Karin Bä
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262036580
- eISBN:
- 9780262341585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036580.003.0006
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This chapter analyzes the concept of critical loads, a science-based approach to grounding policy on notions of nature’s 'carrying capacity' or 'ecosystem tolerance limits'. The critical loads ...
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This chapter analyzes the concept of critical loads, a science-based approach to grounding policy on notions of nature’s 'carrying capacity' or 'ecosystem tolerance limits'. The critical loads concept represents a conceptual innovation in environmental policy that has operationalized the notion of 'limits' central to environmental debates into both domestic and international policy. This chapter traces the origin and emergence of the concept in international, United Nations and European Union air pollution diplomacy over the past 30 years. It analyzes the different discourses on critical loads in the public, international negotiation, and scientific arenas, and discusses the significance and impact of the concept. It argues that the critical loads concept has played a pioneering role in international environmental diplomacy with regard to how science is harnessed for policy as the idea of nature’s toleration limits was transformed into a scientific concept of ecosystem sensitivities. Less
This chapter analyzes the concept of critical loads, a science-based approach to grounding policy on notions of nature’s 'carrying capacity' or 'ecosystem tolerance limits'. The critical loads concept represents a conceptual innovation in environmental policy that has operationalized the notion of 'limits' central to environmental debates into both domestic and international policy. This chapter traces the origin and emergence of the concept in international, United Nations and European Union air pollution diplomacy over the past 30 years. It analyzes the different discourses on critical loads in the public, international negotiation, and scientific arenas, and discusses the significance and impact of the concept. It argues that the critical loads concept has played a pioneering role in international environmental diplomacy with regard to how science is harnessed for policy as the idea of nature’s toleration limits was transformed into a scientific concept of ecosystem sensitivities.
James Meadowcroft and Daniel J. Fiorino (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262036580
- eISBN:
- 9780262341585
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036580.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
Concepts are thought categories through which we apprehend the world; they enable, but also constrain, reasoning and debate and serve as building blocks for more elaborate arguments. This book traces ...
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Concepts are thought categories through which we apprehend the world; they enable, but also constrain, reasoning and debate and serve as building blocks for more elaborate arguments. This book traces the links between conceptual innovation in the environmental sphere and the evolution of environmental policy and discourse. It offers both a broad framework for examining the emergence, evolution, and effects of policy concepts and a detailed analysis of eleven influential environmental concepts. In recent decades, conceptual evolution has been particularly notable in environmental governance, as new problems have emerged and as environmental issues have increasingly intersected with other areas. “Biodiversity,” for example, was unheard of until the late 1980s; “negative carbon emissions” only came into being over the last few years. After a review of concepts and their use in environmental argument, chapters chart the trajectories of a range of environmental concepts: environment, sustainable development, biodiversity, environmental assessment, critical loads, adaptive management, green economy, environmental risk, environmental security, environmental justice, and sustainable consumption. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars and policy makers and also offers a novel introduction to the environmental policy field through the evolution of its conceptual categories. Contributors Richard N. L. Andrews, Karin Bäckstrand, Karen Baehler, Daniel J. Fiorino, Yrjö Haila, Michael E. Kraft, Oluf Langhelle, Judith A. Layzer, James Meadowcroft, Alexis Schulman, Johannes Stripple, Philip J. VergragtLess
Concepts are thought categories through which we apprehend the world; they enable, but also constrain, reasoning and debate and serve as building blocks for more elaborate arguments. This book traces the links between conceptual innovation in the environmental sphere and the evolution of environmental policy and discourse. It offers both a broad framework for examining the emergence, evolution, and effects of policy concepts and a detailed analysis of eleven influential environmental concepts. In recent decades, conceptual evolution has been particularly notable in environmental governance, as new problems have emerged and as environmental issues have increasingly intersected with other areas. “Biodiversity,” for example, was unheard of until the late 1980s; “negative carbon emissions” only came into being over the last few years. After a review of concepts and their use in environmental argument, chapters chart the trajectories of a range of environmental concepts: environment, sustainable development, biodiversity, environmental assessment, critical loads, adaptive management, green economy, environmental risk, environmental security, environmental justice, and sustainable consumption. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars and policy makers and also offers a novel introduction to the environmental policy field through the evolution of its conceptual categories. Contributors Richard N. L. Andrews, Karin Bäckstrand, Karen Baehler, Daniel J. Fiorino, Yrjö Haila, Michael E. Kraft, Oluf Langhelle, Judith A. Layzer, James Meadowcroft, Alexis Schulman, Johannes Stripple, Philip J. Vergragt
