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Nature unsettled: How knowledge and power shape ‘nature-based’ approaches to societal challenges

Woroniecki, Stephen LU ; Wendo, Hausner ; Brink, Ebba LU ; Islar, Mine LU ; Krause, Torsten LU ; Mahmoud, Yahia LU and Vargas Falla, Ana Maria LU (2020) In Global Environmental Change 65.
Abstract
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are gaining traction in high-level, decision-making arenas as a response to global policy challenges. Claiming to be transformative and pluralistic, NbS aim to resolve societal problems through a focus on nature, which is understood to be a benign ally. This uncritical framing of nature may have unintended and inequitable consequences that undermine the emancipatory potential of NbS. In this paper, we highlight the need to pay attention to epistemic and power dimensions that tend to be hidden in NbS. We assume that nature is neither passive nor external to human society, but is instead expressed in frames (reifying modes of expression) that reflect both knowledge and power in social encounters where NbS are... (More)
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are gaining traction in high-level, decision-making arenas as a response to global policy challenges. Claiming to be transformative and pluralistic, NbS aim to resolve societal problems through a focus on nature, which is understood to be a benign ally. This uncritical framing of nature may have unintended and inequitable consequences that undermine the emancipatory potential of NbS. In this paper, we highlight the need to pay attention to epistemic and power dimensions that tend to be hidden in NbS. We assume that nature is neither passive nor external to human society, but is instead expressed in frames (reifying modes of expression) that reflect both knowledge and power in social encounters where NbS are used. Drawing upon five cases, we analyse how particular ways of framing nature express and reinforce the power relations that structure people’s interactions. Each of the five cases relies on a nature-based frame to produce knowledge on climate adaptation, peacebuilding and justice. The analysis reveals how frames of nature are enacted in particular contexts, and how this conditions the potential for societal transformation towards sustainability and pluralistic knowledge. We demonstrate how frames of nature can constrain or enable opportunities for various groups to respond to environmental change. We discuss how the NbS paradigm might better incorporate diverse, situated knowledge and subjectivities, and conclude that this will require a more critical evaluation of NbS practice and research. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ecosystem-based adaptation, Environmental peace-building, Environmental justice, Epistemological pluralism, Performativity, Subjectivity
in
Global Environmental Change
volume
65
article number
102132
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85091797872
ISSN
0959-3780
DOI
10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102132
project
The Nature of Peace”
Where the Favela Meets the Forest: Urban Ecosystem-Based Adaptation as a boundary object for Brazilian Sustainability Science
Urban ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
82d0938e-80ab-4bc1-9da2-26ea1d36a069
date added to LUP
2020-09-30 10:49:09
date last changed
2024-01-17 11:32:27
@article{82d0938e-80ab-4bc1-9da2-26ea1d36a069,
  abstract     = {{Nature-based solutions (NbS) are gaining traction in high-level, decision-making arenas as a response to global policy challenges. Claiming to be transformative and pluralistic, NbS aim to resolve societal problems through a focus on nature, which is understood to be a benign ally. This uncritical framing of nature may have unintended and inequitable consequences that undermine the emancipatory potential of NbS. In this paper, we highlight the need to pay attention to epistemic and power dimensions that tend to be hidden in NbS. We assume that nature is neither passive nor external to human society, but is instead expressed in frames (reifying modes of expression) that reflect both knowledge and power in social encounters where NbS are used. Drawing upon five cases, we analyse how particular ways of framing nature express and reinforce the power relations that structure people’s interactions. Each of the five cases relies on a nature-based frame to produce knowledge on climate adaptation, peacebuilding and justice. The analysis reveals how frames of nature are enacted in particular contexts, and how this conditions the potential for societal transformation towards sustainability and pluralistic knowledge. We demonstrate how frames of nature can constrain or enable opportunities for various groups to respond to environmental change. We discuss how the NbS paradigm might better incorporate diverse, situated knowledge and subjectivities, and conclude that this will require a more critical evaluation of NbS practice and research.}},
  author       = {{Woroniecki, Stephen and Wendo, Hausner and Brink, Ebba and Islar, Mine and Krause, Torsten and Mahmoud, Yahia and Vargas Falla, Ana Maria}},
  issn         = {{0959-3780}},
  keywords     = {{Ecosystem-based adaptation; Environmental peace-building; Environmental justice; Epistemological pluralism; Performativity; Subjectivity}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Global Environmental Change}},
  title        = {{Nature unsettled: How knowledge and power shape ‘nature-based’ approaches to societal challenges}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102132}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102132}},
  volume       = {{65}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}