Making Strange – Page 13 – A Fresh Look at the Familiar: Policy, Water and More

April 10, 2022 / Bio-economy

Bio-Economy Transition and Land Grabs

Energy transition to bio-based materials for fuel and heat is experiencing hype. Such transition has many attractions: away from fossil fuels that generate the climate change and dependence on the Middle East and Mr. Putin, as well as new forms of governance in which food, fuel, materials and medicine will come from an integrated source of bio-refineries. Revitalization of agriculture is another advantage with often promised rural development in the lesser developed corners of the world. The picture however, is far from straightforward. The land in Africa and Asia is being hastily bought or rented by transnational businesses for the purpose of growing fuel crops. Moreover, the greenhouse balance of such crops was brought in question, too. (more…)

April 10, 2022 / Methods and Frameworks

Central Asian Waters: Polygon for Testing Policy Translation

With the rise of globalization, models for good water governance, such as integrated water resources management (IWRM), river basin management (RBM), river basin organizations (RBOs), water user associations (WUAs), and more recently, water pricing and payments for ecosystem services (PES), all travel around the world to impact policy-making at national and local levels. This dynamics has been captured in the post on policy translation on this blog.If one considers a region where most of such policies have been tried in the period of 20 years – few places may compete with Central Asia and Caucasus. (more…)

April 9, 2022 / Methods and Frameworks

Policy Translation: Some Background

What happens when a policy idea becomes internationally popular? An idea that becomes a darling of international policy communities that propagate it and institute a system of reward and punishment around its application. And how then do we know if an idea is only a buzzword or a real instrument that solves problems on the ground? At what level do we start such an examination, and using what set of criteria? Are we starting with the question of effectiveness, that is whether or not a policy is of any good in terms of problems it has been evoked to solve; or rather with the question of how an idea is proliferated and spreads around, that is the question of mechanisms, actors and interests of the process. In other words, what is to be studied first: the process of spread or the outcome of the spread? On the picture the stand to raise awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Baku, Azerbaijan where I lived in 2014-2016 years. (more…)