Marine Resources Management in the Context of Customary Tenure

Although customary marine tenure (CMT) systems for the management of local marine resources occur throughout the world, compared with other models of fisheries management they remain relatively little known. The Pacific Basin is especially rich in CMT systems, which play key roles in overall social, economic and cultural life of societies. Based on a Solomon Island example, we examine the organizational principles and potentials of CMT systems to provide sustainable yields and equitable access to resources, their resilience to external pressures, and mechanisms for ensuring local autonomy in resource control. Next we demonstrate that CMT systems are an expression of traditional ecological knowledge, and show the importance of such knowledge to scientific research and the planning of resource management. Finally, we suggest priorities for research on CMT systems.community-based management, fisheries management, traditional environmental knowledge, traditional conservation, Pacific Basin, Solomon Islands, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The River, the Water and the Crocodile in Marovo Lagoon

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The rural context of giant clam mariculture in Solomon Islands: an anthropological study

Highlights the traditional importance of giant clams, and how participatory farming research can best be carried out within the islands' culture.Clam culture, Marine aquaculture, Small scale aquaculture, Rural development, Sociological aspects, Aquaculture development, Popular participation, Tenure, Solomon Islands, Tridacna, Hippopus

Climate Change in the Islands and the Highlands: Melanesian Manifestations, Experiences and Actions

Under embargo until: 2020-09-28Pacific Islanders have often been portrayed as ‘helpless victims’ in the popular media because they suffer the consequences of climate changes mainly caused by other, larger nations. In terms of media attention and sheer urgency, however, it is predominantly Oceania’s low-lying atolls that find themselves on the ‘climate change frontline’. Climate change is both a set of environmental phenomena, experienced local reality, and a global political discourse. Anthropologists who work in Melanesia, whether in highlands or islands, find themselves in a situation where direct local experiences of the effects of global climate change are integral to the fieldwork. An account of environmental observations and perceptions of climate change in the Marovo Lagoon of the western Solomon Islands follows, based on several years of fieldwork from 1986. The political background for the rise of Melanesian ambition and influence on the global climate-change scene is firmly connected to various arenas provided by the United Nations.acceptedVersio

Reframing the Question: Why \u3cem\u3eChevron\u3c/em\u3e - and Not a One-Size-Fits-All Interpretation of “Substantially the Same” - Should Guide a Court’s Interpretation of the Congressional Review Act’s Limitations on Future Rulemaking

The Congressional Review Act (the CRA) is a Congressional oversight tool used to overturn rules issued by federal agencies. Beyond the immediate effect of blocking an undesirable agency rule, the CRA bars an agency from issuing another rule in “substantially the same form” as the disapproved rule. But the scope of this provision’s future effect on agency rulemaking remains unclear: the statute is silent as to what criteria should be considered in evaluating whether or when a subsequent rule falls into the “substantially the same” category, and the provision has gone untested in court. Rather than proposing a uniform interpretation of “substantially the same,” this Article proposes that courts adopt a case-by-case approach to allegations that an agency is barred from enacting a particular rule due to a prior CRA resolution. Specifically, the Article argues that courts should apply Chevron and, where appropriate, defer to an agency’s conclusion that a rule is not substantially the same as a rule blocked by an earlier CRA resolution. In reaching this conclusion, the Article contends a CRA resolution effectively amends an agency’s organic statute, thereby permitting courts to apply Chevron to an agency’s determination of whether a rule does or does not fall within the CRA’s prohibitive scope

Traditional institutions and their role in the contemporary coastal resource management in the Pacific Islands

A discussion is presented on the role played by customary marine tenure (CMT) institutions in the regulation of fisheries in the Pacific Ocean Islands. Particular reference is made to the system in operation in Marovo Lagoon, in the Solomon Islands, whereby a number of defined clans control resource use within defined areas of land and sea. It is believed that such systems have considerable capacity for handling and adapting to new circumstances, thereby becoming potentially important tools in the contemporary management of fisheries and of the coastal zone in general

Ulla Hasager & Jonathan Friedman (eds.): Hawai'i - Return to Nationhood

Ulla Hasager & Jonathan Friedman (eds.): Hawai'i - Return to Nationhood Anmeldes af Edvard Hvidin

European Union development strategy in the Pacific

Study Report for the European Parliament Development Committee, undertaken by ECOPAS (European Consortium for Pacific Studies).Development in the Pacific region is uneven, multi-layered and challenging. The European Union’s development cooperation with the Pacific is significant; in fact the EU is the second largest donor of development assistance to the region. This study, implemented by the European Consortium for Pacific Studies, analyses the current and future contexts for European Union engagement in development cooperation with the Pacific, and proposes elements of a renewed EU development strategy for the region. From a Pacific perspective, the question of defining a new EU development strategy is as much a matter of defining new and equal partnerships through which Pacific development strategies can be supported. Rising to the challenge of re-imagining EU-Pacific relations will require a good deal of work and reflection. The Pacific clearly constitutes a geopolitical context whose importance is markedly set to grow in significance, and there is a clear rationale for the EU to commit further resources to support its interests and activities in the region. In particular, the EU should enhance and deepen its institutional knowledge and means of drawing upon existing expertise on ‘Pacific Ways’.Publisher PD

Bruk av placebo som komparator i klinisk utprøving av legemidler

Bakgrunn: Ved utprøving av legemidler på pasienter er det viktig å sammenligne det nye legemiddelet med den beste tilgjengelige behandlingen. Dette er ofte et mye brukt legemiddel som er akseptert som den etablerte behandlingen for sykdommen og kalles i utprøvinger en aktiv komparator. Det er fortsatt sykdommer hvor det ikke finnes en akseptert beste behandling eller at dokumentasjon for bruk av den etablerte behandlingen er mangelfull. I slike situasjoner kan bruk av placebo, også kalt narremedisin, være et alternativ som komparator for å for vurdere effekten av det nye legemiddelet. Dette kan skape etisk vanskelige problemstillinger som å unndra pasienter fra behandling, utnytting av pasienter, nytte-risiko vurderinger og vitenskapelig kvalitet. Det finnes flere retningslinjer for hvordan placebo kan brukes, bl.a. Helsinkideklarasjonen, og det er i litteraturen beskrevet flere studie-design som kan brukes i slike situasjoner. Problemstilling: Hensikten med oppgaven er å foreta en etisk vurdering av ulike måter å bruke placebo som komparator i klinisk utprøving av legemidler. Utgangspunktet er legemiddelutprøvinger vurdert av Regional etisk komité (REK) Sør og Øst i 2005 hvor placebo er brukt som komparator. Metode: I materialet fra 2005 ble det totalt funnet 78 utprøvinger hvor placebo var omtalt. Disse er katalogisert og 10 studier er valgt for en grundigere vurdering. Utvalget er for lite til å generalisere noe om funnene til å si hvor stor andelen er av gode eller dårlige studier. Det er tilstrebet å gjøre et mest mulig representativt utvalg. Dette inkluderer studier på barn, unge, eldre, studier av lang og kort varighet, samt tiltak gjort for å redusere bruk av placebo. Det etiske vurderingsgrunnlaget er primært Helsinkideklarasjonen støttet av veiledningen som REK gir. Det er lagt vekt på å fremheve gode eksempler og vise forbedringspotensialet i andre. Resultater: Det er i materialet som inngår i oppgaven funnet 6 eksempler på god bruk av placebo som komparator. Dette inkluderer tre-armet design, add-on design, factorial design og cross-over design. Det er også funnet flere eksempler på uakseptabel bruk av placebo som komparator. To av studiene kan beskrives som markedsføringsstudier hvor det ifølge REK ikke skal brukes placebo som eneste komparator. I den ene av markedsføringsstudiene har søker i tillegg forledet REK til å godkjenne studien på feil grunnlag og studien bør gjennomgå en fornyet vurdering. En to-årsstudie med placebo som komparator har ikke forankret begrunnelsen tilfredsstillende. Et tre-armet studiedesign foreslås som alternativ metode for alle disse tre studiene. En studie har dårlig kvalitet på søknaden, men har et cross-over studiedesign som kan brukes i tidlige faser av kliniske utprøvinger. Med enkle grep kunne søknaden ha blitt forbedret. En klinisk utprøving hvor dobbel-dummy teknikk brukes er kommentert spesielt. Placebo er her ikke brukt som komparator, men brukt som hjelpemiddel for å opprettholde blindingen. Konklusjon: Det fremmes forslag til forbedringer i søknads-prosessen hos prosjektleder, oppdragsgiver, søknadsbehandling i REK og regulatoriske myndigheter. Forslagene omfatter bl.a. mindre justeringer av REKs rutiner og bedre etterlevelse av rutinene