Abstract
Wicked environmental problems are often defined by a large degree of uncertainty and complexity. Adaptability and flexibility are important when facing such problems. A variety of perspectives and interests also often need to be taken into account in the search for management options of them. This work consists of two papers investigating the wicked environmental problem microfiber pollution. The work aims to provide a holistic and integrated system analysis of the problem and highlight key uncertainties and research needs for future research. To do this, fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) was used to model the target system and run scenarios in the first paper. In the second paper, a scenario development approach was applied to investigate important driving forces, develop scenarios, find to intervene in the system, and to develop indicators for a monitoring system. For the first paper, interviews were conducted to develop five stakeholder FCMs for comparison of perceptions across relevant stakeholder groups, and a workshop was held with the same actors to develop a final community FCM. For the second paper, a scenario workshop with the same stakeholder groups was held. The research contributes to highlight key uncertainties within several fields of study, indicating the importance of interdisciplinary research on the topic. Further, the research shows the usefulness of the methods in inspiring new thinking and creativity and for integration of stakeholder knowledge. The usefulness of applying tools, like FCM, for structuring participatory processes and as basis for group discussions is also demonstrated in this work.
