The Swedish forest is currently being debated as to how it should be managed to provide climate mitigation. Forest management can contribute to climate mitigation in mainly two ways. Either through increased sequestration and storage of carbon in the forest or as a consequence of the substitution effect, through which emissions can be avoided by utilizing harvested wood products to replace other emission-intensive products. However, these two climate benefits are at odds with each other, as efforts to increase the sequestration of carbon in the forest by increased conservation will decrease the amount of harvested biomass available for substitution. This fact has led to a disagreement between scholars regarding the climate benefits of increased forest conservation versus the climate benefits of maintaining a high harvest level. The climate benefit of increased forest conservation is influenced by how much additional carbon the growing forest can sequester over time. The climate benefit of forest harvest is instead directly related to the level of achieved substitution effect. As the substitution level is dynamic, it may change in the future due to various technological, economic, and societal developments, which would influence the potential climate benefit of forest harvest. In addition, intensifying forest management as a means to increase forest growth is also commonly suggested as a possible measure for enhancing the climate mitigation potential of the Swedish forest. This study aimed to investigate how the climate mitigation potential of different forest management regimes develops over time based on different potential levels of achieved substitution effect. Based on input data from the National Forest Inventory, the Heureka RegWise system was used to simulate the impact on sequestration of carbon dioxide and the available harvested biomass to be used for substitution for the different forest management regimes over a 150-year period. The results indicate that increased forest conservation provides a higher climate mitigation potential throughout a majority of the 150-year period. However, the climate benefit of increased conservation does diminish over time due to the set-aside forests' declining ability to sequester additional carbon. The rate at which the forest management regimes without increased conservation can catch up is influenced on which level of substitution that is applied. The results also indicate that increased utilization of growth-enhancing practices increases the climate mitigation potential of forest management.

Mushers, sledges, and husky teams run through Lapland for approximately 5000 years already to move goods, travel, and even military purposes. Nowadays, the mushing tradition has entered the local culture and evolved into a professional vocation for numerous entrepreneurs. Husky sledging companies of different sizes and business cultures meet the increasing touristic demand for sledging rides and safaris in the Finnish wilderness. Husky tours constitute a unique selling point for lots of Arctic destinations because part of the “to-do list” of every tourist exploring the extreme North. Despite the growing interests shown by visitors, the academic world has almost never focused any attention or resources to research the husky sledging industry. Since the covid-19 spread also in Lapland, the entire husky sledging business is condemned to face severe consequences and deal with wicked problems. This thesis aims to fill the research gap on the husky safari business and to offer husky tour companies support in mitigating the economic impacts caused by the pandemic outbreak. The investigation is based on the participatory action research realised in collaboration with Bearhill Husky, a dog sledging company operating in Rovaniemi. Design Thinking has been applied as a research methodology to develop sustainable solutions that could help the company survive the crisis. The aim is to prove that, under certain conditions, Design Thinking can succeed in this intent and to inspire other kennels to apply this methodology for developing resilience and sustainable innovation. This research looks at what has been destroyed and sees room for growth and progress and teaches that sometimes the problem is our approach towards it.

Financial support is one of the main ways in which the Swedish government can encourage restoration and construction of wetlands. Despite having the tool of financial support for constructing wetlands in place, there is little information on how the support systems are structured and how they compare to each other. Another knowledge gap is the regional variation in wetland construction among counties and how this differs between them.  The purpose of this study is therefore two-part. Firstly, to map and compare the three main financial systems for constructing wetlands in Sweden, namely LOVA (the Local Water Preservation Grant), LONA (the Local Initiative for Nature Conservation) and the RDP (the Rural Development Programme). Results from the national comparison among financial systems shows that the RDP is the significantly most influential grant in wetland construction, whereas LOVA make up 9% and LONA 1% of the sum of hectares of constructed wetlands. These findings are the reason why this study only uses the RDP as a basis for the second purpose of this study, which is to investigate the regional variation in wetland construction. These results reveal two main findings, firstly that Skåne is the county with the most constructed wetlands, both in terms of hectares and number of wetlands. Finally, the purposes of the constructed wetlands which are financed by the RDP, are reviewed in this study. The purposes differ greatly between counties and do not necessarily align with the targets set in the Regional Action Plans.  The reasons for the large variations between counties, the low numbers of constructed wetlands within LONA and the administrative process of the RDP are topics which are recommended to research further.

Access to electricity is a scarcity throughout sub-Saharan African countries. The region currently has the lowestrate of energy access in the world and a total of 13 countries have an electrification rate of 25%. Comprehensiveenergy security is regarded as essential to obtaining sustainable and economic development in which access toaffordable and clean energy is part of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030.A country in the region that has had some sporadic success with electrification and unique developments withrenewable energy, is Ethiopia. Despite the significant overall increase of access to electricity over the past twodecades, the country still has an electrification rate that barely covers half of the population. An aspect that isviewed to have an impact on increased electrification and successful transitioning of deploying renewableenergy, is the use and presence of strong policies. Several researchers and scholars have explored the effect thatpolicy has on increased electrification and how they are useful for promoting renewable energy. This researchaims to investigate the role of policy for electrification via renewables in Ethiopia. The objective of the thesisis to explore sustainable development in terms of energy development, how climate change and economicdevelopment is tackled, and what specific influences shape the energy outlook of Ethiopia. A case study wasconducted which combined two different methods; content analysis of policy documents and semi-structuredinterviews with experts from various fields in which the data was triangulated in order to gain valuableperspectives and insights. The findings showcase that policy developments do seem to have an influence onincreased electrification and sustainable energy transitioning to some extent, with other factors also playing arole. Thus, this research will contribute to how sustainable development can be understood from the context ofenergy policy of a global south nation and provide insights which can further be elaborated on how policies canbe utilized for successful energy developments in other countries in the region.

Eutrophication has proven to be a fundamental ecological problem for lakes and other bodies of water all around the world. The process of eutrophication can be defined as a lake containing increasing concentrations of nutrients from external and/or internal input over time. The increase of nutrients in the lake has several consequences for the lake ecosystem, such as the increase in algal blooms (sometimes containing toxic and harmful cyanobacteria) and the decrease of macrophytes. One nutrient that plays a key role in the eutrophication process is phosphorus. To restore eutrophic waters, the external and internal input of phosphorus needs to be reduced. External input can be decreased by reducing the run-off from industrial areas or agriculture. Internal input can be reduced by disrupting the in-lake phosphorus loading processes, which are connected heavily to the lake sediment. The internal phosphorus loading processes can be caused by several different processes. One is the mineralization of organic biomass on the sediment which releases phosphorus into the water, another is the release of previously iron-bound phosphorus from the sediment. Different treatments can be implemented in a lake system to disrupt these internal processes of phosphorus loading and consequently restore the water quality of the lake. Such treatments also influence the biota of the lake and the ecosystem services, because of their effect on water quality. Biomanipulation treatments and aluminum treatments were implemented in lake Växjösjön in Sweden to restore the lake to a more natural and balanced state. Both treatments were effective in reducing the eutrophic conditions of the lake, improving water quality, biota, and the ecosystem services. Local human populations benefit from these improvements, for example by receiving increased revenue from lake recreation. More research is however needed to discern the long-term effects of the treatments in the Växjö municipality, thereby aiding local government and policy makers in their future decisions regarding restoration.

This thesis identifies the potential threats and impacts posed by climate change on the relationship between water availability and the Polish energy transformation sector. In doing so, the objective is to uncover and assess how vulnerable these components are to climate change. Poland provides an interesting case in a European context as the country’s energy sector is largely fueled by hard coal, and its established thermal power plant fleet requires large volumes of water at particular temperatures to operate at full capacity (Kosowski et al. 2019). Climate change is predicted to cause variations in temperature and precipitation which is likely to affect water availability (Schaeffer et al. 2012). This is set to place further strain on the relationship betweenwater and thermal power plant operation. In addition, Poland has some of the smallest freshwater resources available per capita in the European Union and the country has already witnessed an increase in droughts and heatwaves which have had negative impacts on electricity generation (Manowska & Rybak 2018; Olszewski2015). The concern for Poland then is that climate change threatens the energy transformation sectors’ ability to provide access to electricity by continuing to affect water availability. To investigate this, the study conducted a vulnerability assessment that aimed to identify climate change exposure through the analysis of different climate models. A content analysis of relevant literature was used to identify potential climate change threats. To place the assessment in the Polish context, a case study was conducted on 14 hard coal thermal power plants located throughout the country. The data gathered from the case study was then evaluated and discussed in relation to the conceptual framework. The results found that climate change is indeed causing higher airtemperatures which is likely to cause higher water temperatures as well as more extreme weather events. These trends are expected to continue well beyond 2050. Regarding water availability, it was more challenging to identify a significant change in precipitation trends but periods of intense rainfall and increases in mean watertemperatures were observed. The thesis concluded that it is difficult to predict the exact degree of vulnerability of water availability and thermoelectric power operation. It does however recognize that there is a clear relationship between water availability and the functioning of thermal power plants. Therefore, it can be said that climate change will, to a certain extent, expose the two components to further vulnerabilities. Yet, further in-depth research is required to improve the reliability of the results.

Wetlands are commonly known for providing a number of key functions. In the context of Swedish agricultural landscapes, the ability of wetlands to enhance nutrient retention and provide habitats for biodiversity has long been recognized. Nevertheless, many wetlands in Sweden have been lost or damaged due to drainage activities, and there is a need for scaling up the implementation of wetlands. The possibilities to reach wetland implementation goals in Sweden highly depend on voluntary participation by farmers and landowners. In order to enable and encourage landowners and managers to create and manage wetlands, the access to information, support and advice is considered to be vital. One way to provide support is through farm advisory services, such as the project ‘Greppa Näringen’ (GN) in Sweden, in which advice on, among other things, wetland creation and maintenance is offered. However, to date there is relatively little research on how such advisory systems work in practice and what potential barriers there are to their success. This thesis aims at investigating how wetland advisors perceive their role in enabling and encouraging landowners in wetland implementation. It also aims at revealing what barriers the advisors experience and what potential improvements they believe are necessary in order to aid them in their mission and, in turn, promote wetland implementation. This is achieved by conducting semi-structured interviews with 14 wetland advisors within GN. The findings are then analyzed in relation to ideas on knowledge, motivation, dialogue, mutual learning and trust, which previous scholars have identified as key components in the interaction between advisors and farmers. The results show that the wetland advisors draw and refine their knowledge from an array of sources, such as written articles and reports, interaction with other stakeholders, and personal experience of wetland creation and maintenance. Moreover, in their mission to enable and encourage landowners and managers in wetland creation and management, the wetland advisors are required to consider a number of aspects, including landowners’ interests, opportunities for financial support, and environmental conditions. The establishment of relationships between advisors and landowners is of utmost importance, in which dialogue, respect, mutual learning and trust are key components. Furthermore, the study reveals a number of barriers and potential improvements. These regard the need for a longer support-chain, less complex and more reliable systems for financial support, more coherent administrative processing of notifications and permits, and more knowledge and experience on handling opposing interests. It is also vital to further acknowledge wetland functions beyond the current focus on nutrient retention in both financial support systems, research and focus areas within the advisory system of GN, and, finally, to further communicate the opportunity to receive wetland advice both within and beyond GN. This could aid advisors in their mission to transfer knowledge to landowners as well as heighten the quality of the advisory visits, and in turn motivate more landowners and farmers to participate in the implementation of long-term sustainable wetlands in Sweden.

Social Leaders in Colombia in their efforts to defend their territories and communities have been victims for years of threats, violence, and assassinations by some of the power structures present in the country. After the signing of the peace process Between the FARC and the government of Colombia in 2016, the situation has worsened. Social Leaders are catalysts for sustainable development and guaranteeing their protection is fundamental to the country's sustainable development goals. To analyze the situation the methodology applied was a critical discourse analysis, in which the thesis pursed was to understand the government's position and why this social wrong persists. With this aim, the thesis critically analyzed the texts of the government's development plan, tweets of the main channels of the national government, and the congressmen of the ruling party. The analysis indicated that the ideologies of the ruling party make it difficult to find solutions to wicked problems. In addition, the ideology of the governing party presented a combination of neoliberal, neo-conservative, and “caudillismo” discourses that make it difficult to see Social Leadersas potential solutions to problems and stigmatize them. Thus, increasing the risk of Social Leaders being attacked, threatened, or assassinated. The discussion indicates that the path to change requires a change in the polarized vision that the country has had in its history. It is discussed that change can be pursued through pluriverse. The pluriverse is required for the construction of a country that puts in the dialog different ontologies. The analysis proposed components of ontological politics as an option for the transition from the actual model to this pluriverse.

Liming has been used extensively in Sweden, but the management success has been only partial, mostly mitigating the impact of acidification rather than restoring the ecological communities to a self-maintaining pre-acidified state. Rather than a sound restoration tool, liming is a form of command-and-control management that comprises a significant disturbance in the system, which manifests in the form of profound alterations of biophysical settings of lakes. This thesis aims to assess biological responses to liming with a special focus on resilience by looking at the cross-scale interaction aspects of littoral invertebrate communities in limed lakes within the framework of panarchy theory. The thesis is based on multivariate time series modeling (AEM-RDA) to extract hierarchical temporal fluctuations patterns (temporal scales) in littoral invertebrate communities. This analysis tested for the premise of panarchy theory that complex systems are hierarchically structured. Time series analyses were followed by Spearman rank correlation analysis to test another premise of panarchy theory; namely, that “information” (e.g., management interventions) flows between these hierarchical scales. Specifically, Ca:Mg ratios were used as a surrogate of liming, and correlated with each temporal pattern identified by the AEM-RDA. The result showed the distinct temporal scales in littoral invertebrate communities in limed lakes, fitting the premises of panarchy theory and agreeing with previous studies that found hierarchical temporal organizations in other lake communities. The correlation analyses indicated weak cross-scale manifestation of Ca:Mg ratios in the littoral invertebrate communities, suggesting a weak information flow of liming in managed lakes. This “dilution” of management may provide one mechanism that could explain why liming is not effective in creating a self-organizing, resilient system. The results of this study allow shedding further light on liming as a coerced regime (degraded complex systems forced into a state of desired conditions (e.g., ecosystem service provisioning) through constant management). Most research has so far focused on the evaluation of traditional metrics of biodiversity, which have shown that community structure is substantially altered in limed lakes, deviating from those in circumneutral reference lakes and degraded acidified lakes. This thesis, therefore, concludes that integration of traditional ecological approaches and complexity studies may provide complementary insight into the organization of ecosystems and sustainable resource management.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage is emphasized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a key mitigation option to reach the Paris Agreement goal of 2 degrees Celsius but the required need of large-scale facilities is yet to be developed and is therefore in large theoretical. Norway is one country often portraited as a forerunner in the field especially when it comes to offshore storage. How media is framing the technology can impact how society responds to it. This thesis explores how bioenergy with carbon capture and storage is constructed in Norwegian news media between 2005 and 2020. This is done by conducting a discourse analysis based on Marten Haajers analytical approach and reflect on how the constructed story lines are aligned with the current policy path in Norway. The results show that the three discourses Survivalism, Promethenaism and Ecological modernization have dominated the Norwegian news media and the notion of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. The majority of published articles in the sample were found to be supportive of the technology but there are also more critical voices who above all advocate an increased focus on the forests’ mitigation potential. The discourses constructed in the news media have clear similarities with the ongoing policy path on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, as both voice the idea that technological development is well aligned with striving towards sustainability.