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Management Institutions (management + institution)
Kinds of Management Institutions Selected AbstractsSocial Security in Rwanda: Overcoming IndifferenceINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 3-4 2003François-Xavier Ngarambe The current social security system in Rwanda, set up in 1962, has until recently been viewed with indifference by most Rwandans. This is because employees in the formal sense, who are the ones concerned by the pension and occupational risk branches, represent only a tiny minority of the population, attempts to provide medical cover for the population are still in their infancy, and in a context where unemployment is the rule and work the exception, the risk of unemployment is uninsurable. Faced with this situation the first challenge was to increase people's awareness of the problem by launching a debate in which social security was seen as part of efforts to combat poverty and underdevelopment. The greater awareness which this produced has enabled us to introduce a plan which we hope, on the basis of the first results, will lead to better things in future. Fundamental changes have just been made to the pension scheme, the management institution has been restructured and modernized, and efforts in the field of healthcare are producing their first fruits. Perhaps now, at long last, after years of indifference and inertia, a new day is dawning for social security in Rwanda! [source] Socio-economic changes and sacred groves in South India: Protecting a community-based resource management institutionNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 2 2004M.G. Chandrakanth Abstract The sacred groves along the forest belts of south India, which were traditionally managed by village communities, are gradually disappearing. This study conducts an analysis of how this community-based resource management institution has evolved over time and what socio-economic factors have caused its gradual disintegration. Commercial agriculture, changing demographics and weak property-rights systems are found to be some of the enabling factors. While the grass-roots enthusiasm to save the sacred groves is still alive, government action is needed to strengthen the traditional village organizations, which are still perhaps in the best position to manage local resources. Several economic and financial incentive mechanisms at the local level that might lead to more efficient and equitable resource use outcomes are suggested. [source] Designing new institutions for implementing integrated disaster risk management: key elements and future directionsDISASTERS, Issue 4 2007Chennat Gopalakrishnan The goal of integrated disaster risk management is to promote an overall improvement in the quality of safety and security in a region, city or community at disaster risk. This paper presents the case for a thorough overhaul of the institutional component of integrated disaster risk management. A review of disaster management institutions in the United States indicates significant weaknesses in their ability to contribute effectively to the implementation of integrated disaster risk management. Our analysis and findings identify eight key elements for the design of dynamic new disaster management institutions. Six specific approaches are suggested for incorporating the identified key elements in building new institutions that would have significant potential for enhancing the effective implementation of integrated disaster risk management. We have developed a possible blueprint for effective design and construction of efficient, sustainable and functional disaster management institutions. [source] Pursuing community forestry in LiberiaENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 5 2009Jennifer N. Lamb Abstract While Liberian forests are a biodiversity hotspot and integral to the livelihoods of indigenous communities, 14 years of conflict forestry turned this national asset into a source of economic inequality and corruption in an extreme example of a ,natural resource curse'. Moreover, overharvesting of timber through the conflict period has endangered community livelihoods and raised concerns regarding resource sustainability from international conservation organizations. Since the end of conflict in 2003, the Liberian government has forged international partnerships to create a reformed policy framework balancing commercial, conservation and community (the three Cs) interests. In an effort to contribute to the larger body of work on the role of natural resource management institutions in the creation and fostering of the resource curse, this paper offers a case study of timber in Liberia. We feel that an in-depth understanding of the Liberian case clarifies the challenge of timber as an extractive commodity and how the institutional framework can be shaped to provide a positive contribution to economic development. The discussion focuses on the historical development of Liberian land and forest tenure institutions that lead to poverty, ecological degradation and conflict. Tracing the more recent implementation of the three Cs, this paper analyzes the current conditions of community engagement and outlines critical steps to be taken for Liberia to escape further resource driven cycles of conflict. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] On scientists' discomfort in fisheries advisory science: the example of simulation-based fisheries management-strategy evaluationsFISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 2 2010Sarah B M Kraak Abstract Scientists feel discomfort when they are asked to create certainty, where none exists, for use as an alibi in policy-making. Recently, the scientific literature has drawn attention to some pitfalls of simulation-based fisheries management-strategy evaluation (MSE). For example, while estimates concerning central tendencies of distributions of simulation outcomes are usually fairly robust because they are conditioned on ample data, estimates concerning the tails of distributions (such as the probability of falling below a critical biomass) are usually conditional on few data and thus often rely on assumptions that have no strong knowledge base. The clients of scientific advice, such as the European Commission, are embracing the mechanization of the evaluation of proposed Harvest Control Rules against the precautionary principle and management objectives. Where the fisheries management institutions aim for simple answers from the scientists, giving ,green/red light' to a proposed management strategy, the scientists are forced into a split position between satisfying the demands of their advisory role and living up to the standards of scientific rigour. We argue against the mechanization of scientific advice that aims to incorporate all relevant processes into one big model algorithm that, after construction, can be run without circumspection. We rather encourage that fisheries advice should be a dynamic process of expert judgement, incorporating separate parallel concurrent, lines of scientific evidence, from quantitative and qualitative modelling exercises and factual knowledge of the biology and the fishery dynamics. This process can be formalized to a certain degree and can easily accommodate stakeholder viewpoints. [source] Climatic influences and anthropogenic stressors: an integrated framework for streamflow management in Mediterranean-climate California, U.S.A.FRESHWATER BIOLOGY, Issue 2010THEODORE E. GRANTHAM Summary 1. In Mediterranean and other water-stressed climates, water management is critical to the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. To secure and maintain water allocations for the environment, integrated water management approaches are needed that consider ecosystem flow requirements, patterns of human water demands and the temporal and spatial dynamics of water availability. 2. Human settlements in Mediterranean climates have constructed water storage and conveyance projects at a scale and level of complexity far exceeding those in other, less seasonal climates. As a result, multiple ecological stressors associated with natural periods of flooding and drying are compounded by anthropogenic impacts resulting from water infrastructure development. 3. Despite substantial investments in freshwater ecosystem conservation, particularly in California, U.S.A., success has been limited because the scales at which river management and restoration are implemented are often discordant with the temporal and spatial scales at which ecosystem processes operate. Often, there is also strong social and political resistance to restricting water allocation to existing consumptive uses for environmental protection purposes. Furthermore, institutions rarely have the capacity to develop and implement integrated management programmes needed for freshwater ecosystem conservation. 4. We propose an integrated framework for streamflow management that explicitly considers the temporal and spatial dynamics of water supply and needs of both human and natural systems. This approach makes it possible to assess the effects of alternative management strategies to human water security and ecosystem conditions and facilitates integrated decision-making by water management institutions. 5. We illustrate the framework by applying a GIS-based hydrologic model in a Mediterranean-climate watershed in Sonoma County, California, U.S.A. The model is designed to assess the hydrologic impacts of multiple water users distributed throughout a stream network. We analyse the effects of vineyard water management on environmental flows to (i) evaluate streamflow impacts from small storage ponds designed to meet human water demands and reduce summer diversions, (ii) prioritise the placement of storage ponds to meet human water needs while optimising environmental flow benefits and (iii) examine the environmental and social consequences of flow management policies designed to regulate the timing of diversions to protect ecosystem functions. 6. Thematic implications: spatially explicit models that represent anthropogenic stressors (e.g. water diversions) and environmental flow needs are required to address persistent and growing threats to freshwater biodiversity. A coupled human,natural system approach to water management is particularly useful in Mediterranean climates, characterised by severe competition for water resources and high spatial and temporal variability in flow regimes. However, lessons learned from our analyses are applicable to other highly seasonal systems and those that are expected to have increased precipitation variability resulting from climate change. [source] ,It Takes Two Hands to Clap': How Gaddi Shepherds in the Indian Himalayas Negotiate Access to GrazingJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 1 2007RICHARD AXELBY This article examines the effects of state intervention on the workings of informal institutions that coordinate the communal use and management of natural resources. Specifically it focuses on the case of the nomadic Gaddi shepherds and official attempts to regulate their access to grazing pastures in the Indian Himalayas. It is often predicted that the increased presence of the modern state critically undermines locally appropriate and community-based resource management arrangements. Drawing on the work of Pauline Peters and Francis Cleaver, I identify key instances of socially embedded ,common' management institutions and explain the evolution of these arrangements through dynamic interactions between individuals, communities and the agents of the state. Through describing the ,living space' of Gaddi shepherds across the annual cycle of nomadic migration with their flocks I explore the ways in which they have been able to creatively reinterpret external interventions, and suggest how contemporary arrangements for accessing pasture at different moments of the annual cycle involve complex combinations of the formal and the informal, the ,traditional' and the ,modern'. [source] CLIMATE FORECASTS IN FLOOD PLANNING: PROMISE AND AMBIGUITY,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 6 2002Kris Wernstedt ABSTRACT: Recent technical and scientific advances have increased the potential use of long term, seasonal climate forecasts for improving water resource management. This paper examines the role that forecasts, in particular those based on the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, can play in flood planning in the Pacific Northwest. While strong evidence exists of an association between ENSO signals and flooding in the region, this association is open to more than one interpretation depending on: (a) the metric used to test the strength of the association; (b) the definition of critical flood events; (c) site specific features of watersheds; and (d) the decision environment of flood management institutions. A better understanding and appreciation of such ambiguities, both social and statistical, will help facilitate the use of climate forecast information for flood planning and response. [source] Estimating the potential role of commercial over-harvesting in resource viability: a case study of five useful tree species in South AfricaLAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2005C. M. Shackleton Abstract There is a growing commercialization of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) as a means of livelihood by rural communities throughout the developing world. This often occurs in the absence of any clear understanding of or guidelines regarding sustainable yields and ecological impacts, which may undermine the success of NTFP enterprises, especially from arid regions. This paper reports on the use of size class profiles and three quantitative indices to examine population profiles of five potentially useful tree species used as NTFPs in the semiarid lowveld of South Africa. We also contrast the population densities of the five tree species in 2003 with data from 1992. Low stem densities and population profiles indicated that three of the five species would preclude the establishment of NTFP enterprises based on their products. The other two species seem to have sufficient densities for some harvesting to take place, within an adaptive management framework. However, the longitudinal data indicated that the density of both these species had significantly declined over an eleven-year period, highlighting the need for appropriate management institutions. Additionally, the proportion of mature stems cut, and the degree of cutting per stem, had increased for all five species over the eleven years. The three quantitative indices of population stability were not correlated with one another, and hence provided a useful suite of measures sensitive to different aspects of size class profiles and their interpretation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Washing away poverty: Water, democracy and gendered poverty eradication in South AfricaNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 3 2004Barbara Schreiner Abstract This article discusses ways in which the South African Government and grassroots organizations envisage and implement democracy achieved since 1994 in the field of water resources management. The focus is on the democratic, political and economic freedom and equality in resource rights for poor black women, who are central to poverty eradication. While the new water policy and law provide an enabling framework for achieving these goals, implementation on the ground encounters both new opportunities and constraints. This is illustrated by several cases of establishing South Africa's new water management institutions: catchment management agencies and water user associations. The important nexus between state-led democratization of water resources management and bottom-up grassroots movements is also discussed. The article concludes that the Government's affirmative and targeted intervention is indispensable for redressing gender inequalities and eradicating poverty. [source] Water rights and legal pluralism: four contexts for negotiationNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 1 2001Bryan Randolph Bruns Abstract Increasing water scarcity is increasing pressure on water management institutions, particularly in the area of water rights. A common response is to formalise water tenure, one of several options for securing access and resolving conflicts concerning water allocation. This article looks at four contexts where negotiation, self-governance and concepts of legal pluralism may help improve water resource management. Existing users and potential new users need to negotiate before water resources are developed. Users can participate in forums with authority to solve basin management problems through self-governance. Negotiated water transfers offer an alternative to water acquisition by expropriation. [source] Urban water supply and local neoliberalism in Tagbilaran City, the PhilippinesASIA PACIFIC VIEWPOINT, Issue 2 2009Karen T. Fisher Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore the processes and outcomes of neoliberalism in relation to urban water supply in the city of Tagbilaran, the Philippines, in order to provide a nuanced account of (an) actually existing hybrid neoliberal space. Using Bakker's typology of market environmentalist reforms in resource management as a guiding frame to link this case to a bigger ,neoliberal' conversation, I distinguish how reforms to resource governance at the national level, coupled with changes in the ways in which resource management institutions and resource management organisations function at the local level have acted to constitute local practices of neoliberal governance. Local articulations of (national and supranational) neoliberal and development discourses are revealed as a means for reconceptualising the role of the state and the emergence of new forms of hybrid governance in Tagbilaran. Analysis of the operation of BWUI, a public/private water utility, and the politics of privatisation/private sector participation enables a closer inspection of how water and water services are politicised and resisted by local publics. [source] | |||||||||||||