Climate change, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity are fundamental threats. It is paradoxical that the solution to the climate crisis may contribute to increasing the pressure on nature even further. The climate transition requires, among other things, land-intensive constructions for the development of renewable energy production. At the same time, the green transition can mean new jobs and businesses for municipalities in the region. However, the choices we make for the future are not just an ecological or economic issue, but also about trust and community - often referred to as social capital - within the local communities.
The economic, environmental, and social capital of communities and the values associated with them, i.e. how important people consider these different capital reserves, play key roles when looking at community resilience - the ability to respond to external shocks and crises. This is especially emphasized when talking about the region's long-term vitality. A community's resilience is built on its ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from changes. Achieving resilience requires close cooperation between the local community and decision makers.
To achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to identify and utilize the natural resources and economic opportunities of the region in a way that respects and reflects the economic, social, and environmental values of the community. Naturally, communities are not homogenous entities but consist of different households and individuals, whose views and values can differ significantly from each other. Achieving strong resilience requires the community to find compromise solutions and cooperate based on open dialogue and value-based solutions.
With the polarization of social opinions, this cooperation, as well as building trust between people and maintaining it, can become even more challenging. Maintaining dialogue between people with different values requires active actions and openness. The polarization of opinions can cause tensions if community members increasingly oppose each other in issues related to environmental use or the economy, for example. Such tensions can slow down or even prevent the finding of compromise solutions necessary for sustainable development and resilience.
Achieving the goals of a just green transition requires the participation and commitment of all parties in the community to find workable solutions. Trust and openness between people are important assets in this process. A fair green transition is therefore not only a matter of the environment or the economy but also of a community process in which every member of the community must have a genuine opportunity to influence the future of their community.
The authors are associate professor Jaakko Simonen, doctoral researchers Jemina Kotila and Joona Lohtander, all from the Oulu Business School, and professor Mikko Moilanen from the UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
The Exploring resilience blog discusses the current themes of research, teaching and development of resilience, i.e., crisis resistance and deepens knowledge about the management of global change, and possible solutions to the wicked problems of sustainability. The authors are researchers and experts in the field, and members of the cooperation networks of the University of Oulu’s FRONT PROFI7 research programme.