Primary Industries and Transformational Change - PITCH

Societal transformation is increasingly called for to curb greenhouse gas emissions and prevent a more than 1,5C degree increase in global mean temperature. Such transformation is a national responsibility, with local consequences. Given the increasing call for transformative changes across society, it is even more timely now to ask what preconditions must be in place for transformation to occur, than when we started the project. We find that while there is the general agreement of the necessity of transformation, there is disagreement of what is to be changed, in what way and what the overall objective of transformation should be (low emissions, green growth, sustainability, social and ecological justice). Inspired by our earlier findings that livelihood practitioners respond differently to scientific knowledge we thought that the processes of societal transformation were comparable to climate change adaptation and mitigation, and developed our ongoing case areas within agriculture, coastal fisheries, aquaculture, and reindeer herding, in Norway and Finland. In this project, we linked perceptions of risks and the need to act based on scientific knowledge and study to what degree scientific knowledge is seen as relevant, legitimate and applicable for everyday needs and practices. Through co-production of knowledge with farmers, fishers, reindeer herders and aquaculture we have explored and defined what transform may mean, how it is implemented and in what ways. We find that it is connected to other practices, such as sustainable solutions, green products, new bio-economy, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and through emitting of greenhouse gases. The project has found that the interplay between the local, regional and national levels and across relevant interest organizations including industry associations and administrative practices may provide a window of opportunity for environmental change-related knowledge to be turned into future sustainable practices, to land-use planning. In his Ph.D. thesis (2015), Halvor Dannevig developed parts of the theoretical framework for the PITCH-project, combining cultural theory with theories of co-production of knowledge. The goal with this framework is to aid the understanding of how knowledge about climate change must be communicated to be salient, credible and legitimate among various occupational groups. Our findings show that the issue salience of adaptation varies among occupational groups, explaining the divergence in perceptions and responses, which can help policymakers understand whether autonomous actors are willing to adapt or transform their activities. We have further developed the framework for ensuring how transformation may resonate both with the sectors and livelihood practitioners. Our findings show how governance, perceptions of risk, values, ontological security and cross-scale organizations are instrumental in shaping potentials and barriers for transformation to a low-emission society. The risks people associate with climate change play a role in how they accept climate policy actions and in how they try to make personal changes to respond to the climate problem themselves. This calls for co-production of knowledge and culturally sensitive boundary workers to better equip us to understand how knowledge is understood, exchanged and coproduced. This recognizes that one-size or one-solution does not fit all. There are various understandings of transformation and of the primary industries' role within transformation (strict CO2 taxes, regulations, room for specialization and product development). Opportunities in marketing production activities and products also play a part in the green transformation. Attention to local narratives is also necessary to ensure that transformation does not undermine local values and priorities when policy measures and livelihood practices are developed. We find that there is an obvious gap between how transformation is portrayed and pursued at different societal levels. There are different narratives within sectors pointing to different challenges and solutions suggesting that transformation is highly complex and will require multiple and simultaneous pathways. Understanding and applying local narratives of societal transformation may be a successful way to approach what different local actors view as meaningful and acceptable transformation(s) and can thereby address the urgency of the climate problem. Other findings show that when ontological security, which is based on a sense of continuity and predictability, is threatened by calls for transformation, it is less likely to occur, even though future ontological security may depend upon our ability to initiate societal transformation now. The transferability of the new understanding of preconditions for transformation makes these lessons learned relevant across other livelihoods and policy fields.

Outcomes: 1)New knowledge of preconditions for transformation, coproduced with stakeholders, is relevant to other sectors, livelihoods and policy fields. 2) The new framework for understanding transformation and the research team is recognized as experts on the empirical applications and theorizing of the concept. 3)International collaboration on transformation research, evident in recent publications and planned project development. 4) Educational outcomes: one PhD, one Master, involvement of high school students. Impact: The awareness raising on behalf of involved stakeholders, researchers, students and policy makers who have been informed about the findings and the complexity of transformation through conferences and seminars will have an impact on how transformation is approached and achieved. The important finding that the framing of transformation should be aligned with local and sectorial practices and values is critical for transformative changes to be successful.

The project will investigate the preconditions for societal transformation required to respond to projected climate change consequences. The results recently presented in the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change make it clear that the climate risks call for transformative changes in society that go beyond incremental adaptation and mitigation measures. To fully understand transformative changes a holistic approach is needed. Primary industries, (fisheries, aquaculture, agriculture, reindeer herding) make ideal test cases for investigating the preconditions for transformation. Our results show that these sectors are exposed and sensitive to impacts of climate change on the resources and to mitigation policies regulating the emission of their activities. An increasingly widening gap between the abundance of scientific knowledge about climate change and the commitment to deal with the challenges is identified. But studies show that lack of climate change action is caused b y a lack of policy and not lack of knowledge. The risks various actors associate with climate change determine the degree to which they accept policy action or even want to instigate change themselves. This is the starting point for this project. Percepti ons of risks and need to act on the basis of scientific knowledge hinge on whether scientific knowledge is viewed as salient, credible and legitimate, on individuals risk perception, values and livelihood; norms and structures of relevant organizations. T he project will investigate the interplay between the local and national levels in providing salience to the climate issue. We surmise that perceptions of risk shape the observed inertia to respond to the overwhelming evidence of climate risks. That the i nertia is found across scales and agents of change lead us to combine insights from cultural theories of risk (CTR), organizational theory of the sectors and governance science and technology (STS).