Graduates | EconSES

Essays on Adaptation to Environmental Change

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This dissertation investigates how communities respond to environmental risks and how public policy can support climate adaptation. The first chapters examine how flood risk communication influences household preparedness in the Netherlands, revealing gaps between objective flood risk, risk perception, and private adaptation behavior. Experimental evidence shows that providing risk information does not necessarily increase preparedness, as individuals may misjudge risks, avoid information, or distrust authorities. The dissertation also critically evaluates how the success of nature-based solutions is defined and assessed, highlighting the role of governance, monitoring frameworks, and stakeholder perspectives. Finally, using administrative and remote sensing data from Brazil, the study analyzes how different drought patterns affect agricultural land use and crop choices, demonstrating that persistent droughts can lead to long-term shifts in farming strategies and land allocation.

Navigating Sustainably in Stormy Waters: Economic Risks in Fisheries and the Role of Income Diversification and Governance

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This dissertation investigates how economic risks in fisheries are managed at both the individual and institutional levels. Using empirical analyses of Nordic fisheries, it examines how fishers reduce income risk through diversification of income sources, including non-fishing employment and partner income. The findings show that diversified income portfolios can significantly reduce household income volatility, highlighting the importance of secondary income sources for fishers’ economic resilience. At the institutional level, the thesis analyzes the effects of fishing subsidies on fish stock health and finds evidence that subsidies can positively influence stock status. The dissertation also explores how global seafood trade creates telecoupled fisheries systems, where changes in one major fish stock, such as North-East Arctic cod, affect global prices, catches, and fishing behavior in distant regions. Together, the results demonstrate that fisheries risk management depends not only on local decision-making but also on global market dynamics and governance policies.

Self-governance of Water Resources Under Climate Change: Insights from Cambodia

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This dissertation examines how small-scale irrigation systems function as social-ecological systems and how cooperation among water users can be sustained under the pressures of climate change. Combining evolutionary agent-based models with lab-in-the-field experiments in Cambodia, the research explores how resource scarcity, inequality, and institutional arrangements influence collective action in managing water resources and maintaining irrigation infrastructure. The findings show that scarcity can undermine cooperation, especially when social capital and peer enforcement are weak, potentially leading to institutional traps in which poor cooperation reinforces resource scarcity. At the same time, strong social capital, reputation mechanisms, and effective governance institutions can support cooperation and help communities overcome these challenges. Overall, the dissertation highlights the complex interactions between environmental conditions, social structures, and institutional design in shaping the sustainability of irrigation systems.

Behavior, uncertainty, and the role of information on resource management

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This dissertation investigates how different forms of uncertainty and information shape behavior and decision-making in fisheries management within social-ecological systems. The research distinguishes between social uncertainty among resource users, strategic uncertainty about optimal actions, and ecological uncertainty related to fish stock dynamics. Using lab-in-the-field experiments conducted in rural Cambodia, survey data, and analyses of fish stock assessments and European Union fisheries policy, the dissertation explores how uncertainty affects cooperation in informal institutions and how scientific information is generated and applied in formal governance systems. The findings highlight the importance of behavioral factors such as trust, risk aversion, framing effects, and anchoring in shaping cooperation and expert judgment. The thesis also shows that institutional rigidity can limit the ability of governance systems to respond effectively to new scientific information, particularly as climate change shifts fish stock distributions.