Publications

@article{Cabello2021,

title = {Co-creating narratives for WEF nexus governance: a Quantitative Story-Telling case study in the Canary Islands},

author = {Violeta Cabello and David Romero and Ana Musicki and \^{A}ngela Guimar\~{a}es Pereira and Baltasar Pe\~{n}ate},

url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-021-00933-y https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11625-021-00933-y},

doi = {10.1007/s11625-021-00933-y},

issn = {1862-4065},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-07-01},

journal = {Sustainability Science},

volume = {16},

number = {4},

pages = {1363--1374},

publisher = {Springer},

abstract = {The literature on the water\textendashenergy\textendashfood nexus has repeatedly signaled the need for transdisciplinary approaches capable of weaving the plurality of knowledge bodies involved in the governance of different resources. To fill this gap, Quantitative Story-Telling (QST) has been proposed as a science for adaptive governance approach that aims at fostering pluralistic and reflexive research processes to overcome narrow framings of water, energy, and food policies as independent domains. Yet, there are few practical applications of QST and most run on a pan-European scale. In this paper, we apply the theory of QST through a practical case study regarding non-conventional water sources as an innovation for water and agricultural governance in the Canary Islands. We present the methods mixed to mobilize different types of knowledge and analyze interconnections between water, energy, and food supply. First, we map and interview relevant knowledge holders to elicit narratives about the current and future roles of alternative water resources in the arid Canarian context. Second, we run a quantitative diagnosis of nexus interconnections related to the use of these resources for irrigation. This analysis provides feedback to the narratives in terms of constraints and uncertainties that might hamper the expectations posed on this innovation. Thirdly, the mixed analysis is used as fuel for discussion in participatory narrative assessment workshops. Our experimental QST process succeeded in co-creating new knowledge regarding the water\textendashenergy\textendashfood nexus while addressing some relational and epistemological uncertainties in the development of alternative water resources. Yet, the extent to which mainstream socio-technical imaginaries surrounding this innovation were transformed was rather limited. We conclude that the potential of QST within sustainability place-based research resides on its capacity to: (a) bridge different sources of knowledge, including local knowledge; (b) combine both qualitative and quantitative information regarding the sustainable use of local resources, and (c) co-create narratives on desirable and viable socio-technical pathways. Open questions remain as to how to effectively mobilize radically diverse knowledge systems in complex analytical exercises where everyone feels safe to participate.},

keywords = {Climate Change Management and Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Management, Landscape Ecology, Public Health, Sustainable Development},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Giampietro2015,

title = {Quality assurance of knowledge claims in governance for sustainability: transcending the duality of passion vs. reason},

author = {Mario Giampietro and Sandra G. F. Bukkens},

url = {http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=72662},

doi = {10.1504/IJSD.2015.072662},

issn = {0960-1406},

year  = {2015},

date = {2015-01-01},

journal = {International Journal of Sustainable Development},

volume = {18},

number = {4},

pages = {282},

abstract = {The main problem of quality assurance on knowledge claims lies in the entanglement of normative (value-driven moral stands) and descriptive (narratives about causality) dimensions at different organisational levels of decision-making. Individuals must choose among contrasting legitimate narratives about "the right thing to do" while facing uncertainty about the outcome of their choice. The scientific community faces exactly the same predicament, but without being able to legitimately choose among contrasting value-driven moral stands. At the societal level, existing institutional settings are incapable of guaranteeing the quality of collective choices. Three types of quality control are needed for the proper production and use of knowledge claims for governance: on the usefulness of the chosen problem structuring (relevance); on the pertinence of the scientific representation (plausibility); on the effectiveness of the validation process (fairness). These quality checks are required to legitimise the decision-making process, thus transcending the traditional duality between passion and reason.},

keywords = {Complexity, Integrated assessment, Knowledge claims, Multi-criteria analysis, Quality control, Science for governance, Sustainable Development},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Giampietro2014a,

title = {Footprints to nowhere},

author = {Mario Giampietro and Andrea Saltelli},

url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1470160X14000387},

doi = {10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.01.030},

issn = {1470160X},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-11-01},

journal = {Ecological Indicators},

volume = {46},

pages = {610--621},

abstract = {Crisp numbers make it to the headlines. However, it is unlikely that a single crisp number can capture a complex issue, such as the analysis of the sustainability of human progress both at the local and the global scale. This paper tackles this standard epistemological predicament in relation to a media-friendly model of man's impact on Nature: the Ecological Footprint (EF). The claim made by the proponents of this analytical tool is that EF makes it possible to check “how much is taken” by the economic process versus “how much could be taken” according to ecological processes. In this paper we argue that the ecological footprint assessment \textendash purportedly useful as an argument against the idea of perpetual growth \textendash is fraught with internal contradictions. Our critical appraisal is based on the lack of correspondence between the semantics \textendash the claim about what the EF accounting does \textendash and the syntax \textendash the EF protocol of accounting that should deliver the purported output. We critically examine the various assumptions used in the approach, showing that the EF is in contradiction with its stated purposes and would lead to paradoxes if its prescriptions were used for policy making. We also contend that the laboriousness of EF computation protocols contrasts with its ultimate fragility. In fact the estimate of carbon footprint due to energy production is what determines the assessment of the planet's deficit of virtual land. We show that this estimate cannot be defended in light of the assumptions and simplifications used for its construction. Our conclusion is that the EF does not serve a meaningful discussion on the modeling of sustainability, and that the same media-friendly narrative about the Earth Overshot day is in the end reassuring and complacent when considering other aspects on man's pressure on the planet and its ecosystems.},

keywords = {Ecological economics, Ecological footprint, Post-normal science, Science for governance, Sustainability indicators, Sustainable Development},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Ariza-Montobbio2014,

title = {Integrating energy and land-use planning: socio-metabolic profiles along the rural\textendashurban continuum in Catalonia (Spain)},

author = {Pere Ariza-Montobbio and Katharine N. Farrell and Gonzalo Gamboa and Jesus Ramos-Martin},

url = {https://link-springer-com.are.uab.cat/article/10.1007/s10668-014-9533-x http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-014-9533-x},

doi = {10.1007/s10668-014-9533-x},

issn = {1387-585X},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-08-01},

journal = {Environment, Development and Sustainability},

volume = {16},

number = {4},

pages = {925--956},

publisher = {Springer},

abstract = {Abandoning fossil fuels and increasingly relying on low-density, land-intensive renewable energy will increase demand for land, affecting current global and regional rural\textendashurban relationships. Over the past two decades, rural\textendashurban relationships all over the world have witnessed unprecedented changes that have rendered their boundaries blurred and have lead to the emergence of “new ruralities.” In this paper, we analyze the current profiles of electricity generation and consumption in relation to sociodemographic variables related to the use of time and land across the territory of Catalonia, Spain. Through a clustering procedure based on multivariate statistical analysis, we found that electricity consumption is related to functional specialization in the roles undertaken by different types of municipalities in the urban system. Municipality types have distinctive metabolic profiles in different sectors depending on their industrial, services or residential role. Villages' metabolism is influenced by urban sprawl and industrial specialization, reflecting current “new ruralities.” Segregation between work activity and residence increases both overall electricity consumption and its rate (per hour) and density (per hectare) of dissipation. A sustainable spatial organization of societal activities without the use of fossil fuels or nuclear energy would require huge structural and sociodemographic changes to reduce energy demand and adapt it to regionally available renewable energy.},

keywords = {Ecology, Economic Geology, Economic Growth, Environmental Economics, Environmental Management, Sustainable Development},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Ravera2014,

title = {Pathways of rural change: an integrated assessment of metabolic patterns in emerging ruralities},

author = {F. Ravera and A. Scheidel and J. Dell'Angelo and G. Gamboa and T. Serrano and S. Mingorr\'{i}a and V. Cabello and N. Arizpe and P. Ariza},

url = {https://link-springer-com.are.uab.cat/article/10.1007/s10668-014-9534-9 http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-014-9534-9},

doi = {10.1007/s10668-014-9534-9},

issn = {1387-585X},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-08-01},

journal = {Environment, Development and Sustainability},

volume = {16},

number = {4},

pages = {811--820},

publisher = {Springer},

abstract = {While rural transformations are nothing new in human history, current processes of rural change occur under multiple forces at an unprecedented pace, involving profound and unexpected changes in land use and users, and rapid transformations in the metabolic patterns of rural systems. The present special section aims to shed light on current drivers and pathways of rural change by analyzing, under a common conceptual and theoretical framework, examples of new ruralities that are emerging as responses across different world regions. Within this context, this introduction presents: (1) common research questions of the six presented cases of rural change; (2) the general theoretical and methodological framework of integrated assessment of societal metabolism adopted to analyze rural systems and (3) the main contributions and conclusions that could be drawn from six context-specific case studies from Asia, Latin America and Europe.},

keywords = {Ecology, Economic Geology, Economic Growth, Environmental Economics, Environmental Management, Sustainable Development},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{CabelloVillarejo2014,

title = {Water use in arid rural systems and the integration of water and agricultural policies in Europe: the case of Andarax river basin},

author = {Violeta Cabello Villarejo and Cristina Madrid Lopez},

url = {https://link-springer-com.are.uab.cat/article/10.1007/s10668-014-9535-8 http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-014-9535-8},

doi = {10.1007/s10668-014-9535-8},

issn = {1387-585X},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-08-01},

journal = {Environment, Development and Sustainability},

volume = {16},

number = {4},

pages = {957--975},

publisher = {Springer},

abstract = {Water is a precious resource in arid rural areas with irrigated agriculture. Nonetheless, water and agricultural policies in Europe show different management scopes and objectives, usually translated in divergent drivers of rural change. This paper has a double aim: to propose a specific method for quantitative biophysical analysis of water use in rural systems with the multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism approach and to show the usefulness of this method for the assessment of the integration of water and agricultural policies. The river basin scale is chosen, since it is the socioecological unit for water management established in the water framework directive 2000/60/CE. A multi-scale water use accounting is provided for a Mediterranean river basin in Andalusia, integrating water cycle, ecosystems and social levels. Particularly focusing on agricultural production, a relevant set of indicators is proposed in order to analyze and compare different metabolic patterns. Finally, the integration of water and agricultural planning is assessed in terms of external (biophysical) and internal (economic, institutional) constraints of the new water-use patterns generated by the scenarios posed in these policies. While on a European level water policy is ambitious in terms of ecological conservation, the lack of integration within the common agricultural policy and the entanglement of multiple scales of political and economic organization of local ruralities blur its priority in a rather slow transition to a new water culture.},

keywords = {Ecology, Economic Geology, Economic Growth, Environmental Economics, Environmental Management, Sustainable Development},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}