Konsumenter och producenter har glidit längre ifrån varandra i samband med tillväxten av det globaliserade livsmedelssystemet. En ökad oro om vad maten innehåller och hur den produceras har fått fler konsumenter att vilja köpa lokalproducerade livsmedel i Sverige. Men begreppet lokalproducerat används i olika syften och förutom avståndsfaktorn följer en rad olika förväntningar om innebörden. En litteraturstudie har utförts för att kartlägga vilka förväntningar och faktorer som kopplas samman med begreppet och för att ta reda på om dessa kan bidra till att nå miljömål i Agenda 2030.  Resultatet visar att konsumenter förväntar sig, förutom ett nära avstånd, att lokalproducerade livsmedel är producerat småskaligt, mindre intensivt, med användandet av lokala sorter och insatsvaror samt anpassat utefter lokala förhållanden. Om dessa förväntningar inkluderas i definitionen på lokalproducerat kan det bidra till att nå flera delmål i Agenda 2030. Resultatet visar också att det sociala mötet mellan konsument och producent som sker i samband med försäljning av lokalproducerat kan påverka hållbarheten i jordbruket och därmed målen i Agenda 2030. På grund av begreppets flexibla användning finns en risk att konsumenter inte får det de förväntar sig när de köper lokalproducerat. Samtidigt väger fördelarna tungt och begreppets olika tolkningar kan representera ett motstånd till dagens livsmedelsystem. Studien påvisar att det antingen kan finnas behov av tydligare definitioner eller så kan begreppet användas för att representera ett ställningstagande. Det vore intressant med mer forskning för att kunna koppla samman förväntningarna med hur det ser ut i lokala jordbruk för att kunna dra slutsatsen att lokalproducerat bidrar till Agenda 2030.

The volume and complexity of solid waste have increased locally and globally. Waste pollution has environmental, social, and economic impacts on every country, such as mistreatment of waste caused air quality and water contamination, plastic particles from human activities are carried out to the seas and harm marine creatures, people can face health problems from polluted air and water as well as plastic-contaminated seafood. Thus the government might spend budgets on improving these problems. Strategies and tools have been provided to find better solutions to reduce waste and transform them into other materials. The circular economy is an alternative economic model for the old-style linear production. The core concept of a circular economy is to minimize waste from the production cycle by using the residual waste to produce new products. The idea gains recognition in Thailand, but it has not been established at the national policy as the European Commission initiates the Member States through the CE direction and policies. Therefore, the study aims to explain how solid waste management in Thailand aligns the CE principle and provides further implementation to the country's sustainable development. The study conducts a literature review of implications and practices of CE and solid waste management in the European Union Member States and some countries in Asia, as well as the interview and observation at the case study municipality in the northeast of Thailand. Feedback from the experts on the current situation and future perspective about solid waste management and circular economy in Thailand is also provided. The case of Muang Kalasin Municipality reveals the prominent factors driving waste campaign success. Local communities learn to separate waste with 3R, the core element of CE. Nevertheless, the communities need more inputs and tools to enable circular economy achievement. The national direction has not been formulated in circularity. Considering the global trend about CE and current domestic and international collaboration, it is the opportunity for Thailand to develop the CE national policy and strategies. CE indicators on production and consumption and waste management should get employed in local municipalities.

It is estimated that 3,700 major dams are either planned or under construction, notably in developing countries. Dams can pose a threat to fish diversity, as one of the biggest impacts of damming is habitat fragmentation. Damming causes the isolation of small fish habitats, which reduces genetic diversity and expose fish species to vulnerability of local extinction, hence habitat fragmentation is one of the causes of biological loss. There are tools, which are used to balance between development and biodiversity conservation. One of the tools, which is commonly used, is environmental impact assessment (EIA). EIA uses both science and political knowledge. Science knowledge is important in EIA process as it is required to generate reliable baseline information, impact prediction and effective proposed mitigation. However, no studies have investigated the extent of the use of science knowledge in EIA for hydropower dams in Southern Africa. The purpose of this study is to examine the usage of scientific knowledge in environmental impact statements (EIS), focusing on EISs of dam construction on the impact of habitat fragmentation in fish. Ten EISs were collected from Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe. These countries were chosen because they are the hotspots for hydropower planning. I conducted EIS quality   review to answer the research purpose. I adopted and used EIS quality review package, which was developed by Lee and Colley (1991), to assess the content and quality of EISs. The results show that the use of science knowledge varies from one EIS to the other, and from one area of review to the other. The baseline and mitigation areas of EISs aligned with the scientific consensus the best, while the identification, prediction and evaluation of impacts area is generally unsatisfactory. Overall, six EISs out of ten EISs use science in a satisfactory way, and four EISs are unsatisfactory, meaning they attempted or completely omitted methods for assessing the ecological concept of fragmentation. I recommend a comprehensive study to review the use biodiversity concepts and methods in EISs for all the dams in southern Africa.

Per- and- polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely used in commercial and industrial products and leach into the environment from different applications. PFASs poses an issue to both wildlife and humans because of different toxic properties. Different PFASs have been found to effect different hormones, are possibly carcinogenic, or can affect metabolic function. Many initiatives have been started by countries, organisations, and companies to prevent PFASs from ending up in the environment. Aquatic environments are a sink for PFASs, and much research has been done on the marine environment and its residents to investigate the effects of these substances. In earlier research, the need for a time-line perspective combined with both a total fluorine analysis and mass spectrometry analysis has been pointed out. This study's objective was to investigate how the concentrations of known and unknown bioaccumulating organic fluorinated substances in pilot whales are evolving over time. The results show fluctuating levels of PFASs for the different whales, making it hard to view any trends. There is a pattern of the unknown organic fluorine, that is increasing after 2009 when the phase-out of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) happened. The highest amount of unknown fluorine is 77% in one of the samples. Short-chain PFASs seems to be a good short-term solution as a replacement for the long-chain PFASs but could pose a threat over a longer time perspective. Both pilot whales and humans risk getting high concentrations of PFASs through biomagnification, the acceptable daily intake (ADI) that are in place regarding PFASs should possibly be on total organic fluorine (TOF) instead, due to the high percentage of unknown organic fluorine.

The forest contributes to many ecosystem services and Sweden places great hope in the forest for the green transition, which has created a debate in society concerning how the forest should be used. Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control were investigated amongst the Swedish foresters to evaluate their intention to continue with tract logging in favour of introducing alternative methods. Through a web-based survey, data was collected and analysed and the main results from the present study show that attitudes have the strongest influence on the intention. This finding can be explained by the fact that attitudes have been formed and developed over a long time, strengthened by the Forest Protection Act promoting high production, the culture, the market incentives towards bioeconomy and forestry education in Sweden.

Climate change concerns have led to the settlement of agreements and policies that aim to bring nations and industries together to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius. Diverse strategies have been implemented in the last decades to achieve this goal, such as investment in near-zero emissions technologies and the implementation of carbon markets. This study explores the role of sustainable start-ups as project developers in the voluntary carbon market and provides guidance, through the structure of the business model and assessment of relevant stakeholders, for their successful entry into this emergent market. A case study about the voluntary carbon market and the perspective of start-ups was the approach given to this work. Twelve semi- structure interviews with key stakeholders were conducted and through a thematic analysis, key factors for start-ups to consider were identified. These factors include access to information, barriers to entry, financial resources, innovation and technology, market dynamics, motivation and perception, regulatory environment, and stakeholders’ engagement. The findings were the foundation to develop and structure a business model canvas as well as a technological roadmap to assist start-ups in navigating through the voluntary carbon market. Despite the challenges encountered, positioning in the voluntary carbon market enables start-ups to play a vital role in the decarbonization efforts and the transition to a low- carbon economy.

Potato has played a major role as staple food in Sweden since Jonas Alströmer brought it intothe country in the 18th century and is considered by many to be one of the essences of”swedishness”. About 826.000 tonnes are produced yearly on an area of approximately 20.000 –25.000 ha today and potatoes are mostly grown in the southern parts of Sweden(www.jordbruksverket.se). Potato is best grown in light textured soils with good drainage, but thisalso leads to irrigation being necessary to provide enough moisture for the sensitive potato duringa normal Swedish year. Normally, drip irrigation is used since it enables the farmer to control theexact volumes of water and nutrition being applied.This study was conducted in 2007-2008 (the report was finished in spring 2022 though) at whatwas then known as The Department for Soil Sciences (today Department of soil and environment)at SLU, Uppsala. There was an ongoing project aimed at finding suitable strategies for irrigatingpotato, and the aim of this study was to investigate which one of the following strategies is bestsuited for the soils used in the experiments:• 1 hour every day or 4 hours every four days• Placing the dripperlines on the soil surface or bury them 30 cm into the soil.The study was conducted in two parts, where the first part tested the two time intervals with thedripperlines on the soil surface and the second part with the dripperlines buried into the soil.Measurements of soil water content and infiltration were performed during both parts and for thesecond part, soil water tension was also measured. When the measurements were finished, thesame strategies were modelled in Hydrus-2D with similar soil parameters to see if the programcould be a useful tool when simulating similar scenarios. Water content was measured after thefirst part of the experiment was finished, but no distinct wetting front could be seen and nodifference in water content could be seen since measurements were delayed due to bad weatherconditions. The water content was measured throughout the second part and a water front couldbe detected directly after an irrigation event, but all signs of irrigation were gone 24 hours later.The results of the Hydrus2D simulations did not agree completely with the experimental datasince the sand used in the model differ from the ones used in the experiments.Conclusions that could be drawn were that soils with water holding capacities as poor as the onesused in the experiments should rather be irrigated often than with longer intervals. Also, themodelling with Hydrus2D did not give the same results for these soils and therefore, no directconclusions about the program’s applicability could be drawn in this study.Key words: potato, drip irrigation, strategies, sand, simulations, Hydrus-2D, infiltration, water holdingcapacity.

Global warming exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels will very likely lead to unavoidable increases of several climate hazards in the coming decades. Climate change phenomena can increase the risk of several extreme weather events, leading to risks of what is commonly considered as natural hazards, for instance landslides and forest fires. These chains or networks of events are termed natural multi-hazards or compound natural events, referring to a primary event or a driver that directly triggers or increases the probability of one or more secondary events by changing the environment. The very likely increase of single and compound natural hazards due to climate change require increased attention since it may imply new challenges to emergency response systems and new threats to society. Especially, how emergency response systems can prepare for and respond to these hazards by using knowledge of the interactions between different natural events.    The purpose of this thesis is to increase the knowledge on interactions between natural hazards, investigate how multiple natural hazards lead to challenges for emergency response systems, and how these challenges can be addressed. The purpose can be further divided into three objectives: (i) to identify relevant multiple natural hazards in a Swedish context, (ii) to identify planning and decision-making challenges these hazards may imply for emergency response systems, and (iii) to develop a decision support tool addressing one of these challenges.   The objectives have been addressed in three sub-studies, one for each of the objectives, leading to the production of four papers. The first sub-study focused on the first objective and resulted in the construction of a national natural hazard interaction framework for Sweden, which is presented in Paper 1. The second sub-study focused on the second objective, leading to the identification of needs for information, planning, and decision support systems in the Swedish emergency response system. The results from this study are presented in Paper 2 and 3. The third and last sub-study focused on the development of a decision support tool addressing one of the needs identified in the second sub-study. The sub-study led to the development of an optimization model for resource preparedness location planning, presented in Paper 4.   This thesis contributes to the emergency management field, both scientifically and practically. The scientific contributions are the development of a national natural hazard interactions framework and a resource preparedness location model for wildfires, both filling gaps in the current knowledge. Also, the thesis contributes scientifically through the alternative applications of theory, which can inform the research community in future studies. The natural hazard interaction framework and the resource preparedness location model for wildfires are also considered practical contributions. The former can support the extension of regional and local risk and vulnerability analyses to also include multiple natural hazards, while the latter sheds light on the potential of optimization-based decision support tools to increase preparedness to natural hazards. / <p><strong>Funding agencies:</strong> Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, and FORMAS, a Swedish research council for sustainable development.</p>

I Sverige renas totalt cirka 1,5 miljarder m3 avloppsvatten per år. Reningsverken i Sverige ärväldigt bra på att rena avloppsvatten, globalt sett är de bäst i världen på att exempelvis rena fos-for från avloppsvattnet. Rening av avloppsvatten är otroligt viktigt och om detta inte genomförspå ett effektivt sätt kan konsekvenser uppkomma såsom övergödning, smitta m.m. Ett exempelär Sverige under 1900-talet då allt avloppsvatten släpptes ut till recipienter utan att renas. Medtiden fick detta konsekvenser på sjöar och kustområden runt om i landet vilket skapade storamiljöproblem. Tyvärr är reningsverken i dagsläget väldigt linjära. Dagens VA-system är beroendeav vatten som transportmedium, vilket bidrar till att mycket vatten går till spillo. Dessutom ärdagens reningsverk relativ dåliga på att återföra exempelvis näringsämnen till jorbruket. Däravbehövs mer innovativa lösningar som kan ta tillvara på näringsämnena samt minska användningenav vatten. Harvest Moon är ett företag som jobbar just med nya och innovativa källsorterandeVA-lösningar. De vill undersöka hur stor påverkan decentraliserade lösningar kan ha på samhälletsamt veta mer om vilka fördelar och nackdelar som kan finnas med olika källsorterande VA-system. Syftet med studien var att undersöka olika källsorterande VA-reningstekniker som finns tillgäng-liga i marknaden just nu och jämföra de mot varandra utifrån ett helhetsperspektiv. Urinhante-ringsmetoder jämfördes mot varandra och fekaliehanteringsmetoder mot varandra. Tekniker somundersöktes var fekalietorkning vid två olika temperaturer, urinlagring samt urinevaporation. Tek-nikerna sattes in i verklighetsbaserade system. För att få en mer realistisk bild användes Södrastaden i Uppsala som ett scenario för att implementera de olika systemen. En multikriterieanalysimplementerades för att undersöka de olika teknikerna utifrån olika samhällskrav och kriterier.Exempelvis utsläpp av växthusgaser, övergödningspotential, vattenanvändning m.m. Resultatetvisade på att fekalietorkning är en teknik som har goda egenskaper samt stor potential utifrån deundersökta kraven, dock är tekniken inte lika etablerad som kompostering och studien visade ävenatt acceptansen kring det undersökta systemet med fekalietorkning är bristande. För urintekniker-na var systemet med urinlagring bäst utifrån undersökta krav. Anledningen till det var främst atturinevaporation kräver mer material, högre elförbrukning samt att urinlagring är en mer etableradteknik. Dock visade studien att decentraliserade urin tekniker har en högre acceptans jämfört medfekalier tekniker vilket gör att urin evaporation har stora potentialer om vissa specifika åtgärderimplementeras.

This study’s aim was to investigate the decision-making process of consumers when purchasing seafood, with a specific focus on the role of the Marine Stewardship Council eco-label. The Means-End Chain theoretical framework is used to analyse this process. A mixed-method approach was employed, combining laddering interviews to construct a Hierarchical Value Map, and semi-structured thematic interviews to gain a deeper understanding of consumer perceptions and behaviour. The Hierarchical Value Map analysis identified price, origin, and freshness/frost status as the primary factors influencing consumer choices. While eco-labels were considered, they often played a secondary role compared to these attributes. The study revealed varying levels of consumer awareness and trust in eco-labels, highlighting an uneven level of eco-label literacy among different consumer segments. The findings demonstrated that although eco-labels are significant, they face competition from more immediate attributes such as price and origin in shaping consumer behaviour. Trust and education regarding eco-labels are essential in guiding consumers towards more sustainable choices. Future research should focus on strategies to enhance trust in eco-labels and examine the influence of cultural factors on consumer perceptions of sustainable practices. Contributions of this project are seen in valuable insights into the complexities of consumer decision-making in sustainable seafood purchases. It emphasizes the importance of eco-labels in promoting environmental stewardship through market mechanisms.