This project is funded by the Horizon 2020 MSCA-IF-2020 (grant 101027966).
Achieving worldwide sustainable development remains the biggest challenge of the 21st century. Despite near-global consensus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement, unresolved and politically contentious trade-offs such as between energy transformation, climate change adaptation, environmental protection, economic growth, and cultural beliefs, values, and practices have undermined implementation. The threat of climate change to the stability and resilience of social-ecological systems globally only exacerbates these challenges. The situation is particularly vexing for decision-makers, who often have incomplete system knowledge about specific threats, but still bear responsibility for managing trade-offs between competing resource uses and avoiding dangerous thresholds and irreversible impacts. Despite burgeoning research on sustainability and resource governance, scholars have not yet systematically investigated how trade-offs are managed in practice, what governance practices are correlated with effective (or ineffective) management of complex trade-offs across levels and territories, and how this knowledge can be deployed to break the political logjams that threaten to undermine the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
To fill this research gap, I study the governance of conflictual trade-off situations in the following UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 1) Chaco Culture National Historical Park, US; 2) Grand Canyon National Park, US; 3) Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, CH.
1) Chaco Culture National Historical Park, US
The Greater Chaco Landscape in the United States is a unique and culturally significant region that was home to the ancestral Pueblo culture from about 850-1150. It is located in New Mexico in a remote canyon and was serving as a center for ceremonies, trade, and political activities. Chaco is notable for its monumental public and ceremonial buildings, as well as its unique architecture. To preserve part of the Greater Chaco Landscape, it was designated as a National Monument in 1907 and later as a National Park in 1980. Seven years later, it also became a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site. The Chaco Culture National Historical Park protect much of the landscape. However, beneath the surface lies oil, gas, and mineral reserves, and energy development has impacted the ecosystem in many ways and threatened the health and well-being of those living in the area and the cultural and spiritual practices of those in surrounding areas. There are various ongoing processes in the region to balance trade-offs between an economy that is currently dependent on the extraction of energy resources, preserving cultural resources, and maintaining the health and well-being of communities.
Recently, the US Secretary of Interior Haaland proposed withdrawing approximately 351,500 acres of federal oil and gas and other minerals from energy development for a period of twenty years, creating a 10-mile protected area around the National Park. The proposal has received mixed reactions, which shows the conflictual trade-off situation. Some viewing it as a positive step towards protecting sacred sites and halting any additional contamination to human health and the ecosystem. Others, particularly those dependent on oil and gas jobs, do not welcome the ban on new leasing. To balance the trade-off situation, the withdrawal only applies to federal land and not to private or state land and land of Native Americans. However, Native Americans owning their land within the proposed area of withdrawal fear an impact on the development of their own property.
On June, 2nd 2023, the US Secretary of Interior Haaland decided to implement the 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco National Park to prohibit new oil and gas development on public federal land.
2) Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon, carved out by the Colorado River, is the most spectacular gorge in the world, with a depth of almost 1,500 meters. Grand Canyon is located in northern Arizona, US. Within its horizontal layers, one can trace the geological history of the past 2 billion years. Additionally, evidence of prehistoric human adaptation to an exceptionally challenging environment can also be found. Grand Canyon was designated as a National Park in 1919 and became a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in 1997.
Grand Canyon is a place of immeasurable importance to Native people in the Southwest. The park shares boundaries with three federally recognized tribes; a total of 11 federally recognized tribes are traditionally associated with what is now Grand Canyon National Park.
I study trade-off situations regarding helicopter overflights in the Grand Canyon. Helicopter overflights lead to environmental degradation but provide an important source of income for Native people, tourist companies, and locals.
3) Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, CH.
The Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area is located in the southwestern part of Switzerland, between the cantons of Berne and Valais. Situated in the easternmost section of the Bernese Alps, this mountainous area encompasses the northern wall of Jungfrau and Eiger, as well as the largest glaciated expanse in western Eurasia, which includes the Aletsch Glacier. The Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area was designated as a Natural World Heritage Site in 2001.
Trade-off situations occur between climate change mitigation (hydropower production), environmental protection, climate change adaptation (downstream water uses), and landscape protection. I will study this case in more detail in 2024.
