Sweden has adopted ambitious climate targets which require deep cuts in CO2 emissions from transportation. To achieve this, it has introduced policies to incentivise the electrification of road vehicles and progressive blending-in of biofuels. Many local governments have committed to do their share, but the impact of local strategies remains unclear. Here, locally rooted mitigation strategies are explored by applying a novel approach to participatory energy-system modelling via multiple researcher–practitioner interactions stretching over two years. A comprehensive Energy System Optimisation Model (ESOM) was used to assess the impact of local mitigation strategies employed in 15 municipalities, under a set of existing ambitious national policies. The results show that, while local strategies can help reduce energy-related CO2 emissions, the direct impact on such emissions is reduced under ambitious national policies. Still, local strategies to increase public transport and active travelling, and facilitate remote working also have local benefits as improved air quality and reduced traffic noise. Local policymakers should put stronger emphasis on such benefits. Finally, the long-term participatory approach also helped to build practitioners’ trust in the modelling process and created an environment for mutual learning and deeper understanding of climate mitigation options. These benefits justify the resource-intensive process.

Over the last century, intensification of human movement has resulted in a large-scale redistribution of species worldwide. In recent decades, this phenomenon has been further compounded by climate change, creating complex challenges in the management of non-native species. As effective management can be hampered by gaps in communication and understanding between scientific researchers, natural resource managers and the wider public, assessing consensus between these groups is crucial.

Here, we adopt an explorative approach to analyse three key groups concerned with the management of freshwater ecosystems – recreational fishers, natural resource managers and scientific researchers. Our objective is to better understand the level of consensus regarding the interaction between non-native species and climate change.

We found that, while scientific researchers and managers had varying opinions on the management of non-native species as driven by climate change, recreational fishers were almost unanimously opposed to the potential presence of non-native species, regardless of the nature of their introduction. Additionally, definitions of what constitutes a non-native species varied greatly between and within the groups.

Our results underline both the current lack of consensus on the definition and management of non-native species and gaps in understanding between and within the three groups regarding both the nature of non-native species and the range-shifting effects of climate change.

Modellbaserade framtidsscenarier kan vara till hjälp för att skapa framtidens hållbara energisystem, även påkommunal nivå. Med framtidsscenarier anpassade till den lokala kontexten och en nära dialog mellan forskare och beslutsfattare skapas bättre förutsättningar för att formulera och förverkliga samhällsförändringen lokalt. 

Knowledge transfer (KT) from academia to practice is important in many fields, but comprehensive studies on identifying the most effective forms of KT are scarce. This paper aims to provide an overview of KT theory and presents a cross-disciplinary scoping review of empirically oriented peer-reviewed articles. The review offers guidance for researchers seeking to communicate effectively with practitioners. It explores the effects of research communications, delves into the understanding and measurement of these effects, attempts to identify the most effective forms of communication, and highlights important considerations when designing KT strategies. Few studies in our sample (eight of 27) systematically measured effects of KT, and merely four studies compared multiple forms of KT. Nevertheless, most studies estimated effects from KT, regardless of the chosen form (e.g., workshops or lectures). Most studies estimated knowledge change as the primary outcome. Additionally, several studies explored altered beliefs such as increased self-efficacy. A third of the studies addressed how the knowledge was applied, ranging from sharing information to developing new habits. The identified effects were, however, both small and volatile. Our findings underscore the significance of continuity and repeated interactions to enhance the impact of KT initiatives. Furthermore, researchers need to develop a comprehensive set of tools to facilitate successful KT, considering factors such as expertise, communication skills, trust-building, and participant-centered approaches. By employing these strategies, researchers can effectively bridge the gap between academia and practice, facilitating successful KT in various fields.

This paper addresses how the design of collaborative regimes influences markers of legitimacy in Swedish water- and large carnivore governance. Based on institutional analysis and statistical analysis of survey data, the study examines two systems with different types of collaborative designs and compares them in relation to markers of legitimacy, in terms of perceived process quality, policy agreement and policy acceptance among the involved decision-making actors and concerned organizations. The findings show how the design of collaboration influences some, but not all, explored markers of legitimacy. First, the categories of actors involved; whom they are accountable to; and the authority given to the collaborative forums, effect perceptions of influence, the possibility of reaching joint agreements and the degree of policy agreement among involved decision-makers. Second, the findings indicate that the degree of policy agreement among concerned organizations is unaffected by differences in institutional design. Third, the degree of policy acceptance among involved decision-making actors and concerned organizations was unaffected by institutional design and notably high in both systems. The results both verify and develop previous research findings and the message to policymakers is to carefully consider the design when introducing new collaborative forums, including whom to invite, in what role, and with what mandate.

This paper explores the relationship between different types of multi-level governance systems and policy coherence (i.e., uniformity of goals and rules) through a study of the governance systems for water and large carnivores in Sweden. The study objects represent multi-level governance systems for contested natural resources in the same national context, though in different policy areas and with substantial differences in institutional arrangements. We define the characteristics of each governance system through an institutional analysis of official records and compare their perceived ability to promote coherence through a statistical analysis of survey data. Our empirical results both support and problematize common ideas about how different institutional features relate to policy coherence in multi-level governance. The results clearly indicate that multi-level governance systems are challenged by conflicting goals and rules, both within and across governance systems, and that the capacity to address these difficulties is generally perceived as wanting in both types of systems. The results tentatively suggest that clashes with other governance systems are more prominent in polycentric and ecologically based systems, while internal goal and rule conflicts are more prevalent in centralized and more traditionally organized systems.

The findings contribute to our understanding of the quandaries associated with the design of new governance systems. The study also contributes important insights into what features to focus on in attempts to mitigate the downsides of different institutional arrangements in multi-level governance systems.  

Connectivity is key in freshwater management, e.g. to ensure viable populations of fish, but restoring it may cause the spread of invasive species. Goal conflicts of this kind are common in freshwater management, and the burden of addressing them rests on the shoulders of street-level bureaucrats, i.e. public officials at the end of the policy chain. This study uses a theoretical framework to explore their management choices employing previous research on natural resource management. The findings, based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with street-level bureaucrats from all water districts in Sweden, show that the three factors explored – their understanding of formal policy, their implementation resources, and their policy beliefs – matter when anthropogenic connectivity barriers are considered in ongoing management. Additionally, the factors are interrelated in a way that can obstruct the implementation of policy goals. While connectivity issues rank high and are considered a great problem all over the country, invasive species are regarded as a relatively small problem. If this should change in the future, the level of preparedness is low, primarily due to restricted implementation resources, but also due to the absence of guidance and formal responsibilities.

The aim of this article is to explore how personal values and the role of the representative influence representation principles when making decisions in natural resource management. This was tested in an empirical case of wildlife management in Sweden, the regional Wildlife Conservation Committees (WCCs). These WCCs consist of a mix of actors in collaborative settings, where both politicians and interest organization representatives make decisions on wildlife related issues. The results show that the value dimension of self-enhancement, associated with giving importance to values such as achievement and power, significantly affects a representational style associated with following the representative's personal preferences when making decisions, the trustee principle. The role of the representative also significantly affects representational style when making decisions in these cases, where the interest organizational representatives more often follow the party principle, i.e., the view of the parties or organization they represent, than the political actors. Age also had a significant impact where older representatives relied more on the trustee principle than their younger peers. The implications of these results are that personal values in this case matters for decision-making, which is in line with earlier research on decision-making on environmental issues. Further, politicians behave atypically for the Swedish context relying more on the trustee principle rather than the party principle, which policy makers should take into consideration when designing collaborative arenas similar to the WCCs.

Despite the attention given to genetic biodiversity in international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan and the Aichi Targets, previous research points at a “conservation genetics gap,” indicating that scientific insights into genetic biodiversity are poorly integrated into practical management. Both researchers and managers call for platforms for knowledge exchange between science and practice. However, few scientific studies on the potential effects of such knowledge transfer have been conducted. The present study is a follow-up to Lundmark et al. (2017), which identified significant effects of two forms of knowledge communication on conservation managers’ concerns and beliefs in regard to Baltic Sea genetic biodiversity. This study departs from Lundmark et al. (2017) and explores (a) whether the identified alterations in knowledge and beliefs persist over time, and (b) whether potential stability differs between different types of policy beliefs as well as between two types of knowledge communication (lecture and group deliberation). The results of this follow-up study show that the positive impacts on managers’ self-assessed knowledge remained, while the effects on policy beliefs largely had vanished a few months after the knowledge communication. Thus, changes in beliefs seem perishable, suggesting that continuity is more important than the form of educational efforts.