Conflict translates environmental and social risk into business costs

Franks, Daniel M.; Davis, Rachel; Bebbington, Anthony; Ali, Saleem H.; Kemp, Deanna; Scurrah, Martin

doi:10.1073/pnas.1405135111

Cited by 353 publications

(254 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Local and regional examples illustrate how sustainability scientists have engaged with society as change agents (4,5) and the challenges associated with such engagement (3,4,6,7). In this context, however, there has been limited attention devoted to large-scale private actors (8). Existing studies primarily focus on how major brands invest in-and benefit from-sustainability initiatives (9), or analyze how and when voluntary commitments to sustainability may influence corporate behavior (10,11).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Österblom

Jouffray

Folke

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The ocean represents a fundamental source of micronutrients and protein for a growing world population. Seafood is a highly traded and sought after commodity on international markets, and is critically dependent on healthy marine ecosystems. A global trend of wild stocks being overfished and in decline, as well as multiple sustainability challenges associated with a rapid growth of aquaculture, represent key concerns in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Existing efforts aimed to improve the sustainability of seafood production have generated important progress, primarily at the local and national levels, but have yet to effectively address the global challenges associated with the ocean. This study highlights the importance of transnational corporations in enabling transformative change, and thereby contributes to advancing the limited understanding of large-scale private actors within the sustainability science literature. We describe how we engaged with large seafood producers to coproduce a global science-business initiative for ocean stewardship. We suggest that this initiative is improving the prospects for transformative change by providing novel links between science and business, between wild-capture fisheries and aquaculture, and across geographical space. We argue that scientists can play an important role in facilitating change by connecting knowledge to action among global actors, while recognizing risks associated with such engagement. The methods developed through this case study contribute to identifying key competences in sustainability science and hold promises for other sectors as well.coproduction | governance | learning | resilience | transformation S ustainability science is becoming a mainstream scientific approach for understanding and addressing the global and interconnected challenges currently facing humanity (1, 2). A key component of sustainability science is to collaborate with actors outside of academia to codesign and codevelop an understanding of the challenges and their corresponding solutions (2, 3). Local and regional examples illustrate how sustainability scientists have engaged with society as change agents (4, 5) and the challenges associated with such engagement (3,4,6,7). In this context, however, there has been limited attention devoted to large-scale private actors (8). Existing studies primarily focus on how major brands invest in-and benefit from-sustainability initiatives (9), or analyze how and when voluntary commitments to sustainability may influence corporate behavior (10, 11). Little is known about how scientists can engage with corporations and how knowledge can be transferred from science to action by the private sector.In the following, we present our experience from a coproduction process with large transnational seafood corporations, aimed at stimulating transformative change in the seafood industry, and the subsequent emergence of a global initiative for ocean stewardship. Here, ocean stewardship is viewed as an adaptive and lear...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Österblom

Jouffray

Folke

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…As a consequence they often fail to capture positive effects from resource-led economic development (Lockie et al, 2009). Some communities focus their energy on resisting the resources sector, leading to costly delays in production, however conflict alone has limited potential to improve final outcomes for regional communities (Franks et al, 2014;Schandl and Darbas, 2008). Communities which have prepared for the establishment or expansion of extractive industries have often made effective use of dialogue to derive benefits for their community.…”

Section: Responding To Challenges At the Regional Scale: The Importanmentioning

confidence: 99%

A conceptual model of the socioeconomic impacts of unconventional fossil fuel extraction

Measham

Fleming

Schandl

2016

Global Environmental Change

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As global energy demand increases, the rapid expansion of the unconventional fossil fuel sector has triggered an urgent need for social, economic and policy research to understand and predict how this sector affects host communities and how governance systems can respond to changes presented by this sector. In response to this need, this paper addresses three linked objectives. The first is to review the literature on regional impacts of energy extraction, presented in the form of a framework of hierarchical effects. The second is to consider how these are playing out differently in the context of conventional compared with unconventional fossil fuels. The third is to draw attention to the institutional avenues for addressing these impacts, including an overview of the lessons from existing research on the human and policy dimensions associated with conventional energy industries. In particular, we consider the importance of multistakeholder dialogue, which plays an important role in how regions respond to the challenges brought about through extractive industries. Overall, we demonstrate that experiences from conventional energy development provide a useful starting point for navigating the human and policy dimensions of unconventional energy for host communities and discuss how these experiences differ when unconventional energy seeks to co-exist with other land uses such as agriculture. The paper draws attention to the dispersed nature of impacts (positive and negative) and how this may shape winners and losers from unconventional energy development, particularly in regions with pre-existing land uses such as agriculture.

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“…A recent worldwide study of social risks and their costs for mining developments (Franks et al, 2014) has shown how disregarding the social elements in preparatory studies can develop into conflict between the community and the developers. Although these do not always lead to open clashes, the misperception of social risk and the serious undervaluing of the local community's views (usually dubbed "unfounded" or "unscientific"), has caused delays costing up to $20m per week in projects with an investment of between $3,000m and $5,000m.…”

Section: Scientific and Ethical Requirements For Preparatory Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…there is an in-depth study on ethics in SIA practice, while Vanclay et al (2013) The work of Foucault (1980Foucault ( , 2000 and more recently Flybjerg (1998Flybjerg ( , 2012Flybjerg ( , 2014 provide the necessary frame for the crucial political analysis in SIA studies. As both experience and the literature show (Franks et al, 2009(Franks et al, , 2014Esteves et al, 2012), it can be assumed that the developers' exercise of power in the local area works according to an alien logic, imported from distinct social levels. This is a paradigmatic logic (Ávila, 2006), whose ethics are imposed on others and defended as unquestionable since they are shared by the dominant positions in the network, originating outside the local context in which they are imposed.…”

Section: Scientific and Ethical Requirements For Preparatory Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Four conceptual issues to consider in integrating social and environmental factors in risk and impact assessments

Gómez

2016

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

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In the last twenty years, both the increase in academic production and the expansion of professional involvement in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) have evidenced growing scientific and business interest in risk and impact analysis. However, this growth has not brought with it parallel progress in addressing the main shortcomings of EIA/SIA, i.e. insufficient integration of environmental and social factors into development project analyses and, in cases where the social aspects are considered, technical-methodological failings in their analysis and assessment. It is clear that these weaknesses carry with them substantial threats to the sustainability (social, environmental and economic) of projects which impact on the environment, and consequently to the local contexts where they are carried out and to the delicate balance of the global ecosystem. This paper argues that, in a sociological context of complexity and dynamism, four conceptual elements should underpin approaches to socio-environmental risk and impact assessment in development projects: a theoretical base in actor-network theory; an ethical grounding in values which are internationally recognized (though not always fulfilled in practice); a (new) epistemological-scientific base; and a methodological foundation in social participation.

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Conflict translates environmental and social risk into business costs

Cited by 353 publications

References 21 publications

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

A conceptual model of the socioeconomic impacts of unconventional fossil fuel extraction

Four conceptual issues to consider in integrating social and environmental factors in risk and impact assessments

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