Enabling the Definition and Enforcement of Governance Rules in Open Source Systems

International audienceGovernance rules in software development projects help to prioritize and manage their development tasks, and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the project by clarifying how core and external contributors should collaborate in order to advance the project during its whole lifespan. Despite their importance, specially in Open Source Software (OSS) projects, these rules are usually implicit or scattered in the project documentation/tools (e.g., tracking-systems or forums), hampering the correct understanding of the development process. We propose to enable the explicit definition and enforcement of governance rules for OSS projects. We believe this brings several important benefits, including improvements in the transparency of the process, its traceability and the semi-automation of the governance itself. Our approach has been implemented on top of Mylyn, a project-management Eclipse plug-in supporting most popular tracking-systems

Ghana coastal fisheries governance dialogue: Presentations, discussions and outcomes from a stakeholder forum on issues for reforming governance of Ghana’s coastal fisheries

This meeting, the second national Fisheries Governance Dialogue, aimed to help stakeholders in the fisheries sector generate a shared understanding of critical lessons and pathways for fisheries co-management success in Ghana. This was a direct response to the call from both fisheries communities and the government of Ghana for a radical change from the way fisheries resources are currently being managed. The meeting was attended by 60 men and women from stakeholder organizations and communities, and commenced with presentations on co-management experiences from local, regional and international participants. This was followed by panel discussions to extract lessons that specifically related to successfully implementing co-management in Ghana’s fisheries. Finally, breakout groups addressed in greater detail some issues of importance to fisheries governance reform in Ghana. While fisheries co-management is not a new concept in Ghana, participants heard that previous attempts to initiate these systems proved unsustainable. A number of lessons were drawn from these past experiences

Improving Indonesia's Forest and Land Governance: Using a Delphi Approach to Identify Efficacious Interventions

It is now recognized that addressing deforestation and forest and peatlands degradation and destruction in Indonesia requires improvements to land and forest governance. It is also accepted that further research is required into this large field of study and practice. In particular needs have been identified for better links between theory and practice, and between academic analysis and work in the field. To respond to this gap, this study investigates the underlying drivers of deforestation, and forest and peatlands degradation and destruction (herein called deforestation and peatlands degradation) with the intention of identifying interventions that will improve land and forest governance in Indonesia. Through a Delphi process, a panel of experts on forest and land governance identified three main drivers of deforestation and peatlands degradation. These were: (1) unclear land tenure and uncertain land classification (agreed by 88% of respondents); (2) business and political interests that influence policy-making and regulations (70% agreement) and (3) ineffective land use planning (53% agreement). In response, the panel recommended three priority governance interventions relating to the following issues: (1) increasing the capacity of local communities to manage and monitor forests and natural resources (65% agreement); (2) gazetting forests to clarify land boundaries and determine which areas should be village, community and state forest zone (58% agreement); (3) integrating participatory maps into spatial plans to protect local communities and indigenous peoples' development needs (53% agreement). A research theme with the highest agreement was the following: action research involving the government, private sector and community (64% agreement). This study finds that there is strong support for community level approaches to forest management. Securing community forest tenure through clarifying land claims and integrating local land tenure into spatial planning is a key step to achieving sustainable forest management. The concluding recommendations suggest that the most efficacious interventions to be taken by researchers, government, donors and civil society to improve Indonesia's forest and land governance processes include: Support community institutions; Accelerate forest gazettement using local community institutions to clarify community forest claims; Integrate participatory maps into spatial plans; Support local communities' ability to monitor forests; Conduct action research involving all stakeholders; Address financing of the forest and land sector; Engage political economy analysis

Innovative financing mechanisms for sustainable ecosystem management

The increasing human influence on ecosystems and the ensuing unsustainable exploitation and degradation has led in many places to depletion and loss of function of these ecosystems. These problems cannot be solved by (innovative) financing mechanisms, as the causes do not lie in a lack of financing mechanisms. Although decifit in funding in general is an important issue - the amount of finance available for ecosystems and biodiversity falls short of the funding neede

The Ethiopian Human Rights commission and its contribution to the protection of Human Rights and building of good governance: challenges and prospectp

The nature of the environment in which national human rights institutions (NHRIs) operate determines their effectiveness in building a human rights culture. NHRIs operating in a non-democratic tradition reflect the system itself since the nature of the social, political and legal environment in such system contains informal constraints affecting their overall activities. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (Commission) was set up as part of democratic institutions following regime change in the early 1990s. It embarked on discharging functions vested in it in a framework that is not favorable for such institution to be effective. Lack of democratic tradition and good governance, poor culture of respect for human rights, weak institutions, and financial constraints are among the major hurdles limiting the effectiveness of the Commission. Against the prevailing environment, the article examines the effectiveness of the Commission in meeting its objectives on the basis of the evaluation of the practice of the Commission since it started its operation in 2004. Specifically, the performance of the Commission so far in the areas of promotion (sensitization and education) and protection (complaint-handling), and monitoring of human rights are reviewed to see if the institution is effective in defending human rights and thereby building good governance. After highlighting its success story, the major worrying trends and setbacks in developing a culture of respect for human rights and building good governance are explored. Before doing so, the article offers an overview of the establishment, structure, mandate and power of the Commission. Also, a concise statement on the linkage between the overall objectives of NHRIs in general and of the Commission in particular and good governance is offered to indicate that the institution is meant to serve as one of the institutional mechanisms to bring about good governance in the nation

APFIC Regional Workshop on "Mainstreaming Fisheries Co-management"

This is the report of the APFIC regional workshop on "Mainstreaming fisheries co-management" held in Siem Reap, Cambodia from August 9-12, 2005 . The goal of the workshop was to provide a forum to learn from past experience and to promote devolved management of fisheries. Participants at the workshop had the opportunity to be exposed to a range of coastal and inland fisheries co-management interventions and the elaboration of approaches needed to make fisheries co-management a "mainstream" activity in developing countries. The objective of the workshop was to develop summary conclusions on the status of co-management in the region and provide some concrete recommendations for action towards mainstreaming fishery co-management in the Asia-Pacific region. The report contains the action plan and recommendations of the workshop. Many agencies (both governmental and non-governmental) are striving to improve the livelihoods of poor people that are dependent on aquatic resources by including these stakeholders in the planning and implementation of fisheries management. Many states have adopted decentralization as the way to implement future fisheries management, especially in developing countries, which often involves a partnership between government and the local communities, i.e. a co-management approach. The challenge is to find a way for co-management to become a mainstream practice of both government and non-government organizations and communities

Global constitutionalism and legal theory: a preliminary analysis

El derecho supranacional presenta fenómenos de fragmentación, además de aspectos de constitucionalización. Las teorías que se ocupan del constitucionalismo global analizan los fenómenos de constitucionalización del derecho supranacional, tal como los requisitos prescriptivos de este proceso. Este artículo versa sobre las diversas maneras en las que es posible comprender el constitucionalismo global y, sobre todo, analiza su relevancia para la teoría y el concepto de derecho.Supranational law shows phenomena of fragmentation, as well as aspects of constitutionalization. Theories that deal with global constitutionalism analyze phenomena of constitutionalization of supranational law, as well as the prescriptive requirements of this process. This paper analyzes the different ways in which it is possible to understand global constitutionalism, and in a preliminary way addresses its relevance to the theory and the concept of law