Governance of Environmental Sustainability in Telecoupled Systems of Global Inter-Regional Connectedness (GOVERNECT)

生态可持续性问题不仅出现在“局部”或“全球”，而且还源于遥远地区之间的特定相互联系。这种全球“远程耦合”系统日益成为跨学科土地变化和社会生态系统研究的焦点。然而，政治学和其他公共治理研究往往侧重于国家、全球机构或多层次系统，从而忽视了连接特定偏远地区的“全球化”新现象。迫切需要将远程耦合的社会生态系统分析结果转化为治理研究。GOVERNECT利用有关全球环境治理、社会生态系统、全球生产网络、多层次和多中心治理以及政策一致性和环境政策一体化的文献，力求解决这一差距，并系统地审查全球区域间远程挂钩对治理的影响。这些现象对全球不可持续的有效治理意味着什么？国家、民间和私人参与者如何应对这些日益严峻的挑战？从经验上讲，该项目计划进行一项深入的案例研究和大约15项比较案例研究。核心案例研究基于申请者之前的工作，考察了巴西(南里奥格兰德州)和德国(下萨克森州)之间的跨区域大豆商品链，确定了这两个地区内外的可持续性影响。在对现有行为者网络和治理机构作为一个多层次系统(包括它们的相互作用、多中心、政策一致性和环境政策一体化)进行分析的基础上，该项目将制定探索性战略治理情景，与相关政策制定者和利益攸关方接触，并推测所考虑的治理选择的似是而非、可能的影响和相互作用。为了更广泛地了解全球远程挂钩的治理问题，将在进行核心案例研究的同时，还将研究大约15个案例，主要利用二手资料来源，而不是实地研究。这项更广泛的研究将使我们能够绘制出各种背景下可能的相互联系和治理反应的广度，并分离出因果因素。此外，着眼于德国公共(国家)治理的角度，纳入更广泛的区域间联系现象将有助于解决治理如何应对各种这类现象的挑战。GOVERNECT将是在可靠的实证研究的基础上，利用最近开发的远程耦合到全球环境治理研究的系统概念的第一个项目。拟议的研究特别具有创新性，因为它在与可持续性有关的实际背景下分析了治理机构(或缺乏治理机构)。

Ecological sustainability problems arise not only 'locally' or 'globally' but also due to specific interconnections between distant regions. Such globally 'telecoupled' systems are increasingly the focus of interdisciplinary land-change and social-ecological systems research. Political science and other public governance research, however, have tended to focus either on the state, global institutions or multi-level systems, thus neglecting new phenomena of 'globalization' which connect specific distant regions. There is an urgent need to translate the findings of telecoupled social-ecological systems analyses into governance research. Drawing on the literatures on global environmental governance, social-ecological systems, global production networks, multilevel and polycentric governance, and policy coherence and environmental policy integration, GOVERNECT seeks to address this gap and systematically examine the governance implications of global inter- regional telecoupling. What do these phenomena imply for the effective governance of global unsustainability? How do states, civic and private actors react to these mounting challenges?Empirically, the project plans to conduct one in-depth case study and around 15 comparative case studies.Drawing on previous work by the applicants, the core case study examines the inter-regional soy commodity chain between Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) and Germany (Lower-Saxony), identifying its sustainability implications in and beyond both regions. Building on an analysis of existing actor networks and governance institutions as a multi-level system (including their interplay, polycentricity, policy coherence and environmental policy integration), the project will develop explorative-strategic governance scenarios, engaging with relevant policy-makers and stakeholders and speculating on the plausibility, the likely effects, and the interactions of considered governance options.In order to gain a broader understanding of the governance issues of global telecoupling, approximately 15 further cases will be studied in parallel to the core case study, drawing mainly on secondary sources rather than field research. This broader study will allow us to map the breadth of possible interconnections and governance responses in a variety of contexts, and to isolate causal factors. Moreover, focusing on the perspective of German public (state) governance, the inclusion of a broader spectrum of inter-regional connectedness phenomena will help address the challenge of how governance responds to a variety of such phenomena.GOVERNECT will be the first project to harness recently developed systems concepts for telecoupling to global environmental governance research on the basis of a sound empirical study. The proposed research is particularly innovative because it analyses governance institutions (or lack thereof) in their actual sustainability-relevant context.