Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Governance for Sustainability in Telecoupled Systems

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Telecoupling

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management ((PSNRM))

Abstract

Telecoupling describes specific global flows and interconnections that pose novel challenges for sustainability governance. This chapter examines contributions to the governance literature that have addressed aspects of global interconnectedness and that might inform a more systematic engagement with and theorisation of the phenomenon of telecoupling and its implications for sustainability governance. The chapter explores key dimensions of governance that, it is argued, take on new importance in light of telecoupling, addressing the multiple governing actors, cross-scalar dynamics and multiple governance modes implicated. A number of important challenges facing sustainability governance in telecoupled systems are discussed, along with potential means to address these.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    This part draws significantly on a more comprehensive discussion in Newig et al. (2018).

References

  • Adger, W. Neil, Hallie Eakin, and Alexandra Winkels. 2009. Nested and Teleconnected Vulnerabilities to Environmental Change. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7 (3): 150–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andonova, Liliana B., and Ronald B. Mitchell. 2010. The Rescaling of Global Environmental Politics. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 35 (1): 255–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bair, Jennifer. 2009. Global Commodity Chains: Genealogy and Review. In Frontiers of Commodity Chain Research, ed. Jennifer Bair, 1–34. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balsiger, Jörg, and Miriam Prys. 2016. Regional Agreements in International Environmental Politics. International Environmental Agreements 16 (2): 239–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biermann, Frank, Kenneth Abbott, Steinar Andresen, Karin Bäckstrand, Steven Bernstein, Michele M. Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley, et al. 2012. Transforming Governance and Institutions for Global Sustainability: Key Insights from the Earth System Governance Project. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 4 (1): 51–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biermann, Frank, and Philipp Pattberg, eds. 2012. Global Environmental Governance Reconsidered. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolwig, Simon, Stefano Ponte, Andries Du Toit, Lone Riisgaard, and Niels Halberg. 2010. Integrating Poverty and Environmental Concerns into Value-Chain Analysis: A Conceptual Framework. Development Policy Review 28 (2): 173–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busch, Lawrence. 2010. Standards, Law and Governance. Journal of Rural Social Sciences 25 (3): 56–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush, Simon R., Peter Oosterveer, Megan Bailey, and Arthur P.J. Mol. 2015. Sustainability Governance of Chains and Networks: A Review and Future Outlook. Journal of Cleaner Production 107: 8–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, Steve, Brian Walker, J. Marty Anderies, and Nick Abel. 2001. From Metaphor to Measurement: Resilience of What to What? Ecosystems 4 (8): 765–781.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cash, David W., and Susanne C. Moser. 2000. Linking Global and Local Scales: Designing Dynamic Assessment and Management Processes. Global Environmental Change 10 (2): 109–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cashore, Benjamin. 2002. Legitimacy and the Privatization of Environmental Governance: How Non-State Market-Driven (NSMD) Governance Systems Gain Rule-Making Authority. Governance 15 (4): 503–529.

    Google Scholar 

  • Challies, Edward. 2013. The Limits to Voluntary Private Social Standards in Global Agri-Food System Governance. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 20 (2): 175–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Challies, Edward, Jens Newig, and Andrea Lenschow. 2014. What Role for Social-Ecological Systems Research in Governing Global Teleconnections? Global Environmental Change 27: 32–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dauvergne, Peter, and Jane Lister. 2012. Big Brand Sustainability: Governance Prospects and Environmental Limits. Global Environmental Change 22 (1): 36–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eakin, Hallie, Ruth DeFries, Suzi Kerr, Eric F. Lambin, Jianguo Liu, Peter J. Marcotullio, Peter Messerli, Anette Reenberg, Ximena Rueda, Simon R. Swaffled, Birka Wicke, and Karl Zimmerer. 2014. Significance of Telecoupling for Exploration of Land-Use Change. In Rethinking Global Land Use in an Urban Era, ed. Karen Seto and Anette Reenberg, 141–161. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Eakin, Hallie, Ximena Rueda, and Ashwina Mahanti. 2017. Transforming Governance in Telecoupled Food Systems. Ecology and Society 22 (4): 32. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09831-220432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friis, Cecilie, and Jonas Ø. Nielsen. 2017. On the System: Boundary Choices, Implications, and Solutions in Telecoupling Land Use Change Research. Sustainability 9 (6): 974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, Toby A., Magnus Benzie, Jan Börner, Elena Dawkins, Stephen Fick, Rachael Garrett, Javier Godar, et al. 2018. Transparency and Sustainability in Global Commodity Supply Chains. World Development. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.025

  • Jager, Nicolas W. 2016. Transboundary Cooperation in European Water Governance: A Set-Theoretic Analysis of International River Basins. Environmental Policy and Governance 26 (4): 278–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kissinger, Meidad, William E. Rees, and Vanessa Timmer. 2011. Interregional Sustainability: Governance and Policy in an Ecologically Interdependent World. Environmental Science & Policy 14 (8): 965–976.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kooiman, Jan. 2003. Governing as Governance. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Le Galès, Patrick. 2011. Policy Instruments and Governance. In The SAGE Handbook of Governance, ed. Mark Bevir, 142–159. London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lenschow, Andrea, Jens Newig, and Edward Challies. 2016. Globalization’s Limits to the Environmental State? Integrating Telecoupling into Global Environmental Governance. Environmental Politics 25 (1): 136–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Jianguo, Yue Dou, Mateus Batistella, Edward Challies, Thomas Connor, Cecilie Friis, James D.A. Millington, et al. 2018. Spillover Systems in a Telecoupled Anthropocene: Typology, Methods, and Governance for Global Sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 33: 58–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lövbrand, Eva, and Jannes Stripple. 2012. Disrupting the Public-Private Distinction: Excavating the Government of Carbon Markets Post-Copenhagen. Environment and Planning C 30 (4): 658–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • May, Peter J., Joshua Sapotichne, and Samuel Workman. 2006. Policy Coherence and Policy Domains. Policy Studies Journal 34 (3): 381–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, Frederick, and Gary Gereffi. 2017. Regulation and Economic Globalization: Prospects and Limits of Private Governance. Business and Politics 12 (3): 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meadowcroft, James. 2002. Politics and Scale: Some Implications for Environmental Governance. Landscape and Urban Planning 61 (2): 169–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. Who is in Charge Here? Governance for Sustainable Development in a Complex World. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 9 (3–4): 299–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mol, Arthur P.J. 2006. Environmental Governance in the Information Age: The Emergence of Informational Governance. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 24 (4): 497–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. The Environmental Nation State in Decline. Environmental Politics 25 (1): 48–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newig, Jens, Andrea Lenschow, Edward Challies, Benedetta Cotta, and Almut Schilling-Vacaflor. 2018. Governing Global Telecoupling Towards Environmental Sustainability. A Conceptual Review. Paper presented at the Earth Systems Governance Conference, Utrecht, November 5–8, 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newig, Jens, and Timothy Moss. 2017. Scale in Environmental Governance: Moving from Concepts and Cases to Consolidation. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 19 (5): 473–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oberlack, Christoph, Sébastien Boillat, Stefan Brönnimann, Jean-David Gerber, Andreas Heinimann, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Peter Messerli, Stephan Rist, and Urs Wiesmann. 2018. Polycentric Governance in Telecoupled Resource Systems. Ecology and Society 23 (1): 16. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09902-230116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oosterveer, Peter. 2018. Global Environmental Networks and Flows Addressing Global Environmental Change. In Environment and Society: Concepts and Challenges, ed. Magnus Boström and Debra J. Davidson, 95–118. Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pattberg, Philipp. 2005. The Institutionalization of Private Governance: How Business and Nonprofit Organizations Agree on Transnational Rules. Governance 18 (4): 589–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ponte, Stefano, and Carsten Daugbjerg. 2015. Biofuel Sustainability and The Formation of Transnational Hybrid Governance. Environmental Politics 24 (1): 96–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schleifer, Philip. 2013. Orchestrating Sustainability: The Case of European Union Biofuel Governance. Regulation and Governance 7 (4): 533–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schouten, Greetje, and Pieter Glasbergen. 2012. Private Multi-Stakeholder Governance in the Agricultural Market Place: Analysis of Legitimization Processes of the Roundtables on Sustainable Palm Oil and Responsible Soy. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 15: 63–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sikor, Thomas, Graeme Auld, Anthony J. Bebbington, Tor A. Benjaminsen, Bradford S. Gentry, Carol Hunsberger, Anne-Marie Izac, et al. 2013. Global Land Governance: From Territory to Flow? Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5 (5): 522–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, Oran R., Frans Berkhout, Gilbert C. Gallopin, Marco A. Janssen, Elinor Ostrom, and Sander van der Leeuw. 2006. The Globalization of Socio-Ecological Systems: An Agenda for Scientific Research. Global Environmental Change 16 (3): 304–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This chapter draws on work funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under grant no. CH 1643/2-1 through the project Governance of Environmental Sustainability in Telecoupled Systems of Global Inter-Regional Connectedness (GOVERNECT). The chapter has profited considerably from discussions with Benedetta Cotta and Almut Schilling-Vacaflor, and Sect. 4 draws on ongoing work co-authored with these colleagues (see Newig et al. 2018).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Edward Challies

  2. Research Group Governance and Sustainability, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany

    Edward Challies & Jens Newig

  3. Faculty of Social Science, Jean Monnet Chair for European Politics, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany

    Andrea Lenschow

  4. Jean Monnet Center of Excellence in European Studies, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany

    Andrea Lenschow

Authors
  1. Edward Challies
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jens Newig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrea Lenschow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward Challies .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IRI THESys & Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Cecilie Friis  & Jonas Ø. Nielsen  & 

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Challies, E., Newig, J., Lenschow, A. (2019). Governance for Sustainability in Telecoupled Systems. In: Friis, C., Nielsen, J.Ø. (eds) Telecoupling. Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11105-2_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11105-2_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-11104-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11105-2

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation