1,720,957 research outputs found
Comparing the transformative potentials of the FCCC and the CCD: An ecofeminist exploration
Get PDFopen access journalEcofeminists have long exposed the gendered character of human progress and its destructive impact on social and environmental commons. They contend that mainstream strategies responding to environmental crises reaffirm the subordination of women and nonhuman nature, while also reinforcing the power structures that sustain a white, heteronormative and masculine hegemony. While there is significant ecofeminist scholarship in gender and environment studies, there is little research to date which deconstructs international environmental law in order to explore the extent to which it maintains, reinforces or transforms understandings about human/nonhuman connections and their gendered nature. This article contributes to broader ecofeminist scholarship by synthesising Karen Warren’s ecofeminist ethics into an analytical framework through which to analyse international environmental law. The article develops an original analysis of how transformational international legal regimes have been in shaping the international community’s view of the environment and human/non-human interconnections. Comparing the often-ignored UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) 1994, as well as the more (in)famous UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 1992, the author evaluates to what extent these regimes engage with and respond to the underlying institutional, structural, social, and conceptual frameworks that contribute to the continued degradation of the environment. The author concludes that while both regimes have transformative potential, they both continue to affirm an ideological perspective that disembeds humanity from the environment, while at the same time commodifying nature in order to protect it
Technological Innovations Tackling Biodiversity Loss: Solutions or Misdirection?
Get PDFopen access articleUsing original data derived from the thematic analysis of three international agreements and the 2016 Conference of the Parties (COP) and Meeting of the Parties (MOP) Decisions, this article examines the incorporation of technology and technological innovation in the biological diversity regime. It finds that that the biodiversity regime incorporates discourses of ecological modernisation and prioritises technological innovation for biodiversity loss, particularly in the 2016 COP and MOP Decisions.
The empirical analysis indicates that themes regarding progress, ‘improving’ the environment and the role of technology in mediating economic growth and development are embedded in references to technology and technological innovation. Drawing on an ecofeminist perspective, this article examines how these themes highlight the prioritisation of technological innovation to prevent biodiversity loss. The author concludes that this prioritisation inhibits opportunities to fully engage with developing alternative approaches towards resolving environmental problems as these approaches require a re-evaluation of the societal institutions and practices that exploit and destroy the non-human environment
Payment for Ecosystem Services and the Green Economy: Green Washing or Something New?
Get PDFUsing an ecofeminist critical analysis, this paper examines the extent to which two forest-related ‘payments for ecosystem services’ (PES) schemes maintain a mainstream anti-nature and exploitative conceptualization of human/nature relationships. It does so by integrating various ecofeminist themes to analyse the two PES schemes and to assess the extent to which they can protect women and nature while marketizing and commodifying the environment. The author examines the justifications for integrating PES into a green economy, including the proposed benefits resulting from the implementation of PES, and safeguards ensuring the inclusion and participation of local communities. The author concludes that an ecofeminist examination highlights the inherently exploitative nature of PES and its continuation of the currently exploitative free market paradigm
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Towards an ecofeminist theory of inter-generational equity and its application in the climate change context
Get PDFInter-generational equity (IGE) could be a powerful normative principle to achieve climate justice for present and future generations of human and nonhuman nature in the activities of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (FCCC). However, until the FCCC moves beyond the exploitative discourses of ecological modernisation and sustainable development, any policy seeking to address IGE will be unable to reconcile the tensions between present and future generations of humans and nonhuman nature. Using the FCCC’s Gender Action Plan as a focal point, this chapter examines how the climate change regime is seeking to achieve IGE for women and girls. Drawing on ecofeminist philosophy, this chapter argues that rather than recognising the interrelationships between humans and nature, and the necessity to include future generations of nonhuman nature in policy development, the FCCC approaches IGE as an anthropocentric distributive justice issue. This inhibits the normative power of the principle and results in short-sighted and limited policy making that undermines the potential to achieve gender equality for present and future generations
The Environment as a Commodity? An ecofeminist analysis of the extent to which associations between security and the environment have altered the perception of the environment in international law
Get PDFThe growing evidence that humanity has entered the Anthropocene raises significant concerns over the existential survival of individuals, states, and of life on Earth itself. In response to the increasingly global nature of environmental problems, international environmental law (IEL) has emerged to facilitate collective efforts by states to mitigate ecological harm. In more recent times, the role of IEL has centred on addressing the balance between development, economic growth, and the need to protect the environment for future generations. In light of mounting evidence over the role of environmental degradation and the negative impact of humanity’s activities on the Earth, concerns over how such destruction can exacerbate conflict and undermine security, development, and economic growth have been raised by the United Nations Security Council and other international forums. The increasing associations between environment and security in international circles and by states poses the questions of how states perceive the ‘environment’ and for what reasons do they protect it? This thesis examines the extent to which this convergence between environment and security alters the way in which the international community seek to protect the environment, and in turn, what this suggests about their perception of the environment. Drawing on ecofeminist theory to develop an analytical framework, it examines the preparatory reports and outcome texts from eight environmental regimes in relation to three areas of international environmental law-making. It examines who participates in the development of IEL in order to reveal any tensions between the principle of participation included in sustainable development, and the exclusionary practices in some environmental areas that are closely connected to the environment and national interests. It then considers the justifications for the integration of other non-environmental considerations, such as development, economic, security, and technology into IEL, and their influence on states’ perception of the environment. The thesis concludes that despite the broader participation by NSAs in the development of IEL, changes in states’ priorities over time, and the growing convergence between security and environment, the western anthropomorphic perception of the environment prevails in law-making at an international level
Is This the Future We Want? An Ecofeminist Comment on the UN Conference on Sustainable Development Outcome Document
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