Adaptation and development pathways for different types of farmers

One of the greatest challenges humanity faces is feeding the world's human population in a sustainable, nutritious, equitable and ethical way under a changing climate. Urgent transformations are needed that allow farmers to adapt and develop while also being climate resilient and contributing minimal emissions. This paper identifies several illustrative adaptation and development pathways, recognising the variety of starting points of different types of farmers and the ways their activities intersect with global trends, such as population growth, climate change, rapid urbanisation dietary changes, competing land uses and the emergence of new technologies. The feasibility of some pathways depends on factors such as farm size and land consolidation. For other pathways, particular infrastructure, technology, access to credit and market access or collective action are required. The most viable pathway for some farmers may be to exit agriculture altogether, which itself requires careful management and planning. While technology offers hope and opportunity, as a disruptor, it also risks maladaptations and can create tradeoffs and exacerbate inequalities, especially in the context of an uncertain future. For both the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2015 Paris Agreement to be achieved, a mix of levers that combine policy, technology, education and awareness-raising, dietary shifts and financial/economic mechanisms is required, attending to multiple time dimensions, to assist farmers along different pathways. Vulnerable groups such as women and the youth must not be left behind. Overall, strong good governance is needed at multiple levels, combining top-down and bottom-up processes

Book Review--- e-Government:The Science of the Possible

This book has been divided into 12 chapters looking at the interlinking of topics on e-Governance. These topics include (among others) -- i) The introduction to e-Government, ii) Vision of e-governance, iii) Architecture or e-governance infrastructure of different countries and a special reference to the AP portal, iv) The PPT, PPP and e-Government readiness, technology and standards, v) Security for e-government, the digital divide, e-government and cyberlaw.e-Governance

O contributo da auditoria pública para a Good Governance

Dissertação de Mestrado em Gestão e Políticas PúblicasEste trabalho visa discutir o papel das ISC enquanto entidades de auditoria pública, e qual o seu contributo para a good governance. Das diversas pesquisas bibliográficas efetuadas, apurou-se que a good governance é tida como uma forma de governação, boa, que assenta em participação pública, em transparência, responsabilização, respeito, cumprimento da lei e satisfação das necessidades das populações, onde se basearia a força do desenvolvimento social. Face aos objetivos de trabalho definidos, foi assim produzido e aplicado um guião de entrevista a vários intervenientes qualificados de auditoria pública, tendo-se recolhido opinião, experiências e visão sobre o modo como a good governance acontece hoje em Portugal, nomeadamente quanto à transparência da governação, quanto acautela os riscos da atividade pública e quanto permite a aplicação da accountability. A utilização e aplicação de auditoria pública, facilitará o processo de criação de valor e confiança pública de toda uma comunidade. De acordo com a literatura de referência e com os entrevistados, a auditoria de contexto público tem um papel determinante na concretização da good governance. De resto, vários organismos internacionais de referência (OCDE, ONU, FMI, Banco Mundial, entre outros) perseguem e fomentam a prática da good governance, não só, mas também, com recurso ao reforço de práticas e procedimentos de auditoria pública, fazendo relevar o papel complementar entre a produção de auditorias de compliance e de auditorias de performance. Das entrevistas aos intervenientes qualificados nestas matérias, foram obtidos importantes contributos, em especial de reforço da prática da good governance através da auditoria pública e dos relatórios produzidos por esta, reforçando assim a cidadania.This paper aims to discuss the role of SAIs as public audit entities, and is contribution to good governance. From the various bibliographical studies carried out, it was found that good governance is considered as a good form of governance, based on public participation, transparency, accountability, respect, compliance with the law and meeting the needs of the population for social development. In view of the defined work objectives, an interview guide was produced and applied to a number of qualified interviewees which used public audit. Their opinions, experiences and insights were collected on how good governance occurs; how it is transparent and of much to guard against the risks of public activity and how much it allows the application of accountability today in Portugal. The public audit outcome will be to create public value and trust for an entire community. According to the reference literature and the interviewees, the public context audit plays a decisive role in the achievement of good governance. In addition, several international reference organizations (OECD, UN, IMF, World Bank, among others) pursue and foster good governance not only, but also through the reinforcement of public auditing practices and procedures, regarding the complementary role between the production of compliance audits and performance audits. From the interviews with the qualified actors in these matters, important contributions were obtained, in particular to reinforce the practice of good governance through public auditing and the reports produced by it, thus reinforcing citizenship.N/

E-Governance, Metropolitan Governance and Development Programming. The Case of the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area

e-Governance has recently emerged as a new field of interest for both researchers and public policy makers. This has to do in the first instance with the rise of information and communication technologies and with the strategy for promotion of the information society. It also reflects growing interest in the capacity of various forms of governance to manage complex development issues and facilitate decision-making in the era of globalization. The potential of e-Governance extends from improvement of public services at the various levels of administration to empowerment of community engagement within decision-making processes. e-Governance is also of manifest relevance to questions such as the digital divide and democratic participation. Metropolitan areas in particular are considered to be at the centre of the developmental process. They thus become the appropriate spatial level for the implementation of development programmes aimed at enhancement of competitiveness and employment. New forms of multilevel metropolitan governance emerge, in response to the economic and institutional transformations occurring in them. e-Governance represents a new challenge for metropolitan governance and in particular for development programming. In the context of the EU structural regional policy, development programming in Greece identifies the development of metropolitan areas as one of its main policy objectives. e-Governance is in any case a basic component of the Information Society strategy. This paper examines the implementation of e-Governance in the Thessaloniki metropolitan area, in the specific context of development programming. From this starting point, lessons are drawn for the necessity of e-Governance as an element of metropolitan governance.

Governance puzzles

About the book: Developing hand in hand with e-Business in its use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), e-Government emerged in the 1990s with the promise of a more accessible, efficient, and transparent form for public institutions to perform and interact with citizens. The successes–and some critics say, general failures–of e-Government initiatives around the world have led to the development of e-Governance–a broader, more encompassing concept that involves not only public institutions but private ones as well. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this book explores e-Governance in theory and practice with an analytical narrative from heterodox perspectives. Covering such essential issues as global governance of the internet, the European Knowledge Economy, the transformative promise of mobile telephony, the rise of e-Universities, internet accessibility for the disabled, and e-Governance in transition economies, the book draws on contributions from experienced academics and practitioners with an expertise in an emerging field. In addition, each chapter includes such features as discussion of key issues that draw on case studies in order to facilitate significant discussion questions

How E-waste challenges environmental governance

This article examines how e-waste – waste from electronic and electrical equipment – poses a challenge for environmental governance. The amount of e-waste generated globally has been estimated to reach about 72 billion tons annually by 2017. This article discusses how e-waste challenges the control of illegal trade as well as the prevention of environmental harms. By focusing on the role of state, corporate and civil society actors, insights are gained into the strengths and limitations of the governance framework. These suggest the need for reflection about both practical and theoretical implications that arise for environmental governance

E-governance at the Local Government Level in the Philippines: An Assessment of City Government Websites

The application of information and communication technology for improving governance by enhancing government's role in service delivery, public administration, and promotion of participatory democracy has been gaining momentum in many parts of the world. In Philippine local government, this has been witnessed lately in the significant rise in web presence of many cities. To what extent have local governments in the Philippines implemented e-governance using websites as their medium? This study attempted to answer this question by looking into the resources and services that city governments provide to citizens and other groups in society through their websites. An assessment of the content of their websites indicated, however, the minimal adoption of e-governance as well as the underutilization of websites as e-governance tools.information and communications technology (ICT), e-governance, government websites, Local Government Units (LGUs)

E-governance at the Local Government Level in the Philippines: An Assessment of City Government Websites

The application of information and communication technology for improving governance by enhancing government's role in service delivery, public administration, and promotion of participatory democracy has been gaining momentum in many parts of the world. In Philippine local government, this has been witnessed lately in the significant rise in web presence of many cities. To what extent have local governments in the Philippines implemented e-governance using websites as their medium? This study attempted to answer this question by looking into the resources and services that city governments provide to citizens and other groups in society through their websites. An assessment of the content of their websites indicated, however, the minimal adoption of e-governance as well as the underutilization of websites as e-governance tools.local government unit, information and communications technology (ICT), e-governance, government websites

E-governance in cities

This paper describes and analyses the way European urban policymakers guide their city into the information age. We develop an analytical framework to be able to analyse, assess and compare urban ICT policies. In the empirical part, the frame is applied to a number of cities. We conclude that the most successful cities apply a balanced mix of content, infrastructure and access policies. Furthermore, success depends on the capacity of urban management to engage in local networks with local companies, citizens and intermediary organisations, as well as their ability to mobilise external resources.