Governing environmental mobilities

The world today is facing continuous growth of forms of international and transnational mobility, such as tourism, travel, migration and shipping, driven by actor networks, information and communication technologies, and environmental push and pull factors. First, transnational mobility systems, like tourism, rely on a range of environmental resources (e.g. biodiversity, land, energy, water) as well as sinks (e.g. atmosphere, ocean) and thereby contribute to environmental impacts and change. Second, environmental problems are increasingly on the move as flows of materials or substances that themselves are hazardous to the environment, such as CO2, nuclear fallout, (digital) waste, sewage water and plastic. Third, environmental change is increasingly affecting the direction and volume of transnational mobility, such as in the case of climate refugees or Arctic shipping. The sustainability of these environmental mobilities depends on our ability to design and implement innovative governance arrangements that steer towards eco-efficiency in natural resource use, equitable and effective sharing of benefits, accountability and transparency, within critical planetary boundaries. By drawing on recent sociological and political science concepts ENP researchers aim to understand the changes, the sustainability challenges and the governance arrangements in transnational mobility, as well as to suggest ways for improvement. Conceptually, this research builds on social practice theories, the network society, mobilities, discourse theory, political modernisation theory, as well as theories on informational governance and the science-policy interface. Empirically, our research is situated in areas of the world where the transnational and dynamic character of mobility systems can be studied, such as in marine environments, the Polar Regions, and in climate vulnerable areas.