Natural resource accounting for Indian states — Illustrating the case of forest resources

Our main objective is to set out and apply a SEEA-based methodology to reflect the true value of forest resources in India's national and state accounts. We establish that a “top-down” approach using available national databases is both feasible and desirable from a policy perspective. In this paper, we address four components of value creation in forests: timber production, carbon storage, fuelwood usage, and the harvesting of non-timber forest products. The results of our analysis suggest that prevailing measures of national income in India underestimate the contribution of forests to income. The income accounts of the Northeastern states in particular are significantly understated by these traditional (GDP/GSDP) measures. We are also able to identify some states which performed poorly in the context of our sustainability framework, reflecting natural capital losses due to degradation and deforestation. Our results highlight the need to integrate natural resource accounting into the national accounting framework in order to generate appropriate signals for sustainable forest management and for the conservation of forest resources which are widely used by the poor in India, as well as being significant stores of national wealth.     

Multiple perspectives on planning for emergencies: An introduction to the special issue on planning and foresight for emergency preparedness and management

This introduction highlights the diversity of national localities, research methods, case studies, and topics covered by the papers selected for inclusion in the special issue on “Planning and foresight methodologies in emergency preparedness and management.” It then provides a detailed summary of each study, emphasizing what the editors feel are the most important contributions. Concluding remarks include a call for future studies that are needed. An example is planning for ways of supporting and integrating citizen participation in all phases of crisis management, a topic that is missing from this collection.     

Designing knowledge chain networks in China — A proposal for a risk management system using linguistic decision making

Designing Knowledge Supply Networks (KSN) with universities and research institutes has become a key source of technological innovations in Mainland China. In order to explore the key design principles, we first present typologies within KSN and explain the factors that can push, guide, or support the innovation process in such a network. Second, we identify and classify the particular risks that prevail when KSN are designed in an emerging region. To assess these risks, we next propose an advanced method that takes into consideration typical problems in group decision-making processes by applying linguistic operators derived from the field of decision theory and fuzzy-sets theory. The risk evaluation method is illustrated with a case study. Fourth, we offer advice on the mitigation of risks in KSN. Finally, we provide insights into the implementation of the risk evaluation method and its automation using Stakeholder Information Systems.     

Profitability and social impacts of reduced impact logging in the Tapajós National Forest, Brazil — A case study

Brazil contains the world's largest tropical rainforests, most located in the Amazon River Basin. Over the last three decades, rapid growth of this region's deforested area has had negative impacts. To minimize these impacts and maintain biodiversity, the Brazilian Government has established several national forests in the Basin. The ITTO Project, a reduced impact logging (RIL) operation, was recently carried out at one of these forests: the Tapajós National Forest, also known as Flona Tapajós. This paper evaluates the Project's profitability and its effect on local residents. The Project, which ran between 1999 and 2003, was coordinated by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), with funding for planning and monitoring provided by the United Kingdom's Department of International Development (DFID) working through and approved by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). Treviso Agropecuária Ltda, a private logging company, carried out timber extraction on the Project site. Our evaluation found the ITTO Project to have been highly profitable for Treviso, even after their compliance with all Brazilian labor and environmental laws. This finding was based on field interviews and the examination of documents from IBAMA and Treviso. Treviso's mean internal rate of return from the Project was calculated to have been 35.79%, considerably higher than that generated by the region's farms and ranches. The ITTO Project positively impacted Project workers, providing employment and exposing them to rainforest management techniques that maximize timber production while minimizing forest destruction. The paper closes by suggesting that more of the direct and indirect benefits of new reduced impact logging projects on Brazilian national forest land need to be channeled to the local population to increase the probability of them act as capable forest custodians.     

The environment as a challenge for governmental responsibility — The case of the European Water Framework Directive

The European Water Framework Directive is shaping a new conception of integrative water protection. In this article, the consequences of the Water Framework Directive in respect to national environmental policy will be discussed in referring to the notion of responsibility which is a central concept of political philosophy and theory. It will be shown that the new conception of integrative water protection entails a fundamental change in European water protection policy and also environmental policy at all. It implies that environmental policy has not only to prevent environmental damage but in particular has to warrant a good status of the environment, such that it must maintain a good status of water or even achieve it if this status does not exist. Achieving and maintaining a good status of the environment is, however, an encompassing task. Thereby, state power will eventually be overexerted. The threat of such overexertion has to be kept in mind in discussing the perspective of the so called New Environmental Governance. It will be pointed out that the New Environmental Governance is not primarily a form of some sort of democratic participation but rather designed to improve state power in environmental politics.     

The ADVIAN classification — A new classification approach for the rating of impact factors

A new classification scheme for the impact analysis based on an impact matrix is presented. In contrast to the state-of-the-art methods the impact factors of a social system are not grouped into 4 or 5 groups but ranked according to different criteria. The criteria include for instance the driving impact factors as keys for improvements to the system and the driven impact factors that may be indicators for the improvement success. The ranking for each criterion is on a scale from 0 to 100, independent of the number of impact factors.     

Too big to fail — Lessons for today and the future from British industrial policy, 1960–1990

British industrial policy for two sectors (automotive and aerospace manufacture) in the period the 1960–1990 is considered and compared with the challenges facing the United Kingdom following the financial crisis of 2008. The history of the period 1960–1990 is informed by interviews with well-placed policy-makers of the time. These observations complement the historical record to confirm that British industrial policy was then more often a pragmatic response to events than the consequence of political ideology. Four particular phases of policy are observed: consolidation, investment, nationalisation and privatisation. During the decade 2000–2009 several British companies in banking, transport and energy have been subject to similar state interventions. In 2010 these companies are at various stages on the four step journey considered by the paper. The paper provides four lessons from the past for twenty-first century policy makers tasked with taking forward the companies with state investment and ensuring a return to economic prosperity.     

A nonparametric analysis of the impact of agri-environmental advisory activities on best management practice adoption: A case study of Québec

This study investigates the factors that determine producers' participation in agri-environmental advisory activities and their adoption of best management practices (BMPs) in Québec (Canada). Data were collected from farmers via telephone interviews, and the impacts of agri-environmental extension activities were analyzed using average treatment effect and local average treatment effect, estimated with non-parametric approaches. The average effects of agri-environmental extension activities are statistically significant for the majority of BMPs. We also find a statistically significant formal diffusion effect of producers' membership in an agri-environmental advisory club. The informal diffusion effect is statistically significant for BMPs that require advanced technical knowledge.     

Measuring fossil resource inequality—A case study for the UK between 1968 and 2000

This paper quantifies fossil resource inequalities amongst income quintiles in the UK between 1968 and 2000. It calculates a resource-based Gini coefficient using an input-output based resource allocation model.The results show that the Gini coefficient for total fossil resource consumption grew by 24% over the time period. By comparison the Gini coefficient for overall household expenditure rose by only 13%. The increase in resource inequality was prompted by the rising demand by high income quintiles for goods and services such as: “fuel and light” (heating and lighting the home), “car use” (private transportation), “recreation”, “travel” and “other services”. The analysis shows further that the Gini coefficient for “direct” fossil resources (“fuel and light” and “car use”) was lower and rose less steeply than the Gini coefficient for fossil resources embodied in other goods and services (indirect fossil resource requirements).Investigation into the drivers behind direct and indirect resource inequalities suggests a number of policy conclusions. Firstly, it is clear that policy initiatives to reduce fossil resource requirements (and the associated climate change impacts) must pay careful attention to distributional differences. Additionally, increased attention needs to be paid to the inequalities associated with indirect fossil resources consumption as well as the more visible direct resource inequalities.     

Willingness to pay for managerial training: A case from the knitwear industry in Northern Vietnam

Managerial capital has received attention in recent years as one of the major determinants for enterprise productivity, growth, and longevity. While recent empirical studies make it clear that training intervention can improve the management level, it remains unclear why the managers had not made efforts to obtain these basic knowledge. To test the hypothesis that the reason lies in low valuation for obtaining knowledge, we conduct experimental training programs for the managers of SMEs in a knitwear cluster in rural town in Vietnam. We find that the demand for these training was indeed low prior to training, but increased greatly with own learning experience, and that those with a higher prior demand tended to benefit more from the training.     

Participative multi-criteria analysis for the evaluation of water governance alternatives. A case in the Costa del Sol (Málaga)

This paper presents the results of a participatory multi-criteria evaluation of urban water supply alternatives in Costa del Sol Occidental in Málaga (Spain). Multi-criteria and social research techniques were combined, relying on social actors' involvement throughout the research work. The paper documents that participatory processes allowed to unveil framings, perspectives, values and interests, as well as understanding of the social and institutional context in which the waters are governed. The deployment of this methodological approach has in this case provided an extended diagnosis which was the starting point to explore non a priori foreseen management alternatives by the researchers. The methodological approach proved useful for problem structuring in a collective, flexible and iterative way, unveiling existing water management conflicts and their motivations, and improving the quality and effectiveness of the information exchange and the reflection process, among social actors, even if the whole process developed in a research setting rather than in a policy for real one. Participatory multi-criteria evaluation could in this case, contribute to identify policy options that could be better defended before all the social actors, including the general public, thus attempting to achieve shared ground. The paper suggests some methodological considerations for applying participatory multi-criteria evaluation based on the outcomes of the case study application.