Call for papers: YHYS FALL COLLOQUIUM 2011

YHYS (Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science)

SOCIAL PATHWAYS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: VULNERABILITY, TRADEOFFS AND LIVELIHOODS.

FALL COLLOQUIUM 2011, Joensuu, Finland, 24-25 November 2011

The aim of the 2011 YHYS fall colloquium is to explore various trends and trajectories in the use of natural resources with the help of three international key note speakers. We invite environmental social scientists to discuss the topics of current interest in natural resources governance and to reflect on the consequences of environment change, particularly on the social practices of adaptation.

Conference organisers: YHYS, The Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science; LYY Institute, University of Eastern Finland; YHTYMA, The Finnish Graduate School for Social-Scientific Environmental Research.

Workshop sessions, call for papers:

Five parallel workshops will take place. Research papers and analytical discussion papers are invited. Send an abstract of 200-300 words to the coordinator of the workshop you intend to participate in. Deadline for abstracts is the 1st November 2011.

1. Integrated governance of forest resources.
Ismo Pölönen ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

2. Animals, livelihoods and conflicting interests.
Outi Ratamäki ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and Nora Schuurman ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

In contemporary Western societies, the lives of animals are affected and determined by various, often conflicting interests. Intensified animal production is facing challenges concerning animal welfare and rights, food security and the general role of animals in society. These issues are not limited to animal production but are apparent in other manifestations of human-animal relations such as the welfare of leisure animals or the conflicting interests within management of game animals. Many of these issues are connected to animal-dependent livelihoods where the role of animals is defined in relation to contextual practices and conceptions of animals. We invite papers which deal with the above mentioned questions from various standpoints.

3. Environmental citizenship.
Minna Santaoja ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and Mirja Vihersalo ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Environmental citizenship has been gaining interest as a response to the challenges posed by global environmental change. The concept of environmental citizenship expands the duties and rights that have traditionally been appointed to citizens of nation states and comes close to cosmopolitan or global citizenship. The environmental or ecological citizenship theory is under development and many questions remain open. To what extent does environmental citizenship enter in the realm of the private? Is green consumerism also green citizenship? In emphasizing the ethics of care and everyday choices environmental citizenship has been criticized for loading the environmental responsibility upon women. What are the epistemological requirements for environmental citizenship? What could environmental citizenship offer as an analytical perspective? We invite in this workshop both theoretical and empirical contributions discussing the concept and practices of environmental citizenship, and its relationship to e.g. green politics, environmental education, public participation.

4. Risk governance and risk perceptions (esp. CCS technology).
Matti Kojo ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and Arho Toikka ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) refers to a set of technologies that captures CO2 from large point sources –power plants and other industry–and stores it in a form that keeps it from the atmosphere, often as gas in exhausted oil or gas fields. CCS technology appears an effective method for reducing CO2 emissions in the future. According to the results of the recent CCS Finland research project, Finland’s CO2 emissions could be reduced by 10–30% by 2050 using CCS technology if the price for emission allowance rights rise to a level of 70–90 €/t by 2050. However, application of CCS is not dependent only on price as societal norms and values influence on use of technology. The workshop session welcomes contributions that aim to reflect application of CCS technology from the view points of social sciences. What are the foreseen societal and political challenges related to CCS? What kinds of risks and benefits are perceived by different stakeholders? Does CCS fit with climate and energy policy? Application of new technology also requires societal decision-making and procedures and legislation. What is the role of different interests groups in CCS related policy-making? The session welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers related to CCS technology.

5. Natural Resources Governance, Sustainability and Legitimacy.
Rauno Sairinen ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and Tuija Mononen ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Global competition for natural resources is intensifying. Economic growth and population increase will further increase the growing demand for biomass, minerals, food and water resources. On the other hand sustainability has become an important target also for natural resource economy. Because of climate change, there is a on-going global shift towards renewables. Many natural resources are geographically fixed. They may be used either locally, regionally, nationally or internationally. The interrelationships between these different levels in the context of resource use are an important starting point for sustainable processes. Under all these conditions, natural resources governance (NRG) is more and more a collective action problem requiring diverse actors – governments, farmers, business, communities and NGOs – to integrate their activities to achieve improvements in the condition of natural resources. How do we develop trust and legitimacy in NRG? Can participatory and deliberative governance provide approach necessary to overcome differences among actors and their targets? How do the climate change policies affect NRG? What are the impacts of NRG in local and community level? How do the natural resource businesses manage questions of sustainability and legitimacy?