Stewardship as a concept is increasingly brought forward as a goal to reach sustainability goals of ensuring human wellbeing within the limits of Earth’s life support systems. Scholarship on the required capacities for planetary stewardship is growing rapidly, as are the insights. This thesis focuses on contributing with knowledge about what stewardship implies in terms of civic engagement in environmental issues, particularly in contexts where these can be particularly challenging: rapidly changing cities. Paper I describes the internal functioning of a citizen network engaged in various environmental issues in Bangalore, India. Analyzing social network structure and desired outcomes, it shows that while the loose structure inhibits efficiency, it encourages inclusiveness and builds legitimacy among members. Despite a reduced capacity to actively mobilize members, the network facilitates ecosystem monitoring and serves as an information platform to connect diverse groups across the city. Paper II describes how local engagement to restore Bangalorean lakes can influence city-level governance of water supply. Following key events in the 1960s, Bangalore has become increasingly dependent on a single source of water and seems unable to explore other supply approaches for its rapidly growing population. The study shows that the system’s trap-like dynamics can be rewired by citizen-based lake groups by incentivizing authorities to break long-standing centralization trends. By re- acknowledging the water bodies’ multifunctional role as man-made water harvesting units, groups have gathered local support and improved monitoring to protect lakes after restoration. Together, the two papers show that civic involvement in urban environmental stewardship can improve governance by complementing and acting as a watchdog over public authorities.

This study aims to compare two Swedish Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGO:s) in relationship to their international establishment, for the purpose to gain a more nuanced knowledge of how they operate to achieve their goals, and a better understanding of the challenges and benefits the different international establishments can bring. We interviewed two ENGO:s, Naturskyddsföreningen and Jordens Vänner, on the basis of two main issues:- How can work to influence environmental policy differ between a Swedish ENGO and an international ENGO operating in Sweden?- What are the challenges and benefits of influencing Swedish environmental policy for ENGO:s in Sweden that are different internationally established?This study used the method of Most Similar System Design to answer the main issues in the selection of cases, and further a semi-structured interview was used to collect empirical data. The main theory to analyse the data drew from Beyers (2004) conceptualisation of mobilization strategies in from of access and voice.The empirical study shows that the difference in international establishments indeed brings both challenges and advantages to the ENGO:s operationalization. The Swedish established Naturskyddsföreningen could engage in a more local matter, were they influenced both members to be more active and local politicians and political decision-makers. But the inefficient way to combine both access and voice proved to be a challenge in articulating certain core issues. The international established Jordens Vänner showed a different way of conducting environmental policy, by using their international networks as a way of influencing the policy process. But restrains from their internationally management proved limit the space and possibility to operate.Keywords: NGO, ENGO, environmental governance, policy process, mobilization strategies, institutional actors, local engagement, networks

This study seeks to understand the role of non-state actors, particularly NGOs, in global environmental governance by spotlighting the EU’s policies on waste trade. To understand the role of NGOs in waste trade, the study traces the waste trade problematisation of the EU and discovers NGOs' strategies and frames to influence the policies of the EU on waste trade. The study uses mixed methods with the help of constructivist and post-structuralist approaches. According to the study, the EU historically approaches the waste trade as an environmental subject outside of the EU with the contribution of NGOs. On the other hand, changes in the global waste trade scene are shifting the EU’s waste trade problematisations within the EU as an economic dependency problem. In this context, by taking a dialogue builder and voice articulator role and creating alliances, NGOs try to change the EU's this two-way approach.  They work to create a global environmental problem understanding for waste trade using mixed frames, which contain both technical and political frames.

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Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) has emerged in southern Africa as a form of resource governance that is intended to devolve control of natural resources to local populations. CBNRM has produced demonstrable benefits in attaining its three goals of economic development, environmental conservation, and community empowerment, however, over time success has seemingly dwindled which has been documented in the literature. Many scholars argue that it is the third goal of community empowerment that most often fails to be realized. Beyond that, one of the major gaps that exists in the literature is an analysis of the impact of climate change on the CBNRM programs. This dissertation will analyze the challenges and opportunities of climate change while further analyzing to what degree local communities benefit as a result. It builds on existing global assemblage work to develop a composite theoretical approach that analyzes CBNRM as green global policy assemblage in order to account for the evolution of CBNRM in response to climate change. This approach is necessary as CBNRM is highly political and the resultant developing power relations are rearticulating global environmental governance and traditional levels of analysis. What emerges from the case study of Namibia is a policy assemblage that results in power being distributed and enacted in ways that traditional theories of International Relations cannot adequately account for within their state-centric ontology. This dissertation is based on fieldwork conducted in Namibia, a country that is generally recognized as a global leader in CBNRM. My conclusions suggest that CBNRM cannot be viewed as an empowering of Namibian communities and corresponding weakening of the state. Instead, the state maintains its sovereign power however at a distance and it is exercised in a less direct fashion than would have traditionally been the case. Furthermore, by devolving power the state enables NGOs to exert their influence on the ground in assisting communities. However, the actions of NGOs have important political effects based on the complex relations they have with other countries, multilateral institutions, as well as novel hybrid organizations that are increasingly empowered to engage in development actions throughout the Global South. While this proliferation of actors has resulted in continued funding streams for important development initiatives, it also continues the dependence of African communities on global actors. In some ways this is making communities less autonomous and more reliant on others, rather than self-sufficient as CBNRM entails.

Transboundary watershed management seeks to reconcile the dichotomy between political lines and the resources that flow freely over such borders. Transboundary waters cover half of the earth’s surface and define the natural communities of over 40% of the global population. Because water plays an integral role in every culture and society, international entities seek to identify the principles and methods that minimize conflict and maximize harmonious water resource management across borders. Successful management practices to date have aimed to incorporate relevant scientific literature throughout the basin using alternate governance structures. International River Basin Organizations (IRBOs), independent governing structures, provide one such method of governance along shared water bodies. In order to determine how science influences policy and management in IRBOs, this research examines five case studies across three IRBOs: The International Joint Commission, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube and the Mekong River Commission. To understand the gap between science production and its incorporation into IRBO policies, we conducted a comprehensive literature review and applied the findings from existing scientific literature to understand science-policy process in the five case studies. Within each case study we traced the story of science production and its uptake into policy by highlighting two types of key information in the process: the role of mandates and IRBO structure, and the IRBO’s relationship with relevant actors. Through this process we identified and explored the gap between science production and policy action, demonstrating which mechanisms are essential for generating policy founded on scientific research.

No / Environmental decisions made by individuals, civil society and the state involve questions of economic efficiency, environmental effectiveness, equity and political legitimacy. These four criteria are constitutive of economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, which has become the dominant rhetorical device of environmental governance. We discuss the tendency for different strands of social science to focus on particular subsets of the four criteria and argue that such a practice promotes solutions that do not acknowledge the dynamics of scale and the heterogeneity of institutional and historical contexts. We propose a more interdisciplinary approach to understanding environmental decisions that seeks to identify legitimate and context-sensitive institutional solutions producing equitable, efficient and effective outcomes. We examine two examples that illustrate the indivisible and integrated nature of the four criteria in actual environmental decisions. The first example relates to international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the second one to local resource management in the UK. We utilise the example to outline a new agenda for future research on environmental governance and decision-making.

Analysts have had a long fascination with moments of significant change and discontinuity in political relations. Studies of “exogenous shocks,” “critical junctures,” “historical events,” “policy windows,” and “punctuated equilibria” have occupied a prominent place in qualitative assessments of policy and institutional change. Yet, despite analysts’ interest, these turning points remain poorly understood. Leading theoretical treatments are overwhelmingly descriptive, offering little in the way of explanatory capacity. Introducing the concept of Temporal Focal Points, my thesis provides a temporal extension to Thomas C. Schelling’s focal point hypothesis. Temporal Focal Points—definite, exceptional phases along the temporal continuum—precipitate a convergence of expectations among actors in time that heightens the likelihood of agreement. Convergent expectations are a crucial means of overcoming temporal coordination problems among actors. By facilitating a spike in analytical activity, political entrepreneurship, and bargaining intensity, actors are able realize joint gains opened up by past shifts in key parameters. Prominent temporal signposts allow actors to recognize that existing institutional arrangements are not an equilibrium. I test the plausibility of this theory through an analysis of the record of change at four distinct phases of the history of the United Nations environment regime from 1962-1992, including the 1972 Stockholm conference, the 1982 Nairobi conference, the UN General Assembly’s response to the Brundtland report, and the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

This dissertation evaluates the role and effectiveness of law in the transboundary environmental governance of the Baltic Sea with regard to eutrophication. To this end, it reviews the applicable international agreements with their related instruments, as well as the EU legal frameworks, for the protection of the Baltic Sea environment on the basis of theories on resilience in social-ecological systems. The scientific discourse on resilience in social-ecological systems provides theories on effective governance of complex environmental problems with nonlinear causal connections. The governance features identified in resilience governance also show significant similarities with characteristic features of the concept of ecosystem approach. The resilience features can thus provide guidance to the operationalization of this concept, which lacks a distinct meaning in the legal context. Eutrophication is one of the main environmental problems in the Baltic Sea. Despite the fact that this problem has been acknowledged since the 1970s, only little progress has been visible in the attempts to limit the problem. Environmental governance in the form of cooperation and common action has, however, been established by the coastal states of the Baltic Sea to reduce the discharges to their common resource. This was originally coordinated through the Helsinki Convention and its administrative organization HELCOM in the 1970s. Since the year 2000 a new set of legal instruments and approaches have developed, emphasizing also the ecosystem approach. These instruments have a basis both in HELCOM and in EU environmental law, most significantly represented by the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. They establish a unique regulatory structure, with new approaches to regulation, which also give rise to questions regarding interpretation and effectiveness that have not previously been analyzed. It is concluded that applicable law in the Baltic Sea area reflects resilience features such as adaptability, flexibility and redundancy within the legal structure. The legal structure for the Baltic Sea is dynamic and stretches over many levels of governance. The applicable legal instruments are constructed so as to be adaptable and flexible. The legal instruments moreover include significant elements that provide for participation at different levels and in different forms, which contribute to enabling the mentioned resilience features. However, the Baltic Sea legal structure – as law in general – has different core functions than just providing for effective environmental governance. Law is based in a number of general principles connected to the rule of law and the function of law as a foundation for stability in the society and in human interactions. These principles are also important since they are directly linked to enforcement, monitoring and control. While the legal structure in the Baltic Sea may provide for effective governance and social-ecological resilience, the resilience features reflected in law do not always appear as far-reaching as suggested by resilience theories, much due to the legal principles. It is however because of these principles and the base for binding requirements they enable, that law can push for governance measures and features that might not have been accomplished otherwise. This, in the larger perspective, includes creating requirements that steer human activities away from critical thresholds. / Baltic Ecosystem Adaptive Management, BEAM

The formal access of transnational actors (TNA) to international organizations (IO) has increased steadily over the past five decades, and a growing body of literature is at the moment concerned with the theoretical and normative implications of these developments. However, very little is known as of yet about who the TNAs in global governance are, where they come from, which issue areas they focus on, and when and where they choose to participate. Using analytical tools from interest group theory, in particular a subfield called population ecology, this study describes and explains the chronological development of two populations of TNAs in global governance, namely the observer communities of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. TNAs’ financial resources and their geographical proximity to global governance venues emerge as important factors influencing their capacity to participate, causing these TNA populations to be stratified and volatile.