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Seniors and Climate Issues : For the Benefit of Both
No full textThe proportion of seniors in the Nordic population is increasing, along with rising average age and low birth rate. People of retirement age tend to have more free time and better finance than younger people, and are, in general, in better health than their peers used to be. These people have a lot of experience and knowledge that can be useful in the climate debate. With this in mind, Icelandic authorities initiated a special project on seniors and climate issues during Iceland’s chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers 2023. This report contains the results of this project, incl. mapping of the existence and activities of climate-related groups of older people in the Nordics, a summary from a seminar held in Reykjavík in September 2023 and recommendations to the authorities in the Nordic countries about what they could do to support the work of seniors on climate issues
Ten years of cooperation through the Nordic Gender Equality Fund
No full textWhen the Nordic Council of Ministers established the Nordic Gender Equality Fund in June 2013, the aim was to stimulate Nordic cooperation in the area of gender equality. Since then, the Fund has granted funding to NGOs, public authorities, researchers and networks within the context of 79 different projects. In this publication, we present the experiences, insights and effects of these first ten years of the Fund.
Emission-free Construction Sites : Definitions, boundaries, and terminology – Current status in the Nordic countries
No full textThe objective of the Nordics to take the lead in a sustainable and competitive construction and building sector comes with the aspiration to reduce the environmental and climate impact of construction. Key to reaching this objective is working with procurement and sustainable construction requirements. To facilitate this, it is essential to engage the entire value chain and promote new and innovative solutions and business models. The building and construction industry is responsible for an estimated 39% of total energy and process-related greenhouse gas emissions, while the construction of new buildings may represent up to 5% of the total emissions across all sectors. New construction is bound to increase due to growing populations and affluence, which further highlights the need for addressing these emissions. The environmental impact of construction is being addressed in a number of ways. There are legislative and voluntary measures, such as limits on permitted emissions and environmental certifications. Meanwhile, emission-free construction sites, sometimes termed zero-emission construction sites, are emerging as a means to focus on the construction process. Projects aimed at reducing construction emissions generally have different system boundaries and aspirations. Further development in the field would benefit from a unified framework. This can be based on the well-known standards and approaches that are used in life cycle assessments of buildings. During construction, most of the greenhouse gas emissions relate to transport, machinery, and other energy use. Construction waste also contributes to emissions and this should therefore be considered. The use of fossil fuels on construction sites can be replaced by either fossil-free alternatives or emission-free energy carriers. Fossil-free biofuels are already available and can be used in existing machinery fleets. Further development in biofuels and electrofuels can be expected. Emission-free alternatives such as batteries and fuel-cells have the extra advantage of eliminating other airborne pollution. Although battery electric solutions are currently at the forefront of this, hydrogen is expected to be used in long-range applications. Emission-free construction in the Nordic countries has mostly been propelled by way of public procurement. Cities and municipalities have awarded contracts based on environmental award criteria. The results are promising, and a growing number of building projects are implementing emission-free construction sites. The level of ambition ranges from fossil-free machinery to emission-free transport and machinery and the low-emission management of waste
Eldra fólk og loftslagsmál : Báðum til gagns
No full textÁ síðustu árum hefur hlutfall eldra fólks af íbúafjölda Norðurlandanna farið hækkandi samfara hækkandi meðalaldri og lágri fæðingartíðni. Fólk á eftirlaunaaldri hefur oft meiri tíma aflögu og rýmri fjárhag en yngra fólk, auk þess sem heilsa þess er almennt betri en áður var algengt. Þetta fólk býr líka yfir mikilli reynslu og þekkingu sem getur nýst í loftslagsumræðunni. Með hliðsjón af þessu ákváðu íslensk stjórnvöld að gera starf eldra fólks að loftslagsmálum að áhersluverkefni á formennskuári Íslands í Norrænu ráðherranefndinni 2023. Skýrslan sem hér birtist inniheldur niðurstöður þessa verkefnis, þ.m.t. kortlagningu á tilvist og starfsemi loftslagstengdra hópa eldra fólks á Norðurlöndunum, samantekt frá málstofu sem haldin var í Reykjavík haustið 2023 og ráðleggingar til stjórnvalda á Norðurlöndunum um það sem þau gætu gert til að styðja við starf eldra fólks á sviði loftslagsmála
Chapter 10. Governance of misinformation by public service bots: The potential of automated social networking site accounts operated by public service media for correcting misinformation
No full textThe rapid dissemination of reliable information from credible sources is of particular relevance in combating misinformation. Such information can be provided by public service media (PSM). This chapter addresses the potential of automated social media accounts operated by PSM for the correction of misinformation. The legitimacy of this governance option is examined through a legal analysis and its effectiveness tested through an experimental survey (N = 113). The results of the legal analysis show that a legitimate claim can be derived for the use of automated communication agents by PSM within social networking sites, which can also be used in the fight against the spread of misinformation. The results from the experiment indicate that accounts operated by PSM enjoy higher credibility and generate more interactions than accounts operated by social peers. However, labelling accounts as automated tends to limit the effectiveness of accounts operated by PSM that provide corrective information.
The Nordic Region and the 2030 Agenda : Governance and engagement (2021-2022)
No full textThe Nordic countries have continuously ranked at the top of international assessments with regards to SDG implementation. This does not mean, however, that sustainable development in the Nordic Region has been fully achieved. Each country continues to face numerous challenges, including unsustainable consumption and production patterns, the effects of a changing climate, as well as rebalancing our societies after multiple crises marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing recovery, energy supply shortages in Europe and the war in Ukraine. According to the European Sustainable Development Report for 2022, the world is currently not on track to achieving most of the SDGs, underscoring the importance of the Nordic Region’s ability and need to reverse this trend and enhance progress on multiple fronts. The purpose of this edition is to update and compile an overview of the 2030 Agenda efforts in the Nordic Region with relevant and accessible information. It describes central policy decisions, actors and national structures in ongoing SDG work, and highlights inspiring examples of national networks and societal participation. The processes and structures for SDG implementation show that the Nordic countries each have their respective strengths and challenges. The ways in which national priorities and strategic plans have been put in place and how progress is monitored vary, as does the interaction between government, parliament, and societal actors. What is increasingly noticeable is the effort to improve stakeholder engagement, and there is an increasing data collection consistency on part of the national statistics agencies that have been given responsibility for following up on national SDG indicators. This work is also reflected in the voluntary national reviews, which make the reporting even more comprehensive in scope.
Chapter 3. Coming out differently: Making queer youth known in Scandinavian screen fiction
No full textPosing the question of how Scandinavian screen fiction makes queer adolescence known, this chapter provides an analysis of how young audiences are addressed with issues of queerness in Scandinavian screen media produced for youth. Combining queer theory and genre studies of youth fiction in film and television, the chapter analyses the representation of the coming-out story: a key trope in queer youth narratives. The chapter offers a close analysis of two ostensibly different youth screen media texts that nevertheless share some significant representational strategies: the hugely successful Swedish youth film Fucking Åmål [Show Me Love] and the lesser known small Danish youth drama series Puls [Pulse]. The analysis explores how Scandinavian youth screen media produces knowledge of queer youth by negotiating and challenging conventional narrative representations of coming out through thematic engagement with stifling normativity, characters that embody queer happiness, and open endings that accentuate potential and possibility
Chapter 8. The appeal of public service fiction in an internationalised media context: Findings from a survey of 8–17-year-old Danes
No full textThis chapter is a publication coming out of the Independent Research Fund Denmark-funded project “Reaching Young Audiences”, 2019–2024 (RYA 2022, grant no. 9037-00145B)</p
Chapter 1. Introduction: Contribution to society and public service media’s neoliberal dilemma
No full textWhile many public service media (PSM) organisations remain in strong positions in their respective markets, digitalisation and convergence have led to new market constellations and changes in media use. These changes have led to fierce debates about the legitimacy, the remit, and the funding of PSM in the digital age. With its contribution to society concept, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is trying to address these challenges. Based on new institutionalism in organisation studies, we argue that the contribution to society concept is bound to fail if it only reinforces the neoliberal discourse that dominates media policy today. Instead, a more ambitious interpretation of the concept would offer PSM the opportunity to shift the policy debate away from a market-based discourse and towards one based on PSM’s core roles and responsibilities.
Chapter 11. Vaccine rhetoric, social media, and dissensus : An analysis of civic discourse between Norwegian health authorities and citizens on Facebook and Twitter during crisis
No full textTo shed light on the rhetorical aspects of communication during crisis, we examined the Norwegian discourse on Facebook and Twitter related to the issue of Covid-19 vaccines. Based on our review of recent Nordic studies, we compare our findings with existing studies on social media and Covid-19 in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. We apply the conceptual frame of rhetorical citizenship in our analysis of the rhetorical practices by Norwegian health authorities and how citizens perceived, supported, or contested information about Covid-19 vaccines between July 2020 and March 2021. The analysis shows a change over time and a shift of moods and arguments reflecting the unfolding of the crisis, going from scepticism to optimism, to disappointment and critique of the health authorities. Observing that social media dynamics may further unproductive dissensus, we argue that rhetorical practices are an essential aspect of communication strategies to maintain civic deliberation and trust during crisis management