			Home About us Contact

Diverse Constituencies (diverse + constituency)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	50%

Selected Abstracts

Nonindigenous Species: Ecological Explanation, Environmental Ethics, and Public Policy

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2003
David M. Lodge
Misunderstandings and tension exist regarding the science, values, environmental ethics, and public policy relevant to invasive species, which are the subset of nonindigenous species that cause economic or environmental damage. Although there is a natural background rate at which species invasions occur, it is much lower than the current human-induced rates at which species are being moved around the globe. Contrary to some recently voiced opinions , the fact that some species invasions occur without human assistance does not confer acceptability on all species invasions. Also, despite claims to the contrary, the reductions of native biodiversity caused by nonindigenous species are large and well documented. Even if that were not true, an emphasis on species numbers alone as a metric for the impact of nonindigenous species does not adequately incorporate the high value many humans place on the uniqueness of regional biota. Because regional biota are being homogenized by species invasions, it has become an appropriate and official public policy goal in the United States to reduce the harm done by invasive species. The goal is not, however, a reduction of numbers of nonindigenous species per se, as recently claimed by some authors, but a reduction in the damage caused by invasive species, including many sorts of environmental and economic damage. A major challenge remaining for ecology, environmental ethics, and public policy is therefore the development of widely applicable risk-assessment protocols that are acceptable to diverse constituencies. Despite apparent disagreements among scholars, little real disagreement exists about the occurrence, effects, or public-policy implications of nonindigenous species. Resumen: El público está recibiendo un mensaje confuso de ecologistas, otros académicos y periodistas sobre el tema de especies no nativas. Existen malos entendidos y tensión en relación con la ciencia, los valores, la ética ambiental y las políticas públicas relevantes a las especies invasoras, que son un subconjunto de las especies no nativas que causan daños económicos o ambientales. Aunque existe una tasa natural a la que ocurren invasiones, es mucho más baja que las actuales tasas, inducidas por humanos, a las que especies son movidas alrededor del mundo. Al contrario de algunos autores recientes, el hecho de que algunas invasiones de especies ocurren sin asistencia humana no le confiere aceptabilidad moral sobre todas las invasiones de especies. También, a pesar de recientes afirmaciones de lo contrario, las reducciones de biodiversidad nativa debido a especies no nativas son notables y están bien documentadas. Aún si no fuera verdad, el énfasis sólo en el número de especies como una medida del impacto de especies no nativas no incorpora adecuadamente el alto valor que muchos humanos reconocen en la singularidad de la biota regional. Debido a que la biota regional está siendo homogeneizada por invasiones de especies, la reducción del daño causado por especies invasoras se ha convertido en una política pública apropiada y oficial en los Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, la meta no es la reducción de especies no nativas, en si, como afirman algunos autores recientes, sino una reducción de los impactos dañinos de las especies invasoras, incluyendo muchos tipos de daño económico y ambiental. Por lo tanto, un reto mayor para la ecología, la ética ambiental y la política pública es el desarrollo de protocolos de evaluación de riesgos ampliamente aplicables que sean aceptables para electores diversos. A pesar de aparentes desacuerdos entre académicos, existe poco desacuerdo real acerca de la ocurrencia, el impacto o las implicancias en política pública de las especies no nativas. [source]

R&D validation planning: a methodology to link technical validations to benefits measurement

R & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2000
Adrien Presley
An important activity in many R&D departments is the internal development of new process technologies and practices to assist in the marketing, design and manufacturing activities of the enterprise. An integral part of this R&D development is the planning and management of validations of potential technology projects. These validations are necessary to determine the technical, financial and organizational feasibility of the projects and to develop data for benefits measurement for further funding of selected projects. This paper describes a methodology for validation planning of new process technologies and practices. The methodology allows for the explicit linkage of a validation to the identification of its financial and strategic benefits. These often diverse measures of worth are integrated using a proven multi-attribute justification approach within the planning methodology. The methodology and the multi-attribute approach also support the comparison of dissimilar projects having different benefits. The methodology acts as an organizational planning tool integrating the needs of the diverse constituencies involved in R&D planning. It also acts as a tool to aid engineers and scientists identify and present the benefits of the proposed technology. [source]

Strange Bedfellows: Contentious Coalitions and the Politics of CM Wheat,

CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY/REVUE CANADIENNE DE SOCIOLOGIE, Issue 3 2007
André Magnan
En 2004, une coalition d'organismes de fermiers et de mouvements sociaux réussit à s'opposer à l'introduction du blé génétiquement modifié de Monsanto au Canada. Malgré ce succès, des divisions parmi les participants posèrent des difficultés à encadrer le problème de façpn cohérente pour la coalition. S'inspirant d'une approche néo-gramscienne des mouvements sociaux, cette étude éclaire le processus d'encadrement de la coalition en analysant le contenu du traitement médiatique de la controverse et d'autres documents. Quoiqu'elle ait réussi à exprimer les plaintes de membres divers, la coalition encadra son opposition au blé géenétiquement modifié de telle façon que la possibilité d'une critique globale du pouvoir dans le système agro-alimentaire fut limitée. In 2004, a coalition of farmers' and social movement organizations successfully opposed the introduction of Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) wheat in Canada. Despite this success, divisions among participants presented the coalition with challenges in coherently framing the issue. Drawing upon a neo-Gramscian approach to social movements, this study illuminates processes of coalition framing by analyzing newsprint coverage of the controversy and other documentary sources. While able to express the grievances of diverse constituencies, the coalition framed its opposition to GM wheat in a way that circumscribed the potential for a more comprehensive critique of entrenched power in the agrofood system. [source]

Mediation and feminism: Common values and challenges

CONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2000
Marsha Lichtenstein
Mediation, and transformative mediation in particular, share several values, despite feminist criticisms of mediation. This article discusses three of the elements that mediation and feminism share. Both promote self-determination, both encourage strengthening values such as empathy and caring in the public sphere, and both deal with the issue of power and have attempted to redefine power to include behaviors other than dominance. Because feminism has gone through the growing pains of shifting from a homogeneous and middle-class movement to a colorful pluralistic social movement, it may serve as a model for the mediation movement as it expands and faces the demands of a demo-graphically diverse constituency. [source]