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The share of renewable energy is increasing throughout Europe. Yet, little is known about how much can be attributed to different actors, other than those commercially active. This paper provides empirical evidence of activities by energy cooperatives in the field of renewable energy in four different European countries. It draws from a database consisting of 2671 entries, contrasting results from current literature. We find that energy cooperatives are important enablers of the energy transition. However, their role is shrinking in recent years due to a tightening or removal of supportive schemes. We conclude that it is necessary to develop a systematic accounting system to properly track and make visible the contributions by different actors. In turn, this will help to better model the likely speed of Europe’s energy transition.

Forest fires in Indonesia are of a local, national, and global concern, which is why the activities of local actors have emerged as a new problem in Indonesia, especially in Kalimantan. The current study employed a network content analysis method to examine the involvement of actors in forest fire cases based on Supreme Court decisions, complemented by several reputable online news sources such as kompas.com, detik.com, and tribun.com. By examining the cases, the actors involved were able to be identified as key actors, contest setters, and subject actors. Key actors, referring to companies and landowners, were found to have high correlations between one another. Moreover, key actors were observed to be involved in providing funds for land clearing or burning, yet they remained legally untouchable. Meanwhile, contest setters—permanent employees—were found to be the most involved in land burning/clearing, and they were often convicted in the Supreme Court rulings as they were merely commoners, farmers, and jobseekers in need of cash. Nevertheless, the subject actors, i.e., jobseekers and farm workers, were seen to have a weak relationship with key actors in the Supreme Court rulings, particularly in terms of forest burning and its operational funding.

Background In a growing number of humanitarian crises, “remote management” is negotiated across borders and implemented by humanitarian agencies through “local actors” to deliver assistance. However, the narrative describing the involvement of local actors in the delivery of humanitarian aid in armed conflict settings remains reductionist and unreflective of the complex and circular course of the “localisation of aid”. This paper explores cross-border humanitarian assistance within the Syrian conflict. We document how humanitarian actors operate to deliver humanitarian health care in North-West Syria (Turkish border), explore their challenges and critique the language used within current debates on the localisation of aid. Methods We undertook key informant interviews with Turkey-based humanitarian aid professionals involved in the humanitarian health response inside Syria. We integrated data previously collected for The Lancet -American University of Beirut Commission on Syria during field work in Gaziantep, Turkey, through meetings, conversations, discussions and expert consultations with Syrian health professionals, WHO-Turkey staff members and members of Syrian health directorates. We also drew from background desk reviews conducted by the Commission on health systems responses and timeline of events in Turkey during the Syrian conflict. Results This paper uncovers creative and effective bottom-up strategies that enhanced cross-border coordination of aid delivery into Syria. Our findings unravel the key role played by Syrian providers in accessing vulnerable populations and in reshaping coordination and funding mechanisms inside Syria, as well as the disproportionate risks local actors bear within the response. Our findings also reveal an iterative negotiation of decision-making dynamics, a “low-profile approach” promoted to gain access to populations of concerns, and an environment that is heavily shaped by close interpersonal relationships and social trust. Conclusions Our multifaceted narrative unpacks circular flows of interactions among actors and uncovers strategies developed by practitioners on the field, which are often left undocumented. We argue that there is an opportunity for the humanitarian sector to learn from these synergies to rethink how medical humanitarianism is framed (hopefully leading to a more collaborative framing that resists mainstreaming “local” actors within a “traditional” system). There is also an opportunity for the humanitarian and global health communities to reflect on how value attributed to human lives needs to be questioned in contexts where national staff face a disproportionate risk to deliver aid.

In the 21st century, local ownership has emerged as a proposed solution to foster active engagement of local actors in Security Sector Reform (SSR) following prolonged civil conflicts. However, empirical research often provides limited insight into the practical implementation of local ownership in SSR contexts. This study investigates whether local ownership in police reform constitutes the optimal approach for ensuring effective police development and stability. Using Liberia as a case study from 2006 to 2016, the author employs a qualitative methodology grounded in critical theory. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with fifty respondents from key SSR institutions in Liberia and analyzed using conceptual content analysis. Findings reveal that local ownership is indeed pivotal for successful police reform, particularly in post-conflict settings, as it enables sustained stability. Police reform efforts, while critical for post-conflict recovery, risk failure if local ownership is not prioritized as the reform's foundation. Moreover, empowering local actors to assume control over the security sector, alongside economic alignment with reform objectives, is essential once foreign actors withdraw. The study contributes to policy discussions on SSR by underscoring the importance of embedding local ownership at the core of reform processes for long-term stability. This study explores the critical gap between policy and practice in police reform in Liberia, focusing on the challenges of achieving local ownership in security sector reform. Despite international efforts to rebuild post-conflict Liberia, aligning reforms with local communities' unique needs and values remains a persistent issue. By examining the interplay between global initiatives and local realities, this research sheds light on the barriers to effective reform and the importance of community involvement in shaping sustainable security solutions. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and the general public, emphasizing the need for inclusive and context-sensitive approaches to governance and development in post-conflict societies. Understanding these dynamics is essential for Liberia and other nations seeking to rebuild after conflict and establish enduring peace.

In recent years, local authorities in Europe have increasingly developed bordering practices that hinder or further migrant rights, such as the freedom of movement. They bypass national borders by facilitating refugee resettlement, they claim local space to welcome or shun certain migrants, and they develop or break down local impediments to migrant mobility. These local practices, we argue, can best be understood from a multiscalar perspective, which considers processes of placemaking as reproductive of power dynamics. Applying such a perspective to local bordering practices in Greece, Turkey, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany, we point out the importance of the multitude of the actors involved; legal pluralism; and the contextual role of social, economic, and spatial factors. This offers a theoretical foothold for understanding the power dynamics at play when local authorities become bastions or bulwarks, in which some migrants are welcomed, and others are not.

According to the United Nations Environmental Program, sand is the second most exploited resource on the planet after water, and local knowledge about the effects of sand mining has been little addressed in international studies. In the case of rivers, the sand and gravel used in the construction industry are part of the fluvial sediments, and the effects are different at each exploitation site. In this article, we propose a theoretical–methodological framework of the sandy field of forces for the study of the socioenvironmental aspects related to the extraction of sand and gravel at the site known as La Isla, located in the Usumacinta River Basin in Mexico. This site has specific environmental and social characteristics. Based on the results of our participation in a research project and, subsequently, on the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological thinking for the social analysis of this site, our model demonstrates how the environmental and anthropic systems converge upon the use of sediments. We conclude that social interactions articulate the conditions of the specific context. The sandy field of forces is the reference context in which the local practices of the actors regarding the use of sand and gravel make sense.

This study focused on mechanisms of accessing and securing peri-urban land through informal land markets. The survey employed purposive sampling to select government officials, key informants and focus group discussion (FGD) participants; accidental sampling for Informal/traditional institutions representatives; snowball sampling for land brokers and speculators; and simple random sampling for peri-urban respondents. Some respondents, particularly housing developers and/or homeowners in informal settlements, construct properties for purposes such as rental income, landholding under split family arrangements, or eventual sale. The study integrates theoretical and empirical analyses of informal urban development practices. Theoretically, the land is not subject to sale or transfer against the land law. Thus, from the theoretical perspective of land laws, private sales and transfers are not permitted, and hence, should not happen. This makes sense in theory, but in reality, the system is more permeable. The empirical findings of the study revealed that land transfer outside the realm of the law is very common and widespread. Currently, informal settlements in peri-urban areas of Woldia are getting key features of the town. Farmers often justify fraudulent land sales by claiming they have donated, inherited, or transferred the land within family arrangements. Hence, despite its different geographical scope, the empirical findings in peri-urban areas of Woldia can provide insight into how informal land markets can contribute to broader comparative studies on informal settlements and land markets in other peri-urban areas within Ethiopia or similar contexts globally. Additionally, the study contributes to understanding how peri-urban farming can coexist with urban expansion.

This paper presents the results of a study using participatory mapping to collectively understand deforestation dynamics in Murehwa, a communal area approximately 90 km northeast of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. The study engaged smallholder farmers in a deliberative process through participatory mapping exercises in 15 villages. For each exercise, participants collaboratively drew two maps of their village, one for 1990 and another for 2021. They depict village boundaries, land uses and the magnitude of change between the two dates. Participatory mapping served as a platform for collective thinking, with the resulting maps used to facilitate discussions. They involved comparing land use between the two maps and identifying the drivers of the observed changes. Thematic approach was used to analyse the discussions in order to come up with collectively identified drivers of land use changes. The findings show that deforestation and resulting land use changes are primarily rooted in economic depression, selling of wood, tobacco farming, veld fires, unauthorised wood exploitation, illegal selling of land, increase in gardening, agricultural expansion and population growth. These results lay a foundational step towards the co-construction of a governance framework for practising agriculture in forest-adjacent areas. Moreover, the paper shares methodological reflections and experiences intended to promote initiatives where the construction of a shared understanding facilitates sustainable land-use practices that foster natural resource conservation. Cet article présente les résultats d’une étude utilisant la cartographie participative pour comprendre collectivement les dynamiques de déforestation à Murehwa, une zone communale située à environ 90 km au nord-est de Harare, la capitale du Zimbabwe. L’étude a impliqué des acteurs de l’agriculture familiale, dans un processus de délibération par le biais d’exercices de cartographie participative dans 15 villages. A chaque fois, les participants ont dessiné ensemble deux cartes de leur village, l’une pour 1990 et l’autre pour 2021. Elles décrivent les limites du village, l’usage des terres et l’ampleur des changements entre les deux dates. La cartographie participative a servi de plate-forme pour la réflexion collective, les cartes obtenues facilitant les discussions. Celles-ci ont porté sur la comparaison des changements d’usage des terres entre les deux cartes et les déterminants des changements observés. Une approche thématique a été utilisée pour analyser les discussions afin d’identifier collectivement les moteurs des changements d’utilisation des terres. Les résultats montrent que la déforestation et les changements d’usage des sols qui en résultent sont principalement dus à la crise économique, à la vente de bois, à la culture du tabac, aux brûlis, à l’exploitation non autorisée du bois, à la vente illégale de terres, au développement des jardins sur berge, à l’expansion agricole et à la croissance démographique. Ces résultats constituent une étape fondamentale vers la co-construction d’un cadre de gouvernance pour la pratique de l’agriculture dans les zones adjacentes aux forêts. En outre, l’article partage des réflexions méthodologiques et pratiques, de façon à promouvoir des initiatives où la co-construction d’une compréhension partagée facilite les pratiques d’utilisation des terres qui favorisent la conservation des ressources naturelles.

Since the nineties, cultural tourism is considered as a form of tourism that is carried out by groups of people or institutions, whose main motive is the fulfillment of an interest and knowledge more on the culture, the history and the heritage of the chosen destination. The city of Constantine, located in northeastern Algeria, is one of the oldest cities in the Mediterranean basin. It was elected \"Capital of Arab Culture 2015\" due to its history, cultural and architectural heritage. The aim of this study is to examine the influences of cultural tourism on local development, to highlight the perception of local actors' roles in the development of tourism and to determine their involvement in the preservation of Constantine's cultural heritage to achieve a development model of cultural tourism in Constantine. This study is based on a literature review and field surveys, the type of questionnaire includes different types of questions: open questions, Likert scale questions and multiple choice qualitative questions. A manual processing of the data was performed using the mean and standard deviation calculation. The results of this study reveal a misunderstanding of cultural tourism among local residents hence the need to develop a model of categorization of the objectives of the study (SPIP) which proposes four key principles for the development of local cultural tourism in the city of Constantine. However, unless the proposed model elements are incorporated, cultural tourism in this city would never emerge.

The aim of this paper is to further understanding on the ethical and conceptual challenges associated with researching human trafficking in Edo state, Nigeria. The contribution addresses perceptions of these phenomena among some local actors in the state. Based on five years’ research on human trafficking from Nigeria to Europe, this paper puts into perspective local perceptions, and some dynamics of data collection. Also considered here are ethical challenges bordering on trust and suspicion of the researcher’s intent, informed consent and suspicion of researcher’s motive especially those linked to funding. The paper concludes by recommending ways of navigating as well as overcoming the associated challenges in researching human trafficking in Edo state.