Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges in our history. As the average temperature is rising due to anthropogenic emissions, impacts such as floods, droughts and hurricanes, affect the lives of millions of people. Though the least developed countries are least responsible for emissions, they are the worst affected. This thesis focuses on environmental justice in the adaptation discourse. By outlining the adaptation discourse from the United Framework Convention on Climate Change principles, to the Marrakesh Accords, via the Kyotoprotocol my ambition is to analyse how environmental justice has been interpreted in relation to the adaptation discourse.

AbstractThe aim of this Master thesis is to explore why some Swedes want to consume?eco-friendly? and whether this fact gives rise to articulated information needs. Two possible explanations for this ?eco conscious? consumption are being tested, either if it is based on a normative belief that it is the right thing to do if you, as a consumer, want to do something about the environmental degradation, or that it is a reaction to a perceived risk, due to the environmental degradation. The method chosen by the author in this thesis is a qualitative text analysis of five Swedish journals.

Wastewater treatment is increasingly controlled by the Swedish environmental quality objectives, adopted by the Swedish parliament. There is a need for a sewage system that can fulfill stringent requirements concerning the environment, recycling and resource use and hygiene. Additional environmental aspects in recent years are the impact of climate change, new knowledge about the effects of pharmaceuticals in water, the need for improved wastewater treatment and increased recycling of nutrients to agriculture. This report has, from a future scenario of the year 2050, analyzed seven different systems for wastewater treatment and treatment of compostable biowaste from households in Eskilstuna. A future scenario was chosen based on that within a forty year period new challenges may arise which can result in higher demands on sewage treatment than those we see today. Another reason why the future scenario was established is that changes in wastewater treatment systems are slow to establish. The analysis is mainly focused on the economical aspects but environmental aspects such as emissions to receiving waters and potential recycling of plant nutrients has also been evaluated briefly.

In Sweden, there an increasing need for transport and this leads directly to fuel demand of the transport sector is expected to increase. Both politicians and industry believes that renewable fuels are a realistic and significant method to reduce the transport sector's Environmental impact. This study aims to document the Swedish haulage contractor?s attitude to biodiesel. Also to document the strengths and weaknesses of biodiesel, based on opinions from the ultimate consumers.

Presently environmental and ethical matters are in the centre of attention and companies producing sustainability reports have become more common. It has also started to become more and more ordinary to assure these sustainability reports by an external part. However, the amount of assured sustainability reports differs a lot between different countries.There can be several reasons for why the companies chose to get the sustainability report assured. Previous studies state that the choice to produce sustainability reports can be re-lated to theories like the legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory and the agent theory. Other aspects that can affect the decision to construct a sustainability report can according to prior studies be different company characteristics and the national culture in the country in which the company is operating.

The purpose of this thesis has been to assess whether leaching from one particular Swedishlandfill site, Skörbytippen, is contributing to elevated levels of heavy metals in a ditch runningfrom the landfill site to the lake Mälaren in the communal region of Håbo kommun. Since theditch is stretching approximately five km downstream from the landfill site, in situ observationsand maps with known points of inflow was utilized to determine appropriate test points for thecollection of samples.Soil, water and sediment samples were collected and analyzed for content of organic material, pHand conductivity. Data on plant-available elements and total amounts of heavy metals wasacquired through ICP-analysis.The results show that the Skörby landfill is currently in the methane-forming anaerobedevelopment phase, which indicates that the concentration of free and complex-bound metals inthe leachate water should be low due to chemical binding with other landfill compounds. The pHof the sediment samples was generally one unit higher than the soil samples and some of themeasured data, such as pH and conductivity, show that an environmentally disturbing dischargeof some kind of strongly alkaline chemical(s) has been made from Benders? takpanneindustri inclose proximity to the landfill.

The aim of this study is to find out if, and in what way the Maasai pastoralists affect the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) through Bomas (Maasai settlement) and keeping of livestock. The study was carried out in the Maasai Mara National Reserve and the adjoining group ranch, Koyake GR, in South-western Kenya.Data was assembled through transect driving, with instantaneous scan sample during two seasons, December 2003 and May-June 2004. Study area contained 12 bomas with three different type of transects each: T1 (0.5 km from boma), T2 (3 km from boma) and T3 (5.5 km from boma), to create a gradual decline in human and livestock impact. Results show that there are differences in the hyena's utilisation of transect type during the day and during the night. The spotted hyena tend to avoid transects close to the boma during the day time, but go there during the night time.

During recent decades several studies have investigated how different social roles and socialization processes between women and men affects our attitudes, values and priorities to environmental problems. Many empirical studies among the general public, indicates that women tend to show a greater environmental concern than men, because of women?s different health- safety- and risk perception. Even though the results are well established among the general public, when investigating if elected women in public offices tend to express a higher environmental concern, than do men, the results are not that clear. By using a dataset covering all the 290 municipalities in Sweden, this study aims to investigate if there is any correlation between the amount of female representatives in the municipality and the amount of emissions of CO2e per capita.

Miljöfrågorna och miljöarbetet har förändrats under de senaste åren och det har blivit uppenbart att något måste göras för att begränsa människans miljöpåverkan. I Rio, 1992 hölls FN:s konferens för hållbar utveckling och grunden för det internationella tänkandet om det ?uthålliga samhället? lades och gav genomslagskraft även i Sverige. Sveriges Ekokommuner är en ideell förening som jobbar för att utbyta kunskap, kompetens och erfarenheter inom ramarna för en hållbar utveckling och det uthålliga samhället..

In this thesis we have tried to answer the question of whether or not the peaceorganizations working in Israel and Palestine have an impact. We have answered the question by analyzing six different organizations; three who work with children and the other three with women issues. The analysis contains a case study of each organization and then a comparison between the two groups. This study is built on theories about; grassroots organizations, women in organizations and intergroup communication. Our conclusions in this thesis show that there are some similarities between the groups as well as there are differences.

With ever-increasing environmental problems in the world, I have with this thesis aimed at studying how the Inuit people of the Arctic organize themselves around the issue of environmental degradation. In focus for this thesis is the organization Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), an NGO that focuses on saving and protecting the social and cultural rights of the Inuit people, along with the environment in the four arctic regions. This aboriginal population has a strong connection to the environment they dwell in, as the area serves as a source of income and nutrition as well as an historically important place for their culture.I will in this thesis primarily investigate the methods of operation amongst NGOs, as well as their ability to influence and interact with the UN. These are three concepts that I, as a hypothesis, considered to distinguish ICC from other NGOs. With help from three theories about NGOs, I conclude that certain central elements of ICC differ from the average NGO, making ICC a new kind of actor in global politics..

The purpose of this Bachelor?s thesis was to examine the information needs of the international students at the University of Borås. A further aim was to examine the types of information sources the international students was using to satisfy their information needs and the environmental factors keeping them from achieving this. This was done through focus group interviews with international students from four different countries ranging from the ages 20 ? 35.

The aim of this study is to examine the conditions for participation in women's networks for the members of the Geek Girl Meetup network, to expose the members' perceptions of the IT industry and to highlight the network's impact on women's situation in the IT industry. The empirical material consists of interviews and a survey. The interviews were carried out with the network leaders for a better understanding of the network structure and why it exists. The survey completed by the members illuminates how the members perceive the networks function in the IT industry and what kind of an impact the network has on the members and if it has any at all. The result of the study shows that participation in networks like Geek Girl Meetup can be a model for promoting gender equality and improving conditions for women in the IT industry.

The Swedish Government has decided that Wind power should have a higher contribution to the electricity generation in Sweden. Their goal is that, by 2015, the yearly production by Wind power should generate 10 TWh. In year of 2006, the 760 wind mills in Sweden generated only 0,936 TWh. Despite good wind conditions in a large extend of Sweden's land- and coast areas, the slow rate of new wind mills establishments will likely result in unattainable goals. The major problem for new establishments of wind mills is the extensive and complicated permission process. An expert group of environmental studies (Expertgruppen för miljöstudier) was commissioned by the Government to make a report concerning the problems with the expansion of wind power in Sweden.

The aim of this thesis is to form a theory of the green consumer power and to distinguish whether this phenomenon could indicate a movement toward the ecological citizenship. To do so, scientific theories regarding the responsibility of companies have been used, as well as the public choice theory, to link individuals as citizens to individuals as consumers. The motives of corporate environmental responsibility, along with consumers ability to bring pressure in different dimensions, are later drawn on as indicators applied to empirical information. The largest producer of ecological products in Sweden, Arla Foods, is employed as case study to explore if the green consumer power can and does exist. The ecological citizenship uses the ecological footprint, to define in what ways we can minimize our part of environmental degradation.The study seems to strengthen the theory, consumers do have a power to make companies go green and they tend to use it increasingly.