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The complexity of interactions that inform policy-making poses several challenges to evaluating the impact of policy research. Two key obstacles to policy-oriented research impact assessment (PORIA) are determining the degree of influence that can be claimed by a knowledge-generating entity and quantifying the impact of a policy-oriented research program. This thesis builds upon prior PORIA efforts to develop a framework for the evaluation of the impact of the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP), an environmentally-focused, policy-oriented research project led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). We examine a case study of the Indonesian Forest Moratorium policy to determine the policy's impact on emissions from peat deforestation. Results indicate that the policy has been largely ineffective in decreasing deforestation to date and has in fact been associated with increased deforestation above business-as-usual trends. Nevertheless, our analysis shows that if the moratorium were to achieve full protection, Indonesia could avoid the release of 10 - 20 million tons of carbon dioxide over the next 15 years, which corresponds to a mean social value of $402 - 805 million using a $40/ton social cost of carbon. With SWAMP's timely knowledge generation on tropical wetland carbon dynamics we estimate that $4.03 - 40.26 million of these social benefits can be attributed to CIFOR. Furthermore, through its involvement in the IPCC Wetlands Supplement and the Blue Carbon Initiative, SWAMP stands to positively influence outcomes of the 45 billion tons of carbon stored in non-Indonesian tropical peatlands and the global extent of mangroves, further increasing the impact of CIFOR. / Master of Science

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Transformations of energy systems in line with the Paris Agreement demand rapid deliberate decline of fossil energy production for decarbonization. Rising in priority on national political agendas, policy change for deliberate decline meets political barriers in the form of powerful incumbent actors, path dependencies and frames of loss. Although these dynamics can impede transformations, literature remains unclear in how to engage with these barriers. Therefore, this study focused on discourse and policy process theories in a qualitative analysis based on a broad selection of documents and expert-based interviews to explore and illustrate the “Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment” in Germany (2018/19). In this multi-stakeholder committee, a phase-out plan for coal-fired power generation was negotiated alongside claims of just transitions. Findings indicate that policy change was reached through consensual agreement but was reduced in ambition through path dependent discourse and expert-based information. The selection and evaluation of expert-based information was closely tied to expert members, while political debate on necessary assumptions as a basis for this information remained scarce. Lastly, insights from discourse and expert-based information can enrich the understanding of sustainability transformations and further research on the case could investigate the narrative subscriptions of stakeholders.

This study addresses the concept of fair governance based on an empirical study with marginalized groups, primarily Muslims, and their interaction with government agencies as its salient locus of investigation. Employing the research method of in-depth interviewing, I present a qualitative analysis of 35 semi-structured interviews with Muslims and government administrators. The methodological framework based on which these interviews are interpreted is rooted in the tradition of social constructivism as manifested in the grounded theory perspective of Charmaz. My examination of the hitherto unspoken political visions of the study participants and their shared perspectives offers pragmatic solutions to create greater equity and fairer inclusion of the marginalized in civic and political dialogues and in the administrative practice of government. Remarkably, the cultural changes towards justice and inclusion in the Government of British Columbia manifest that fair government is committed to creating a fundamental transformation in favour of marginalized groups. I find the most promising approach for such transformation occurs where bottom up and dynamic approaches of civil society are aligned with top down approaches of government to justice. The findings suggest that fair governance enhances its functionality and capacity through reflecting universal universalism in its policies and practices, heartening public spirituality and moving towards a more humane modernity rather than the extant western model of modernity. Thus, fair governance calls for diversity in expression of religious identity and challenges the mistaken images of Muslim women. Subsequently, fair government welcomes female religious actors, who act upon religious values, to its administration and respects their choice of clothing encompassing the scarf. Fair government, at all levels, ameliorates the ethical standards of its employees and employs authentic leaders, who act in a virtuous manner, care about employees’ deeply held values, and implement direct communication with staff. Such government supports legislative and constitutional reforms to consider a different outlook of the marginalized on political and social concerns, respects religious practices, honours Muslims’ identity and interpretation of life, and supports individuals who aim to improve humanity in Canada and its occupational settings. Rethinking Islamophobia in the context of the distinct need of government administrators for the institutional education about Islam, as a key finding of the study, depicts the emergence of “Islamoexploria”, as a new expression, which I coin. In my study, there is ample evidence to suggest that a sample of government administrators in British Columbia is in the age of post Islamophobia since they, as pioneers, have passed the stage of Islamophobia and entered a new era of “Islamoexploria”. Thus, they have produced the profound socio-cultural changes towards understanding Islam by shifting from fear of, ostensibly, the unknown to knowledge about the unknown and to approaches that are more sympathetic to Muslims. This finding suggests that fair government facilitates the journey from western Islamophobia, a demonstration of old racism, to “Islamoexploria”, a contemporary thirst for knowledge about Islam. Concurrently, Muslims remain responsible to contribute to fairness at large by role modeling their religious values, which greatly promote justice, compassionate attitudes, and humanitarian actions. / Graduate / 2022-12-07