Contaminated sites in low prioritized regions demand remediation technologies that are cost- and energy-effective and locally adapted. Parameters such as the time frame during which bioremediation degradation needs to occur may not be as restraining as in urban environments. This licentiate project aims to explore opportunities and constraints for appropriate soil remediation based on organic by-products in tropical developing countries and sparsely populated areas in industrial countries. Ecological Engineering and the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development were explored as planning tools to steer bioremediation methods towards sustainability. The use of the five concepts of Ecological Engineering within the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development can steer bioremediation in low prioritized regions towards sustainability. Pilot-scale and laboratory experiments were undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of such bioremediation methods. Experiments carried out at the experiment station in Chontales, Nicaragua showed some promising results, but also revealed problems associated with the clay rich soils, which are typical for tropical regions. Treatment of diesel contaminated ultisol with 6 mL whey kg-1 dw in a pilot-scale experiment considerably increased the degradation rate of diesel constituents, but no effects on the degradation rates were observed after treatment with compost tea or pyroligneous acid.The soil columns study suggests that despite a favorable particle size distribution for microbial transport, the sandy loam retained a greater fraction of the microorganisms present in the ACT in the top 10 cm than the clay loam, presumably because the lower bulk density and higher SOM in the clay loam aided transport and growth of microorganisms.

Some earlier studies have explored the peripheralization of sparsely populated municipalities and the urban-rural divide, both in Sweden and abroad. However, few studies have explored if central actors in the Swedish crisis management system puts these municipalities in their peripheralization according to the ones who conduct the crisis management in the sparsely populated municipalities. Therefore, this study aims to help fill that knowledge gap by capturing the attitudes and experiences from the ones working with crisis preparedness in those municipalities, regarding the handbooks and the other support the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency offers. The study is conducted by semi-structured interviews with those who work with crisis preparedness on a municipal level, in sparsely populated regions. After the interviews a narrative method, together with analysis tools from Michael Foucault’s theories about power dynamics is applied. Although many good things were said about the handbooks, the results presented two narratives. The first about the peripheralization of the rural areas and the other about an understanding of the urban perspective. An application of the analysis tools made it clear that power dynamics where visible in the narratives. The urban areas have the power to create norms and exclude the rural perspective, while at the same time making it fair and reasonable according to the ones who are affected by it. Which clearly illustrates the power dynamics at play.