Who governs energy? The challenges facing global energy governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Florini, Ann; Sovacool, Benjamin K. [Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore 259772 (Singapore)

2009-12-15

This article conceptualizes the energy problems facing society from a global governance perspective. It argues that a notion of 'global energy governance,' taken to mean international collective action efforts undertaken to manage and distribute energy resources and provide energy services, offers a meaningful and useful framework for assessing energy-related challenges. The article begins by exploring the concepts of governance, global governance, and global energy governance. It then examines some of the existing institutions in place to establish and carry out rules and norms governing global energy problems and describes the range of institutional design options available to policymakers. It briefly traces the role of a selection of these institutions, from inter-governmental organizations to summit processes to multilateral development banks to global action networks, in responding to energy issues, and points out their strengths and weaknesses. The article concludes by analyzing how the various approaches to global governance differ in their applicability to addressing the conundrums of global energy problems. (author)

Governance Challenges in an Eastern Indonesian Forest Landscape

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Rebecca A. Riggs

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Integrated approaches to natural resource management are often undermined by fundamental governance weaknesses. We studied governance of a forest landscape in East Lombok, Indonesia. Forest Management Units (Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan or KPH are an institutional mechanism used in Indonesia for coordinating the management of competing sectors in forest landscapes, balancing the interests of government, business, and civil society. Previous reviews of KPHs indicate they are not delivering their potential benefits due to an uncertain legal mandate and inadequate resources. We utilized participatory methods with a broad range of stakeholders in East Lombok to examine how KPHs might improve institutional arrangements to better meet forest landscape goals. We find that KPHs are primarily limited by insufficient integration with other actors in the landscape. Thus, strengthened engagement with other institutions, as well as civil society, is required. Although new governance arrangements that allow for institutional collaboration and community engagement are needed in the long term, there are steps that the East Lombok KPH can take now. Coordinating institutional commitments and engaging civil society to reconcile power asymmetries and build consensus can help promote sustainable outcomes. Our study concludes that improved multi-level, polycentric governance arrangements between government, NGOs, the private sector, and civil society are required to achieve sustainable landscapes in Lombok. The lessons from Lombok can inform forest landscape governance improvements throughout Indonesia and the tropics.

Global Governance, Educational Change

Science.gov (United States)

Mundy, Karen

2007-01-01

In the last half decade, a rising literature has focused on the idea that processes of economic, political and social globalization require analysis in terms of governance at the global level. It is argued in this article that emerging forms of global governance have produced significant challenges to conventional conceptions of international…

Polycentrism in Global Health Governance Scholarship

Science.gov (United States)

Tosun, Jale

2018-01-01

Drawing on an in-depth analysis of eight global health networks, a recent essay in this journal argued that global health networks face four challenges to their effectiveness: problem definition, positioning, coalition-building, and governance. While sharing the argument of the essay concerned, in this commentary, we argue that these analytical concepts can be used to explicate a concept that has implicitly been used in global health governance scholarship for quite a few years. While already prominent in the discussion of climate change governance, for instance, global health governance scholarship could make progress by looking at global health governance as being polycentric. Concisely, polycentric forms of governance mix scales, mechanisms, and actors. Drawing on the essay, we propose a polycentric approach to the study of global health governance that incorporates coalitionbuilding tactics, internal governance and global political priority as explanatory factors. PMID:29325406

Decentralized forest governance in central Vietnam

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tran Nam, T.; Burgers, P.P.M.

2012-01-01

A major challenge in decentralized forest governance in Vietnam is developing a mechanism that would support both reforestation and poverty reduction among people in rural communities. To help address this challenge, Forest Land Allocation (FLA) policies recognize local communities and individuals

Global Mangrove Forests Distribution, 2000

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Global Mangrove Forests Distribution, 2000 data set is a compilation of the extent of mangroves forests from the Global Land Survey and the Landsat archive with...

People, Governance and Forests—The Stumbling Blocks in Forest Governance Reform in Latin America

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Arnoldo Contreras-Hermosilla

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This article examines common barriers to achieving adequate levels of forest resource governance in countries of Latin America. It looks at the deficiencies of the policy and regulatory frameworks affecting forests, the common failure to impose the rule of law, the main factors that constrain the effectiveness of government actions in the forest sector and at the political barriers to introducing reforms for change in governance structures. The elimination of these barriers acquires new importance in the implementation of successful REDD+ programs in the countries of the region.

Public Procurement and Forest Governance: A German Case Study of Governmental Influences on Market-Driven Governance Systems

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Moritz Albrecht

2012-09-01

Full Text Available With increased privatization of natural resource regulation, green or sustainable public procurement policies are emerging as incentives for sustainable development. Thus, a revival of governmental influences on so-called non-state, market-driven governance systems takes place. The paper exemplifies this development by reference to the green public procurement directives for wood products in Germany and its influence on major forest certification systems and forest governance. Using an approach of governmentality in relational space, the paper displays how governmental entities play a significant role in influencing forest governance systems and the greening of markets. The importance of the underlying relations that shape governmental instruments and their influences on forest certification and governance are evaluated from a German perspective. Acknowledging the market-driven aspects of forest certification systems, the paper highlights the often-neglected impacts of governmental regulation on emerging forest governance systems. Thus, the framework allows insights into how relations among political entities and their means of knowledge production are essential for processes of forest governance.

Forest Loss in Protected Areas and Intact Forest Landscapes: A Global Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Heino, Matias; Kummu, Matti; Makkonen, Marika; Mulligan, Mark; Verburg, Peter H; Jalava, Mika; Räsänen, Timo A

2015-01-01

In spite of the high importance of forests, global forest loss has remained alarmingly high during the last decades. Forest loss at a global scale has been unveiled with increasingly finer spatial resolution, but the forest extent and loss in protected areas (PAs) and in large intact forest landscapes (IFLs) have not so far been systematically assessed. Moreover, the impact of protection on preserving the IFLs is not well understood. In this study we conducted a consistent assessment of the global forest loss in PAs and IFLs over the period 2000-2012. We used recently published global remote sensing based spatial forest cover change data, being a uniform and consistent dataset over space and time, together with global datasets on PAs' and IFLs' locations. Our analyses revealed that on a global scale 3% of the protected forest, 2.5% of the intact forest, and 1.5% of the protected intact forest were lost during the study period. These forest loss rates are relatively high compared to global total forest loss of 5% for the same time period. The variation in forest losses and in protection effect was large among geographical regions and countries. In some regions the loss in protected forests exceeded 5% (e.g. in Australia and Oceania, and North America) and the relative forest loss was higher inside protected areas than outside those areas (e.g. in Mongolia and parts of Africa, Central Asia, and Europe). At the same time, protection was found to prevent forest loss in several countries (e.g. in South America and Southeast Asia). Globally, high area-weighted forest loss rates of protected and intact forests were associated with high gross domestic product and in the case of protected forests also with high proportions of agricultural land. Our findings reinforce the need for improved understanding of the reasons for the high forest losses in PAs and IFLs and strategies to prevent further losses.

Reviewing efforts in global forest conservation for sustainable forest ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Reviewing efforts in global forest conservation for sustainable forest management: The World Wide Fund (WWF) case study. ... Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current ...

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE VS. NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD

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Sabina TUCA

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The global economic and financial crisis of 2007 highlighted the risks, threats and enormous costs of a global economy in the absence of a global government. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of global governance in a world in which states are facing the erosion of national sovereignty. The two concepts are being analyzed from various points of view, including current challenges and future scenarios. Despite the fact that states, especially major powers, are not prepared to accept some elements of global governance and the limits that they would put on their national sovereignty, recent developments seem to make global governance a key component of the international scene.

Learning Democratic Global Governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Haavelsrud, Magnus

1996-01-01

Outlines a model process of developing knowledge from within different groups and cultures to allow more equitable participation of all world societies in the definition of global governance. Reviews concepts relevant to education's contributions toward learning and creating democratic global governance. Discusses the educational utility of…

Globalization of nuclear activities and global governance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sefidvash, Farhang

1997-01-01

The safe production of nuclear energy as well as the disarmament of nuclear weapons and the peaceful utilization of nuclear materials resulting from dismantling of such weapons are some of the formidable problems of global governance. The Commission on Global Governance was established in 1992 in the belief that international developments had created a unique opportunity for strengthening global co-operation to meet the challenge of securing peace, achieving sustainable development, and universalizing democracy. Here a summary of their proposals on the globalization of nuclear activities to face challenges of the coming century is given. To follow up their activities by the worlds community in general. The research Centre for Global Governance (RCGG) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul was established. Already a great number of researchers from many different countries have adhered to the Centre. Here the program of the RCGG is described. (author)

Globalization of nuclear activities and global governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sefidvash, Farhang [Rio Grande do Sul Univ., Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Nuclear

1997-07-01

The safe production of nuclear energy as well as the disarmament of nuclear weapons and the peaceful utilization of nuclear materials resulting from dismantling of such weapons are some of the formidable problems of global governance. The Commission on Global Governance was established in 1992 in the belief that international developments had created a unique opportunity for strengthening global co-operation to meet the challenge of securing peace, achieving sustainable development, and universalizing democracy. Here a summary of their proposals on the globalization of nuclear activities to face challenges of the coming century is given. To follow up their activities by the worlds community in general. The research Centre for Global Governance (RCGG) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul was established. Already a great number of researchers from many different countries have adhered to the Centre. Here the program of the RCGG is described. (author)

Learning on governance in forest ecosystems: Lessons from recent research

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Catherine May Tucker

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of variation in forest governance and management experiences. It synthesizes findings of recent interdisciplinary research efforts, with particular attention to work conducted through the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population and Environmental Change and the International Forestry Resources and Institution Research Program. By identifying areas of progress, lessons learned, and challenges for successful forest governance, the discussion points to policy implications and priorities for research.Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of variation in forest governance and management experiences. It synthesizes findings of recent interdisciplinary research efforts, which indicate that sustainable management of forest resources is associated with secure rights, institutions that fit the local context, and monitoring and enforcement. At the same time, the variability in local contexts and interactions of social, political, economic and ecological processes across levels and scales of analysis create uncertainties for the design and maintenance of sustainable forest governance.  By identifying areas of progress, lessons learned, and gaps in knowledge, the discussion suggests priorities for further research.Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of

Framing REDD+ in India: Carbonizing and centralizing Indian forest governance?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vijge, Marjanneke J.; Gupta, Aarti

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We analyze whether India's REDD+ strategy induces carbonization and centralization. • REDD+ in India is framed as an opportunity for synergistic, decentralized governance. • Yet national safeguards are not as strong as asserted. • Controversial issues have so far been side-lined in India's REDD+ strategy. • Without investments, synergistic and decentralized REDD+ governance remains unlikely. - Abstract: This article analyzes the interaction of newly articulated climate governance goals with long-standing forest policies and practices in India. We focus on India's REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and related forest activities) strategy, with a particular focus on the Green India Mission (GIM). The GIM calls for a doubling of the area for afforestation and reforestation in India in the next decade as a dominant climate mitigation strategy. We analyze how the GIM policy document frames carbon versus non-carbon benefits to be derived from forest-related activities; and how the GIM envisages division of authority (between national, regional and local levels) in its implementation. We are interested in assessing (a) whether the GIM promotes a “carbonization” of Indian forest governance, i.e. an increased focus on forest carbon at the expense of other ecosystem services; and (b) whether it promotes an increased centralization of forest governance in India through retaining or transferring authority and control over forest resources to national and state-level authorities, at the expense of local communities. We argue that the GIM frames the climate-forest interaction as an opportunity to synergistically enhance both carbon and non-carbon benefits to be derived from forests; while simultaneously promoting further decentralization of Indian forest governance. However, based on past experiences and developments to date, we conclude that without significant investments in community-based carbon and biodiversity

Forest loss in protected areas and intact forest landscapes : A global analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heino, Matias; Kummu, Matti; Makkonen, Marika; Mulligan, Mark; Verburg, Peter H.; Jalava, Mika; Räsänen, Timo A.

2015-01-01

In spite of the high importance of forests, global forest loss has remained alarmingly high during the last decades. Forest loss at a global scale has been unveiled with increasingly finer spatial resolution, but the forest extent and loss in protected areas (PAs) and in large intact forest

Forests and global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curren, T.

1991-04-01

The importance of forests to Canada, both in economic and environmental terms, is indisputable. A warmer global climate may well have profound effects on the Canadian boreal forest, and at least some of the effects will not be beneficial. With the state of the current knowledge of climate processes and climate change it is not possible to predict the extent or rate of projected changes of anthropogenic origin. Given these uncertainties, the appropriate course of action for the Canadian forest sector is to develop policies and strategies which will make good sense under the current climatic regime, and which will also be appropriate for actions in a warmer climate scenario. The business as usual approach is not acceptable in the context of pollution control as it has become clear that anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants must be substantially reduced, both to prevent (or at least slow the rate of) possible global warming, and to reduce impacts on the biophysical environment and human health. Effective mitigative actions must be introduced on both a national and global scale. Forest management policies more effectively geared to the sustainability of forests are needed. The programs that are developed out of such policies must be cognizant of the real possibility that climate in the present boreal forest regions may change in the near future. 13 refs

Transforming forest landscape conflicts: the promises and perils of global forest management initiatives such as REDD+

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Seth Kane

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+ is designed to relieve pressure on tropical forests, however, many are concerned that it is a threat to the rights of forest communities. These potential risks need serious attention as earlier studies have shown that the Asia-Pacific region is a forest conflict hotspot, with many economic, environmental and social implications at global (e.g. climate change to local levels (e.g. poverty. Drawing on an analysis of nine case studies from four countries (Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam this paper examines why and how REDD+ can be a driver for forest conflict and how it also has the potential to simultaneously transform these conflicts. The analytical framework, “sources of impairment”, applied in the study was developed to increase understanding and facilitate the resolution of forest landscape conflicts in a sustainable manner (i.e. transformation. The main findings are that REDD+ can be a source of conflict in the study sites, but also had transformative potential when good practices were followed. For example, in some sites, the REDD+ projects were sources of impairment for forest communities by restricting access to forest resources. However, the research also identified REDD+ projects that enabled the participation of traditionally marginalized groups and built local forest management capacities, leading to strengthened tenure for some forest communities. Similarly, in some countries REDD+ has served as a mechanism to pilot Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC, which will likely have significant impacts in mitigating conflicts by addressing the sources at local to national levels. Based on these findings, there are many reasons to be optimistic that REDD+ can address the underlying causes of forest landscape conflicts, especially when linked with other governance initiatives such as Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade – Voluntary

Impacts of nonstate, market-driven governance on Chilean forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Heilmayr, Robert; Lambin, Eric F

2016-03-15

Global markets for agricultural products, timber, and minerals are critically important drivers of deforestation. The supply chains driving land use change may also provide opportunities to halt deforestation. Market campaigns, moratoria, and certification schemes have been promoted as powerful tools to achieve conservation goals. Despite their promise, there have been few opportunities to rigorously quantify the ability of these nonstate, market-driven (NSMD) governance regimes to deliver conservation outcomes. This study analyzes the impacts of three NSMD governance systems that sought to end the conversion of natural forests to plantations in Chile at the start of the 21st century. Using a multilevel, panel dataset of land use changes in Chile, we identify the impact of participation within each of the governance regimes by implementing a series of matched difference-in-differences analyses. Taking advantage of the mosaic of different NSMD regimes adopted in Chile, we explore the relative effectiveness of different policies. NSMD governance regimes reduced deforestation on participating properties by 2-23%. The NSMD governance regimes we studied included collaborative and confrontational strategies between environmental and industry stakeholders. We find that the more collaborative governance systems studied achieved better environmental performance than more confrontational approaches. Whereas many government conservation programs have targeted regions with little likelihood of conversion, we demonstrate that NSMD governance has the potential to alter behavior on high-deforestation properties.

CTFS-ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst. (SCBI), Front Royal, VA (United States). National Zoological Park. Conservation Ecology Center; Davies, Stuart J. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC (United States). Dept. of Botany; Bennett, Amy C. [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst. (SCBI), Front Royal, VA (United States). National Zoological Park. Conservation Ecology Center; Gonzalez-Akre, Erika B. [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst. (SCBI), Front Royal, VA (United States). National Zoological Park. Conservation Ecology Center; Muller-Landau, Helene C. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Joseph Wright, S. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Abu Salim, Kamariah [Univ. of Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei). Faculty of Science. Environmental and Life Sciences; Almeyda Zambrano, Angélica M. [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst. (SCBI), Front Royal, VA (United States). National Zoological Park. Conservation Ecology Center; Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Stanford Woods Inst. for the Environment; Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States). Dept. of Geography; Alonso, Alfonso [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst., Washington, DC (United States). National Zoological Park. Center for Conservation Education and Sustainability; Baltzer, Jennifer L. [Wilfrid Laurier Univ., Waterloo, ON (Canada). Dept. of Biology; Basset, Yves [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Bourg, Norman A. [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst. (SCBI), Front Royal, VA (United States). National Zoological Park. Conservation Ecology Center; Broadbent, Eben N. [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst. (SCBI), Front Royal, VA (United States). National Zoological Park. Conservation Ecology Center; Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Stanford Woods Inst. for the Environment; Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States). Dept. of Geography; Brockelman, Warren Y. [Mahidol Univ., Bangkok (Thailand). Dept. of Biology; Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh [Dept. of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Bangkok (Thailand). Research Office; Burslem, David F. R. P. [Univ. of Aberdeen (United Kingdom). School of Biological Sciences; Butt, Nathalie [Univ. of Queensland, St. Lucia (Australia). School of Biological Sciences; Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). School of Geography and the Environment. Environmental Change Inst.; Cao, Min [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Kunming (China). Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. Key Lab. of Tropical Forest Ecology; Cardenas, Dairon [Sinchi Amazonic Inst. of Scientific Research, Bogota (Colombia); Chuyong, George B. [Univ. of Buea (Cameroon). Dept. of Botany and Plant Physiology; Clay, Keith [Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Biology; Cordell, Susan [USDA Forest Service, Hilo, HI (United States). Inst. of Pacific Islands Forestry; Dattaraja, Handanakere S. [Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore (India). Centre for Ecological Sciences; Deng, Xiaobao [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Kunming (China). Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. Key Lab. of Tropical Forest Ecology; Detto, Matteo [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Du, Xiaojun [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Botany; Duque, Alvaro [Univ. Nacional de Colombia, Medellin (Colombia). Dept. de Ciencias Forestales; Erikson, David L. [National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC (United States). Dept. of Botany; Ewango, Corneille E. N. [Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Epulu (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Centre de Formation et de Recherche en Conservation Forestiere (CEFRECOF); Fischer, Gunter A. [Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Tai Po, Hong Kong (China); Fletcher, Christine [Forest Research Inst. Malaysia (FRIM), Selangor (Malaysia); Foster, Robin B. [The Field Museum, Chicago, IL (United States). Botany Dept.; Giardina, Christian P. [USDA Forest Service, Hilo, HI (United States). Inst. of Pacific Islands Forestry; Gilbert, Gregory S. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Environmental Studies Dept.; Gunatilleke, Nimal [Univ. of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka). Faculty of Science. Dept. of Botany; Gunatilleke, Savitri [Univ. of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka). Faculty of Science. Dept. of Botany; Hao, Zhanqing [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenyang (China). State Key Lab. of Forest and Soil Ecology. Inst. of Applied Ecology; Hargrove, William W. [USDA-Forest Service Station Headquarters, Asheville, NC (United States). Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center; Hart, Terese B. [Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project; Hau, Billy C. H. [Univ. of Hong Kong (China). School of Biological Sciences. Kadoorie Inst.; He, Fangliang [Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada). Dept. of Renewable Resources; Hoffman, Forrest M. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computational Earth Sciences Group; Howe, Robert W. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Green Bay, WI (United States). Dept. of Natural and Applied Sciences; Hubbell, Stephen P. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Inman-Narahari, Faith M. [Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States). College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources; Jansen, Patrick A. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Wageningen Univ. (Netherlands). Resource Ecology Group; Jiang, Mingxi [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Wuhan (China). Wuhan Botanical Garden; Johnson, Daniel J. [Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Biology; Kanzaki, Mamoru [Kyoto Univ. (Japan). Graduate School of Agriculture; Kassim, Abdul Rahman [Forest Research Inst. Malaysia (FRIM), Selangor (Malaysia); Kenfack, David [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC (United States). Dept. of Botany; Kibet, Staline [National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi (Kenya); Univ. of Nairobi (Kenya). Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology Dept.; Kinnaird, Margaret F. [Mpala Research Centre, Nanyuki (Kenya); Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, NY (United States). Global Conservation Programs; Korte, Lisa [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst., Washington, DC (United States). National Zoological Park. Center for Conservation Education and Sustainability; Kral, Kamil [Silva Tarouca Research Inst., Brno (Czech Republic). Dept. of Forest Ecology; Kumar, Jitendra [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computational Earth Sciences Group; Larson, Andrew J. [Univ. of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States). College of Forestry and Conservation. Dept. of Forest Management; Li, Yide [Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou (China). Research Inst. of Tropical Forestry; Li, Xiankun [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guilin (China). Guangxi Inst. of Botany; Liu, Shirong [Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing (China). Research Inst. of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection; Lum, Shawn K. Y. [Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore). National Inst. of Education. Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group; Lutz, James A. [Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States). Wildland Resources Dept.; Ma, Keping [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Botany; Maddalena, Damian M. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computational Earth Sciences Group; Makana, Jean-Remy [Wildlife Conservation Society, Brazzaville (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Malhi, Yadvinder [Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). School of Geography and the Environment. Environmental Change Inst.; Marthews, Toby [Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). School of Geography and the Environment. Environmental Change Inst.; Mat Serudin, Rafizah [Univ. of Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei). Faculty of Science. Environmental and Life Sciences; McMahon, Sean M. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD (United States). Forest Ecology Group; McShea, William J. [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst., Front Royal, VA (United States). National Zoological Park. Conservation Ecology Center; Memiaghe, Hervé R. [Inst. de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale, Libreville (Gabon). Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique; Mi, Xiangcheng [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Botany; Mizuno, Takashi [Kyoto Univ. (Japan). Graduate School of Agriculture; Morecroft, Michael [Natural England, Sheffield (United Kingdom); Myers, Jonathan A. [Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). Dept. of Biology; Novotny, Vojtech [New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, Madang (Papua New Guinea); Univ. of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic). Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Faculty of Science. Biology Centre; de Oliveira, Alexandre A. [Univ. of Sao Paulo (Brazil). Inst. of Biosciences. Ecology Dept.; Ong, Perry S. [Univ. of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City (Philippines). Inst. of Biology; Orwig, David A. [Harvard Univ., Petersham, MA (United States). Harvard Forest; Ostertag, Rebecca [Univ. of Hawaii, Hilo, HI (United States). Dept. of Biology; den Ouden, Jan [Wageningen Univ. (Netherlands). Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group; Parker, Geoffrey G. [Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD (United States). Forest Ecology Group; Phillips, Richard P. [Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Biology; Sack, Lawren [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Sainge, Moses N. [Tropical Plant Exploration Group (TroPEG), Mundemba (Cameroon); Sang, Weiguo [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Botany; Sri-ngernyuang, Kriangsak [Maejo Univ., Chiang Mai (Thailand). Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Design; Sukumar, Raman [Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore (India). Centre for Ecological Sciences; Sun, I-Fang [National Dong Hwa Univ., Hualian (Taiwan). Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies; Sungpalee, Witchaphart [Maejo Univ., Chiang Mai (Thailand). Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Design; Suresh, Hebbalalu Sathyanarayana [Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore (India). Centre for Ecological Sciences; Tan, Sylvester [Sarawak Forest Dept., Kuching (Malaysia); Thomas, Sean C. [Univ. of Toronto, ON (Canada). Faculty of Forestry; Thomas, Duncan W. [Washington State Univ., Vancouver, WA (United States). School of Biological Sciences; Thompson, Jill [Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Penicuik, Scotland (United Kingdom); Univ. of Puerto Rico Rio Pedras, San Juan (Puerto Rico). Dept. of Environmental Science. Inst. for Tropical Ecosystem Studies; Turner, Benjamin L. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst. (STRI), Panama (Panama). Center for Tropical Forest Science. Forest Global Earth Observatory; Uriarte, Maria [Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology; Valencia, Renato [Pontifical Catholic Univ. of Ecuador, Quito (Ecuador). Dept. of Biological Sciences; Vallejo, Marta I. [Inst. Alexander von Humboldt, Bogota (Colombia); Vicentini, Alberto [National Inst. of Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus (Brazil); Vrška, Tomáš [Silva Tarouca Research Inst., Brno (Czech Republic). Dept. of Forest Ecology; Wang, Xihua [East China Normal Univ. (ECNU), Shanghai (China). School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences; Wang, Xugao [Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project; Weiblen, George [Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States). Dept. of Plant Biology; Wolf, Amy [Univ. of Wisconsin, Green Bay, WI (United States). Dept. of Biology. Dept. of Natural and Applied Sciences; Xu, Han [Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou (China). Research Inst. of Tropical Forestry; Yap, Sandra [Univ. of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City (Philippines). Inst. of Biology; Zimmerman, Jess [Univ. of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras, San Juan (Puerto Rico). Dept. of Environmental Science. Inst. for Tropical Ecosystem Studies

2014-09-25

Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services, including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long-term forest dynamic research sites useful for characterizing forest responses to global change. The broad suite of measurements made at the CTFS-ForestGEO sites make it possible to investigate the complex ways in which global change is impacting forest dynamics. ongoing research across the network is yielding insights into how and why the forests are changing, and continued monitoring will provide vital contributions to understanding worldwide forest diversity and dynamics in a era of global change

Global health governance as shared health governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruger, Jennifer Prah

2012-07-01

With the exception of key 'proven successes' in global health, the current regime of global health governance can be understood as transnational and national actors pursuing their own interests under a rational actor model of international cooperation, which fails to provide sufficient justification for an obligation to assist in meeting the health needs of others. An ethical commitment to providing all with the ability to be healthy is required. This article develops select components of an alternative model of shared health governance (SHG), which aims to provide a 'road map,' 'focal points' and 'the glue' among various global health actors to better effectuate cooperation on universal ethical principles for an alternative global health equilibrium. Key features of SHG include public moral norms as shared authoritative standards; ethical commitments, shared goals and role allocation; shared sovereignty and constitutional commitments; legitimacy and accountability; country-level attention to international health relations. A framework of social agreement based on 'overlapping consensus' is contrasted against one based on self-interested political bargaining. A global health constitution delineating duties and obligations of global health actors and a global institute of health and medicine for holding actors responsible are proposed. Indicators for empirical assessment of select SHG principles are described. Global health actors, including states, must work together to correct and avert global health injustices through a framework of SHG based on shared ethical commitments.

Multi-level governance of forest resources (Editorial to the special feature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esther Mwangi

2012-08-01

Full Text Available A major challenge for many researchers and practitioners relates to how to recognize and address cross-scale dynamics in space and over time in order to design and implement effective governance arrangements. This editorial provides an overview of the concept of multi-level governance (MLG. In particular we highlight definitional issues, why the concept matters as well as more practical concerns related to the processes and structure of multi-level governance. It is increasingly clear that multi-level governance of forest resources involves complex interactions of state, private and civil society actors at various levels, and institutions linking higher levels of social and political organization. Local communities are increasingly connected to global networks and influences. This creates new opportunities to learn and address problems but may also introduce new pressures and risks. We conclude by stressing the need for a much complex approach to the varieties of MLG to better understand how policies work as instruments of governance and to organize communities within systems of power and authority.

Global analysis of the protection status of the world's forests

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmitt, Christine B.; Burgess, Neil David; Coad, Lauren

2009-01-01

This study presents a global analysis of forest cover and forest protection. An updated Global Forest Map (using MODIS2005) provided a current assessment of forest cover within 20 natural forest types. This map was overlaid onto WWF realms and ecoregions to gain additional biogeographic information...... on forest distribution. Using the 2008 World Database on Protected Areas, percentage forest cover protection was calculated globally, within forest types, realms and ecoregions, and within selected areas of global conservation importance. At the 10% tree cover threshold, global forest cover was 39 million...... km2. Of this, 7.7% fell within protected areas under IUCN management categories I-IV. With the inclusion of IUCN categories V and VI, the level of global forest protection increased to 13.5%. Percentage forest protection (IUCN I-IV) varied greatly between realms from 5.5% (Palearctic) to 13...

Global warming considerations in northern Boreal forest ecosystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slaughter, C.W.

1993-01-01

The northern boreal forests of circumpolar lands are of special significance to questions of global climate change. Throughout its range, these forests are characterized by a relatively few tree species, although they may exhibit great spatial heterogeneity. Their ecosystems are simpler than temperate systems, and ecosystem processes are strongly affected by interactions between water, the landscape, and the biota. Northern boreal forest vegetation patterns are strongly influenced by forest fires, and distribution of forest generally coincides with occurrence of permafrost. Boreal forest landscapes are extremely sensitive to thermal disruption; global warming may result in lasting thermal and physical degradation of soils, altered rates and patterns of vegetation succession, and damage to engineered structures. A change in fire severity and frequency is also a significant concern. The total carbon pool of boreal forests and their associated peatlands is significant on a global scale; this carbon may amount to 10-20% of the global carbon pool. A change in latitudinal or elevational treeline has been suggested as a probable consequence of global warming. More subtle aspects of boreal forest ecosystems which may be affected by global warming include the depth of the active soil layer, the hydrologic cycle, and biological attributes of boreal stream systems. 48 refs., 2 figs

Non-state global environmental governance : the emergence and effectiveness of forest and fisheries certification schemes

OpenAIRE

Gulbrandsen, Lars H.

2009-01-01

There is growing scholarly interest in the role and function of non-state actors in global governance. A number of non-state governance schemes have been created in recent years to set environmental and social standards for the certification of private companies and producers. This thesis focuses on certification schemes in the forestry and fisheries sectors, as initiatives in these two sectors arguably represent the most advanced cases of non-state rulemaking and governance in the environmen...

Fighting over forest: interactive governance of conflicts over forest and tree resources in Ghana’s high forest zone

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Derkyi, M.A.A.

2012-01-01

Based on eight case studies, this book analyses conflicts over forests and trees in Ghana’s high forest zone and ways of dealing with them. It thereby addresses the full range of forest and tree-based livelihoods. Combining interactive governance theory with political ecology and conflict theories,

Placing Teachers in Global Governance Agendas

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Susan L.

2012-01-01

This article examines the focus on teacher policies and practices by a range of global actors and explores their meaning for the governance of teachers. Through a historical and contemporary reading, I argue that an important shift in the locus of power to govern has taken place. I show how the mechanisms of global governance of teachers are being…

A fine mess: Bricolaged forest governance in Cameroon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ingram, V.J.; Ros-Tonen, M.A.F.; Dietz, T.

2015-01-01

Value chains of Cameroonian non-timber forest products move through harvesters, processors and traders, to consumers locally and worldwide. This paper characterises six governance arrangements governing eight such chains: statutory and customary regulations, voluntary market-based systems,

A fine mess : bricolaged forest governance in Cameroon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ingram, V.J.; Ros-Tonen, M.A.F.; Dietz, A.J.

2015-01-01

Value chains of Cameroonian non-timber forest products move through harvesters, processors and traders, to consumers locally and worldwide. This paper characterises six governance arrangements governing eight such chains: statutory and customary regulations, voluntary market-based systems,

Global Health Governance at a Crossroads.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Nora Y; Ruger, Jennifer Prah

2011-06-21

This review takes stock of the global health governance (GHG) literature. We address the transition from international health governance (IHG) to global health governance, identify major actors, and explain some challenges and successes in GHG. We analyze the framing of health as national security, human security, human rights, and global public good, and the implications of these various frames. We also establish and examine from the literature GHG's major themes and issues, which include: 1) persistent GHG problems; 2) different approaches to tackling health challenges (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal); 3) health's multisectoral connections; 4) neoliberalism and the global economy; 5) the framing of health (e.g. as a security issue, as a foreign policy issue, as a human rights issue, and as a global public good); 6) global health inequalities; 7) local and country ownership and capacity; 8) international law in GHG; and 9) research gaps in GHG. We find that decades-old challenges in GHG persist and GHG needs a new way forward. A framework called shared health governance offers promise.

Global health: governance and policy development.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Patrick W

2011-06-01

Global health policy is now being influenced by an ever-increasing number of nonstate and non-intergovernmental actors to include influential foundations, multinational corporations, multi-sectoral partnerships, and civil society organizations. This article reviews how globalization is a key driver for the ongoing evolution of global health governance. It describes the massive increases in bilateral and multilateral investments in global health and it highlights the current global and US architecture for performing global health programs. The article closes describing some of the challenges and prospects that characterize global health governance today. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Global constitutionalism, applied to global health governance: uncovering legitimacy deficits and suggesting remedies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ooms, Gorik; Hammonds, Rachel

2016-12-03

Global constitutionalism is a way of looking at the world, at global rules and how they are made, as if there was a global constitution, empowering global institutions to act as a global government, setting rules which bind all states and people. This essay employs global constitutionalism to examine how and why global health governance, as currently structured, has struggled to advance the right to health, a fundamental human rights obligation enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It first examines the core structure of the global health governance architecture, and its evolution since the Second World War. Second, it identifies the main constitutionalist principles that are relevant for a global constitutionalism assessment of the core structure of the global health governance architecture. Finally, it applies these constitutionalist principles to assess the core structure of the global health governance architecture. Leading global health institutions are structurally skewed to preserve high incomes countries' disproportionate influence on transnational rule-making authority, and tend to prioritise infectious disease control over the comprehensive realisation of the right to health. A Framework Convention on Global Health could create a classic division of powers in global health governance, with WHO as the law-making power in global health governance, a global fund for health as the executive power, and the International Court of Justice as the judiciary power.

Power Elites and Club-Model Governance in Global Finance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tsingou, Eleni

2014-01-01

Contribution to the Forum: Unpacking the Deep Structures of Global Governance: How Transnational Professionals Can Make Global Governance Intelligible.......Contribution to the Forum: Unpacking the Deep Structures of Global Governance: How Transnational Professionals Can Make Global Governance Intelligible....

Future-proofing global health: Governance of priorities.

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Belinda; Cohen, I Glenn; Davies, Sara E; Gostin, Lawrence O; Hill, Peter S; Mankad, Aditi; Phelan, Alexandra L

2018-05-01

The year 2015 was a significant anniversary for global health: 15 years since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals and the creation of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, followed two years later by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. 2015 was also the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of the International Health Regulations (May 2005) and the formal entering into force of the Framework Convention on the Tobacco Control (February 2005). The anniversary of these frameworks and institutions illustrates the growth and contribution of 'global' health diplomacy. Each initiative has also revealed on-going issues with compliance, sustainable funding and equitable attention in global health governance. In this paper, we present four thematic challenges that will continue to challenge prioritisation within global health governance into the future unless addressed: framing and prioritising within global health governance; identifying stakeholders of the global health community; understanding the relationship between health and behaviour; and the role of governance and regulation in supporting global health.

Global sensitivity analysis of DRAINMOD-FOREST, an integrated forest ecosystem model

Science.gov (United States)

Shiying Tian; Mohamed A. Youssef; Devendra M. Amatya; Eric D. Vance

2014-01-01

Global sensitivity analysis is a useful tool to understand process-based ecosystem models by identifying key parameters and processes controlling model predictions. This study reported a comprehensive global sensitivity analysis for DRAINMOD-FOREST, an integrated model for simulating water, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) cycles and plant growth in lowland forests. The...

The European Union and Multilateral Global Governance

OpenAIRE

BARROSO, José Manuel Durão

2010-01-01

The Global Governance Programme at the EUI. The world faces increasingly complex problems that have taken on global significance - including conflict and peace-building, humanitarian crises and intervention, international economic inequality and instability, and global environmental change. Global Governance points to the international framework of principles, processes and rules - and the set of institutions that uphold them - which are needed to tackle global problems. ‘Global governance’ h...

Political Modernization in China's Forest Governance? Payment Schemes for Forest Ecological Services in Liaoning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liang, D.; Mol, A.P.J.

2013-01-01

Payment for environmental services (PES) schemes are increasingly being introduced in developed and developing countries for the ecological conservation of forests also. Such payment schemes resemble a new mode of forest governance labelled political modernization, in which centralized and

Creation of forest edges has a global impact on forest vertebrates

Science.gov (United States)

Peres, CA; Banks-Leite, C; Wearn, OR; Marsh, CJ; Butchart, SHM; Arroyo-Rodríguez, V; Barlow, J; Cerezo, A; Cisneros, L; D’Cruze, N; Faria, D; Hadley, A; Harris, S; Klingbeil, BT; Kormann, U; Lens, L; Medina-Rangel, GF; Morante-Filho, JC; Olivier, P; Peters, SL; Pidgeon, A; Ribeiro, DB; Scherber, C; Schneider-Maunory, L; Struebig, M; Urbina-Cardona, N; Watling, JI; Willig, MR; Wood, EM; Ewers, RM

2017-01-01

Summary Forest edges influence more than half the world’s forests and contribute to worldwide declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, predicting these declines is challenging in heterogeneous fragmented landscapes. We assembled an unmatched global dataset on species responses to fragmentation and developed a new statistical approach for quantifying edge impacts in heterogeneous landscapes to quantify edge-determined changes in abundance of 1673 vertebrate species. We show that 85% of species’ abundances are affected, either positively or negatively, by forest edges. Forest core species, which were more likely to be listed as threatened by the IUCN, only reached peak abundances at sites farther than 200-400 m from sharp high-contrast forest edges. Smaller-bodied amphibians, larger reptiles and medium-sized non-volant mammals experienced a larger reduction in suitable habitat than other forest core species. Our results highlight the pervasive ability of forest edges to restructure ecological communities on a global scale. PMID:29088701

Mapping Global Forest Aboveground Biomass with Spaceborne LiDAR, Optical Imagery, and Forest Inventory Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tianyu Hu

2016-07-01

Full Text Available As a large carbon pool, global forest ecosystems are a critical component of the global carbon cycle. Accurate estimations of global forest aboveground biomass (AGB can improve the understanding of global carbon dynamics and help to quantify anthropogenic carbon emissions. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR techniques have been proven that can accurately capture both horizontal and vertical forest structures and increase the accuracy of forest AGB estimation. In this study, we mapped the global forest AGB density at a 1-km resolution through the integration of ground inventory data, optical imagery, Geoscience Laser Altimeter System/Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite data, climate surfaces, and topographic data. Over 4000 ground inventory records were collected from published literatures to train the forest AGB estimation model and validate the resulting global forest AGB product. Our wall-to-wall global forest AGB map showed that the global forest AGB density was 210.09 Mg/ha on average, with a standard deviation of 109.31 Mg/ha. At the continental level, Africa (333.34 ± 63.80 Mg/ha and South America (301.68 ± 67.43 Mg/ha had higher AGB density. The AGB density in Asia, North America and Europe were 172.28 ± 94.75, 166.48 ± 84.97, and 132.97 ± 50.70 Mg/ha, respectively. The wall-to-wall forest AGB map was evaluated at plot level using independent plot measurements. The adjusted coefficient of determination (R2 and root-mean-square error (RMSE between our predicted results and the validation plots were 0.56 and 87.53 Mg/ha, respectively. At the ecological zone level, the R2 and RMSE between our map and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggested values were 0.56 and 101.21 Mg/ha, respectively. Moreover, a comprehensive comparison was also conducted between our forest AGB map and other published regional AGB products. Overall, our forest AGB map showed good agreements with these regional AGB products, but some of the regional

Impacts of climate change on the global forest sector

Science.gov (United States)

Perez-Garcia, J.; Joyce, L.A.; McGuire, A.D.; Xiao, X.

2002-01-01

The path and magnitude of future anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide will likely influence changes in climate that may impact the global forest sector. These responses in the global forest sector may have implications for international efforts to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. This study takes a step toward including the role of global forest sector in integrated assessments of the global carbon cycle by linking global models of climate dynamics, ecosystem processes and forest economics to assess the potential responses of the global forest sector to different levels of greenhouse gas emissions. We utilize three climate scenarios and two economic scenarios to represent a range of greenhouse gas emissions and economic behavior. At the end of the analysis period (2040), the potential responses in regional forest growing stock simulated by the global ecosystem model range from decreases and increases for the low emissions climate scenario to increases in all regions for the high emissions climate scenario. The changes in vegetation are used to adjust timber supply in the softwood and hardwood sectors of the economic model. In general, the global changes in welfare are positive, but small across all scenarios. At the regional level, the changes in welfare can be large and either negative or positive. Markets and trade in forest products play important roles in whether a region realizes any gains associated with climate change. In general, regions with the lowest wood fiber production cost are able to expand harvests. Trade in forest products leads to lower prices elsewhere. The low-cost regions expand market shares and force higher-cost regions to decrease their harvests. Trade produces different economic gains and losses across the globe even though, globally, economic welfare increases. The results of this study indicate that assumptions within alternative climate scenarios and about trade in forest products are important factors

Creation of forest edges has a global impact on forest vertebrates

Science.gov (United States)

Pfeifer, M.; Lefebvre, V.; Peres, C. A.; Banks-Leite, C.; Wearn, O. R.; Marsh, C. J.; Butchart, S. H. M.; Arroyo-Rodríguez, V.; Barlow, J.; Cerezo, A.; Cisneros, L.; D'Cruze, N.; Faria, D.; Hadley, A.; Harris, S. M.; Klingbeil, B. T.; Kormann, U.; Lens, L.; Medina-Rangel, G. F.; Morante-Filho, J. C.; Olivier, P.; Peters, S. L.; Pidgeon, A.; Ribeiro, D. B.; Scherber, C.; Schneider-Maunoury, L.; Struebig, M.; Urbina-Cardona, N.; Watling, J. I.; Willig, M. R.; Wood, E. M.; Ewers, R. M.

2017-11-01

Forest edges influence more than half of the world’s forests and contribute to worldwide declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, predicting these declines is challenging in heterogeneous fragmented landscapes. Here we assembled a global dataset on species responses to fragmentation and developed a statistical approach for quantifying edge impacts in heterogeneous landscapes to quantify edge-determined changes in abundance of 1,673 vertebrate species. We show that the abundances of 85% of species are affected, either positively or negatively, by forest edges. Species that live in the centre of the forest (forest core), that were more likely to be listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), reached peak abundances only at sites farther than 200-400 m from sharp high-contrast forest edges. Smaller-bodied amphibians, larger reptiles and medium-sized non-volant mammals experienced a larger reduction in suitable habitat than other forest-core species. Our results highlight the pervasive ability of forest edges to restructure ecological communities on a global scale.

The role of forest disturbance in global forest mortality and terrestrial carbon fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Pugh, Thomas; Arneth, Almut; Smith, Benjamin; Poulter, Benjamin

2017-04-01

Large-scale forest disturbance dynamics such as insect outbreaks, wind-throw and fires, along with anthropogenic disturbances such as logging, have been shown to turn forests from carbon sinks into intermittent sources, often quite dramatically so. There is also increasing evidence that disturbance regimes in many regions are changing as a result of climatic change and human land-management practices. But how these landscape-scale events fit into the wider picture of global tree mortality is not well understood. Do such events dominate global carbon turnover, or are their effects highly regional? How sensitive is global terrestrial carbon exchange to realistic changes in the occurrence rate of such disturbances? Here, we combine recent advances in global satellite observations of stand-replacing forest disturbances and in compilations of forest inventory data, with a global terrestrial ecosystem model which incorporates an explicit representation of the role of disturbance in forest dynamics. We find that stand-replacing disturbances account for a fraction of wood carbon turnover that varies spatially from less than 5% in the tropical rainforest to ca. 50% in the mid latitudes, and as much as 90% in some heavily-managed regions. We contrast the size of the land-atmosphere carbon flux due to this disturbance with other components of the terrestrial carbon budget. In terms of sensitivity, we find a quasi log-linear relationship of disturbance rate to total carbon storage. Relatively small changes in disturbance rates at all latitudes have marked effects on vegetation carbon storage, with potentially very substantial implications for the global terrestrial carbon sink. Our results suggest a surprisingly small effect of disturbance type on large-scale forest vegetation dynamics and carbon storage, with limited evidence of widespread increases in nitrogen limitation as a result of increasing future disturbance. However, the influence of disturbance type on soil carbon

Local Governments Responsibility In The Management Of Customary Forests Special Autonomy Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pater Yikwa

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Utilization of forest and forest area can be adjusted with its main function that is conservation protection and production. In order to maintain the sustainability of the main function and condition of the forest rehabilitation and reclamation of forest and land are also carried out. The research is empirical research or commonly called non-doctrinal legal research. This research was conducted in the territory of Papua Province Indonesia precisely in Districts of Jayapura Keerom Sarmi and Nabire. The results show that the governments responsibility to improve the welfare of Papuan people from forest management has not been well realized and has not yet strengthened the fiscal capacity of government in Papua Province. Therefore the government of Papua Province has regulated the management of customary forests by issuing and enacting the Special Regulation of Papua Perdasus No. 21 of 2008 on Sustainable Forest Management in Papua Province and the policy of economic empowerment of communities in and around customary forests. Law enforcement of illegal logging practices is based not only on juridical approaches but also socio-political and socio-cultural approaches.

Forests and global warming mitigation in Brazil: opportunities in the Brazilian forest sector for responses to global warming under the 'clean development mechanism''

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fearnside, P.M.

1999-01-01

The Kyoto Protocol created global warming response opportunities through the clean development mechanism that allow countries like Brazil to receive investments from companies and governments wishing to offset their emissions of greenhouse gases. Brazil has a special place in strategies for combating global warming because its vast areas of tropical forest represent a potentially large source of emissions if deforested. A number of issues need to be settled to properly assign credit for carbon in the types of options presented by the Brazilian forest sector. These include definition of the units of carbon (permanent sequestration versus carbon-ton-years, the latter being most appropriate for forest options), the means of crediting forest reserve establishment, adoption of discounting or other time-preference weighting for carbon, definition of the accounting method (avoided emissions versus stock maintenance), and mechanism to allow program contributions to be counted, rather than restricting consideration to free-standing projects. Silvicultural plantations offer opportunities for carbon benefits, but have high social impacts in the Brazilian context. Plantations also inherently compete with deforestation reduction options for funds. Forest management has been proposed as a global warming response option, but the assignment of any value to time makes this unattractive in terms of carbon benefits. However, reduced-impact logging can substantially reduce emissions over those from traditional logging practices. Slowing deforestation is the major opportunity offered by Brazil. Slowing deforestation will require understanding its causes and creating functional models capable of generating land-use change scenarios with and without different policy changes and other activities. Brazil already has a number of programs designed to slow deforestation, but the continued rapid loss of forest highlights the vast gulf that exists between the magnitude of the problem and the

Governance of private forests in Eastern and Central Europe: An analysis of forest harvesting and management rights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Bouriaud

2013-05-01

Full Text Available A property rights-based approach is proposed in the paper to underlinethe common characteristics of the forest property rights specificationin ten ECE countries, the specific patterns governing the harvesting of timber in private forestry and the role of the forest management planning in determining the content of the property rights. The analysis deals with the private forests of the individuals (non industrial ownership from ten countries, covering 7.3 million ha and producing yearly some 25 million timber. The study shows that the forest management rights in private forests belong to the State and that the withdrawal rights on timber, yet recognized in the forest management plans, are in reality strongly restricted from aneconomic viewpoint. The forest management planning is the key instrument of the current forest governance system, based on top-down, hierarchically imposed and enforced set of compulsory rules on timber harvesting. With few exceptions, the forest owners’ have little influence in the forest planning and harvesting. The rational and State-lead approach of the private forest management has serious implications not only on the economic content of the property rights, but also on the learning and adaptive capacity of private forestry to cope with current challenges such the climate change, the increased industry needs for wood as raw material, or the marketingof innovative non wood forest products and services. The study highlights that understanding and comparing the regime of the forest ownership require a special analysis of the economic rights attached to each forest attribute; and that the evolution towards more participatory decision-making in the local forest governance can not be accurately assessed in ECE region without a proper understanding of the forest management planning process.

Governance of private forests in Eastern and Central Europe: An analysis of forest harvesting and management rights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Bouriaud

2013-07-01

Full Text Available A property rights-based approach is proposed in the paper to underline the common characteristics of the forest property rights specification in ten ECE countries, the specific patterns governing the harvesting of timber in private forestry and the role of the forest management planning in determining the content of the property rights. The analysis deals with the private forests of the individuals (non industrial ownership from ten countries, covering 7.3 million ha and producing yearly some 25 million m3 timber. The study shows that the forest management rights in private forests belong to the State and that the withdrawal rights on timber, yet recognised in the forest management plans, are in reality strongly restricted from an economic viewpoint. The forest management planning is the key instrument of the current forest governance system, based on top-down, hierarchically imposed and enforced set of compulsory rules on timber harvesting. With few exceptions, the forest owners’ have little influence in the forest planning and harvesting. The rational and State-lead approach of the private forest management has serious implications not only on the economic content of the property rights, but also on the learning and adaptive capacity of private forestry to cope with current challenges such the climate change, the increased industry needs for wood as raw material, or the marketing of innovative non wood forest products and services. The study highlights that understanding and comparing the regime of the forest ownership require a special analysis of the economic rights attached to each forest attribute; and that the evolution towards more participatory decision-making in the local forest governance can not be accurately assessed in ECE region without a proper understanding of the forest management planning process. 

Global Food Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oosterveer, P.J.M.

2005-01-01

Globalisation in food production and consumption is fundamentally transforming a wide variety of social practices at different levels in society. Simply adding another level of governance will therefore not solve the problems related to food production and consumption in global modernity. Different

Global Governance: Old and New Issues

OpenAIRE

Gary Clyde Hufbauer

2008-01-01

This paper opens with a short recollection of the Kiel Week Conference of 2002, recorded in a volume edited by Horst Siebert, titled Global Governance: An Architecture for the World Economy. Assess-ments and forecasts made at that time are scored against subsequent developments. Security relations between the great powers are asserted to define the space for global economic governance. Over the next thirty years, the security context is not likely to provide the same inspiration for global ec...

Global warming and the forest fire business in Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stocks, B.J.

1991-01-01

The current forest fire situation in Canada is outlined, and an attempt is made to predict the impact of global warming on the forest fire business in Canada. Despite the development of extremely sophisticated provincial and territorial fire management systems, forest fires continue to exert a tremendous influence on the Canadian forest resource. Research into the relationship between climate warming and forest fires has fallen into two categories: the effect of future global warming on fire weather severity, and the current contribution of forest fires to global atmospheric greenhouse gas budgets. A 46% increase in seasonal fire severity across Canada is suggested under a doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration scenario. Approximately 89% of carbon released to the atmosphere by forest fire burning is in the form of carbon dioxide, 9% is carbon monoxide, and the remaining carbon is released as methane or non-methane hydrocarbons. It is estimated that forest fires in northern circumpolar countries contribute from 1-2% of the carbon released globally through biomass burning. Fire may be the agent by which a northerly shift of forest vegetation in Canada occurs. 13 refs., 2 figs

Framing global health: the governance challenge.

Science.gov (United States)

McInnes, Colin; Kamradt-Scott, Adam; Lee, Kelley; Reubi, David; Roemer-Mahler, Anne; Rushton, Simon; Williams, Owain David; Woodling, Marie

2012-01-01

With the emergence of global health comes governance challenges which are equally global in nature. This article identifies some of the initial limitations in analyses of global health governance (GHG) before discussing the focus of this special supplement: the framing of global health issues and the manner in which this impacts upon GHG. Whilst not denying the importance of material factors (such as resources and institutional competencies), the article identifies how issues can be framed in different ways, thereby creating particular pathways of response which in turn affect the potential for and nature of GHG. It also identifies and discusses the key frames operating in global health: evidence-based medicine, human rights, security, economics and development.

The relative importance of community forests, government forests, and private forests for household-level incomes in the Middle Hills of Nepal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oli, Bishwa Nath; Treue, Thorsten; Smith-Hall, Carsten

2016-01-01

To investigate the household-level economic importance of income from forests under different tenure arrangements, data were collected from 304 stratified randomly sampled households within 10 villages with community forest user groups in Tanahun District, Western Nepal. We observed that forest...... realisation of community forestry's poverty reduction and income equalizing potential requires modifications of rules that govern forest extraction and pricing at community forest user group level....

From Target to Implementation: Perspectives for the International Governance of Forest Landscape Restoration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Till Pistorius

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Continuing depletion of forest resources, particularly in tropical developing countries, has turned vast areas of intact ecosystems into urbanized and agricultural lands. The degree of degradation varies, but in most cases, the ecosystem functions and the ability to provide a variety of ecosystem services are severely impaired. In addition to many other challenges, successful forest restoration of these lands requires considerable resources and funding, but the ecological, economic and social benefits have the potential to outweigh the investment. As a consequence, at the international policy level, restoration is seen as a field of land use activities that provides significant contributions to simultaneously achieving different environmental and social policy objectives. Accordingly, different policy processes at the international policy level have made ecological landscape restoration a global priority, in particular the Convention on Biological Diversity with the Aichi Target 15 agreed upon in 2010, which aims at restoring 15% of all degraded land areas by 2020. While such ambitious policy targets are important for recognizing and agreeing upon solutions for environmental problems, they are unlikely to be further substantiated or governed. The objective of this paper is thus to develop a complementary governance approach to the top-down implementation of the Aichi target. Drawing on collaborative and network governance theories, we discuss the potential of a collaborative networked governance approach and perspectives for overcoming the inherent challenges facing a rapid large-scale restoration of degraded lands.

Understanding illegality and corruption in forest governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundström, Aksel

2016-10-01

This review synthesizes the literature studying illegality and government corruption in forest management. After discussing the theoretical connections between different types of corruption and illegal forest-related activities it describes the major trends in previous studies, examining cross-national patterns as well as local in-depth studies. Both theory and available empirical findings provide a straightforward suggestion: Bribery is indeed a "door opener" for illegal activities to take place in forest management. It then discusses the implications for conservation, focusing first on international protection schemes such as the REDD+ and second on efforts to reduce illegality and bribery in forest management. Key aspects to consider in the discussion on how to design monitoring institutions of forest regulations is how to involve actors without the incentive to engage in bribery and how to make use of new technologies that may publicize illegal behavior in distant localities. The review concludes by discussing avenues for future research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Private Institutions and Business Power in Global Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ougaard, Morten

2008-01-01

Review essay. This article reviews the books "Transnational Private Governance and its Limits" edited by Jean-Christophe Graz and Andreas Nölke, "Business Power in Global Governance" by Doris Fuchs, and Private Institutions and Global Governance. The New Politics of Environmental Sustainability...

The Governance of Global Wealth Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

2017-01-01

This article offers a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains (GWCs) are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in International Political Economy and Economic Geography on Global Value Chains, literature on finance...... innovative financial products produced by large financial institutions and corporations. This article highlights how GWCs intersect with value chains, and provides brief case examples of wealth chains and how they interact.......This article offers a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains (GWCs) are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in International Political Economy and Economic Geography on Global Value Chains, literature on finance...... capacities among suppliers of products used in wealth chains. We then differentiate five types of GWC governance – Market, Modular, Relational, Captive, and Hierarchy – which range from simple ‘off shelf’ products shielded from regulators by advantageous international tax laws to highly complex and flexible...

From State-controlled to Polycentric Governance in Forest Landscape Restoration: The Case of the Ecological Forest Purchase Program in Yong'an Municipality of China.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Hexing; Liu, Jinlong; Tu, Chengyue; Fu, Yimin

2018-07-01

Forest landscape restoration is emerging as an effective approach to restore degraded forests for the provision of ecosystem services and to minimize trade-offs between conservation and rural livelihoods. Policy and institutional innovations in China illustrate the governance transformation of forest landscape restoration from state-controlled to polycentric governance. Based on a case study of the Ecological Forest Purchase Program in Yong'an municipality, China's Fujian Province, this paper explores how such forest governance transformation has evolved and how it has shaped the outcomes of forest landscape restoration in terms of multi-dimensionality and actor configurations. Our analysis indicates that accommodating the participation of multiple actors and market-based instruments facilitate a smoother transition from state-centered to polycentric governance in forest landscape restoration. Governance transitions for forest landscape restoration must overcome a number of challenges including ensurance of a formal participation forum, fair participation, and a sustainable legislative and financial system to enhance long-term effectiveness.

CTFS-ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change

Science.gov (United States)

Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira; Stuart J. Davies; Amy C. Bennett; Erika B. Gonzalez-Akre; Helene C. Muller-Landau; S. Joseph Wright; Kamariah Abu Salim; Angélica M. Almeyda Zambrano; Alfonso Alonso; Jennifer L. Baltzer; Yves Basset; Norman A. Bourg; Eben N. Broadbent; Warren Y. Brockelman; Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin; David F. R. P. Burslem; Nathalie Butt; Min Cao; Dairon Cardenas; George B. Chuyong; Keith Clay; Susan Cordell; Handanakere S. Dattaraja; Xiaobao Deng; Matteo Detto; Xiaojun Du; Alvaro Duque; David L. Erikson; Corneille E.N. Ewango; Gunter A. Fischer; Christine Fletcher; Robin B. Foster; Christian P. Giardina; Gregory S. Gilbert; Nimal Gunatilleke; Savitri Gunatilleke; Zhanqing Hao; William W. Hargrove; Terese B. Hart; Billy C.H. Hau; Fangliang He; Forrest M. Hoffman; Robert W. Howe; Stephen P. Hubbell; Faith M. Inman-Narahari; Patrick A. Jansen; Mingxi Jiang; Daniel J. Johnson; Mamoru Kanzaki; Abdul Rahman Kassim; David Kenfack; Staline Kibet; Margaret F. Kinnaird; Lisa Korte; Kamil Kral; Jitendra Kumar; Andrew J. Larson; Yide Li; Xiankun Li; Shirong Liu; Shawn K.Y. Lum; James A. Lutz; Keping Ma; Damian M. Maddalena; Jean-Remy Makana; Yadvinder Malhi; Toby Marthews; Rafizah Mat Serudin; Sean M. McMahon; William J. McShea; Hervé R. Memiaghe; Xiangcheng Mi; Takashi Mizuno; Michael Morecroft; Jonathan A. Myers; Vojtech Novotny; Alexandre A. de Oliveira; Perry S. Ong; David A. Orwig; Rebecca Ostertag; Jan den Ouden; Geoffrey G. Parker; Richard P. Phillips; Lawren Sack; Moses N. Sainge; Weiguo Sang; Kriangsak Sri-ngernyuang; Raman Sukumar; I-Fang Sun; Witchaphart Sungpalee; Hebbalalu Sathyanarayana Suresh; Sylvester Tan; Sean C. Thomas; Duncan W. Thomas; Jill Thompson; Benjamin L. Turner; Maria Uriarte; Renato Valencia; Marta I. Vallejo; Alberto Vicentini; Tomáš Vrška; Xihua Wang; Xugao Wang; George Weiblen; Amy Wolf; Han Xu; Sandra Yap; Jess Zimmerman

2014-01-01

Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long-term forest dynamics research sites (CTFS-ForestGEO) useful for characterizing forest responses...

Are Protected Forests of Bangladesh Prepared for the Implementation of REDD+? A Forest Governance Analysis from Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Habibur Rahman

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The present study investigates the forest governance structure for REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation implementation in a protected forest of Bangladesh, namely Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary (RKWS. The study analyses the key aspects of forest governance, focusing on drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, governance deficit, institutions and social networks, co-benefits, and opportunities and challenges of REDD+ in RKWS. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used for primary data collection from different forest stakeholders, including forest-dependent communities, Forest Department (FD and co-management project staffs. The survey revealed that REDD+ not only on technical issues but even more on how the evolving mechanism is governed on various levels, ranging from local to international. Although a majority (69.5% of the respondents were motivated to engage in REDD+, indigenous communities were less interested in fear of loss of access to and use of land and forest resources, ownership and rights, and traditional customs and knowledge. There remained a degree of ambiguity of FD, community and co-management projects in field operations, which conflicted with the notions of cooperation, transparency, and accountability of the overall initiatives. Moreover, there is a strong local power structure that has major control over the community, locality and even over a local administration that is a crucial issue to the RKWS authority. However, REDD+ will open up the opportunity to manage the RKWS’s forest resources in a sustainable way, increase the level of protection, and expand the area protected, hence REDD+ must align with the interests of all stakeholders to fulfil its goal. Further research is necessary to inform the governance of REDD+ in Bangladesh to better understand the interplay, interactions and linkages between existing institutions, actors and policy processes.

The analysis of the regional self-governing units forests in selected European countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbora Lišková

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article focuses on identification, analysis, description and comparison of the regional self-governing units (RSGU forests in selected European countries. The analysis deals not only with forests in the ownership of basic regional self-governing units such as villages but also with forests of higher regional self-governing unit such as regions or federated states. The identification and description of this type of ownership is not overly published in the Czech Republic. The published foreign overall studies and summaries state mainly the division into forests in public and private ownership. This article is created on the basis of the selection of relevant information sources according to corresponding key words. The methods of analysis of available literary sources, conspectus, comparison and interpretation were used to deal with the topic. The quantity of information is higher and more available within basic regional self-governing units than with higher regional self-governing units. On the basis of obtained information it can be stated that the share of forest ownership in the observed countries varies ranging from zero share in the ownership to fifty per cent share in Germany.

Multi-stakeholder design of forest governance and accountability arrangements in Equator province, Democratic Republic of Congo

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klaver, D.C.

2009-01-01

Good forest governance is an increasingly important topic for stakeholders in many different settings around the world. Two of the best-known international initiatives to improve forest governance are the regional Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) ministerial processes supported by the

Historical, ecological, and governance aspects of intensive forest biomass harvesting in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stupak, Inge; Raulund-Rasmussen, Karsten

2016-01-01

forests would be a more useful reference for ecological processes and biodiversity. However, pristine forests are almost non-existent in Europe, and non-intervention, self-regulating forests provide an alternative. Governance and positions of non-governmental organizations in Denmark focus more on general...... forest management impacts and conservation of light-demanding biodiversity associated with historic coppicing and grazing than on intensive harvesting. The energy sector drives the development of new governance to verify forest biomass sustainability, but the national knowledge base for such verification...... is limited. As part of a larger solution, we suggest establishing a network of non-intervention, self-regulating forests that can serve as a reference for long-term research and monitoring of intensive harvesting impacts. This would support the application of adaptive management strategies, and continuous...

CTFS-ForestGEO: A worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anderson-Teixeira, K.J.; Davies, S.J.; Bennett, A.C.; Gonzalez-Akre, E.B.; Muller-Landau, H.C.; Wright, S.J.; Abu Salim, K.; Almeyda Zambrano, A.M.; Jansen, P.A.; Ouden, den J.

2015-01-01

Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long-term forest dynamics

Global Water Governance in the Context of Global and Multilevel Governance: Its Need, Form, and Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joyeeta Gupta

2013-12-01

Full Text Available To complement this Special Feature on global water governance, we focused on a generic challenge at the global level, namely, the degree to which water issues need to be dealt with in a centralized, concentrated, and hierarchical manner. We examined water ecosystem services and their impact on human well-being, the role of policies, indirect and direct drivers in influencing these services, and the administrative level(s at which the provision of services and potential trade-offs can be dealt with. We applied a politics of scale perspective to understand motivations for defining a problem at the global or local level and show that the multilevel approach to water governance is evolving and inevitable. We argue that a centralized overarching governance system for water is unlikely and possibly undesirable; however, there is a need for a high-level think tank and leadership to develop a cosmopolitan perspective to promote sustainable water development.

High-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, M C; Potapov, P V; Moore, R; Hancher, M; Turubanova, S A; Tyukavina, A; Thau, D; Stehman, S V; Goetz, S J; Loveland, T R; Kommareddy, A; Egorov, A; Chini, L; Justice, C O; Townshend, J R G

2013-11-15

Quantification of global forest change has been lacking despite the recognized importance of forest ecosystem services. In this study, Earth observation satellite data were used to map global forest loss (2.3 million square kilometers) and gain (0.8 million square kilometers) from 2000 to 2012 at a spatial resolution of 30 meters. The tropics were the only climate domain to exhibit a trend, with forest loss increasing by 2101 square kilometers per year. Brazil's well-documented reduction in deforestation was offset by increasing forest loss in Indonesia, Malaysia, Paraguay, Bolivia, Zambia, Angola, and elsewhere. Intensive forestry practiced within subtropical forests resulted in the highest rates of forest change globally. Boreal forest loss due largely to fire and forestry was second to that in the tropics in absolute and proportional terms. These results depict a globally consistent and locally relevant record of forest change.

Polycentrism in Global Health Governance Scholarship; Comment on “Four Challenges That Global Health Networks Face”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jale Tosun

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Drawing on an in-depth analysis of eight global health networks, a recent essay in this journal argued that global health networks face four challenges to their effectiveness: problem definition, positioning, coalition-building, and governance. While sharing the argument of the essay concerned, in this commentary, we argue that these analytical concepts can be used to explicate a concept that has implicitly been used in global health governance scholarship for quite a few years. While already prominent in the discussion of climate change governance, for instance, global health governance scholarship could make progress by looking at global health governance as being polycentric. Concisely, polycentric forms of governance mix scales, mechanisms, and actors. Drawing on the essay, we propose a polycentric approach to the study of global health governance that incorporates coalitionbuilding tactics, internal governance and global political priority as explanatory factors.

Public-private interactions in global food safety governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Ching-Fu

2014-01-01

In response to an apparent decline in global food safety, numerous public and private regulatory initiatives have emerged to restore public confidence. This trend has been particularly marked by the growing influence of private regulators such as multinational food companies, supermarket chains and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who employ private standards, certification protocols, third-party auditing, and transnational contracting practices. This paper explores how the structure and processes of private food safety governance interact with traditional public governance regimes, focusing on Global Good Agricultural Practices (GlobalGAP) as a primary example of the former. Due to the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of public regulation in the face of global problems, private governance in food safety has gradually replaced states' command-and-control regulation with more flexible, market-oriented mechanisms. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of constructive regime interaction instead of institutional boundary building to global food safety governance. Public and private ordering must each play a role as integral parts of a larger, dynamic and evolving governance complex.

The Governance of Global Wealth Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

) innovation capacities among suppliers of products used in wealth chains. We then differentiate five types of global value chain governance - market, modular, relational, captive, and hierarchy - which range from simple ‘off shelf’ products shielded from regulators by advantageous international tax laws...... to highly complex and flexible innovative financial products produced by large financial institutions and corporations. This paper highlights how Global Wealth Chains intersect with value chains and real economies, and provides three brief case studies on offshore shell companies, family property trusts......This working paper creates a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in international political economy and economic geography on Global Value Chains, literature on finance...

Polycentrism in Global Health Governance Scholarship Comment on "Four Challenges That Global Health Networks Face".

Science.gov (United States)

Tosun, Jale

2017-05-23

Drawing on an in-depth analysis of eight global health networks, a recent essay in this journal argued that global health networks face four challenges to their effectiveness: problem definition, positioning, coalition-building, and governance. While sharing the argument of the essay concerned, in this commentary, we argue that these analytical concepts can be used to explicate a concept that has implicitly been used in global health governance scholarship for quite a few years. While already prominent in the discussion of climate change governance, for instance, global health governance scholarship could make progress by looking at global health governance as being polycentric. Concisely, polycentric forms of governance mix scales, mechanisms, and actors. Drawing on the essay, we propose a polycentric approach to the study of global health governance that incorporates coalitionbuilding tactics, internal governance and global political priority as explanatory factors. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Global climate change adaptation: examples from Russian boreal forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krankina, O.N.; Dixon, R.K.; Kirilenko, A.P.; Kobak, K.I.

1997-01-01

The Russian Federation contains approximately 20% of the world's timber resources and more than half of all boreal forests. These forests play a prominent role in environmental protection and economic development at global, national, and local levels, as well as, provide commodities for indigenous people and habitat for a variety of plant and animal species. The response and feedbacks of Russian boreal forests to projected global climate change are expected to be profound. Current understanding of the vulnerability of Russian forest resources to projected climate change is discussed and examples of possible adaptation measures for Russian forests are presented including: (1) artificial forestation techniques that can be applied with the advent of failed natural regeneration and to facilitate forest migration northward; (2) silvicultural measures that can influence the species mix to maintain productivity under future climates; (3) identifying forests at risk and developing special management adaption measures for them: (4) alternative processing and uses of wood and non-wood products from future forests; and (5) potential future infrastructure and transport systems that can be employed as boreal forests shift northward into melting permafrost zones. Current infrastructure and technology can be employed to help Russian boreal forests adapt to projected global environmental change, however many current forest management practices may have to be modified. Application of this technical knowledge can help policymakers identify priorities for climate change adaptation

Conventional and New Ways of Governing Forest Threats: A Study of Stakeholder Coherence in Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksson, Louise

2018-01-01

Based on a framework for analyzing stakeholder coherence horizontally and vertically, the present study examined the governance of forest threats in Sweden. Opinions of forest risk governance in stakeholder groups with and without a connection to private forestry were compared ( n = 2496) and the opinions were analyzed in relation to current governance practices. More specifically, forest threat appraisals, trust in the Swedish Forest Agency (SFA), and the acceptability of forest risk policy measures directed at private forest owners were assessed. Results revealed an overall coherence between different stakeholders in this context. However, the groups differed in, for example, the acceptability of the hypothetical regulative measure aiming to reduce damages threatening the forest long-term (e.g., climate change). Furthermore, an extensive use of advice for a fee may challenge particularly the internal, but also the external, legitimacy of forest risk governance. The forest owner stakeholder group showed lower threat appraisals when evaluating threat to one's own forest rather than to the Swedish forest, except regarding browsing by animals. Regulations were not disapproved of in any of the stakeholder groups, although the forest owner group generally displayed higher acceptability of encouraging measures compared to the general public. Trust in the SFA was furthermore confirmed as an important driver of policy acceptability, and higher threat appraisals of novel threats, such as climate change and fire, resulted in a higher acceptability of measures less central or new in this context. The value of analyzing stakeholder coherence for natural resource management and governance is discussed.

Conventional and New Ways of Governing Forest Threats: A Study of Stakeholder Coherence in Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksson, Louise

2018-01-01

Based on a framework for analyzing stakeholder coherence horizontally and vertically, the present study examined the governance of forest threats in Sweden. Opinions of forest risk governance in stakeholder groups with and without a connection to private forestry were compared (n = 2496) and the opinions were analyzed in relation to current governance practices. More specifically, forest threat appraisals, trust in the Swedish Forest Agency (SFA), and the acceptability of forest risk policy measures directed at private forest owners were assessed. Results revealed an overall coherence between different stakeholders in this context. However, the groups differed in, for example, the acceptability of the hypothetical regulative measure aiming to reduce damages threatening the forest long-term (e.g., climate change). Furthermore, an extensive use of advice for a fee may challenge particularly the internal, but also the external, legitimacy of forest risk governance. The forest owner stakeholder group showed lower threat appraisals when evaluating threat to one's own forest rather than to the Swedish forest, except regarding browsing by animals. Regulations were not disapproved of in any of the stakeholder groups, although the forest owner group generally displayed higher acceptability of encouraging measures compared to the general public. Trust in the SFA was furthermore confirmed as an important driver of policy acceptability, and higher threat appraisals of novel threats, such as climate change and fire, resulted in a higher acceptability of measures less central or new in this context. The value of analyzing stakeholder coherence for natural resource management and governance is discussed.

Do PES Improve the Governance of Forest Restoration?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romain Pirard

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Payments for Environmental Services (PES are praised as innovative policy instruments and they influence the governance of forest restoration efforts in two major ways. The first is the establishment of multi-stakeholder agencies as intermediary bodies between funders and planters to manage the funds and to distribute incentives to planters. The second implication is that specific contracts assign objectives to land users in the form of conditions for payments that are believed to increase the chances for sustained impacts on the ground. These implications are important in the assessment of the potential of PES to operate as new and effective funding schemes for forest restoration. They are analyzed by looking at two prominent payments for watershed service programs in Indonesia—Cidanau (Banten province in Java and West Lombok (Eastern Indonesia—with combined economic and political science approaches. We derive lessons for the governance of funding efforts (e.g., multi-stakeholder agencies are not a guarantee of success; mixed results are obtained from a reliance on mandatory funding with ad hoc regulations, as opposed to voluntary contributions by the service beneficiary and for the governance of financial expenditure (e.g., absolute need for evaluation procedures for the internal governance of farmer groups. Furthermore, we observe that these governance features provide no guarantee that restoration plots with the highest relevance for ecosystem services are targeted by the PES.

The Governance of Global Wealth Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

liability and (3) innovation capacities among suppliers of products used in wealth chains. We then differentiate five types of global value chain governance - market, modular, relational, captive, an d hierarchy – which range from simple ‘off shelf’ products shielded from regulators by advantageous...... international tax laws to highly complex and flexible innovative financial products produced by large financial institutions and corporations. This article highlights how Global Wealth Cha ins intersect with value chains and real economies, and provides three brief case studies on offshore shell companies......This introduction to the Special Issue creates a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in international political economy and economic geography on Global Value Chains...

Global climate change impacts on forests and markets

Science.gov (United States)

Xiaohui Tian; Brent Sohngen; John B Kim; Sara Ohrel; Jefferson Cole

2016-01-01

This paper develops an economic analysis of climate change impacts in the global forest sector. It illustrates how potential future climate change impacts can be integrated into a dynamic forestry economics model using data from a global dynamic vegetation model, theMC2model. The results suggest that climate change will cause forest outputs (such as timber) to increase...

Just Security and the Crisis of Global Governance

OpenAIRE

Durch, W.; Larik, J.; Ponzio, R.

2016-01-01

Pursuing security and justice jointly in global governance will be vital to human progress in the twenty-first century. Humanity lives and operates simultaneously in three spaces critical to contemporary life and governance: public, transactional and ecological. Failures in one space can cascade into others. Managing them so as to avoid such failures is an essential function of global governance. Public space is the home of governance (formal and informal) and of rights-exercising groups and ...

Expanding global forest management: An easy first' proposal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winjum, J.K. (Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR (United States)); Meganck, R.A. (United Nations Environment Programme, Kingston (Jamaica)); Dixon, R.K.

1993-04-01

World leaders have become increasingly aware of the contributions of sustainable forest resources to political, social, economic, and environmental health. As a result, interest is growing for a world treaty or protocol on forest management and protection. This article focuses on global forest management. The first section discusses the current situtation in global forest management (10-12% of the total). Benefits of global benefit to management included sustained and even increased yield, slowing of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and conservation of biodiversity and increase sustainable use options. The Noordwijk Goal is discussed as one example of concrete global action. Finally, the easy first approach is presented in detail. It involves starting in areas where the obstacles are minimal to develop early momentum and a can do outlook for implementation. Difficulties of this approach involve dealing with the political, social, and economic aspects of resource constraints that many nations face daily. But the easy first approach attempts to demonstrate that not all financial commitments, political agreements and forest management techniques must be in place for work to start.

Globalization and the Governance of Education in Viet Nam

Science.gov (United States)

London, Jonathan D.

2010-01-01

In a globalizing world, local and global governance arrangements are increasingly interdependent, which produces harmonization in some instances and new tensions and contradictions in others. Analysis shows that successive waves of globalization have affected the governance of education in Viet Nam differently. It shows that the globalization of…

Representation through Privatisation: Regionalisation of Forest Governance in Tambacounda, Senegal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melis Ece

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Government officials, development agents and scholars showcase Senegal's 1996 regionalization reforms as a step towards the deepening of decentralisation. Yet this article shows that the reforms narrowed down local democracy via neoliberal processes. The reforms defined the regional councils as development intermediaries, to serve as a space for the negotiation of public-private partnership contracts between local governments and business interests. Focusing on Tambacounda Region of Senegal, the article analyses the effects of the reforms on forest governance at regional and rural-community scales. First, using two project case studies, it illustrates the use of forest management plans and project-based environmental committees in enabling privatisation of rural community forest governance at the expense of democratic processes. Second, it examines how the intermediary role of the regional council compromised its ability to represent the substantive interests of base-level rural communities and helped instrumentalise the council to promote different privatisation alternatives offered by 'community-based' projects. This role was facilitated by a public-private development agency of the council. The discursive analysis of a regional council meeting illustrates that rather than offering a deliberative and participatory forum, council meetings were used to make representation claims about the 'local people' and to push a market-based neoliberal rationality.

Strategies for global monitoring of tropical forests

Science.gov (United States)

Raymond L. Czaplewski

1994-01-01

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is conducting a global assessment of tropical forest resources, which will be accomplished by mid-1992. This assessment requires, in part, estimates of the total area of tropical forest cover in 1990 and the rate of change in forest cover between 1980 and 1990. The following are described here: (1) the...

Framing water and forests as global or local? Transnational community-based networks transforming common-pool resources essence and scales

OpenAIRE

Dupuits, Emilie; Pflieger, Géraldine

2017-01-01

The current era of globalization and commodification has had a substantial impact on common-pool resources governance. In direct response to this, community-based organizations managing water and forests at the local level began to create their own transnational networks. Primarily, these organizations aim to achieve direct representation in international decision-making arenas in order to promote their model of collective governance. By reframing the representations of common-pool resources ...

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND POVERTY REDUCTION THIS MILLENNIUM: NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John N. N. Ugoani

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Issue of global poverty became very worrisome that the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 placed it at the heart of global agenda to halve 1990 extreme poverty and hunger rates by the end of 2015. This means that the percentage of improvised people defined by the World Bank as those living on less than $1.25 a day must fall to 25 percent by the end of this year, while the proportion of people without adequate food security must be reduced to 12.5 percent. To achieve the aim, global leaders agreed to set a time-bound and measurable goals and targets. The United Nations believes that achieving the target which involves improvements in standards of living, universal primary education, empowerment of women, reduction in mortality rates, unemployment, among others, requires a global partnership with national governments, multinational agencies through global governance architecture. The ideal of global governance is a process of co-operative leadership that brings together national governments, multilateral public agencies and civil society to achieve commonly accepted goals. It provides strategic direction and then marshals collective energies to address global challenges. It is inclusive, dynamic and operates across national and sectoral boundaries and interests. It is this perspective of global governance that drives the Millennium Development Goals agenda toward global poverty reduction. This perspective is making positive contributions with some regions in the world heading toward the achievement of the target. Even those countries in sub-saharan Africa where most of the global poor live and who are lagging behind, are making frantic efforts to do so, with the assistance of global bodies like the world bank,  IMF, UNIDO, among others. The beauty of global governance is that it appears to be more democratic than authoritarian, more openly political than bureaucratic, and more integrated than specialized. This is the level that drives the

Ideas and institutions in global governance - the case of microcredit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard, Peter

There is a growing demand for effective strategic problem solving in relation to a wide array of global policy problems such as AIDS, poverty, global warming, etc. This makes the introduction of new policy ideas for institutional change increasingly important in global governance. But researchers...... need a new approach in order to better grasp the complexity in global problem solving. We need to know more about how ideas emerge, spread and transform in a complex, networked global environment. New literature on institutional dynamics can inform the literature on global governance networks......, especially when it comes to the meta-governance of global networks. Based on a case study of microcredit and its emergence as a policy idea in development policy, the paper will illustrate the use of institutional dynamic conceptualisation in global governance....

Cryptocurrencies & the Challenge of Global Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Garry Jacbs

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The recent explosive development of new forms of digital currency opens up unprecedented opportunities and poses significant regulatory challenges. This new form of digital currency lowers the costs and other barriers to the global movement of money, international trade, foreign investment and speculation, while simultaneously enhancing the anonymity on which tax evasion, money-laundering and other illegal activities thrive. It also liberates the creation of money and regulation of economic activities from the political control of national governments and central banks. Since the value of a currency is related to the size of the population, strength of the economy and value of transactions that utilize it, a basket of cryptocurrencies could emerge as the first prototype of a world currency whose value is backed by the total productive capacity of the entire human community. Moreover, the triad of Internet, distributed ledger technologies and cryptocurrencies could serve as the basis for the development of new global economic potentials in a manner similar and a degree far exceeding the economic impact of the World Wide Web over the past two decades. At the same time, the rapid deployment of cryptocurrencies could have profound impact on the capacity of governments to tax transactions, income and wealth, one of the main pillars of the modern nation state. The development of autonomous global cryptocurrencies could dramatically reduce the control and effectiveness of existing regulatory mechanisms at the national level and generate considerable pressure for the evolution of more effective institutions for global governance. They could provide compelling incentives for national governments to enhance international cooperation and strengthen the functioning of international institutions to fill the regulatory void. International organizations will play an important role in harnessing the potentials and minimizing the risks arising from the growing

Growth and Collapse of a Resource System: an Adaptive Cycle of Change in Public Lands Governance and Forest Management in Alaska

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colin M. Beier

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Large-scale government efforts to develop resources for societal benefit have often experienced cycles of growth and decline that leave behind difficult social and ecological legacies. To understand the origins and outcomes of these failures of resource governance, scholars have applied the framework of the adaptive cycle. In this study, we used the adaptive cycle as a diagnostic approach to trace the drivers and dynamics of forest governance surrounding a boom-bust sequence of industrial forest management in one of the largest-scale resource systems in U.S. history: the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska. Our application of the adaptive cycle combined a historical narrative tracing dynamics in political, institutional, and economic subsystems and a longitudinal analysis of an indicator of overall system behavior (timber harvests. We found that federal policies in concert with global market changes drove transformative change in both forest governance (policy making and forest management (practices, through creation and dissolution of subsidized long-term lease contracts. Evidence of the systemic resilience provided by these leases was found in the analysis of industry responses to market volatility before and after Tongass-specific federal reforms. Although the lease contracts stabilized the Tongass system for a period of time, they fostered a growing degree of rigidity that contributed to a severe industrial collapse and the subsequent emergence of complex social traps. Broader lessons from the Tongass suggest that large-scale changes occurred only when the nested economic and policy cycles were in coherence, and a systemic effort to minimize social and ecological variability ultimately resulted in catastrophic collapse of governance. This collapse resulted in a pervasive and challenging legacy that prevents Tongass reorganization and limits the adaptive capacity of the larger social-ecological system of southeastern Alaska

Forest Service Global Change Research Strategy, 2009-2019 Implementation Plan

Science.gov (United States)

Allen Solomon; Richard A. Birdsey; Linda A. Joyce

2010-01-01

In keeping with the research goals of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the climate change strategy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the climate change framework of the Forest Service, this Forest Service Global Change Research Strategy, 2009-2019 Implementation Plan (hereafter called the Research Plan), was written by Forest Service Research...

Can we set a global threshold age to define mature forests?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martin, Philip; Jung, Martin; Brearley, Francis Q.

2016-01-01

) whether we can set a threshold age for mature forests. Using data from previously published studies we modelled the impacts of forest age and climate on BD using linear mixed effects models. We examined the potential biases in the dataset by comparing how representative it was of global mature forests......Globally, mature forests appear to be increasing in biomass density (BD). There is disagreement whether these increases are the result of increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations or a legacy effect of previous land-use. Recently, it was suggested that a threshold of 450 years should be used...... to define mature forests and that many forests increasing in BD may be younger than this. However, the study making these suggestions failed to account for the interactions between forest age and climate. Here we revisit the issue to identify: (1) how climate and forest age control global forest BD and (2...

Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration in Russian and Swedish Model Forest Initiatives: Adaptive Governance Toward Sustainable Forest Management?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marine Elbakidze

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Building the adaptive capacity of interlinked social and ecological systems is assumed to improve implementation of sustainable forest management (SFM policies. One mechanism is collaborative learning by continuous evaluation, communication, and transdisciplinary knowledge production. The Model Forest (MF concept, developed in Canada, is intended to encourage all dimensions of sustainable development through collaboration among stakeholders of forest resources in a geographical area. Because the MF approach encompasses both social and ecological systems, it can be seen as a process aimed at improving adaptive capacity to deal with uncertainty and change. We analyzed multi-stakeholder approaches used in four MF initiatives representing social-ecological systems with different governance legacies and economic histories in the northwest of the Russian Federation (Komi MF and Pskov MF and in Sweden (Vilhelmina MF and the Foundation Säfsen Forests in the Bergslagen region. To describe the motivations behind development of the initiative and the governance systems, we used qualitative open-ended interviews and analyzed reports and official documents. The initial driving forces for establishing new local governance arrangements were different in all four cases. All MFs were characterized by multi-level and multi-sector collaboration. However, the distribution of power among stakeholders ranged from clearly top down in the Russian Federation to largely bottom up in Sweden. All MF initiatives shared three main challenges: (a to develop governance arrangements that include representative actors and stakeholders, (b to combine top-down and bottom-up approaches to governance, and (c to coordinate different sectors' modes of landscape governance. We conclude that, in principle, the MF concept is a promising approach to multi-stakeholder collaboration. However, to understand the local and regional dimensions of sustainability, and the level of adaptability

TOWARDS THE LEGAL RECOGNITION AND GOVERNANCE OF FOREST ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN MOZAMBIQUE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S Norfolk

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Within the context of Mozambique, this paper examines the state of forest ecosystem services, the dependency of the population on these systems for their well-being, if an adaptive governance regime is being created which will ensure the resilience of the forest ecosystem services including the legal framework, the institutions operating within this framework, the tools available and their functioning, and how cooperative governance is operating.

Globalization and structural change in the U.S. forest sector: an evolving context for sustainable forest management

Science.gov (United States)

Peter Ince; Albert Schuler; Henry Spelter; William Luppold

2007-01-01

This report examines economic implications for sustainable forest management of globalization and related structural changes in the forest sector of the United States. Globalization has accelerated structural change in the U.S. forest sector, favored survival of larger and more capital-intensive enterprises, and altered historical patterns of resource use.

Tobacco industry globalization and global health governance: towards an interdisciplinary research agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kelley; Eckhardt, Jappe; Holden, Chris

2016-01-01

Shifting patterns of tobacco production and consumption, and the resultant disease burden worldwide since the late twentieth century, prompted efforts to strengthen global health governance through adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. While the treaty is rightfully considered an important achievement, to address a neglected public health issue through collective action, evidence suggests that tobacco industry globalization continues apace. In this article, we provide a systematic review of the public health literature and reveal definitional and measurement imprecision, ahistorical timeframes, transnational tobacco companies and the state as the primary units and levels of analysis, and a strong emphasis on agency as opposed to structural power. Drawing on the study of globalization in international political economy and business studies, we identify opportunities to expand analysis along each of these dimensions. We conclude that this expanded and interdisciplinary research agenda provides the potential for fuller understanding of the dual and dynamic relationship between the tobacco industry and globalization. Deeper analysis of how the industry has adapted to globalization over time, as well as how the industry has influenced the nature and trajectory of globalization, is essential for building effective global governance responses. This article is published as part of a thematic collection dedicated to global governance. PMID:28458910

Tobacco industry globalization and global health governance: towards an interdisciplinary research agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kelley; Eckhardt, Jappe; Holden, Chris

2016-01-01

Shifting patterns of tobacco production and consumption, and the resultant disease burden worldwide since the late twentieth century, prompted efforts to strengthen global health governance through adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. While the treaty is rightfully considered an important achievement, to address a neglected public health issue through collective action, evidence suggests that tobacco industry globalization continues apace. In this article, we provide a systematic review of the public health literature and reveal definitional and measurement imprecision, ahistorical timeframes, transnational tobacco companies and the state as the primary units and levels of analysis, and a strong emphasis on agency as opposed to structural power. Drawing on the study of globalization in international political economy and business studies, we identify opportunities to expand analysis along each of these dimensions. We conclude that this expanded and interdisciplinary research agenda provides the potential for fuller understanding of the dual and dynamic relationship between the tobacco industry and globalization. Deeper analysis of how the industry has adapted to globalization over time, as well as how the industry has influenced the nature and trajectory of globalization, is essential for building effective global governance responses. This article is published as part of a thematic collection dedicated to global governance.

Global Governance Mechanisms to Address Antimicrobial Resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Padiyara, Ponnu; Inoue, Hajime; Sprenger, Marc

2018-01-01

Since their discovery, antibiotics, and more broadly, antimicrobials, have been a cornerstone of modern medicine. But the overuse and misuse of these drugs have led to rising rates of antimicrobial resistance, which occurs when bacteria adapt in ways that render antibiotics ineffective. A world without effective antibiotics can have drastic impacts on population health, global development, and the global economy. As a global common good, antibiotic effectiveness is vulnerable to the tragedy of the commons, where a shared limited resource is overused by a community when each individual exploits the finite resource for their own benefit. A borderless threat like antimicrobial resistance requires global governance mechanisms to mitigate its emergence and spread, and it is the responsibility of all countries and relevant multilateral organizations. These mechanisms can be in the form of legally binding global governance mechanisms such as treaties and regulatory standards or nonbinding mechanisms such as political declarations, resolutions, or guidelines. In this article, we argue that while both are effective methods, the strong, swift, and coordinated action needed to address rising rates of antimicrobial resistance will be better served through legally binding governance mechanisms.

What do Big Data do in Global Governance?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krause Hansen, Hans; Porter, Tony

2017-01-01

Two paradoxes associated with big data are relevant to global governance. First, while promising to increase the capacities of humans in governance, big data also involve an increasingly independent role for algorithms, technical artifacts, the Internet of things, and other objects, which can...... reduce the control of human actors. Second, big data involve new boundary transgressions as data are brought together from multiple sources while also creating new boundary conflicts as powerful actors seek to gain advantage by controlling big data and excluding competitors. These changes are not just...... about new data sources for global decision-makers, but instead signal more profound changes in the character of global governance....

Old-growth forests as global carbon sinks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luyssaert, S; Schulze, E.D.; Börner, A.

2008-01-01

Old- growth forests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere(1,2) at rates that vary with climate and nitrogen deposition(3). The sequestered carbon dioxide is stored in live woody tissues and slowly decomposing organic matter in litter and soil(4). Old- growth forests therefore serve as a global

Approaches to the Understanding of the Global Governance

OpenAIRE

Кукарцев, Олег Вікторович

2016-01-01

A central issue in this paper is the origins and specific character of global governance discourse that formed at the turn of the twenty-first century. The new discourse marked a gradual exclusion of most early discourses – «international relations» and «world government». It is demonstrated that new term «global governance» signalizes about grand reconstruction of previous international relations discourse where international society was considered as the complex of states and their governme...

Global estimate of lichen and bryophyte contributions to forest precipitation interception

Science.gov (United States)

Van Stan, John; Porada, Philipp; Kleidon, Axel

2017-04-01

Interception of precipitation by forest canopies plays an important role in its partitioning to evaporation, transpiration and runoff. Field observations show arboreal lichens and bryophytes can substantially enhance forests' precipitation storage and evaporation. However, representations of canopy interception in global land surface models currently ignore arboreal lichen and bryophyte contributions. This study uses the lichen and bryophyte model (LiBry) to provide the first process-based modelling approach estimating these organisms' contributions to canopy water storage and evaporation. The global mean value of forest water storage capacity increased significantly from 0.87 mm to 1.33 mm by the inclusion of arboreal poikilohydric organisms. Global forest canopy evaporation of intercepted precipitation was also greatly enhanced by 44%. Ratio of total versus bare canopy global evaporation exceeded 2 in many forested regions. This altered global patterns in canopy water storage, evaporation, and ultimately the proportion of rainfall evaporated. A sensitivity analysis was also performed. Results indicate rainfall interception is of larger magnitude than previously reported by global land surface modelling work because of the important role of lichen and bryophytes in rainfall interception.

Explaining Governance in Global Value Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ponte, Stefano; Sturgeon, Timothy

2014-01-01

In this article, we review the evolution and current status of global value chain (GVC) governance theory and take some initial steps toward a broader theory of governance through an exercise in ‘modular theory-building’. We focus on two GVC governance theories to which we previously contributed...... additional theories, to connect theories together better or in different modular configurations, and to incorporate elements at the macro level that reflect the changing constellation of key actors in GVC governance – the increasing influence of, for example, NGOs, taste and standard makers, and social...

Possibilities for global governance of converging technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Roco, Mihail C.

2008-01-01

The convergence of nanotechnology, modern biology, the digital revolution and cognitive sciences will bring about tremendous improvements in transformative tools, generate new products and services, enable opportunities to meet and enhance human potential and social achievements, and in time reshape societal relationships. This paper focuses on the progress made in governance of such converging, emerging technologies and suggests possibilities for a global approach. Specifically, this paper suggests creating a multidisciplinary forum or a consultative coordinating group with members from various countries to address globally governance of converging, emerging technologies. The proposed framework for governance of converging technologies calls for four key functions: supporting the transformative impact of the new technologies; advancing responsible development that includes health, safety and ethical concerns; encouraging national and global partnerships; and establishing commitments to long-term planning and investments centered on human development. Principles of good governance guiding these functions include participation of all those who are forging or affected by the new technologies, transparency of governance strategies, responsibility of each participating stakeholder, and effective strategic planning. Introduction and management of converging technologies must be done with respect for immediate concerns, such as privacy, access to medical advancements, and potential human health effects. At the same time, introduction and management should also be done with respect for longer-term concerns, such as preserving human integrity, dignity and welfare. The suggested governance functions apply to four levels of governance: (a) adapting existing regulations and organizations; (b) establishing new programs, regulations and organizations specifically to handle converging technologies; (c) building capacity for addressing these issues into national policies and

Possibilities for global governance of converging technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roco, Mihail C.

2008-01-01

The convergence of nanotechnology, modern biology, the digital revolution and cognitive sciences will bring about tremendous improvements in transformative tools, generate new products and services, enable opportunities to meet and enhance human potential and social achievements, and in time reshape societal relationships. This paper focuses on the progress made in governance of such converging, emerging technologies and suggests possibilities for a global approach. Specifically, this paper suggests creating a multidisciplinary forum or a consultative coordinating group with members from various countries to address globally governance of converging, emerging technologies. The proposed framework for governance of converging technologies calls for four key functions: supporting the transformative impact of the new technologies; advancing responsible development that includes health, safety and ethical concerns; encouraging national and global partnerships; and establishing commitments to long-term planning and investments centered on human development. Principles of good governance guiding these functions include participation of all those who are forging or affected by the new technologies, transparency of governance strategies, responsibility of each participating stakeholder, and effective strategic planning. Introduction and management of converging technologies must be done with respect for immediate concerns, such as privacy, access to medical advancements, and potential human health effects. At the same time, introduction and management should also be done with respect for longer-term concerns, such as preserving human integrity, dignity and welfare. The suggested governance functions apply to four levels of governance: (a) adapting existing regulations and organizations; (b) establishing new programs, regulations and organizations specifically to handle converging technologies; (c) building capacity for addressing these issues into national policies and

Possibilities for global governance of converging technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roco, Mihail C. [National Science Foundation (NSF) (United States)], E-mail: mroco@nsf.gov

2008-01-15

The convergence of nanotechnology, modern biology, the digital revolution and cognitive sciences will bring about tremendous improvements in transformative tools, generate new products and services, enable opportunities to meet and enhance human potential and social achievements, and in time reshape societal relationships. This paper focuses on the progress made in governance of such converging, emerging technologies and suggests possibilities for a global approach. Specifically, this paper suggests creating a multidisciplinary forum or a consultative coordinating group with members from various countries to address globally governance of converging, emerging technologies. The proposed framework for governance of converging technologies calls for four key functions: supporting the transformative impact of the new technologies; advancing responsible development that includes health, safety and ethical concerns; encouraging national and global partnerships; and establishing commitments to long-term planning and investments centered on human development. Principles of good governance guiding these functions include participation of all those who are forging or affected by the new technologies, transparency of governance strategies, responsibility of each participating stakeholder, and effective strategic planning. Introduction and management of converging technologies must be done with respect for immediate concerns, such as privacy, access to medical advancements, and potential human health effects. At the same time, introduction and management should also be done with respect for longer-term concerns, such as preserving human integrity, dignity and welfare. The suggested governance functions apply to four levels of governance: (a) adapting existing regulations and organizations; (b) establishing new programs, regulations and organizations specifically to handle converging technologies; (c) building capacity for addressing these issues into national policies and

Positive biodiversity-productivity relationship predominant in global forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jingjing; Crowther, Thomas W; Picard, Nicolas; Wiser, Susan; Zhou, Mo; Alberti, Giorgio; Schulze, Ernst-Detlef; McGuire, A David; Bozzato, Fabio; Pretzsch, Hans; de-Miguel, Sergio; Paquette, Alain; Hérault, Bruno; Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael; Barrett, Christopher B; Glick, Henry B; Hengeveld, Geerten M; Nabuurs, Gert-Jan; Pfautsch, Sebastian; Viana, Helder; Vibrans, Alexander C; Ammer, Christian; Schall, Peter; Verbyla, David; Tchebakova, Nadja; Fischer, Markus; Watson, James V; Chen, Han Y H; Lei, Xiangdong; Schelhaas, Mart-Jan; Lu, Huicui; Gianelle, Damiano; Parfenova, Elena I; Salas, Christian; Lee, Eungul; Lee, Boknam; Kim, Hyun Seok; Bruelheide, Helge; Coomes, David A; Piotto, Daniel; Sunderland, Terry; Schmid, Bernhard; Gourlet-Fleury, Sylvie; Sonké, Bonaventure; Tavani, Rebecca; Zhu, Jun; Brandl, Susanne; Vayreda, Jordi; Kitahara, Fumiaki; Searle, Eric B; Neldner, Victor J; Ngugi, Michael R; Baraloto, Christopher; Frizzera, Lorenzo; Bałazy, Radomir; Oleksyn, Jacek; Zawiła-Niedźwiecki, Tomasz; Bouriaud, Olivier; Bussotti, Filippo; Finér, Leena; Jaroszewicz, Bogdan; Jucker, Tommaso; Valladares, Fernando; Jagodzinski, Andrzej M; Peri, Pablo L; Gonmadje, Christelle; Marthy, William; O'Brien, Timothy; Martin, Emanuel H; Marshall, Andrew R; Rovero, Francesco; Bitariho, Robert; Niklaus, Pascal A; Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia; Chamuya, Nurdin; Valencia, Renato; Mortier, Frédéric; Wortel, Verginia; Engone-Obiang, Nestor L; Ferreira, Leandro V; Odeke, David E; Vasquez, Rodolfo M; Lewis, Simon L; Reich, Peter B

2016-10-14

The biodiversity-productivity relationship (BPR) is foundational to our understanding of the global extinction crisis and its impacts on ecosystem functioning. Understanding BPR is critical for the accurate valuation and effective conservation of biodiversity. Using ground-sourced data from 777,126 permanent plots, spanning 44 countries and most terrestrial biomes, we reveal a globally consistent positive concave-down BPR, showing that continued biodiversity loss would result in an accelerating decline in forest productivity worldwide. The value of biodiversity in maintaining commercial forest productivity alone-US$166 billion to 490 billion per year according to our estimation-is more than twice what it would cost to implement effective global conservation. This highlights the need for a worldwide reassessment of biodiversity values, forest management strategies, and conservation priorities. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Geography of Global Forest Carbon Stocks & Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Saatchi, S. S.; Yu, Y.; Xu, L.; Yang, Y.; Fore, A.; Ganguly, S.; Nemani, R. R.; Zhang, G.; Lefsky, M. A.; Sun, G.; Woodall, C. W.; Naesset, E.; Seibt, U. H.

2014-12-01

Spatially explicit distribution of carbon stocks and dynamics in global forests can greatly reduce the uncertainty in the terrestrial portion of the global carbon cycle by improving estimates of emissions and uptakes from land use activities, and help with green house gas inventory at regional and national scales. Here, we produce the first global distribution of carbon stocks in living woody biomass at ~ 100 m (1-ha) resolution for circa 2005 from a combination of satellite observations and ground inventory data. The total carbon stored in live woody biomass is estimated to be 337 PgC with 258 PgC in aboveground and 79 PgC in roots, and partitioned globally in boreal (20%), tropical evergreen (50%), temperate (12%), and woodland savanna and shrublands (15%). We use a combination of satellite observations of tree height, remote sensing data on deforestation and degradation to quantify the dynamics of these forests at the biome level globally and provide geographical distribution of carbon storage dynamics in terms sinks and sources globally.

What We Have Learned: "New Foundations for Global Governance"

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Alan S. Alexandroff; David Shorr

2010-01-01

@@ In a Conference convened at Princeton University in January 2010, international relations experts were asked to consider, among other things, great power leadership and explore what would enable these powers to solve some of the great challenges facing global governance. The Conference noted a growing disjunction between our "inherited" multilateral institutions, the evolving architecture of global governance and the daunting scope and complexity of today's global governance agenda. Two key leadership questions dominated discussions at the Conference. The first: what would be the role of the remaining superpower-the United States-in the years ahead? Could the United States accept a greater multilateral environment with possibly a diminished hegemonic role? Secondly, could China successfully achieve great power status without the rivalry competition and even conflict that normally accompanies a rising power? And, in what ways could China exercise leadership in global governance?

THE GLOBAL GOVERNANCE PROBLEM AND THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sidorova E. A.

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Currently, globalization begins to permeate more and more areas of human activity, therefore it is important question of the complex mechanisms and principles of global governance formation.The article analyzes the essence, subjects and mechanisms for the implementation of the global economic governance. Moreover, it investigates the role and current state of the International Monetary Fund (IMF in the global economy. In conclusion, it clarifies the relationship of the IMF and processes of global governance. Research has shown that it is necessary to create within the IMF more representative, economically and politically balanced system of global governance of the world monetary and financial relations as part of the emerging mechanisms of global economic governance. This article extends the knowledge about the features of the IMF in the forming global governance.

China's International Education Initiatives and View of Its Role in Global Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Sharon X.

2012-01-01

China is becoming an increasingly important actor in global governance. This paper contends that China participates by promoting its own global governance concepts on the one hand and by complying with the established global norms on the other. The paper introduces several key global governance concepts of the Chinese government and argues that…

Governance Change and Institutional Adaptation: A Case Study from Harenna Forest, Ethiopia

Science.gov (United States)

Wakjira, Dereje T.; Fischer, Anke; Pinard, Michelle A.

2013-04-01

Many common pool resources have traditionally been managed through intricate local governance arrangements. Over time, such arrangements are confronted with manifold political, social, economic and ecological changes. However, the ways in which local governance arrangements react to such changes are poorly understood. Using the theoretical concept of institutional adaptation, we analyse the history of Harenna forest, Ethiopia, to examine processes of institutional change over the last 150 years. We find that the traditional institutions that governed Harenna's resources persisted, in essence, over time. However, these institutions were modified repeatedly to address changes caused by varying formal, supra-regional governance regimes, the development of markets for forest products, increasing population pressure and changes in formal property rights. A key mechanism for adaptation was combining elements from both informal and formal institutions, which allowed traditional rules to persist in the guise of more formal arrangements. Our findings also highlight several constraints of institutional adaptation. For example, by abolishing fora for collective decision-making, regime changes limited adaptive capacity. To conclude, we argue that such insights into traditional resource governance and its adaptability and dynamics over time are essential to develop sustainable approaches to participatory forest management for the future, both in Harenna and more generally.

FOREST ECOSYSTEMS AND GLOBAL CHANGE: THE CASE STUDY OF INSUBRIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Pautasso

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Forest ecosystems face multiple challenges due to climate change, invasive species, urbanization, land use change and the interactions between these global change drivers. This review provides an overview of such challenges for the case study of Insubria. Insubria is a region on the Southern side of the European Alps, famous for its stunning lakes (e.g., Como, Garda, Lugano, Maggiore, blessed by a relatively mild and humid climate, and shaped by the geologic fault line between the African and European plates. Global change impacts in Insubria pose a threat to its biodiversity and chestnut woodlands, particularly through modified winter forest fire regimes. Insubric biodiversity conservation, in turn, is essential to counteract the effects of climate change. Sustainable management of Insubric forests is made more difficult by rural abandonment, air pollution and invasive exotic species. There is a need to develop reliable long-term bio-indicators and to predict the shift of Insubric species, ecosystems and tree-lines due to rapid climate changes. Insubric studies on forests and global change call for enhanced international collaboration in forest management and research. Interdisciplinary approaches are needed to move from studies of single global change drivers to experiments, scenarios and models taking into account their combination and our responses to global change.

Statistical strategies for global monitoring of tropical forests

Science.gov (United States)

Raymond L. Czaplewski

1991-01-01

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is conducting a global assessment of tropical forest resources, which will be accomplished by mid-1992. This assessment requires, in part, estimates of the total area of tropical forest cover in 1990, and the rate of change in forest cover between 1980 and 1990. This paper describes: (1) the strategic...

A Progressively Realizable Right to Health and Global Governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, Norman

2015-12-01

A moral right to health or health care is a special instance of a right to fair equality of opportunity. Nation-states generally have the capabilities to specify the entitlements of such a right and to raise the resources needed to satisfy those entitlements. Can these functions be replicated globally, as a global right to health or health care requires? The suggestion that "better global governance" is needed if such a global right is to be claimed requires that these two central capabilities be present. It is unlikely that nation-states would concede these two functions to a form of global governance, for doing so would seriously compromise the authority that is generally included in sovereignty. This claim is a specification of what is often recognized as the "sovereignty problem." The argument of this paper is not an "impossibility" claim, but a best guess about whether the necessary conditions for better global governance that supports a global right to health or health care can be achieved.

Does Adaptive Collaborative Forest Governance Affect Poverty? Participatory Action Research in Nepal's Community Forests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McDougall, C.L.; Jiggins, J.L.S.; Hari Pandit, B.; Thapa Magar Rana, S.K.; Leeuwis, C.

2013-01-01

Despite recognition of forests’ roles in rural livelihoods, there has been relatively little empirical exploration of community forestry’s contribution to poverty alleviation. Similarly, there has been little study of the interaction of social learning-based approaches to forest governance with

Global health governance - the next political revolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Kickbusch, I; Reddy, K S

2015-07-01

The recent Ebola crisis has re-opened the debate on global health governance and the role of the World Health Organization. In order to analyze what is at stake, we apply two conceptual approaches from the social sciences - the work on gridlock and the concept of cosmopolitan moments - to assess the ability of the multilateral governance system to reform. We find that gridlock can be broken open by a health crisis which in turn generates a political drive for change. We show that a set of cosmopolitan moments have led to the introduction of the imperative of health in a range of policy arenas and moved health into 'high politics' - this has been called a political revolution. We contend that this revolution has entered a second phase with increasing interest of heads of state in global health issues. Here lies the window of opportunity to reform global health governance. Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global World: A Problem of Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Chumakov, Alexander Nikolayevich

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to include the following items: to show the absolute necessity of managing the international community, to explore the fundamental possibility of managing the global world, to prove or disprove such a possibility, to determine the real background of global governance in modern conditions and to show the…

The emergence of the BRICS – implications for global governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sotiris Petropoulos

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The global financial crisis of 2008, with its detrimental effects on the global economy, was the starting point of a transformation of the global governance landscape. This fluid political and economic global environment seems to be leading to the enhancement of the position of regional powers, especially within the developing world. Hence, the importance of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and, to some extent, South Africa, within the global governance structure has increased. This rise of importance is derived from the enhancement of the economic capabilities of these powers and the fact that economic interdependence has rendered the world more sensitive to the economic policies of these nations. What is even more significant is the fact that these emerging powers have initiated a process of conducting regular meetings for the purpose of discussing and coordinating their actions related to global issues. The BRIC(S meetings seem to be acting as a power multiplier, leading to enhanced pressure on developed countries to accept some proposals from the BRIC(S countries. This development enhances the effectiveness of global governance structures while also legitimizing the notion of a new global governance structure. It is yet to be shown, however, whether the new rising powers will eventually challenge existing global governance structures or be fully integrated into them.

Making sense of the global health crisis: policy narratives, conflict, and global health governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ney, Steven

2012-04-01

Health has become a policy issue of global concern. Worried that the unstructured, polycentric, and pluralist nature of global health governance is undermining the ability to serve emergent global public health interests, some commentators are calling for a more systematic institutional response to the "global health crisis." Yet global health is a complex and uncertain policy issue. This article uses narrative analysis to explore how actors deal with these complexities and how uncertainties affect global health governance. By comparing three narratives in terms of their basic assumptions, the way they define problems as well as the solutions they propose, the analysis shows how the unstructured pluralism of global health policy making creates a wide scope of policy conflict over the global health crisis. This wide scope of conflict enables effective policy-oriented learning about global health issues. The article also shows how exclusionary patterns of cooperation and competition are emerging in health policy making at the global level. These patterns threaten effective learning by risking both polarization of the policy debate and unanticipated consequences of health policy. Avoiding these pitfalls, the analysis suggests, means creating global health governance regimes that promote openness and responsiveness in deliberation about the global health crisis.

Challenges of Governing Second-Growth Forests: A Case Study from the Brazilian Amazonian State of Pará

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Despite the growing ecological and social importance of second-growth and regenerating forests across much of the world, significant inconsistencies remain in the legal framework governing these forests in many tropical countries and elsewhere. Such inconsistencies and uncertainties undermine attempts to improve both the transparency and sustainability of management regimes. Here, we present a case-study overview of some of the main challenges facing the governance of second-growth forests and the forest restoration process in the Brazilian Amazon, with a focus on the state of Pará, which is both the most populous state in the Amazon and the state with the highest rates of deforestation in recent years. First, we briefly review the history of environmental governance in Brazil that has led to the current system of legislation governing second-growth forests and the forest restoration process in Pará. Next, we draw on this review to examine the kinds of legislative and operational impediments that stand in the way of the development and implementation of a more effective governance system. In particular, we highlight problems created by significant ambiguities in legal terminology and inconsistencies in guidance given across different levels of government. We also outline some persistent problems with the implementation of legal guidance, including the need to understand local biophysical factors in order to guide an effective restoration program, as well as difficulties presented by access to technical assistance, institutional support and financial resources for the establishment and monitoring of both existing secondary forests and newly regenerating areas of forest. Whilst we focus here on a Brazilian case study, we suggest that these kinds of impediments to the good governance of second-growth forests are commonplace and require more concerted attention from researchers, managers and policy makers.

Legitimacy, global governance and human rights institutions : inverting the puzzle

OpenAIRE

Karlsson Schaffer, Johan

2014-01-01

In this chapter, I draw on recent scholarship on the alleged legitimacy deficits in global governance institutions, seeking to engage the notions of legitimacy this literature suggests with the intriguing case of international human rights institutions. First, I reconstruct how this literature views the problem of legitimacy in global governance, a view that relies on a particular notion of international institutions which both explains and justifies global governance institutions in terms of...

Altered States: Globalization, Sovereignty, and Governance | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

For all the opportunities that globalization promises, it raises urgent ... Has the achievement of democratic government come too late for most of the ... The message of Altered States is one of both hope and warning: globalization opens great ...

Sustainable Consumption Governance in a Globalizing World

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fuchs, D.A.; Lorek, Sylvia

2002-01-01

Our paper explores the implications of globalization for sustainable consump tion governance. It draws its central findings from a structured inquiry into the implications of globalization for the sustainability of household consumption. Our focus is on industrialized countries and the two

Global Goal Setting for Improving National Governance and Policy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Biermann, F.; Stevens, C.; Bernstein, S.; Gupta, A.; Kanie, N.; Nilsson, M.; Scobie, M.

2017-01-01

Can better governance, in itself, be a subject for global goal setting? This question stands at the center of this chapter, which focuses on the inclusion of “governance goals” in global goal-setting mechanisms, especially the Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon by the UN General Assembly in

Private Governance and the South: Lessons from Global Forest Politics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pattberg, P.H.

2006-01-01

Private governance beyond the state is emerging as a prominent debate in International Relations, focusing on the activities of private non-state actors and the influences of private rules and standards. However, the conceptual framework of governance has until recently been employed predominantly

Integrating forest products with ecosystem services: a global perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Robert L. Deal; Rachel. White

2012-01-01

Around the world forests provide a broad range of vital ecosystem services. Sustainable forest management and forest products play an important role in global carbon management, but one of the major forestry concerns worldwide is reducing the loss of forestland from development. Currently, deforestation accounts for approximately 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions....

Near real-time monitoring systems for adaptive management and improved forest governance

Science.gov (United States)

Musinsky, J.; Tabor, K.; Cano, A.

2012-12-01

The destruction and degradation of the world's forests from deforestation, illegal logging and fire has wide-ranging environmental and economic impacts, including biodiversity loss, the degradation of ecosystem services and the emission of greenhouse gases. In an effort to strengthen local capacity to respond to these threats, Conservation International has developed a suite of near real-time satellite monitoring systems generating daily alerts, maps and reports of forest fire, fire risk, deforestation and degradation that are used by national and sub-national government agencies, NGO's, scientists, communities, and the media to respond to and report on threats to forest resources. Currently, the systems support more than 1000 subscribers from 45 countries, focusing on Madagascar, Indonesia, Bolivia and Peru. This presentation will explore the types of innovative applications users have found for these data, challenges they've encountered in data acquisition and accuracy, and feedback they've given on the usefulness of these systems for REDD+ implementation, protected areas management and improved forest governance.;

Can we set a global threshold age to define mature forests?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philip Martin

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Globally, mature forests appear to be increasing in biomass density (BD. There is disagreement whether these increases are the result of increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations or a legacy effect of previous land-use. Recently, it was suggested that a threshold of 450 years should be used to define mature forests and that many forests increasing in BD may be younger than this. However, the study making these suggestions failed to account for the interactions between forest age and climate. Here we revisit the issue to identify: (1 how climate and forest age control global forest BD and (2 whether we can set a threshold age for mature forests. Using data from previously published studies we modelled the impacts of forest age and climate on BD using linear mixed effects models. We examined the potential biases in the dataset by comparing how representative it was of global mature forests in terms of its distribution, the climate space it occupied, and the ages of the forests used. BD increased with forest age, mean annual temperature and annual precipitation. Importantly, the effect of forest age increased with increasing temperature, but the effect of precipitation decreased with increasing temperatures. The dataset was biased towards northern hemisphere forests in relatively dry, cold climates. The dataset was also clearly biased towards forests <250 years of age. Our analysis suggests that there is not a single threshold age for forest maturity. Since climate interacts with forest age to determine BD, a threshold age at which they reach equilibrium can only be determined locally. We caution against using BD as the only determinant of forest maturity since this ignores forest biodiversity and tree size structure which may take longer to recover. Future research should address the utility and cost-effectiveness of different methods for determining whether forests should be classified as mature.

Phylogenetic responses of forest trees to global change.

Science.gov (United States)

Senior, John K; Schweitzer, Jennifer A; O'Reilly-Wapstra, Julianne; Chapman, Samantha K; Steane, Dorothy; Langley, Adam; Bailey, Joseph K

2013-01-01

In a rapidly changing biosphere, approaches to understanding the ecology and evolution of forest species will be critical to predict and mitigate the effects of anthropogenic global change on forest ecosystems. Utilizing 26 forest species in a factorial experiment with two levels each of atmospheric CO2 and soil nitrogen, we examined the hypothesis that phylogeny would influence plant performance in response to elevated CO2 and nitrogen fertilization. We found highly idiosyncratic responses at the species level. However, significant, among-genetic lineage responses were present across a molecularly determined phylogeny, indicating that past evolutionary history may have an important role in the response of whole genetic lineages to future global change. These data imply that some genetic lineages will perform well and that others will not, depending upon the environmental context.

Taboos and forest governance: informal protection of hot spot dry forest in southern Madagascar.

Science.gov (United States)

Tengö, Maria; Johansson, Kristin; Rakotondrasoa, Fanambinantsoa; Lundberg, Jakob; Andriamaherilala, Jean-Aimé; Rakotoarisoa, Jean-Aimé; Elmqvist, Thomas

2007-12-01

In the dry forest of southern Madagascar, a region of global conservation priority, formally protected areas are nearly totally absent. We illustrate how the continued existence of unique forest habitats in the Androy region is directly dependent on informal institutions, taboos, regulating human behavior. Qualitative interviews to map and analyze the social mechanisms underlying forest protection have been combined with vegetation analyses of species diversity and composition. Of 188 forest patches, 93% were classified as protected, and in Southern Androy all remaining forest patches larger than 5 ha were protected. Eight different types of forests, with a gradient of social fencing from open access to almost complete entry prohibitions, were identified. Transgressions were well enforced with strong sanctions of significant economic as well as religious importance. Analyses of species diversity between protected and unprotected forests were complicated because of size differences and access restrictions. However, since, for example, in southern Androy >90% of the total remaining forest cover is protected through taboos, these informal institutions represent an important, and presently the only, mechanism for conservation of the highly endemic forest species. We conclude that social aspects, such as local beliefs and legitimate sanctioning systems, need to be analyzed and incorporated along with biodiversity studies for successful conservation.

Just forest governance: how small learning groups can have big impact

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mayers, James; Bhattacharya, Prodyut; Diaw, Chimere [and others

2009-10-15

Forests are power bases, but often for the wrong people. As attention turns from making an international deal on REDD to making it work on the ground, the hunt will be on for practical ways of shifting power over forests towards those who enable and pursue sustainable forest-linked livelihoods. The Forest Governance Learning Group – an alliance active in Cameroon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda and Vietnam – has developed practical tactics for securing safe space, provoking dialogue, building constituencies, wielding evidence and interacting politically. It has begun to have significant impacts. To deepen and widen those impacts, FGLG seeks allies.

Understanding global health governance as a complex adaptive system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Peter S

2011-01-01

The transition from international to global health reflects the rapid growth in the numbers and nature of stakeholders in health, as well as the constant change embodied in the process of globalisation itself. This paper argues that global health governance shares the characteristics of complex adaptive systems, with its multiple and diverse players, and their polyvalent and constantly evolving relationships, and rich and dynamic interactions. The sheer quantum of initiatives, the multiple networks through which stakeholders (re)configure their influence, the range of contexts in which development for health is played out - all compound the complexity of this system. This paper maps out the characteristics of complex adaptive systems as they apply to global health governance, linking them to developments in the past two decades, and the multiple responses to these changes. Examining global health governance through the frame of complexity theory offers insight into the current dynamics of governance, and while providing a framework for making meaning of the whole, opens up ways of accessing this complexity through local points of engagement.

Governing Forests for Provisioning Services: The Example of Honey Production in Southwest Ethiopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wiersum, F.; Endalamaw, T.B.

2013-01-01

Provisioning services are major environmental services provided by forests. Especially in tropical countries, the livelihoods of local people often partly depend on a range of timber and non-timber forest products. The governance arrangements concerning such locally valued environmental services are

Impacts of Tariff and Non-tariff Trade Barriers on Global Forest Products Trade: An Application of the Global Forest Products Model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sun, L.; Bogdanski, B.; Stennes, B.; Kooten, van G.C.

2010-01-01

Although there has been considerable analysis on the effects of trade measures on forest product markets, these have tended to focus on tariffs. There is growing concern about the impact of non-tariff trade measures on the global forest product sector. The objective of this study is to fill a gap

Global Trends in Academic Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Cummings, William K.; Finkelstein, Martin

2009-01-01

Even before the current global economic crisis, discontent with the governance of higher education institutions was widespread among faculty in the United States and throughout the world. Drawing from the 2007 Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey of faculty in seventeen countries, the authors examine faculty perceptions of the current state…

The Future of Public Forests: An Institutional Blending Approach to Forest Governance in England

Science.gov (United States)

Hodge, Ian D.; Adams, William M.

2013-01-01

Early in 2011, the Government initiated a consultation on the potential sale of the Public Forest Estate in England. This proposal leads to vociferous negative public reaction and the consultation was withdrawn and an Independent Panel established. This paper reviews the arguments as to the options and appropriate institutional arrangements for…

Governance within the World Health Assembly: a 13-year analysis of WHO Member States' contribution to global health governance.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Rijt, Tess; Pang Pangestu, Tikki

2015-03-01

There is a widespread perception that developed countries in the Western world dictate the shaping and governance of global health. While there are many bodies that engage in global health governance, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is the only entity whereby 194 countries are invited to congregate together and engage in global health governance on an equal playing field. This paper examines the diversity of governance within the World Health Assembly (WHA), the supreme decision-making body of the WHO. It explores the degree and balance of policy influence between high, middle and low-income countries and the relevance of the WHO as a platform to exercise global governance. It finds that governance within the WHA is indeed diverse: relative to the number of Member States within the regions, all regions are well represented. While developed countries still dominate WHA governance, Western world countries do not overshadow decision-making, but rather there is evidence of strong engagement from the emerging economies. It is apparent that the WHO is still a relevant platform whereby all Member States can and do participate in the shaping of global health governance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cyber Governance : Challenges, Solutions, and Lessons for Effective Global Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jayawardane, S.; Larik, J.E.; Jackson, E.

2015-01-01

Cyberspace permeates global social and economic relations in the 21st Century. It is an integral part of the critical infrastructure on which modern societies depend and has revolutionized how we communicate and socialize. The governance of cyberspace is, therefore, an indispensable component of

Consequences of increasing bioenergy demand on wood and forests: An application of the Global Forest Products Model

Science.gov (United States)

Buongiorno, J.; Raunikar, R.; Zhu, S.

2011-01-01

The Global Forest Products Model (GFPM) was applied to project the consequences for the global forest sector of doubling the rate of growth of bioenergy demand relative to a base scenario, other drivers being maintained constant. The results showed that this would lead to the convergence of the price of fuelwood and industrial roundwood, raising the price of industrial roundwood by nearly 30% in 2030. The price of sawnwood and panels would be 15% higher. The price of paper would be 3% higher. Concurrently, the demand for all manufactured wood products would be lower in all countries, but the production would rise in countries with competitive advantage. The global value added in wood processing industries would be 1% lower in 2030. The forest stock would be 2% lower for the world and 4% lower for Asia. These effects varied substantially by country. ?? 2011 Department of Forest Economics, SLU Ume??, Sweden.

Can REDD+ Reconcile Local Priorities and Needs with Global Mitigation Benefits? Lessons from Angai Forest, Tanzania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irmeli Mustalahti

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The scope of the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD mechanism has broadened REDD+ to accommodate different country interests such as natural forests, protected areas, as well as forests under community-based management. In Tanzania the REDD+ mechanism is still under development and pilot projects are at an early stage. In this paper, we seek to understand how local priorities and needs could be met in REDD+ implementation and how these expectations match with global mitigation benefits. We examine the local priorities and needs in the use of land and forest resources in the Angai Villages Land Forest Reserve (AVLFR in the Liwale District of Lindi Region in Tanzania. Primary data was collected in two villages, Mihumo and Lilombe, using semistructured key informant interviews and participatory rural appraisal methods. In addition, the key informant interviews were conducted with other village, district, and national level actors, as well as international donors. Findings show that in the two communities REDD+ is seen as something new and is generating new expectations among communities. However, the Angai villagers highlight three key priorities that have yet to be integrated into the design of REDD+: water scarcity, rural development, and food security. At the local level improved forest governance and sustainable management of forest resources have been identified as one way to achieve livelihood diversification. Although the national goals of REDD+ include poverty reduction, these goals are not necessarily conducive to the goals of these communities. There exist both structural and cultural limits to the ability of the Angai villages to implement these goals and to improve forestry governance. Given the vulnerability to current and future climate variability and change it will be important to consider how the AVLFR will be managed and for whose benefit?

Norms, legitimacy, and global financial governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Underhill, G.R.D.; Zhang, X.

2006-01-01

Despite regular and serious systemic volatility, reform of international financial architecture remains limited, retaining market-oriented characteristics and adjustment mechanisms. A failure of the architecture to focus on the political underpinnings of global financial and monetary governance

South Africa's transformational approach to global governance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

One goal was to transform structures and institutions of global governance while another aim was to place developmental goals on the global agenda. As South Africa targeted UN agencies, notably the Security Council, the IMF, World Bank, WTO and more recently the G20, the curious question begs: will South Africa ...

Multilevel Governance for Forests and Climate Change: Learning from Southern Mexico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salla Rantala

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+ involves global and national policy measures as well as effective action at the landscape scale across productive sectors. Multilevel governance (MLG characterizes policy processes and regimes of cross-scale and cross-sector participation by multiple public and private actors for improved legitimacy and effectiveness of policy. We examine multilevel, multi-actor engagement in REDD+ planning in Quintana Roo, Mexico, to find out how local perspectives align with the national policy approach to REDD+ as an integrating element of holistic rural development at territorial scale, and how current practices support procedurally legitimate MLG required to implement it. We find that there is wide conceptual agreement on the proposed approach by a variety of involved actors, in rejection of the business-as-usual sectoral interventions. Its implementation, however, is challenged by gaps in horizontal and vertical integration due to strong sectoral identities and hierarchies, and de facto centralization of power at the federal level. Continued participation of multiple government and civil society actors to contribute to social learning for locally appropriate REDD+ actions is likely to require a more balanced distribution of resources and influence across levels. Meaningfully engaging and ensuring the representation of local community interests in the process remains a critical challenge.

'Good Governance', Daya Saing dan Investasi Global

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zaenal Soedjais

2003-03-01

Full Text Available The on going process of globalization leaves no room for Indonesian access to global investment unless the country manage to ensure the competitivess its system. Improving institutional capacity to be able of delivering good governance and good corporate governenve are inevitable. The challenge is how to allow the market to perform optimally.

Just Security and the Crisis of Global Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Durch, W.; Larik, J.; Ponzio, R.

2016-01-01

Pursuing security and justice jointly in global governance will be vital to human progress in the twenty-first century. Humanity lives and operates simultaneously in three spaces critical to contemporary life and governance: public, transactional and ecological. Failures in one space can cascade

36 CFR 293.16 - Special provisions governing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Superior National Forest...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Special provisions governing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Superior National Forest, Minnesota. 293.16 Section 293.16 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WILDERNESS-PRIMITIVE AREAS...

Institutions for sustainable forest governance: Robustness, equity, and cross-level interactions in Mawlyngbna, Meghalaya, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph Oberlack

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This study adopts Ostrom’s Social-Ecological Systems (SES framework in empirical fieldwork to explain how local forestry institutions affect forest ecosystems and social equity in the community of Mawlyngbna in North-East India. Data was collected through 26 semi-structured interviews, participatory timeline development, policy documents, direct observation, periodicals, transect walks, and a concurrent forest-ecological study in the village. Results show that Mawlyngbna's forests provide important sources of livelihood benefits for the villagers. However, ecological disturbance and diversity varies among the different forest ownership types and forest-based livelihood benefits are inequitably distributed. Based on a bounded rationality approach, our analysis proposes a set of causal mechanisms that trace these observed social-ecological outcomes to the attributes of the resource system, resource units, actors and governance system. We analyse opportunities and constraints of interactions between the village, regional, and state levels. We discuss how Ostrom’s design principles for community-based resource governance inform the explanation of robustness but have a blind spot in explaining social equity. We report experiences made using the SES framework in empirical fieldwork. We conclude that mapping cross-level interactions in the SES framework needs conceptual refinement and that explaining social equity of forest governance needs theoretical advances.

Legalisation and privatisation in global governance: the case of WTO dispute settlement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Strange, Michael Stewart

. In this paper, emphasis is placed on the dual operation of legalisation and privatisation as particular logics which both help define which ideas become constitutive of global governance. Legalisation and privatisation – as two particularly dominant logics for conducting global governance – are important, since...... they help frame the type of governance embodied within contemporary International Organisations. . To understand what role these logics play, the paper will outline the logics of legalisation and privatisation in global governance and exemplify with the case of the WTO dispute settlement process. However......, first it is important to consider how governance at the global level is made possible – that is where the authority resides – in order to appreciate the way the logics of legalisation and privatisation shape this form of governance....

Global water governance. Conceptual design of global institutional arrangements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verkerk, M.P.; Gerbens-Leenes, Winnie; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert

2008-01-01

This study builds upon the explorative study of Hoekstra (2006), who puts forward an argument for coordination at the global level in ‘water governance’. Water governance is understood here in the broad sense as ‘the way people use and maintain water resources’. One of the factors that give water

Challenges of Governing Second-Growth Forests: A Case Study from the Brazilian Amazonian State of Pará

OpenAIRE

Vieira, Ima; Gardner, Toby; Ferreira, Joice; Lees, Alexander; Barlow, Jos

2014-01-01

Despite the growing ecological and social importance of second-growth and regenerating forests across much of the world, significant inconsistencies remain in the legal framework governing these forests in many tropical countries and elsewhere. Such inconsistencies and uncertainties undermine attempts to improve both the transparency and sustainability of management regimes. Here, we present a case-study overview of some of the main challenges facing the governance of second-growth forests an...

Nested governance for effective REDD+: Institutional and political arguments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prakash Kashwan

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and Forest Enhancement (REDD+ has become a central focus of global climate change mitigation efforts. Even though the international demand for forest-based carbon sequestration is the key driver of REDD+, forest protection strategies must be implemented on the ground. This cross-scale nature of REDD+ explains why scholars and policy makers increasingly favor nested governance arrangements over either fully centralized or fully decentralized REDD+ governance. The focus of the literature on nested REDD+ governance has mostly been on monitoring, reporting, and verification of carbon emission reductions across sub-national, national, and international levels. We build on Ostrom’s principle of ‘nested enterprises’ to argue that REDD+ must be designed to systematically and formally link national policy reforms with the organization and execution of sub-national (regional and local forest conservation efforts led by forest users. We also contribute new insights on the political dimensions of nestedness in REDD+, with important roles for inter-community forestry associations and forest rights movements.

From City-States to Global Cities: the role of Cities in Global Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Domingos Martins Vaz

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Global governance has altered institutional architecture and the systemic and institutional conditions under which power is exercised, as well as the characteristics of the political system, the form of government, and the system of intermediation of interests. However, although it has surpassed the State’s dimension of power, it created new interstate dimensions and new relations between powers, particularly at the level of cities. Cities have helped to solve common problems in a more efficient and effective way by facilitating the exchange of knowledge, sharing of solutions and resources, and building capacity to implement and monitor progress in order to achieve collectively agreed goals, in a bottom-up approach. Cities have the virtue of securing the most direct social and political contract between societies and the notion of authority. This study, therefore, aims to reflect on this emerging, less hierarchical and rigid governance and address complex global challenges such as climate and demographic change; increasing crime rates; disruptive technology; and pressures on resources, infrastructure and energy. As a global/local interface, cities can ensure effective solutions to current challenges and act together in areas where the global agenda has stalled.

Global Health Governance and Global Power: A Critical Commentary on the Lancet-University of Oslo Commission Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, Stephen; Benatar, Solomon

2016-01-01

The Lancet-University of Oslo Commission Report on Global Governance for Health provides an insightful analysis of the global health inequalities that result from transnational activities consequent on what the authors call contemporary "global social norms." Our critique is that the analysis and suggested reforms to prevailing institutions and practices are confined within the perspective of the dominant-although unsustainable and inequitable-market-oriented, neoliberal development model of global capitalism. Consequently, the report both elides critical discussion of many key forms of material and political power under conditions of neoliberal development and governance that shape the nature and priorities of the global governance for health, and fails to point to the extent of changes required to sustainably improve global health. We propose that an alternative concept of progress-one grounded in history, political economy, and ecologically responsible health ethics-is sorely needed to better address challenges of global health governance in the new millennium. This might be premised on global solidarity and the "development of sustainability." We argue that the prevailing market civilization model that lies at the heart of global capitalism is being, and will further need to be, contested to avoid contradictions and dislocations associated with the commodification and privatization of health. © The Author(s) 2016.

Monitoring the Extent of Forests on National to Global Scales

Science.gov (United States)

Townshend, J.; Townshend, J.; Hansen, M.; DeFries, R.; DeFries, R.; Sohlberg, R.; Desch, A.; White, B.

2001-05-01

Information on forest extent and change is important for many purposes, including understanding the global carbon cycle and managing natural resources. International statistics on forest extent are generated using many different sources often producing inconsistent results spatially and through time. Results will be presented comparing forest extent derived from the recent global Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) FRA 2000 report with products derived using wall-to-wall Landsat, AVHRR and MODIS data sets. The remotely sensed data sets provide consistent results in terms of total area despite considerable differences in spatial resolution. Although the location of change can be satisfactorily detected with all three remotely sensed data sets, reliable measurement of change can only be achieved through use of Landsat-resolution data. Contrary to the FRA 2000 results we find evidence of an increase in deforestation rates in the late 1990s in several countries. Also we have found evidence of considerable changes in some countries for which little or no change is reported by FAO. The results indicate the benefits of globally consistent analyses of forest cover based on multiscale remotely sensed data sets rather than a reliance on statistics generated by individual countries with very different definitions of forest and methods used to derive them.

THE SEMANTICS OF GOVERNANCE. (The common thread running through corporate, public, and global governance.)

OpenAIRE

Rodolfo Apreda

2003-01-01

This paper argues that the semantics of governance illustrates connections and provides a unifying view from which to understand much better its natural branches: corporate, public and global governance. In this regard, governance is presented from the point of view of a distinctive field of learning and practice. Further, three levels of analysis are carried out to drive the subject home. Firstly, it highlights the extent of corporate governance within an institutional framework, and also gi...

Processes governing yearly variations in carbon sequestration at a temperate deciduous forest

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, J. G.; Fuentes, J. D.; Staebler, R.; Lee, X.

2001-12-01

Since 1995, processes governing the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide have been continuously investigated at the CFB Borden temperate mixed deciduous forest in Ontario, Canada. On a yearly basis, the rates of NEE for this forest range from 0.3 to 2.5 t C ha-1. For the 1996 to 1999 period, the forest sequestered the most carbon and had the greatest seasonal carbon dioxide flux in 1997. This seasonal flux is defined as the average daily rate of NEE over the course of the growing period and is the single most important factor governing yearly NEE. Such factors as soil temperature, timing of soil thawing, and respiratory processes exert only minor influences on the yearly variability in NEE. In this presentation, we will provide evidence to support the hypothesis that maximum Rubisco capacity per unit foliage element is one key control on the NEE variability. Additionally, changes in diffuse photosysnthetically active irradiance contribute to the variability observed in NEE. We will present results from both data analyses and outputs from a biospheric modeling system which was employed to investigate seasonal rates of NEE for the Borden forest.

Globalization and deficit and limitations of global governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stojanović Stanislav

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Character and dynamics of relationships in international politics, in which the stronger return to real politics content in the functioning of the foreign policy of the great powers, unequivocally affirms that globalization does not work to its declining power that is less credible design concept of modern world society. The global financial collapse that hit the world in 2008 is a convincing indication that most of the globalization is discredited. The belief in one humanity is becoming a less desirable concept. At the same time, with the increase in global issues that require solving, there are numerous human activities that involve unique or international regulation. The world is increasingly one homeostatic system of interdependent parts of a continent where many aspects of the borders between countries are difficult or even impossible to sustain. Hence the importance of global factors, some of which will fully depend on the articulation of individual and community life of people in the future, stressing the importance of the issue of joint management to ensure global peace and security and promote the prosperity around the world in a universally acceptable and effective way. Therefore, the demonstrated substantial shortcomings of global governance of the world, although they discourage belief in humanity, did not reduce the objective need for global access to many amenities of modern human existence. Many aspects of security, ranging from the security of the individual to the energy and environmental security in modern conditions are not conceivable without international access. However, global security management has been associated with numerous limitations and challenges.

Power from the Trees: How Good Forest Governance can Help Reduce Poverty

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mayers, James; Vermeulen, Sonja

2002-09-15

Forestry is no magic bullet for poverty eradication any more than any other sector is on its own. But good forestry does offer some high-potential routes out of rural poverty. Forestry can contribute to food security, provide resource safety nets and sometimes enterprise opportunities where little else exists. Forests have also proven to be fertile ground for pioneering good local governance. What is needed is for national and international governance frameworks to take a lead from local initiative and convert laudable intentions into some practical action. It is time to remove the barriers that prevent forests and trees from contributing to the livelihoods of poor people and to support emerging opportunities for sustainable local forestry enterprises.

Improving Internet Governance: Support to the Global Commission ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

This project provides continued support to the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG) to engage the developing world in important Internet governance discussions. The funds will allow the GCIG to conduct research on the Internet-related dimensions of public policy to inform recommendations for the future of ...

Global energy efficiency governance in the context of climate politics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gupta, J.; Ivanova, A.

2009-01-01

This paper argues that energy efficiency and conservation is a noncontroversial, critical, and equitable option for rich and poor alike. Although there is growing scientific and political consensus on its significance as an important option at global and national level, the political momentum for taking action is not commensurate with the potential in the sector or the urgency with which measures need to be taken to deal with climate change. The current global energy (efficiency) governance framework is diffuse. This paper submits that there are four substantive reasons why global governance should play a complementary role in promoting energy efficiency worldwide. Furthermore, given that market mechanisms are unable to rapidly mobilize energy efficiency projects and that there are no clear vested interests in this field which involves a large number of actors, there is need for a dedicated agency to promote energy efficiency and conservation. This paper provides an overview of energy efficiency options presented by IPCC, the current energy efficiency governance structure at global level, and efforts taken at supranational and national levels, and makes suggestions for a governance framework.

Rents, Power and Governance in Global Value Chains

OpenAIRE

Dennis Davis; Raphael Kaplinsky; Mike Morris

2018-01-01

This paper addresses the  generation  of  rents  and  the  distribution  of  gains  in  the  global  operations  of  governed Global  Value  Chains  (GVCs)  and  seeks  to  provide  an  architecture  for  analyzing  the  governance  of  GVCs.  It distinguishes between four sets of rent—gifts of nature; innovation rents; exogenously defined rents; and market power—and three spheres of governance—setting the rules -“legislative governance”; implementing the rules -“executive governance”; and mo...

The Politics of Ligitimate Global Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brassett, James; Tsingou, Eleni

2011-01-01

Legitimacy is an important question to ask of the theory and practice of global governance. In this introduction, we make two propositions that are used to push thinking about these issues forward. Firstly, in analytical terms we outline a spectrum between legitimacy and legitimization which is a...

Negative emissions from stopping deforestation and forest degradation, globally.

Science.gov (United States)

Houghton, Richard A; Nassikas, Alexander A

2018-01-01

Forest growth provides negative emissions of carbon that could help keep the earth's surface temperature from exceeding 2°C, but the global potential is uncertain. Here we use land-use information from the FAO and a bookkeeping model to calculate the potential negative emissions that would result from allowing secondary forests to recover. We find the current gross carbon sink in forests recovering from harvests and abandoned agriculture to be -4.4 PgC/year, globally. The sink represents the potential for negative emissions if positive emissions from deforestation and wood harvest were eliminated. However, the sink is largely offset by emissions from wood products built up over the last century. Accounting for these committed emissions, we estimate that stopping deforestation and allowing secondary forests to grow would yield cumulative negative emissions between 2016 and 2100 of about 120 PgC, globally. Extending the lifetimes of wood products could potentially remove another 10 PgC from the atmosphere, for a total of approximately 130 PgC, or about 13 years of fossil fuel use at today's rate. As an upper limit, the estimate is conservative. It is based largely on past and current practices. But if greater negative emissions are to be realized, they will require an expansion of forest area, greater efficiencies in converting harvested wood to long-lasting products and sources of energy, and novel approaches for sequestering carbon in soils. That is, they will require current management practices to change. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The effects of Global Fund financing on health governance in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez, Eduardo J; Atun, Rifat

2012-07-16

The impact of donors, such as national government (bi-lateral), private sector, and individual financial (philanthropic) contributions, on domestic health policies of developing nations has been the subject of scholarly discourse. Little is known, however, about the impact of global financial initiatives, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, on policies and health governance of countries receiving funding from such initiatives. This study employs a qualitative methodological design based on a single case study: Brazil. Analysis at national, inter-governmental and community levels is based on in-depth interviews with the Global Fund and the Brazilian Ministry of Health and civil societal activists. Primary research is complemented with information from printed media, reports, journal articles, and books, which were used to deepen our analysis while providing supporting evidence. Our analysis suggests that in Brazil, Global Fund financing has helped to positively transform health governance at three tiers of analysis: the national-level, inter-governmental-level, and community-level. At the national-level, Global Fund financing has helped to increased political attention and commitment to relatively neglected diseases, such as tuberculosis, while harmonizing intra-bureaucratic relationships; at the inter-governmental-level, Global Fund financing has motivated the National Tuberculosis Programme to strengthen its ties with state and municipal health departments, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs); while at the community-level, the Global Fund's financing of civil societal institutions has encouraged the emergence of new civic movements, participation, and the creation of new municipal participatory institutions designed to monitor the disbursement of funds for Global Fund grants. Global Fund financing can help deepen health governance at multiple levels. Future work will need to explore how the financing of civil society by the

Post-Colonial Nation Building, Global Governance, Globalisation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Post-Colonial Nation Building, Global Governance, Globalisation and Development in Nigeria and Africa. ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... A common route that nations take is that of nation building, especially within the ...

Adaptive collaborative governance of Nepal's community forests: shifting power, strenghtening livelihoods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McDougall, C.L.

2015-01-01

Short Summary

Cynthia McDougall--PhD Dissertation

Knowledge, Technology, &Innovation Chairgroup (WASS)

Adaptive collaborative governance of Nepal’s community forests: Shifting power, strengthening livelihoods

Rents, Power and Governance in Global Value Chains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis Davis

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the  generation  of  rents  and  the  distribution  of  gains  in  the  global  operations  of  governed Global  Value  Chains  (GVCs  and  seeks  to  provide  an  architecture  for  analyzing  the  governance  of  GVCs.  It distinguishes between four sets of rent—gifts of nature; innovation rents; exogenously defined rents; and market power—and three spheres of governance—setting the rules -“legislative governance”; implementing the rules -“executive governance”; and monitoring rules and sanctioning malfeasance -“judicial governance.” The exercise of governance power in GVCs over the generation, protection and appropriation of rents is considered though the lens of four sets of key GVC stakeholders—the corporate sector, civil society organizations, the nation state and supranational institutions. This general analysis is given flesh through three case studies: food-safety standards in GVCs; taxation  policies  and  competition  policies.  In these  sectors,  the  corporate  sector  is  generally  much  more effective in governing rent generation and appropriation in the global operations of GVCs than are the three sets of  non-corporate  stakeholders.  From this  observation  we  offer  a  hypothesis  that  the  capacity  of  non-corporate stakeholders, including national states, to govern GVCs is contingent upon the extent to which this coincides with the interest of the corporate sector. However, as noted, this balance of power between private and non-corporate actors is a contested terrain and dynamic in nature.

Research Priorities for the Conservation and Sustainable Governance of Andean Forest Landscapes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The long-term survival of Andean forest landscapes (AFL and of their capacity to contribute to sustainable development in a context of global change requires integrated adaptation and mitigation responses informed by a thorough understanding of the dynamic and complex interactions between their ecological and social components. This article proposes a research agenda that can help guide AFL research efforts for the next 15 years. The agenda was developed between July 2015 and June 2016 through a series of workshops in Ecuador, Peru, and Switzerland and involved 48 researchers and development experts working on AFL from different disciplinary perspectives. Based on our review of current research and identification of pressing challenges for the conservation and sustainable governance of AFL, we propose a conceptual framework that draws on sustainability sciences and social–ecological systems research, and we identify a set of high-priority research goals and objectives organized into 3 broad categories: systems knowledge, target knowledge, and transformation knowledge. This paper is intended to be a reference for a broad array of actors engaged in policy, research, and implementation in the Andean region. We hope it will trigger collaborative research initiatives for the continued conservation and sustainable governance of AFL.

Regenerative medicine in Europe: global competition and innovation governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Hogarth, Stuart; Salter, Brian

2010-11-01

Leading European nations with strong biotech sectors, such as the UK and Germany, are investing heavily in regenerative medicine, seeking competitive advantage in this emerging sector. However, in the broader biopharmaceutical sector, the EU is outperformed by the USA on all metrics, reflecting longstanding problems: limited venture capital finance, a fragmented patent system, and relatively weak relations between academia and industry. The current global downturn has exacerbated these difficulties. The crisis comes at a time when the EU is reframing its approach to the governance of innovation and renewing its commitment to the goal of making Europe the leading player in the global knowledge economy. If the EU is to gain a competitive advantage in the regenerative medicine sector then it must coordinate a complex multilevel governance framework that encompasses the EU, member states and regional authorities. This article takes stock of Europe's current competitive position within the global bioeconomy, drawing on a variety of metrics in the three intersecting spheres of innovation governance: science, market and society. These data then provide a platform for reviewing the problems of innovation governance faced by the EU and the strategic choices that have to be confronted in the regenerative medicine sector.

The Future of Education for All as a Global Regime of Educational Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Tikly, Leon

2017-01-01

The article considers the future of Education for All (EFA) understood as a global regime of educational governance. The article sets out an understanding of global governance, world order, power, and legitimacy within which EFA is embedded. It explains what is meant by EFA as a regime of global governance and as part of a "regime…

Potential impact of a transatlantic trade and Investment partnership on the global forest sector

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph Buongiorno; Paul Rougieux; Ahmed Barkaoui; Shushuai Zhu; Patrice Harou

2014-01-01

The effects of a transatlantic trade agreement on the global forest sector were assessed with the Global Forest Products Model, conditional on previous macroeconomic impacts predicted with a general equilibrium model. Comprehensive tariff elimination per se had little effect on the forest sector. However, with deeper reforms and integration consumption would increase...

Governing Global Climate Change: Past Achievements, Future Prospects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ella Kokotsis

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The cumulative effects of a significantly changing climate are projected to have disastrous implications on the world’s natural habitats, and along with that, are projected to drastically increase the rate and likelihood of violent conflict globally, particularly in high-density, urban, poverty hotspots. Limiting the effects of a changing climate is thus critical in influencing multiple societal goals including equitable sustainable development, human health, biodiversity, food security and access to reliable energy sources. This paper argues that the G7/8 has led global climate governance in ways other international environmental institu­tions have largely failed to do. It has done so largely by placing climate protection at the forefront of its policy objectives, alongside economic, health, energy and security goals, and reaching consensus repeatedly amongst its leaders on the impor­tance of stabilizing emissions through energy efficiency, conservation, investment and technological innovation. Moreover, this chapter argues that the summit’s predominant capability, its constricted participation, democratic convergence and political cohesion – as well as the combined effects of global shocks – have all had positive impacts on the G7/8’s success in mitigating climate change. Following a detailed process-tracing exercise over the summit’s 40-year history in which clear surges and retreats on global climate governance are outlined, this paper concludes by assessing the G7/8’s accountability record on climate mitigation and outlines a set of prescriptive recommendations, allowing for the delivery of a more tangible, coherent, results-driven accountability process for global climate governance.

Approaching facilitated self-governance of the forest commons : On the roles of external actors in community forest management in India

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barnes, C.A.

2017-01-01

Forests in developing countries provide multiple livelihood opportunities and ecosystem services from the local to the global scale. However deforestation and forest degradation are ripe across many developing countries. An increasing proportion of forestland in developing countries is either owned

A review of the role of temperate forests in the global CO2 balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Musselman, R.C.; Fox, D.G.

1991-01-01

The role of temperate forests in the global carbon balance is difficult to determine because many uncertainties exist in the data, and many assumptions must be made in these determinations. Still, there is little doubt that increases in atmospheric CO 2 and global warming would have major effects on temperate forest ecosystems. Increases in atmospheric CO 2 may result in increases in photosynthesis, changes in water and nitrogen use efficiency, and changes in carbon allocation. Indirect effects of changes in global carbon balance on regional climate and on microenvironmental conditions, particularly temperature and moisture, may be more important then direct effects of increased CO 2 on vegetation. Increased incidence of forest perturbations might also be expected. The evidence suggests that conditions favorable to forest growth and development may exist in the northern latitudes, while southern latitude forests may undergo drought stress. Current harvest of temperate and world forests contributes substantial amounts of carbon to the atmosphere, possibly as much as 3 gigatons (Gt) per year. Return of this carbon to forest storage may require decades. Forest managers should be aware of the global as well as local impact their management decisions will have on the atmospheric carbon balance of the ecosystems they oversee

Global assessment of promising forest management practices for sequestration of carbon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winjum, J.K.; Dixon, R.K.; Schroeder, P.E.

1991-01-01

In the 1980s, forests covered an estimated 4.08 billion hectares and contained a carbon pool of 1,400 gigatonnes, or 64% of the total terrestrial pool. Forest biomass productivity per unit of land can be enhanced by proper management practices and it is suggested that by implementing such practices, forests could store more carbon globally and thereby slow the increase in atmospheric CO 2 . Currently, only about 10% of world forests are managed at an active level. An assessment is presented of the amount of carbon that could be sequestered globally by implementing the practices of reforestation, afforestation, natural regeneration, silviculture, and agroforestry. The assessment is based on the development of a global database on managed forest and agroforestry systems. For each of the above five practices, the database contains information on carbon sequestered per hectare, implementation costs, and estimates of the amount of land technically suitable for such practices throughout the world. Results are presented for each practice in the boreal, temperate, and tropical regions. Preliminary estimates show that promising forestry and agroforestry practices could sequester, over a 50-y period, ca 50-100 gigatonnes of carbon at a cost of $170-340 million. This would be a significant contribution as a mitigating measure regarding atmospheric CO 2 buildup and projections for global warming, at present rates of anthropogenic carbon emissions (300-400 gigatonnes carbon over 50 y). 19 refs., 2 figs., 4 tabs

Chapter 6: New Products and Product Categories in the Global Forest Sector

Science.gov (United States)

Zhiyong Cai; Alan W. Rudie; Nicole M. Stark; Ronald C. Sabo; Sally A. Ralph

2013-01-01

Forests, covering about 30% of the earth’s land area, are a major component in the global ecosystem, influencing the carbon cycle, climate change, habitat protection, clean water supplies, and sustainable economies (FAO 2011). Globally, the vast cellulosic resource found in forests provides about half of all major industrial raw materials for renewable energy, chemical...

A fine mess: Bricolaged forest governance in Cameroon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Verina Ingram

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Value chains of Cameroonian non-timber forest products move through harvesters, processors and traders, to consumers locally and worldwide. This paper characterises six governance arrangements governing eight such chains: statutory and customary regulations, voluntary market-based systems, international conventions, project-based systems and corruption. Governance is messy with overlapping, multiple layers of institutions and actors. There are voids where no institutions govern access to resources and markets; some actors fulfil roles normally the reserve of the state. In some chains the state performs its duties, in others not, and other institutions fill the gaps. To negotiate this complexity, many actors have become adept ‘bricoleurs'. They make the best of the arrangements in which they find themselves, and creatively use capitals available, building on natural capital to construct new governance arrangements and/or remould existing ones to meet their current objectives, circumstances and livelihoods. This ‘fine mess’ makes examining the impacts on the livelihoods of participants and their sustainability challenging. A measure of governance intensity and extensive fieldwork was thus used. It indicates strong trade-offs between natural, social and economic capital, creating winners and losers. Trade-offs between livelihoods and sustainability are most acute either when there are no governance arrangements; when arrangements do not take account of the susceptibility of a species to harvesting; or when they do not balance supply and demand. Policy challenges and opportunities include recognising and dealing with pluralism; reconciling conflicting rules; hearing the voices of silent actors; learning from failures and raising chain visibility by recognising natural and  socio-economic values.

Status of the globally threatened forest birds of northeast Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glauco Alves Pereira

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The Atlantic Forest of northeast Brazil hosts a unique biota which is among the most threatened in the Neotropics. Near-total conversion of forest habitat to sugar cane monocultures has left the region's endemic forest-dependent avifauna marooned in a few highly-fragmented and degraded forest remnants. Here we summarise the current status of 16 globally threatened species based on surveys conducted over the last 11 years. We found a bleak situation for most of these species and consider that three endemics: Glaucidium mooreorum (Pernambuco Pygmy-owl, Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti (Cryptic Treehunter and Philydor novaesi (Alagoas Foliage-gleaner are most likely globally extinct. Some positive news can, however, be reported for both Leptodon forbesi (White-collared Kite and Synallaxis infuscata (Pinto's Spinetail which may warrant re-evaluation of their respective red list statuses. We outline a road map to prioritise conservation interventions in the region directed at preventing the extinction of this suite of threatened bird species and their companion biota.

Win-wins in NTFP market chains? How governance impacts the sustainability of livelihoods based on Congo Basin forest products

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ingram, V.J.

2012-01-01

Exploring the interrelationships between governance, poverty alleviation and sustainability impacts in the framework of market chains for non-timber forest products originating from the Congo Basin. The research focuses on how governance arrangements help or hinder access to forest resources and

Ideological Hegemony and Global Governance

OpenAIRE

Thomas Ford Brown

2015-01-01

In this paper, I analyze libertarian discourse from the perspective of regulation theory, a~ a hegemonic ideology that underlies the emergence of a new mode of regulation. Within this general theoretical approach, I will also employ frames from regime theory as developed by international relations scholars, as well as the "epistemic community" approach from the same discipline. I want to suggest that free-market ideology could engender the emergence of rationalized global governance in order ...

Trump's Doctrine and Climate Change: New Challenges for Global Governance

OpenAIRE

Contipelli, Ernani

2017-01-01

The present communication aims to discuss the main topics related to Trump’s Doctrine and its effects on the implementation of global governance to fight against Climate Change. To present the argument, first, we will analyze the relation between global governance and climate change, followed by a general view of the climate change by some Republican Party members, and finally, the current policies already put in place by President Trump

Island development: Local governance under globalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huei-Min Tsai

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Issues surrounding island development have generated a growing volume of research. What does it mean to develop? How can island communities maintain control over development processes to the benefit of the local economy, rather than seeing economic flows enter and exit the island with little or a primarily negative impact? And how important is local knowledge for edifying local governance and enhancing potentials for innovation in island development? Island histories have repeatedly been forwarded as exemplars and ‘lessons’ for global learning on (unsustainability. To consider these issues, we have selected a number of papers from among the presentations given at the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Islands Conference, Island Development: Local Economy, Culture, Innovation and Sustainability, which took place in the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan, 1–5 October 2013. These papers serve as examples of how the processes of globalization have penetrated the borders and changed the political and economic structures of islands. They also explore how island-based innovations in science, technology, culture, and formal or informal governance might contribute to sustainable island development.

ForC: a global database of forest carbon stocks and fluxes.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J; Wang, Maria M H; McGarvey, Jennifer C; Herrmann, Valentine; Tepley, Alan J; Bond-Lamberty, Ben; LeBauer, David S

2018-06-01

Forests play an influential role in the global carbon (C) cycle, storing roughly half of terrestrial C and annually exchanging with the atmosphere more than five times the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emitted by anthropogenic activities. Yet, scaling up from field-based measurements of forest C stocks and fluxes to understand global scale C cycling and its climate sensitivity remains an important challenge. Tens of thousands of forest C measurements have been made, but these data have yet to be integrated into a single database that makes them accessible for integrated analyses. Here we present an open-access global Forest Carbon database (ForC) containing previously published records of field-based measurements of ecosystem-level C stocks and annual fluxes, along with disturbance history and methodological information. ForC expands upon the previously published tropical portion of this database, TropForC (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t516f), now including 17,367 records (previously 3,568) representing 2,731 plots (previously 845) in 826 geographically distinct areas. The database covers all forested biogeographic and climate zones, represents forest stands of all ages, and currently includes data collected between 1934 and 2015. We expect that ForC will prove useful for macroecological analyses of forest C cycling, for evaluation of model predictions or remote sensing products, for quantifying the contribution of forests to the global C cycle, and for supporting international efforts to inventory forest carbon and greenhouse gas exchange. A dynamic version of ForC is maintained at on GitHub (https://GitHub.com/forc-db), and we encourage the research community to collaborate in updating, correcting, expanding, and utilizing this database. ForC is an open access database, and we encourage use of the data for scientific research and education purposes. Data may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission of the database PI. Any publications using For

The effects of Global Fund financing on health governance in Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Objectives The impact of donors, such as national government (bi-lateral), private sector, and individual financial (philanthropic) contributions, on domestic health policies of developing nations has been the subject of scholarly discourse. Little is known, however, about the impact of global financial initiatives, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, on policies and health governance of countries receiving funding from such initiatives. Methods This study employs a qualitative methodological design based on a single case study: Brazil. Analysis at national, inter-governmental and community levels is based on in-depth interviews with the Global Fund and the Brazilian Ministry of Health and civil societal activists. Primary research is complemented with information from printed media, reports, journal articles, and books, which were used to deepen our analysis while providing supporting evidence. Results Our analysis suggests that in Brazil, Global Fund financing has helped to positively transform health governance at three tiers of analysis: the national-level, inter-governmental-level, and community-level. At the national-level, Global Fund financing has helped to increased political attention and commitment to relatively neglected diseases, such as tuberculosis, while harmonizing intra-bureaucratic relationships; at the inter-governmental-level, Global Fund financing has motivated the National Tuberculosis Programme to strengthen its ties with state and municipal health departments, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs); while at the community-level, the Global Fund’s financing of civil societal institutions has encouraged the emergence of new civic movements, participation, and the creation of new municipal participatory institutions designed to monitor the disbursement of funds for Global Fund grants. Conclusions Global Fund financing can help deepen health governance at multiple levels. Future work will need to explore how

The effects of Global Fund financing on health governance in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gómez Eduardo J

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objectives The impact of donors, such as national government (bi-lateral, private sector, and individual financial (philanthropic contributions, on domestic health policies of developing nations has been the subject of scholarly discourse. Little is known, however, about the impact of global financial initiatives, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, on policies and health governance of countries receiving funding from such initiatives. Methods This study employs a qualitative methodological design based on a single case study: Brazil. Analysis at national, inter-governmental and community levels is based on in-depth interviews with the Global Fund and the Brazilian Ministry of Health and civil societal activists. Primary research is complemented with information from printed media, reports, journal articles, and books, which were used to deepen our analysis while providing supporting evidence. Results Our analysis suggests that in Brazil, Global Fund financing has helped to positively transform health governance at three tiers of analysis: the national-level, inter-governmental-level, and community-level. At the national-level, Global Fund financing has helped to increased political attention and commitment to relatively neglected diseases, such as tuberculosis, while harmonizing intra-bureaucratic relationships; at the inter-governmental-level, Global Fund financing has motivated the National Tuberculosis Programme to strengthen its ties with state and municipal health departments, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs; while at the community-level, the Global Fund’s financing of civil societal institutions has encouraged the emergence of new civic movements, participation, and the creation of new municipal participatory institutions designed to monitor the disbursement of funds for Global Fund grants. Conclusions Global Fund financing can help deepen health governance at multiple levels. Future work

Sales Channels, Governance, and Upgrading in Floriculture Global Value Chains:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Melese, Ayelech Tiruwha

Floriculture is a dynamic industry that has transformed from a regional business, where both production and consumption were concentrated in Europe, to a global business organized in global value chains. Although the Dutch still lead the industry, particularly through the Dutch auction, developing...... countries have strengthened their position as producers in the chain. While consumption in traditional markets remains important, new demand has emerged in the global South. This working paper explains the dynamics and main features of the floriculture global value chain, different sales channels...... and governance structures, and their implications for how supplier firms in developing countries learn and build technological capabilities. Governance structures in the floriculture global value chain are not only shaped by buyer requirements and auction’s institutional rules but also by national...

Comparison of USDA Forest Service and stakeholder motivations and experiences in collaborative federal forest governance in the Western United States

Science.gov (United States)

Emily Jane Davis; Eric M. White; Lee K. Cerveny; David Seesholtz; Meagan L. Nuss; Donald R. Ulrich

2017-01-01

In the United States, over 191 million acres of land is managed by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, a federal government agency. In several western U.S. states, organized collaborative groups have become a de facto governance approach to providing sustained input on management decisions on much public land. This is most extensive in Oregon,...

The Ebola Outbreak: Catalyzing a "Shift" in Global Health Governance?

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K

2016-11-24

As the 2014 Ebola virus disease outbreak (EVD) transitions to its post-endemic phase, its impact on the future of global public health, particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), is the subject of continued debate. Criticism of WHO's performance grew louder in the outbreak's wake, placing this international health UN-specialized agency in the difficult position of navigating a complex series of reform recommendations put forth by different stakeholders. Decisions on WHO governance reform and the broader role of the United Nations could very well shape the future landscape of 21st century global health and how the international community responds to health emergencies. In order to better understand the implications of the EVD outbreak on global health and infectious disease governance, this debate article critically examines a series of reports issued by four high-level commissions/panels convened to specifically assess WHO's performance post-Ebola. Collectively, these recommendations add increasing complexity to the urgent need for WHO reform, a process that the agency must carry out in order to maintain its legitimacy. Proposals that garnered strong support included the formation of an independent WHO Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, the urgent need to increase WHO infectious disease funding and capacity, and establishing better operational and policy coordination between WHO, UN agencies, and other global health partners. The recommendations also raise more fundamental questions about restructuring the global health architecture, and whether the UN should play a more active role in global health governance. Despite the need for a fully modernized WHO, reform proposals recently announced by WHO fail to achieve the "evolution" in global health governance needed in order to ensure that global society is adequately protected against the multifaceted and increasingly complex nature of modern public health emergencies. Instead, the lasting

Identifying Priority Areas for Conservation: A Global Assessment for Forest-Dependent Birds

Science.gov (United States)

Buchanan, Graeme M.; Donald, Paul F.; Butchart, Stuart H. M.

2011-01-01

Limited resources are available to address the world's growing environmental problems, requiring conservationists to identify priority sites for action. Using new distribution maps for all of the world's forest-dependent birds (60.6% of all bird species), we quantify the contribution of remaining forest to conserving global avian biodiversity. For each of the world's partly or wholly forested 5-km cells, we estimated an impact score of its contribution to the distribution of all the forest bird species estimated to occur within it, and so is proportional to the impact on the conservation status of the world's forest-dependent birds were the forest it contains lost. The distribution of scores was highly skewed, a very small proportion of cells having scores several orders of magnitude above the global mean. Ecoregions containing the highest values of this score included relatively species-poor islands such as Hawaii and Palau, the relatively species-rich islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, and the megadiverse Atlantic Forests and northern Andes of South America. Ecoregions with high impact scores and high deforestation rates (2000–2005) included montane forests in Cameroon and the Eastern Arc of Tanzania, although deforestation data were not available for all ecoregions. Ecoregions with high impact scores, high rates of recent deforestation and low coverage by the protected area network included Indonesia's Seram rain forests and the moist forests of Trinidad and Tobago. Key sites in these ecoregions represent some of the most urgent priorities for expansion of the global protected areas network to meet Convention on Biological Diversity targets to increase the proportion of land formally protected to 17% by 2020. Areas with high impact scores, rapid deforestation, low protection and high carbon storage values may represent significant opportunities for both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, for example through Reducing Emissions from

Identifying priority areas for conservation: a global assessment for forest-dependent birds.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graeme M Buchanan

Full Text Available Limited resources are available to address the world's growing environmental problems, requiring conservationists to identify priority sites for action. Using new distribution maps for all of the world's forest-dependent birds (60.6% of all bird species, we quantify the contribution of remaining forest to conserving global avian biodiversity. For each of the world's partly or wholly forested 5-km cells, we estimated an impact score of its contribution to the distribution of all the forest bird species estimated to occur within it, and so is proportional to the impact on the conservation status of the world's forest-dependent birds were the forest it contains lost. The distribution of scores was highly skewed, a very small proportion of cells having scores several orders of magnitude above the global mean. Ecoregions containing the highest values of this score included relatively species-poor islands such as Hawaii and Palau, the relatively species-rich islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, and the megadiverse Atlantic Forests and northern Andes of South America. Ecoregions with high impact scores and high deforestation rates (2000-2005 included montane forests in Cameroon and the Eastern Arc of Tanzania, although deforestation data were not available for all ecoregions. Ecoregions with high impact scores, high rates of recent deforestation and low coverage by the protected area network included Indonesia's Seram rain forests and the moist forests of Trinidad and Tobago. Key sites in these ecoregions represent some of the most urgent priorities for expansion of the global protected areas network to meet Convention on Biological Diversity targets to increase the proportion of land formally protected to 17% by 2020. Areas with high impact scores, rapid deforestation, low protection and high carbon storage values may represent significant opportunities for both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, for example through Reducing

Identifying priority areas for conservation: a global assessment for forest-dependent birds.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchanan, Graeme M; Donald, Paul F; Butchart, Stuart H M

2011-01-01

Limited resources are available to address the world's growing environmental problems, requiring conservationists to identify priority sites for action. Using new distribution maps for all of the world's forest-dependent birds (60.6% of all bird species), we quantify the contribution of remaining forest to conserving global avian biodiversity. For each of the world's partly or wholly forested 5-km cells, we estimated an impact score of its contribution to the distribution of all the forest bird species estimated to occur within it, and so is proportional to the impact on the conservation status of the world's forest-dependent birds were the forest it contains lost. The distribution of scores was highly skewed, a very small proportion of cells having scores several orders of magnitude above the global mean. Ecoregions containing the highest values of this score included relatively species-poor islands such as Hawaii and Palau, the relatively species-rich islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, and the megadiverse Atlantic Forests and northern Andes of South America. Ecoregions with high impact scores and high deforestation rates (2000-2005) included montane forests in Cameroon and the Eastern Arc of Tanzania, although deforestation data were not available for all ecoregions. Ecoregions with high impact scores, high rates of recent deforestation and low coverage by the protected area network included Indonesia's Seram rain forests and the moist forests of Trinidad and Tobago. Key sites in these ecoregions represent some of the most urgent priorities for expansion of the global protected areas network to meet Convention on Biological Diversity targets to increase the proportion of land formally protected to 17% by 2020. Areas with high impact scores, rapid deforestation, low protection and high carbon storage values may represent significant opportunities for both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, for example through Reducing Emissions from

Air Pollution, Global Change and Forests in the New Millennium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karnosky, D.F.; Pikkarainen, J.; Percy, K.E.; Simpson, C.; Chappelka, A.H.

2003-01-01

The chapters in this book present a snapshot of the state of knowledge of air pollution effects at the beginning of the 21st century. From their different disciplines, a distinguished collection of authors document their understanding of how leaves, trees, and forests respond to air pollutants and climate change. Scenarios of global change and air pollution are described. The authors describe responses of forests to climate variability, tropospheric ozone, rising atmospheric CO2, the combination of CO2 and ozone, and deposition of acidic compounds and heavy metals. The responses to ozone receive particular attention because of increasing concern about its damaging effects and increasing concentrations in rural areas. Scaling issues are addressed - from leaves to trees, from juvenile trees to mature trees, from short-term responses to long-term responses, and from small-scale experiments and observations to large-scale forest ecosystems. This book is one major product of a conference sponsored by the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations, the USDA Forest Service Global Change Northern Stations Program, the Arthur Ross Foundation, NCASI, the Canadian Forest Service, and Michigan Technological University. The conference was held in May 2000 in Houghton, Michigan, USA

Urban forests' potential to supply marketable carbon emission offsets: a survey of municipal governments in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Neelam C. Poudyal; Jacek P. Siry; J. M. Bowker

2010-01-01

This study assesses the motivation, willingness, and technical as well as managerial capacities of U.S. cities to store carbon and sell carbon offsets. Based on a national survey of urban foresters, arborists, and other officials responsible for urban forest management within U.S. municipal governments, results indicate that local governments are interested in selling...

Assessing Summit Engagement with Other International Organizations in Global Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marina Larionova

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Recent decades have witnessed dramatic changes all over the world. One major trend is the proliferation and diversification of actors, forums and their arrangements to address global governance challenges, which has led to fragmentation in global governance. However, such contested multilateralism has a positive dimension, as the emergence of informal multilateral institutions claiming a major role in defining the global governance agenda creates alternatives for providing common goods. New arrangements acquire their own actorness and place in the system of global governance. In certain policy areas, there is a clear trend for the new summit institutions’ leadership. The most visible recent cases include the Group of 20 (G20, the BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC forum, with APEC gaining importance regionally and globally. These new informal groupings work on their own agenda. They also engage with established international organizations to steer global governance processes. Taken together, the transformative trends in international relations, the emergence of new actors, tensions between exclusive and inclusive clubs, and demands for the legitimacy and effectiveness of the international institutions define the relevance of the study, systematization and comparative analysis of the effectiveness of this model of cooperation among international institutions. This article builds an analytical framework by undertaking three tasks. It first reviews the key concepts. Second, it argues for a rational choice institutionalist approach. Third, it puts forward a hypothesis for research: to compensate for their inefficiencies, summit institutions engage with other international organizations in a mode they regard most efficient for attainment of their goals. The modes of those institutions’ engagement with other international organizations as reflected in the leaders�

Comparison of USDA Forest Service and Stakeholder Motivations and Experiences in Collaborative Federal Forest Governance in the Western United States

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Emily Jane; White, Eric M.; Cerveny, Lee K.; Seesholtz, David; Nuss, Meagan L.; Ulrich, Donald R.

2017-11-01

In the United States, over 191 million acres of land is managed by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, a federal government agency. In several western U.S. states, organized collaborative groups have become a de facto governance approach to providing sustained input on management decisions on much public land. This is most extensive in Oregon, where at least 25 "forest collaboratives" currently exist. This affords excellent opportunities for studies of many common themes in collaborative governance, including trust, shared values, and perceptions of success. We undertook a statewide survey of participants in Oregon forest collaboratives to examine differences in motivations, perceptions of success, and satisfaction among Forest Service participants ("agency participants"), who made up 31% of the sample, and other respondents ("non-agency") who represent nonfederal agencies, interest groups, citizens, and non-governmental groups. We found that agency participants differed from non-agency participants. They typically had higher annual incomes, and were primarily motivated to participate to build trust. However, a majority of all respondents were similar in not indicating any other social or economic motivations as their primary reason for collaborating. A majority also reported satisfaction with their collaborative—despite not ranking collaborative performance on a number of specific potential outcomes highly. Together, this suggests that collaboration in Oregon is currently perceived as successful despite not achieving many specific outcomes. Yet there were significant differences in socioeconomic status and motivation that could affect the ability of agency and nonagency participants to develop and achieve mutually-desired goals.

Comparison of USDA Forest Service and Stakeholder Motivations and Experiences in Collaborative Federal Forest Governance in the Western United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Emily Jane; White, Eric M; Cerveny, Lee K; Seesholtz, David; Nuss, Meagan L; Ulrich, Donald R

2017-11-01

In the United States, over 191 million acres of land is managed by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, a federal government agency. In several western U.S. states, organized collaborative groups have become a de facto governance approach to providing sustained input on management decisions on much public land. This is most extensive in Oregon, where at least 25 "forest collaboratives" currently exist. This affords excellent opportunities for studies of many common themes in collaborative governance, including trust, shared values, and perceptions of success. We undertook a statewide survey of participants in Oregon forest collaboratives to examine differences in motivations, perceptions of success, and satisfaction among Forest Service participants ("agency participants"), who made up 31% of the sample, and other respondents ("non-agency") who represent nonfederal agencies, interest groups, citizens, and non-governmental groups. We found that agency participants differed from non-agency participants. They typically had higher annual incomes, and were primarily motivated to participate to build trust. However, a majority of all respondents were similar in not indicating any other social or economic motivations as their primary reason for collaborating. A majority also reported satisfaction with their collaborative-despite not ranking collaborative performance on a number of specific potential outcomes highly. Together, this suggests that collaboration in Oregon is currently perceived as successful despite not achieving many specific outcomes. Yet there were significant differences in socioeconomic status and motivation that could affect the ability of agency and nonagency participants to develop and achieve mutually-desired goals.

Global demand for gold is another threat for tropical forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvarez-Berríos, Nora L; Mitchell Aide, T

2015-01-01

The current global gold rush, driven by increasing consumption in developing countries and uncertainty in financial markets, is an increasing threat for tropical ecosystems. Gold mining causes significant alteration to the environment, yet mining is often overlooked in deforestation analyses because it occupies relatively small areas. As a result, we lack a comprehensive assessment of the spatial extent of gold mining impacts on tropical forests. In this study, we provide a regional assessment of gold mining deforestation in the tropical moist forest biome of South America. Specifically, we analyzed the patterns of forest change in gold mining sites between 2001 and 2013, and evaluated the proximity of gold mining deforestation to protected areas (PAs). The forest cover maps were produced using the Land Mapper web application and images from the MODIS satellite MOD13Q1 vegetation indices 250 m product. Annual maps of forest cover were used to model the incremental change in forest in ∼1600 potential gold mining sites between 2001–2006 and 2007–2013. Approximately 1680 km 2 of tropical moist forest was lost in these mining sites between 2001 and 2013. Deforestation was significantly higher during the 2007–2013 period, and this was associated with the increase in global demand for gold after the international financial crisis. More than 90% of the deforestation occurred in four major hotspots: Guianan moist forest ecoregion (41%), Southwest Amazon moist forest ecoregion (28%), Tapajós–Xingú moist forest ecoregion (11%), and Magdalena Valley montane forest and Magdalena–Urabá moist forest ecoregions (9%). In addition, some of the more active zones of gold mining deforestation occurred inside or within 10 km of ∼32 PAs. There is an urgent need to understand the ecological and social impacts of gold mining because it is an important cause of deforestation in the most remote forests in South America, and the impacts, particularly in aquatic systems

Global Carbon-and-Conservation Models, Global Eco-States? Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative and Governance Implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Conny Davidsen

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The “global carbon age” marks a structural change far beyond the economic realms of implementing carbon trade, affecting the fabric of global environmental governance and its actors. Carbon trade and conservation in the Global South have taken on various forms, and climate change mitigation efforts in light of continued rainforest deforestation are scrambling to establish effective approaches. Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative proposes a new global carbon-and-conservation model in the Ecuadorian Amazon that leaves oil reserves of the Yasuní Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT oil fields underground, in exchange for international compensation payments that would be based on voluntary contributions of governments and nongovernmental actors in an international conservation partnership and trust fund under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme. This model suggests far-reaching consequences, as it introduces new global scales for the sharing and management of environmental costs within a framework of neoliberal cost internalization. The analysis in this paper uses the concept of the “ecological state” (Duit, 2008 as a theoretical point of departure to examine the trans-scalar implications of such a carbon-and-conservation model on global governance structures toward a “global ecological state” (or global eco-state.

THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION AND GOVERNANCE ON LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

OpenAIRE

Armenia ANDRONICEANU

2013-01-01

Globalization and the crises context have influenced the local economic development in Romania and determined the government to adapt its policies according to them. This paper presents part of the results of a specific research on the impact of globalization and the government policies to the local economic development. The sample was composed by small and medium size enterprises from Bucharest. They are specialized in export of products from three main areas. The research methodology includ...

United People : designing a new model of global governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Romme, A.G.L.; Ansell, C.; Buck, J.; Choi, Y.; van der Eyden, R.; Figueroa Huencho, V.; John, E.; Kunkler, T.; Mair, J.; Meijer, A.; Meyer, R.; Stephenson, K.; Välikangas, L.; Whitestone, N.; Yu, C.

2018-01-01

Human-driven changes on this planet have been giving rise to global warming, social instability, civil wars, and acts of terrorism. The existing system of global governance is not equipped to effectively address these enormous challenges. It is slow where one must move quickly, favors bureaucracy

Social Evolution, Global Governance and a World Parliament

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Bummel

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This article describes the relevance of a world parliament in the context of long-term social evolution and the crisis of global governance.[*] It is argued that due to the development of weapons of mass destruction and complex interdependency, war has ceased to be a driver of socio-evolutionary consolidation of power at the world-system level. At the same time, there is an increasingly urgent need for global governance in spheres such as climate change mitigation or economics and finances. The author looks at how the established and now dysfunctional pattern of evolutionary change can be overcome and identifies the institution of a world parliament as an important political and psychological aspect of the evolving collective.

Globalisation and global health governance: implications for public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruk, Margaret E

2012-01-01

Globalisation is a defining economic and social trend of the past several decades. Globalisation affects health directly and indirectly and creates economic and health disparities within and across countries. The political response to address these disparities, exemplified by the Millennium Development Goals, has put pressure on the global community to redress massive inequities in health and other determinants of human capability across countries. This, in turn, has accelerated a transformation in the architecture of global health governance. The entrance of new actors, such as private foundations and multi-stakeholder initiatives, contributed to a doubling of funds for global health between 2000 and 2010. Today the governance of public health is in flux, with diminished leadership from multilateral institutions, such as the WHO, and poor coherence in policy and programming that undermines the potential for sustainable health gains. These trends pose new challenges and opportunities for global public health, which is centrally concerned with identifying and addressing threats to the health of vulnerable populations worldwide.

Stakeholders of Voluntary Forest Carbon Offset Projects in China: An Empirical Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Derong Lin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Climate change is one of the defining challenges facing the planet. Voluntary forest carbon offset project which has the potential to boost forest carbon storage and mitigate global warming has aroused the global concern. The objective of this paper is to model the game situation and analyze the game behaviors of stakeholders of voluntary forest carbon offset projects in China. A stakeholder model and a Power-Benefit Matrix are constructed to analyze the roles, behaviors, and conflicts of stakeholders including farmers, planting entities, communities, government, and China Green Carbon Foundation. The empirical analysis results show that although the stakeholders have diverse interests and different goals, a win-win solution is still possible through their joint participation and compromise in the voluntary forest carbon offset project. A wide governance structure laying emphasis on benefit balance, equality, and information exchanges and being regulated by all stakeholders has been constructed. It facilitates the agreement among the stakeholders with conflicting or different interests. The joint participation of stakeholders in voluntary forest carbon offset projects might change the government-dominated afforestation/reforestation into a market, where all participators including government are encouraged to cooperate with each other to improve the condition of fund shortage and low efficiency.

Tropical forest policies for the global climate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Groot, W.T.; Kamminga, E.M.

1995-01-01

A summary is given of the approach and findings of the NRP project 'Local Actors and Global Tree Cover Policies'. The aim of this project was to identify the most effective and efficient options for global climate policies focusing on the tropical forest. Tropical deforestation is a process with very complex and variable causes. In the project's conclusions, therefore, much care has been given to arrive at a coherent image of what really counts most in the myriad of factors, actors, policy levels and policy options. 5 refs

Global warming response options in Brazil's forest sector: comparison of project-level costs and benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fearnside, P.M.

1995-01-01

A project-level assessment of monetary and carbon costs and benefits for five classes of global warming response options in the forest sector is attempted for typical Brazilian conditions. Options considered are: silvicultural plantations (for pulp, charcoal and sawlogs), sustainable timber management and reduction of deforestation. Comparison of pulpwood and sawlog plantations with the vegetation characteristic of deforested areas indicates of modest carbon benefit. Plantations for charcoal can produce a substantial carbon benefit through fossil fuel substitution, but much of this calculated benefit disappears if discount rates greater than zero are applied to carbon. Sustainable timber management, when compared with existing forest, represents a net carbon loss, accumulation of carbon in wood products being insufficient to compensate for biomass reduction over a 100 year time scale. Reduction of deforestation has great potential as a global warming response option, its per-hectare carbon benefits being approximately four times that of silvicultural plantation establishment for pulp and sawlogs over a 100 year period. The costs of reducing deforestation are difficult to assess, however, due to the importance of government policy changes such as removal of land speculation and land tenure establishment as motives for clearing. Although these changes would not cost money and would have tremendous carbon and other benefits, they have not yet occurred. (Author)

Forests between global warming and local wood use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Czeskleba-Dupont, Rolf

2009-01-01

The sustainability of extended energetic wood use in atmospheric burners is questioned because it accelerates global warming for decades and often intensifies local air pollution with serious health impacts. Forest developments in Denmark and Austria are compared, the latter including data...

Three Eras in Global Tobacco Control: How Global Governance Processes Influenced Online Tobacco Control Networking.

Science.gov (United States)

Wipfli, Heather; Chu, Kar-Hai; Lancaster, Molly; Valente, Thomas

2016-01-01

Online networks can serve as a platform to diffuse policy innovations and enhance global health governance. This study focuses on how shifts in global health governance may influence related online networks. We compare social network metrics (average degree centrality [AVGD], density [D] and clustering coefficient [CC]) of Globalink, an online network of tobacco control advocates, across three eras in global tobacco control governance; pre-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) policy transfer (1992-1998), global regime formation through the FCTC negotiations (1999-2005), and philanthropic funding through the Bloomberg Initiative (2006-2012). Prior to 1999, Globalink was driven by a handful of high-income countries (AVGD=1.908 D=0.030, CC=0.215). The FCTC negotiations (1999-2005) corresponded with a rapid uptick in the number of countries represented within Globalink and new members were most often brought into the network through relationships with regional neighbors (AVGD=2.824, D=0.021, CC=0.253). Between 2006 and 2012, the centrality of the US in the network increases significantly (AVGD=3.414, D=0.023, CC=0.310). The findings suggest that global institutionalization through WHO, as with the FCTC, can lead to the rapid growth of decentralized online networks. Alternatively, private initiatives, such as the Bloomberg Initiative, can lead to clustering in which a single source of information gains increasing influence over an online network.

Global Isomorphism and Governance Reform in Chinese Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Yuzhuo

2010-01-01

In the past three decades, higher education reforms have taken place almost everywhere in the world, and governance or the way that higher education is or should be coordinated has become a global topic. The governance reform in Chinese higher education emerged against such a background. The current studies on Chinese higher education reforms…

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RUSSIA’S AND CHINA’S PARTICIPATING IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS EXPERIENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir E. Petrovskiy

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese participation in the current system of global governance, and in its reform. The author views participation of the respective countries in the system of global governance as part of their foreign policy and foreign policy strategy. He shows common and distinctive features of conceptual and practical approaches towards global governance defined by specific features of Russia’s and China’s history, economic development, political culture and traditions. Based on this comparative analysis, the author speculates on the future trends of participation of the two countries in the global governance system, in the spheres of global economy and international security, and on the future trends of their policy coordination in these respective areas.

Conclusion: the role of the EU in the legal dimension of global governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Vooren, B.; Blockmans, S.; Wouters, J.; Van Vooren, B.; Blockmans, S.; Wouters, J.

2013-01-01

This chapter revisits the main themes of the preceding discussions on the EU's role in global governance. These include rule law based collective governance, security governance, trade governance, environmental governance, financial governance, and social governance. Across different areas of

Europe's place in global financial governance after the crisis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mügge, D.

2015-01-01

In the years leading up the global financial crisis, the European Union (EU) had emerged as a central actor in global financial governance, almost rivalling the United States in influence. While the USA and the EU continue to dominate financial rule setting in the post-crisis world, the context in

The role of boreal forests and forestry in the global carbon budget : a synthesis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fyles, I.H.; Shaw, C.H.; Apps, M.J.; Karjalainen, T.; Stocks, B.J.; Running, S.W.; Kurz, W.A.; Weyerhaeuser, G.Jr.; Jarvis, P.G.

2002-10-01

This paper provides a synthesis of all papers presented at the conference on the role of boreal forests in the global carbon budget. The scientific community is recognizing the critical links between boreal forest ecosystems, carbon dynamics and global climate change. This paper addresses the five main topics discussed at the conference including: (1) carbon stocks and fluxes, (2) the effects of natural disturbances on carbon dynamics, (3) effects of management practices on carbon dynamics, (4) afforestation and carbon sequestration, and (5) effects of climate change and elevated carbon dioxide concentration on carbon dynamics. Large-scale model simulations suggest that increased global temperatures will result in increased net ecosystem productivity (NEP). Several model simulations also indicate that net primary productivity (NPP) will increase. While most forest stands are currently carbon sinks, disturbances such as fire, insects and tree harvesting make forests susceptible to becoming a source of carbon. In contrast, some studies suggest that climate change will cause shifting vegetation patterns, increased soil carbon and higher forest productivity that may result in higher sequestration of carbon in the boreal forest. 84 refs.

Global Governance for Health: how to motivate political change?

Science.gov (United States)

McNeill, D; Ottersen, O P

2015-07-01

In this article, we address a central theme that was discussed at the Durham Health Summit: how can politics be brought back into global health governance and figure much more prominently in discussions around policy? We begin by briefly summarizing the report of the Lancet - University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health: 'The Political Origins of Health Inequity' Ottersen et al. In order to provide compelling evidence of the central argument, the Commission selected seven case studies relating to, inter alia, economic and fiscal policy, food security, and foreign trade and investment agreements. Based on an analysis of these studies, the report concludes that the problems identified are often due to political choices: an unwillingness to change the global system of governance. This raises the question: what is the most effective way that a report of this kind can be used to motivate policy-makers, and the public at large, to demand change? What kind of moral or rational argument is most likely to lead to action? In this paper we assess the merits of various alternative perspectives: health as an investment; health as a global public good; health and human security; health and human development; health as a human right; health and global justice. We conclude that what is required in order to motivate change is a more explicitly political and moral perspective - favouring the later rather than the earlier alternatives just listed. Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global Green Governance: Embedding the Green Economy in a Global Green and Equitable Rule of Law Polity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gupta, J.; Sanchez, N.

2012-01-01

The global community is crossing planetary boundaries while it has not yet met the basic needs of at least one-third of the global population. Although governance systems are developing, they are still unable to adequately deal with current global environmental problems. This article assesses global

Global Internet Governance: Russian Approach and International Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena S. Zinovieva

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article studies the processes of Internet governance at the international level in the context of the position and interests of Russia in this area. The theory of global governance was used as a theoretical and methodological framework of the study. Initially, Internet governance was carried out on the state level, with coordination carried out in the interests of the United States created the Internet. At the present stage states and other actors in world politics has to be integrated into the existing system of Internet governance, resulting in development of multi-level or multi-directional diplomacy, formation of the so-called "hybrid" organizations and new models of cooperation. There are new formats of regulation of international relations formed under the influence of scientific and technological progress. Russia's position on Internet governance is based on the goal to ensure equal consideration of interests of all states in the governance of the Internet.

Global context for the United States Forest Sector in 2030

Science.gov (United States)

James Turner; Joseph Buongiorno; Shushuai Zhu; Jeffrey P. Prestemon

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify markets for, and competitors to, the United States forest industries in the next 30 years. The Global Forest Products Model was used to make predictions of international demand, supply, trade, and prices, conditional on the last RPA Timber Assessment projections for the United States. It was found that the United States, Japan...

The global extent and determinants of savanna and forest as alternative biome states.

Science.gov (United States)

Staver, A Carla; Archibald, Sally; Levin, Simon A

2011-10-14

Theoretically, fire-tree cover feedbacks can maintain savanna and forest as alternative stable states. However, the global extent of fire-driven discontinuities in tree cover is unknown, especially accounting for seasonality and soils. We use tree cover, climate, fire, and soils data sets to show that tree cover is globally discontinuous. Climate influences tree cover globally but, at intermediate rainfall (1000 to 2500 millimeters) with mild seasonality (less than 7 months), tree cover is bimodal, and only fire differentiates between savanna and forest. These may be alternative states over large areas, including parts of Amazonia and the Congo. Changes in biome distributions, whether at the cost of savanna (due to fragmentation) or forest (due to climate), will be neither smooth nor easily reversible.

A Study of the BRICS Bank from the Perspective of Global Financial Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Peng

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The transition of the global financial governance system is a history of the rise and fall of the Western advanced countries in the post-war international political and economic system. Since the end of the Second World War, the International Monetary Foundation and the World Bank have always taken the dominant role in the field of global financial governance. However, after the beginning of the global financial crisis in 2008, many drawbacks have become apparent concerning these two significant institutions, such as the lack of representatives, the slow and ineffective response to the crisis, etc. Following a strong appeal from the developing countries (with the emerging powers as their representatives, the global financial governance system has experienced several rounds of reforms which have yet to yield acceptable results. Therefore, it is highly necessary to create a new institution which can play a complementary role in the existing financial governance system rather than overthrow it. Complying with the tide of history, the official establishment of the BRICS Bank can be of great significance to the reform of current global financial governance systems such as diversifying the global financial governance bodies, representing the interests of developing countries in a better way, enhancing the status and improving the importance of emerging economies in the international political and economic order. Admittedly, the BRICS Bank also faces great challenges and limits such as the lack of a core leadership and the absence of a unified currency, etc.

Integrating global energy and climate governance: The changing role of the International Energy Agency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heubaum, Harald; Biermann, Frank

2015-01-01

Despite the long-recognized interlinkages between global energy consumption and climate change, there has historically been only limited policy interaction, let alone integration, between the two fields. This compartmentalization is mirrored in scholarship, where much research has focused on the fragmentation of, respectively, global energy and global climate governance, but only little has been said about how these fields might be integrated. Our analysis of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) changing activities in recent years shows that governance integration – both within global energy governance and between global energy and climate governance – is now happening. The IEA has broadened its portfolio to embrace the full spectrum of energy issues, including renewable energy and climate change; it has built and is expanding key partnerships with both the UN climate convention and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); and it has become an authoritative advocate for the inter-related goals of a low-carbon transition and climate change mitigation. We show that these developments are not the result of a top-down plan, but have rather emerged through the Agency’s various efforts to pursue its energy-centric mandate in a fast-changing global policy environment. - Highlights: • Assesses integration between global energy and global climate governance. • Analyzes organizational change in the IEA and its impact on governance integration. • Discusses recent activities and advocacy by the IEA in relation to climate change.

The global governance of crisis migration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Betts

2014-02-01

Full Text Available There is no coherent or unified global governance framework for the different areas that have been subsumed under the umbrella of ‘crisis migration’. This is not to say that when new challenges or labels arise new institution-building is necessarily required. Addressing emerging protection gaps such as those related to crisis migration requires creativity in making existing institutions work better across implementation, institutionalisation and international agreements.

Porto Alegre as a Counter-Hegemonic "Global City": Building Globalization from below in Governance and Education

Science.gov (United States)

Gandin, Luis Armando

2011-01-01

This paper analyzes the case of Porto Alegre, Brazil as a counter-hegemonic global city. Porto Alegre is a city with no particular relevance to neoliberal globalization that, nevertheless, was launched to a global scale by transformations in local governance. New mechanisms of deliberative democracy captured the attention of social actors…

The Ebola Outbreak: Catalyzing a “Shift” in Global Health Governance?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tim K. Mackey

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background As the 2014 Ebola virus disease outbreak (EVD transitions to its post-endemic phase, its impact on the future of global public health, particularly the World Health Organization (WHO, is the subject of continued debate. Criticism of WHO’s performance grew louder in the outbreak’s wake, placing this international health UN-specialized agency in the difficult position of navigating a complex series of reform recommendations put forth by different stakeholders. Decisions on WHO governance reform and the broader role of the United Nations could very well shape the future landscape of 21st century global health and how the international community responds to health emergencies. Discussion In order to better understand the implications of the EVD outbreak on global health and infectious disease governance, this debate article critically examines a series of reports issued by four high-level commissions/panels convened to specifically assess WHO’s performance post-Ebola. Collectively, these recommendations add increasing complexity to the urgent need for WHO reform, a process that the agency must carry out in order to maintain its legitimacy. Proposals that garnered strong support included the formation of an independent WHO Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, the urgent need to increase WHO infectious disease funding and capacity, and establishing better operational and policy coordination between WHO, UN agencies, and other global health partners. The recommendations also raise more fundamental questions about restructuring the global health architecture, and whether the UN should play a more active role in global health governance. Summary Despite the need for a fully modernized WHO, reform proposals recently announced by WHO fail to achieve the “evolution” in global health governance needed in order to ensure that global society is adequately protected against the multifaceted and increasingly complex

Green power and performance in global environmental governance

OpenAIRE

Never, Babette

2013-01-01

From 10 to 11 June 2013, the Global Green Growth Summit will take place in Seoul. Policymakers, international organizations and experts from various fi elds will once again discuss how the transformation toward a green economy and more sustainable development paths can be managed. Global environmental governance is characterized by a high number of international activities, but actual environmental outcomes vary. The ability to develop green political and economic power that leads to bett er ...

History, Structure and Agency in Global Health Governance Comment on "Global Health Governance Challenges 2016 - Are We Ready?"

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, Stephen; Benatar, Solomon R

2016-08-29

Ilona Kickbusch's thought provoking editorial is criticized in this commentary, partly because she fails to refer to previous critical work on the global conditions and policies that sustain inequality, poverty, poor health and damage to the biosphere and, as a result, she misreads global power and elides consideration of the fundamental historical structures of political and material power that shape agency in global health governance. We also doubt that global health can be improved through structures and processes of multilateralism that are premised on the continued reproduction of the ecologically myopic and socially unsustainable market civilization model of capitalist development that currently prevails in the world economy. This model drives net financial flows from poor to rich countries and from the poor to the affluent and super wealthy individuals. By contrast, we suggest that significant progress in global health requires a profound and socially just restructuring of global power, greater global solidarity and the "development of sustainability." © 2017 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Forest responses to tropospheric ozone and global climate change: an analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kickert, R N; Krupa, S V

1990-01-01

In this paper an analysis is provided on: what we know, what we need to know, and what we need to do, to further our understanding of the relationships between tropospheric ozone (O(3)), global climate change and forest responses. The relationships between global geographic distributions of forest ecosystems and potential geographic regions of high photochemical smog by the year 2025 AD are described. While the emphasis is on the effects of tropospheric O(3) on forest ecosystems, discussion is presented to understand such effects in the context of global climate change. One particular strong point of this paper is the audit of published surface O(3) data by photochemical smog region that reveals important forest/woodland geographic regions where little or no O(3) data exist even though the potential threat to forests in those regions appears to be large. The concepts and considerations relevant to the examination of ecosystem responses as a whole, rather than simply tree stands alone are reviewed. A brief argument is provided to stimulate the modification of the concept of simple cause and effect relationships in viewing total ecosystems. Our knowledge of O(3) exposure and its effects on the energy, nutrient and hydrological flow within the ecosystem are described. Modeling strategies for such systems are reviewed. A discussion of responses of forests to potential multiple climatic changes is provided. An important concept in this paper is that changes in water exchange processes throughout the hydrological cycle can be used as early warning indicators of forest responses to O(3). Another strength of this paper is the integration of information on structural and functional processes of ecosystems and their responses to O(3). An admitted weakness of this analysis is that the information on integrated ecosystem responses is based overwhelmingly on the San Bernardino Forest ecosystem research program of the 1970s because of a lack of similar studies. In the final

Global health promotion: how can we strengthen governance and build effective strategies?

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kelley

2006-12-01

This paper discusses what is meant by 'global health promotion' and the extent to which global governance architecture is emerging, enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health within an increasingly global context. A review of selected initiatives on breast-milk substitutes, healthy cities, tobacco control and diet and nutrition suggests that existing institutions are uneven in their capacity to tackle global health issues. The strategic building of a global approach to health promotion will draw on a broad range of governance instruments, give careful attention to implementation in the medium to longer term, reflect on the nature and appropriateness of partnerships and develop fuller understanding of effective policies for harnessing the positive influences of globalization and countering the negatives.

On the governance of global and catastrophic risks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Faber, Michael Havbro

2011-01-01

The focus of the present paper regards the identification and treatment of critical issues in the process of societal decision making concerning management of global and catastrophic risks. Taking basis in recent works by the author, the paper in particular addresses: 1) Which are the most relevant...... hazards in a holistic global perspective and how may these be categorised in view of strategies for their treatment?; 2) How might robust societal decisions on risk management subject to large uncertainties be formally supported?; 3) How may available economic resources be prioritised for the purpose...... of sustainable and global life safety and health improvements? Finally, new results and perspectives are presented on the issue of allocation of resources for the purpose of improving global public health and a discussion on global risk governance concludes the paper....

Forest health in a changing world: Effects of globalization and climate change on forest insect and pathogen impacts

Science.gov (United States)

T. D. Ramsfield; Barbara Bentz; M. Faccoli; H. Jactel; E. G. Brockerhoff

2016-01-01

Forests and trees throughout the world are increasingly affected by factors related to global change. Expanding international trade has facilitated invasions of numerous insects and pathogens into new regions. Many of these invasions have caused substantial forest damage, economic impacts and losses of ecosystem goods and services provided by trees. Climate...

BRICS STATES IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE: THE WTO CASE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandra G. Koval

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The rise of emerging powers in the world economy has a significant impact on the transformation of global economic governance. The countries with emerging economies seek to enhance their role in international economic organizations and decision-making at the global level. The main players here are the BRICS countries. The contradictions between these countries and Western states represent a modern challenge to the functioning of the global governance. This is clearly demonstrated by the failure of the international trade negotiations under the WTO, which leads to the shift of member states’ priorities towards megaregional trade agreements and indicates the need for changes in the organization. The WTO cannot be seen today as a “rich men’s club” since emerging powers are eager to actively participate in trade negotiations, while recognizing the established rules and regulations. Despite the attempts of certain cooperation in their policies, BRICS countries differ in their trade interests. These states not only play different roles at the world markets of goods and services, but also apply various tariff and non-tariff measures. Moreover, a significant number of protectionist measures affects intra-BRICS trade. These differences complicate the cooperation of emerging powers in the international trading system and entangle the process of transformation of global economic governance.

Governance of the emerging bio-energy markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verdonk, M.; Dieperink, C.; Faaij, A.P.C.

2007-01-01

Despite its promising prospects, a growing global bio-energy market may have sustainability risks as well. Governing this market with respect to installing safeguards to ensure sustainable biomass production might reduce these risks. Therefore, proposals for governance systems for bio-energy are discussed in this article. The proposals are based on comparative case study research on the governance of comparable commodities. By assessing the governance system of global coffee trade, fair trade coffee, the global and the EU sugar market and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) wood, strong and weak points of governance systems for commodities are discerned. FSC is selected as the best performing case study and serves as the proposal's basis. FSC's weaknesses are minimized by, among others, using the lessons learned from the other case studies. This results in a system consisting of two pillars, a bio-energy labelling organization (BLO) and a United Nations Agreement on Bio-energy (UNAB). Although consulted experts in the research process are critical about this system they do suggest several conditions a governance system for bio-energy should meet in order to be effective, such as a facilitative government, professional monitoring and using progressive certification combined with price premiums. These conditions have been taken into account in the final proposal. (author)

Governance of the emerging bio-energy markets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verdonk, M. [Department of Water and Energy, Grontmij Nederland BV, P.O. Box 203, 3730 AE, De Bilt (Netherlands); Dieperink, C. [Department of Innovation and Environmental Studies, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.115, 3508 TC, Utrecht (Netherlands); Faaij, A.P.C. [Department of Science, Technology and Society, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.115, 3508 TC, Utrecht (Netherlands)

2007-07-15

Despite its promising prospects, a growing global bio-energy market may have sustainability risks as well. Governing this market with respect to installing safeguards to ensure sustainable biomass production might reduce these risks. Therefore, proposals for governance systems for bio-energy are discussed in this article. The proposals are based on comparative case study research on the governance of comparable commodities. By assessing the governance system of global coffee trade, fair trade coffee, the global and the EU sugar market and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) wood, strong and weak points of governance systems for commodities are discerned. FSC is selected as the best performing case study and serves as the proposal's basis. FSC's weaknesses are minimized by, among others, using the lessons learned from the other case studies. This results in a system consisting of two pillars, a bio-energy labelling organization (BLO) and a United Nations Agreement on Bio-energy (UNAB). Although consulted experts in the research process are critical about this system they do suggest several conditions a governance system for bio-energy should meet in order to be effective, such as a facilitative government, professional monitoring and using progressive certification combined with price premiums. These conditions have been taken into account in the final proposal. (author)

Global environmental problems, voluntary action and government intervention

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Richter, A.; van Soest, D.P.; Brousseau, E.; Dedeurwaerdere, T.; Jouvet, P.A.; Willonger, M.

2012-01-01

The global community faces several very pressing environmental challenges such as climate change, depletion of the high-sea fisheries, and unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss. Governments are in the process of designing environmental policies to address these problems unilaterally, but also

Millennium Development Goals: Tool or token of global social governance?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Al Raee, M.; Amoateng, Elvis; Avenyo, E.K.; Beshay, Youssef; Bierbaum, M.; Keijser, C.; Sinha, R.

2014-01-01

In this paper we argue that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) experience suggests that Global Social Governance (GSG) exists and that the MDGs have been an effective tool in creating a global accountability framework despite shortcomings mainly arising in the formulation process. The paper

The sustainable management and protection of forests: analysis of the current position globally.

Science.gov (United States)

Freer-Smith, Peter; Carnus, Jean-Michel

2008-06-01

The loss of forest area globally due to change of land use, the importance of forests in the conservation of biodiversity and in carbon and other biogeochemical cycles, together with the threat to forests from pollution and from the impacts of climate change, place forestry policy and practice at the center of global environmental and sustainability strategy. Forests provide important economic, environmental, social, and cultural benefits, so that in forestry, as in other areas of environmental policy and management, there are tensions between economic development and environmental protection. In this article we review the current information on global forest cover and condition, examine the international processes that relate to forest protection and to sustainable forest management, and look at the main forest certification schemes. We consider the link between the international processes and certification schemes and also their combined effectiveness. We conclude that in some regions of the world neither mechanism is achieving forest protection, while in others local or regional implementation is occurring and is having a significant impact. Choice of certification scheme and implementation of management standards are often influenced by a consideration of the associated costs, and there are some major issues over the monitoring of agreed actions and of the criteria and indicators of sustainability. There are currently a number of initiatives seeking to improve the operation of the international forestry framework (e.g., The Montreal Process, the Ministerial Convention of the Protection of Forests in Europe and European Union actions in Europe, the African Timber Organisation and International Tropical Timber Organisation initiative for African tropical forest, and the development of a worldwide voluntary agreement on forestry in the United Nations Forum on Forests). We suggest that there is a need to improve the connections between scientific understanding

Privatization Of Global Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. J. Biersteker

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Thomas Biersteker graduated from Chicago University (BF in Political Science and MIT (MA in Political Science and got PhD in Political Science in MIT as well. Later professor Biersteker lectured in Yale University (1976-1985, South Carolina University (1985-1992 and Brown University (1992-2006. He could be described as a constructivist focusing his research on global governance, international organizations and transnational policy networks, construction of sovereignty and regimes of targeted sanctions. Professor Birsteker kindly agreed to give an interview to the “MGIMO Review of International Relations” during a seminar within the research project - Grant of RFBR No. 16-23-41004. The seminar was also attended by M.M. Lebedeva, Yu.A. Nikitin, A.I. Nikitin, I.A. Istomin.

Gendered forests: exploring gender dimensions in forest governance and REDD+ in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raymond Achu Samndong

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this study we analyze gender relations legitimatized by socio-political institutions of forest governance in REDD+ pilots in Équateur Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Using data from interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations, we show that men and women have different knowledge and use of forests, but these differences are not given due consideration in forest governance. Women's voices are often muted in decision-making arenas and they occupy only a nominal position in both forestry and development initiatives as compared with men. This status quo is extended to the REDD+ pilot projects as well. Women have limited information about REDD+ compared with men. The mechanisms used to establish new village organization for REDD+ exclude women from decision making in the ongoing REDD+ pilot project. We show that women's bargaining power for equal inclusion in decision-making processes and for sharing benefits are constrained by existing social norms regarding local access to land and material resources, existing gender division of labor, local perceptions regarding women's roles and contributions/responsibilities, as well as men's dominant position in rural settings. For a gender transformative REDD+, we suggest that REDD+ actors should attempt to bring about institutional changes that transform gender relations and thereby increase women's bargaining power.

Participatory monitoring to connect local and global priorities for forest restoration.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Kristen; Guariguata, Manuel R; Brancalion, Pedro H S

2018-03-13

New global initiatives to restore forest landscapes present an unparalleled opportunity to reverse deforestation and forest degradation. Participatory monitoring could play a crucial role in providing accountability, generating local buy in, and catalyzing learning in monitoring systems that need scalability and adaptability to a range of local sites. We synthesized current knowledge from literature searches and interviews to provide lessons for the development of a scalable, multisite participatory monitoring system. Studies show that local people can collect accurate data on forest change, drivers of change, threats to reforestation, and biophysical and socioeconomic impacts that remote sensing cannot. They can do this at one-third the cost of professionals. Successful participatory monitoring systems collect information on a few simple indicators, respond to local priorities, provide appropriate incentives for participation, and catalyze learning and decision making based on frequent analyses and multilevel interactions with other stakeholders. Participatory monitoring could provide a framework for linking global, national, and local needs, aspirations, and capacities for forest restoration. © 2018 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Private or self-regulation? A comparative study of forest certification choices in Canada, the United States and Germany

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cashore, B.; Kooten, van G.C.; Vertinsky, I.; Auld, G.; Affolderbach, J.

2005-01-01

Forest certification is perhaps the best example of a voluntary governance structure for addressing environmental spillovers. Competing forest certification schemes have evolved. At the global level, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification and Forest Stewardship

Governing Congo Basin forests in a changing climate: actors, discourses and institutions for adaptation and mitigation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Somorin, O.A.

2014-01-01

Governing Congo Basin Forests in a Changing Climate: Actors, Discourses and Institutions for Adaptation and Mitigation

OA Somorin

Abstract

The thesis deals with the central question of the governance processes of making

A framework for assessing global change risks to forest carbon stocks in the United States.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher W Woodall

Full Text Available Among terrestrial environments, forests are not only the largest long-term sink of atmospheric carbon (C, but are also susceptible to global change themselves, with potential consequences including alterations of C cycles and potential C emission. To inform global change risk assessment of forest C across large spatial/temporal scales, this study constructed and evaluated a basic risk framework which combined the magnitude of C stocks and their associated probability of stock change in the context of global change across the US. For the purposes of this analysis, forest C was divided into five pools, two live (aboveground and belowground biomass and three dead (dead wood, soil organic matter, and forest floor with a risk framework parameterized using the US's national greenhouse gas inventory and associated forest inventory data across current and projected future Köppen-Geiger climate zones (A1F1 scenario. Results suggest that an initial forest C risk matrix may be constructed to focus attention on short- and long-term risks to forest C stocks (as opposed to implementation in decision making using inventory-based estimates of total stocks and associated estimates of variability (i.e., coefficient of variation among climate zones. The empirical parameterization of such a risk matrix highlighted numerous knowledge gaps: 1 robust measures of the likelihood of forest C stock change under climate change scenarios, 2 projections of forest C stocks given unforeseen socioeconomic conditions (i.e., land-use change, and 3 appropriate social responses to global change events for which there is no contemporary climate/disturbance analog (e.g., severe droughts in the Lake States. Coupling these current technical/social limits of developing a risk matrix to the biological processes of forest ecosystems (i.e., disturbance events and interaction among diverse forest C pools, potential positive feedbacks, and forest resiliency/recovery suggests an operational

History, Structure and Agency in Global Health Governance; Comment on “Global Health Governance Challenges 2016 – Are We Ready?”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Gill

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Ilona Kickbusch’s thought provoking editorial is criticized in this commentary, partly because she fails to refer to previous critical work on the global conditions and policies that sustain inequality, poverty, poor health and damage to the biosphere and, as a result, she misreads global power and elides consideration of the fundamental historical structures of political and material power that shape agency in global health governance. We also doubt that global health can be improved through structures and processes of multilateralism that are premised on the continued reproduction of the ecologically myopic and socially unsustainable market civilization model of capitalist development that currently prevails in the world economy. This model drives net financial flows from poor to rich countries and from the poor to the affluent and super wealthy individuals. By contrast, we suggest that significant progress in global health requires a profound and socially just restructuring of global power, greater global solidarity and the “development of sustainability.”

Carrot or stick? Modelling how landowner behavioural responses can cause incentive-based forest governance to backfire.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kirsten A Henderson

Full Text Available Mitigating the negative impacts of declining worldwide forest cover remains a significant socio-ecological challenge, due to the dominant role of human decision-making. Here we use a Markov chain model of land-use dynamics to examine the impact of governance on forest cover in a region. Each land parcel can be either forested or barren (deforested, and landowners decide whether to deforest their parcel according to perceived value (utility. We focus on three governance strategies: yearly incentive for conservation, one-time penalty for deforestation and one-time incentive for reforestation. The incentive and penalty are incorporated into the expected utility of forested land, which decreases the net gain of deforestation. By analyzing the equilibrium and stability of the landscape dynamics, we observe four possible outcomes: a stationary-forested landscape, a stationary-deforested landscape, an unstable landscape fluctuating near the equilibrium, and a cyclic-forested landscape induced by synchronized deforestation. We find that the two incentive-based strategies often result in highly fluctuating forest cover over decadal time scales or longer, and in a few cases, reforestation incentives actually decrease the average forest cover. In contrast, a penalty for deforestation results in the stable persistence of forest cover (generally >30%. The idea that larger conservation incentives will always yield higher and more stable forest cover is not supported in our findings. The decision to deforest is influenced by more than a simple, "rational" cost-benefit analysis: social learning and myopic, stochastic decision-making also have important effects. We conclude that design of incentive programs may need to account for potential counter-productive long-term effects due to behavioural feedbacks.

Carrot or Stick? Modelling How Landowner Behavioural Responses Can Cause Incentive-Based Forest Governance to Backfire

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Kirsten A.; Anand, Madhur; Bauch, Chris T.

2013-01-01

Mitigating the negative impacts of declining worldwide forest cover remains a significant socio-ecological challenge, due to the dominant role of human decision-making. Here we use a Markov chain model of land-use dynamics to examine the impact of governance on forest cover in a region. Each land parcel can be either forested or barren (deforested), and landowners decide whether to deforest their parcel according to perceived value (utility). We focus on three governance strategies: yearly incentive for conservation, one-time penalty for deforestation and one-time incentive for reforestation. The incentive and penalty are incorporated into the expected utility of forested land, which decreases the net gain of deforestation. By analyzing the equilibrium and stability of the landscape dynamics, we observe four possible outcomes: a stationary-forested landscape, a stationary-deforested landscape, an unstable landscape fluctuating near the equilibrium, and a cyclic-forested landscape induced by synchronized deforestation. We find that the two incentive-based strategies often result in highly fluctuating forest cover over decadal time scales or longer, and in a few cases, reforestation incentives actually decrease the average forest cover. In contrast, a penalty for deforestation results in the stable persistence of forest cover (generally >30%). The idea that larger conservation incentives will always yield higher and more stable forest cover is not supported in our findings. The decision to deforest is influenced by more than a simple, “rational” cost-benefit analysis: social learning and myopic, stochastic decision-making also have important effects. We conclude that design of incentive programs may need to account for potential counter-productive long-term effects due to behavioural feedbacks. PMID:24204942

Governing atmospheric sinks: the architecture of entitlements in the global commons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jouni Paavola

2008-07-01

Full Text Available This article revisits key works on the management of common-pool resources under common property arrangements, in order to elicit a broader notion of collective ownership for analysing institutional arrangements that govern the use of large-scale environmental resources such as biodiversity and atmospheric sinks. The article proposes a model for analysing the institutional design of governance solutions which draws attention to 1 tiers and levels, 2 organisation of generic governance functions, and 3 formulation of specific institutional rules. The article exemplifies these analytical solutions by examining the emerging governance framework for global atmospheric sinks. The article indicates how crucial parts of the institutional framework for governing atmospheric sinks are still missing, a shortcoming which maintains the ‘‘tragedy of the commons’’ in their use. The article suggests that a workable governance solution for global atmospheric sinks has to 1 cap the use of atmospheric sinks; 2 provide for a more equitable benefit sharing; 3 provide for compensation of climate change impacts and assistance for adaptation to climate change impacts; and 4 create institutional solutions for enhancing participation in environmental decisions in order to guarantee progress in and legitimacy of the governance framework.

Global health governance in the sustainable development goals: Is it grounded in the right to health?

Science.gov (United States)

Van de Pas, Remco; Hill, Peter S; Hammonds, Rachel; Ooms, Gorik; Forman, Lisa; Waris, Attiya; Brolan, Claire E; McKee, Martin; Sridhar, Devi

2017-01-01

This paper explores the extent to which global health governance - in the context of the early implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals is grounded in the right to health. The essential components of the right to health in relation to global health are unpacked. Four essential functions of the global health system are assessed from a normative, rights-based, analysis on how each of these governance functions should operate. These essential functions are: the production of global public goods, the management of externalities across countries, the mobilization of global solidarity, and stewardship. The paper maps the current reality of global health governance now that the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals are beginning to be implemented. In theory, the existing human rights legislation would enable the principles and basis for the global governance of health beyond the premise of the state. In practice, there is a governance gap between the human rights framework and practices in global health and development policies. This gap can be explained by the political determinants of health that shape the governance of these global policies. Current representations of the right to health in the Sustainable Development Goals are insufficient and superficial, because they do not explicitly link commitments or right to health discourse to binding treaty obligations for duty-bearing nation states or entitlements by people. If global health policy is to meaningfully contribute to the realization of the right to health and to rights based global health governance then future iterations of global health policy must bridge this gap. This includes scholarship and policy debate on the structure, politics, and agency to overcome existing global health injustices.

Managing the world's forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, N; Rowe, R

1992-06-01

Forests play a vital role in balancing natural systems: the stabilization of global climate and the management of water and land. 30% of the earth's total land area is forested. 66% of the tropical moist forests are in Latin America and the remainder in Africa and Asia. 75% of tropical dry forests are in Africa. Temperate forests are primarily in developed countries. Deforestation and misuse of forests occurs primarily in developing countries at significant social, economic, and environmental costs. Losses have occurred in fuelwood, fodder, timber, forest products, biological diversity, habitats, genetic materials for food and medicine. The World Bank's evolving role in forestry is briefly described. Agreement has not been reached among people or nations about the most appropriate means to balance conservation and development goals. The challenge is to stabilize existing forests and increase forest planting. The causes of forest degradation must be understood. Direct causes include agricultural encroachment, cattle ranching, fuelwood gathering, commercial logging, and infrastructure development. These direct causes are driven by economic, social, and political forces: market and policy failures, population growth, and poverty. The market failures include: 1) the lack of clearly defined property rights on forest resources for now and the future, 2) the conflict between individual and societal needs, 3) the difficulty in placing a value on nonmarket environmental services and joint products, and 4) the separation between private and social costs. The solution is action at the local, national, and global levels. Countries must establish forest policy. The existing government incentives which promote deforestation must be changed. For example, concession policy and royalty systems must be corrected; explicit and implicit export subsidies on timber and forest products must be stopped. Private incentives must be established to promote planting of trees, practicing

Pharmaceutical digital marketing and governance: illicit actors and challenges to global patient safety and public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K; Liang, Bryan A

2013-10-16

Digital forms of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing (eDTCA) have globalized in an era of free and open information exchange. Yet, the unregulated expansion of eDTCA has resulted in unaddressed global public health threats. Specifically, illicit online pharmacies are engaged in the sale of purportedly safe, legitimate product that may in fact be counterfeit or substandard. These cybercriminal actors exploit available eDTCA mediums over the Internet to market their suspect products globally. Despite these risks, a detailed assessment of the public health, patient safety, and cybersecurity threats and governance mechanisms to address them has not been conducted. Illicit online pharmacies represent a significant global public health and patient safety risk. Existing governance mechanisms are insufficient and include lack of adequate adoption in national regulation, ineffective voluntary governance mechanisms, and uneven global law enforcement efforts that have allowed proliferation of these cybercriminals on the web. In order to effectively address this multistakeholder threat, inclusive global governance strategies that engage the information technology, law enforcement and public health sectors should be established. Effective global "eHealth Governance" focused on cybercrime is needed in order to effectively combat illicit online pharmacies. This includes building upon existing Internet governance structures and coordinating partnership between the UN Office of Drugs and Crime that leads the global fight against transnational organized crime and the Internet Governance Forum that is shaping the future of Internet governance. Through a UNODC-IGF governance mechanism, investigation, detection and coordination of activities against illicit online pharmacies and their misuse of eDTCA can commence.

Nonbinding Legal Instruments in Governance for Global Health: Lessons from the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Allyn; Alfvén, Tobias; Hougendobler, Daniel; Buse, Kent

2014-01-01

Recent debate over World Health Organization reform has included unprecedented attention to international lawmaking as a future priority function of the Organization. However, the debate is largely focused on the codification of new binding legal instruments. Drawing upon lessons from the success of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism, established pursuant to the United Nations' Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, we argue that effective global health governance requires consideration of a broad range of instruments, both binding and nonbinding. A detailed examination of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism reveals that the choice of the nonbinding format makes an important contribution to its effectiveness. For instance, the flexibility and adaptability of the nonbinding format have allowed the global community to: (1) undertake commitments in a timely manner; (2) adapt and experiment in the face of a dynamic pandemic; and (3) grant civil society an unparalleled role in monitoring and reporting on state implementation of global commitments. UNAIDS' institutional support has also played a vital role in ensuring the continuing effectiveness of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism. Overall, the experience of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism evidences that, at times, nimbler nonbinding instruments can offer benefits over slower, more rigid binding legal approaches to governance, but depend critically, like all instruments, on the perceived legitimacy thereof. © 2014 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Forest-Observation-System.net - towards a global in-situ data repository for biomass datasets validation

Science.gov (United States)

Shchepashchenko, D.; Chave, J.; Phillips, O. L.; Davies, S. J.; Lewis, S. L.; Perger, C.; Dresel, C.; Fritz, S.; Scipal, K.

2017-12-01

Forest monitoring is high on the scientific and political agenda. Global measurements of forest height, biomass and how they change with time are urgently needed as essential climate and ecosystem variables. The Forest Observation System - FOS (http://forest-observation-system.net/) is an international cooperation to establish a global in-situ forest biomass database to support earth observation and to encourage investment in relevant field-based observations and science. FOS aims to link the Remote Sensing (RS) community with ecologists who measure forest biomass and estimating biodiversity in the field for a common benefit. The benefit of FOS for the RS community is the partnering of the most established teams and networks that manage permanent forest plots globally; to overcome data sharing issues and introduce a standard biomass data flow from tree level measurement to the plot level aggregation served in the most suitable form for the RS community. Ecologists benefit from the FOS with improved access to global biomass information, data standards, gap identification and potential improved funding opportunities to address the known gaps and deficiencies in the data. FOS closely collaborate with the Center for Tropical Forest Science -CTFS-ForestGEO, the ForestPlots.net (incl. RAINFOR, AfriTRON and T-FORCES), AusCover, Tropical managed Forests Observatory and the IIASA network. FOS is an open initiative with other networks and teams most welcome to join. The online database provides open access for both metadata (e.g. who conducted the measurements, where and which parameters) and actual data for a subset of plots where the authors have granted access. A minimum set of database values include: principal investigator and institution, plot coordinates, number of trees, forest type and tree species composition, wood density, canopy height and above ground biomass of trees. Plot size is 0.25 ha or large. The database will be essential for validating and calibrating

Brazil in Regional and Global Governance: Foreign Policy, Leadership and UNASUR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gregory Chin

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This article examines the role of Brazil as a source of international governance innovation during the Lula da Silva and early Rousseff presidencies (2003–12. The analysis details some of Brazil’s main contributions to regional and global governance, and how these contributions are rooted in ideational and normative innovation and its imaginative, nonconformist, status quo–altering foreign policy of the period. Although Brazil was not, and is not, a “new actor” per se in global governance, it did take unprecedented and dramatic strides between 2003 and 2012 to redefine the multilateral agenda and reshape institutional arrangements for international cooperation and conflict management in South America. At the global level, Brazil launched new platforms for international cooperation, including with the other BRICS countries of Russia, India, China and South Africa. The regional trends are examined in the case of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR, and the innovations that Brazil spearheaded and supported in international security and health cooperation. However, Brazil’s contributions gain greater salience as part of the broader processes of global change where international power is becoming increasingly diffused and decentralized.

Prelude to practice: Introducing a practice based approach to forest and nature governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arts, B.J.M.; Behagel, J.H.; Bommel, van S.; Koning, de J.; Turnhout, E.

2013-01-01

‘Forest and nature governance’ is a field that has recently emerged from forestry sciences. It analyses the governance of a diverse set of issues, including deforestation, biodiversity loss and illegal logging, producing insights useful for science and policy. Its main theoretical base consists of

Rethinking Global Water Governance for the 21st Century

Science.gov (United States)

Ajami, N. K.; Cooley, H.

2012-12-01

Growing pressure on the world's water resources is having major impacts on our social and economic well-being. According to the United Nations, today, at least 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water. Pressures on water resources are likely to continue to worsen in response to decaying and crumbling infrastructure, continued population growth, climate change, degradation of water quality, and other challenges. If these challenges are not addressed, they pose future risks for many countries around the world, making it urgent that efforts are made to understand both the nature of the problems and the possible solutions that can effectively reduce the associated risks. There is growing understanding of the need to rethink governance to meet the 21st century water challenges. More and more water problems extend over traditional national boundaries and to the global community and the types and numbers of organizations addressing water issues are large and growing. Economic globalization and transnational organizations and activities point to the need for improving coordination and integration on addressing water issues, which are increasingly tied to food and energy security, trade, global climate change, and other international policies. We will present some of the key limitations of global water governance institutions and provide recommendations for improving these institutions to address 21st century global water challenges more effectively.

Mechanisms of private meta-governance: an analysis of global private governance for sustainable development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Glasbergen, P.

2011-01-01

One of the main characteristics of global governance for sustainable development is its fragmentation. Next to public regulations, there are often many private regulations in force on the same issue, which are induced by collaborations between businesses and NGOs. Traditionally, it is assumed that

Cryptic Methane Emissions from Upland Forest Ecosystems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Megonigal, Patrick [Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (United States); Pitz, Scott [Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States); Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (United States)

2016-04-19

This exploratory research on Cryptic Methane Emissions from Upland Forest Ecosystems was motivated by evidence that upland ecosystems emit 36% as much methane to the atmosphere as global wetlands, yet we knew almost nothing about this source. The long-term objective was to refine Earth system models by quantifying methane emissions from upland forests, and elucidate the biogeochemical processes that govern upland methane emissions. The immediate objectives of the grant were to: (i) test the emerging paradigm that upland trees unexpectedly transpire methane, (ii) test the basic biogeochemical assumptions of an existing global model of upland methane emissions, and (iii) develop the suite of biogeochemical approaches that will be needed to advance research on upland methane emissions. We instrumented a temperate forest system in order to explore the processes that govern upland methane emissions. We demonstrated that methane is emitted from the stems of dominant tree species in temperate upland forests. Tree emissions occurred throughout the growing season, while soils adjacent to the trees consumed methane simultaneously, challenging the concept that forests are uniform sinks of methane. High frequency measurements revealed diurnal cycling in the rate of methane emissions, pointing to soils as the methane source and transpiration as the most likely pathway for methane transport. We propose the forests are smaller methane sinks than previously estimated due to stem emissions. Stem emissions may be particularly important in upland tropical forests characterized by high rainfall and transpiration, resolving differences between models and measurements. The methods we used can be effectively implemented in order to determine if the phenomenon is widespread.

Pharmaceutical digital marketing and governance: illicit actors and challenges to global patient safety and public health

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Digital forms of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing (eDTCA) have globalized in an era of free and open information exchange. Yet, the unregulated expansion of eDTCA has resulted in unaddressed global public health threats. Specifically, illicit online pharmacies are engaged in the sale of purportedly safe, legitimate product that may in fact be counterfeit or substandard. These cybercriminal actors exploit available eDTCA mediums over the Internet to market their suspect products globally. Despite these risks, a detailed assessment of the public health, patient safety, and cybersecurity threats and governance mechanisms to address them has not been conducted. Discussion Illicit online pharmacies represent a significant global public health and patient safety risk. Existing governance mechanisms are insufficient and include lack of adequate adoption in national regulation, ineffective voluntary governance mechanisms, and uneven global law enforcement efforts that have allowed proliferation of these cybercriminals on the web. In order to effectively address this multistakeholder threat, inclusive global governance strategies that engage the information technology, law enforcement and public health sectors should be established. Summary Effective global “eHealth Governance” focused on cybercrime is needed in order to effectively combat illicit online pharmacies. This includes building upon existing Internet governance structures and coordinating partnership between the UN Office of Drugs and Crime that leads the global fight against transnational organized crime and the Internet Governance Forum that is shaping the future of Internet governance. Through a UNODC-IGF governance mechanism, investigation, detection and coordination of activities against illicit online pharmacies and their misuse of eDTCA can commence. PMID:24131576

Governance of Transnational Global Health Research Consortia and Health Equity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pratt, Bridget; Hyder, Adnan A

2016-10-01

Global health research partnerships are increasingly taking the form of consortia of institutions from high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries that undertake programs of research. These partnerships differ from collaborations that carry out single projects in the multiplicity of their goals, scope of their activities, and nature of their management. Although such consortia typically aim to reduce health disparities between and within countries, what is required for them to do so has not been clearly defined. This article takes a conceptual approach to explore how the governance of transnational global health research consortia should be structured to advance health equity. To do so, it applies an account called shared health governance to derive procedural and substantive guidance. A checklist based on this guidance is proposed to assist research consortia determine where their governance practices strongly promote equity and where they may fall short.

Ideological Hegemony and Global Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Ford Brown

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, I analyze libertarian discourse from the perspective of regulation theory, a~ a hegemonic ideology that underlies the emergence of a new mode of regulation. Within this general theoretical approach, I will also employ frames from regime theory as developed by international relations scholars, as well as the "epistemic community" approach from the same discipline. I want to suggest that free-market ideology could engender the emergence of rationalized global governance in order to maintain free trade, property rights, and other regulatory concerns of the emerging mode of accumulation, and that such a world state could conceivably extend liberalism's life by carrying liberalism to its extreme.

Governance factors in the identification of global conservation priorities for mammals.

Science.gov (United States)

Eklund, Johanna; Arponen, Anni; Visconti, Piero; Cabeza, Mar

2011-09-27

Global conservation priorities have often been identified based on the combination of species richness and threat information. With the development of the field of systematic conservation planning, more attention has been given to conservation costs. This leads to prioritizing developing countries, where costs are generally low and biodiversity is high. But many of these countries have poor governance, which may result in ineffective conservation or in larger costs than initially expected. We explore how the consideration of governance affects the selection of global conservation priorities for the world's mammals in a complementarity-based conservation prioritization. We use data on Control of Corruption (Worldwide Governance Indicators project) as an indicator of governance effectiveness, and gross domestic product per capita as an indicator of cost. We show that, while core areas with high levels of endemism are always selected as important regardless of governance and cost values, there are clear regional differences in selected sites when biodiversity, cost or governance are taken into account separately. Overall, the analysis supports the concentration of conservation efforts in most of the regions generally considered of high priority, but stresses the need for different conservation approaches in different continents owing to spatial patterns of governance and economic development.

A framework for assessing global change risks to forest carbon stocks in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher W. Woodall; Grant M. Domke; Karin L. Riley; Christopher M. Oswalt; Susan J. Crocker; Gary W. Yohe

2013-01-01

Among terrestrial environments, forests are not only the largest long-term sink of atmospheric carbon (C), but are also susceptible to global change themselves, with potential consequences including alterations of C cycles and potential C emission. To inform global change risk assessment of forest C across large spatial/temporal scales, this study constructed and...

Combating healthcare corruption and fraud with improved global health governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K; Liang, Bryan A

2012-10-22

Corruption is a serious threat to global health outcomes, leading to financial waste and adverse health consequences. Yet, forms of corruption impacting global health are endemic worldwide in public and private sectors, and in developed and resource-poor settings alike. Allegations of misuse of funds and fraud in global health initiatives also threaten future investment. Current domestic and sectorial-level responses are fragmented and have been criticized as ineffective. In order to address this issue, we propose a global health governance framework calling for international recognition of "global health corruption" and development of a treaty protocol to combat this crucial issue.

The Comparative Study Of Local Governance: Towards A Global Approach The Comparative Study Of Local Governance: Towards A Global Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerry Stoker

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The comparative study of local governance has been too focused on the institutional arrangements of the Systems of different nation states rather than the more fundamental issue of the societal functions performed by local government. This article focuses attention on four societal roles that local government systems undertake. They can support political identity, underwrite economic development, facilitate social welfare provision or act as a lifestyle co-ordinator through the practice of community governance. Linking our investigation to the embedded societal roles of local government in different systems opens up the opportunity for a more genuinely global comparative perspective. It also helps us to understand the likely forms of politics associated with different systems of local governance. It also enables us to explore the sustainability of different systems of local governance. It is suggested that a strong system of local government is likely to be one that is able to combine societal roles to a substantial degree. A vulnerable local government system is one trapped with one function that in changing societal and economic circumstances could find itself under threat.El estudio comparado de la gobernanza local se ha focalizado excesivamente en los arreglos institucionales de los sistemas de los diferentes Estados-nación en lugar de centrarse en el tema esencial de las funciones sociales que desempeñan los gobiernos locales. Este artículo centra su atención en cuatro roles sociales que desempeñan los sistemas de gobierno local. Pueden proporcionar identidad política, garantizar el desarrollo económico, facilitar la provisión de servicios sociales o actuar como coordinador de la forma de vida mediante la práctica de la gobernanza comunitaria. La vinculación de la investigación a los roles sociales asumidos por los gobiernos locales en los diferentes sistemas proporciona la posibilidad de adoptar una perspectiva global comparada

Canadian forests: A vulnerable resource with a global role

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pollard, D.F.W.

1990-01-01

Impending climatic change could jeopardize the national and global values of Canada's forests, and creates a new and urgent dimension to the objectives of the World Conservation Strategy. The first objective is the maintenance of essential ecological processes and life-support systems. The first priority requirement, reservation of prime crop lands, could bear directly on the forest sector in certain regions of Canada if new areas of prime crop land develop under improving climatic conditions. The second priority, maintenance of productive land capabilities, may be a more serious matter, although in the long run climate change should increase the productivity of much of Canada's land base. The second objective, preservation of genetic diversity, is significant due to the question of whether there is sufficient plasticity within the forest ecosystems, and particularly within their gene pools, for them to withstand changes envisaged over coming decades. The objective of sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems is especially pertinent to Canada, whose forest sector is based on native species in managed and unmanaged ecosystems. In response to the threat of widespread forest dieback resulting from stress and infestation, foresters might engage in premature harvesting followed by planting of more adapted genotypes. 14 refs

The Convergence of Corporate Governance Practices in Global Firms

OpenAIRE

Lindop, Charlotte

2012-01-01

The matter of convergence in corporate governance practices has gained prominence in recent years as it becomes apparent that globalization in the capital markets has led to the expectation of transparency and accountability by investors, traits typically associated with firms based in the United Kingdom and United States. Whilst there is some argument for why there may be a persistence of diversity in corporate governance practices, there is more support for the view that there will be a con...

Global forest loss disproportionately erodes biodiversity in intact landscapes.

Science.gov (United States)

Betts, Matthew G; Wolf, Christopher; Ripple, William J; Phalan, Ben; Millers, Kimberley A; Duarte, Adam; Butchart, Stuart H M; Levi, Taal

2017-07-27

Global biodiversity loss is a critical environmental crisis, yet the lack of spatial data on biodiversity threats has hindered conservation strategies. Theory predicts that abrupt biodiversity declines are most likely to occur when habitat availability is reduced to very low levels in the landscape (10-30%). Alternatively, recent evidence indicates that biodiversity is best conserved by minimizing human intrusion into intact and relatively unfragmented landscapes. Here we use recently available forest loss data to test deforestation effects on International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List categories of extinction risk for 19,432 vertebrate species worldwide. As expected, deforestation substantially increased the odds of a species being listed as threatened, undergoing recent upgrading to a higher threat category and exhibiting declining populations. More importantly, we show that these risks were disproportionately high in relatively intact landscapes; even minimal deforestation has had severe consequences for vertebrate biodiversity. We found little support for the alternative hypothesis that forest loss is most detrimental in already fragmented landscapes. Spatial analysis revealed high-risk hot spots in Borneo, the central Amazon and the Congo Basin. In these regions, our model predicts that 121-219 species will become threatened under current rates of forest loss over the next 30 years. Given that only 17.9% of these high-risk areas are formally protected and only 8.9% have strict protection, new large-scale conservation efforts to protect intact forests are necessary to slow deforestation rates and to avert a new wave of global extinctions.

Feminism, CSR and Global Governance: The Case of WEP

OpenAIRE

Cervi, Lucia

2012-01-01

This study aims at understanding whether corporations can be considered facilitators of feminism through their involvement in international political and feminist projects. Such question stems from the acknowledgment of the new political role corporations are taking in global governance dynamics and institutions, which in turn allows them to be influential actors when it comes to tackling global political issues – such as, in this case, gender issues. In 2011 the UN Millennium Developme...

The Influence of “Business World” in Global Environmental Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriana Vinholi Rampazo

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Since Rio 92 there has been a constant growth in the participation of non-environmental and the private sector in environmental conferences promoted by United Nations (UN, and therefore in global environmental governance. Thus, norms, rules and procedures governing environmental protection around the world are eventually influenced by organizations like the World Bank, private banks and other private companies in various sectors. In this context, the objective of this study is to discuss the inclusion of environmental nongovernmental organizations and the private sector in global environmental governance in recent years. To this end, we developed a bibliographic and documentary study based on scientific articles, institutional and journalistic, and official documents. At the end of the work it was established that environmental nongovernmental organizations and the private sector, through lobbying, its power structure and the networks that form (business associations, are increasingly inserted in environmental discussions and thus end up to influence the decisions taken.

New ecology, global change, and forest politics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sampson, N.

1993-01-01

Ecosystems constantly change. Some changes are caused by natural conditions that evolve at a very slow pace including climate change, species evolution and migration, and soil formation. Forests don't always respond to gradual changes in gradual ways, though gradual change may be hidden for years within the normal variation in the ecosystem. The industrial age has resulted in a rapid and continuing buildup of atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons which trap heat in the greenhouse effect. Industrial processes also emit oxides of nitrogen and sulfur that change atmospheric chemistry and alter the nutrient input into ecosystems. Natural forests face a hard time adjusting to a rate of climatic change that is 3 to 10 times faster than species can migrate and that increases the occurrence of major windstorms. In the forest ecosystem where trees are removed or destroyed under rapid climatic change, conditions may not return to their original state, even if we try to restore it. When the ecosystem changes faster than the bureaucracy of the management agency, a serious problem exists. New understandings of ecology and global change may force new ways of thinking in these situations

The multiple meanings of global health governance: a call for conceptual clarity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kelley; Kamradt-Scott, Adam

2014-04-28

The term global health governance (GHG) is now widely used, with over one thousand works published in the scholarly literature, almost all since 2002. Amid this rapid growth there is considerable variation in how the term is defined and applied, generating confusion as to the boundaries of the subject, the perceived problems in practice, and the goals to be achieved through institutional reform. This paper is based on the results of a separate scoping study of peer reviewed GHG research from 1990 onwards which undertook keyword searches of public health and social science databases. Additional works, notably books, book chapters and scholarly articles, not currently indexed, were identified through Web of Science citation searches. After removing duplicates, book reviews, commentaries and editorials, we reviewed the remaining 250 scholarly works in terms of how the concept of GHG is applied. More specifically, we identify what is claimed as constituting GHG, how it is problematised, the institutional features of GHG, and what forms and functions are deemed ideal. After examining the broader notion of global governance and increasingly ubiquitous term "global health", the paper identifies three ontological variations in GHG scholarship - the scope of institutional arrangements, strengths and weaknesses of existing institutions, and the ideal form and function of GHG. This has produced three common, yet distinct, meanings of GHG that have emerged - globalisation and health governance, global governance and health, and governance for global health. There is a need to clarify ontological and definitional distinctions in GHG scholarship and practice, and be critically reflexive of their normative underpinnings. This will enable greater precision in describing existing institutional arrangements, as well as serve as a prerequisite for a fuller debate about the desired nature of GHG.

The multiple meanings of global health governance: a call for conceptual clarity

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background The term global health governance (GHG) is now widely used, with over one thousand works published in the scholarly literature, almost all since 2002. Amid this rapid growth there is considerable variation in how the term is defined and applied, generating confusion as to the boundaries of the subject, the perceived problems in practice, and the goals to be achieved through institutional reform. Methodology This paper is based on the results of a separate scoping study of peer reviewed GHG research from 1990 onwards which undertook keyword searches of public health and social science databases. Additional works, notably books, book chapters and scholarly articles, not currently indexed, were identified through Web of Science citation searches. After removing duplicates, book reviews, commentaries and editorials, we reviewed the remaining 250 scholarly works in terms of how the concept of GHG is applied. More specifically, we identify what is claimed as constituting GHG, how it is problematised, the institutional features of GHG, and what forms and functions are deemed ideal. Results After examining the broader notion of global governance and increasingly ubiquitous term “global health”, the paper identifies three ontological variations in GHG scholarship - the scope of institutional arrangements, strengths and weaknesses of existing institutions, and the ideal form and function of GHG. This has produced three common, yet distinct, meanings of GHG that have emerged – globalisation and health governance, global governance and health, and governance for global health. Conclusions There is a need to clarify ontological and definitional distinctions in GHG scholarship and practice, and be critically reflexive of their normative underpinnings. This will enable greater precision in describing existing institutional arrangements, as well as serve as a prerequisite for a fuller debate about the desired nature of GHG. PMID:24775919

The global wilderness seminar for government agencies: a meeting at the crossroads of wildlands stewardship

Science.gov (United States)

Nancy Roeper; Peter Landres; Don Fisher

2006-01-01

Two days before the 8th World Wilderness Congress began in Alaska, nearly 200 government wildlands managers from 17 countries met to share ideas about common challenges and to explore ways to improve wildland stewardship globally. The goal for this Global Wilderness Seminar for Government Agencies was to lay the foundation for an operating peer network of government...

Combating healthcare corruption and fraud with improved global health governance

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Corruption is a serious threat to global health outcomes, leading to financial waste and adverse health consequences. Yet, forms of corruption impacting global health are endemic worldwide in public and private sectors, and in developed and resource-poor settings alike. Allegations of misuse of funds and fraud in global health initiatives also threaten future investment. Current domestic and sectorial-level responses are fragmented and have been criticized as ineffective. In order to address this issue, we propose a global health governance framework calling for international recognition of “global health corruption” and development of a treaty protocol to combat this crucial issue. PMID:23088820

Global forest sector modeling: application to some impacts of climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph. Buongiorno

2016-01-01

This paper explored the potential long-term effects of a warming climate on the global wood sector, based on Way and Oren's synthesis (Tree Physiology 30,669-688) indicating positive responses of tree growth to higher temperature in boreal and temperative climates, and negative responses in the topics. Changes in forest productivity were introduced in the Global...

Feedback of global warming to soil carbon cycling in forest ecosystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakane, Kaneyuki

1993-01-01

Thus in this study the simulation of soil carbon cycling and dynamics of its storage in several types of mature forests developed from the cool-temperate to the tropics was carried out for quantitatively assessing carbon loss from the soil under several scenarios of global warming, based on the model of soil carbon cycling in forest ecosystems (Nakane et al. 1984, 1987 and Nakane 1992). (J.P.N.)

Evidence and mapping of extinction debts for global forest-dwelling reptiles, amphibians and mammals

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Youhua; Peng, Shushi

2017-03-01

Evidence of extinction debts for the global distributions of forest-dwelling reptiles, mammals and amphibians was tested and the debt magnitude was estimated and mapped. By using different correlation tests and variable importance analysis, the results showed that spatial richness patterns for the three forest-dwelling terrestrial vertebrate groups had significant and stronger correlations with past forest cover area and other variables in the 1500 s, implying the evidence for extinction debts. Moreover, it was likely that the extinction debts have been partially paid, given that their global richness patterns were also significantly correlated with contemporary forest variables in the 2000 s (but the absolute magnitudes of the correlation coefficients were usually smaller than those calculated for historical forest variables). By utilizing species-area relationships, spatial extinction-debt magnitudes for the three vertebrate groups at the global scale were estimated and the hotspots of extinction debts were identified. These high-debt hotspots were generally situated in areas that did not spatially overlap with hotspots of species richness or high extinction-risk areas based on IUCN threatened status to a large extent. This spatial mismatch pattern suggested that necessary conservation efforts should be directed toward high-debt areas that are still overlooked.

Transparency in Global Environmental Governance: A Coming of Age?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gupta, A.

2010-01-01

This introductory article draws on the contributions to this special issue to consider the implications of a transparency turn in global environmental and sustainability governance. Three interrelated aspects are addressed: why transparency now? How is transparency being institutionalized? And what

A Study of the BRICS Bank from the Perspective of Global Financial Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bo, Peng

2014-01-01

The transition of the global financial governance system is a history of the rise and fall of the Western advanced countries in the post-war international political and economic system. Since the end of the Second World War, the International Monetary Foundation and the World Bank have always taken...... the dominant role in the field of global financial governance. However, after the beginning of the global financial crisis in 2008, many drawbacks have become apparent concerning these two significant institutions, such as the lack of representatives, the slow and ineffective response to the crisis, etc...

Gender Bias Affects Forests Worldwide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marlène Elias

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Gender biases persist in forestry research and practice. These biases result in reduced scientific rigor and inequitable, ineffective, and less efficient policies, programs, and interventions. Drawing from a two-volume collection of current and classic analyses on gender in forests, we outline five persistent and inter-related themes: gendered governance, tree tenure, forest spaces, division of labor, and ecological knowledge. Each emerges across geographic regions in the northern and southern hemisphere and reflects inequities in women’s and men’s ability to make decisions about and benefit from trees, forests, and their products. Women’s ability to participate in community-based forest governance is typically less than men’s, causing concern for social equity and forest stewardship. Women’s access to trees and their products is commonly more limited than men’s, and mediated by their relationship with their male counterparts. Spatial patterns of forest use reflect gender norms and taboos, and men’s greater access to transportation. The division of labor results in gender specialization in the collection of forest products, with variations in gender roles across regions. All these gender differences result in ecological knowledge that is distinct but also complementary and shifting across the genders. The ways gender plays out in relation to each theme may vary across cultures and contexts, but the influence of gender, which intersects with other factors of social differentiation in shaping forest landscapes, is global.

Leveraging non-binding instruments for global health governance: reflections from the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism for WHO reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, A L; Alfven, T; Hougendobler, D; Tanaka, S; Buse, K

2014-02-01

As countries contend with an increasingly complex global environment with direct implications for population health, the international community is seeking novel mechanisms to incentivize coordinated national and international action towards shared health goals. Binding legal instruments have garnered increasing attention since the World Health Organization adopted its first convention in 2003. This paper seeks to expand the discourse on future global health lawmaking by exploring the potential value of non-binding instruments in global health governance, drawing on the case of the 2001 United Nations General Assembly Special Session Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. In other realms of international concern ranging from the environment to human rights to arms control, non-binding instruments are increasingly used as effective instruments of international cooperation. The experience of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism, established pursuant to the Declaration, evidences that, at times, non-binding legal instruments can offer benefits over slower, more rigid binding legal approaches to governance. The global AIDS response has demonstrated that the use of a non-binding instrument can be remarkably effective in galvanizing increasingly deep commitments, action, reporting compliance and ultimately accountability for results. Based on this case, the authors argued that non-binding instruments deserve serious consideration by the international community for the future of global health governance, including in the context of WHO reform. Copyright © 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transparency Under Scrutiny: Information Disclosure in Global Environmental Governance.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gupta, A.

2008-01-01

Although transparency is a key concept of our times, it remains a relatively understudied phenomenon in global environmental politics. The link between transparency and accountable, legitimate and effective governance is assumed, yet the nature and workings of this link require further scrutiny.

Biogeochemistry and biodiversity interact to govern N2 fixers (Fabaceae) across Amazon tropical forests

Science.gov (United States)

Batterman, Sarah; Hedin, Lars; Lloyd, Jon; Quesada, Beto

2015-04-01

Dinitrogen (N2)-fixing trees in the Fabaceae fulfill a central role in tropical rainforests by supplying nitrogen from the atmosphere, yet whether they will support a forest CO2 sink in the future by alleviating nitrogen limitation may depend on whether and how they are controlled by local environmental conditions. Theory predicts that soil nutrients govern the function of N2 fixers, yet there have been no large-scale field-based tests of this idea. Moreover, recent findings indicate that N2-fixing species behave differently in biogeochemical cycles, suggesting that any environmental control may differ by species, and that the diversity of N2-fixing trees may be critical for ensuring tropical forest function. In this talk, we will use the RAINFOR dataset of 108 (~1.0 ha) lowland tropical rainforest plots from across the Amazon Basin to test whether the abundance and diversity of N2-fixing trees are controlled by soil nutrient availability (i.e., increasing with phosphorus and decreasing with nitrogen), or if fixer abundance and diversity simply follow the dynamics of all tree species. We also test an alternative - but not mutually exclusive - hypothesis that the governing factor for fixers is forest disturbance. Results show a surprising lack of control by local nutrients or disturbance on the abundance or diversity of N2 fixers. The dominant driver of fixer diversity was the total number of tree species, with fixers comprising 10% of all species in a forest plot (R2 = 0.75, linear regression). When considering the dominant taxa of N2 fixers (Inga, Swartzia, Tachigali) alone, environmental factors (nitrogen, phosphorus and disturbance) became important and clearly governed their abundance. These taxa, which contain >60% of N2-fixing trees in the data set, appear to have evolved to specialize in different local environmental conditions. The strong biogeochemistry-by-biodiversity interaction observed here points to a need to consider individual species or taxa of N2

Promoting Sustainable Food Provision; the Role of Networks in Global Food Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oosterveer, P.J.M.

2017-01-01

Food provision in contemporary societies is transforming due to challenges of globalization, sustainability and equity. The interactions between civil society organizations, governments, the food industry, consumers and producers constitute dynamic fields of environmental change in global food

Climate change and the World Bank: opportunity for global governance?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boehmer-Christiansen, S.A.

1999-01-01

The direct and indirect efforts of the World Bank and its off-spring, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), to become leading international agents of global environmental 'governance' and 'sustainable development' are described and analysed politically with reference to the development of an implementation regime of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). The Bank/GEF are seen as engaging in a potentially dangerous experiment of 'global ecological modernisation', or industrial transformation, in 'emerging economies', an experiment legitimised by reference to the catastrophic threat of man-made 'global warming'. This threat is already being translated into political, commercial and bureaucratic benefits accruing to a small global elite. How was this achieved and what are the likely political implications? (author)

Interregionalism and global governance: Notes on the EU-Mercosur axis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amalia Stuhldreher

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Beginning with a review of the debate on globalization, this article presents one of the theoretical responses to the new global challenges, namely, the focus on “global governance” stressing the role of the national states in the still incipient global architecture. The analysis then proceeds to examine the concomitant role of regionalism and its by-product, interregionalism. This case study examines the development of interregional cooperation between the EU and Mercosur since the early 90’s from a functional point of view. By way of a conclusion, there is a discussion of the contributions of the interregional scheme to the demands of global governance in contemporary international politics.

The Vulnerability of Forest Ecosystems of Armenia to the Global Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Khachatryan, S.

2009-05-01

Climate changes characterized as global warming can lead to irreversible effects on regional and global scales, such as drought, pest attacks, diseases, excessive forest fires, and climate driven extinction of numerous animal and plant species. We assess the issues that the development of forestry in Armenia faces, where the climate change is causing the landscape zone borders in the territory to shift. This will have a significant impact on the most vulnerable tree species in Armenia. An increase in climate aridity and intensification of desertification can be expected under the projected escalated temperatures and reduced precipitation. For example, we can consider average annual temperature of the Ijevan meteorological station (located in forestry region) for the period of 1936-2008. We analyze the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in Armenia to climatic and anthropogenic factors for the period of 1936-2008. Temperature and precipitation data from 25 meteorological stations in the territory of Armenia is studied for the period of 1936-2008. The dynamic of average temperature annual anomalies are revealed. The deviations of temperature and precipitation from the norms (average for 1961-1990) are evaluated for the period of study. We discuss the reasons for the abrupt increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation. Based on the dataset, the possible near future impact of global climate change on the Armenian forest ecosystems is discussed, and measures on the adaptation to the adverse consequences that climate change has on forests are offered.

The European presence in global financial governance: a principal-agent perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mügge, D.

2011-01-01

Europe is a heavyweight in global finance. But does it have a presence in global financial governance to match? This paper employs a principal-agent approach to analyse patterns of policy-making delegation in the EU to explore this question. It finds a U-shaped relationship between the extent of

Sustainable Land Governance in Support of the Global Agenda

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Enemark, Stig

strategies in support of sustainable development. This paper provides an overall understanding of the land management paradigm in this regard. Land governance and administration support the global agenda through addressing the key challenges of our time such as climate change, poverty reduction, human rights......, rapid urban growth, and the post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. Land Governance and administration therefore need high-level political support and recognition. This relates especially to developing countries where there is an urgent need to build simple and “fit-for-purpose” land administration...

Global climate change and biodiversity in forests of the southern United States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Devall, M.S.; Parresol, B.R. (Forest Service, New Orleans, LA (United States). Inst. for Quantitative Studies)

1994-09-01

This paper examines the effects of projected future climate change scenarios on biodiversity in forests of the southern US. Global climate change will probably influence biodiversity of southern forests as it was affected during periods in the past, with added problems caused by high human population density, development, air pollution, and rising sea levels. Although the increased level of CO[sub 2] could have beneficial effects on plants, climate change could cause serious changes to many ecological systems, for example inducing plants to bloom before their pollinators are available, and could precipitate modifications that few scientists have considered. Certainly many ecological systems will be seriously altered by climate change. Large northward shifts in species' ranges are expected, causing communities and ecosystems to change in composition. Loss of or movement of a dominant tree species may influence many other plant and animal species in the southern forest, bringing about large increases in the numbers of threatened and endangered species, as well as extinctions. Predictions about the effects of global climate change to southern forests and suggestions for detecting and preparing for them are included.

A Global Perspective on Warmer Droughts as a Key Driver of Forest Disturbances and Tree Mortality (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, C. D.

2013-12-01

Recent global warming, in concert with episodic droughts, is causing elevated levels of both chronic and acute forest water stress across large regions. Such increases in water stress affect forest dynamics in multiple ways, including by amplifying the incidence and severity of many significant forest disturbances, particularly drought-induced tree mortality, wildfire, and outbreaks of damaging insects and diseases. Emerging global-scale patterns of drought-related forest die-off are presented, including a newly updated map overview of documented drought- and heat-induced tree mortality events from around the world, demonstrating the vulnerability of all major forest types to forest drought stress, even in typically wet environments. Comparative patterns of drought stress and associated forest disturbances are reviewed for several regions (southwestern Australia, Inner Asia, western North America, Mediterranean Basin), including interactions among climate and various disturbance processes. From the Southwest USA, research is presented that derives a tree-ring-based Forest Drought Stress Index (FDSI) for the most regionally-widespread conifer species (Pinus edulis, Pinus ponderosa, and Pseudotsuga menziesii), demonstrating recent escalation of FDSI to extreme levels relative to the past 1000 years, due to both drought and especially warming. This new work further highlights strong correlations between drought stress and amplified forest disturbances (fire, bark beetle outbreaks), and projects that by CE 2050 anticipated regional warming will cause mean FDSI values to reach historically unprecedented levels that may exceed thresholds for the survival of current tree species in large portions of their current range in the Southwest. Similar patterns of recent climate-amplified forest disturbance risk are apparent from a variety of relatively dry regions across this planet, and given climate projections for substantially warmer temperatures and greater drought stress

Global recession and microfinance risk governance in developing countries

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Roberto Moro Visconti

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Global recession, started in 2008, is still proving an unresolved perfect storm and the financial crisis has affected also the real economy, creating widespread social unrest. Microfinance institutions (MFIs in developing countries seem however less affected by the worldwide turmoil, due to their segmentation and resilience to external shocks. Recession has a big impact on governance mechanisms, altering the equilibriums among different stakeholders and increasing the risk of investment returns; any governance improvement is highly welcome and recommended. No governance, no money for growth or bare survival. In the confused phase we are living in, at the moment there are not evident winners, but the underbanked poorest, unless properly supported, once again risk being the ultimate losers.

Tackling the global NCD crisis: innovations in law and governance.

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Thomas, Bryan; Gostin, Lawrence O

2013-01-01

35 million people die annually of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), 80% of them in low- and middle-income countries - representing a marked epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases and from richer to poorer countries. The total number of NCDs is projected to rise by 17% over the coming decade, absent significant interventions. The NCD epidemic poses unique governance challenges: the causes are multifactorial, the affected populations diffuse, and effective responses require sustained multi-sectorial cooperation. The authors propose a range of regulatory options available at the domestic level, including stricter food labeling laws, regulation of food advertisements, tax incentives for healthy lifestyle choices, changes to the built environment, and direct regulation of food and drink producers. Given the realities of globalization, such interventions require global cooperation. In 2011, the UN General Assembly held a High-level meeting on NCDs, setting a global target of a 25% reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 2025. Yet concrete plans and resource commitments for reaching this goal are not yet in the offing, and the window is rapidly closing for achieving these targets through prevention - as opposed to treatment, which is more costly. Innovative global governance for health is urgently needed to engage private industry and civil society in the global response to the NCD crisis. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Global Financial Governance: a Perspective from the International Monetary Fund

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Ryszard Wilczyński

2011-03-01

Full Text Available An environment for the activities of the International Monetary Fund (the IMF has fundamentally changed over the two recent decades. The strong development of financial innovations as well as of financial globalisation was among major forces driving the change and shaping the economic growth worldwide. As some economies were able - with the support from financial markets – to accelerate their growth, other countries suffered from turbulences, which were reinforced and transferred internationally through the volatile financial markets. The process of international financial contagion makes the case for global financial governance, which so far has been left behind the development of markets. The IMF is mandated to play a central role in the global governance designed to ensure financial stability. The article reconsiders the Fund’s role and includes an overview and assessment of its activities, particularly in the context of the global financial crisis in 2007-2010. In the aftermath of this crisis, the international financial stability may, however, again be at risk as several external imbalances in the global economy may be hardly sustainable. It is argued in the paper that, in addition to a gradually improving surveillance and lending as well as to adjusting resources by the Fund, an enhanced credibility of the institution is needed so that its role in the process of the stabilising global financial system is strong and effective.

Setting the rules: Private power, political underpinnings, and legitimacy in global monetary and financial governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Underhill, G.R.D.; Zhang, X.

2008-01-01

The role of private market agents in global monetary and financial governance has increased as globalization has proceeded. This shift in both markets and patterns of governance has often been encouraged by states themselves in pursuit of liberalization policies. Much of the literature views these

The legitimation of global energy governance: a normative exploration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, S.I.S.E.

2015-01-01

Global energy governance has very limited legitimacy in the eyes of mostgovernments. Although the concept has been starting to surface in academic papers it is still barely used in policy discussions. It is contested, almost taboo, to raise the need for international norms around energy production

Why the MDGs need good governance in pharmaceutical systems to promote global health.

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Kohler, Jillian Clare; Mackey, Tim Ken; Ovtcharenko, Natalia

2014-01-21

Corruption in the health sector can hurt health outcomes. Improving good governance can in turn help prevent health-related corruption. We understand good governance as having the following characteristics: it is consensus-oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, equitable and inclusive, effective and efficient, follows the rule of law, is participatory and should in theory be less vulnerable to corruption. By focusing on the pharmaceutical system, we explore some of the key lessons learned from existing initiatives in good governance. As the development community begins to identify post-2015 Millennium Development Goals targets, it is essential to evaluate programs in good governance in order to build on these results and establish sustainable strategies. This discussion on the pharmaceutical system illuminates why. Considering pharmaceutical governance initiatives such as those launched by the World Bank, World Health Organization, and the Global Fund, we argue that country ownership of good governance initiatives is essential but also any initiative must include the participation of impartial stakeholders. Understanding the political context of any initiative is also vital so that potential obstacles are identified and the design of any initiative is flexible enough to make adjustments in programming as needed. Finally, the inherent challenge which all initiatives face is adequately measuring outcomes from any effort. However in fairness, determining the precise relationship between good governance and health outcomes is rarely straightforward. Challenges identified in pharmaceutical governance initiatives manifest in different forms depending on the nature and structure of the initiative, but their regular occurrence and impact on population-based health demonstrates growing importance of addressing pharmaceutical governance as a key component of the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals. Specifically, these challenges need to be acknowledged and

Global Environmental Governance as a Regulatory and Guarantee Criterion for Environmental Justice

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Denise Schmitt Siqueira Garcia

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article deals with the theme of Global Environmental Governance to the achievement of Environmental Justice, presenting as general objective to analyze the importance of the first in its public, business and civil society spheres for the regulation and guarantee of the second. Noting up at the end that the Environmental Justice, as a common humanitarian problem, presents itself as the main objective of Global Environmental Governance. In the methodology was adopted the inductive method, having been applied the techniques of the referent, category, operational concepts, bibliographical research and file.

An approach for the evaluation of rural governance in Cameroon: are community forests really forests for the communities?

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Hilaire NKENGFACK

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to evaluate the contribution of the traditionalexploitation of timber, in a community framework, to the respect of governanceprinciples in actions for the fight against poverty in some rural communities inCameroon. In 1990, the government of Cameroon adopted laws on the freedomof association that authorised teaming up for the search of possibilities for abetter economic welfare of populations. It is in line with this that in 1994, a newforest law which authorises willing communities to organise themselves andrequest the government to grant them a portion of the national forest of thepublic domain to be managed by them and for their personal interest. Also, andwith the help of the international community, Cameroon elaborated in 1998 itsfirst poverty reduction strategy paper that encouraged amongst others,community actions in the search of solutions to the economic crisis that strokethe country. Through the application of a logit model to the responses collectedthrough a survey carried out on a sample of 200 individuals of the East regionof Cameroon, it was noticed that timber exploitation in a community frameworkdoes not necessarily lead to the strengthening of the links of belonging to acommon community, and to the equitable redistribution of revenues from theexploitation of the community forest.

Global spatially explicit CO2 emission metrics at 0.25° horizontal resolution for forest bioenergy

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Cherubini, F.

2015-12-01

Bioenergy is the most important renewable energy option in studies designed to align with future RCP projections, reaching approximately 250 EJ/yr in RCP2.6, 145 EJ/yr in RCP4.5 and 180 EJ/yr in RCP8.5 by the end of the 21st century. However, many questions enveloping the direct carbon cycle and climate response to bioenergy remain partially unexplored. Bioenergy systems are largely assessed under the default climate neutrality assumption and the time lag between CO2 emissions from biomass combustion and CO2 uptake by vegetation is usually ignored. Emission metrics of CO2 from forest bioenergy are only available on a case-specific basis and their quantification requires processing of a wide spectrum of modelled or observed local climate and forest conditions. On the other hand, emission metrics are widely used to aggregate climate impacts of greenhouse gases to common units such as CO2-equivalents (CO2-eq.), but a spatially explicit analysis of emission metrics with global forest coverage is today lacking. Examples of emission metrics include the global warming potential (GWP), the global temperature change potential (GTP) and the absolute sustained emission temperature (aSET). Here, we couple a global forest model, a heterotrophic respiration model, and a global climate model to produce global spatially explicit emission metrics for CO2 emissions from forest bioenergy. We show their applications to global emissions in 2015 and until 2100 under the different RCP scenarios. We obtain global average values of 0.49 ± 0.03 kgCO2-eq. kgCO2-1 (mean ± standard deviation), 0.05 ± 0.05 kgCO2-eq. kgCO2-1, and 2.14·10-14 ± 0.11·10-14 °C (kg yr-1)-1, and 2.14·10-14 ± 0.11·10-14 °C (kg yr-1)-1 for GWP, GTP and aSET, respectively. We also present results aggregated at a grid, national and continental level. The metrics are found to correlate with the site-specific turnover times and local climate variables like annual mean temperature and precipitation. Simplified

Governance of Offshore IT Outsourcing at Shell Global Functions IT-BAM Development and Application of a Governance Framework to Improve Outsourcing Relationships

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, Floor; van Hillegersberg, Jos; van Eck, Pascal; van der Kolk, Feiko; Jorissen, Rene; Oshri, Ilan; Kotlarsky, Julia

The lack of effective IT governance is widely recognized as a key inhibitor to successful global IT outsourcing relationships. In this study we present the development and application of a governance framework to improve outsourcing relationships. The approach used to developing an IT governance

China's Mission in Surveying, Mapping and Geographic Information during Global Governance

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Jia, D.; Xue, C.; Chen, X.

2018-04-01

In the new era, it is proposed that China should be transformed from a participant and a cooperator into a designer, an impeller and a leader, continue taking an effect of responsible great power, increase public product supply, perfect a global governance system and contribute to China's wisdom and China's schemes during global governance, thus surveying and mapping geographic information takes on great mission. On the one hand, we have to timely grasp global geographic information data resources to provide an important scientific data support for China's wisdom and China's schemes. On the other hand, we have to provide surveying and mapping geographic information infrastructure construction and public products for developing countries, support location services within a global territorial scope, and realize the smoothness of talent flow, material flow and information flow between China and countries in the world. Meanwhile, external assistance and international communication and cooperation of surveying and mapping geographic information are also enhanced, and popularization and application of a geographic information technology in underdeveloped countries and regions are promoted.

Synthesizing Global and Local Datasets to Estimate Jurisdictional Forest Carbon Fluxes in Berau, Indonesia.

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Griscom, Bronson W; Ellis, Peter W; Baccini, Alessandro; Marthinus, Delon; Evans, Jeffrey S; Ruslandi

2016-01-01

Forest conservation efforts are increasingly being implemented at the scale of sub-national jurisdictions in order to mitigate global climate change and provide other ecosystem services. We see an urgent need for robust estimates of historic forest carbon emissions at this scale, as the basis for credible measures of climate and other benefits achieved. Despite the arrival of a new generation of global datasets on forest area change and biomass, confusion remains about how to produce credible jurisdictional estimates of forest emissions. We demonstrate a method for estimating the relevant historic forest carbon fluxes within the Regency of Berau in eastern Borneo, Indonesia. Our method integrates best available global and local datasets, and includes a comprehensive analysis of uncertainty at the regency scale. We find that Berau generated 8.91 ± 1.99 million tonnes of net CO2 emissions per year during 2000-2010. Berau is an early frontier landscape where gross emissions are 12 times higher than gross sequestration. Yet most (85%) of Berau's original forests are still standing. The majority of net emissions were due to conversion of native forests to unspecified agriculture (43% of total), oil palm (28%), and fiber plantations (9%). Most of the remainder was due to legal commercial selective logging (17%). Our overall uncertainty estimate offers an independent basis for assessing three other estimates for Berau. Two other estimates were above the upper end of our uncertainty range. We emphasize the importance of including an uncertainty range for all parameters of the emissions equation to generate a comprehensive uncertainty estimate-which has not been done before. We believe comprehensive estimates of carbon flux uncertainty are increasingly important as national and international institutions are challenged with comparing alternative estimates and identifying a credible range of historic emissions values.

U.S. Government Electronic Data Sources for Global Marketing Decisions: An Evaluation and Classroom Application.

Science.gov (United States)

Judd, Vaughan C.; Tims, Betty J.

2000-01-01

The U.S. government publishes considerable information applicable to business people interested in global marketing opportunities, much of which is available via the Internet and CD-ROMs. Evaluates the usefulness of four of the government's electronic sources of global marketing information (e.g., the World Fact Book), describing workshops using…

Successful conservation of global waterbird populations depends on effective governance

Science.gov (United States)

Amano, Tatsuya; Székely, Tamás; Sandel, Brody; Nagy, Szabolcs; Mundkur, Taej; Langendoen, Tom; Blanco, Daniel; Soykan, Candan U.; Sutherland, William J.

2018-01-01

Understanding global patterns of biodiversity change is crucial for conservation research, policies and practices. However, for most ecosystems, the lack of systematically collected data at a global level limits our understanding of biodiversity changes and their local-scale drivers. Here we address this challenge by focusing on wetlands, which are among the most biodiverse and productive of any environments and which provide essential ecosystem services, but are also amongst the most seriously threatened ecosystems. Using birds as an indicator taxon of wetland biodiversity, we model time-series abundance data for 461 waterbird species at 25,769 survey sites across the globe. We show that the strongest predictor of changes in waterbird abundance, and of conservation efforts having beneficial effects, is the effective governance of a country. In areas in which governance is on average less effective, such as western and central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and South America, waterbird declines are particularly pronounced; a higher protected area coverage of wetland environments facilitates waterbird increases, but only in countries with more effective governance. Our findings highlight that sociopolitical instability can lead to biodiversity loss and undermine the benefit of existing conservation efforts, such as the expansion of protected area coverage. Furthermore, data deficiencies in areas with less effective governance could lead to underestimations of the extent of the current biodiversity crisis.

Successful conservation of global waterbird populations depends on effective governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Amano, Tatsuya; Székely, Tamás; Sandel, Brody; Nagy, Szabolcs; Mundkur, Taej; Langendoen, Tom; Blanco, Daniel; Soykan, Candan U; Sutherland, William J

2018-01-11

Understanding global patterns of biodiversity change is crucial for conservation research, policies and practices. However, for most ecosystems, the lack of systematically collected data at a global level limits our understanding of biodiversity changes and their local-scale drivers. Here we address this challenge by focusing on wetlands, which are among the most biodiverse and productive of any environments and which provide essential ecosystem services, but are also amongst the most seriously threatened ecosystems. Using birds as an indicator taxon of wetland biodiversity, we model time-series abundance data for 461 waterbird species at 25,769 survey sites across the globe. We show that the strongest predictor of changes in waterbird abundance, and of conservation efforts having beneficial effects, is the effective governance of a country. In areas in which governance is on average less effective, such as western and central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and South America, waterbird declines are particularly pronounced; a higher protected area coverage of wetland environments facilitates waterbird increases, but only in countries with more effective governance. Our findings highlight that sociopolitical instability can lead to biodiversity loss and undermine the benefit of existing conservation efforts, such as the expansion of protected area coverage. Furthermore, data deficiencies in areas with less effective governance could lead to underestimations of the extent of the current biodiversity crisis.

Evaluating the utility of common-pool resource theory for understanding forest governance and outcomes in Indonesia between 1965 and 2012

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Forrest D Fleischman

2014-08-01

Full Text Available While Common Pool Resource (CPR theory has been widely applied to forestry, there are few examples of using the theory to study large-scale governance. In this paper we test the applicability of CPR theory to understanding forest governance and outcomes in Indonesia between 1965 and 2012. Indonesia contains one of the world’s largest tropical forests, and experienced rapid deforestation during this time frame, with forest cover dropping from close to 85% to less than 50%. Using a mixture of within case comparison and process tracing methods, we identify key variables that influenced the levels of deforestation during two time periods: before 1998, when governance was dominated by the dictatorship of President Suharto, and after 1998, when democratic governance and political decentralization were initiated, and deforestation rates fell and then rose again. Our results point to the value of CPR theory in identifying important variables that influence sustainability at large scales, however they also illustrate important limitations of CPR theory for the study of forests with large spatial extent and large numbers of users. The presence and absence of key variables from CPR theory did emerge as important causes of deforestation. However, some variables, such as strong leadership and local rule-making, appeared to work in the opposite direction as predicted by CPR theory. In addition, key variables that may have influenced deforestation rates are not well captured in CPR theory. These include the intention of the governance system, the presence of clientelistic politics, the influences of international politics and markets, and the influence of top-down governance. Given that CPR theory does not fully explain the case at hand, its applicability, as is, to large-scale commons should be treated with some caution.

Democratização da governança global: perspectivas históricas mundiais Democratizing global governance: world historical perspectives

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Christopher Chase-Dunn

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Este artigo examina a controversa noção de democracia global. O texto apresenta uma perspectiva histórica mundial da evolução da governança global - como a estrutura política do sistema-mundo evoluiu ao longo dos últimos séculos - e analisa movimentos sociais contemporâneos que buscam democratizar as instituições de governança global. Argumenta-se que os que desejam democratizar a governança global devem assumir o repto de ajudar a promover a construção de um estado mundial globalmente multilateral para fazer frente aos desafios que se colocarão à humanidade no século 21. Movimentos sociais transnacionais e estados nacionais semiperiféricos progressistas são vistos como os agentes que irão desafiar os poderes constituídos e conduzir a humanidade rumo a uma comunidade global democrática e coletivamente racional nas próximas décadas.This article examines the contested idea of global democracy. It presents a world historical view of the evolution of global governance - how the political structure of the world-system has evolved of over the past several centuries - and it examines contemporary social movements that are seeking to democratize global governance institutions. It is argued that those who want to democratize global governance must take up the problem of helping to further construct a global multilateral world state in order that the challenges that humanity has created for itself may be met in a collectively rational, sustainable and humane manner in the 21st century. Transnational social movements and progressive semiperipheral national-states are seen as the agents that will challenge the powers that be and move humanity closer to a democratic and collectively rational global commonwealth in the next several decades.

Cities, Networks, and Global Environmental Governance - Spaces of Innovation, Places of Leadership

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouteligier, S.

2012-01-01

As a result of global dynamics—the increasing interconnection of people and places—innovations in global environmental governance haved altered the role of cities in shaping the future of the planet. This book is a timely study of the importance of these social transformations in our increasingly

Trends and Possible Future Developments in Global Forest-Product Markets—Implications for the Swedish Forest Sector

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Ragnar Jonsson

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes trends and possible future developments in global wood-product markets and discusses implications for the Swedish forest sector. Four possible futures, or scenarios, are considered, based on qualitative scenario analysis. The scenarios are distinguished principally by divergent futures with respect to two highly influential factors driving change in global wood-product markets, whose future development is unpredictable. These so-called critical uncertainties were found to be degrees to which: (i current patterns of globalization will continue, or be replaced by regionalism, and (ii concern about the environment, particularly climate change, related policy initiatives and customer preferences, will materialize. The overall future of the Swedish solid wood-product industry looks bright, irrespective of which of the four possible futures occurs, provided it accommodates the expected growth in demand for factory-made, energy-efficient construction components. The prospects for the pulp and paper industry in Sweden appear more ambiguous. Globalization is increasingly shifting production and consumption to the Southern hemisphere, adversely affecting employment and forest owners in Sweden. Further, technical progress in information and communication technology (ICT is expected to lead to drastic reductions in demand for newsprint and printing paper. Chemical pulp producers may profit from a growing bio-energy industry, since they could manufacture new, high-value products in integrated bio-refineries. Mechanical pulp producers cannot do this, however, and might suffer from higher prices for raw materials and electricity.

Government regulation of forestry practices on private forest land in the United States: an assessment of state government responsibilities and program performance

Science.gov (United States)

Paul V. Ellefson; Michael A. Kilgore; James E. Granskog

2006-01-01

In 2003, a comprehensive assessment of state government, forest practice regulatory programs in the United States was undertaken. Involved was an extensive review of the literature and information gathering h m program administration in all 50 states. The assessment determined that regulatory programs focus on a wide range of forestry practices applied to private...

Business as Usual: A Lack of Institutional Innovation in Global Health Governance; Comment on “Global Health Governance Challenges 2016 – Are We Ready?”

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Kelley Lee

2017-03-01

Full Text Available There were once again high expectations that a major global health event - the Ebola virus outbreak of 2014-2015 - would trigger meaningfully World Health Organization (WHO reform and strengthen global health governance (GHG. Rather than a “turning point,” however, the global community has gone back to business as usual. This has occurred against a backdrop of worldwide political turmoil, characterised by a growing rejection of existing political leaders and state-centric institutions. Debates about GHG so far have given insufficient attention to the need for institutional innovation. This entails rethinking the traditional bureaucratic model of postwar intergovernmental organizations which is disconnected from the transboundary, fast-paced nature of today’s globalizing world.

Temperature drives global patterns in forest biomass distribution in leaves, stems, and roots.

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Reich, Peter B; Luo, Yunjian; Bradford, John B; Poorter, Hendrik; Perry, Charles H; Oleksyn, Jacek

2014-09-23

Whether the fraction of total forest biomass distributed in roots, stems, or leaves varies systematically across geographic gradients remains unknown despite its importance for understanding forest ecology and modeling global carbon cycles. It has been hypothesized that plants should maintain proportionally more biomass in the organ that acquires the most limiting resource. Accordingly, we hypothesize greater biomass distribution in roots and less in stems and foliage in increasingly arid climates and in colder environments at high latitudes. Such a strategy would increase uptake of soil water in dry conditions and of soil nutrients in cold soils, where they are at low supply and are less mobile. We use a large global biomass dataset (>6,200 forests from 61 countries, across a 40 °C gradient in mean annual temperature) to address these questions. Climate metrics involving temperature were better predictors of biomass partitioning than those involving moisture availability, because, surprisingly, fractional distribution of biomass to roots or foliage was unrelated to aridity. In contrast, in increasingly cold climates, the proportion of total forest biomass in roots was greater and in foliage was smaller for both angiosperm and gymnosperm forests. These findings support hypotheses about adaptive strategies of forest trees to temperature and provide biogeographically explicit relationships to improve ecosystem and earth system models. They also will allow, for the first time to our knowledge, representations of root carbon pools that consider biogeographic differences, which are useful for quantifying whole-ecosystem carbon stocks and cycles and for assessing the impact of climate change on forest carbon dynamics.

Braking effect of climate and topography on global change-induced upslope forest expansion.

Science.gov (United States)

Alatalo, Juha M; Ferrarini, Alessandro

2017-03-01

Forests are expected to expand into alpine areas due to global climate change. It has recently been shown that temperature alone cannot realistically explain this process and that upslope tree advance in a warmer scenario may depend on the availability of sites with adequate geomorphic/topographic characteristics. Here, we show that, besides topography (slope and aspect), climate itself can produce a braking effect on the upslope advance of subalpine forests and that tree limit is influenced by non-linear and non-monotonic contributions of the climate variables which act upon treeline upslope advance with varying relative strengths. Our results suggest that global climate change impact on the upslope advance of subalpine forests should be interpreted in a more complex way where climate can both speed up and slow down the process depending on complex patterns of contribution from each climate and non-climate variable.

Contributions of a global network of tree diversity experiments to sustainable forest plantations.

Science.gov (United States)

Verheyen, Kris; Vanhellemont, Margot; Auge, Harald; Baeten, Lander; Baraloto, Christopher; Barsoum, Nadia; Bilodeau-Gauthier, Simon; Bruelheide, Helge; Castagneyrol, Bastien; Godbold, Douglas; Haase, Josephine; Hector, Andy; Jactel, Hervé; Koricheva, Julia; Loreau, Michel; Mereu, Simone; Messier, Christian; Muys, Bart; Nolet, Philippe; Paquette, Alain; Parker, John; Perring, Mike; Ponette, Quentin; Potvin, Catherine; Reich, Peter; Smith, Andy; Weih, Martin; Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael

2016-02-01

The area of forest plantations is increasing worldwide helping to meet timber demand and protect natural forests. However, with global change, monospecific plantations are increasingly vulnerable to abiotic and biotic disturbances. As an adaption measure we need to move to plantations that are more diverse in genotypes, species, and structure, with a design underpinned by science. TreeDivNet, a global network of tree diversity experiments, responds to this need by assessing the advantages and disadvantages of mixed species plantations. The network currently consists of 18 experiments, distributed over 36 sites and five ecoregions. With plantations 1-15 years old, TreeDivNet can already provide relevant data for forest policy and management. In this paper, we highlight some early results on the carbon sequestration and pest resistance potential of more diverse plantations. Finally, suggestions are made for new, innovative experiments in understudied regions to complement the existing network.

Global justice and environmental governance: an analysis of the Paris Agreement

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Marcelo Santos

Full Text Available Abstract Based on the major normative political theory contributions on global climate justice, the present paper analyzes the new international agreement on climate change, adopted at COP 21 in Paris (2015. Therefore, a literary review of the extensive normative theoretical discussion about global climate justice is made, with special attention to the two approaches that have permeated multilateral political negotiations - historical responsibility and equal per capita emissions. From this normative discussion, this paper recalls the global climate change negotiation process, focusing on the Kyoto Protocol. Next, the analysis emphasizes on the Paris Agreement in an effort to evaluate the normative questions on justice and equity within the environmental governance regime. Finally, the set of conclusions indicates that, although the flexibility of the Agreement has encompassed some dimensions of responsibility, necessity and ability to bear the costs, the most complex dimensions of justice and equity has not been completely solved, which may hinder the operation of environmental governance in a near future.

Managing across levels of government: evaluation of federal-state roles and responsibilities involving nonfederal forests in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Paul V. Ellefson; Calder M. Hibbard; Michael A. Kilgore

2006-01-01

With the assistance of state foresters and federal agency executives, an evaluation was made of federal and state government roles and responsibilities focused nonfederal forests in the United States. The evaluation involved an inventory of legally (and administratively) defined federal roles, identification bf federal programs supporting accomplishment of such roles,...

THE REGIONAL IMPACTS OF THE 2008-2009 GLOBAL CRISIS ON GOVERNANCE

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HALIL DINCER KAYA

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In this study, we examine the regional impacts of the 2008-2009 Global Crisis on Governance. We use World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (i.e. WGI which includes six dimensions of governance. These six dimensions are “Voice and Accountability”, “Political Stability and Absence of Violence”, “Government Effectiveness”, “Regulatory Quality”, “Rule of Law”, and “Control of Corruption”. The regions that we examine are North America, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and Caribbean, East Asia and Pacific, South Asia, SubSaharan Africa, and Middle East and North Africa. We examine how the global crisis affected the ranking of each region in terms of these six dimensions of governance. Although, both pre- and post-crisis, North America had the highest ranking in all six measures and Sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest ranking in most measures, the rankings of other regions went up or down in different measures. Our findings show that, due to the crisis, while the overall rankings of Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and Caribbean, and South Asia improved after the crisis, the ranking of East Asia and Pacific declined. East Asia and Pacific’s ranking declined in terms of “Political Stability and Absence of Violence”, “Regulatory Quality”, and “Control of Corruption”.

Business as Usual: A Lack of Institutional Innovation in Global Health Governance Comment on "Global Health Governance Challenges 2016 - Are We Ready?"

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kelley

2016-08-17

There were once again high expectations that a major global health event - the Ebola virus outbreak of 2014-2015 - would trigger meaningfully World Health Organization (WHO) reform and strengthen global health governance (GHG). Rather than a "turning point," however, the global community has gone back to business as usual. This has occurred against a backdrop of worldwide political turmoil, characterised by a growing rejection of existing political leaders and state-centric institutions. Debates about GHG so far have given insufficient attention to the need for institutional innovation. This entails rethinking the traditional bureaucratic model of postwar intergovernmental organizations which is disconnected from the transboundary, fast-paced nature of today's globalizing world. © 2017 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Governance and Knowledge Transformations in Educational Administration: Greek Responses to Global Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Sifakakis, Polychronis; Tsatsaroni, Anna; Sarakinioti, Antigone; Kourou, Menie

2016-01-01

This article explores the localisation of the global and European discourse of educational governance in the Greek education system through the changes that have been introduced in the field of education administration since 2009 by the then socialist government. Our research aims to contribute to the critical policy literature on the spreading…

PISA: Multiple 'Truths' and Mediatised Global Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Grey, Sue; Morris, Paul

2018-01-01

The OECD's PISA programme has been portrayed as central to the emergence of a regime of global educational governance and the subsequent convergence of policies towards a standardised model. Whilst there is an extensive literature describing PISA's impact on education policies, there is a paucity of analysis of how PISA data is presented to the…

How to Address a Global Problem with Earth Observations? Developing Best Practices to Monitor Forests Around the World

Science.gov (United States)

Flores Cordova, Africa I.; Cherrington, Emil A.; Vadrevu, Krishna; Thapa, Rajesh Bahadur; Odour, Phoebe; Mehmood, Hamid; Quyen, Nguyen Hanh; Saah, David; Yero, Kadidia; Mamane, Bako;

China's proposing behavior in Global Governance: the cases of the WTO Doha Round negotiation and G-20 process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongsong Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This article examines China's proposals on the reform of global governance, and discusses the main features of China's proposing behavior in the cases of the WTO Doha Round negotiation and G-20 Process. The main findings are: (1 in the critical junctures of global governance reform, China engaged the reform of the global governance institutions proactively, and put forward a series of reform proposals; (2 in proposing behavior, China argued the global governance institutions should be properly adjusted without intention to change the basic principles, refrained from playing a leadership role while proposing jointly with other countries, and upheld the principled idea of pro-development.

Constitutional “World Views”, Global Governance and International Relations Theory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Larik, J.E.

2014-01-01

This paper addresses the constitutional entrenchment of foreign policy preferences, or “world views”, from the vantage point of International Relations theory. Empirically, norms that sketch out certain visions of global governance have become a popular feature of constitutional design. The paper

Forest Distribution on Small Isolated Hills and Implications on Woody Plant Distribution under Threats of Global Warming

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Chi-Cheng Liao

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Treelines have been found to be lower in small isolated hilltops, but the specific dynamics behind this unique phenomenon are unknown. This study investigates the distribution patterns of woody plants in Yangmingshan National Park (YMSNP, Northern Taiwan in search of the limitation mechanisms unique to small isolated hills, and to evaluate potential threats under global warming. Forests distributed between 200 to 900 m above sea level (ASL. Remnant forest fragments between 400 and 900 m ASL, have the highest species richness, and should be protected to ensure future forest recovery from the former extensive artificial disturbance. The lower boundary is threatened by urban and agricultural development. The lack of native woody species in these low elevation zones may cause a gap susceptible to invasive species. A consistent forest line at 100 m below mountain tops regardless of elevation suggests a topography-induced instead of an elevation-related limiting mechanism. Therefore, upward-shift of forests, caused by global warming, might be limited at 100 m below hilltops in small isolated hills because of topography-related factors. The spatial range of woody plants along the altitudinal gradient, thus, is likely to become narrower under the combined pressures of global warming, limited elevation, exposure-related stress, and artificial disturbance. Management priorities for forest recovery are suggested to include preservation of remnant forest fragments, increasing forest connectivity, and increasing seedling establishment in the grasslands.

Mixed Effectiveness of Africa's Tropical Protected Areas for Maintaining Forest Cover: Insights from a Global Forest Change Dataset

Science.gov (United States)

De Vos, A.; Bowker, J.; Ament, J.; Cumming, G.

2016-12-01

The effectiveness of parks for forest conservation is widely debated in Africa, where increasing human pressure, insufficient funding, and lack of management capacity frequently place significant demands on forest habitats. Tropical forests house a significant portion of the world's remaining biodiversity and are being heavily impacted by anthropogenic activity. We used Hansen et al.'s (2013) global forest change dataset to analyse park effectiveness at the individual (224 parks) and national (23 countries) level across Africa by comparing the extent of forest loss (as a proxy for deforestation) inside parks to matched unprotected control samples. We found that, although significant geographical variation exists between parks, the majority of African parks experienced significantly lower deforestation within their boundaries. Accessibility was a significant driver of deforestation, with less accessible areas having a higher probability of forest loss in ineffective parks and more accessible areas having a higher probability of forest loss in effective parks. Smaller parks were less effective at preventing forest loss inside park boundaries than larger parks, and older parks were less effective than younger parks. Our analysis, which is the first individual and national assessment of park effectiveness across Africa, demonstrates the complexity of factors influencing the ability of a park to curb deforestation within its boundaries and highlights the potential of web-based remote sensing technology in monitoring protected area effectiveness.

Global Health Governance Challenges 2016 - Are We Ready?

Science.gov (United States)

Kickbusch, Ilona

2016-02-29

The year 2016 could turn out to be a turning point for global health, new political realities and global insecurities will test governance and financing mechanisms in relation to both people and planet. But most importantly political factors such as the global power shift and "the rise of the rest" will define the future of global health. A new mix of health inequity and security challenges has emerged and the 2015 humanitarian and health crises have shown the limits of existing systems. The global health as well as the humanitarian system will have to prove their capacity to respond and reform. The challenge ahead is deeply political, especially for the rising political actors. They are confronted with the consequences of a model of development that has neglected sustainability and equity, and was built on their exploitation. Some direction has been given by the path breaking international conferences in 2015. Especially the agreement on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris agreement on climate change will shape action. Conceptually, we will need a different understanding of global health and its ultimate goals - the health of people can no longer be seen separate from the health of the planet and wealth measured by parameters of growth will no longer ensure health. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Global Governance und libertärer Paternalismus: Akteure, Normativität und Legitimität

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Mende Janne

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Der libertäre Paternalismus weist ähnliche Bezugspunkte auf wie die Global Governance. Bei beiden handelt es sich um ein Bündel staatlicher und nichtstaatlicher Steuerungsversuche, die auf eine Lösung individueller und gesellschaftlicher Probleme abzielen. Eine Verschränkung der Perspektiven beider Konzepte verhilft zu einer genaueren Konturierung ihrer konzeptuellen und normativen Prämissen und zu einer Diskussion ihrer Engführungen und Stärken. Deutlich wird: Der normative Bezugsrahmen des ‚besseren Lebens‘ für die Einzelne (Nudging oder für die Gesellschaft (Global Governance benötigt jeweils genauere Bestimmungen des Verhältnisses von Freiheit und Struktur. Die Regulierungsfähigkeit staatlicher und nichtstaatlicher Akteure wird durch jeweils offenzulegende Legitimitätsannahmen bestimmt. Aus der Perspektivenverschränkung ergeben sich Fragen nach der Strukturierung von Entscheidungsräumen in Global Governance (Nudging Governance und nach den Kriterien für eine Regulierung des libertären Paternalismus (Governing Nudges. Eine Diskussion dieser Fragen ist unabdingbar für eine reflexive Fundierung der Kritik oder der Weiterentwicklung der Konzepte.

Addressing the trade-climate change-energy nexus: China's explorations in a global governance landscape

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Joachim Monkelbaan

2014-12-01

As a way forward, different approaches towards the governance of trade and climate change will be highlighted. Besides discussing the specific aspects of Chinese participation in global trade and climate change governance, this paper aims at offering broader insights into the nexus between trade, energy and climate governance in China.

Transnational Clientelism, Global (Resource) Governance and the Disciplining of Dissent

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hönke, Jana

2018-01-01

Schemes for more responsible global governance have often come with new ways of thwarting meaningful voice, participation and dissent of those they are claimed to be beneficial for. This article argues that these processes extend beyond the more often criticized disciplinary effects of civil society

Biodiversity Meets the Atmosphere: A Global View of Forest Canopies

Science.gov (United States)

C. M. P. Ozanne; D. Anhuf; S. L. Boulter; M. Keller; R. L. Kitching; C. Korner; F. C. Meinzer; A. W. Mitchell; T. Nakashizuka; P. L. Silva Dias; N. E. Stork; S. J. Wright; M Yoshimura

2003-01-01

The forest canopy is the functional interface between 90% of Earth’s terrestrial biomass and the atmosphere. Multidisciplinary research in the canopy has expanded concepts of global species richness, physiological processes, and the provision of ecosystem services. Trees respond in a species-specific manner to elevated carbon dioxide levels, while climate change...

Operationalizing the One Health approach: the global governance challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kelley; Brumme, Zabrina L

2013-10-01

While there has been wide-ranging commitment to the One Health approach, its operationalisation has so far proven challenging. One Health calls upon the human, animal and environmental health sectors to cross professional, disciplinary and institutional boundaries, and to work in a more integrated fashion. At the global level, this paper argues that this vision is hindered by dysfunctions characterising current forms of global health governance (GHG), namely institutional proliferation, fragmentation, competition for scarce resources, lack of an overarching authority, and donor-driven vertical programmes. This has contributed, in part, to shortcomings in how One Health has been articulated to date. An agreed operational definition of One Health among key global institutions, efforts to build One Health institutions from the ground up, comparative case studies of what works or does not work institutionally, and high-level global support for research, training and career opportunities would all help to enable One Health to help remedy, and not be subsumed by, existing dysfunctions in GHG.

Legitimacy in global governance of sovereign default: the role of international investment agreements

OpenAIRE

Brahms, Lisa

2013-01-01

This paper analyzes the legitimacy of investor-state arbitration under international investment agreements in sovereign debt restructuring. The paper presents mechanisms governing sovereign default generally, namely collective action clauses and informal negotiation in the London and Paris clubs and then discusses how sovereign debt restructuring is governed by IIAs, looking at how the clauses affect restructuring. Taking the conception of legitimacy in global governance by Buchanan and Keoha...

ALM-FATES: Using dynamic vegetation and demography to capture changes in forest carbon cycling and competition at the global scale

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, J. A.; Knox, R. G.; Koven, C.; Riley, W. J.; Bisht, G.; Fisher, R.; Christoffersen, B. O.; Dietze, M.; Chambers, J. Q.

2017-12-01

The inclusion of dynamic vegetation demography in Earth System Models (ESMs) has been identified as a critical step in moving ESMs towards more realistic representations of plant ecology and the processes that govern climatically important fluxes of carbon, energy, and water. Successful application of dynamic vegetation models, and process-based approaches to simulate plant demography, succession, and response to disturbances without climate envelopes at the global scale is a challenging endeavor. We integrated demographic processes using the Functionally-Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES) in the newly developed ACME Land Model (ALM). We then use an ALM-FATES globally gridded simulation for the first time to investigate plant functional type (PFT) distributions and dynamic turnover rates. Initial global simulations successfully include six interacting and competing PFTs (ranging from tropical to boreal, evergreen, deciduous, needleleaf and broadleaf); including more PFTs is planned. Global maps of net primary productivity, leaf area index, and total vegetation biomass by ALM-FATES matched patterns and values when compared to CLM4.5-BGC and MODIS estimates. We also present techniques for PFT parameterization based on the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn), field based turnover rates, improved PFT groupings based on trait-tradeoffs, and improved representation of multiple canopy positions. Finally, we applied the improved ALM-FATES model at a central Amazon tropical and western U.S. temperate sites and demonstrate improvements in predicted PFT size- and age-structure and regional distribution. Results from the Amazon tropical site investigate the ability and magnitude of a tropical forest to act as a carbon sink by 2100 with a doubling of CO2, while results from the temperate sites investigate the response of forest mortality with increasing droughts.

Book Review: Local Government in a Global World: Australia and Canada in Comparative Perspective

OpenAIRE

Scott, Claudia

2010-01-01

This book compares reform trends in Australia and Canada’s local government systems over the past two decades, with attention to the impact of globalization on local governments, their bureaucracies, and local democratic accountability. Local governments in Australia and Canada show striking resemblances in relation to history, development, and contemporary issues. This reflects that in both countries, local governments remain an instrument of the states and provinces. The exploration of ...

Forest restoration: a global dataset for biodiversity and vegetation structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Crouzeilles, Renato; Ferreira, Mariana S; Curran, Michael

2016-08-01

Restoration initiatives are becoming increasingly applied around the world. Billions of dollars have been spent on ecological restoration research and initiatives, but restoration outcomes differ widely among these initiatives in part due to variable socioeconomic and ecological contexts. Here, we present the most comprehensive dataset gathered to date on forest restoration. It encompasses 269 primary studies across 221 study landscapes in 53 countries and contains 4,645 quantitative comparisons between reference ecosystems (e.g., old-growth forest) and degraded or restored ecosystems for five taxonomic groups (mammals, birds, invertebrates, herpetofauna, and plants) and five measures of vegetation structure reflecting different ecological processes (cover, density, height, biomass, and litter). We selected studies that (1) were conducted in forest ecosystems; (2) had multiple replicate sampling sites to measure indicators of biodiversity and/or vegetation structure in reference and restored and/or degraded ecosystems; and (3) used less-disturbed forests as a reference to the ecosystem under study. We recorded (1) latitude and longitude; (2) study year; (3) country; (4) biogeographic realm; (5) past disturbance type; (6) current disturbance type; (7) forest conversion class; (8) restoration activity; (9) time that a system has been disturbed; (10) time elapsed since restoration started; (11) ecological metric used to assess biodiversity; and (12) quantitative value of the ecological metric of biodiversity and/or vegetation structure for reference and restored and/or degraded ecosystems. These were the most common data available in the selected studies. We also estimated forest cover and configuration in each study landscape using a recently developed 1 km consensus land cover dataset. We measured forest configuration as the (1) mean size of all forest patches; (2) size of the largest forest patch; and (3) edge:area ratio of forest patches. Global analyses of the

China, Global Governance and the Future of Cuba

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Adrian H. Hearn

2012-01-01

Full Text Available China’s deepening engagement with Latin America has been accompanied by concerns about the Chinese government’s regard for international conventions of economic governance. Critics claim that across Latin America and the Caribbean, Chinese aid and trade are characterised by excessive state intervention. This article argues that, for two reasons, the rationale for these misgivings is dissipating. First, since the onset of the global financial crisis, China has gained influence in multilateral institutions, prompting them toward greater acceptance of public spending in developing countries. Second, recent developments in Cuba show that China is actively encouraging the Western hemisphere’s only communist country to liberalise its economy. China sits at the crossroads of these local and global developments, prompting Cuba toward rapprochement with international norms even as it works to reform them.

Combining global land cover datasets to quantify agricultural expansion into forests in Latin America: Limitations and challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Persson, U. Martin

2017-01-01

While we know that deforestation in the tropics is increasingly driven by commercial agriculture, most tropical countries still lack recent and spatially-explicit assessments of the relative importance of pasture and cropland expansion in causing forest loss. Here we present a spatially explicit quantification of the extent to which cultivated land and grassland expanded at the expense of forests across Latin America in 2001–2011, by combining two “state-of-the-art” global datasets (Global Forest Change forest loss and GlobeLand30-2010 land cover). We further evaluate some of the limitations and challenges in doing this. We find that this approach does capture some of the major patterns of land cover following deforestation, with GlobeLand30-2010’s Grassland class (which we interpret as pasture) being the most common land cover replacing forests across Latin America. However, our analysis also reveals some major limitations to combining these land cover datasets for quantifying pasture and cropland expansion into forest. First, a simple one-to-one translation between GlobeLand30-2010’s Cultivated land and Grassland classes into cropland and pasture respectively, should not be made without caution, as GlobeLand30-2010 defines its Cultivated land to include some pastures. Comparisons with the TerraClass dataset over the Brazilian Amazon and with previous literature indicates that Cultivated land in GlobeLand30-2010 includes notable amounts of pasture and other vegetation (e.g. in Paraguay and the Brazilian Amazon). This further suggests that the approach taken here generally leads to an underestimation (of up to ~60%) of the role of pasture in replacing forest. Second, a large share (~33%) of the Global Forest Change forest loss is found to still be forest according to GlobeLand30-2010 and our analysis suggests that the accuracy of the combined datasets, especially for areas with heterogeneous land cover and/or small-scale forest loss, is still too poor for

Combining global land cover datasets to quantify agricultural expansion into forests in Latin America: Limitations and challenges.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florence Pendrill

Full Text Available While we know that deforestation in the tropics is increasingly driven by commercial agriculture, most tropical countries still lack recent and spatially-explicit assessments of the relative importance of pasture and cropland expansion in causing forest loss. Here we present a spatially explicit quantification of the extent to which cultivated land and grassland expanded at the expense of forests across Latin America in 2001-2011, by combining two "state-of-the-art" global datasets (Global Forest Change forest loss and GlobeLand30-2010 land cover. We further evaluate some of the limitations and challenges in doing this. We find that this approach does capture some of the major patterns of land cover following deforestation, with GlobeLand30-2010's Grassland class (which we interpret as pasture being the most common land cover replacing forests across Latin America. However, our analysis also reveals some major limitations to combining these land cover datasets for quantifying pasture and cropland expansion into forest. First, a simple one-to-one translation between GlobeLand30-2010's Cultivated land and Grassland classes into cropland and pasture respectively, should not be made without caution, as GlobeLand30-2010 defines its Cultivated land to include some pastures. Comparisons with the TerraClass dataset over the Brazilian Amazon and with previous literature indicates that Cultivated land in GlobeLand30-2010 includes notable amounts of pasture and other vegetation (e.g. in Paraguay and the Brazilian Amazon. This further suggests that the approach taken here generally leads to an underestimation (of up to ~60% of the role of pasture in replacing forest. Second, a large share (~33% of the Global Forest Change forest loss is found to still be forest according to GlobeLand30-2010 and our analysis suggests that the accuracy of the combined datasets, especially for areas with heterogeneous land cover and/or small-scale forest loss, is still too

Assessing climate change impacts, benefits of mitigation, and uncertainties on major global forest regions under multiple socioeconomic and emissions scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, John B.; Monier, Erwan; Sohngen, Brent; Pitts, G. Stephen; Drapek, Ray; McFarland, James; Ohrel, Sara; Cole, Jefferson

2017-04-01

We analyze a set of simulations to assess the impact of climate change on global forests where MC2 dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) was run with climate simulations from the MIT Integrated Global System Model-Community Atmosphere Model (IGSM-CAM) modeling framework. The core study relies on an ensemble of climate simulations under two emissions scenarios: a business-as-usual reference scenario (REF) analogous to the IPCC RCP8.5 scenario, and a greenhouse gas mitigation scenario, called POL3.7, which is in between the IPCC RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 scenarios, and is consistent with a 2 °C global mean warming from pre-industrial by 2100. Evaluating the outcomes of both climate change scenarios in the MC2 model shows that the carbon stocks of most forests around the world increased, with the greatest gains in tropical forest regions. Temperate forest regions are projected to see strong increases in productivity offset by carbon loss to fire. The greatest cost of mitigation in terms of effects on forest carbon stocks are projected to be borne by regions in the southern hemisphere. We compare three sources of uncertainty in climate change impacts on the world’s forests: emissions scenarios, the global system climate response (i.e. climate sensitivity), and natural variability. The role of natural variability on changes in forest carbon and net primary productivity (NPP) is small, but it is substantial for impacts of wildfire. Forest productivity under the REF scenario benefits substantially from the CO2 fertilization effect and that higher warming alone does not necessarily increase global forest carbon levels. Our analysis underlines why using an ensemble of climate simulations is necessary to derive robust estimates of the benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation. It also demonstrates that constraining estimates of climate sensitivity and advancing our understanding of CO2 fertilization effects may considerably reduce the range of projections.

Global extent and determinants of savanna and forest as alternative biome states

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Staver, C

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Theoretically, fire–tree cover feedbacks can maintain savanna and forest as alternative stable states. However, the global extent of fire- driven discontinuities in tree cover is unknown, especially accounting for seasonality and soils. The authors...

Global Carriers’ Governance and Business Scope

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Taylor Tae Hwee Lee

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Recent structural changes to the shipping industry triggered severe liquidity risks for not only small and medium-sized shipping lines but also global lines. Despite a severe downturn in the industry, a few lines have shown stable performance their finances. This study thus raises two research questions. Why do a few shipping lines maintain stable financial performance (FP? How much does the governance feature (GVF and the business scope (BSC influence FP? To answer these questions, this research uses regression analysis (RA to verify the relationships among the variables, GVF, BSC, and FP. The result of the RA showed a positive relationship between BSC and FP, but slight relationship between BSC and GVF and between knowledge and FP.

Perspectives of Complexity in Water Governance: Local Experiences of Global Trends

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Michele-Lee Moore

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Those responsible for water governance face great complexity. However, the conceptualisations of what comprises that complexity have been broad and inconsistent. When efforts are made to address the complexity in water governance, it is unclear whether the problems and the related solutions will be understood across the actors and institutions involved. This paper provides a review of the literature focused on global water governance to discern core themes that commonly characterise discussions of complexity. It then considers how the consequences of these issues are manifested at the local scale through an examination of empirical research of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the Prachinburi River Basin Committee. The results demonstrate that a history of a technical, depoliticised discourse is often perceived to contribute to complexity. The consequence is that when a severe ecological disturbance occurs within a river basin with poorly understood causes, few tools are available to support river basin organisations to address the political nature of these challenges. Additionally, a lack of clear authority structures has been recognised globally, but locally this can contribute to conflict amongst the 'governors' of water. Finally, a range of contested definitions and governance frameworks exists that contributes to complexity, but confronting the diversity of perspectives can lead to ethical dilemmas given that the decisions will affect the health and livelihoods of basin communities.

Multi-Scalar Governance for Restoring the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: A Case Study on Small Landholdings in Protected Areas of Sustainable Development

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Alaine A. Ball

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Implementation of forest restoration projects requires cross-scale and hybrid forms of governance involving the state, the market, civil society, individuals, communities, and other actors. Using a case study from the Atlantic Forest Hotspot, we examine the governance of a large-scale forest restoration project implemented by an international non-governmental organization (NGO on family farmer landholdings located within protected areas of sustainable development. In addition to forest restoration, the project aims to provide an economic benefit to participating farmers by including native species with market potential (fruits, timber in restoration models and by contracting farmers in the planting phase. We employed qualitative methods such as structured interviews and participant observation to assess the effect of environmental policy and multi-scalar governance on implementation and acceptability of the project by farmers. We demonstrate that NGO and farmer expectations for the project were initially misaligned, hampering farmer participation. Furthermore, current policy complicated implementation and still poses barriers to project success, and projects must remain adaptable to changing legal landscapes. We recommend increased incorporation of social science methods in earlier stages of projects, as well as throughout the course of implementation, in order to better assess the needs and perspectives of participants, as well as to minimize trade-offs.

Book Review: Jessica F Green, Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrepreneurs in Global Environmental Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Keremis, Anestis

2017-01-01

Book review of "Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrepreneurs in Global Environmental Governance" by Jessica F Green. Princeton,NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2014.215 pp., £16.95 (p/b), ISBN 9780691157597......Book review of "Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrepreneurs in Global Environmental Governance" by Jessica F Green. Princeton,NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2014.215 pp., £16.95 (p/b), ISBN 9780691157597...

Sociology in Global Environmental Governance? Neoliberalism, Protectionism and the Methyl Bromide Controversy in the Montreal Protocol

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Brian J. Gareau

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Sociological studies of global agriculture need to pay close attention to the protectionist aspects of neoliberalism at the global scale of environmental governance. With agri-food studies in the social sciences broadening interrogations of the impact of neoliberalism on agri-food systems and their alternatives, investigating global environmental governance (GEG will help reveal its impacts on the global environment, global science/knowledge, and the potential emergence of ecologically sensible alternatives. It is argued here that as agri-food studies of neoliberalism sharpen the focus on these dimensions the widespread consequences of protectionism of US agri-industry in GEG will become better understood, and the solutions more readily identifiable. This paper illustrates how the delayed phase out of the toxic substance methyl bromide in the Montreal Protocol exemplifies the degree to which the US agri-industry may be protected at the global scale of environmental governance, thus prolonging the transition to ozone-friendly alternatives. Additionally, it is clear that protectionism has had a significant impact on the dissemination and interpretation of science/knowledge of methyl bromide and its alternatives. Revealing the role that protectionism plays more broadly in the agriculture/environmental governance interface, and its oftentimes negative impacts on science and potential alternatives, can shed light on how protectionism can be made to serve ends that are at odds with environmental protection.

From European Union to World Union: Building Effective and Democratic Global Governance

OpenAIRE

John McClintock

2012-01-01

Sovereignty-sharing has placed European countries in a position to resolve their common problems through law, not war. As a result, the EU member states now live in peace together and take peace, justice and order for granted. The system of global governance is dysfunctional – some states are failing and the Security Council lacks legitimacy. Humanity does not have a mechanism to resolve its global problems through law, making it difficult – if not impossible – to resolve global problems such...

The global public good concept: a means of promoting good veterinary governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Eloit, M

2012-08-01

At the outset, the concept of a 'public good' was associated with economic policies. However, it has now evolved not only from a national to a global concept (global public good), but also from a concept applying solely to the production of goods to one encompassing societal issues (education, environment, etc.) and fundamental rights, including the right to health and food. Through their actions, Veterinary Services, as defined by the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (Terrestrial Code) of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), help to improve animal health and reduce production losses. In this way they contribute directly and indirectly to food security and to safeguarding human health and economic resources. The organisation and operating procedures of Veterinary Services are therefore key to the efficient governance required to achieve these objectives. The OIE is a major player in global cooperation and governance in the fields of animal and public health through the implementation of its strategic standardisation mission and other programmes for the benefit of Veterinary Services and OIE Member Countries. Thus, the actions of Veterinary Services and the OIE deserve to be recognised as a global public good, backed by public investment to ensure that all Veterinary Services are in a position to apply the principles of good governance and to comply with the international standards for the quality of Veterinary Services set out in the OIE Terrestrial Code (Section 3 on Quality of Veterinary Services) and Aquatic Animal Health Code (Section 3 on Quality of Aquatic Animal Health Services).

The TTIP negotiations: from interregionalism to global governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephan Joseph Sberro Picard

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this theoretical study, we show why the negotiation between the European Union and the United States of a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP could be a watershed in the field of international relations. Beyond the importance of a trade agreement between the world’s two largest economic powers, an eventual agreement would change international relations as a whole. Similarly, it would return relations between large regions to the centre of thinking about the world again, not just those between countries. Lastly, it would oblige the other powers to define themselves in relation to the regulations agreed between the two members of the TTIP, regulations that go beyond trade and investment. A step forward between Europe and the United States would signify, for that matter, a step forward for global governance, even if the objectives of that governance are yet to be defined.

High resolution analysis of tropical forest fragmentation and its impact on the global carbon cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Brinck, Katharina; Fischer, Rico; Groeneveld, Jürgen; Lehmann, Sebastian; Dantas de Paula, Mateus; Pütz, Sandro; Sexton, Joseph O.; Song, Danxia; Huth, Andreas

2017-03-01

Deforestation in the tropics is not only responsible for direct carbon emissions but also extends the forest edge wherein trees suffer increased mortality. Here we combine high-resolution (30 m) satellite maps of forest cover with estimates of the edge effect and show that 19% of the remaining area of tropical forests lies within 100 m of a forest edge. The tropics house around 50 million forest fragments and the length of the world's tropical forest edges sums to nearly 50 million km. Edge effects in tropical forests have caused an additional 10.3 Gt (2.1-14.4 Gt) of carbon emissions, which translates into 0.34 Gt per year and represents 31% of the currently estimated annual carbon releases due to tropical deforestation. Fragmentation substantially augments carbon emissions from tropical forests and must be taken into account when analysing the role of vegetation in the global carbon cycle.

The global governance of human cloning: the case of UNESCO.

Science.gov (United States)

Langlois, Adèle

2017-03-21

Since Dolly the Sheep was cloned in 1996, the question of whether human reproductive cloning should be banned or pursued has been the subject of international debate. Feelings run strong on both sides. In 2005, the United Nations adopted its Declaration on Human Cloning to try to deal with the issue. The declaration is ambiguously worded, prohibiting "all forms of human cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life". It received only ambivalent support from UN member states. Given this unsatisfactory outcome, in 2008 UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) set up a Working Group to investigate the possibility of a legally binding convention to ban human reproductive cloning. The Working Group was made up of members of the International Bioethics Committee, established in 1993 as part of UNESCO's Bioethics Programme. It found that the lack of clarity in international law is unhelpful for those states yet to formulate national regulations or policies on human cloning. Despite this, member states of UNESCO resisted the idea of a convention for several years. This changed in 2015, but there has been no practical progress on the issue. Drawing on official records and first-hand observations at bioethics meetings, this article examines the human cloning debate at UNESCO from 2008 onwards, thus building on and advancing current scholarship by applying recent ideas on global governance to an empirical case. It concludes that, although human reproductive cloning is a challenging subject, establishing a robust global governance framework in this area may be possible via an alternative deliberative format, based on knowledge sharing and feasibility testing rather than the interest-based bargaining that is common to intergovernmental organizations and involving a wide range of stakeholders. This article is published as part of a collection on global governance.

The potential negative impacts of global climate change on tropical montane cloud forests

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Foster, Pru

2001-10-01

Nearly every aspect of the cloud forest is affected by regular cloud immersion, from the hydrological cycle to the species of plants and animals within the forest. Since the altitude band of cloud formation on tropical mountains is limited, the tropical montane cloud forest occurs in fragmented strips and has been likened to island archipelagoes. This isolation and uniqueness promotes explosive speciation, exceptionally high endemism, and a great sensitivity to climate. Global climate change threatens all ecosystems through temperature and rainfall changes, with a typical estimate for altitude shifts in the climatic optimum for mountain ecotones of hundreds of meters by the time of CO 2 doubling. This alone suggests complete replacement of many of the narrow altitude range cloud forests by lower altitude ecosystems, as well as the expulsion of peak residing cloud forests into extinction. However, the cloud forest will also be affected by other climate changes, in particular changes in cloud formation. A number of global climate models suggest a reduction in low level cloudiness with the coming climate changes, and one site in particular, Monteverde, Costa Rica, appears to already be experiencing a reduction in cloud immersion. The coming climate changes appear very likely to upset the current dynamic equilibrium of the cloud forest. Results will include biodiversity loss, altitude shifts in species' ranges and subsequent community reshuffling, and possibly forest death. Difficulties for cloud forest species to survive in climate-induced migrations include no remaining location with a suitable climate, no pristine location to colonize, migration rates or establishment rates that cannot keep up with climate change rates and new species interactions. We review previous cloud forest species redistributions in the paleo-record in light of the coming changes. The characteristic epiphytes of the cloud forest play an important role in the light, hydrological and nutrient

Biotic prognostications: Global warming and biological diversity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peters, R.L.; Lovejoy, T.E. [eds.

1992-12-31

This book focuses on the impacts of the greenhouse effect on biological diversity and on natural ecosystems. Included are chapters which include the following topics: government attitudes to climate change problems; general conclusions and deficiencies of general circulation models; impacts of past climate changes on global biota; effects of climate on vegetation, soils, wildlife diversity, animal physiology, ecology, behavior, migration, and parasites and diseases; arctic mariene ecosystems and coasta marine zones; tropical forests; arctic tundra; western North American forests, etc.; indirect linkages and snyergisms among climate change, biodiversity, geosphere, and anthropogenic stresses.

Global-Scale Patterns of Forest Fragmentation

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Kurt Riitters

2000-12-01

Full Text Available We report an analysis of forest fragmentation based on 1-km resolution land-cover maps for the globe. Measurements in analysis windows from 81 km 2 (9 x 9 pixels, "small" scale to 59,049 km 2 (243 x 243 pixels, "large" scale were used to characterize the fragmentation around each forested pixel. We identified six categories of fragmentation (interior, perforated, edge, transitional, patch, and undetermined from the amount of forest and its occurrence as adjacent forest pixels. Interior forest exists only at relatively small scales; at larger scales, forests are dominated by edge and patch conditions. At the smallest scale, there were significant differences in fragmentation among continents; within continents, there were significant differences among individual forest types. Tropical rain forest fragmentation was most severe in North America and least severe in Europe-Asia. Forest types with a high percentage of perforated conditions were mainly in North America (five types and Europe-Asia (four types, in both temperate and subtropical regions. Transitional and patch conditions were most common in 11 forest types, of which only a few would be considered as "naturally patchy" (e.g., dry woodland. The five forest types with the highest percentage of interior conditions were in North America; in decreasing order, they were cool rain forest, coniferous, conifer boreal, cool mixed, and cool broadleaf.

Global-scale patterns of forest fragmentation

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Riitters, K.; Wickham, J.; O'Neill, R.; Jones, B.; Smith, E.

2000-01-01

We report an analysis of forest fragmentation based on 1-km resolution land-cover maps for the globe. Measurements in analysis windows from 81 km 2 (9 ?? 9 pixels, "small" scale) to 59,049 km 2 (243 ?? 243 pixels, "large" scale) were used to characterize the fragmentation around each forested pixel. We identified six categories of fragmentation (interior, perforated, edge, transitional, patch, and undetermined) from the amount of forest and its occurrence as adjacent forest pixels. Interior forest exists only at relatively small scales; at larger scales, forests are dominated by edge and patch conditions. At the smallest scale, there were significant differences in fragmentation among continents; within continents, there were significant differences among individual forest types. Tropical rain forest fragmentation was most severe in North America and least severe in Europe - Asia. Forest types with a high percentage of perforated conditions were mainly in North America (five types) and Europe - Asia (four types), in both temperate and subtropical regions. Transitional and patch conditions were most common in 11 forest types, of which only a few would be considered as "naturally patchy" (e.g., dry woodland). The five forest types with the highest percentage of interior conditions were in North America; in decreasing order, they were cool rain forest, coniferous, conifer boreal, cool mixed, and cool broadleaf. Copyright ?? 2000 by The Resilience Alliance.

From global bioethics to ethical governance of biomedical research collaborations.

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Wahlberg, Ayo; Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph; Sleeboom-Faulkner, Margaret; Lu, Guangxiu; Döring, Ole; Cong, Yali; Laska-Formejster, Alicja; He, Jing; Chen, Haidan; Gottweis, Herbert; Rose, Nikolas

2013-12-01

One of the features of advanced life sciences research in recent years has been its internationalisation, with countries such as China and South Korea considered 'emerging biotech' locations. As a result, cross-continental collaborations are becoming common generating moves towards ethical and legal standardisation under the rubric of 'global bioethics'. Such a 'global', 'Western' or 'universal' bioethics has in turn been critiqued as an imposition upon resource-poor, non-Western or local medical settings. In this article, we propose that a different tack is necessary if we are to come to grips with the ethical challenges that inter-continental biomedical research collaborations generate. In particular we ask how national systems of ethical governance of life science research might cope with increasingly global research collaborations with a focus on Sino-European collaboration. We propose four 'spheres' - deliberation, regulation, oversight and interaction - as a helpful way to conceptualise national systems of ethical governance. Using a workshop-based mapping methodology (workshops held in Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Xian, Shenzen and London) we identified three specific ethical challenges arising from cross-continental research collaborations: (1) ambiguity as to which regulations are applicable; (2) lack of ethical review capacity not only among ethical review board members but also collaborating scientists; (3) already complex, researcher-research subject interaction is further complicated when many nationalities are involved. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of law and governance reform in the global response to non-communicable diseases.

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Magnusson, Roger S; Patterson, David

2014-06-05

Addressing non-communicable diseases ("NCDs") and their risk-factors is one of the most powerful ways of improving longevity and healthy life expectancy for the foreseeable future - especially in low- and middle-income countries. This paper reviews the role of law and governance reform in that process. We highlight the need for a comprehensive approach that is grounded in the right to health and addresses three aspects: preventing NCDs and their risk factors, improving access to NCD treatments, and addressing the social impacts of illness. We highlight some of the major impediments to the passage and implementation of laws for the prevention and control of NCDs, and identify important practical steps that governments can take as they consider legal and governance reforms at country level.We review the emerging global architecture for NCDs, and emphasise the need for governance structures to harness the energy of civil society organisations and to create a global movement that influences the policy agenda at the country level. We also argue that the global monitoring framework would be more effective if it included key legal and policy indicators. The paper identifies priorities for technical legal assistance in implementing the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020. These include high-quality legal resources to assist countries to evaluate reform options, investment in legal capacity building, and global leadership to respond to the likely increase in requests by countries for technical legal assistance. We urge development agencies and other funders to recognise the need for development assistance in these areas. Throughout the paper, we point to global experience in dealing with HIV and draw out some relevant lessons for NCDs.

A global overview of drought and heat-induced tree mortality reveals emerging climate change risks for forests

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Allen, Craig D.; Macalady, A.K.; Chenchouni, H.; Bachelet, D.; McDowell, N.; Vennetier, Michel; Kitzberger, T.; Rigling, A.; Breshears, D.D.; Hogg, E.H.(T.); Gonzalez, P.; Fensham, R.; Zhang, Z.; Castro, J.; Demidova, N.; Lim, J.-H.; Allard, G.; Running, S.W.; Semerci, A.; Cobb, N.

2010-01-01

Greenhouse gas emissions have significantly altered global climate, and will continue to do so in the future. Increases in the frequency, duration, and/or severity of drought and heat stress associated with climate change could fundamentally alter the composition, structure, and biogeography of forests in many regions. Of particular concern are potential increases in tree mortality associated with climate-induced physiological stress and interactions with other climate-mediated processes such as insect outbreaks and wildfire. Despite this risk, existing projections of tree mortality are based on models that lack functionally realistic mortality mechanisms, and there has been no attempt to track observations of climate-driven tree mortality globally. Here we present the first global assessment of recent tree mortality attributed to drought and heat stress. Although episodic mortality occurs in the absence of climate change, studies compiled here suggest that at least some of the world's forested ecosystems already may be responding to climate change and raise concern that forests may become increasingly vulnerable to higher background tree mortality rates and die-off in response to future warming and drought, even in environments that are not normally considered water-limited. This further suggests risks to ecosystem services, including the loss of sequestered forest carbon and associated atmospheric feedbacks. Our review also identifies key information gaps and scientific uncertainties that currently hinder our ability to predict tree mortality in response to climate change and emphasizes the need for a globally coordinated observation system. Overall, our review reveals the potential for amplified tree mortality due to drought and heat in forests worldwide.

An assessment of the Brazilian REDD+ governance system. A case study of the Amazon Fund

OpenAIRE

Dalene, Elisabeth

2011-01-01

REDD+ has become a hot issue in the climate change policy. It is seen as one way to reduce global GHG emissions by slowing and potentially reversing deforestation and forest degradation. The Amazon Fund is today seen as the only full REDD+ governance structure in the world. Thus, I was interested in doing a deeper study of this governance structure in order to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the Fund as a REDD+ governance structure. In order to answer this objective four research ...

Government support for the developing entrepreneurship in Switzerland and Russia with emphasis on forestry and forest-based industries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Damary Roy

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an analysis of current practice implementation of government support measures for developing entrepreneurship in Switzerland and Russia, with special emphasis on the forestry and forest-based industries. The aim of it is to identify the most urgent and effective measures of government support for encouraging innovation and developing entrepreneurship. The authors analyze the financial, administrative, educational and legal aspects in the development of modern business. They investigate the specifics of the application development mechanisms Enterprise Institute depending on the type of economy. Particular emphasis is placed on the analysis of enterprises innovative activities and their roles in the development of the modern Entrepreneurship Institute. Also, they investigate the wide range of instruments of governmental support, which are provided at the regional level. The comparison and analysis have resulted to making proposals for optimization of the Russian government support programs for entrepreneurship on state- and regional levels. The results of the comparison can be useful to improve developing entrepreneurship and encouraging innovation in the forestry and forest-based sector at the regional policy of Russia.

On the effectiveness of private transnational governance regimes - evaluating corporate sustainability reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative

OpenAIRE

Barkemeyer, Ralf; Preuss, Lutz; Lee, Lindsay

2015-01-01

The increasing involvement of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in global governance has been both applauded for its potential to make governance more effective and criticized for lacking democratic legitimization. Hence we investigate the effectiveness of one transnational governance regime, corporate sustainability reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). We found that the GRI has been successful in terms of output effectiveness by promoting the dissemination of sustaina...

GHG Mitigation Potential, Costs and Benefits in Global Forests: ADynamic Partial Equilibrium Approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sathaye, Jayant; Makundi, Willy; Dale, Larry; Chan, Peter; Andrasko, Kenneth

2005-03-22

This paper reports on the global potential for carbonsequestration in forest plantations, and the reduction of carbonemissions from deforestation, in response to six carbon price scenariosfrom 2000 to 2100. These carbon price scenarios cover a range typicallyseen in global integrated assessment models. The world forest sector wasdisaggregated into tenregions, four largely temperate, developedregions: the European Union, Oceania, Russia, and the United States; andsix developing, mostly tropical, regions: Africa, Central America, China,India, Rest of Asia, and South America. Three mitigation options -- long-and short-rotation forestry, and the reduction of deforestation -- wereanalyzed using a global dynamic partial equilibrium model (GCOMAP). Keyfindings of this work are that cumulative carbon gain ranges from 50.9 to113.2 Gt C by 2100, higher carbon prices early lead to earlier carbongain and vice versa, and avoided deforestation accounts for 51 to 78percent of modeled carbon gains by 2100. The estimated present value ofcumulative welfare change in the sector ranges from a decline of $158billion to a gain of $81 billion by 2100. The decline is associated witha decrease in deforestation.

Linkage between forest-based mitigation and GHG markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loisel, C.

2008-01-01

According to the latest assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, deforestation and forest degradation contributed to 23% of global carbon dioxide emissions and 17% of global emissions of all greenhouse gases in 2004 (IPCC AR4 SPM, 2007). Despite significant uncertainties, these figures stress the relevance of addressing deforestation into the new global climate governance regime. Deforestation is primarily a concern for tropical regions nowadays and FAO's Forest resource assessments (2005) highlight significant national disparities as a consequence of history, soil and climate conditions and current policies and socio-economic conditions. The Stern Review (2006) pointed to deforestation abatement as a must-seize opportunity to cut global greenhouse emissions with good cost/efficiency and numerous co-benefits. Under the framework of the 2007 Bali Action Plan, the UNFCCC is now considering policy approaches to promote the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and also forest conservation, sustainable forest management and forestation ('REDD+'). At the same time, the European Union is engaged in a major review of its climate and energy legislation. The EU climate/energy package has entered into the final stages of negotiation and the outcome should provide funding for REDD+ actions on the long run through some sort of connection to carbon markets. These are moments of historic significance both for world forests and climate protection, but significant challenges remain. This workshop focuses on one of these challenges: while mechanisms are being designed to connect greenhouse gas emission trading schemes and REDD+ actions, we must ensure that they enable broad and far-reaching actions while safeguarding against various sorts of unintended consequences. This background paper intends to provide a rapid initial overview on three aspects of the linkage between forest-based mitigation and emission trading schemes: (i

Between Efficiency, Capability and Recognition: Competing Epistemes in Global Governance Reforms

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Chan, Jennifer

2007-01-01

This article examines global governance reforms as a site of contestation between three different "truths"/epistemes (the market, human rights principles, and cultural identity) in terms of the competing principles of efficiency, capability, and recognition. Nancy Fraser's conceptions of participation parity and a dialogical approach of…

The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation.

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Roberts, Patrick; Hunt, Chris; Arroyo-Kalin, Manuel; Evans, Damian; Boivin, Nicole

2017-08-03

Significant human impacts on tropical forests have been considered the preserve of recent societies, linked to large-scale deforestation, extensive and intensive agriculture, resource mining, livestock grazing and urban settlement. Cumulative archaeological evidence now demonstrates, however, that Homo sapiens has actively manipulated tropical forest ecologies for at least 45,000 years. It is clear that these millennia of impacts need to be taken into account when studying and conserving tropical forest ecosystems today. Nevertheless, archaeology has so far provided only limited practical insight into contemporary human-tropical forest interactions. Here, we review significant archaeological evidence for the impacts of past hunter-gatherers, agriculturalists and urban settlements on global tropical forests. We compare the challenges faced, as well as the solutions adopted, by these groups with those confronting present-day societies, which also rely on tropical forests for a variety of ecosystem services. We emphasize archaeology's importance not only in promoting natural and cultural heritage in tropical forests, but also in taking an active role to inform modern conservation and policy-making.

Simultaneous reproduction of global carbon exchange and storage of terrestrial forest ecosystems

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Kondo, M.; Ichii, K.

2012-12-01

Understanding the mechanism of the terrestrial carbon cycle is essential for assessing the impact of climate change. Quantification of both carbon exchange and storage is the key to the understanding, but it often associates with difficulties due to complex entanglement of environmental and physiological factors. Terrestrial ecosystem models have been the major tools to assess the terrestrial carbon budget for decades. Because of its strong association with climate change, carbon exchange has been more rigorously investigated by the terrestrial biosphere modeling community. Seeming success of model based assessment of carbon budge often accompanies with the ill effect, substantial misrepresentation of storage. In practice, a number of model based analyses have paid attention solely on terrestrial carbon fluxes and often neglected carbon storage such as forest biomass. Thus, resulting model parameters are inevitably oriented to carbon fluxes. This approach is insufficient to fully reduce uncertainties about future terrestrial carbon cycles and climate change because it does not take into account the role of biomass, which is equivalently important as carbon fluxes in the system of carbon cycle. To overcome this issue, a robust methodology for improving the global assessment of both carbon budget and storage is needed. One potentially effective approach to identify a suitable balance of carbon allocation proportions for each individual ecosystem. Carbon allocations can influence the plant growth by controlling the amount of investment acquired from photosynthesis, as well as carbon fluxes by controlling the carbon content of leaves and litter, both are active media for photosynthesis and decomposition. Considering those aspects, there may exist the suitable balance of allocation proportions enabling the simultaneous reproduction of carbon budget and storage. The present study explored the existence of such suitable balances of allocation proportions, and examines the

Influence of Environmental Governance on Deforestation in Municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon.

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Dias, Lilian Fernandes Oliveira; Dias, David Valentim; Magnusson, William Ernest

2015-01-01

It has been argued that measuring governance at scales smaller than global could be an important management tool. However, current studies are conducted on a global scale and use expensive methods. In the present study, we assess whether the reported governance of Amazonian municipalities is related to reductions in deforestation. Economic activity (EA) affected general governance (G) positively (G = 0.81 +1.19 * EA, F1, 98 = 77.36, p deforestation before 2000 (PD), but increased significantly (p Deforestation was not significantly related to environmental governance (p = 0.82). The only indirect effect of significant magnitude was the effect of the density of forest reserves on recent deforestation through deforestation before 2000, which was strongly negative (-0.49). It is possible to assess reported actions to promote municipal governance through official data. However, it is not enough to assume that general governance or environmental governance at the municipal level, as reflected in the official statistics, benefits environmental conservation. In fact, even at the level of nation states, at which most quantification of governance has been undertaken, it seems that the relationship between governance and environmental preservation is only an assumption, because we are aware of no study that supports that hypothesis quantitatively.