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Building resilient communities in Belize through climate-smart agricultural practices
Indigenous communities have always coexisted with nature. Their subsistence has had a dependence on the heightened stewardship of the natural environment, requiring that their farming practices evolve and adapt to todayâs rapidly changing environment. As the effects of climate change become more obvious in weather pattern alterations influencing agricultural yields, so do the resilient farming practices that are being adapted to strengthen the agricultural sector. Since forests are sources of livelihoods for Mayan communities, agricultural advances promoting forest conservation and good governance are viewed as socially and environmentally responsive approaches to rural development. Cacao-based agroforestry is a long-term solution to improve our forestsâ health and livelihoods in southern Belize. This system allows for the development of entrepreneurship opportunities through small-scale business models in agrotourism that highlight the cultural and biodiversity richness in these communities. The incorporation of apiculture and Inga alley cropping ensure that traditional crops such as corn, beans, and vegetables can be continuously cultivated, decreasing the deforestation rate, hence conserving our landscape and its ecosystem. These practices involve the growing of staples for the organized communities, who are embracing ecofriendly solutions for a sustainable future. The experience and knowledge developed within the communities have resulted in the development and application of climate-smart solutions and adaptation mechanisms that ensure livelihoods continue to thrive. These local initiatives establish an easy-to-replicate forest governance model, influencing regional and even national solutions to building climate-resilient forest communities in the Maya Golden Landscape
Coping with Extreme Events: Institutional Flocking
Recent measurements in the North Atlantic confirm that the thermohaline circulation driving the Gulf Stream has come to a stand. Oceanographic monitoring over the last 50 years already showed that the circulation was weakening. Under the influence of the large inflow of melting water in Northern Atlantic waters during last summer, it has now virtually stopped. Consequently, the KNMI and the RIVM estimate the average . In this essay we will explore how such a new risk profile affects the distribution of risks among societal groups, and the way in which governing institutions need to adapt in order to be prepared for situations of rapid but unknown change. The next section will first introduce an analytical perspective, building upon the Risk Society thesis and a proposed model of âinstitutional flockingâ.temperature to decrease by 3°C in the next 15 years
Governance tools for board members : adapting strategy maps and balanced scorecards for directorial action
The accountability of members of the board of directors of publicly traded companies has increased over years. Corresponding to these developments, there has been an inadequate advancement of tools and frameworks to help directorial functioning. This paper provides an argument for design of the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps made available to the directors as a means of influencing, monitoring, controlling and assisting managerial action. This paper examines how the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps could be modified and used for this purpose. The paper suggests incorporating Balanced Scorecards in the Internal Process perspective, âinternalâ implying here not just âinternal to the firmâ, but also âinternal to the inter-organizational systemâ. We recommend that other such factors be introduced separately under a new âperspectiveâ depending upon what the board wants to emphasize without creating any unwieldy proliferation of measures. Tracking the Strategy Map over time by the board of directors is a way for the board to take responsibility for the firmâs performance. The paper makes a distinction between action variables and monitoring variables. Monitoring variables are further divided on the basis of two considerations: a) whether results have been met or not and b) whether causative factors have met the expected levels of performance or not. Based on directorial responsibilities and accountability, we take another look at how the variables could be specified more completely and accurately with directorial recommendations for executives
Managing value creation in knowledge intensive business services organisations
Value creation is essential in the Knowledge Intensive Business Service (KIBS) industry, due to its problem-solving nature. KIBS organisations need to understand their internal value creation processes as well as the complexity in the environment in order to survive and thrive. This paper investigates how value creation is managed in KIBS organisation through a case study. It then goes on to adopt Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) to propose an organisational design, namely the Value Integration Office (VIO). The VIO focuses on the 5 functions/systems defined by VSM in the meta-system and operation of an organisation in order to manage value creation. This design is implemented in a case study organisation with the aim to adopt a holistic view on value creation within the organisation as well as facilitate future planning function. The implementation and impact of the proposed organisational design are reported in this paper
Institutions for Climate Change : A Method to assess the Inherent Characteristics of Institutions to enable the Adaptive Capacity of Society
This paper addresses the question: How can the inherent characteristics of institutions to stimulate the adaptive capacity of society to climate change from local through to national level be assessed? On the basis of a literature review and several brainstorm sessions, this paper presents six criteria: Variety, learning capacity, space for planned and innovative autonomous action, leadership, availability of resources and fair governance
Can we be both resilient and well, and what choices do people have? Incorporating agency into the resilience debate from a fisheries perspective.
In the midst of a global fisheries crisis, there has been great interest in the fostering of adaptation and resilience in fisheries, as a means to reduce vulnerability and improve the capacity of fishing society to adapt to change. However, enhanced resilience does not automatically result in improved well-being of people, and adaptation strategies are riddled with difficult choices, or trade-offs, that people must negotiate. This paper uses the context of fisheries to explore some apparent tensions between adapting to change on the one hand, and the pursuit of well-being on the other, and illustrates that trade-offs can operate at different levels of scale. It argues that policies that seek to support fisheries resilience need to be built on a better understanding of the wide range of consequences that adaptation has on fisher well-being, the agency people exert in negotiating their adaptation strategies, and how this feeds back into the resilience of fisheries as a social-ecological system. The paper draws from theories on agency and adaptive preferences to illustrate how agency might be better incorporated into the resilience debate
An investigation of the evidence of benefits from climate compatible development
Climate change is likely to have profound effects on developing countries both through the climate impacts experienced, but also through the policies, programmes and projects adopted to address climate change. Climate change mitigation (actions taken to reduce the extent of climate change), adaptation (actions taken to ameliorate the impacts), and on-going development are all critical to reduce current and future losses associated with climate change, and to harness gains. In the context of limited resources to invest in climate change, policies, programmes, or projects that deliver âtriple winsâ (i.e. generating climate adaptation, mitigation and development benefits) â also known as climate compatible development â are increasingly discussed by bilateral and multilateral donors. Yet there remains an absence of empirical evidence of the benefits and costs of triple win policies. The purpose of this paper is therefore to assess evidence of âtriple winsâ on the ground, and the feasibility of triple wins that do not generate negative impacts. We describe the theoretical linkages that exist between adaptation, mitigation and development, as well as the trade-offs and synergies that might exist between them. Using four developing country studies, we make a simple assessment of the extent of climate compatible development policy in practice through the lens of âno-regretsâ, âlow regretsâ and âwith regretsâ decision making. The lack of evidence of either policy or practice of triple wins significantly limits the capacity of donors to identify, monitor or evaluate âtriple wins at this point in time. We recommend a more strategic assessment of the distributional and financial implications of 'triple wins' policies
Formes coopératives hybrides
On constate avec un intĂ©rĂȘt croissant la transformation dâorganisations du tiers secteur en organisations hybrides. Les chercheurs se sont penchĂ©s sur les processus dâ« hybridation » ayant menĂ© au dĂ©veloppement de lâentreprise sociale, dont lâincarnation la plus remarquable est le modĂšle italien de la coopĂ©rative sociale. Il sâagit dâun modĂšle doublement « hybride », tant par son mode de gouvernance que par la diversitĂ© de ses pourvoyeurs de ressources. Dâautres formes hybrides de coopĂ©ratives se sont dĂ©veloppĂ©es au cours de ces derniĂšres annĂ©es, en particulier dans le secteur des coopĂ©ratives agricoles, qui ont adoptĂ© certaines pratiques des entreprises privĂ©es (par exemple au niveau des droits de vote). Dâautres formes dâhybridation ont concernĂ© les coopĂ©ratives de consommateurs ou les coopĂ©ratives ouvriĂšres. Parfois, ce processus sâopĂšre au niveau multi-organisationnel, avec le dĂ©veloppement de structures de holding, lorsquâune coopĂ©rative diversifie ses activitĂ©s en crĂ©ant une filiale ou en ayant recours Ă une structure dâentreprise traditionnelle.
Abstract in English:
There is growing interest in the transformation of third sector organizations into hybrid forms of organization. Researchers focus attention on some of the âhybridizationâ processes that lead to the development of what is often recognized as a major new hybrid organization: the social enterprise. One of the most notable examples of this is the social cooperative model in Italy, which is âhybridizedâ in two respects: firstly in adopting a multi-stakeholder governance structure and secondly in terms of using multiple resources. We have also witnessed other hybrid forms of cooperatives develop over the years, particularly in the agricultural cooperatives sector, where we have seen changes (for example in voting rights) moving the form closer to that of private business. And in the consumer cooperatives and worker cooperatives sectors we have seen other patterns of hybridization. Sometimes this functions at the multi-organizational level, where we have seen the growth of holding structures when a cooperative grows and diversifies by developing a line of business which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the cooperative and uses a conventional company structure
Global public policy, transnational policy communities, and their networks
Public policy has been a prisoner of the word "state." Yet, the state is reconfigured by globalization. Through "global publicâprivate partnerships" and "transnational executive networks," new forms of authority are emerging through global and regional policy processes that coexist alongside nation-state policy processes. Accordingly, this article asks what is "global public policy"? The first part of the article identifies new public spaces where global policies occur. These spaces are multiple in character and variety and will be collectively referred to as the "global agora." The second section adapts the conventional policy cycle heuristic by conceptually stretching it to the global and regional levels to reveal the higher degree of pluralization of actors and multiple-authority structures than is the case at national levels. The third section asks: who is involved in the delivery of global public policy? The focus is on transnational policy communities. The global agora is a public space of policymaking and administration, although it is one where authority is more diffuse, decision making is dispersed and sovereignty muddled. Trapped by methodological nationalism and an intellectual agoraphobia of globalization, public policy scholars have yet to examine fully global policy processes and new managerial modes of transnational public administration
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