Suchergebnisse

Previous research on water use in Lombok identified reduced water available in springs and limits on seasonal water availability. It foreshadowed increasing competition for water resources in critical areas of Lombok. This study examines preliminary information on local social-institutional arrangements for water allocation in the context of Ostrom's rules for self-governing institutions. We identify robust customary mechanisms for decision-making about water sharing and rules at a local level and suggest areas of further investigation for strengthening multi-level networked and nested frameworks, in collaboration with higher levels of government.

Since 2016, the Thai Government has pursued a twenty-year national economic growth policy, Thailand 4.0, promoting innovation and stimulating international investment through the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project. The EEC project involves significant land acquisition resulting in the need to relocate villagers with potential impact on food security in a major food production area. This research explored the concerns of a local farming community regarding the potential loss of their farmland and means of livelihood under the EEC project using a case study in Ban Pho District of Chachoengsao (CCS) province. It described their resulting action to protect their farmland using community organizing. Data was collected through documents, observation and semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders. The results demonstrate the role of social capital in community organizing. We contend that high social capital stock is a necessary precursor to create conditions for community members to take steps to defend and protect their interests. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of social capital in community organizing in cases involving natural resource management.

This article describes the Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology used to trial and evaluate a suite of planning tools to improve the engagement process for statutory water planning in Australia, and assesses its value and limitations in the Australian context. We argue that the strength of this method is its consistency with a social learning and adaptive management approach. We owe the success of this research approach to five key factors: a high degree of access to the project setting; clear demarcation of roles and responsibilities between researchers and participants; considerable effort spent building and maintaining informal networks and relationships; sensitivity to the relationship between 'insiders' (the participants or owners of the issue i.e. government and community) and 'outsiders' (the research project team); and continual review of project planning and willingness to adapt timeframes and processes to suit the situation. The value and challenges of Participatory Action Research are discussed with key lessons emerging for improving its practice, as well as the transferability of this knowledge to engagement practice for water planning.

Increasing intensity and frequency of climate-related disasters such as floods and droughts challenge existing governance models of disaster risk reduction. This paper systematically reviews 147 articles on pre-disaster planning and preparedness for floods and droughts in developed countries. The results show: 1) the formal adoption of an integrated system of disaster risk reduction and human development remains fragmented due to a lack of legislative and policy frameworks; 2) there is a trend toward the privatization of risk management by devolving responsibility for disaster liability to landowners; 3) planning and preparedness is more common for floods than droughts in the disaster literature; and 4) flood management is increasingly risk-oriented, whereas drought management in the disaster literature remains dominated by a crisis management framework. Integration of pre-disaster planning and preparedness with human development initiatives requires further investigation to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national and international scales.

Despite huge differences in population, household income and development levels, Australia and Brazil have some temporal convergences in their water governance systems. Over the last 20 years, both countries have significantly reformed their water policies and practices by introducing a legal foundation for more integrated and participatory catchment/basin management based on the best information available. A critical test of any water reform is how effective it is in meeting the challenges of extreme and unpredictable conditions of drought and floods, which are expected to increase under climate changes scenarios. This paper compared the contemporary water governance frameworks of Australia and Brazil in relation to three elements of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): integration, participation, and information/knowledge. We focused on insights from Brazil's recent drought and Australia's fluctuating water crises to derive lessons and recommendations for future changes. Among the main recommendations, we stress the need for both systems to improve effective participation and to embrace a more comprehensive approach to cope with water scarcity in future scenarios. Furthermore, water related decisions should be based on a transparent and well informed process, and take into account the lessons from similar situations worldwide in order to avoid unnecessary or ineffective measures. As demonstrated in the Australian case during the Millennium Drought, the most effective initiatives were those involving government, the private sector and society to achieve a more sustainable consumption pattern in all sectors. There is much to learn from the Brazilian and Australia experiences in water reforms and crises, but it is imperative to understand the social, economic and environmental context within which these took place. Continuing to develop the capacity and willingness of researchers and policy makers to work together can make an important contribution towards meeting the growing and spreading challenges in water resource management around the world.

Conventional systems of government have not been very successful in resolving coastal management problems. This lack of progress is partially attributable to inadequate representation in governance processes of the variety of knowledges present on the coast. In particular there has been a struggle to engage effectively with climate science and its implications. There has also been a broader failure to capture the complexity of voices, interests, values, and discourses of coastal users. We argue here that coastal governance challenges are not likely to be resolved by singular solutions; rather, interaction and collaboration will generate improvements. We suggest that a co-requisite for progress in coastal management is the development of institutions and processes that enable different knowledges to have a bearing on governance processes. This paper examines a selection of the many opportunities available to broaden and enhance the use of knowledge in decision-making for the coast. A description is provided of emerging elements of coastal governance from an Australian perspective, together with new types of institutions, processes, tools and techniques that may help to achieve an improved coastal knowledge-governance interaction.

Background: Little is known about how dependency levels have changed between generational cohorts of older people. We estimated years lived in different care states at age 65 in 1991 and 2011 and new projections of future demand for care. Methods: Two population-based studies of older people in defined geographical areas conducted two decades apart (the Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies) provided prevalence estimates of dependency in four states: high (24-hour care); medium (daily care); low (less than daily); independent. Years in each dependency state were calculated by Sullivan's method. To project future demand, the proportions in each dependency state (by age group and sex) were applied to the 2014 England population projections. Findings: Between 1991 and 2011 there were significant increases in years lived from age 65 with low (men:1·7 years, 95%CI 1·0-2·4; women:2·4 years, 95%CI 1·8-3·1) and high dependency (men:0·9 years, 95%CI 0·2-1·7; women:1·3 years, 95%CI 0·5-2·1). The majority of men's extra years of life were independent (36%) or with low dependency (36%) whilst for women the majority were spent with low dependency (58%), only 5% being independent. There were substantial reductions in the proportions with medium and high dependency who lived in care homes, although, if these dependency and care home proportions remain constant in the future, further population ageing will require an extra 71,000 care home places by 2025. Interpretation: On average older men now spend 2.4 years and women 3.0 years with substantial care needs (medium or high dependency), and most will live in the community. These findings have considerable implications for older people's families who provide the majority of unpaid care, but the findings also supply valuable new information for governments and care providers planning the resources and funding required for the care of their future ageing populations.