e-infrastructure Roadmap for Open Science in Agriculture

A bibliometric study

The e-ROSA project seeks to build a shared vision of a future sustainable e-infrastructure for research and education in agriculture in order to promote Open Science in this field and as such contribute to addressing related societal challenges. In order to achieve this goal, e-ROSA’s first objective is to bring together the relevant scientific communities and stakeholders and engage them in the process of coelaboration of an ambitious, practical roadmap that provides the basis for the design and implementation of such an e-infrastructure in the years to come.

This website highlights the results of a bibliometric analysis conducted at a global scale in order to identify key scientists and associated research performing organisations (e.g. public research institutes, universities, Research & Development departments of private companies) that work in the field of agricultural data sources and services. If you have any comment or feedback on the bibliometric study, please use the online form.

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Title

A Critical Appraisal Of The Concept Of Ecological Modernisation: A Case Study From New Zealand's Dairy Industry

en
Abstract

The New Zealand dairy industry faces political and commercial pressure to improve its environmental performance while maintaining commercial competitiveness in a global marketplace. In response to such pressures, the industry has taken some steps to improve the environmental management practices of dairy farmers. Despite significant effort, however, the dairy sector remains highly influenced by global competition, and continues to subordinate environmental sustainability to economic productivity. Furthermore, government institutions have had limited control over farm management practices, or the extent to which public policies militate against the relentless rise in land use intensification. As a consequence of its environmental impacts, dairy farming has received widespread public criticism over the past decade. The dairy industry has responded by bringing environmental concerns within the ambit of dairy farm management. The aim of this paper is to assess the concept of ecological modernisation, as an environmental policy model, with reference to New Zealand's dairy industry. The focus of the paper will be on the management of dairy effluent and water quality, because environmental initiatives by the industry and policy actions by regional and central government have focused most strongly on these elements. Ecological modernisation as a term has been variously applied to several separate phenomena. They include a growing body of theoretical literature in environmental sociology, political and industrial programmes concerned with improving the environmental performance of industry through rational environmental management, 'reconciling economic development and environment'. Examples of representative practices include 'strategic environmental management', 'cleaner production', 'industrial life cycle analysis', and 'environmental quality assessment' systems such as ISO 14001. Some proponents of ecological modernisation view it as synonymous with sustainable development. According to ecological modernisation theorists, it as a social practice offers the means by which industrial society can hope to make a transition toward ecologically sustainable production. They espouse greener technologies, 'polluter pays', and 'ecological rationality'. Socio-political practices and policies that promote such change should be encouraged, including knowledge-based institutions, innovation and the application of sophisticated new technologies. However, despite the promise of new environmental management policies and practices by the regional councils and dairy industry, the continuing decline of water quality in many parts of New Zealand suggests that ecological modernisation is unlikely to prevent the gradual, unremitting, environmental deterioration, so long as the main drivers behind agricultural intensification continue. New Zealand is also experiencing a fundamental and seemingly irreconcilable conflict between the economic dynamic of capitalist production for food, and protection of the nation's natural environment and habitats. As critics of official environmental policies have often argued, the current mismatch between green objectives and the planning approach has allowed politicians to claim the possibility of win-win solutions. Policy simulation modelling may thus become politically sensitive if it makes this mismatch between green agendas and the rational planning approach apparent. Set against this stark background, current trends suggest that the ecological modernisation of New Zealand's dairy industry is not likely to compensate for the environmental consequences created by the expansion of the dairy industry.

en
Year
2005
en
Country
  • NZ
Organization
  • Univ_Waikato (NZ)
Data keywords
  • knowledge
  • knowledge based
en
Agriculture keywords
  • agriculture
  • farming
  • farm
en
Data topic
  • modeling
  • decision support
en
SO
MODSIM 2005: INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON MODELLING AND SIMULATION: ADVANCES AND APPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING: ADVANCES AND APPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING
Document type

Inappropriate format for Document type, expected simple value but got array, please use list format

Institutions 10 co-publis
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    e-ROSA - e-infrastructure Roadmap for Open Science in Agriculture has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730988.
    Disclaimer: The sole responsibility of the material published in this website lies with the authors. The European Union is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.