The Arctic—warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet—is a source of striking imagery of amplified environmental change in our time, and has come to serve as a spatial setting for climate crisis discourse. The recent alterations in the Arctic environment have also been perceived by some observers as an opportunity to expand economic exploitation. Heightened geopolitical interest in the region and its resources, contradicted by calls for the protection of fragile Far North ecosystems, has rendered the Arctic an arena for negotiating human interactions with nature, and for reflecting upon the planetary risks and possibilities associated with the advent and expansion of the Anthropocene—the proposed new epoch in Earth history in which humankind is said to have gained geological agency and become the dominant force over the Earth system. With the Arctic serving as a nexus of crosscutting analytical themes spanning contemporary history (the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century until 2015), this dissertation examines defining characteristics of the Anthropocene and how the concept, which emerged from the Earth system science community, impacts ideas and assumptions in historiography, social sciences and the environmental humanities, including the fields of environmental history, crisis management and security studies, political geography, and science and technology studies (STS). The primary areas of empirical analysis and theoretical investigation encompass constructivist perspectives and temporal conceptions of environmental and climate crisis; the role of science and expertise in performing politics and shaping social discourse; the geopolitical significance of telecoupling—a concept that reflects the interconnectedness of the Anthropocene and supports stakeholder claims across wide spatial scales; and implications of the recent transformation in humankind’s long duration relationship with the natural world. Several dissertation themes were observed in practice at the international science community of Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard, where global change is made visible through a concentration of scientific activity. Ny-Ålesund is furthermore a place of geopolitics, where extra-regional states attempt to enhance their legitimacy as Arctic stakeholders through the performance of scientific research undertakings, participation in governance institutions, and by establishing a physical presence in the Far North. This dissertation concludes that this small and remote community represents an Anthropocene node of global environmental change, Earth system science, emergent global governance, geopolitics, and stakeholder construction in an increasingly telecoupled world.

The Arctic—warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet—is a source of striking imagery of amplified environmental change in our time, and has come to serve as a spatial setting for climate crisis discourse. The recent alterations in the Arctic environment have also been perceived by some observers as an opportunity to expand economic exploitation. Heightened geopolitical interest in the region and its resources, contradicted by calls for the protection of fragile Far North ecosystems, has rendered the Arctic an arena for negotiating human interactions with nature, and for reflecting upon the planetary risks and possibilities associated with the advent and expansion of the Anthropocene—the proposed new epoch in Earth history in which humankind is said to have gained geological agency and become the dominant force over the Earth system. With the Arctic serving as a nexus of crosscutting analytical themes spanning contemporary history (the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century until 2015), this dissertation examines defining characteristics of the Anthropocene and how the concept, which emerged from the Earth system science community, impacts ideas and assumptions in historiography, social sciences and the environmental humanities, including the fields of environmental history, crisis management and security studies, political geography, and science and technology studies (STS). The primary areas of empirical analysis and theoretical investigation encompass constructivist perspectives and temporal conceptions of environmental and climate crisis; the role of science and expertise in performing politics and shaping social discourse; the geopolitical significance of telecoupling—a concept that reflects the interconnectedness of the Anthropocene and supports stakeholder claims across wide spatial scales; and implications of the recent transformation in humankind’s long duration relationship with the natural world. Several dissertation themes were observed in practice at the international science community of Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard, where global change is made visible through a concentration of scientific activity. Ny-Ålesund is furthermore a place of geopolitics, where extra-regional states attempt to enhance their legitimacy as Arctic stakeholders through the performance of scientific research undertakings, participation in governance institutions, and by establishing a physical presence in the Far North. This dissertation concludes that this small and remote community represents an Anthropocene node of global environmental change, Earth system science, emergent global governance, geopolitics, and stakeholder construction in an increasingly telecoupled world. / <p>QC 20151211</p>

Drivers of environmental change in one location can have profound effects on ecosystem services and human well-being in distant locations, often across international borders. The telecoupling provides a conceptual framework for describing these interactions-for example, locations can be defined as sending areas (sources of flows of ecosystem services, energy, or information) or receiving areas (recipients of flows). However, the ability to quantify feedbacks between ecosystem change in one area and societal benefits in other areas requires analytical approaches. We use spatial subsidies-an approach developed to measure the degree to which a migratory species' ability to provide services in one location depends on habitat in another location-as an example of how telecoupling can be operationalized. Using the cotton pest control and ecotourism services of Mexican free-tailed bats as an example, we determined that of the 16 states in the United States and Mexico where the species resides, three states (Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado) are receiving areas, while the rest of the states are sending areas. In addition, the magnitude of spatial subsidy can be used as an indicator of the degree to which different locations are telecoupled to other locations. In this example, the Mexican free-tailed bat ecosystem services to cotton production and ecotourism in Texas and New Mexico are heavily dependent on winter habitat in four states in central and southern Mexico. In sum, spatial subsidies can be used to operationalize the telecoupling conceptual framework by identifying sending and receiving areas, and by indicating the degree to which locations are telecoupled to other locations.

Over the past decades the world has become increasingly interconnected, and global commodity trade has increased substantially in scope and complexity. Simultaneously, we are rapidly moving towards a future with an increased risk of severe disruption caused by the effects of climate change globally. As trade flows can connect distant regions thousands of miles apart, they can also transmit risks of climate change via impacts on supply chains. This study examines these risk flows through a case study, focusing on exposure to climate change risks to the Swedish consumption of Brazilian soy. Taking in to account both the exposure of climate change to agricultural production in Brazil, and the potential climate vulnerability of the transport network that is used in the agricultural supply, this study brings together data and methods from eight different sources to assess climate risks to production and transport in a novel integrated climate risk assessment. The ability to link consumption data, production data and transport network information together at a municipality resolution constitutes a major innovation and step forward in climate-related supply chain risk assessment. The study find that future risks posed to Swedish sourcing of Brazilian soy are relatively low. Considering dynamic effects of the future market does however suggest that securing future supplies of soy can still be a challenging task for Sweden.

Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit Aerial Rivers („luftgetragenen Flüssen“), den bevorzugten Wegen des Flusses von Feuchte in der Atmosphäre. Ziel ist es, die Voraussetzung für deren Integration in aktuelle Paradigmen der Wasserwirtschaft zu schaffen. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit stehen Amazonien und die angrenzenden Gebiete, also Regionen der Erde, in denen sich derzeit der Landnutzungswandel mit am schnellsten vollzieht. Aus theoretischer Sicht wird das Wissen über die Verbindung zwischen Aerial Rivers und Oberflächenflüssen erweitert. Mit Hilfe eines Algorithmus zur Verfolgung des atmosphärischen Feuchtigkeitstransports werden die Auswirkungen von entferntem Landnutzungswandel in Windrichtung auf die Niederschlagsmenge einer Zielregion quantifiziert. Die räumliche Heterogenität des Einflusses der gesamten Quellevapotranspirationsfläche (precipitationsehed) auf die/den empfangene/n Niederschlagsmenge/Oberflächenabfluss der Zielregion wird untersucht und führt zur Identifizierung der „Most Influential Precipitationshed“ (MIP), der für Managementzwecke relevantesten Teilfläche. Ein Aerial River-Managementbeispiel für Santa Cruz (Bolivien) zeigt, dass die strategische Wiederaufforstung im MIP sowohl die Niederschlagsmenge als auch den empfangenen Oberflächenabfluss erhöht und 22%-59% des zukünftigen Wasserbedarfszuwachses einer schnell wachsenden Stadt decken kann. Weiterhin werden sozio-technische Regime entlang von Aerial Rivers, die zu Extremereignissen wie Megadürren beitragen können, mit Hilfe der sozialwissenschaftlichen Methode der Multi-Level-Perspektive (MLP) untersucht. Ursachen wie Bodenpolitik und Marktinterventionen in Brasilien und Bolivien steuern weit entfernte kolumbianische Energieregime und deren Wandel. Aerial Rivers sind also zentral für zukünftiges Gewässermangement einschließlich Wasserkraft; ihr Management erfordert jedoch eine ganzheitliche Betrachtung der gesellschaftlichen Schnittstellen über administrative Grenzen und Sektoren hinweg. / Aerial rivers are the preferential pathways of moisture flows in the atmosphere. They connect the atmosphere, the water system, and the land system. This thesis aims to provide knowledge for integration of aerial rivers into management of these systems. It focuses on Amazonia and adjacent areas, which collectively experience some of the most rapid land use change on the planet. This thesis further develops three key aspects (theoretical, technical, and societal) of knowledge concerning aerial rivers. From a theoretical aspect, it advances the knowledge of connection between aerial rivers and surface rivers. Using a moisture tracking algorithm, the impact from upwind land use change via aerial rivers on target regions’ runoff reception is quantified. Spatial heterogeneity in the influence of the precipitationshed on runoff reception of the target region is found, implying a need to determine the most influential precipitationshed (MIP) for management purposes. From a technical aspect, the work demonstrates an aerial river management example for a rapidly growing city. It is shown that strategic reforestation in the MIP can increase both rainfall and runoff reception and secure 22%-59% of a rapidly growing city’s future water needs. Finally, the work explores the societal aspect of aerial river management. Socio-technical regimes along aerial rivers contributing to extreme events of mega-drought were traced through the social scientific method of multi-level perspective. It reveals that the source regimes such as land policy and market interventions in Brazil and Bolivia govern remote Colombian energy regimes and their transitions through aerial rivers. These findings show that aerial rivers are relevant and viable options for the development of future water resources - including hydropower - but their management will require a holistic consideration of the various societal interfaces as they cross jurisdictional boundaries and sectors.

Die weltweit steigende Nachfrage nach land-basierten Rohstoffen erhöht stetig den Druck auf Land und Landnutzung, vor allem in ressourcenreichen Frontierregionen. Eine gegenwärtige Erscheinungsform dessen stellen Transnationale Landnahmen dar, die den Landnutzungswandel vorantreiben und die landbasierte Lebensgrundlage insbesondere der ländlichen Bevölkerung in vielen Teilen der Welt massiv bedroht. Ziel dieser Doktorarbeit ist es, ein besseres Verständnis der komplexen Prozesse zu schaffen, die Landnahmen befördern. Erstens untersucht sie die rezente Konjunktur des Bananenanbaus in der Provinz Luang Namtha, Laos, die von Chinesischen Investoren getrieben wird. Zweitens zieht die Arbeit das telecoupling Konzept heran und unterzieht es einer kritischen Diskussion in Bezug auf seinen Mehrwert für die Analyse räumlich entkoppelter sozioökonomischer und ökologischer Wechselwirkungen. Eine mehrmonatige ethnographische Feldforschung und deren qualitative Analyse stellen die Grundlage dieser Arbeit dar. Ausgehend von zwei Bananenplantagen in einer kleinen ländlichen Gemeinde fokussiert die Arbeit die Mechanismen und Prozesse, die die Bananenexpansion befördern. Das telecoupling Konzept dient als Instrument, um zu analysieren, welchen Einfluss die multiplen und ko-konstitutiven Interaktionen auf den Vorstoß des Bananenanbaus haben. Darüber hinaus verdeutlichen die tiefgehenden lokalitätsbezogenen Analysen die verschiedenen Kontexte auf, die dieses Wechselspiel spezifisch lokal verorten und gestalten. Die Fallstudie zeigt auf, wie die räumlich entkoppelten Beziehungen durch ein grenzüberspannendes Netzwerk chinesischer Investoren mit sozialen Verbindungen in die Provinz hinein, sowie auf den (chinesischen) Obstmarkt vermittelt werden. Außerdem stellt die Studie heraus, dass die Strategien der Investoren zur Landgewinnung und der daraus resultierende verheerende Landnutzungswandel einer Entfremdung der Dorfbewohner_innen ‘vom Boden’ gleichkommen. Durch die empirische, methodologische sowie konzeptuelle Auseinandersetzung mit dem telecoupling Konzept verweist die Arbeit letztlich auf den Wert qualitativer Analysen für die schwer greifbaren, ‚immateriellen’ Interaktionen sowie mögliche Feedbackmechanismen, welche Landnutzungswandel in einer globalisierten Welt bestimmen. / The global demand for land resources has increased the pressures on land, especially in resource-rich frontier regions. Transnational land acquisitions constitute one of these pressures that currently shape land use change and threaten land access and land-based livelihoods in rural areas. This thesis contributes to create a better understanding of the complex processes involved in such land acquisitions in two ways. First, it examines a recent boom in banana cultivation in Luang Namtha Province, Lao PDR driven by Chinese investors leasing land from Lao farmers and exporting the bananas to China. Second, it critically engages with the emerging telecoupling framework proposed in Land System Science as an analytical framework for dealing with distal causal interactions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and using qualitative analyses, the thesis examines two plantations in a small village and traces the actors, mechanisms and processes driving the banana expansion. Using the telecoupling framework as a heuristic device, the study illuminates how multiple and co-constitutive economic, environmental, political and discursive interactions influence the banana expansion. Furthermore, the in-depth place-based analyses reveal how different contextual factors ground and shape these interactions in this particular location. In this case, the distal interactions are mediated through a cross-border network of Chinese investors with social ties in the local area, as well as in the fruit market in China. The study shows that the investors’ strategies to obtain access to the land combined with the resulting destructive land use conversion amount to an alienation of land from the villagers. By engaging empirically, methodologically and conceptually with the telecoupling framework, the thesis advances the discussion on telecoupling by demonstrating the value of qualitative analysis for capturing some of the more elusive and immaterial interactions, as well as potential feedbacks influencing land use change in a globalised world.