Varieties of Sustainability:The local expression of a global norm

Jörg BalsigerETH Zurich and University of Geneva

Global Change and the World’s Mountains | Perth, Scotland | 26-30 September 2010

‘Domesticating’ a ‘globalized’ norm

● (In IR), norms are shared beliefs and expectations about what constitutes appropriate behavior in a given situation.

● (In IR), norms emerge from international cooperation, are anchored in ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ legal instruments, and transposed domestically.

● (In IR), theoretical and empirical interest involves whether (compliance) and how (implementation) a norm is applied; rarely a focus on how it is understood.

● The global(ization of the) norm of ‘sustainable development’ - a familiar story of clarity (e.g. guidelines) and ambiguity (e.g. substitutability)

● What can we learn about SD from mountain regions?

What sustainable development?

Economy Environment Society

Agricultural GDP per capita Forest area Forest area for protection of humans/infrastructure

Use of forest growing stock Agricultural area Visitors in recreational forests

Rural road density Forest growing stock Cultural objects

Economic value of water Forest growing stock Farm and forestry employment

Public agriculture budget Ecological compensation area Integrated water management

Farm and forestry income Protected areas Participatory landscape planning initiatives

Firm closures in forestry and agriculture

Water contamination Associational life

● Project context: CCES-Mountland (ETH Domain)

● Method: Surveys in six ‘case environments’ for ranking SD indicators

Global Change and the World’s Mountains | Perth, Scotland | 26-30 September 2010

Cases

Bullet (Agroforestry)

Parc Jura Vaudois (Regional Parkdevelopment)

3. Rhone Correction, Priority Measure Visp (Integrated Water Resource Management)

Integralmelioration Visp-Baltschieder-Raron & Brigerbad-Visp-Lalden (Integrated land reform)

Landschaftsentwicklungs-konzept Brig-Salgesch (Integrated landscape development)

Global Change and the World’s Mountains | Perth, Scotland | 26-30 September 2010

Hypotheses

Case characteristics● SD dimensions most relevant to the case environment are rated

highest● The narrower the case environment’s thematic focus, the less

balanced the SD understanding

Political sector● Environmental indicators will be rated highest by NGOs; economic

indicators by the private sector; and social indicators by government● Government will rate SD dimensions most equally

Level● Environmental indicators will be rated highest by national-level actors;

economic indicators by municipal/regional actors● Who will rate SD dimensions most equally?

Global Change and the World’s Mountains | Perth, Scotland | 26-30 September 2010

Findings – Case characteristics

Global Change and the World’s Mountains | Perth, Scotland | 26-30 September 2010

Econ Env Soc0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Bullet (agroforestry)Parc JV (park development)PM Visp (IWRM)IM VBR (land reform)IM BLV (land reform)LEK BS (landscape planning)

Bullet (agroforestry)

Parc JV (park development)

PM Visp (IWRM)

IM VBR (land reform)

IM BLV (land reform)

LEK BS (landscape planning)

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

SD Balance

Environmental, economic, and social indicators most highly rated in park project

SD dimensions most and least equally

rated in land reform

Findings – Political sector

Global Change and the World’s Mountains | Perth, Scotland | 26-30 September 2010

Econ Env Soc0

1

2

3

4

5

6

GovernmentPrivate sectorNGOs

Government

Private sector

NGOs

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

SD Balance

Government rates SDDimensions most equally

NGOs rate environmental indicators highest

Private sector rates economic indicators highest

()

Government rates social indicators highest

Findings - Level

Global Change and the World’s Mountains | Perth, Scotland | 26-30 September 2010

Econ Env Soc0

1

2

3

4

5

6

MunicipalRegionalCantonalNationalInternational

Environmental indicators rated highest by (inter)national level actors

Economic indicators rated highest by municipal & regional actors

Municipal

Regional

Cantonal

National

International

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

SD Balance

SD dimensions rated more equally by municipal than by

national actors(parallel survey with federal

agents shows lower balance than cantonal actors)

Conclusions

● Significant diversity in local understanding / rating of sustainable development, both in terms of individual indicators and balance among SD dimensions.

● Preliminary results suggest that political sector is a more significant driver of variation in SD understanding than case characteristics or level of government.

● Balanced rating of SD dimensions does not scale up linearly, but the municipal actors rate them more equally than their national counterparts.

● Implications: ‘Principled domestication’ of a global norm through diversity in local expression ?

Global Change and the World’s Mountains | Perth, Scotland | 26-30 September 2010