Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Zürich.More information will be announced. No registration is needed. Welcome to the Institute for Futures Studies, Holländargatan 13 in Stockh

in: Water 12: 244 AbstractTackling diffuse pollution from agriculture is a key challenge for governments seeking to implement the European Union’s Water Framework Directive (WFD). In the research liter  

Environmental Earth Sciences 74(6), pp. 4827-4837, doi: 10.1007/s12665-01 Abstract Bacterial attenuation in porous media is often higher in columns than in the field. This study investigates whether this

The territory of democracy

The presumption that the jurisdiction of the state extends to the borderes of a certain territory is increasingly being challenged, both by indigenous people within this territory, and by extraterritoriral border control.

Hydrogeology Journal 25(4) pp. 1077-1091, doi: 10.1007/s10040-016-1504-x Abstract This study developed methodology for statistically assessing groundwater contamination mechanisms. It focused on microbiahumanitarian aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières in 2010. The factors included hydrogeological settings, land use and socio-economic characteristics. The results showed that the residuals of a conventional probit regression model had a significant positive spatial autocorrelation (Moran’s I =3.05, I-stat = 9.28); therefore, a spatial model was developed that had better goodness-of-fit to the observations. The mostsignificant factor in this model (p-value 0.005) was the distance from a water source to the nearest Tukul area, an area with informal settlements that lack sanitation services. It is thus recommended that future remediation and monitoring efforts in the city be concentrated in such low-income regions. The spatial model differed from the conventional approach: in contrast with the latter case, lowland topography was not significant at the 5% level, as the p-value was 0.074 in the spatial model and 0.040 in the traditional model. This study showed that statistical risk-factor assessments of groundwater contamination need to consider spatial interactions when the water sources are located close to each other. Future studies might further investigate the cut-off distance that reflects spatial autocorrelation. Particularly, these results advise research on urban groundwater quality.

International Journal of Sociology Abstract Environmental problems such as climate change, air and water pollution, and biodiversity loss affect humans globally. The International Social Survey Programm

Jason J. Czarnezki: Linking Environmental Law, Climate Justice and Global Security (webinarium)

Jason J. Czarnezki, Olof Palme visiting Professor, Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, Associate Dean of Environmental Law Programs and Strategic Initiatives, Elisab

Jonathan Boston, Professor of Public Policy, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington.ABSTRACTFundamental to good governance is the active anticipation, assessment and management of risBased on this analysis, the paper applies the concept to the policy challenges posed by climate change adaptation, particularly sea-level rise. In this regard, humanity is confronted with a slow-motion disaster that will grow progressively in scope and scale, sometimes abruptly. Societies will face significant uncertainty, multiple and compounding risks, immense costs and difficult intertemporal and intragenerational trade-offs. More specifically, rising sea levels will have a major and increasing impact on the built environment in coastal regions. Globally, hundreds of millions of people could be forced this century to relocate from areas at risk from coastal erosion and inundation, higher water tables, and more frequent and intense rainfall events. Mitigating some of the risks and increasing societal resilience via anticipatory, pro-active, prudent and adaptive policy responses will be politically challenging, not least because of the large upfront costs, the likelihood of powerful blocking coalitions, and the complexities of inter-governmental and inter-agency coordination. This paper outlines how, in the interests of sound anticipatory governance, these challenges might be addressed through the creation of new governmental institutions, funding mechanisms and revised planning processes.

Jason J. Czarnezki,Olof Palme visiting Professor,Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law,Associate Dean of Environmental Law Programs and Strategic Initiatives,Elisabeth

Postdoc to do research on social norm change

Norms can be a driver for change, so in order to understand how our societies will develop over time it is important to understand how norms form and change. We are now searching for a postdoc with extra interest in studying this with us at the Institute for Futures Studies!