Labour mobility and diaspora: An overview of Solomon Islands’ historical regulatory experience, 1850s-2013

With less than 4,500 of its population of around 600,000 living overseas in 2013, the Solomon Islands ranks 138th in the world for diaspora formation. At these levels the scale of the diaspora as a proportion of population (0.8 percent) remains lower than it was in the early 20th century, when more than 5,000 Solomon islanders were compulsorily repatriated from Queensland under early Australian Commonwealth legislation. This working paper retraces and reframes the history of Solomon Islands labour mobility and diaspora formation since the 1850s, considering it in relation to the wider institutional and macro-regulatory machineries of three phases or regimes of economic, trade and mobility regulation. These regimes are referred to in this paper as: 1.liberal imperial, 2. national territorial and 3. International neoliberal. We argue that Solomon Islanders’ participation in labour mobility has been substantial under all three phases, but that international mobility and diaspora formation only developed significantly under the liberal imperial regime. Even then, however, its development proved precarious. The ways regional actors and governments acting within the different regimes have framed and segmented labour markets continue to powerfully shape mobility and diaspora outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the situation to date for future economic development and security in Solomon Islands

Water for People, Water for Life

This report documents the serious water crisis we are facing at the beginning of the 21st century. This crisis is one of water governance, essentially caused by the ways in which we mismanage water. But the real tragedy is the effect it has on the everyday lives of poor people, who are blighted by the burden of water-related disease, living in degraded and often dangerous environments, struggling to get an education for their children and to earn a living, and to get enough to eat. The executive summary offers an analysis of the problem as well as pilot case studies for water management and recommendations for future action

Borders Rules

International political borders have historically performed one overriding function: the delimitation of a state’s territorial jurisdiction, but today they are sites of intense security scrutiny and law enforcement. Traditionally they were created to secure peace through territorial independence of political units. Today borders face new pressures from heightened human mobility, economic interdependence (legal and illicit), and perceived challenges from a host of nonstate threats. Research has only begun to reveal what some of these changes mean for the governance of interstate borders. The problems surrounding international borders today go well-beyond traditional delineation and delimitation. These problems call for active forms of governance to manage human mobility and interdependence. However, human rights norms sometimes rest uneasily alongside unilateral border governance. A research agenda which documents and explains new border developments, and critically assesses emerging rules and practices in light of international human rights, is an essential direction for international studies research

Security, Conflict, and Reintegration in Mozambique: Case Studies of Land Access in the Postwar Period

In October 1992, the Peace Accord was signed in Mozambique. Many positive changes have taken place since then. and the countryside in postwar Mozambique is in a state of intense transformation. Nevertheless, the government has been largely silent on the issue of land tenure reform, while some of the recommendations regarding land-policy reform that have been proposed are simplistic, uninformed, and fail to reflect the present political reality in Mozambique. This report shows the need to initiate a comprehensive discussion on land policy reform, natural resource management, and decentralized control over resources. The discussion must address fundamental questions about what types of land rights will exist or, more specifically, what types of property rights will be permitted; who will have the power to distribute land rights; and how and by whom land disputes will be settled. At the heart of these questions lie profound issues relating to the role and nature of the state and other political institutions, the relationships of these institutions with the citizens, and the form and nature of governance in Mozambique. In this report we will raise several concerns with regard to land that we hope will help policymakers in Mozambique define the parameters of this discussion.Land Economics/Use,

David and Lucile Packard Foundation Western Conservation Evaluation Summary

From 2008 to 2014, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation granted more than $122 million to advance conservation in Western North America. The Foundation's Western Conservation subprogram was one of the largest environmental initiatives by philanthropy in the region's history. Designed from the start to be a time limited subprogram, Western Conservation pursued nearly five dozen outcomes in three priority regions California, the Colorado Plateau, and Northwest Mexico as well as several Westwide initiatives. Grouped into 21 clusters of activity, these grants supported a broad range of environmental advocacy and conservation, including direct purchases of important habitat, communications campaigns, technical input for policymakers, and the creation of new NGOs. From 2010 to 2014, California Environmental Associates (CEA) served as a third-party evaluator of the Western Conservation subprogram. They conducted numerous investigations of the Foundation's work in the region and produced deeper dives on specific grantmaking clusters. In this final evaluation, CEA used a blend of quantitative and qualitative analysis