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Abstract Transdisciplinary research has been introduced as an approach to integrate different bodies of knowledge to learn and to develop solutions towards socio-ecological transformations. In these concepts, broad stakeholder involvement is intended to promote knowledge integration, consensus formation and activation of local actors to initiate and advance learning and change processes. In doing so, however, transdisciplinary processes enter societal battlegrounds and meet conflicting interest and knowledge claims. Thus, building on the discussion on transdisciplinarity in the context of sustainability-related research, the paper seeks to understand when and why which types of conflicts emerge in sustainability-related transdisciplinary research, how they affect knowledge integration, and how they can be resolved. It develops a categorization of conflicts including differing values, conflicting interests, dissimilar claims of legitimacy, and diverse knowledge claims. They are applied empirically in the analysis of a project on regional adaptation to climate change in Northwestern Germany. It studies processes and outcomes with regard to the societal impact of the project and discusses experiences of conflicts and relevant solutions. The paper finds that societally relevant transdisciplinary research processes need to be prepared for conflict resolution and overcoming resistance and blockages in cases when consensus formation and mutual agreement is not attainable. Highlights • Analyses types of conflicts in sustainability-related transdisciplinary research • Finds that conflicts are rarely addressed in this literature • Identifies conflicts from differing values, interests, claims of legitimacy, and knowledge claims • Studies conflicts in an adaptation case in Northwestern Germany • Finds conflicts between values and legitimacy claims in the case study [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Governance depends upon inputs from science. Whereas the conventional view portrays science as advisor of policy makers, more recent understandings see knowledge creation processes and decision processes as highly interrelated and intermingled. Against this background, we analyse the new research programme on socio-ecological research set up in Germany. In doing so, we firstly discuss current conceptual approaches to redefining the role of science in society. Secondly, we identify five challenges for scientific activities and apply these as criteria for an assessment of the socio-ecological research initiative. Thirdly, we analyse the potential limits and opportunities of this programme for social learning towards sustainable development. We also indicate what can be learned for ecological economics. 2 [2] The present paper is based on a presentation by the authors at the conference “Science and Governance—The Ecological Economics Perspective” of the European Society for Ecological Economics, June 14–17 2005, Lisbon. We thank the participants of the session “Participation and Governance — Actors, Institutions and Processes in Environmental Decision-Making” for critical comments and discussion. We are also indebted to two anonymous referees. We also thank Laura Glauser-Layadi for helping us preparing the final version of this text. The paper draws on research funded by the programme “Socio-Ecological Research” (SÖF) of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Financial support is gratefully acknowledged. Of course, we are solely responsible for the content of this paper and the opinions expressed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The concept of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) in genetic resources as maintained by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) aims at promoting the conservation of biodiversity and equity between the North and the South at the same time. Its implementation challenges various disciplines. First, from an economic point of view, designing efficient ABS provisions turns to be highly complex given its multi-task and multi-agent problem structure, and given the lack of evidence that the economic benefits drawn from the exploitation of genetic resources will suffice to fund the preservation of biodiversity. Second, from a legal point of view, the principles of the CBD are very general. Their proper implementation requires the design of new intellectual property rights and new liability regimes, which challenge the current legal doctrines and have complex interactions with pre-existing legal regimes. Third, from the perspective of political and management sciences, the implementation of the CBD raises the question of how to design institutional frameworks that enable both democratic decision making taking into account the interests of the diverse stakeholders at the global level and collective learning considering the fact that humanity is dealing with complex problems characterized by numerous dimensions and high uncertainties. This special issue assembles a set of papers dealing with these issues and questions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Institutional learning has been studied under different labels within different social science disciplines. In this paper, we will apply an integrated conceptual framework that starts out from a notion of boundedly rational actors. It builds on the literature on policy learning as well as on the field of organizational learning as it has been established in management science. Within this framework, institutional learning is understood as a process in which individual or collective actors acquire knowledge that leads to a change in their behavior and results in a new or amended institutional design in a given policy arena. A policy arena is constituted through a set of actors with distinct agendas and objectives in one issue area of policy making. Therefore, the empirical analysis of institutional learning processes in international policy arenas has to study the role of actors and networks in the development of the respective arena as well as the precise steps of the learning processes and the key influencing factors. This will be done in the analytical part of the paper which focuses on institutional learning in the implementation process of the access and benefit-sharing provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It will be shown that the first decade in the implementation process since the Convention''s entry into force in 1993 has demonstrated the CBD''s potential for institutional learning and that this potential is key for successful subsequent decision-making. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]