna measuring up to 2 m in length or sometimes even more. In the ports on both sides of the strait, fishermen jumped into their small dinghies-often with no more than an outboard engine-to meet each other in the middle of the water with one common goal. They threw out their sturdy nylon lines with hooks to catch a few bluefin tuna. The fish were hoisted over the side of their cramped dinghies and sailed home. It did not look very legal. It had a whiff of official-quota-skirting. But checking up on the fishing boats was virtually impossible. A substantial bluefin tuna could bring in many hundreds of euros. So it was worth a try. The fishermen's biggest problem wasn't the harbour authorities checking their catches, they had told me. They were much more troubled by the orcas which, just

From the start of the second millennium BCE, finding tuna was always a journey without borders. After the Phoenicians introduced the tuna industry from the eastern Mediterranean, it had gone on to conquer Western civilisation. From the twentieth century on, the tuna value chain had spread out globally. If you wanted to know more about the tuna on your plate at the start of the third millennium you had to travel to the Pacific and Asia. Meet Huynh Phi Minh [44, 203]. This 50 year old fisherman from the Phuoc Dong commune in the Vietnamese Nha Trang City witnessed something in the spring of 2017 which he will remember for the rest of his life. Huynh Phi Minh was sailing the South China Seas when the crew of his small vessel hooked a bluefin tuna that was so big and strong that his battle with the animal would qualify for a bout in Wicked Tuna. It took eight hours before they were able to hoist the creature on board. An epic fight on the edge of the Western Pacific, in the middle of th...

The tuna cages are a vortex, a maelstrom of giants. In the deep blue water the shoal of bluefin circles slowly around an invisible axis somewhere in the middle of the cage of circular nets. There must be many dozens of them, in a deep whirlpool of fish that reaches to the bottom of the sea. They inch forward, their tailfins swishing majestically through the water. The stately calm disappears as soon as the engine of the boat with fresh fish comes within earshot. Once the sardines, herring and cuttlefish are thrown over the raised edge that keeps the nets of the circular cage afloat, the surface of the water transforms into a whirling mass of dorsal fins, splashing foam and gaping jaws into which the fish disappears. Feeding time at the tuna farm. Tuna is always hungry. Once they've been inside the cages for a few months, the excitement wears off, say the men who shovel the fish into the cages. The tuna become fatter, slower and wiser. Experience has taught them that there is plenty of food, and so they glide along and allow the slowly falling fish to drop into their jaws. Slaughtering season begins in October or November, depending on demand in the market in Tokyo. Divers descend to kill the fish with a well-aimed shot from a speargun. On other farms the fish are killed using a special gun with an explosive bullet. This has been developed as a quick and efficient way to slaughter fish. The tuna dies before it realises what's happening. Less stress in other words, something only to be welcomed from an animal welfare point of view. It's also good for sales: no adrenaline is released in the fish to change the meat's colour. The tuna is hoisted out of the water, cleaned and frozen for transportation. The best specimens are packed in ice and flown to Tokyo's Narita airport and from there transported as quickly as possible to Tsukiji fish market. Over the past few years a growing proportion of fresh tuna has been destined for the European home market, particularly for restaurants. The striking fact remains that most tuna farms have been set up off the coasts where the Phoenician and Carthaginian trade colonies founded their beach heads as a bit of living ancient history. Malta is such a spot where time has stood still for

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Job 12:8 Let us pause in our quest for tuna to examine some technicalities, since besides its long history of economic and cultural heritage and its status as an icon of sustainable transition, there is also a biological and technical reason why such fascination surrounds the bluefin tuna. And since we have entered the centuries of new technological inventions, it is a good moment to pay attention to these often undervalued features of tuna. Let us call it the tuna machine. To understand the tuna machine we must first travel to Barcelona. At the end of Las Ramblas, Barcelona's magnificent promenade through the Gothic district, is the city's Maritime Museum. The royal shipyards which house the museum date back to late medieval times and are worth a visit in themselves for anyone interested in maritime history. The hallways, attractively covered with Gothic stone arches supporting the roof structure, reveal an ambition for naval power. Inside we find a replica of the colossal, 60 m long galley El Real ('The Royal'), a faithful replica of the flagship of commander John of Austria, who defeated the Turkish sultan in the Battle of Lepanto (1571), as mentioned in the first chapter. Maybe Miguel de Cervantes had been aboard El Real to receive the letter of recommendation from the hand of the commander himself. Cervantes own marine division probably sailed a similar ship. It is difficult not to be impressed: propelled forward by 290 oarsmen this ship could accommodate 400 soldiers and mariners. It was built in the sixteenth-century shipyards of Barcelona, but the design is substantially modelled on the penteconters with which the Phoenicians travelled their trade routes 2500 years previously and which were later copied by the Romans. Even the ram's head on the prow had survived the millennia. Here we stand eye to eye with a larger and more modern

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on how various user groups related to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) interpret desirable data attributes, whether their interpretations differ and to what extent. Moreover, this study aims to make a methodological contribution to the interpretive information systems (IS) literature by showing the potential of Spradley's (1979) ethnographic methods for understanding the human context in IS research and practice. Semi-structured interviews of MPA managers, academics, government officials, and environmentalists were analysed in four steps. Our findings show that each of the five data attributes studied encompassed more than one and often partly overlapping meanings. Commonalities and differences in interpretations between groups were observed. Users' organisational background helped to explain these differences; cross-cutting themes that seemed to guide users' interpretations and actions were perceived legitimacy and accountability of practices along the data value chain. Systematic use of ethnographically-informed methods allowed the detection of subtle differences in how users constructed meaning. As these different interpretations may lead to misunderstandings during requirements engineering, Spradley's approach could prove useful as a tool not only to elicit and analyse requirements, but also to facilitate unambiguous communication to reach mutual understanding among participants. This may help to improve IS development and thus enhance IS use for participatory governance and management in MPAs.

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Batch experiments with Dunaliella tertiolecta and Tetraselmis suecica were performed to investigate alpha-tocopherol (a-T) production in time, in order to assess the effect of light availability per cell on the production of this antioxidant. In D. tertiolecta a-T content increased during growth, in other words, as the cell density increased and the light availability per cell decreased. In T. suecica the pattern was different: a-T content was highest during the exponential phase, decreased significantly during the linear phase and increased again towards the end of the cultivation. Chlorophyll (chl-a) content of T. suecica cells decreased after the exponential phase, instead of the expected increase typically observed in shade-adapted cells, suggesting that the culture was nutrient limited. An experiment with extra nutrients showed that chl-a and a-T content increased significantly during both the linear and the stationary phase when compared with values in nutrient-deficient conditions. No correlation between a-T and chl-a was observed.

In flood protection, the dominant paradigm of 'building hard structures' is being challenged by approaches that integrate ecosystem dynamics and are 'naturebased'. Knowledge development and policy ambitions on greening flood protection (GFP) are rapidly growing, but a deficit remains in actual full-scale implementation. Knowledge is a key barrier for implementation. To analyse conditions for the implementation of GFP, a knowledge-arrangement perspective is developed. The knowledge-arrangement perspective is applied on a case study of successful implementation of GFP in the Netherlands, the pilot Sand Engine Delfland, a large-scale (21.5 Mm 3) sand nourishment project. This project confirms that an integrated knowledge arrangement enables GFP as it allows for multifunctionality. Effectiveness of the integrated arrangement in this project is explained by its 'flexible' nature providing ample design space. This was possible because core values in flood protection and nature were not part of the integrated arrangement. More generally the case study demonstrates the difficulties of implementing GFP in existing mainstream flood protection routines. These are not (yet) geared to incorporate uncertainty, dynamics and multifunctionality, characteristics associated with GFP. The Sand Engine project can be regarded as a 'field laboratory' of physical and institutional learning and an innovation for mainstream flood protection.

This article is made publically available in the institutional repository of Wageningen University and Research, under article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, also known as the Amendment Taverne. Article 25fa states that the author of a short scientific work funded either wholly or partially by Dutch public funds is entitled to make that work publicly available for no consideration following a reasonable period of time after the work was first published, provided that clear reference is made to the source of the first publication of the work.

h i g h l i g h t s Social dilemma encountered by nature-based flood defences prevents implementation. Water authorities gain insufficient benefits from nature-based flood defences. Underlying problem of the social dilemma is a fragmented policy landscape. Removing flood risk objectives enables nature-based flood defences. Interwoven policy domains set a favourable context for nature-based flood defence.

In delta areas, flood protection structures and large-scale land reclamation are preferential water management strategies to cultivate soft delta soils. Over the past decades, river embankments, upstream dams, land reclamation, and groundwater use have intensified, and increasingly contribute to subsidence. In addition, the influence of institutions implementing these strategies has strengthened as they have acquired technical skills, knowledge, and vast financial resources. Sinking deltas are therefore trapped in a dual lock-in as dominating technology and institutions act as constraints to moving into a more long-term sustainable direction. Nine factors for the lock-in are introduced and illustrated for delta regions in Asia, Europe, and the US. To gain a better understanding of what researchers and practitioners can do to address the dual lock-in, a practical case is presented of Gouda, a Dutch subsiding city in search of more sustainable strategies and institutions. The paper en...

In the last decades the discourse encompassing environmental refugees has gained momentum with a number and variety of actors and organisations contributing towards both their recognition and protection on the international (and national) platform. Parallel to this development the notion of anthropogenic climate change and its impacts on both humans and the environment has reached its highest level of consensus. Yet difficulties remain as the multi-causal nature of the climate change, environmental degradation and human displacement nexus complicates the institutionalisation of climate change induced displacement. This piece is part of a thesis which looked to utilise discursive institutionalism and the policy arrangement approach to investigate a court case involving a Tuvalu's family use of climate change effects as a reason to be granted protection. The overall findings suggest more nuance than initially interpreted and highlight the potential implications of the case on the ability of current protection frameworks to encompass or encourage the institutionalisation of climate change-induced displacement. The following document comes from the proposal in that thesis and makes the case for the utilisation of the Refugee convention without taking away from the principles it sets out thus bypassing the typical criticisms laid out against it. As reports continue to flood in of people being displaced by effects associated to climate change, particularly in small island nations and coastal communities, the impetus to act becomes greater and the value of creating entirely new frameworks to protect would-be climate refugees diminishes.