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Nature – based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being positioned within global discourses concerning how urban sustainability challenges can be addressed. To better understand to what extent, how, by whom and with what potential implications NBS are promoted in urban Africa, this paper focuses on transnational actors and presents a dataset covering 40 NBS initiatives in 57 cities across 19 African countries. A framing analysis is undertaken to understand to what degree NBS are mobilised in accordance with global discourses. To that end, the paper builds on existing work by Tozer et al. (2022, "Transnational Governance and the Urban Politics of Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change." Global Environmental Politics, 1–23) on globally circulating frames of urban nature. In further contributing to their framework, we delve into the underlying values or shades of green that are being signified through the frames by applying the IPBES Nature Futures Framework. Results indicate that urban nature comes to be seen as a solution within a climate resilience – integrated benefits nexus through which various types of transnational actors are bringing nature into the city. Two important findings can be highlighted: First, the deployed frames offer opportunities to address major African urban sustainability challenges, but initiatives may not yet be configured to adequately address their scope and magnitude. Second, the configurations of frames are predominantly informed by instrumental values that put "Nature for Society" perspectives in focus, missing opportunities for NBS to build on relational values, or "Nature as Culture" perspectives and for accommodating a plurality of worldviews on desirable futures for urban nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public participation in local governance is crucial for effective climate action and for ensuring that policies are designed in a way that respects the rights of communities. Policy developments and choices are shaped by the groups that participate, by the ideas that they hold, and by the institutions that enable and constrain their participation. This paper seeks to understand local climate change governance in Ireland by identifying the environmental interests and the ideas of the groups that participate, and by examining how they engage with institutionalised local policymaking processes and with the organisations that represent the officially recognised views of the country's national environmental movement. An analysis of survey data collected from the groups that are members of one of Ireland's Public Participation Networks shows that a majority of groups are small, rural, voluntary, interested in a wide variety of environmental issues and have a pro-ecological worldview. Most groups follow a pro-institutional advocacy strategy at the local level, while only a minority interact with the national environmental movement, mostly limiting their engagement to the acquisition of information. This paper contributes to the literature that examines how interests, ideas, and institutions shape public participation in local climate politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summer energy poverty (SEP) is becoming a more concerning issue in southern European countries. This is due to the increasing intensity and frequency of heatwaves, which are particularly severe in urban areas. In this matter, scientific literature has grown on topics such as urban microclimate, passive urban cooling or assessing people's adaptability to high temperatures. However, there is still a gap between scientific knowledge and local policies when addressing energy poverty, particularly SEP. This paper aims to bridge this scientific and policy knowledge gap by gathering existing methodologies and approaches to SEP in the context of southern Europe. The methodology consists on a meta-study on the topic, involving analysis and synthesis of multiple and heterogeneous sources. A collaborative collection and revision of nearly two hundred references was conducted, focusing mainly on Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. Through a screening process, these references were examined and the main ideas, current debates, as well as limitations and boundaries in SEP knowledge were incorporated. Results show that, although authorities have developed local plans to tackle summer vulnerability and energy poverty, a cross-sectional vision is still needed to make operative the scientific advances. Therefore, this paper proposes instruments in the form of definitions, indicators, evaluation methodologies and their policy implications for identifying and addressing SEP in the context of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable food practices are increasingly of interest to scholars and practitioners concerned with the impacts of food production, consumption, and waste in an age of climate change. Attention has been paid to households as actors in addressing sustainability concerns. This paper draws on a national survey of Australian sustainable household practices to offer insights into the ways households are practicing sustainability across three everyday entanglements with food: (1) growing food, (2) consuming food and (3) wasting/disposing of food. The paper explores the types of practices enacted across the three entanglements and provides an understanding of the prevalence and barriers for households adopting sustainable food practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the potential of Indigenous Buffalo knowledge as a valuable resource for adapting to the impacts of climate change. Buffalo, particularly in regions where they have been traditionally reared, have played a crucial role in Indigenous cultures and livelihoods. Indigenous communities have developed an intimate understanding of buffalo behaviour, ecological interactions, and their relationship with changing environmental conditions. This traditional Buffalo knowledge encompasses observations, practices, and Indigenous knowledge systems passed down through generations, providing insights into adaptive strategies that can be applied in the face of climate change. Following decolonial and relational theoretical frameworks, we used deep listening to learn how traditional Buffalo knowledge contributed to climate change adaptation strategies in Indigenous communities; how does integrating traditional Buffalo knowledge into climate change adaptation policies and practices contribute to the resilience of vulnerable communities? What challenges and opportunities are associated with incorporating traditional Buffalo knowledge into mainstream climate change adaptation efforts? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on climate change adaptation is increasingly moving from incremental responses to climate injustice towards transformative approaches that deliberately change systems to achieve just and equitable outcomes. A transformative understanding of climate justice is relatively new and evidence of how this could be achieved is in its infancy. In this paper, we conceptualise transformative climate justice as comprised of three subcomponents: (1) inclusive justice (seeking to ensure that no one, especially the most vulnerable, is left behind), (2) epistemological justice (drawing upon diverse knowledges and worldviews), and (3) restorative justice (healing and restoration of communities and the environment). We then present examples of how different local communities in the Philippines are experimenting with climate adaptation strategies that embody these three components of transformative climate justice. Through case studies of communities in Itbayat (Batanes), Tambaliza (Iloilo), and Barangay Assumption (Koronadal), we demonstrate how their adaptive strategies contribute to community and ecological resilience. We find that transformative climate justice arises from mundane and everyday struggles, takes place at the “middle place” between top-down and bottom-up initiatives, and requires a deliberate redistribution of power to counter decision-making processes that reproduce injustices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea defence policy in England has proven contentious in the early twenty-first century, with government willing to defend the coast only where it is considered cost effective and not minded to compensate people for any resulting abandonment of homes. Additional focus is brought to this position by the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which reflect a growing emphasis on climate change effects and other environmental hazards, and the wellbeing of the current generation and those to come. This requires policy makers to seek to balance economic, social and environmental dimensions, and to tackle inequalities; with a central commitment of the goals to "leave no one behind". Subsequent to publication of the SDGs, England was promised a revolution in the government's approach to Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM). This paper seeks to understand the nature of this revolution with particular regard to extant issues around just governance. It finds that policy fails to deal with issues over the local acceptability of proposals for change and the bearing of risk, and instead lies principally in the elevation of the problematic concept of resilience and an accompanying ambivalence towards ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. International agreement that compensation should be paid to those countries suffering the worst effects of climate change, including sea level rise, suggests that adoption of a similar approach to vulnerable homeowners might be the more appropriate revolution and bring policy more into line with the aspirations of the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]