Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Resource Economics

Dissertation of Ourania Papasozomenou

Self-governance in Small European Communities: Responses to climate change impacts on water resources?

Start: October 2010
End: October 2013



Climate change is expected to have an array of different effects across different geographical regions of the European Union. The capacity of Member States to adapt to the predicted effects is dependent upon a range of factors, such as the economic, social, environmental and institutional setting specific to each region. The proposed research addresses the question of how small communities within the EU with limited resources or resources under stress (economic, social, environmental and institutional) can make full use of their local-knowledge and networks and the interplay between the EU, the National, the Regional and the Local levels to adapt to/mitigate the effects of climate change.
To answer this question, a comparative case-study analysis of island and mainland communities of different Member States will be conducted, so as to capture the self-governance structures and adaptation mechanisms selected by communities with different distance from the national and European decision-making centres and different social and physical settings. Furthermore, an in-depth empirical study will be conducted in two communities belonging to different Member States to document and to comprehend how the setting in a particular region affect the governance responses to climate change adaptation.
The outcomes of the proposed research will shed light on how self-governance structures are created, sustained in a European context and which is their importance and role in adaptation to climate change on a European.

Researcher: Papasozomenou, Ourania

Advisor: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Konrad Hagedorn

Funding:


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