e.g. ‘owing to the lack of extramural funding, other important factors such as and extra funding for travel costs to scientific meetings were not provided’
CMOCs indicated in bold highlight the three cross‐cutting themes of time, identity and relationships.
ECRs = early‐career researchers.
As Table Table1 1 shows, the same intervention can lead to positive or negative outcomes depending on the particular contexts and mechanisms triggered. This highlights greater complexity than is evident at first glance. Cross‐cutting these four interventions were three mechanisms that were regularly identified as critical to the success (or not) of a research environment: time; researcher identities, and relationships. We now present key findings for each of these cross‐cutting mechanisms and discuss how their inter‐relations lead to our modified programme theory (Fig. (Fig.3). 3 ). Note that although we have tried to separate these three mechanisms for ease of reading, they were often messily entangled. Table Table2 2 presents quotes illustrating the way in which each mechanism mediates outcomes within particular circumstances.
Modified programme theory. ECR = early‐career researcher
Time, identity and relationships as cross‐cutting mechanisms mediating successful research environments
Quote no. | Mechanism | Quote |
---|---|---|
1 | Time: efficient use of time | ‘I never say I need more time because you could use that as an excuse for anything… But I think support in terms of being quite smart at aligning research activity to other activity you're involved in is quite important’ |
2 | Identity: internal motivation | ‘[For teacher researchers] inherent satisfaction and reward from research, rather than external praise and feedback, was certainly an indication of moving towards a research identity’ |
3 | Relationships: leadership | ‘From an institutional perspective, much depends on the perceived value of research and how it is actively supported by management, for example, in terms of study leave, time allocated for research and the impact of financial savings’ |
4 | Time and identity | ‘I say personal determination and resilience is a big factor because there are people who have been given some time and have then not delivered… I mean some of them are keen, they will say they have got no time and you know that is an interesting question about whether you make time or whether you have to wait for time to be given to you’ |
5 | Identity and leadership | ‘…research leadership as a “process through which academic values and identities are constructed, promoted and maintained”. Leadership is, therefore, central to establishing a healthy and vibrant research culture’ |
6 | Time and relationships | ‘We recognise that the sense of community developed over time would not have been possible without mutual trust and respect. This has been instrumental in creating a safe environment for both academic and personal development, and has in turn made it “possible to share problems without feeling uncomfortable”. Without a sense of trust it would also have been impossible for us to become more confident both in ourselves, as emerging academics, and in our work’ |
Time was identified as an important mechanism for mobilising research outcomes across our three disciplines. Time was conceptualised severally including as: protected time; workload pressures influencing time available; efficient use of time; flexible use of time; making time, and time in career. The two most commonly considered aspects were protected time and workload implications. Protected time was largely talked about in the negative across a variety of contexts and disciplines, with lack of protected time leading to lack of researcher engagement or inactivity and reduced research productivity. 32 , 35 , 37 , 41 , 44 , 47 , 49 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 67 Also across a variety of contexts and disciplines, and acting as a positive mechanism, available protected time was found to lead to increased research productivity and active research engagement. 31 , 36 , 40 , 48 , 49 , 63 , 65 With regard to workload, limitations on the time available for research imposed by excessive other workloads led to reduced research activity, lower research productivity, poor‐quality research and reduced opportunity to attend research training. 40 , 41 , 47 , 49 , 60 , 67 Juggling of multiple responsibilities, such as clinical, teaching, administrative and leadership roles, also inhibited research productivity by diminishing the time available for research. 35 , 40 , 49 The alignment of research with other non‐research work was described as driving efficiencies in the use of time leading to greater research productivity (Table (Table2, 2 , quote 1).
Identity was also an important mechanism for mobilising research outcomes across our three disciplines. Interpretations included personal identities (e.g. gender), professional identity (e.g. as a primary practitioner or a primary researcher), and social identity (e.g. sense of belongingness). Researcher identity was often referred to in relation to first‐career practitioners (and therefore second‐career researchers). Sharp et al. 48 defined these as participants recruited into higher education not directly from doctoral study but on the basis of their extensive ‘first‐order’ knowledge and pedagogical expertise. These were also practitioners conducting research in schools or hospitals. Identities were also referenced in relation to early, mid‐career or senior researchers. Academic staff working in academic institutions needed to develop a sense of researcher identity, belongingness, self‐efficacy for research and autonomy to increase their satisfaction, competence and research activity. 39 , 40 , 44 , 46 , 51 , 67 For first‐career practitioners (i.e. teachers, doctors), the research needed to be highly relevant and aligned to their primary identity work in order to motivate them. 53 , 59 , 62 , 65 This alignment was described as having a strong research–teaching nexus. 40 , 48 Linked to this concept was the need for first‐career practitioners to see the impact of research in relation to their primary work (e.g. patient‐ or student‐oriented) to facilitate motivation and to develop a researcher identity (Table (Table2, 2 , quote 2). 36 , 37 , 41 , 49 , 53 , 54 , 67 Where research was seen as irrelevant to primary identity work (e.g. English language teaching, general practice), there was research disengagement. 37 , 48 , 52 , 59 , 67
For all researchers and across our three disciplines, relationships were important in the mediating of successful research environments. 31 , 34 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 44 , 57 , 60 , 66 , 67 Positive research relationships were characterised by mutual trust and respect, 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 54 , 66 , 72 whereas others described them as friendships that take time to develop. 51 Mutually supportive relationships seemed to be particularly relevant to ECRs in terms of developing confidence, self‐esteem and research capacity and making identity transitions. 35 , 43 , 48 , 58 , 67 Relationships in the form of networks were considered to improve the quality of research through multicentre research and improved collaboration. 33 , 60 Supportive leadership as a particular form of relationship was an important mechanism in promoting a successful research environment. Supportive leaders needed to monitor workloads, set the vision, raise awareness of the value of research, and provide positive role‐modelling, thereby leading to increased productivity, promoting researcher identities and creating thriving research environments (Table (Table2, 2 , quote 3). 31 , 34 , 37 , 38 , 40 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 53 , 55 , 62 Research leadership, however, could be influenced negatively by the context of compliance and counting in current university cultures damaging relationships, creating a loss of motivation, and raising feelings of devalue. Indeed, the failure of leaders to recognise researcher identities led to negative research productivity. 36 , 37 , 38 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 49
Time and identity.
Time and identity intersected in interesting ways. Firstly, time was a necessary enabler for the development of a researcher identity. 37 , 38 , 41 , 48 , 49 , 54 , 59 , 61 , 63 , 65 , 67 , 69 Secondly, those who identified as researchers (thus holding primary researcher identities) used their time efficiently to favour research activity outcomes despite a lack of protected time. 35 , 43 Conversely, for other professors who lacked personal determination and resilience for research, having protected time did not lead to better research activity. 43 This highlights the fact that time alone is insufficient to support a successful research environment, and that it is how time is utilised and prioritised by researchers that really matters (Table (Table2, 2 , quote 4).
Interventions aimed at developing researcher identity consistently focused on relationship building across the three disciplines. The interventions that supported identity transitions into research included formal research training, 44 , 48 , 52 , 68 mentoring, 41 , 48 , 57 , 65 , 72 writing groups, 72 and collaboration with peers and other researchers, 39 , 41 , 43 operating through multiple mechanisms including relationships. The mechanisms included self‐esteem/confidence, increased networks, external recognition as a researcher, belongingness, and self‐efficacy. 35 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 52 , 57 Furthermore, our data suggest that leadership can be an enabler to the development of a researcher identity. In particular, leadership enabled research autonomy, recognition and empowerment, and fostered supportive mentoring environments, leading to researcher identity development and research productivity (Table (Table2, 2 , quote 5). 34 , 38 , 46 , 48
Relationships were developed and sustained over time (Table (Table2, 2 , quote 6). Across the three disciplines, the role of leaders (managers, directors, deans) was to acknowledge and raise awareness of research, and then to prioritise time for research against competing demands, leading to effective research networks, cohesion and collaboration. 31 , 34 , 38 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 53 , 55 , 70 Second‐career PhD students who did not invest time in establishing relationships with researchers in their new disciplines (as they already had strong supportive networks in their original disciplines) found that they had limited research networks following graduation. 48
Our initial programme theory was based on previous literature reviews 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 and on the REF2014 criteria. 10 , 21 However, we were able to develop a modified programme theory on the basis of our realist synthesis, which highlights novel findings in terms of what really matters for successful research environments. Firstly, we found that key interventions led to both positive (subjective and objective) and negative (subjective and objective) outcomes in various contexts. Interestingly, we did not identify any outcomes relating to research impact despite impact nowadays being considered a prominent marker of research success, alongside quantitative metrics such as number of publications, grant income and h‐indices. 21 Secondly, we found that disciplinary contexts appeared to be less influential than individual, local and institutional contexts. Finally, our modified programme theory demonstrates a complex interplay among three cross‐cutting mechanisms (time, researcher identity and relationships) as mechanisms underpinning both successful and unsuccessful research environments.
Our research supports the findings of earlier reviews 1 , 5 , 6 , 7 regarding the importance of having a clear research strategy, an organisation that values research, research‐oriented leadership, access to resources (such as people, funding, research facilities and time), and meaningful relationships. However, our research extends these findings considerably by flagging up the indication that a clear linear relationship, whereby the presence of these interventions will necessarily result in a successful research environment, does not exist. For example, instituting a research strategy can have negative effects if the indicators are seen as overly narrow in focus or output‐oriented. 38 , 40 , 46 , 47 , 64 Similarly, project money can lead to the employment of more part‐time staff on fixed‐term contracts, which results in instability, turnover and lack of research team expertise. 40 , 67 , 71
Our findings indicate that the interplays among time, identity and relationships are important considerations when implementing interventions promoting research environments. Although time was identified as an important mechanism affecting research outcomes within the majority of papers, researcher identity positively affected research outcomes even in time‐poor situations. Indeed, we found that identity acted as a mechanism for research productivity that could overcome limited time through individuals efficiently finding time to prioritise research through their motivation and resilience. 35 , 43 Time was therefore more than just time spent doing research, but also included investment in developing a researcher identity and relationships with other researchers over time. 37 , 38 , 41 , 48 , 49 , 54 , 59 , 61 , 63 , 67 , 69 Relationship‐building interventions were also found to be effective in supporting difficult identity transitions into research faced by ECRs and those with first‐career practitioner backgrounds. Supportive leadership, as a particular form of relationship, could be seen as an enabler to the provision of protected time and a reasonable workload, allowing time for research and for researcher identity formation. 34 , 38 , 46 , 48 Indeed, our realist synthesis findings highlight the central importance of researcher identity and thus offer a novel explanation for why research environments may not flourish even in the presence of a research strategy, resources (e.g. time) and valuing of research.
Researcher identity is complex and intersects with other identities such as those of practitioner, teacher, leader and so on. Brew et al. 39 , 73 , 74 explored researcher identification and productivity by asking researchers if they considered themselves to be ‘research‐active’ and part of a research team. Those who identified as researchers prioritised their work differently: those who were highly productive prioritised research, whereas those in the low‐productivity group prioritised teaching. 73 Interestingly, highly productive researchers tended to view research as a social phenomenon with publications, presentations and grants being ‘traded’ in academic networks. Brew et al. 39 explain that: ‘…the trading view relates to a self‐generating researcher identity. Researcher identity develops in the act of publication, networks, collaborations and peer review. These activities support a person's identification as a researcher. They also, in turn, influence performance measures and metrics.’ Although the relationships among identity, identification and productivity are clearly complex, we explored a broader range of metrics in our realist synthesis than just productivity.
This is the first study to explore this important topic using realist synthesis to better understand the influence of context and how particular interventions lead to outcomes. We followed RAMESES 20 guidelines and adopted a rigorous team‐based approach to each analytic stage, conducting regular quality checks. The search was not exhaustive as we could have ‘exploded’ the interventions and performed a comprehensive review of each in its own right (e.g. mentoring). However, for pragmatic reasons and to answer our broad research questions, we chose not to do this, as suggested by Wong et al. 20 Although all members of the team had been involved in realist syntheses previously, the process remained messy as we dealt with complex phenomena. The messiness often lies in untangling CMOCs and identifying recurrent patterns in the large amounts of literature reviewed.
Our findings suggest that interventions related to research strategy, people, IIF and collaboration are supported under the ‘right’ conditions. We need to focus on time, identity and relationships (including leadership) in order to better mobilise the interventions to promote successful research environments.
Individuals need to reflect on how and why they identify as researchers, including their conceptions of research and their working towards the development of a researcher identity such that research is internally motivated rather than just externally driven. Those who are second‐career researchers or those with significant teaching or practitioner roles could seek to align research with their practice while they establish wider research networks.
We recommend that research leaders support individuals to develop their researcher identity, be seen to value research, recognise that research takes time, and provide access to opportunities promoting research capacity building, strong relationships and collaboration. Leaders, for example, may introduce interventions that promote researcher identities and build research relationships (e.g. collaborations, networking, mentoring, research groups etc.), paying attention to the ways in which competitive or collaborative cultures are fostered. Browne et al. 75 recently recommended discussions around four categories for promoting identity transition: reflection on self (values, experiences and expectations); consideration of the situation (circumstances, concerns); support (what is available and what is needed), and strategies (personal strategies to cope with change and thrive). With the professionalisation of medical education, 76 research units are increasingly likely to contain a mixture of first‐ and second‐career researchers, and our review suggests that discussions about conceptions of research and researcher identity would be valuable.
Finally, organisations need to value research and provide access to resources and research capacity‐building activities. Within the managerialist cultures of HEIs, compliance and counting have already become dominant discourses in terms of promotion and success. Policymakers should therefore consider ways in which HEIs recognise, incentivise and reward research in all its forms (including subjective and objective measures of quantity, quality and impact) to determine the full effects of their policies on research environments.
Future research would benefit from further exploration of the interplay among time, identities and relationships (including leadership) in different contexts using realist evaluation. 77 Specifically, as part of realist approaches, longitudinal audio‐diaries 78 could be employed to explore researcher identity transitions over time, particularly for first‐career practitioners transitioning into second‐career researchers.
RA and CER were responsible for the conception of the synthesis. All authors contributed to the protocol development. RA and PESC carried out the database searches. All authors sifted for relevance and rigour, analysed the papers and contributed to the writing of the article. All authors approved the final manuscript for publication.
Ethical approval.
not required.
Table S1. Definitions of key terms.
Table S6. Contexts, interventions, mechanisms and outcomes identified in individual studies.
we thank Andy Jackson, Learning and Teaching Librarian, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK, for his advice and help in developing our literature searches. We also thank Laura McDonald, Paul McLean and Eilidh Dear, who were medical students at the University of Dundee, for their help with database searches and with sifting papers for relevance and rigour. We would also like to thank Chau Khuong, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, for her work in designing Figs Figs1 1 and and3 3 .
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Cultural beliefs and the environment, social construction and the environment, social construction and social movements, political economy and the environment, environmental issues: method and application, risk perception and environmental health, mobilization around toxic waste sites: love canal.
Environmental issues can be discussed within a number of different contexts. For anthropology and sociology, culture and society become important factors in understanding environmental issues. By incorporating a perspective that includes environmental history, aspects of environmental change, dialogue and culture, and future concerns, a more complete understanding of the relationship between sociocultural actions and the natural environment can be developed. In an effort to understand the nature of environmental problems, one must develop an understanding of the cultural paradigms that guide human behavior and interaction with the natural environment. Many perspectives seek to explain this relationship. Social scientists look toward dialogue and cultural perspectives to trace the history of environmental concern.
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Historically, humans have understood their role to be one of dominion over nature. This is explained in numerous classic works and referenced in many religious and spiritual texts as well (Bell, 2008; Dunlap & Mertig, 1992). Cultural paradigms exist that serve to guide our interactions with the environment. Most stem from the anthropocentric belief that the world is centered around people and that human society has the right to maintain dominion over nature. Structural beliefs provide the foundation of these understandings.
The belief that a free market system provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people leads us to place economic decision-making processes in private hands. Frequently, private decisions have public consequences, but these public consequences are not accounted for in production costs or covered by market costs. Instead, the costs are passed on to consumers in the form of taxes and higher base prices for goods and services. Esteemed environmentalists Al Gore Jr. and Robert Kennedy Jr. have argued that if the external costs of production were assumed by manufacturers, then the ultimate benefit would be a system that accounted for waste created in the production process. This is evident in their research on global warming. Coal-fired power plants are promoted as one of the cheapest forms of creating energy. This is misleading, because the health effects of pollution caused by coal are not included in the costs of production. Others argue that those costs would have to be passed on to the consumer. However, they are passed on now in the way of pollution and medical expenses for illnesses associated with environmental contaminants. Coal is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases, thus leading to the overall societal costs of global warming.
Another cultural belief is that the natural world is inexhaustible. Extraction of natural resources happens at an incredible rate without a consideration to limits. Society’s constant dependence on nonrenewable energy forces mining and the refining of coal and oil to keep up with these demands. Consumer goods are deliberately planned to become obsolete within a relatively short time, and consumers are pressured to buy replacements. This process has been conceptualized in research focused on the treadmill of production. Production and utility processes, using natural resources, dominate the modes of production. The reliance on the treadmill model provides perpetual extraction and production, increasing the fragility of the natural environment.
Another cultural value resides in a lasting faith in technology. Culturally, we believe that technology can meet any challenge. Humans are seen as ingenious creatures able to devise solutions for any problem. However, technology itself is not sufficiently controlled and can create more problems that contribute to environmental degradation. This can lead to a situation known as culture lag, used here to describe a situation in which technology has outpaced the cultural ability to respond to the consequences of using a given technology.
The philosophy of the growth ethic argues that growth equals progress. Successful cultures are often defined by their levels of progress. Urban sprawl exemplifies the connection between progress and environmental destruction. Urban ecologists argue urban sprawl follows the concentric circle urban planning mode of the early 20th century. Residents were encouraged to develop space for residential purposes further away from city centers. This was culturally promoted as prime real estate, and individuals continued to purchase land as a showing of class standing. Urban sprawl results in the loss of green and open space, increased use of natural resources, and more vehicle miles traveled as commuting distance continues to increase.
Materialism is a cultural value that also contributes to how environmental problems emerge. Americans tend to measure success in terms of the consumption of material things. Globally, the most valued nation is one that can command and use the largest fraction of the world’s resources. Currently, the United States supports 5% of the world’s population and uses 25% of the world’s natural resources. This is evidence that the cultural emphasis on the consumption of material goods is in direct correlation with natural resource use.
Two final cultural values that impact environmental practices are individualism and an anthropocentric worldview. Cultures that emphasize individual rights and personal achievements tend to have a greater environmental impact. We place benefits to the self over what is best for the collective. Subsequently, the anthropocentric worldview is centered around human beings, thus inferring that human begins are superior to other beings and have natural rights to use the environment to ensure the progress of human beings as a species.
Subsequently, these cultural beliefs form the principles that overwhelmingly guide cultural interactions with nature. Theoretically, they serve as paradigms that explain the emergence of environmental issues. The following section provides specific theoretical underpinnings of environmental issues.
Theory addressing environmental issues has been situated in the social constructionist and political economy approaches. Within these approaches, attention has been paid to developments of subfields in social science research, such as social movements and the environment, environmental health, and environmental justice.
Social constructionists focus on the construction of social problems and how this allows individuals to assign meaning and give importance to the social world. Sarbin and Kitsuse argued that “things are not given in the world, but constructed and negotiated by humans to make sense of the world” (1994, p. 3). When interests are at stake, claims are made around an activity in order to define the interests as problems. The process of claims making is more important than the task of assessing whether the claims are true (Hannigan, 1995).
Hannigan provides a three-step process for the construction of environmental problems: assembling, presenting, and contesting. He argues that each step develops the claimsmaking activities of environmental activists and antagonists. Environmental problems are different from other social problems, because claims are often based on physical, chemical, or biological scientific evidence (Hannigan, 1995). In nearly all cases of environmental problems, even though such problems are based on scientific evidence, the burden of proof falls on the claims-makers, the environmental actors.
When a claim about an environmental problem is presented, state and corporate actors emerge most often to challenge the validity of these problems. Although these actors are willing to construct the issue as a “problem,” support to alleviate the problem is often lacking. If it supports the alleviation of the problem, most probably through funding remedial efforts or research, the state or corporation is seen as taking responsibility for the problem. If the state is seen as responsible, its perceived legitimacy decreases, which may lead to decreased trust. On the other hand, if a problem is not acknowledged, then trust in government may also decrease, because the perception arises that the interests of the state are not the best for the people.
The power of individuals in roles and positions to define these claims is ultimately what allows problems to be defined as problems. Claims may be made by others not in a position of power, but they are often not seen as valid because of the lack of power associated with the role. Different claims of environmental problems then lead to different definitions of the problems.
Definitions of problems are framed to illustrate specific viewpoints of what the problem is. Goffman used the term frame in order to explain interpretations of occurrences. Frames can serve as explanations or guideposts to individual or collective action (Snow & Benford, 1988). Snow and Benford describe framing as an activity performed by social movements to express their viewpoints and “to assign meaning to and interpret relevant events and conditions in ways that are intended to mobilize potential adherents and constituents—to garner bystander support and demobilize antagonists” (p. 198).
By framing events in certain ways that assign meaning to them, actors can attempt to mobilize support and delegitimize opposing viewpoints. Because different frames may emerge surrounding the same problem, individuals may choose to adopt one or the other on the basis of the reliability of the frames. One factor in determining reliability is trust in the actors who present the frame. Constituents may mobilize around one frame because trust in that explanation and the organization that presents it is high (Robinson, 2009). This impacts how individuals interpret the seriousness of environmental problems and subsequently whether issues will be acted on and in what manner.
The framing process can serve to mobilize constituents for or against a particular cause. Mobilization against frames that are presented by actors emerges when the audience of the frame has low trust in the source of the frame. Social movement literature has acknowledged the emergence of mobilization over environmental issues where lack of trust is present. Examples include institutional recreancy, lack of trust in government agencies and officials, and the combination of the two (Brown & Mikkelsen, 1990; Cable & Cable, 1997; Freudenburg, 1993; Gaventa, 1980; Gibbs, 1982).
Charles Tilly provides a model for mobilization that bridges some of the ideological views of frame analysis with collective action and resource mobilization theory. Tilly’s (1978) definition of mobilization is “a process by which a group goes from a passive collection of individuals to an active participant in public life” (p. 69). A further extreme of this model is resource mobilization theory, which gives even less importance to ideological factors and, instead, emphasizes the need for available resources. The combination of ideologies, resources, and the power of frame presentation contribute to mobilization. Using this analytical framework, the emergence of environmental problems and mobilization around these problems can be better understood.
Environmental problems in communities provide a setting to further explore this connection. Community organizing around local problems has a long history in the United States. Many forms of community organizing exist. These have included writing and literacy circle newsletters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Saul Alinsky’s model of radical politics to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people (1971), and neighborhood block clubs. The goals to spread awareness, ensure social justice, and understand that city hall can be fought vary in scope and magnitude but have often proved to be effective models for organizing.
Citizen action in response to toxic waste at Love Canal has emerged as the premier example of community organizing over environmental issues. The story of neighborhood organizing and the quest for a clean, healthy environment is acknowledged in most major studies on environmental issues. The specifics of this case follow in a later section where the application of environmental issues is discussed.
Theories of political economy of environmental issues focus on the development of political and economic practices and policies that contribute to environmental problems. Primarily, the focus has been on the creation of the capitalist mode of production that leads to overwhelming environmental destruction. Furthermore, the development of capitalism promotes a political environment that is friendly to more profitable, but less environmentally friendly, practices.
In addition to physical environmental realities that production processes cause, issues of health and economic injustice exist. Bryant and Mohai (1992) asked whether a safe environment is a civil right. They argue that people of color see environmental degradation interrelated with economic and political justice. This is the fundamental idea behind environmental justice in both action and theory. Another issue in environmental justice arises because people of color and lower income are less likely to have access to health insurance; thus, they become more ill if exposed to environmental hazards without means of treatment. Therefore, these populations share more of the negative environmental burden and have fewer resources to resolve the given problems.
The connection between health and economic justice is not a new relationship. Since World War II, there has been an increase in the development of the petrochemical industry. Coinciding with an increased demand for synthetic chemicals was an increased demand for disposal sites for waste byproducts of these chemicals. Many disposal sites were created in vacant plots of land, without the regulated disposal standards in place today. Expensive land used for the disposal sites of the 1940s and 1950s became the residential suburban developments of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. With the post–World War II increase in population, many families were moving into suburban neighborhoods. Families felt safe from the problems of the cities, but they were not aware that many residential properties were built near the abandoned chemical waste sites of prior decades.
The problems of environmental contamination were first addressed publicly in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). Her warning of chemical contaminants silencing biological life was not heeded at the time her book was published. These issues were not addressed until the 1970s with the first Earth Day in 1970, followed by the passing of numerous pieces of environmental protection legislation and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Through this period of uncertainty, unclear scientific findings overwhelmed policymakers and the public, leading to confusion about how to develop environmental policies and actions.
Environmental problems have manifested most directly in the form of pollution. Evidence of environmental destruction is seen in the form of air, water, and land pollution that has a direct impact on the health of the human population. One of the most direct links between pollution and negative health effects has been identified since the creation of the petrochemical industry in the 1940s. Since this time, we have seen more cases of cancer and respiratory illness in the human population. The rate remains high even when controlling for mitigating factors, such as the effects of advanced medical technology in treating these illnesses, and lifestyle factors, such as diet and smoking. This case was made with the infamous discovery of toxic waste at Love Canal, New York, in 1978.
Literature in this area addresses the possible effects of exposure to toxins on one’s health. However, few studies have provided irrefutable evidence supporting the research hypothesis (association exists) or the null hypothesis (no association exists). Scientists know that chemicals can have adverse effects on the human condition when ingested, but they argue that some indirect exposures through air, soil, water, or residential habitation in proximity to such toxins have not provided similar consequences. The basic disagreement emerges in how one views risk, either through the precautionary principle or through risk assessment and evaluation. Proponents of the precautionary principle argue that if the chance of danger is present, then precaution should be used to avoid exposure. Risk assessment would argue the opposite—that the risk must be known before action is taken to avoid exposure. The difficulty is that science has not provided irrefutable evidence on the dangers of many chemical substances; therefore action for their removal from products and the environment has been slow. Recently, Devra Davis took on this phenomenon in The Secret History of the War on Cancer (2008). She outlined the lack of scientific responsibility in reporting findings connecting cancer and chemical exposure.
Most reports have not described exposures accurately, or they have failed to completely identify a causal factor (National Research Council, 1991). The Committee on Environmental Epidemiology was formed to assess the progress on hazardous waste assessment since the creation of Superfund and the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry. The committee concluded that no conclusive reports could be used to base policy on, because there are no measures in place to accurately depict exposure assessments. Their conclusions continue: There exists no comprehensive inventory of waste sites, no site discovery program, no minimum data set on human exposures, and no policy for immediate action if exposure exists (National Research Council, 1991). The report indicates that “the nation is not adequately identifying, assessing, or ranking hazardous-waste site exposures and their potential effects on human health” (p. 21).
Environmental toxins have long been thought to be causally related to the incidence of disease. Air pollution, specifically with carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, has been studied in association with asthma and pulmonary disorders (Carnow, Lepper, Shekelle, & Stamler, 1969). Water pollution, particularly with trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, sparked a concern about childhood and adult leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts (Brown & Mikkelsen, 1990). Similarly, numerous studies have been conducted that investigate the exposure-ailment connection (Landrigan, 1990; Neutra, Lipscomb, Satin, & Shusterman, 1991; Paigen, Goldman, Mougnant, Highland, & Steegman, 1987). These studies use descriptive and case-control methods and field investigations consisting of surveys and physical examinations, resulting in quantitative analyses in order to test hypotheses.
Descriptive studies portray disease patterns in populations according to person, place, and time, and they include time-series analyses (National Research Council, 1991). For example, a study performed by the National Cancer Institute used maps of cancer incidences and toxic waste sites, concluding that the high incidence of bladder cancer in northwestern Illinois counties was significant and leading to the implementation of an incidence study using survey methods (National Research Council, 1991).
A cohort study was employed with North Carolina residents who consumed raw polluted river water contaminated by an industrial site from 1947 to 1976. Residents’ rates of all forms of cancer were more than twice those expected in the general population (National Research Council, 1991). Once exposure ceased, rates returned to the expected level, adjusting for latency.
The epidemiologic case-control study carried out in Woburn, Massachusetts, yielded an association between leukemia and drinking from contaminated wells. The EPA could not pinpoint the source of contamination; therefore, it could not infer conclusively that the cases of leukemia were due to the proximity of a hazardous waste site (Lagakos, Wessen, & Lelen, 1986).
Griffith, Duncan, Riggan, and Pellom (1989) analyzed EPA and cancer mortality data from 13 U.S. sites where there were major incidences of cancer between 1970 and 1979. They found evidence that contaminated ground water was used for human consumption at 593 waste sites in 339 U.S. counties in 49 states. Significant associations were found between several cancers and exposure to contaminated water in white males; these included cancers of the lung, bladder, esophagus, stomach, large intestine, and rectum (Griffith et al., 1989). Higher incidences of cancers of the lung, bladder, breast, stomach, large intestine, and rectum were found in white females in these counties (Griffith et al., 1989), when compared with females in counties that did not have hazardous waste sites. However, this study has been criticized based on its use of populationbased incidences of cancer rather than individual-level estimates. Researchers inferred that proximity to hazardous waste sites caused cancer.
Wong, Morgan, Whorton, Gordon, and Kheifets (1989) performed an ecologic and case-control analysis to evaluate whether there was an association between groundwater contamination with dibromochloropropane (DBCP) and mortality from gastric cancer and leukemia. The only positive association that was found was in farm workers. No relationship was found for gastric cancer or leukemia with DBCP contamination of drinking water.
Neutra et al. (1991) found that individuals living near toxic waste sites had one or more bothersome symptoms that those living in control areas did not have. However, rates of cancer and birth defects were not found to be statistically significantly different for these individuals than for those in the control neighborhoods. Symptoms such as worrying, depression, and nervousness were more likely to be the result of knowledge of the site and its contaminants than the result of chemical exposure. Although some practitioners argue that residents near these sites do show higher incidences of asthma and psychological disturbances than individuals in control groups, the findings remain highly controversial (Neutra et al., 1991).
For the most part, these studies consist of survey and field investigation methodologies, relying on self-report methods. One problem with explaining associations that rely on self-report methods is that if residents want to be relocated or have other agendas, then the degree to which symptoms are reported may increase. Many residents felt that this was what some homeowners were hoping for at Love Canal. This remains one of the most critical problems with state and federal agency studies that seek to provide evidence of community risk.
With the increase in studies in this area, the public has been partially reassured by having the knowledge that at least concerns are being recognized. Specifically, cancer rates are still high, but the fear of human-made chemicals has largely been dispelled. Most recently, the organic food movement has been gaining legitimacy. Yet, many still doubt the health benefits behind this movement. Studies concerning environmental racism have been more prevalent, focusing on the incidence of lower-income, nonwhite families living near toxic waste sites. This focus has taken attention away from specific health problems. Instead, the focus has been on issues of political economy and equity. This is not a criticism of environmental justice but rather a call for the convergence of natural science and sociology in order to address both issues. Other variables to be considered in these studies may include racial composition of counties, social class of counties, concentration of low-income occupations in counties, new housing starts in counties, and the percentage of welfare recipients per county.
The uncertainty of science had created cross-discipline dialogue. Social scientists have addressed environmental issues in studies of risk assessment, disaster relief (both natural and technological), toxic exposure, and other datadriven areas. Because of the risk of chemical exposure due to toxic waste, landfills emerged as one of the most imminent public health threats with the discovery of Love Canal. However, even in cases where studies to show an association between illness and exposure to toxic chemicals have been inconclusive, the message has been that these chemicals cause cancer and needed to be eradicated.
An important role of science is to inform the public of findings, usually through the media. Epidemiologic studies deal with human populations and are often questioned based on the legitimacy of the data and the willingness of the agency or corporation funding the research to share findings with the public. These studies are also usually based on relatively small populations and a small number of events; this results in a lack of significant findings, because sample sizes are too small to generate statistically reliable conclusions. Researchers are asked to report conclusions to various interest groups that may have a stake in the research problem. The pressure of the public arena and media, with emerging concerns and consequences for public health and the environment, has led to a decrease in the willingness to share data and be criticized if the data do not fit the public agenda. Politics and public perception surpass what science is able to provide. Science’s inability to prove negatives has led to public policy that tries to control what cannot be established. This uncertainty shapes policy to err on the side of protection; yet in many communities the risks are endured regardless.
Findings often snowball into hard line conclusions and the perception of a problem when one may not exist, or vice versa. Risk perception and the realization of risks are two different things. Risk perception may encompass what one believes might occur or an understanding based on secondary information. Risk realization occurs when one is physically affected by the agent or situation and a decision to act is based on that encounter. The problem arises in this discrepancy. Perception is what people perceive to be happening. With different information from different scientific experts, the public is left to decide on their own who or what is right, based on the health and well-being of themselves and their families.
Freudenburg (1993) discussed the concept of risk and recreancy in public decision making. He argues that an increase in institutional responsibility for risk management has created a system where responsibilities are often overlooked. This concept proposes increased frequency in institutional decision making in risk analysis. Freudenburg (1993) coined the term recreancy to identify the institutional failure to follow through on a duty or responsibility or broadly expected obligations to the collective. Questions are now raised by individuals deciphering scientific studies for themselves, but they now question the role of institutional actors. Without correlational data from an alternative institutional source that they trust, citizens do not know where to turn for clear answers about data regarding environmental toxins.
Community-based studies by community organizers have emerged in an attempt to address the failure of institutions to provide real, understandable answers regarding human health and exposure rates. Specifically, recent literature calls for more involvement of the scientific community in the decision-making process. A resurgence of popular epidemiology, since Lois Gibbs’s attempt in 1978– 1979, has found individuals using lay methods to determine association. Even if they don’t result in strong, scientific evidence, community-based studies at least provide the groundwork and show a need for more in-depth studies. Brown and Mikkelsen’s 1990 study is a strong example of this method. The question of whether there was a connection between childhood leukemia and known contaminated well water divided the community, but it forced epidemiologic studies.
Coinciding with these revelations, other studies were being conducted that attempted to link other contaminated sites with adverse health effects. As Gots (1993) stated, most were laboratory studies in simulated environments. Examples of human studies existed only in the sociological and epidemiological literature (Brown & Mikkelsen, 1990; Gibbs, 1982; Landrigan, 1990; Neutra et al., 1991). Incidences of chemical scares were also prevalent. Headlines concerning the dioxin scare at Times Beach, Missouri; contamination of apple crops with the synthetic growth regulator Alar; and use of Agent Orange created the fear that human-made chemicals cause disease. Evidence existed that these specific chemicals may cause health problems in humans, but data on the incidence of illness relative to exposure and on synergistic effects of these chemicals were missing. Furthermore, there was even less information available about other potential threats to health, such as airborne and waterborne contaminants, environmental sensitivity disorders, and living in proximity to hazardous waste sites. To establish a causal relationship between exposure and chemicals, obtaining valid measures and estimates for exposure is essential.
Contaminated Communities; The Challenge of Social Control; Environmental Problems as Conflicts of Interests; Disasters, Collective Behavior, and Social Organization; Love Canal: Science, Politics, People, and Power; and Powerlessness are just a few of the book titles that describe the scope and emergence of the mobilization surrounding environmental problems. Since the publication of Silent Spring, the struggle to define, understand, and resolve environmental problems has inundated environmental literature as well as the agendas of environmental organizations at both the national and local levels.
The environmental movement in the United States can be traced back to the early conservationists at the turn of the 20th century, whose focus was on control of natural resources for technological and societal use. Accompanying this was a movement toward the preservation of the natural environment simply for nature’s sake and separate from any use and/or value that human society had placed upon it.
The contemporary environmental movement embraced both of these traditions while focusing on building a political alliance to ensure the passage of legislation that would protect both nature and human health. As evidenced by the multitude of legislative victories the environmental movement claimed during the 1970s, the environmental movement was gaining prominence as one of the most successful efforts of social movement organizers.
Politically, momentum began to shift back toward the wise-use movement throughout the 1980s. Environmental problems were framed in opposition to capitalist goals. Politicians took an either/or stance: jobs or the environment. With one’s economic livelihood seemingly at stake, it is no wonder that concern for the environment was diminished in the public agenda. The environmental health movement is arguably one area that continued to keep environmental issues in the public’s consciousness. One of the classic and influential cases in environmental organizing, Love Canal, illustrates the interconnectedness of politics, science, and the environment.
To understand the factors contributing to the emergence, awareness, and mobilization around environmental problems, the scope and focus of the problem must be considered. This analysis focuses on the emergence of and mobilization around toxic waste sites found in residential communities. Literature addressing toxic waste sites in communities place Love Canal, New York, as the first community to encounter such a problem that received national media attention. Although community protests were occurring around the toxics issue as early as 1970, no other site received the same degree of national media attention (Szasz, 1994).
In 1978, Love Canal was declared a federal disaster area, but the final homeowner evacuation was voluntary, not mandatory, even though the state had said a health emergency may exist. Given the possibility of ill-health effects, residents were given the choice about whether to stay or move. Because of the lack of strong correlational evidence, public health officials were not able to substantiate a link between exposure to chemicals and disease (Robinson, 2002).
The questionable contaminated area was evacuated and became known as the Emergency Declaration Area (EDA). It was divided into seven sampling areas. Two studies were performed to assess the habitability and safety of the area. The first study was completed in 1982 by the New York State Department of Health (DOH), the EPA, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Problems arose about the study’s conclusion, which was that the EDA was as habitable as comparable control areas. The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment found that the study lacked information to determine whether unsafe levels of contamination existed and that it did not make clear what next steps should be taken. Thereafter, DOH and EPA conducted a second study on habitability; it was released in 1988. Habitability and safety have been studied in regard to numerous hazardous waste sites, but actual rates of illness have not been linked to exposure to toxic substances from nearby chemical waste sites.
The Superfund Act, passed in 1980, was written specifically in response to the known hazardous waste site at Love Canal. Policymakers recognized that industry used land-based disposal methods, that industrial sites were contaminated, and that an increase in clean air and water standards led to a decrease in land-based regulated disposal (Barnett, 1994). The problem was that there was neither an informed way of counting or tracking these sites, nor evidence of an adverse ecosystem and human effects (Barnett, 1994).
Since Love Canal, no other neighborhood has received the same degree of attention, although many have encountered toxic waste contaminants in their communities (Brown & Mikkelsen, 1990; Bryant & Mohai, 1992; Cable, Walsh, & Warland, 1988). No conclusive, significant correlation between chemicals and cancer has been found at Love Canal or at the other identified exposure sites. Nor has any truly verifiable evidence been found that exposure to, and living near, any other toxic waste site causes disease, though disorders have been loosely associated with chemical exposure, such as asthma, respiratory disease, nerve damage, miscarriages, and cancer.
People living near these sites must often decide on how much they want to expose themselves to risk. Once the presence of a waste site is known, they must decide, without data to guide their decisions, whether to stay in their homes or leave. This has historically interfered with the availability and collection of valid data. When a study is conducted, residents request to be informed of the results and progress of the study. Because most epidemiological studies require longitudinal or cohort analysis in order to be reliable and valid, it is advantageous to have a stable, nonmobile population. This begs ethical questions, on behalf of the researchers, to disclose data relating to exposure before the study is completed. Researchers cannot both verify exposure findings and expect residents to remain so that they can carry out the remainder of the study. Thus, individuals, families, and communities are asked to base their decisions on claims that cannot be substantiated one way or the other.
Toxic waste sites continue to be discovered in communities. In many cases, the resulting community struggles are extended battles. The operative phrase in many cases is “once a site is discovered.” The chemicals in Love Canal were buried 30 years before it was known to the community that their houses, school, and playground were built on top of and surrounding a chemical site containing 22,000 tons of waste. This is not to say that the problem didn’t exist before its discovery by residents; it just wasn’t defined as a problem. From the time the chemicals were buried to the discovery of the site by residents 30 years later, residents noticed dogs with burned noses, children with skin rashes, and increased rates of miscarriages, leukemia, and nerve and respiratory disorders. But they were not aware that these rates were out of the ordinary. The effects of the problem did not change, but the way the problem was represented did. The shift was in an awareness of the existence of the problem.
In addition to the chemical disaster at Love Canal, other environmental issues have been the subject of various social movement activities, as well as political legislation. In each instance, public perception influences how and whether the problem is acted on by those with the power to make a difference.
Culturally and socially, environmental problems represent problems of social organization, communication, and socialization. Social scientists can look toward the phenomenon, visible in the reaction to environmental problems, to begin making sense of culture and society at large. Our understanding of environmental issues as primarily social constructions offers insight into how these issues are created, maintained, and resolved.
For example, in many cases where chemical contamination is the focal issue of community groups, the level of risk is perceived by affected individuals rather than established by science. It is the social processes in a community that lead to risk determination, not the natural science interpretations of an issue. Individuals have been socialized to trust science for valid information. When the determination of risk is uncertain, individuals are left to determine the level of risk for themselves by other means. In most cases, this determination is made through contact with state or federal government officials, through collaboration with other community members, or through other sources of information, such as the media. This framework helps to explain disagreements over the seriousness of most environmental issues, from global climate change to mountain-top coal removal.
The subjective reality of environmental problems becomes visible in terms of how the issue is circulated in cultural discourse. Each stakeholder constructs different means of projecting information for public consumption. When presented in the media, the perception is that information is true and accurate. Most often the determination of risk takes place in the form of a public meeting. In this situation, public officials are in control of the meeting, drawing on public anticipation surrounding the specific issue and information to be released. At Love Canal, for example, officials kept the information to be discussed at the meeting private until the meeting in order to build anticipation and increase their power over the dissemination of information.
At both the cultural and social level, power is maintained through these exercises. Often, the state controls the dissemination of information that individuals perceive to be true and accurate. However, different modes of collaboration among community members can create a different means of risk determination. The sharing of common experiences among community residents can lead to a broader sense of mobilization. Once commonalties are recognized, residents begin to determine their own level of risk. Risk perception is based on the potential danger of a problem. The sources that individuals base their information and understanding on are numerous. Each source has developed a frame of events and information on which they base their version of reality. Whether from the media, science, the state, or local knowledge, such frames serve as a means to display a problem in terms of a specific group. Social movement development, in relation to the environment, offers a powerful tool for individuals looking to construct the frame of a given environmental reality.
The ways in which environmental realities have been constructed influences how they will be acted on socially, culturally, and politically. Cultural discourse then circulates in the public sphere and becomes normative. Environmental issues become part of the public dialogue. This dialogue serves to help develop an understanding about the factors that coalesce to create, maintain, and resolve social processes that influence environmental problems.
Community-level interaction is an interesting social space from which to witness environmental understanding. Community-based, environmental problems affect individuals in many ways. Some communities mobilize and form environmental organizations to address a specific problem. Others, with existing community organizations, add environmental problems to their agenda. Environmental problems can vary in scope, size, and duration.
Mobilization in these communities may occur due to individuals’ fear that nothing is being done to ensure the safety of their children and families. It may also occur on the basis of frustration and an inability to understand what and why this is happening in their community. In addition, community groups often mobilize as a result of a lack of trust in government. The mobilization of individuals to resist the state’s discourse challenges the power of the state. The level of trust in government is a key factor in determining the level of power the state can maintain during the presentation of its frame. For example, if trust in government is low, then a stronger frame needs to be developed to legitimize the government’s position. Government often emerges as the key stakeholder, as the actor that will have the power to create change.
Previous research addresses the state’s desire to maintain legitimacy at the same time that community groups seek to resist state discourse. Admitting that there is a problem shows that the state is capable of mistakes, and thus, the state’s legitimacy can be questioned and it is vulnerable. The goal in the rhetoric of the state is not to raise questions, thereby maintaining legitimacy.
Most environmental problems are categorized by place: global, local, or national. These categories are not mutually exclusive. For example, ozone depletion is a global problem because of the total atmospheric effects the ozone layer has on the biosphere from ultraviolet rays. Yet the problem can be seen as being local in an area where heavy smog is causing ozone depletion and high surface area ozone levels, such as in a highly urban area like Los Angeles.
Similarly, the discovery of toxic waste sites across the United States can be seen as a national problem. But in the specific communities where these sites are discovered, it is a local problem affecting individuals directly. The problem is no longer seen as away from them; it is now part of their community. This developing framework of environmental issues has helped individuals become aware of the multitude of impacts that these problems have. Social scientists have been able to develop an understanding of the environment that moves away from the depiction of the earth as something separate from human society, but, instead, the earth is a system with interrelated consequences and realities. One of the most vivid paradigm shifts has been the movement away from an anthropocentric worldview and toward an environmental worldview. This shift can be represented in the movement from the human environmental paradigm (HEP) to the new environmental paradigm (NEP).
Social scientists focus on this shift as a way to explain a cultural movement that has embraced a way of understanding the impact that society has on the environment. Arguably, once the NEP is part of the natural discourse of environmental issues, they become more easily recognized as problems that have risen from a system out of balance. This approach focuses on sustainable development and other modes of development that provide environmentally sensitive growth models. These efforts move toward a culture that is sensitive to a responsibility that ensures less devastating environmental impact in the future. As environmental sociologists and other environmental researchers seek answers for a sustainable society, we must consider the devastating impacts of our current modes of production. New modes of production that take into consideration innovative, green energy solutions will provide a stronger sustainable economy and environment for culture and society.
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Positive energy districts: fundamentals, assessment methodologies, modeling and research gaps.
State of the art on positive energy districts, 2. methodology.
3.2. quality-of-life indicators in positive energy districts, 3.3. technologies in positive energy districts: development, use and barriers, 3.4. positive energy districts modeling: what is further needed to model peds, 3.5. sustainability assessment of positive energy districts, 3.6. stakeholder engagement within the design process, 3.7. tools and guidelines for ped implementation, 4. conclusions, author contributions, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.
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Question #1 | Question #2 | Question #3 | |
---|---|---|---|
| What are the essential PED DNAs? Can generic PED archetypes be created based on them? | What are the categories of quality-of-life indicators relevant for PED development? | How would you use a database tool to learn about PED development process (e.g., using static information for dynamic decision-making)? |
| Which future technologies would you expect to be adopted in PEDs and cities? | What can be the challenges and the barriers in the future (regarding e.g., control, smart solutions, modeling, technologies) to PED development and diffusion? | What is your expectation for urban and district energy modeling? How can models help to shape PEDs and cities? |
| What is the impact of stakeholders in the PED design/decision process, what are their interests and how are stakeholders likely to be involved in the overall process? | What costs do you expect to bear and what revenues do you expect to realize from the PED implementation? Which aspects should be included in the organizational/business models? | What would you prioritize in terms of energy aspects or efficiency and social implications of living in a PED? Which aspects are more relevant for you? |
| Annex 83 together with other PED initiatives is developing a database of PEDs and PED-Labs: what would be your main interest in consulting the database? | Having the outcomes from PED guidelines analysis, what information would be the most interesting for you to see? | Who can benefit from the PED research studies and Annex 83 results? Which stakeholders are interested? |
Categories | Key Characteristics |
---|---|
Facts and Figures | Physical sizes/population size |
Geographical location | |
Climate | |
Density | |
Built form | |
Land use | |
Energy demand | |
Renewable energy potential | |
Technologies | Renewable energy supplies |
Energy-efficiency measures | |
Energy distribution (e.g., co-generation, district network) | |
Energy storage | |
Mobility solutions | |
Quality of Life | User comfort |
Social-economic conditions | |
Health impacts (e.g., air pollution, noise pollution) | |
Accessibility to green space | |
Accessibility to services (e.g., bike lane, public transportation) | |
Local value/sense of community | |
Others | Regulations/Policies |
Stakeholder involvement | |
Local targets and ambitions | |
Local challenges | |
Impacts of PEDs |
Type | Quality Categories | |
---|---|---|
Tangible | Indoor and outdoor environmental quality | Physical quality and comfort of the environment |
Security and safety | ||
Level and accessibility of servicing | Public and active transport facilities including walkability, energy services (access to affordable energy including access to energy efficiency), sustainable waste management | |
Access to daily life amenities including education, culture, sports, coworking and study places, provisions for children, but even common gardens or community kitchens | ||
Aesthetic quality | ||
Functional mix | ||
Future-proofness | ||
Acceptable cost of life (affordability, inclusivity) | ||
Equity and just transition | ||
Functional links to realizing circularity and reducing emissions | ||
Citizen engagement | Involvement in decision-making | |
Social diversity in participation | ||
Access to greenery | The possibility to reconnect with nature | |
Sufficient open space | ||
Information flow | From creating awareness over enhancing knowledge and literacy up to capacity of control | |
Transparency on energy flows and information for the end prosumer | ||
Insight in applicable PED solutions and in healthy lifestyles | ||
Intangible | Sense of well-being | |
Quality of social connections | ||
Sense of personal achievement | ||
Level of self-esteem | ||
Sense of community | ||
Degree of cooperation and engagement for the common interest | ||
Time spent with friends (outdoor) | ||
Budget available at the end of the month to spend freely | ||
Not being aware or realizing of living in a PED |
Technology Groups | Solutions | |
---|---|---|
Energy efficiency | New energy-efficient buildings and building retrofitting. | |
Nature-based solutions (natural sinks) and carbon capture solutions (CCS) | ||
Efficient resource management | ||
Efficient water systems for agriculture (smart agriculture, hydroponics, agrivoltaics, etc.) | ||
Organic photovoltaics and a circular approach (second life materials, like batteries) | ||
Energy flexibility | Hardware | Storage (long-term and short-term) |
Monitoring systems (sensors, smart meters, PLCs *, energy management systems, etc.) | ||
Vehicle to grid | ||
Heat pumps | ||
Electronic devices like IoT * technologies | ||
Buildings fully automated with real time monitoring behind-the-meter and automated actions | ||
Cybersecurity, data rights and data access | ||
Demand management and remote control of devices | ||
Software | Edge computing | |
Machine learning | ||
Blockchain | ||
Digital twins | ||
5G | ||
City management platform and platforms for city planning (space, refurbishment, climate change, etc.) | ||
E-mobility | Promotion of shared vehicles over individual car use, lift sharing, and alternative ways (like micromobility) to collective transports | |
Soft mobility | Promotion of a lifestyle that require less use of cars, i.e., “soft mobility” solutions like low emission zones or banning the entrance of some type of car (e.g., Singapore and Iran have policies in place to allow only certain car groups to drive freely in certain periods) | |
E-vehicle charging stations and vehicle-to-grid solutions | ||
Low-carbon generation | Photovoltaics | |
Energy communities | ||
Electrification of heating and cooling (H&C) using heat pumps, district heating networks utilizing waste heat, or solar thermal technologies | ||
Virtual production | ||
Fusion technology |
Challenges and Barriers | Key Topics |
---|---|
Capacity building and policy issues | Political and legal barriers |
Regulatory frameworks and policy constraints | |
Tailored legislation | |
Bridging the knowledge gap | |
Inadequate data sharing practices | |
Securing sufficient financial resources | |
Lack of clear regulations defining PED classification | |
Active involvement of policymakers | |
Widespread dissemination of knowledge | |
Collaborative data-sharing efforts | |
Securing adequate funding | |
Establishing supportive policies and regulations | |
Social challenges and considerations | Cultural barriers |
Access to affordable and sustainable energy for all | |
Building social agreements and fostering collaboration | |
Energy literacy | |
Addressing personal behavior acceptance | |
Transition strategy for inclusivity | |
Social inclusion and trust-building | |
Data sharing and privacy concerns | |
Overcoming public opposition and promoting knowledge dissemination | |
Financial barriers | Long-term storage investment and space competition |
Insufficient investment | |
High upfront costs | |
Allocation of costs among stakeholders | |
Incentives for participation | |
Addressing investment challenges for different stakeholders | |
Accounting for battery costs | |
Data management | Data standardization |
Data security measures and protocols | |
Sustainability and maintenance of data infrastructure | |
Privacy regulations and data anonymization techniques | |
Sustainable business models and ownership structures | Standardization of control technologies and replication strategies |
Grid management approaches | |
Deep penetration of sustainable technologies | |
Implementation of predictive models Long-term maintenance activities and resident data collection | |
Balancing diverse requirements | |
Addressing grid operation challenges | |
Managing multiple independent energy districts | |
Inclusivity strategies for digital technology reliance | |
Managing production peaks and defining the role of buildings and districts | |
Effective management strategies for grid congestion and stability |
Categories of Innovation | Innovation Types | Possible Revenues/Advantages in PED Business Model/Governance | Possible Costs/Drawbacks in PED Business Model/Governance |
---|---|---|---|
Configuration | Profit Model | Providing thermal comfort instead of a certain amount of thermal energy to inhabitants | Misconducts or rebound effect |
Network | Inclusion of the PED into larger projects and international networks, possibility of co-financing and knowledge sharing | Misalignment or delay of the PED project to the original timeline due to constrains related to international activities and networking | |
Structure | Participation of the real estate companies/investors in the development and management of the energy infrastructure and EV mobility services as well as building management | Lack of knowledge, involvement in activities out of the usual business of investors | |
Free or almost free thermal energy supply from “waste energy” sources | Failure of the network due to unliteral decisions of a member in ceasing the provision of energy | ||
Process | Involvement of future inhabitants in the design phase of the energy community since the early stage, to share the sense of belonging and ownership | Reluctancy of inhabitants to participate in additional expenses or being involved in “entrepreneurial” activities or bored by the participation in boards and governance structures | |
Offering | Product Performance | Investors and companies involved in the PED development take profit from their role of frontrunner placing them before the competitors or entering in new market niches | Hi-tech BA and BEM systems may result costly in O&M, because of digital components, cloud and computing services, rapid aging of technology |
Product System | Including EV available for PED users may generate new incomes and reduce the need of individual cars. The integration of EV in the energy system may offer “flexibility services” | Lack of knowledge, involvement in activities out of the usual business of investors/real estate companies. Low interest of users in participating to the flexibility market, because of discomfort (unexpected empty battery of the EV) | |
Experience | Services | Provision of high tech and high-performance buildings, with outstanding energy performances (lower heating/cooling costs) and sophisticated Building Automation and Energy Management systems | Sophisticated Building Automation and Energy Management systems may result “invasive” to users, asking for continuous interaction with complicate systems, or leaving them not enough freedom to choose (e.g., opening the windows is not possible to achieve some energy performance) |
Channel | The PED is promoted as a rewarding sustainable investment, this allows the city to attract more clean investments (public funds, investment funds, donors), speeding up the energy transition | The communication of the characteristics of the PED is not done in the proper way | |
Brand | Gold class rated buildings may have an increased value on the market, resulting in higher selling and rental costs, occupancy rate. The high architectural quality is appreciated by the market | The Branding/certification of the PED is not recognized by the market as an added value. | |
The development of the PED takes longer as expected. Technology failures during the implementation or operation phase create a bad reputation and discourage future similar activities | |||
Customer Engagement | The PED is available as a digital twin, users are engaged via a dedicated app, allowing interaction, communication, reporting, monitoring of bills, etc. | The PED is perceived by users (e.g., social housing tenants) as a hassle and not responding to their needs, because they have not been involved in the identification of peculiar traits since the beginning |
Category | Beneficiaries |
---|---|
Citizens and communities | Citizens, inhabitants, residents, general public, local communities and neighborhoods, municipalities and provinces, energy communities, and socially disadvantaged groups. |
City decision-makers and planners | City decision-makers, city planners, local authorities, policy-makers, public administrations, politicians, local and national governments. |
Research | Scientists, publishers, and research organizations. |
Private companies and technology developers | Private companies of RES technologies, ICT companies, start-ups and new companies, entrepreneurs, technology developers and other companies involved in local development (tech development and evaluation). |
Energy providers | Energy providers, grid operators. |
Education stakeholders | Students and teachers. |
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) | NGOs and other civil society groups |
Category | Comments |
---|---|
Strategies | Most comments dealt with the strategies on how to achieve PEDs, that should focus on success factors of PED initiatives, technologies and stakeholders rather than a standardized approach |
References | Useful information, special attention to Liwen Li, planning principles for integrating community empowerment into zero-carbon transformation |
Definitions | Help to reduce uncertainty |
Boundaries | Energy balance calculations, mobility, definition (of buildings) |
Finance | Financial mechanisms, support schemes |
Citizen engagement | From engagement to empowerment |
Management | Process management, organizing involvement, information provision |
Policy | Incentives, regional policies |
Flexibility/Grid interaction | Timesteps, credit system |
Form | Dissemination through video and other forms (not only written information) |
Category | Comments |
---|---|
Lessons learned | Special reference to real life implementation |
Results | Data analysis and potential research on the field |
Metadata as the useful information that can the real goal of consultation | |
Benchmarking to compare PEDs | |
Need to normalize results depending on a number of factors (size, location…) to really compare different initiatives | |
Privacy and data protection | |
Sets of technologies and solutions | - |
Economic parameters | As a way to benchmark the different PED technologies |
Citizen engagement | Energy poverty |
Prosumers | |
From engagement to empowerment | |
Definition and boundaries | Need to standardize and have a reference framework to establish the energy balance |
Contact persons | It is very valuable to have a contact address to ask more about the initiative |
Regulatory framework | Drivers and Enablers |
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Kozlowska, A.; Guarino, F.; Volpe, R.; Bisello, A.; Gabaldòn, A.; Rezaei, A.; Albert-Seifried, V.; Alpagut, B.; Vandevyvere, H.; Reda, F.; et al. Positive Energy Districts: Fundamentals, Assessment Methodologies, Modeling and Research Gaps. Energies 2024 , 17 , 4425. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17174425
Kozlowska A, Guarino F, Volpe R, Bisello A, Gabaldòn A, Rezaei A, Albert-Seifried V, Alpagut B, Vandevyvere H, Reda F, et al. Positive Energy Districts: Fundamentals, Assessment Methodologies, Modeling and Research Gaps. Energies . 2024; 17(17):4425. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17174425
Kozlowska, Anna, Francesco Guarino, Rosaria Volpe, Adriano Bisello, Andrea Gabaldòn, Abolfazl Rezaei, Vicky Albert-Seifried, Beril Alpagut, Han Vandevyvere, Francesco Reda, and et al. 2024. "Positive Energy Districts: Fundamentals, Assessment Methodologies, Modeling and Research Gaps" Energies 17, no. 17: 4425. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17174425
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On August 13, 2024, the publishers of the journal Insects notified authors of three papers selected to receive “Insects 2022 Best Paper Award” for research and review articles published in Insects from January 1 to December 31, 2022.
One of the winning papers was co-authored by Russanne Low, PhD, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). Low is a member of the NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative (NESEC), a NASA Science Activation project, and science lead for the Global Learning & Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Mosquito Habitat Mapper .
The paper – Integrating global citizen science platforms to enable next-generation surveillance of invasive and vector mosquitoes – was published as part of a special issue of Insects on Citizen Science Approaches to Vector Surveillance. It is in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric, which is a high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. The scoring algorithm takes various factors into account, such as the relative reach of the different sources of attention. The paper has been cited 23 times .
Papers were selected by the journal’s Award Committee according to the following criteria:
Each winner of the best paper award will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Insects in 2024 after peer review.
The paper is a result of a collaboration by IGES with University of South Florida, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and iNaturalist.
Following is the full citation: Ryan M. Carney, Connor Mapes, Russanne D. Low, Alex Long, Anne Bowser, David Durieux, Karlene Rivera, Berj Dekramanjian, Frederic Bartumeus, Daniel Guerrero, Carrie E. Seltzer, Farhat Azam, Sriram Chellappan, John R. B. Palmer. Role of Insects in Human Society Citizen Science Approaches to Vector Surveillance. Insects 2022, 13(8), 675; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13080675 - 27 Jul 2022
NESEC is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AE28A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
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Until recently, the Hanoi-based nonprofit where Hưng works as a legal advocate distributed its research online, freely circulating information it intended to support policies on climate change and other environment issues. Now, Hưng says, such reports — many of them funded by international organizations— are only circulated internally among trusted working partners.
Hưng (not his real name) explains that this isn’t because his organization doesn’t wish to give the public access to its work. Instead, it is because the plight of a colleague, high-profile energy policy adviser Ngô Thị Tố Nhiên, has sent a chill down their spines.
Nhiên, founder and executive director of Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise, has been detained since October 2023. In June, she was reportedly sentenced to 42 months in prison time for misappropriating state documents. Her trial was held behind closed doors and, unlike in previous cases involving environmental defenders, her conviction has not been publicized in state-affiliated media. Two state employees who worked with Nhiên on projects related to Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) were also arrested in October 2023: Dương Đức Việt, a senior employee from the National Power Transmission Corporation, and Lê Quốc Anh, head of the system analysis department of the Power Engineering Consulting 1 company, faced the same charges as Ngô, though even less is known publicly about the outcomes of their cases.
“We are quite scared now,” says Hưng, adding that security agents frequently pass by his organization’s office to inquire about the group’s activities.
For Hưng and other environmental activists interviewed for the article, the arrest of Nhiên, while chilling, was hardly a surprise. Nhiên is the sixth prominent expert working on environmental issues, particularly on the issues of energy transition, to have been arrested within two years.
“Up to now, we do not know yet which state documents Nhiên and her colleagues have misappropriated,” says Hưng.
Vaguely defined laws have been weaponized to criminalize environmental defenders in the single-party state. To make the matters worse, ambiguous rules on nonprofit organizations, the lack of an independent judiciary and a tightly controlled media make it even harder for environmental defenders to defend themselves and their organizations from charges made against them.
In fact, many environmental advocates approached for this article declined to be interviewed because, as one informant says, “the government is watching closely the environmental sector.”
The charge Nhiên faces, misappropriating public documents, is a new one for activists. Previously, high-profile independent environmental defenders were generally charged with creating and circulating anti-state propaganda or with abusing fundamental freedoms. Such charges have been leveled against activists such as Cù Huy Hà Vũ, Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh and Phạm Thị Đoan Trang, who publicly held governments accountable for environmental disasters and other human rights abuses.
Within the last three years, tax evasion charges have been leveled against leaders of registered nonprofit organizations, including Mai Văn Lợi, Đặng Đình Bách, Nguỵ Thị Khanh and Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng — all environment advocates who were involved in work related to the JETP.
These charges (conducting and disseminating anti-state propaganda and tax evasion) are also similar to those faced by more than 160 Vietnamese prisoners of conscience as of 2023.
While Vietnam has publicly committed to improving its human rights record and currently sits on the U.N. Human Rights Council, its commitment to reform appears to be deeply ambiguous.
“Like in China, NGOs remain heavily controlled by the state and mainly function as extensions of government in policy implementation, program inputs and consultancy, while policy criticism is out of bounds,” says Ole Bruun, professor of society and globalization at Denmark’s Roskilde University, who has spent years doing research on various environmental issues in both China and Vietnam.
Earlier this year, international human rights group Project 88 obtained a copy of a confidential document called Directive 24 , issued in July 2023 by the Political Bureau of the Central Party Committee (Politburo). The organization was unable to fully verify the text, but it corresponds with public statements from the party, and NPR also cross-referenced the contents with a leaked copy from another source. The document, according to Project 88 “frames all forms of international commerce and cooperation as threats to national security” and seeks to block both international and local groups from “using increased international cooperation as a means to promote an independent civil society and domestic political opposition groups.” The directive calls for “developing and organizing the strict implementation of policies and laws on national security” in relation to the activities of NGOs and civil society groups.
For Vietnamese activists interviewed for the article, this directive represents a written officialization of ongoing actions against human rights activists in general and environmental defenders in particular: restrictions on activities, monitoring activists’ travel to international rights events, arbitrary arrests or harassment of activists and a broader proscription of independent civil society.
“Now, you don’t need to be an outright dissident to be jailed,” Hưng says.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese government has repeatedly denied international reports on its human rights issues, with officials criticizing reports from entities like the U.N . as “unobjective” and “unbalanced.”
Lê Quốc Quân, a human rights lawyer who is now exiled in Canada, has firsthand experience with the weaponization of tax laws against activists. In 2013, he was charged with evading corporate income tax of $30,000 and jailed for 30 months following a hasty closed-door trial. Lê was held incommunicado for months, refused access to his lawyer and denied pre-trial release.
“Tax evasion is the easiest accusation for everyone. It is easy to prove from the perspective of the state, but it causes a lot of difficulties for lawyers when defending against it,” Lê says. “In Vietnam, there is a mentality that ‘everyone evades taxes,’ so judges think that accusing someone of tax evasion is always correct, which reduces their moral qualms.”
However, being convicted of tax evasion brings great shame to activists. In Vietnam, Lê explains, an activist should be seen as a morally exemplary and patriotic citizen. Failing to fulfil tax duties is not only seen as being not law-abiding but also as not being patriotic.
And while prosecutors can count on aid and information from state bodies, lawyers representing activists often fight an uphill battle. “Lawyers often have limited knowledge of tax regulations (which are very complex), lack resources to work on tax cases (as they often work pro bono), and have little chance to meet with authorities to gather documentation and evidence to defend their clients,” Lê says.
The regulations involved are numerous and confusing. In Vietnam, nonprofit organizations are not explicitly exempt from tax, but neither does the law on tax administration stipulate exactly what is required of nonprofit entities. Instead, tax policies for nonprofit organizations come from a hodgepodge of agencies, including the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Moreover, foreign funding is ambiguously taxable.
For example, Ngụy Thi Khanh, director of policy advocacy organisation GreenID was penalized for not paying a 10% tax on the prize money from her in 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize, even though no law clearly supports such taxation. She was sentenced to two years imprisonment, eventually serving 21 months before being quietly released in 2023.
“It is extremely common for these types of organizations (or even other businesses) to not adhere to all bookkeeping and accounting requirements,” Nguyễn says. “Finding mistakes and legally wrongful conduct within these organizations would be easy.”
However, Nguyễn says, it is equally simple to disprove some of the accusations against activists. Nguyễn cites the example of Mai Phan Lợi, a prominent activist charged with tax evasion. State media report that Mai evaded taxes on 19 billion Vietnamese dong of income in 10 years (roughly $75,000 per year).
That 19 billion dong equals the entire amount of funding Mai received during that period, Nguyễn says. But when deductibles like payroll, service contracts and other expenses are factored in, “there should be nothing left to consider ‘taxable income,’” says Nguyễn, adding that it is customary and mandatory for NGOs to disburse the funding they have received from sponsors for the project.
Nguyễn also argues that punishment is disproportionately high. “Administrative fines and warnings should be enough to keep the NGOs in check,” he says. “The fact that … the regime criminalizes such an insignificant amount … proves that the charges are mostly politically motivated.”
Lan (not her real name), a CSR officer at a private company who has cooperated with many of the arrested NGO leaders, notes that the organizations whose leaders were arrested were part of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA). Yet, VUSTA itself remains exempt from all tax evasion charges, she says.
“Tax is checked rigorously every year in Vietnam. It is quite impossible for a small NGO to evade it for 10 years,” Lan says.
Exiled lawyer Lê said that despite his release in 2015 and current exile in Canada, he has still been under pressure to pay the tax that he had been accused of evading.
“I have never admitted to [tax evasion] and have continued to make a request for cassation . The situation remains unchanged until now,” Lê says.
With the legislative, executive and judiciary bodies de facto led by the party, there is little possibility of challenging the verdicts.
Even lawyers are far from safe when it comes to defending environmental defenders.
“Most of the lawyers who are working for legal aid activities are facing threats, especially when providing legal aid to arrested individuals, particularly political prisoners,” Hưng says.
“The thing is that if they are fair trials or fair judgment, files should be accessible. Yet none of them [cases of criminalized enironmental defenders] can be found on the website of the Ministry of Justice, though the law stipulates so.”
Finding allies among the domestic public, or even from other advocacy groups, is also out of the question. “Other local NGOs have also been silent about arrests of their domestic peers,” legal advocate Hưng says.
These criminalizations go unquestioned in the context of Vietnam due to top-down smear campaigns by party mouthpieces, cybertroopers and state-affiliated journalists. The Communist Party of Vietnam holds a full monopoly on media. The 2019 National Development and Management Plan for the press until 2025 restricts the coverage of sociopolitical news to a few designated outlets . As a result, coverage of arrests and imprisonment of environmental defenders across all state-affiliated outlets is limited and identical, citing only sources from the government.
Many unsubstantiated articles on state-affiliated media outlets refer to environmental activists as being provoked and incentivized by hostile forces, without evidence.
For example, an article published in The Capital’s Defense ( Quốc phòng thủ đô ), the mouthpiece of the Hanoi party committee, listed organizations led by Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng (director of the environmental advocacy group CHANGE) and Đặng Đình Bách (director of a policy advocacy center, LPSD) as among groups that allegedly “create divisions in public opinion, destabilize political security and social order, undermine government agencies, seek external influences to interfere in Vietnam’s internal affairs, deliberately spread misinformation to diminish Vietnam’s reputation and credibility on the international stage.”
The fear is strongly felt among civil society.
“The crackdown is intended to decapitate the capability of private NGOs in Vietnam, channeling all foreign aid to government-controlled NGOs (especially in important fields like climate justice and community development),” Nguyễn says.
Behind the scenes, there is year-round and long-term harassment of NGO workers in the environmental fields.
Nga (not her real name), an employee in a nonprofit organization in Hồ Chí Minh City, said her team has been stressed by the consecutive arrests. Some have stepped down from leadership positions out of fear, while some others have sought employment in other sectors.
“The NGO world is very precarious. Even if we are not punished yet, it does not mean that we are right in the eyes of the government, Nga says. “It is not that we did not check what is right to avoid the wrong. It is just like we never know what is right or what is really wrong. It is really up to the whim of someone else.”
“Efforts to build a green and truly sustainable future and those to ensure the protection of environmental and climate defenders can seem distinct, but in fact they are intrinsically linked,” says Maureen Harris, senior adviser at International Rivers and also part of the Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition, a group of more than 30 international and regional organizations supporting environment defenders in Vietnam.
“We are experiencing a global shift toward clean energy solutions, and pressure from civil society — from grassroots organizations to large NGOs — is pivotal in accelerating this movement,” Harris says.
Bruun says that environmental activism is a thorn in the side of the CPV due to its power to gather crowds. According to Bruun, Vietnam is folowing the footsteps of China, which in the 1990s quashed civil society due to it being seen as the vanguard of democracy.
“Environmental issues have the potential for broad and powerful organizing, and when the regime feels threatened, it cracks down,” Brunn says.
In order to continue to work for the cause, Hưng, Nga and several other NGO workers say they are considering switching their organizations’ status from nonprofit to for-profit in order to make it easier to ensure they are complying with tax laws. “There will be less challenges when the law is clearer,” Loan says.
Liangyi Chiang, Asia managing director at 350.org, a grassroots organization that promotes renewable energy, stresses the importance of educating donors on the challenges facing Vietnamese activists. “It is important to keep donors updated on the tax policies,” Chiang says. “Every single donor is different. Not all donors are aware of tax regulations’ complexity, especially rapid changes in the policies not only for civil society but also for the private sector.”
In parallel, Chiang emphasizes the importance of telling the stories of those Vietnamese defenders, celebrating activists as inspirations rather than treating their stories as cautionary tales. “We need to show donors the great jobs they [activists] did in the past. The more we do, the stronger support there will be for the activists,” Chiang says. “We make sure that their stories are to be remembered.”
Banner image: A Nicobar pigeon, a bird found in Vietnam. Image by cuatrok77 via Flickr ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ).
Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from GRID-Arendal .
‘The police are watching’: In Mekong countries, eco defenders face rising risks
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