•Natural resource governance interventions requires citizens and communities to be responsible for resource sustainability.•The decentralization of forest governance demonstrates the phenomenon of ...responsibilization which has created symbolic violence.•The concept of human agency is centrally connected to collaborative and responsive transformation processes in natural resources governance.•The forest governance structures need to be changed so as not only to support human agency to carry out duties but also to ensure capabilities of commons.
In the extensive literature scholars have demonstrated that the goals of power transfer in the decentralization of natural resources governance have not been fully achieved. Powerful actors have maintained their positions of domination, while the interventions have transferred tasks and duties to communities and local decision makers without adequately attending to their capabilities, capacities and resources for natural resources governance. Our research cases from Mexico, Nepal and Tanzania reveal the limits of such responsibilization. We argue that natural resource governance interventions increasingly rely on a new logic that requires citizens, local authorities and communities to be responsible for their own well-being and for resource sustainability. In our case study countries, decentralized forest governance has been a way to demonstrate a “romantic doxa” which national and international actors created via the phenomenon of “responsibilization” something seemingly innocent which has created symbolic violence. In this article, we argue that three aspects capabilities, agency, and level of structures need to be better understood to support locally responsive and collaborative natural resources governance instead of responsibilization in the resources governance. We consider that: 1) the concept of human agency is centrally connected to collaborative and responsive natural resources sustainability transformation processes; 2) the capabilities to exercise human agency need to match the duties, and the duties must be appropriate and moderate with respect to the agents in the natural resources governance and; 3) the governance structures need to be changed so as not only to support human agency to carry out duties but also to ensure capabilities.
Awareness of human-forest relationships offers a basis for meaningful forest policy participation. However, weakening connections to forests, particularly among young people, hamper youth inclusion ...in policy arenas. We consider the use of arts-based methods as knowledge practices that nurture human-forest relationships and may promote inclusive policies. Arts-based methods, such as photography, music, or drama, offer insights and elicit opinions. Within the forest domain, exploiting such methods requires better understanding of how participants perceive them. Here we present two cases where young people (17-30 years) unfold their forest relationships. Following prompted retrospective reflections, we qualitatively analyse participant perceptions of the interventions. Case one is an innovation workshop blending art and science, where young research participants joined artists and environmental and forest scientists. Case two is a writing exercise for young research participants, where a hip-hop/rap video about laser scanning and the role of forests in climate change was used to catalyse participants' reflections. Analysis applied the tripartite model of attitude comprising cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions. The workshop results emphasise benefits of networking and fruitful reflections, coupled with unequal participation concerns. The video experience yielded a range of thoughts and emotions, including excitement and invitingness, but also irritation, doubts over its influence, and no explicit behavioural intentions. The findings suggest that realising the opportunities of arts-based knowledge practices requires time and space for ensuring that young people's voices are heard. More inclusive participation of youth in formal and informal forest policy dialogue calls for careful facilitation and means to secure continuation. Keywords: arts-based methods, human-forest relationships, knowledge practices, parallel pathways, youth
Awareness of humanforest relationships offers a basis for meaningful forest policy participation. However, weakening connections to forests, particularly among young people, hamper youth inclusion in ...policy arenas. We consider the use of arts-based methods as knowledge practices that nurture humanforest relationships and may promote inclusive policies. Arts-based methods, such as photography, music, or drama, offer insights and elicit opinions. Within the forest domain, exploiting such methods requires better understanding of how participants perceive them. Here we present two cases where young people (1730 years) unfold their forest relationships. Following prompted retrospective reflections, we qualitatively analyse participant perceptions of the interventions. Case one is an innovation workshop blending art and science, where young research participants joined artists and environmental and forest scientists. Case two is a writing exercise for young research participants, where a hip-hop/rap video about laser scanning and the role of forests in climate change was used to catalyse participants reflections. Analysis applied the tripartite model of attitude comprising cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions. The workshop results emphasise benefits of networking and fruitful reflections, coupled with unequal participation concerns. The video experience yielded a range of thoughts and emotions, including excitement and invitingness, but also irritation, doubts over its influence, and no explicit behavioural intentions. The findings suggest that realising the opportunities of arts-based knowledge practices requires time and space for ensuring that young peoples voices are heard. More inclusive participation of youth in formal and informal forest policy dialogue calls for careful facilitation and means to secure continuation.
Kanssatutkimus Bettin, Caterina; Hietala, Outi; Kulmala, Meri ...
2023
eBook
Odprti dostop
Participatory approaches and co-research are increasingly employed in the current moment for exploring barriers to equality. Co-research treats research participants as experts in their own lives and ...as equal research partners. Research conducted with this orientation is based on research problems drafted by the research participants themselves from their aspirations regarding the research process and an active partnership that considers the interests of all parties involved. Participatory methods are used in co-research, particularly for the purpose of deepening the contextualisation of research knowledge about structurally vulnerable or subordinated groups and to challenge the power positions associated with traditional research designs. In co-research, the role of the people involved in the research is more central than in more traditional research. One of the key principles of co-research is that co-investigators (a) can participate in various roles, (b) have the opportunity to participate in different phases of the research according to their own interests and resources, and (c) co-investigators' participation can take many forms, including differences in intensity. The idea is to provide more people with opportunities to contribute to the knowledge production about themselves and their communities from their respective perspectives and interests. Co-research is also seen as an opportunity to improve the relevance and usefulness of scientific knowledge. It aims to genuinely increase interaction and openness and extend science's societal responsibility. In this book, we approach co-research as a means to promote social justice, as an action with a societal impact contributor to social impact and as a means to promote the societal responsibility of science. We discuss and evaluate the ideals of the co-research process concerning the everyday challenges and practices in research. Above all, we offer the knowledge and experience generated by our own projects to support those planning or already implementing co-research projects.
Nuoret metsänomistajat ovat pieni, mutta sukupolvensa edustajina kokoaan tärkeämpi metsänomistajien osajoukko. Tässä tutkimuksessa perusjoukkona oli Pohjois-Karjalassa ja Pohjois-Savossa asuvat ...16–30-vuotiaat, vuosina 1987–2002 syntyneet, metsänomistajat. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli täydentää tutkimustietoa ja tunnistaa nuorten metsänomistajien omia näkemyksiä ja näkökulmia ilman ennalta rajattuja kansallisia tai muita tavoitteita. Pyrimme ymmärtämään, miten nuoret metsänomistajat näkevät omat arvonsa ja vastuunsa metsätilan omistajina. Teemahaastattelut toteuttivat yhteistyössä kaksi varttunutta tutkijaa sekä nuori yliopisto-opiskelija, joka on itsekin metsänomistaja. Menettelyllä tavoiteltiin tutkimusmenetelmällisesti pätevää tiedon yhteisluontia ja nuorten metsänomistajien luottamuksellista kohtaamista haastattelutilanteissa. Sisällöllisesti haastatteluaineistoa leimaa kerronnallisuus, mistä syystä analyysimenetelmäksi valittiin temaattinen narratiivinen analyysi. Nuoret metsänomistajat kokivat, että metsäomaisuuden periminen oli osa sukupolvien ketjua ja siten edellytti heitä pitämään metsätila edelleenkin suvun omistuksessa. Omat vanhemmat, kokeneet sukulaiset ja metsäalan ammattilaiset koettiin asiantunteviksi auktoriteeteiksi, joiden tietoa ja osaamista harvemmin kyseenalaistettiin. Nuorten metsänomistajien todellinen osallistuminen metsien käyttöä koskevaan päätöksentekoon jäi usein ohueksi. Omaisuutta ja velvoitteita oli siirretty nuorille metsänomistajille ilman riittäviä resursseja ja toimintamahdollisuuksia, mistä syystä yhteiskuntakriittisestä näkökulmasta katsoen kyseessä ei ole nuoren vastuullistaminen vaan vastuuttaminen. Metsäpalvelujen kehittämisessä (sukupolvenvaihdokset, uusien metsänomistajien informointipalvelut, metsäsuunnittelupalvelut) on tärkeää kiinnittää huomiota nuorten metsänomistajien osallistumis- ja päätöksentekokyvyn tukemiseen. Toimijuutta ja vastuunkannon valmiuksia voitaisiin vahvistaa tuottamalla ja jakamalla tietoa ja toimintasuosituksia metsänomistajaperheiden ylisukupolvisesta dialogista. Tarvitaan yhtäältä nuorille räätälöityjä metsänomistamisen viestintäkanavia mutta toisaalta myös käytänteitä, joissa nuoret metsänomistajat voivat osallistua omine näkökulmineen tasavertaisesti muiden kanssa. Jatkotutkimuksia tulisi kohdentaa myös muualle Suomeen, esimerkiksi pääkaupunkiseudulla asuviin nuoriin metsänomistajiin.
Intergenerational learning Mustalahti, Irmeli; Tokola, Nina; Pakarinen, Virpi ...
Young People as Agents of Sustainable Society,
2023, Letnik:
1
Book Chapter
This chapter moves the question of youth participation and well-being away from pre-arranged institutionalised settings towards intergeneration learning. In the chapter, the authors argue that the ...challenge of building sustainable well-being for the future can be addressed effectively only in collaboration between young people and adults in eco-social transformation at all levels of society. They stress that young people should not be responsibilised for building a sustainable future alone and argue for developing methods for intergenerational learning to tackle with the current climate and environmental crises. The chapter describes and discusses the unique Circular Knowledge model, which the researchers co-created together with young people, a group of NGO partners and private entrepreneurs in the North Karelia Region of Finland. The authors describe the basic ideas underpinning the model, reflect on its creation, where diverse participatory methods were used, and discuss findings from two empirical test cases. The authors also critically reflect the challenges of such an extensive collaborative effort. As shown in several other chapters of the book, participatory and action-oriented research processes are always unpredictable and may involve developments that go against researchers' well-intended goals and wishes, despite their best efforts. At the same time interactive research co-creates knowledge which is useful for the different levels of society.
This chapter moves the question of youth participation and well-being away from pre-arranged institutionalised settings towards intergeneration learning. It describes and discusses the unique Circular Knowledge model, which the researchers co-created together with young people, a group of NGO partners and private entrepreneurs in the North Karelia Region of Finland. The chapter addresses the possibilities of intergenerational collaboration and learning. Experiences of intergenerational learning and collaboration in an online environment proved very different compared to the live groups. However, testing the model in the online format produced rather different results, already because the online group meetings were technically too difficult for many of the older participants to take part in. More opportunities and models for intergenerational learning are therefore worth developing to pursue the sustainability transformation as a collective effort by each and for all.
This chapter describes participatory research processes which involved young refugee women and men as co-researchers, opening critically and self-reflectively the methodological underpinnings, ...research styles and experiences of the research collaborations. The aim of the chapter is to respond to two types of criticism that have recently been expressed towards participatory research methods: that participatory studies mostly remain adult-centred and participatory methods are still often uncritically and naively seen to give access to authentic realities of youth. While acknowledging both arguments as useful points for critical reflection, the authors see great potential in practices of knowledge co-construction. Furthermore, based on the idea presented in the book's Introduction, according to which research collaboration can be considered as one type of societal participation, the chapter scrutinises what kind of potential participation in a co-research process can have in promoting the sustainable well-being of young people. The authors end up defending participatory and co-research methodologies with young people, but with a strong commitment to researcher reflexivity and willingness to involve young co-researchers' views in evaluating the research process.
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