Natural resource (NR) exploitation often gives rise to conflict. While most actors intend to manage collectively used places and their NRs sustainably, they may disagree about what this entails. This article accordingly explores the origin of NR conflicts by analysing them in terms of competing pathways to sustainability. By comparing conflicts over mine establishments in three places in northern Sweden, we specifically explore the role of place-based perceptions and experiences.
The results indicate that the investigated conflicts go far beyond the question of metals and mines. The differences between pathways supporting mine establishment and those opposing it refer to fundamental ideas about human–nature relationships and sustainable development (SD). The study suggests that place-related parameters affect local interpretations of SD and mobilisation in ways that explain why resistance and conflict exist in some places but not others. A broader understanding of a particular conflict and its specific place-based trajectory may help uncover complex underlying reasons. However, our comparative analysis also demonstrates that mining conflicts in different places share certain characteristics. Consequently, a site-specific focus ought to be combined with attempts to compare, or map, conflicts at a larger scale to improve our understanding of when and how conflicts evolve. By addressing the underlying causes and origins of contestation, this study generates knowledge needed to address NR management conflicts effectively and legitimately.
Gruvprospektering och gruvetablering kan ge upphov tilllokala konflikter. Syftet med den här studien är att undersökahur berörda aktörer och medborgare ser på fråganom framtida mineralutvinning och gruvetablering, vilketutrymme som finns för lokalt deltagande och inflytandei politik och regelverk, samt möjligheterna att hanteraeventuella konflikter med hjälp av dialog och samråd. Vihar analyserat tre gruvetableringsprocesser på tre olikaplatser i det fjällnära området: järnbrytning i Gállok/Kallak(Jokkmokks kommun), nickelutvinning i Rönnbäck/Rönnbäcken (Storumans kommun) samt guld, koppar ochjärnbrytning i Rakkuri (Kiruna kommun).
This document lays out the background for the research program “A promised land? Drivers, challenges and opportunities related to the (green) industrialization of Northern Sweden,” (nr. M22-0029) awarded by the Swedish Riksbankens Jubileumsfond’s in 2022. The document summarizes work in progress and may therefore be updated and republished in different versions according to the requirements of the program.
This interdisciplinary program aims to understand the economic, social, and political challenges and opportunities of the ongoing industrial transformation in northern Sweden. A key element of the program is to identify drivers, obstacles, and preconditions in a historical, present, and forward-looking processperspective.
This paper investigates to what extent and under what circumstances environmental regulation can be designed and implemented to jointly achieve positive environmental outcomes and sustained competitive strength in the mining industry. First the paper provides a conceptual analysis of the impacts of environmental regulations on mining competitiveness, including a discussion of how the environmental-competitiveness trade-off can be affected by various regulatory design and implementation strategies. Methodologically we distinguish between the flexibility, predictability and stringency of the regulations, and in a second step these analytical concepts are illustrated in the empirical context of the environmental permitting processes in Finland, Sweden and Russia. An important result is that in these countries there has been a lack of timeliness and predictability in the environmental regulations (e.g., uncertainty about the interpretation of the legislation, delays due to appeals etc.). These problems can in part be addressed by, for instance: (a) allocating more resources to the regulatory authorities; (b) establishing more consensus-based regulatory interactions between the mining industry and the authorities; and (c) introducing more standardized procedures and road maps for environmental impact assessments, permit applications and not the least for how to interpret specific legal rules in the context of mining.
In this article, we study the interaction of nature and technology in terms of policy and business activities in Sweden during the 1970s and 1980s. These activities aimed to reduce the impact of the mining industry on the natural environment while maintaining industrial competitiveness. In order to address this challenge, it was and still is important to identify ways that businesses can promote sustainable development without hazarding their continued operations and investments. Here, the design and implementation of environmental regulations are of central importance. This study relies on a rich set of documents related to 1970s and 1980s environmental licensing processes of the operations of the two largest mining companies in Sweden, Boliden AB and LKAB, both situated close to the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. Historians have much to offer policymakers, and this article demonstrates that good examples that permit us to reflect on future pathways for policy design can not only be found in other countries' current policy, but also further back in time.
Infrastructural systems delivering gas, water and electricity, facilitating transports and communications as well as the gathering and treatment of sewage, have been critical in the development of modern society during the 19th and 20th centuries. They have largely contributed to economic and social welfare, but have also caused considerable environmental impacts over time. Contemporary strategies towards a more sustainable society therefore often include changes in existing infrastructural systems as well as conscious choices when it comes to the investment in new infrastructural systems. The present paper builds on the assertion that expanded knowledge on how, why and with what consequences the infrastructural systems were built up in the past, can provide us with novel perspectives on how to govern the challenges of today.In this paper we study the building-up of two infrastructural systems in the northernmost part of Sweden at the turn of the 19th century, where the harsh climate added an extra dimension to the technological challenges. The systems are: (a) the water- and wastewater system of the town of Luleå, then, the northernmost water- and wastewater system in Sweden and probably in the world; and (b) the electrification of Riksgränsbanan Railway (the Frontier Railway), the northernmost railway line in Sweden and the first major section of a state-owned railway to be electrified. The investments made by the municipality of Luleå and the Swedish State Railways (in close cooperation with a number of private companies), were both bold and radical in that relevant technologies still were in a ‘development stage'. Moreover, the harsh and cold climate due to the geographical location added an extra dimension to the technological challenges. The municipality in particular, but also the Swedish State Railways and connected private companies, lacked the necessary in-house expertise. The technological challenges were however dealt with in considerable different ways by the local and the national organization, respectively. Water- and wastewater systems had never before been constructed in the extreme north. Furthermore, considerable achievements within the bacteriology and hydrology fields did contribute to a continued significant development of the water/wastewater technology still at the turn of the 19th century. The municipality needed to rely on external expertise and its ability to get hold of new scientific knowledge and apply this in the system design. What concerns the electrification of the Riksgränsbanan Railway, it was in many ways a trailblazing project where whole new technologies had to be developed and launched on a rather troublesome railway in close cooperation between the Swedish State Railways and a number of private, mainly Swedish companies. Just as radical as the investments in the infrastructural systems were for the municipality of Luleå and the Swedish State Railways at the turn of the 19th century, modern literature claims the necessary changes of our established infrastructures to be if we want them to become sustainable. The historical lessons of the meanings of the radical changes in the former shift of technology models will give new perspectives on how to govern contemporary changes.
Med Suecia antiqua et hodierna skulle stormakten Sverige hyllas. På 353 planscher samsas tekniska landvinningar, fornminnen, slott och stadsvyer. I klassikern letar Roine Wiklund och Anton Åström efter... ett rådhus i Luleå som aldrig funnits.
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