This overview of recent research on how institutions matter in tackling environmental problems reports the findings and policy implications of a decade-long international research project. Studies show that institutions play a role both in causing and in addressing problems arising from human-environment interactions. But the nature of this role is complex and not easily described. This book presents an overview of recent research on how institutions matter in efforts to tackle such environmental problems as the loss of biological diversity, the degradation of forests, and the overarching issue of climate change. Using the tools of the “new institutionalism” in the social sciences, the book treats institutions as sets of rights, rules, and decision-making procedures. Individual chapters present research findings and examine policy implications regarding questions of causality, performance, and institutional design as well as the themes of institutional fit (or misfit), interplay, and scale. Institutions and Environmental Change is the product of a decade-long international research project on the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) carried out under the auspices of the International Human Dimensions Programme. The book's policy insights demonstrate that research on institutions can provide the basis for practical advice on effective ways to deal with the most pressing environmental problems of our times. Contributors Frank Biermann, Carl Folke, Victor Galaz, Thomas Gehring, Joyeeta Gupta, Thomas Hahn, Leslie A. King, Ronald B. Mitchell, Sebastian Oberthür, Per Olsson, Heike Schroeder, Uno Svedin, Simon Tay, Arild Underdal, Oran R. Young

The first large-scale, systematic investigation of how interaction among international institutions affects global environmental governance, with a conceptual framework and ten case studies.

The enactment of 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010 was followed by devo-lution of most of the functions of the erstwhile Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Live-stock (MINFAL) to the Provinces and the MINFAL was formally abolished on June 30, 2011. Instead, a new Ministry of National Food Security and Research was established1 for better execution of un-devolved functions as well as attaining and maintaining national food security. The functions assigned to the new Ministry are at Annex-1. This devolution of re-sponsibilities to provinces led to increased attention to agriculture2 with a common notion that there is a significant untapped potential for economic growth and employment creation associ-ated with productivity improvement of traditional crops and importantly diversification to-wards high-value and climate smart agriculture, including livestock, and post-harvest value addition. Unlocking this potential for all these components requires a transformative approach that would include major policy reforms, institutional changes, and a re-orientation of public resources away from wasteful subsidies to smart subsidies and productive public investments.

ÔSome of us have spent our professional lives on energy and climate change but any new researcher or policy maker must find it daunting to even approach the subject. If so, this encyclopedic Handbook provides a wonderful and necessary introduction. It is creative and up to date, yet also takes the reader by the hand and introduces one topic after another while also providing much of the historical context that is so necessary to a deeper understanding.Õ Ð Thomas Sterner, Environmental Defense Fund This timely Handbook reviews many key issues in the economics of energy and climate change, raising new questions and offering solutions that might help to minimize the threat of energy-induced climate change. Constructed around the objectives of displaying some of the best of current thinking in the economics of energy and climate change, this groundbreaking volume brings together many of the worldÕs leading and most innovative minds in the field to cover issues related to: ¥ fossil fuel and electricity markets ¥ environment-related energy policy ¥ international climate agreements ¥ carbon mitigation policies ¥ low carbon behaviour, growth and governance. Serving as an indispensable guide to one of the fastest growing fields of economics, this invaluable resource will strongly appeal to students, academics and policy makers interested in energy, environmental and climate change issues.

Today, the risks associated with global environmental change and the dangers of extreme climatic and geological events remind us of humanity’s dependence on favourable environmental conditions. Our relationships with the landscapes and ecologies that we are a part of, the plants and animals that we share them with, and the natural resources that we extract, lie at the heart of contemporary social and political debates. It is no longer possible to understand key social scientific concerns without at the same time also understanding contemporary patterns of ecosystem change. The Routledge International Handbook of Social and Environmental Change reviews the major ways in which social scientists are conceptualizing more integrated perspectives on society and nature, from the global to local levels. The chapters in this volume, by international experts from a variety of disciplines, explore the challenges, contradictions and consequences of social–ecological change, along with the uncertainties and governance dilemmas they create. The contributions are based around the themes of: Climate change, energy, and adaptation Urban environmental change and governance Risk, uncertainty and social learning (Re)assembling social-ecological systems With case studies from sectors across both developed and developing worlds, the Handbook illustrates the inter-connectedness of ecosystem health, natural resource condition, livelihood security, social justice and development. It will be of interest for students and scholars across the social sciences and natural sciences, as well as to those interested and engaged in environmental policy at all levels.

Published in 1999. Contemporary organizations are faced with increasingly rapid and dramatic change within their political, cultural and technological environments. Institutions in Turbulent Environments critically examines the way organizations respond to these changes,with a particular focus upon the institutional disability sector. The book examines available theory concerning organizational contingency, adaptation and population ecology. It utilizes a framework developed from this theory to examine the ways in which a major institution for the intellectually disabled responded to the turbulence within its environment. It uses this data to re-examine theory and to propose changes to the way organization/environment relationships are understood.

Discusses how G20, IMF and OECD have addressed climate finance and fossil fuel subsidies, including consequences for climate politics.

This book emphasizes change over continuity in Japanese policymaking. It argues that Japan's Big Bang financial reforms emerged out of a policymaking process that deviated radically from past patterns. Performance failures, scandals and fluidity in party politics led the Ministry of Finance to promote reforms that otherwise would have been opposed.