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Beland Lindahl, KarinORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0001-6145-2252
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Publications (10 of 35) Show all publications
Beland Lindahl, K., Wilson, G. N., Allard, C. & Poelzer, G. (2024). To Approve or not to Approve? A Comparative Analysis of State-Company-Indigenous Community Interactions in Mining in Canada and Sweden. Environmental Management
Open this publication in new window or tab >>To Approve or not to Approve? A Comparative Analysis of State-Company-Indigenous Community Interactions in Mining in Canada and Sweden
2024 (English)In: Environmental Management, ISSN 0364-152X, E-ISSN 1432-1009Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This Special Section explores the interplay between Indigenous peoples, industry, and the state in five proposed and active mining projects in Canada and Sweden. The overall aim is to identify factors shaping the quality of Indigenous community-industry-state interactions in mining and mine development. An ambition underlying the research is to develop knowledge to help manage mining related land-use conflicts in Sweden by drawing on Canadian comparisons and experience. This paper synthesizes the comparative research that has been conducted across jurisdictions in three Canadian provinces and Sweden. It focuses on the interplay between the properties of the governance system, the quality of interaction and governance outcomes. We combine institutional and interactive governance theory and use the concept of governability to assess how and why specific outcomes, such as mutually beneficial interaction, collaboration, or opposition, occurred. The analysis suggests there are measures that can be taken by the Swedish Government to improve the governability of mining related issues, by developing alternative, and more effective, avenues to recognize, and protect, Sámi rights and culture, to broaden the scope and increase the legitimacy and transparency of the EIAs, to raise the quality of interaction and consultation, and to develop tools to actively stimulate and support collaboration and partnerships on equal terms. Generally, we argue that Indigenous community responses to mining must be understood within a larger framework of Indigenous self-determination, in particular the communities’ own assessments of their opportunities to achieve their long-term objectives using alternative governing modes and types of interactions.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2024
Keywords
Canada, Indigenous peoples, Institutions, Interactive governance, Mining, Sweden
National Category
Social and Economic Geography Political Science
Research subject
Political Science; Law
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-104635 (URN)10.1007/s00267-024-01949-7 (DOI)2-s2.0-85186861737 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2024-03-18 Created: 2024-03-18 Last updated: 2024-03-18
Lindahl, K. B., Söderberg, C., Lukina, N., Tebenkova, D., Pecurul, M., Pülzl, H., . . . Widmark, C. (2023). Clash or concert in European forests? Integration and coherence of forest ecosystem service–related national policies. Land use policy, 129, Article ID 106617.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Clash or concert in European forests? Integration and coherence of forest ecosystem service–related national policies
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2023 (English)In: Land use policy, ISSN 0264-8377, E-ISSN 1873-5754, Vol. 129, article id 106617Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This paper compares how forest ecosystem service–related policies are integrated in different national European forest governance contexts. Efforts to achieve policy integration at the EU and national levels are often described in terms of limited success. Our analysis of forest, energy/bioeconomy, climate, and conservation policies suggests that notions of progress or failure merit careful assessment. Combining theories of policy integration (PI), environmental policy integration (EPI), and policy coherence, we argue that integration outcomes depend on the combined effects of the degree and nature of PI, EPI, and multilevel coherence in the context of the prevailing forest governance system. The nature of the interdependencies, specifically anticipated synergies, and the scope of FES-related climate objectives, are crucial. Realizing the range of FES-related objectives entails safeguarding objectives not synergistically aligned with economic aims. Failures to safeguard biodiversity and regulating and cultural ecosystem services in the process of integration may have far-reaching consequences.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2023
Keywords
Policy integration, Environmental policy integration, Forest governance, Forest-climate-conservation-energy/bioeconomy nexus, Europe
National Category
Political Science Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-96313 (URN)10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106617 (DOI)2-s2.0-85149875410 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council Formas, 2016-02111
Note

Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-04-05 (hanlid);

Funder: ERA-Net Sumforest Project “POLYFORES” (606803); Austrian Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism (BMNT) (101201/1); Ministry of Economy and Business of the Spanish Government ( PCIN2017-050); German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) (2816ERA03S): CEPF RAS’ state assignment (No. 121121600118-8)

Available from: 2023-04-05 Created: 2023-04-05 Last updated: 2023-09-05Bibliographically approved
Zachrisson, A. & Beland Lindahl, K. (2023). Extractive governance and mining conflicts: Challenging scalar hierarchies through ‘opening up’ to local sustainability pathways. Political Geography, 105, Article ID 102927.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Extractive governance and mining conflicts: Challenging scalar hierarchies through ‘opening up’ to local sustainability pathways
2023 (English)In: Political Geography, ISSN 0962-6298, E-ISSN 1873-5096, Vol. 105, article id 102927Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The development of new mines forefronts the contested nature of sustainable development. Various competing pathways of sustainability underlie mining-related conflicts, often reaching beyond the local scale of contested locations. While powerful actors tend to ‘close down’ around particular pathways, ‘opening-up’ through the consideration of multiple pathways might be necessary for addressing complex situations and conflicts. Whether closing-down or opening-up occurs depends on governance structures and actors' interventions, but little is known of the dynamics involved. This paper develops understudied spatial dimensions of protest by clarifying how political opportunity structures may play out differently at different scales and in consequence impact scalar strategies of both social movements and state actors. The study comparatively analyses three mine development processes in Arctic, peripheral Sweden facing socioeconomic challenges and where mining threatens indigenous reindeer husbandry. Formal interactions are mapped by data from administrative records, while informal strategies and underlying frames are assessed through interviews and focus groups. The study shows that when there is a multiplicity of government authorities and influential mining-sceptical allies at different scales, some subnational units ‘open-up’ in response to mining-sceptical actions. Such ‘opening-up’ may influence policy decisions at higher scales, even the international. Local participation therefore constitutes a way to challenge the scalar hierarchy of the state and promote a broader and more nuanced range of pathways to sustainability. As ‘opening-up’ is not legally required, the results between the different cases differed, and where the opportunity structures were ‘closed’ mining-sceptics turned to confrontation and litigation.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2023
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies) Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-99483 (URN)10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102927 (DOI)2-s2.0-85164494055 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council Formas, 2017–01599Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, NV-03734-10
Note

Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-08-10 (hanlid)

Available from: 2023-08-10 Created: 2023-08-10 Last updated: 2023-09-05Bibliographically approved
Lindahl, K. B., Suopajärvi, L., Tulilehto, M., Poelzer, G. & Eerola, T. (2023). Factors affecting local attitudes to mineral exploration: What's within the company's control?. Resources policy, 84, Article ID 103715.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Factors affecting local attitudes to mineral exploration: What's within the company's control?
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2023 (English)In: Resources policy, ISSN 0301-4207, E-ISSN 1873-7641, Vol. 84, article id 103715Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This study explores factors affecting local actors' and citizens’ attitudes to mineral exploration, and how attitudes to exploration relates to those of mining. The concept Social License to Explore (SLE), originating from Social License to Operate (SLO), is used to address the relationship between exploration companies and affected local communities. The study focuses on attitudes in three municipalities in northern Sweden and Finland and combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The results show that local attitudes to mineral exploration and mining correlate strongly and are intimately linked. Perceptions of impacts, the permit process, and trust in government and company affect local attitudes, but company performance seems to be most important where trust was not established. We argue that values about nature, economy, and value-based development preferences, are central as they shape local attitudes and perceptions of impacts and process. While company conduct and community engagement are within the control of companies, local values and development preferences are largely outside of their control. However, insights about contextual conditions shaping attitudes and values can be generalized and help companies make more informed decisions. Responsible target selection is a strategy within the control of the company which can help avoid intractable and costly conflicts.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2023
Keywords
Social license to explore, Local attitudes, Values, Mineral exploration, Mining, Sweden and Finland
National Category
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-98268 (URN)10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103715 (DOI)001017814600001 ()2-s2.0-85161294528 (Scopus ID)
Funder
EU, Horizon 2020, No. 776804, NEXT - New Exploration TechnologiesSwedish Research Council Formas, grant number 2017–01599
Note

Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-06-13 (joosat);

Licens fulltext: CC BY License

Available from: 2023-06-13 Created: 2023-06-13 Last updated: 2024-03-07Bibliographically approved
Suopajärvi, L., Beland Lindahl, K., Eerola, T. & Poelzer, G. A. (2023). Social aspects of business risk in the mineral industry—political, reputational, and local acceptability risks facing mineral exploration and mining. Mineral Economics, 36(2), 321-331
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Social aspects of business risk in the mineral industry—political, reputational, and local acceptability risks facing mineral exploration and mining
2023 (English)In: Mineral Economics, ISSN 2191-2203, E-ISSN 2191-2211, Vol. 36, no 2, p. 321-331Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Mineral exploration is an industry of uncertainties. Only 0,1% of exploration projects become mines, as the volume, content, and quality of a deposit all must be economically justifiable to find funding in the global financial market. However, the business risk of mineral exploration is not limited to geotechnical and financial risks, as social aspects are now considered the biggest risk facing the industry. Here, we identify three social aspects of business risk that may challenge the industry: political, reputational, and local acceptability. Political risk arises when sectoral authorities and the related legislation come into conflict, such as mineral versus environmental legislation. Reputational risk lies in the relationship between a company’s past and current operations in combination with the legitimacy of the entire industry. Local acceptability risk parallels the social license to operate, with poor corporate conduct, competition with other livelihoods, intrusion into culturally sensitive areas, and local values critical of mining all potentially evoking resistance. Companies must be aware not only of the nuances of each social aspect but also of the interplay between them to understand the full scale and scope of the business risks associated with exploration.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2023
Keywords
Mineral exploration, Mining, Business risk, Political risk, Reputational risk, Local acceptability risk
National Category
Mineral and Mine Engineering Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-92987 (URN)10.1007/s13563-022-00345-z (DOI)000852938100001 ()2-s2.0-85137916344 (Scopus ID)
Funder
EU, Horizon 2020, 776804, NEXT—New Exploration Technologies
Note

Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-06-29 (sofila);

Funder: University of Lapland

Available from: 2022-09-13 Created: 2022-09-13 Last updated: 2023-09-05Bibliographically approved
Beland Lindahl, K. (2023). The Legacy of Sweden’s Social Democratic State for Extractive Bargains with Indigenous Sámi Reindeer Herding Communities (1ed.). In: Paul Bowles & Nathan Andrews (Ed.), Extractive Bargains: Natural Resources and the State-Society Nexus (pp. 75-96). Springer Nature
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The Legacy of Sweden’s Social Democratic State for Extractive Bargains with Indigenous Sámi Reindeer Herding Communities
2023 (English)In: Extractive Bargains: Natural Resources and the State-Society Nexus / [ed] Paul Bowles & Nathan Andrews, Springer Nature , 2023, 1, p. 75-96Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

This chapter explores how the Swedish state justifies its extractive bargains with Indigenous Sámi reindeer herding communities (RHCs). The conflict over the Kallak/Gállok mine project in northern Sweden serves as an example. The chapter explores the logic underlying the Swedish state’s contemporary extractive bargaining strategies in light of a policy style moulded by historical social democratic politics. A corporatist and consensus-oriented policy style and a productivist approach assuming win-wins between social rights, equality and economic growth permeated historical Swedish bargains. Currently, Sweden justifies its bargains with climate benefits, but the former social democratic legacy created path dependencies which continue to shape extractive bargains today. While this approach has served the needs of the industry, the state and the working class, it severely compromises the needs of Indigenous Sámi RHCs. Applied in a pro-extractivist political economy with little concern for Indigenous rights, it maintains and reinforces social injustices.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2023 Edition: 1
Series
Frontiers of Globalization, ISSN 2946-3777, E-ISSN 2946-3785
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-104563 (URN)10.1007/978-3-031-32172-6_4 (DOI)
Available from: 2024-03-12 Created: 2024-03-12 Last updated: 2024-03-12Bibliographically approved
MacPhail, F., Lindahl, K. B. & Bowles, P. (2023). Why do Mines Fail to Obtain a Social License to Operate?: Insights from the Proposed Kallak Iron Mine (Sweden) and the Prosperity/New Prosperity Gold–Copper Mine (Canada). Environmental Management, 72(1), 19-36
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Why do Mines Fail to Obtain a Social License to Operate?: Insights from the Proposed Kallak Iron Mine (Sweden) and the Prosperity/New Prosperity Gold–Copper Mine (Canada)
2023 (English)In: Environmental Management, ISSN 0364-152X, E-ISSN 1432-1009, Vol. 72, no 1, p. 19-36Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Opposition to mines endures even in countries with relatively strong environmental assessment processes and regulations. Why proposed mines fail to obtain a social license to operate is analyzed by developing a framework comprised of three concepts—process legitimacy, distributional outcomes, and values compatibility—drawing from the social license to operate, interactive governance, and environmental justice literatures. The framework is applied to understand opposition from local Indigenous people to two mine projects, one in Sweden and the other in British Columbia, Canada. Evidence from interviews with Sami legal experts and Reindeer Herding Community representatives and an advisor with the Tŝilhqot’in National Government, as well as from secondary sources is used to analyze the contestation. Despite the proposed mines being situated in different governance contexts, the reasons for the opposition are markedly similar - environmental assessment processes are illegitimate, distributional outcomes unfair, and values incompatible. The comparative empirical analysis leads to refining the framework as a scaffold with values compatibility as the foundational plank, rather than three independent planks contributing to a social license to operate. The analysis offers insights into company commitments to Indigenous engagement, enhancements to process legitimacy, and evolving and paradigmatic shifts in governance processes, as articulated by Indigenous peoples and international governance mechanisms such as the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2023
Keywords
governance, Indigenous opposition, mine projects, social license to operate, Sweden and Canada
National Category
Human Geography Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-89198 (URN)10.1007/s00267-021-01587-3 (DOI)000745566500002 ()35064807 (PubMedID)2-s2.0-85123477500 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Vinnova, 2017-02226
Note

Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-06-28 (sofila);

Available from: 2022-02-10 Created: 2022-02-10 Last updated: 2023-09-05Bibliographically approved
Johansson, A., Lindahl, K. B. & Zachrisson, A. (2022). Exploring prospects of deliberation in intractable natural resource management conflicts. Journal of Environmental Management, 315, Article ID 115205.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Exploring prospects of deliberation in intractable natural resource management conflicts
2022 (English)In: Journal of Environmental Management, ISSN 0301-4797, E-ISSN 1095-8630, Vol. 315, article id 115205Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Deliberative processes are increasingly advocated as means to handle intractable natural resource management (NRM) conflicts. Research shows that disputing actors can deliberate and achieve higher degrees of mutual understanding and working agreements under ideal conditions, but the transferability of these findings to real-world intractable NRM conflicts can be questioned. This paper explores the possibilities of designing and realizing deliberation and its expected outcomes in real-world NRM conflicts. We used recommended design principles to set up deliberative processes in two intractable mining conflicts involving indigenous peoples in Northern Sweden and assessed the actors’ communication and outcomes using frame analysis.

The results show that the recommended design principles are hard, but not impossible, to fully implement in intractable NRM conflicts. Both conflicts proved difficult to deliberate and resolve in the sense of reaching agreements. However, the findings suggest that deliberation, as well as meta-consensus, or structured disagreement, is possible to achieve in settings with favorable conditions, e.g. good and established inter-group relations prior to the conflict. In the absence of these conditions, where relations were hostile and shaped by historical and institutional injustices, deliberation was not achieved. In both cases, polarization among the participants remained, or increased, in spite of the deliberative activities. The study highlights the importance of understanding deliberation as embedded in place specific historical and institutional contexts which shape both process and outcomes in powerful ways. More efforts should focus on alternative, or complementary, ways to handle intractable NRM conflicts, including how contested experiences of history, institutions and Indigenous rights can be addressed.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2022
Keywords
Natural resource management, Mining conflicts, Deliberation, Conflict management, Deliberative democracy, Frame analysis
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-90528 (URN)10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115205 (DOI)000832009800008 ()35533469 (PubMedID)2-s2.0-85129765758 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council Formas, 2017–01599
Note

Validerad;2022;Nivå 2;2022-05-06 (joosat);

Available from: 2022-05-06 Created: 2022-05-06 Last updated: 2023-09-25Bibliographically approved
Logmani-Aßmann, J., Lindahl, K. B., Krott, M., Burns, S. L. & Giessen, L. (2022). Forest Set-Aside Policy for International Biodiversity Targets?: Obstructive Bureaucratic Territoriality in Germany and Sweden. International forestry review, 23(4), 448-461
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Forest Set-Aside Policy for International Biodiversity Targets?: Obstructive Bureaucratic Territoriality in Germany and Sweden
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2022 (English)In: International forestry review, ISSN 1465-5489, E-ISSN 2053-7778, Vol. 23, no 4, p. 448-461Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 requires setting aside vast currently managed areas for conservation purposes. Following bureaucratic politics theory, forestry and environmental domestic bureaucracies use these international targets in their struggle for power and territoriality over forested areas. Against this background, this study aims to analyze the resulting politics on setting aside forest areas from active forest management in Germany and Sweden. Employing a qualitative case study design and empirical data from policy documents and key informant interviews, our results indicate that bureaucracies prioritize instruments that are well aligned with their formal objectives, the interests of their informal constituencies, and their territorial interests. Such struggles dominate the development of policy instruments in both countries obstructing political compromise which results in a logjam in the development of substantial forest set-aside policy. We conclude that unless domestic politics and key bureaucracies provide conducive political conditions international commitments will be very difficult to achieve, even if they are formulated into clearly measurable international targets.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Commonwealth Forestry Association, 2022
Keywords
bureaucratic politics, Convention on Biological Diversity international governance, legally binding and voluntary forest policy instruments, Nagoya Protocol Aichi Targets, NWE5
National Category
Forest Science Economics
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-89132 (URN)10.1505/146554821834777251 (DOI)000750647000004 ()2-s2.0-85123434669 (Scopus ID)
Note

Validerad;2022;Nivå 2;2022-03-10 (johcin)

Available from: 2022-03-10 Created: 2022-03-10 Last updated: 2023-09-05Bibliographically approved
Beland Lindahl, K., Allard, C., Poelzer, G. A., Poelzer, G., Frimpong, R., Noble, B., . . . McPhail, F. (2022). Gruvindustri och urfolk: Rättigheter, regelverk och arbetssätt: En jämförelse mellan Sverige och Kanada i syfte att lära.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Gruvindustri och urfolk: Rättigheter, regelverk och arbetssätt: En jämförelse mellan Sverige och Kanada i syfte att lära
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2022 (Swedish)Report (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
Publisher
p. 15
National Category
Law and Society
Research subject
Law; Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-104576 (URN)
Funder
Vinnova, 2017-02226
Available from: 2024-03-13 Created: 2024-03-13 Last updated: 2024-03-13Bibliographically approved
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Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0001-6145-2252

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