Table of Contents

Abstract: At the time when the journal Sustainability [1] was launched, as a chemist and a scientist, I started to believe that social sciences may be more important to make humans sustainable. The broad journal title Social Sciences presents the opportunity for all social science scholars to have integrated consideration regarding the sustainability of humanity, because I am sure that science and technology alone cannot help. Science and technology may have in fact been contributing to accelerate the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources and putting human sustainability at risk since the industrial revolution about 150 years ago. I hope all intellectuals studying anthropology, archaeology, administration, communication, criminology, economics, education, government, linguistics, international relations, politics, sociology and, in some contexts, geography, history, law, and psychology publish with us to seek a solution to sustain humanity. Sustainability itself will also be a main topic of the journal Social Sciences. In addition to this integrated forum for social sciences, more topic specific journals, such as the already publishing Societies [2], will be launched. [...]

Abstract: It is with great honour that I have accepted the invitation to become the Editor-in Chief of this new online journal, Social Sciences. Even if there ever existed a time when it could be argued that “interdisciplinary” research was unnecessary or a luxury, there can be little doubt that today it is essential to helping understand and solve the world’s problems. And the first building block of trans-disciplinary research must be raising knowledge and awareness of what other disciplines are doing. It could be said that this is what lies at the heart of this new venture, for this journal aims to publish work from an extensive range of fields, thus bringing scholars from a variety of disciplines “together”, promoting greater cross-disciplinary awareness of major themes and debates, and hopefully prompting inter-disciplinary projects in the future. This, moreover, is very much needed because the challenges facing the social sciences today are probably greater than at any time in their history. [...]

Abstract: With increased privatization of natural resource regulation, green or sustainable public procurement policies are emerging as incentives for sustainable development. Thus, a revival of governmental influences on so-called non-state, market-driven governance systems takes place. The paper exemplifies this development by reference to the green public procurement directives for wood products in Germany and its influence on major forest certification systems and forest governance. Using an approach of governmentality in relational space, the paper displays how governmental entities play a significant role in influencing forest governance systems and the greening of markets. The importance of the underlying relations that shape governmental instruments and their influences on forest certification and governance are evaluated from a German perspective. Acknowledging the market-driven aspects of forest certification systems, the paper highlights the often-neglected impacts of governmental regulation on emerging forest governance systems. Thus, the framework allows insights into how relations among political entities and their means of knowledge production are essential for processes of forest governance.

Abstract: This article discusses the contention between the state and local Guji people on issues of development and conservation of a Protected Area—Nech Sar National Park in southern Ethiopia. The park, which covers over 514 square kilometers, is a contested space between different actors, not only for its economic values, but it is also an arena of contestation over development and conservation perspectives. Since its inception as a national park in 1974, it has been administered with strict protectionist conservation approach, and later in 1990s, the ‘modernist’ development program was introduced in the form of ecotourism. On the contrary, the Guji people had strong determination for conservation embedded deep in their worldviews and beliefs. By tracing the genesis of the philosophies behind protected areas in Africa, particularly how it was adopted by the Ethiopian state and its implications, I argue that contrasts in environmental cosmologies between the western and indigenous perspectives have ultimately resulted in unsustainable resource management and also disrupted local livelihood conditions. Despite its existence as an independent country, Ethiopia also experienced similar conservation models that were imported to colonial Africa. In this article, I argue that conservation, particularly in the form of protected areas, is a form of hegemonic control over territories, people and their spaces (historical, economic, cultural and political spaces).