CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Kuehnle-Nelson, Lovisa |
|---|---|
| Title | ???First Came the Reservoirs, then came the community???: Governing Divergent Natures in Alby, Sweden |
| Summary | Incorporating divergent understandings of nature can contribute to an environmental governance that is better able to accommodate the needs of multiple stakeholders. Such appears to be the case in Alby, Sweden where two defunct hydroelectrical dams may be removed. Removal is proposed as a part of a legal review of hydropower that is currently underway in Sweden which seeks to overhaul the sector’s environmental standards. Examining how this review manifests itself in Alby through a discourse analysis demonstrates discrepancies between the ways in which hydropower governance and the local community understands nature. Hydropower governance approaches nature scientifically, while the local community apprehends nature through everyday experience. It is argued that the confluence of these understandings with ideas on private property polarizes these groups. These positions, it is argued, are expressive of antagonistic social relations. In its current form, hydropower governance contributes to this dynamic. However, the national legal review of hydropower offers a potential avenue through which to navigate these conflictual relations. Doing so could contribute to a more vibrant, plural governance around hydropower in Sweden, and offer lessons for environmental governance in general. |
| Supervisor | Aistara, Guntra |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/kuehnle_lovisa.pdf |
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