Carol Hunsberger

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Associate) at Western University

This paper investigates how climate change strategies and resource conflicts are shaping each other in the Greater Aural region of western Cambodia. Agro-industrial projects linked to climate change goals are reshaping both social and ecological dynamics, by altering patterns of access to land and water resources as well as the nature of the resour...

While excitement around biofuels initially focused on finding a clean and secure alternative to fossil fuels, many other expectations have subsequently been attached to the “biofuel boom.” Biofuels are not only expected to mitigate climate change or foster domestic energy security, but also to generate employment, provide opportunities to smallhold...

Biofuels have been promoted worldwide under the assumption that they can support several strategic policy goals, while mitigating associated risks. Drawing on published evidence on performance, contributing papers to this Special Section question assumptions commonly attributed to biofuels: their carbon neutrality, their positive effect on rural li...

Recent research has highlighted the conflict potential of both land deals and climate change mitigation projects, but generally the two phenomena are studied separately and the focus is limited to discrete cases of displacement or contested claims. We argue that research with a broader ?landscape? perspective is needed to better understand the comp...

'Flex crops' such as corn, oil palm and soy are understood to have multiple, interchangeable uses; they have material flexibility. We propose that discursive flexibility - the ability to strategically switch between discourses to promote an objective - equally shapes the political economy of flex crops, and thereby patterns of agrarian and environm...

If oil sands are to be eliminated from the energy market to protect the global environment, human health and long-term economic welfare, a significant number of workers will be displaced in the transition to renewable energy technologies. This study outlines a cost-effective and convenient path for oil and gas workers in Alberta to be retrained in...

Conflict characterizes energy projects across Canada and around the world. While claims about economics, the environment and Indigenous rights dominate headlines, energy conflicts also feature struggles over the construction of space and scale. Building on work in energy geographies, this paper compares the spatial politics of three contested fossi...

The majority of scenarios that meet the goals of the Paris agreements exceed sustainability and precautionary thresholds in land, biodiversity and BECCS potentials. Risks may be best avoided by demand‐side driven rapid decarbonization and less land‐intensive carbon dioxide removal technologies.

What are the features of a good regulatory review process? In this paper we identify criteria for ‘good process’ drawn from a combined reading of the environmental justice and process literature. We then apply these criteria to a case study, assessing four versions of Canadian regulatory review: CEAA 1992, CEAA 2012, the 2017 Expert Panel report, a...

This paper explores the use of universalizing language as a discursive strategy to promote shifts in energy policy. Building on scholarship that seeks to understand the political nature of energy transitions, including resistance to transitions, the role of the state, and implications for justice, we examine three phases of energy transition in Ont...

This paper investigates the values and priorities reflected in a Canadian pipeline review: The National Energy Board (NEB) decision on Line 9. Theories of energy justice guided analysis of evidence presented at NEB hearings, the NEB’s explanation of its decision, and a Supreme Court challenge. We find that several aspects of energy justice were wea...

This paper explores the potentials and limitations of growing coffee as part of an approach to achieving food sovereignty in Puerto Rico. Efforts to promote food sovereignty are not normally associated with non-food crops – particularly those with a colonial plantation history, such as coffee. However, many agroecological farmers who grow coffee in...

The special issue Scaling up bioenergy? identifies major policy expectations attached to biofuels production worldwide, and it provides systematic reviews of actual biofuel performance and governance in these areas. Papers address the extent to which policy expectations related to climate change mitigation, energy security, rural livelihoods and ri...

This paper investigates how risks are anticipated in national bioenergy policies and in which way related expectations that harms can be prevented or mitigated have actually been met. The paper draws on the national biofuel policies of ten countries and the EU, selected to represent a diverse sample of regions, producers and consumers, and pioneers...

Data S1. Bioenergy production and sustainable development: limited science base for policy making‐Protocol. Table S1. Characterization. Table S2. Conditions. Table S3. Potential impacts. Table S4. Possible answers to potential impacts.

Data S3. Article selection and data extraction. Table S13. Basic set of articles. Table S14. Appraisal results. Table S15. Set of studies included in the data extraction. Table S16. Data extraction – Characterization. Table S17. Data extraction – Conditions. Table S18. Data extraction – Potential impacts.

Data S2. Additional results. Table S5. Number of studies per category and impact (n = 316). Table S6. Positive, negative and neutral impacts. Table S7. Methodological approaches used. Table S8. Methodological approach per impact considered. Table S9. Number of articles per method. Table S10. Cross‐analysis potential vs. bioenergy resource. T...

Data S4. Regional distribution of each impact considered in the systematic review. Figure S1. Regional distribution of impacts on energy independence. Figure S2. Regional distribution of impacts on land tenure. Figure S3. Regional distribution of impacts on cross‐sectoral coordination. Figure S4. Regional distribution of impacts on labour right...

Proponents of Jatropha curcas portrayed the crop as a ‘sustainable biofuel’ that was less threatening to food security and forests than other energy crops, creating a reputation that helped jatropha projects to multiply quickly throughout the global South. However, many jatropha initiatives failed to thrive and ultimately collapsed. This paper inve...

Biofuels have been promoted worldwide under the assumption that they can support several transformative yet unresolved policy goals, such as transitioning towards a more secure and climate-friendly energy system, while delivering other co-benefits to workers and rural communities. Drawing on the best published evidence to date on performance, a set...

The possibility of using bioenergy as a climate change mitigation measure has sparked a discussion of whether and how bioenergy production contributes to sustainable development. We undertook a systematic review of the scientific literature to illuminate this relationship and found a limited scientific basis for policy-making. Our results indicate...

While many policies designed to increase the use of biofuels were promoted at least in part as a climate change solution, biofuels made from agricultural crops are increasingly seen as part of the problem when considering global environmental change. Research on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with biofuel-related land use change (Hertel et...

LORENZO COTULA , The Great African Land Grab? Agricultural investments and the global food system. London and New York NY: Zed Books for the International African Institute (hb £65 – 978 1 78032 310 7; pb £12.99 – 978 1 78032 420 3). 2013, 238 pp. - Volume 85 Issue 2 - CAROL HUNSBERGER

Recent research highlights the potential for climate change mitigation projects and large- scale land deals to produce conflicts over land and resources. However, this literature generally views climate change policies and land grabbing as separate processes, and focuses on discrete areas where displacement or contested claims occur. We argue that...

Land use is being fundamentally transformed worldwide. G overnance mechanisms that manage land use are changing from territorial organizations to global institutions anchored to specific resource flows between urban and rural areas. This shift reflects an underlying change of v alues attached to land, from the creation of new monetary values to the...

Large-scale land acquisitions, popularly known as "land deals" or "land grabs," bring together several important themes in global land-use change: competition for land, distal land connections, and governance across scales. Contemporary l and grabbing occurs when actors with access to large-scale capital are able to capture control over vast tracts...

International experts examine the effects of urbanization and economic globalization on land use and offer new insights to advance understanding and sustainable practice. Today, global land use is affected by a variety of factors, including urbanization and the growing interconnectedness of economies and markets. This book examines the challenges a...

International experts examine the effects of urbanization and economic globalization on land use and offer new insights to advance understanding and sustainable practice. Today, global land use is affected by a variety of factors, including urbanization and the growing interconnectedness of economies and markets. This book examines the challenges a...

The pursuit of human needs and demands is placing more pressure on land resources than ever before. The challenge of feeding 7 billion people is increasingly competing with rising demands for materials and biofuels. Deforestation and land degradation are among the pressing outcomes of these trends. Drivers of environmental change—including populati...

Jatropha curcas, an oilseed shrub, raised hopes that it could produce biofuel in a ‘sustainable’ manner, though early results fell short of these expectations. Drawing on field research from 2009, this paper examines the political economy of jatropha in Kenya using Tsing’s ‘economy of appearances’ concept. Tsing’s observation that start-up enterpri...

This article reviews recent research on contemporary transformations of global land governance. It shows how changes in global governance have facilitated and responded to radical revalorizations of land, together driving the intensified competition and struggles over land observed in many other contributions to this special issue. The rules in pla...

Integrated assessment models suggest that the large-scale deployment of bioenergy could contribute to ambitious climate change mitigation efforts. However, such a shift would intensify the global competition for land, with possible consequences for 1.5 billion smallholder livelihoods that these models do not consider. Maintaining and enhancing robu...

While much attention has focused on the climate change mitigation potential of biofuels, research from the social sciences increasingly highlights the social and livelihood impacts of their expanded production. Policy and governance measures aimed at improving the social effects of biofuels have proliferated but questions remain about their effecti...

The number of international environmental institutions, goals and agreements has increased greatly since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. However, the results of this proliferation for environmental protection have been mixed. The upcoming “Rio +20” conference (2012), offers world leaders an opportunity to reaffirm th...

Pressure on land resources has increased during recent years despite international goals to improve their management. The fourth Global Environment Outlook (UNEP) highlighted the unprecedented land-use changes created by a burgeoning population, economic development and global markets. The outcome of those drivers continues to cause resource deplet...

The role of biomass as a primary energy resource is highly debated. Next generation biofuels are suggested to be associated with low specific greenhouse gas emissions. But land consumption, demand for scarce water, competition with food production and harmful indirect land-use effects put a question mark over the beneficial effects of bioenergy dep...

This study explores the spread of Jatropha in Kenya and some implications of its trajectory. Proponents of biodiesel in Kenya have adopted a near-singular focus on Jatropha but attach it to a wide variety of goals, including climate change mitigation, poverty reduction, and clean development. The priorities of actors who promote the crop often diff...

Earth’s ecosystems are under threat. Twenty per cent of Earth’s land cover has been significantly degraded by human activity and 6O percent of the planet’s assessed ecosystems are now damaged or threatened. The irrefutable pattern is one of natural resource overexploitation while simultaneously creating more waste than ecosystems can process.

Kenyan farmers have successfully developed biofuel from Jatropha curcas, a wonder crop which has been used as fencing and as a medicinal agent for years by them. These black oil laden seeds of Jatropha can be processed into biodiesel and many farmers have gained healthy profits by selling these seeds. This plant survives best in dry conditions with...

This conference report examines issues of effectiveness, representation and scale in deliberative processes by reporting on outcomes of the Participatory Approaches in Science and Technology (PATH) conference. The H-form and action planning (HAP) approach was used to guide 120 participating experts in a plenary workshop as they assessed the current...

In Canada, many project proponents and planners in the public and private sectors are required to forecast and minimize the adverse environmental effects of their undertakings. However, environmental assessments have traditionally been weak in the areas of planning and conducting effective monitoring, encouraging public participation, integrating s...

The paper reports on a workshop involving 120 people that addressed the effectiveness of public participation in policy development. The HAP method used in the workshop is briefly reviewed followed by a discussion of positive aspects of participation in policy development (as identified by conference participants). The most popular positive comment...

The paper reports on a workshop involving 120 participation experts that addressed the issue of representation and public participation in policy development. The H-form and action planning method used in the workshop is briefly reviewed followed by a discussion of positive issues related to representation suggested by participants. These included...