1643 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 1643
Journal Article Pirates or Saviours of the Coast?(2009) Mwangura, Andrew"The issue of sea piracy off the coast of Somalia cannot be viewed in the simplistic terms of a law-and-order problem."Conference Paper Consolidation of Local Democracy In River Preservation And Fisheries Management on The Lower Sao Francisco River, Northeast Brazil(2006) Andrade, Renata Marson Teixeira de"This paper focuses on the effects of institutional choices and recognition on decentralization of river preservation and fisheries management on the Lower Sao Francisco River, Northeast Brazil, especially since the 1990s. By emphasizing issues of inequities and marginalization that stem from identity politics and institutional choices, the objective is to understand how the institutionalization of participatory watershed and fisheries/aquaculture management programs increase or decrease the possibility of democratic action and democratic control at the local level. Grounded in a detailed ethnographic study in two municipalities, this paper explores how the decentralization of the Federal Government's Revitalization Plan in the Sao Francisco River basin changes access to democratic control over fishing resources. It finds that the decentralization of the Revitalization Plan in some cases expands and in others undercuts the possibility of democratic action, especially for historically marginalized local communities whose livelihoods have traditionally depended on the river habitat, water quality and flow regime. This paper also examines the extent to which elected municipal versus traditional fishing authorities represent the interests and needs of fishing communities with regard to fisheries management. It first traces the historical context of the relationship between fishing communities and state in the region, and then presents detailed findings drawn from two municipalities alongside the Sao Francisco River. It finds that the process of institutionalizing participatory watershed and fisheries management in Brazil has helped in some circumstances to undermine and in others to strengthen both elected municipal and fishing communities along the lower Sao Francisco River."Journal Article A Holistic View of Global Croplands and Their Water Use for Ensuring Global Food Security in the 21st Century Through Advanced Remote Sensing and Non-Remote Sensing Approaches(2010) Thenkabail, Prasad"This paper presents an exhaustive review of global croplands and their water use, for the end of last millennium, mapped using remote sensing and non-remote sensing approaches by world’s leading researchers on the subject. A comparison at country scale of global cropland area estimated by these studies had a high R2-value of 0.89–0.94. The global cropland area estimates amongst different studies are quite close and range between 1.47–1.53 billion hectares. However, significant uncertainties exist in determining irrigated areas which, globally, consume nearly 80% of all human water use. The estimates show that the total water use by global croplands varies between 6,685 to 7,500 km3 yr−1 and of this around 4,586 km3 yr−1 is by rainfed croplands (green water use) and the rest by irrigated croplands (blue water use). Irrigated areas use about 2,099 km3 yr−1 (1,180 km3 yr−1 of blue water and the rest from rain that falls over irrigated croplands). However, 1.6 to 2.5 times the blue water required by irrigated croplands is actually withdrawn from reservoirs or pumping of ground water, suggesting an irrigation efficiency of only between 40–62 percent. The weaknesses, trends, and future directions to precisely estimate the global croplands are examined. Finally, the paper links global croplands and their water use to a paradigm for ensuring future food security."Working Paper Linking Poverty Reduction and Water Management(2007) Soussan, John; Noel, Stacey; Harlin, Joakim; Schmidt, Susanne"This paper analyses the relationship between water management and poverty reduction. All aspects of poverty are considered: this is reflected in the analysis of water’s potential contribution to all of the MDGs, not just those that refer explicitly to water. The basic contention advanced, and supported through reference to a wide range of case studies, is that water management is a good investment: not only can it contribute to poverty reduction, but it can do so in ways that are affordable and, in many cases, generate wealth. This potential is often not understood: the political prominence of water issues is all too often not translated into investment priorities. In particular, water management actions are poorly represented in PRSPs and in other key development strategies intended to focus national efforts on poverty reduction and attaining the MDGs."Conference Paper Evolution in Nature of Collective Action around Water-Bodies in Bangalore(2015) Nath, Sanchayan"The city of Bangalore in India has been struggling to prevent the destruction of its water-bodies. Over the last few decades, the city has witnessed sustained self-organized efforts to prevent the destruction of its numerous water-bodies. The nature of collective action has however changed over the years – what started off as a very state-led initiative in water-body rejuvenation has gradually transformed into a citizen led movement. The ideology of governance has also changed, as the nature of participants involved in the collective action process has changed. The objective of this paper is to map these changes. Using a series of intensive semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in the collection action around a sample of 8 water-bodies from Bangalore, I seek to understand how the nature of collective action has evolved and how the ideology of governance has also changed parallelly. I try to support the data collected through my interviews with data collected through archival and secondary research."Journal Article Learning to Voice? The Evolving Roles of Family Farmers in the Coordination of Large-Scale Irrigation Schemes in Morocco(2010) Faysse, Nicolas; Errahj, Mostafa; Kuper, Marcel; Mahdi, Mohamed"In Morocco, large-scale irrigation schemes have evolved over the past twenty years from the centralised management of irrigation and agricultural production into more complex multi-actor systems. This study analysed whether, and how, in the context of state withdrawal, increased farmer autonomy and political liberalisation, family farmers currently participate in the coordination and negotiation of issues that affect them and involve scheme-level organisations. Issues related to water management, the sugar industry and the dairy sector were analysed in five large-scale irrigation schemes. Farmer organisations that were set up to intervene in water management and sugar production were seen to be either inactive or to have weak links with their constituency; hence, the irrigation administration and the sugar industry continue to interact directly with farmers in a centralised way. Given their inability to voice their interests, when farmers have the opportunity, many choose exit strategies, for instance by resorting to the use of groundwater. In contrast, many community-based milk collection cooperatives were seen to function as accountable intermediaries between smallholders and dairy firms. While, as in the past, family farmers are still generally not involved in decision making at scheme level, in the milk collection cooperatives studied, farmers learn to coordinate and negotiate for the development of their communities."Journal Article Community-Driven Multiple Use Water Services: Lessons Learned by the Rural Village Water Resources Management Project in Nepal(2014) Rautanen, Sanna-Leena; van Koppen, Barbara; Wagle, Narayan"This article examines community-driven multiple use water services (MUS) as pioneered by the Rural Village Water Resources Management Project (RVWRMP) in the Far and Mid-Western development regions of Nepal. These regions are characterised by poverty, remoteness, rugged terrain, food insecurity, water scarcity, and post-conflict legacy. Water provision for domestic and productive uses provides opportunities to address poverty and livelihoods in environments with highly decentralised governance. This study explores the first-hand lessons learned in the RVWRMP in Nepal since 2006. This project is embedded within the local government. Key project entry points are decentralisation, participation and empowerment. This article reflects how the community-managed systems are used for multiple uses whether they were designed for it or not. It focuses on household- and community-level changes and related institution building and participatory planning through Water Use Master Plans and a Step-by-Step approach. Recommendations are made for scaling up multiple use services."Journal Article Participation, Politics, and Panaceas: Exploring the Possibilities and Limits of Participatory Urban Water Governance in Accra, Ghana(2014) Morinville, Cynthia; Harris, Leila M."Water governance debates have increasingly recognized the importance of adaptive governance for short- and long-term sustainability, especially with respect to increasing climate unpredictability and growing urbanization. A parallel focus on enhancing community participation pervades international development recommendations and policy literature. Indeed, there are often implicit and explicit connections made between the participatory character of water governance institutions and their adaptive capacity. The social-ecological systems literature, however, has also urged caution with respect to embracing panaceas, with increasing calls to be attentive to the limitations of proposed “solutions.” We discuss the parallels between the adaptive governance, comanagement, and participatory resource governance literatures and analyze efforts to encourage such participation in urban water governance through Local Water Boards in Accra, Ghana. Drawing on interview data, participant observations, and a survey of 243 individuals, we explored what participatory spaces have been opened or foreclosed as well as the possibilities for adaptive urban water governance in Accra. Applying insights from recent debates about panaceas, we argue that discerning the potential and limits for sustainable resource governance and associated development goals requires that participatory mechanisms be subjected to systematic and contextual analysis."Thesis or Dissertation Die Siedlungswasserwirtschaft unter Wettbewerbsdruck : Nachhaltigkeit, Demokratie und die Neuregulierung des Oeffentlichen(2005) Katzmayr, Michael"In Austria, the local water services are in most cases still provided by public authorities. However, this may change due to strong tendencies to liberalise and privatise the public services. Especially the European Commission and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of World Trade Organisation (WTO) favour a liberalisation of the public services. This thesis deals with the effects of the liberalisation and privatisation of municipal water services (water supply and sewage disposal) on democracy and environmental policy aspects related to a sustainable local development. The theoretical part of this thesis provides a general overview of the relevant discourses in this field. Next, the concept of sustainable development is described, related to local communities. In the following, considerations are provided, how participation can be realised effectively in the community. Focus points in this connexion are the concepts 'strong democracy' (Teilhabe in German) and 'publicness'. After an overview of the social and ecological specialities of the local water services, reasons for and against liberalisation and privatisation in this sector are presented. In the empirical part of the thesis, the status quo of the local water services in Vienna and Linz is researched by the means of experts' interviews and an analysis of relevant documents. It is described, how these cities deal with the neoliberal claims concerning the public services. As a result, it can be stated that from an ecological point of view a decrease of the ecological performance due to privatisation can not be argued generally in the local water sector. However, a raise in the ecological performance is also not likely. Concerning the local democracy and participation, it can be stated that the local water services at present act paternalistically and undemocratically. This means that a substantial loss of democracy is not likely. Nonetheless, in case of privatisations the still existing chances and potentialities for 'strong democracy' and a democratisation of the public services are likely to get lost." German Abstract: "Die kommunale Siedlungswasserwirtschaft in Oesterreich wird derzeit noch weitgehend durch die oeffentliche Hand erbracht, allerdings steht dies durch Bestrebungen der Liberalisierung und Privatisierung der Daseinsvorsorge zunehmend zur Disposition. Insbesondere die Europaeische Kommission und das GATS-Abkommen der Welthandelsorganisation (WTO) treiben eine Liberalisierungspolitik in der Daseinsvorsorge voran. Diese Arbeit behandelt Auswirkungen der Liberalisierung und Privatisierung der kommunalen Wasserver- und Abwasserentsorgung auf demokratie- und umweltpolitische Aspekte einer nachhaltigen Gemeindeentwicklung. Im theoretischen Teil wird zu Beginn auf die derzeit gaengigen Diskurse in der Debatte rund um die Neugestaltung der Daseinsvorsorge eingegangen. Nach einer Annaeherung an den Begriff der nachhaltigen Entwicklung wird der Stellenwert der Gemeinde darin referiert. Daran fuegen sich Ueberlegungen, wie Partizipation auf kommunaler Ebene verwirklicht werden kann, wobei besonders auf die Konzeptionen 'Teilhabe' und 'Oeffentlichkeit' eingegangen wird. Nach einer Beleuchtung der oekonomischen und oekologischen Besonderheiten der kommunalen Siedlungswasserwirtschaft werden die Gruende für und wider eine Liberalisierung und Privatisierung gegenuebergestellt. Im empirischen Teil wird der Status quo der Siedlungswasserwirtschaft in Wien und Linz mittels Experteninterviews und einer Dokumentenanalyse erhoben und dargestellt, wie sich diese Staedte den neoliberalen Umgestaltungsprozessen der Daseinsvorsorge gegenueber verhalten. Als Ergebnis kann festgehalten werden, dass in oekologischer Hinsicht eine Verschlechterung der Umwelteffektivitaet durch eine marktliche Ausgestaltung der Siedlungswasserwirtschaft nicht pauschal behauptet werden kann, eine Verbesserung scheint jedoch ebenso unwahrscheinlich. Aus demokratiepolitischer Sicht muss festgestellt werden, dass sich die kommunale Siedlungswasserwirtschaft derzeit als weitgehend paternalistisch und undemokratisch darstellt und somit eine Ersetzung der politischen durch eine marktliche Steuerung nur wenig substantiellen Demokratieverlust mit sich braechte. Allerdings wuerden durch Privatisierungen die jetzt noch bestehenden Potentiale für eine Demokratisierung der oeffentlichen Dienste bzw. der res publica insgesamt verloren gehen."Journal Article A Pause to Consider: The Value and Feasability of Wetland Management Incentives(2005) Murray, Patricia A."Land and water degradation costs the Australian economy approximately $6.5 billion annually so major and rapid changes are needed in the way our natural resources are managed to stop further decline and repair what has damage already happened. Over the past ten years, incentives have increasingly been seen as an important tool to encourage more sustainable use of natural resources. However, the progress toward widespread change has not occurred or is occurring more slowly than is required to stop or reverse degradation. This paper is not a review of incentives, but an exploration of why incentives may not have yet resulted in a widespread and rapid improvement in land management. Wetlands are used as a case study."