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I och med ett ökat krav på öppenhet av företags hållbarhetsarbete är kommunikationen av företags hållbarhetsinformation av stor relevans. Intressenter som mottagare baserar bedömningar och beslutsfattande på den kommunicerade hållbarhetsinformationen varpå dess kvalitet är viktig. Då miljöstörande branscher utgör en stor miljöpåverkan och förväntas vara föregångare vid hållbarhetsredovisning har denna studie undersökt miljöstörande industriföretag. Denna studie poängsätter och förklarar vad kvalitet inom de svenska industriföretagens hållbarhetsinformation är och genom metoden PSI kunde det urskiljas vad som bidrog till företagens höga kvalitet. Resultaten visar att kvalitet är att ha en transparent, detaljrik och balanserad information som tydligt redovisar företagets aktiviteter och prestationer på ett jämförbart sätt. Kvalitet innebär även att som företag ta både ett socialt och miljömässigt ansvar för en hållbar utveckling. Studien bidrar med en ökad förståelse för begreppet kvalitet i samband med hållbarhetsinformation samt med praktiska implikationer för vad företag bör sträva efter för att uppnå kvalitet.

A mix of economic interests, humanitarianism, and political concerns over future regional security and stability drove twentieth century attempts to counter indigenous morbidity and depopulation in the Pacific. However, chronic under-resourcing impeded colonial health developments. An opportunity for change came in 1913, when the International Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation negotiated with the British Colonial Office for joint programmes to control hookworm disease in Britain's tropical dependencies. After surveying the health situation and potential for work in the Pacific region in 1916, a short-lived campaign followed in Fiji (1917-1918). The American philanthropy then focused on Australia, where co-operative hookworm programmes advanced the objectives of the Foundation and increased Federal involvement in public health while and also served the interests of "White Australia". Under Dr. Sylvester Lambert, work in the Island Pacific resumed in 1920, to promote the health and economic viability ofindigenous labour in the Australian territories of Papua and New Guinea. Plantation interests supported survey and treatment work in the British Solomon Island Protectorate, and in 1922 the Fiji campaign re-opened. Lambert expanded the International Health Board's involvement from initial hookworm survey and treatment programmes in the British and New Zealand dependencies in the South Pacific, into other aspects of public health and medical services: water supplies and latrines; a bacteriological laboratory in Suva; hospital expansion; and medical education. Integrating local initiatives, Lambert advocated a Unified Pacific Medical Service, in which key elements were centralisation., rationalisation and affordability. The most radical aspect of his plan was the development of a Central Medical School for the Pacific territories, to provide targeted professional training for indigenous medical practitioners who had a crucial (although still subservient) role in economic service delivery and the diffusion of biomedical understanding among local communities. Also controversial - and Jess successful - were attempts to improve the career opportunities and standard of European Medical Officers, by creating a single medical service for the British Pacific dependencies. Attempts to achieve these goals influenced the shape and outcome of health and medical services which developed in the different island communities by 1939, when Lambert's retirement signalled an end to active Rockefeller Foundation involvement. This thesis examrnes the ways in which colonial administrations, medical staff, the Rockefeller Foundation, labour and mission interests, and Pacific Islanders interacted in the introduction of the dramatically new medical concepts and practices of western science (and specifically tropical medicine) and their effect on indigenous populations.

This thesis investigates the impact of France on conflict and stability in the South Pacific from 1985-2006, with a primary focus on France's two largest regional dependencies: New Caledonia and French Polynesia. It is demonstrated that France had a largely destabilising influence prior to 1988, due to its controversial nuclear testing programme in French Polynesia, its repression of the independence movement in New Caledonia, and its failure to act on the pronounced social and economic imbalances between the local indigenous populations and the settler communities. However, France has played a more positive stabilising role since 1988, by factoring local and indigenous concerns into peace agreements in New Caledonia, disestablishing the French Polynesian nuclear testing programme in 1996, and allowing for greater integration of its dependencies into the region by granting increased autonomy to the territorial governments. Nonetheless, France's determination to retain sovereignty of its South Pacific dependencies continues to pose a latent threat to stability. The negotiated peace achieved in New Caledonia through the Noumea Accord's deferred referendum on self-determination contrasts starkly with current political instability in French Polynesia, where the power struggle between Independentist and Loyalist parties has again brought into question the impartiality of the French State. While not a theoretical study, the developed hierarchy of variables helps explain France's reluctance to grant sovereignty to its dependencies, and emphasises the importance of 'emotional interest' in the French approach. It is concluded that France's trend towards playing an increasingly stabilising role in its dependencies will be sustained only through an enduring commitment to rebalance territorial inequalities, tolerate pro-independence sentiment, and mediate impartially in local political disputes. Under these circumstances, the stability provided by France and its dependencies in the region would be preferable to the resource and funding vacuums that would be generated by a French withdrawal.

This research examines the impact of marketisation on Pacific Islands students in Christchurch high schools. Specifically, this study targeted the Tomorrow's Schools policy released in 1990 with particular interest in the changes in zoning laws. These changes theoretically allowed the consumers of education (the parents and students) equal access to all secondary schools by breaking down the zones and creating a free market where 'choice' and competition reigned supreme. However, this study along with others found that in actual fact it was the 'popular' schools with enrolment schemes who had the power to choose what students they preferred. Schools were left to compete for those students deemed' undesirable' by popular schools. This study found that a dis-empowerment of the schools' enrolment schemes needs to occur in Christchurch. Obviously, on the other hand, an empowerment of Pacific Islands parents and students through the increase of information also needs to occur. Although the government has made small steps toward making the problem more visible, more definitive work needs to be done in this area. This study also examined the achievement of Pacific Islands students at a national and at a sample level and discovered that has been very little improvement in this area over the time the Tomorrow's Schools policy has been in operation. Therefore, this study ventures into an analysis of this problem and suggests possible remedies. Again, this study argues that students must be actively empowered by teachers, schools, the government, and by their own people, in order to break down the physical, mental and even spiritual battles that Pacific Islands students face in the New Zealand education system.

The primary motivation behind this thesis was to examine how illicit drugs represent a multidimensional threat to the security of Pacific island states and the region as a whole. However, this research was presented with significant challenges before it began, which included the illegality of the subject matter, the confidentiality of law enforcement intelligence and the fact that there was a near total absence of academic research and statistics concerning drugs within the region. In order to overcome these challenges, this thesis blends a synthesis of conflict and security literature, reports from international and non-governmental organisations and the concepts of securitisation developed by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever & Jaap de Wilde in Security: A Framework for Analysis (1998). The domestic environment of the states that form the case studies are examined, the negative influences of drugs are presented and the perceptions and responses of the governments are discussed. Furthermore, the comparative aspect of this thesis, where two case studies are drawn from the Caribbean, Jamaica and Haiti, and two from the Pacific, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, ensures a thorough understanding of the complex challenges posed to state security, and provides a window for examining how states with similar characteristic and weaknesses are threatened by drugs. For example, throughout Papua New Guinea, marijuana has facilitated the acquisition of small arms and light weapons by both criminal groups and villages involved in conflict. In Fiji, there is the potential for the trafficking of drugs to destabilise the state by providing support to criminal groups and those currently involved with transnational criminal activities. This thesis concludes that the cultivation, production and trafficking of illicit drugs present an immediate and long-term threat to the Pacific, and that the security architecture for the region must be enhance to combat this formidable threat.

This doctoral research is a multi-disciplinary study which draws from discourse theory, linguistics and European Union studies. It aims to explore the meaning, and linguistic representations of the European Union (EU) in the context of its relations with the Pacific Region, while taking into account contributing ideological and political factors. This study contributes to several academic fields, and specifically to the practice of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and to the continuum of study on the linguistics-politics interface. CDA research observes the structure and function of signifiers. Discourse analysis provides means to critically observe elements of social and political power, identities and issues through both contextual and linguistic features of discourse. It offers a unique approach to analysing international relations with the application of tools that can decipher meaning and ideologies in discursive structures. This approach stems for the post-structural outlook that linguistic features reflect ideologies and power relations that condition interpretation of political and social issues. Through a critical observation, the role and influence of the EU in the Pacific region is examined and evaluated. A wider grouping of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries is relevant to the discussion of the EU’s development action and French territories are also taken into account as they are located in the Pacific region and have aspirations to become more integrated to the Pacific community. This study reveals how the EU is defined and how the EU influences the developing world. It also reveals how the Pacific countries are responding to the EU’s interests and values such as regional integration and trade liberalisation. The discourse formation of EU-Pacific relations articulates and reinforces ideologies of identity and power behind the entirety of EU-Pacific relations. The nature of EU identity and role in relation to an ‘Other’ is thus explored in this thesis.

The emergence of China as a dominant force in international politics has challenged the traditional roles states have played in regions such as the South Pacific. The 2006 Fiji coup heralded a new era of competition in the region as PRC policy response conflicted with that of existing powers such as New Zealand. China continued to engage and expand its relationship with Fiji while New Zealand attempted to isolate the interim Fijian administration. This thesis looks at how New Zealand and PRC policy towards Fiji has clashed following the 2006 coup and assesses the implications for these powers as well as the long term stability of the region. New Zealand responded to the coup by placing strict sanctions on Fiji and lobbying the Pacific Islands Forum and the Commonwealth to suspend Fiji’s membership. Meanwhile, the PRC expanded its diplomatic, military and financial ties with Fiji and provided funding for the MSG, a frequent supporter of the Fijian regime.

This thesis aims to undertake an evaluation of the potential for renewable energy to be used as a mechanism for the development of the Pacific region. Further to this, it examines whether NZ and the EU are well placed to contribute to any renewable energy transition in these countries by analysing their internal energy policy documents, policy ties to the Pacific region and previous actions in the renewable energy arena. The Tonga Energy Road Map, a progressive plan for renewable energy implementation, is then investigated in depth to determine its effectiveness thus far and its potential as a model for other Pacific island nations.

This study has been performed as a pilot study for a project regarding the meridional migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and its relationship with lightning activity in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). Objectives of this study were to analyze and improve lightning data to be used for such a study and to decide on a method and proper time scale of data analysis and ITCZ index development for this study. Exploratory data analysis has been practiced with World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) data and ITCZ index data. Results suggest that the most beneficial time-scale to be used for the above study is 15 days and that ITCZ estimations can be obtained via the use of precipitation index and cloud top temperature. Lightning data originated from atmospheric systems not associated with the ITCZ has been analyzed. This report proposes that Uppsala University should become part of the World Wide Lightning Location Network, enabling further work regarding this and similar projects.