scholarly journals Creating and Using Data Portals to Support Ocean Planning: Challenges and Best Practices from the Northeast United States and Elsewhere

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
SeaPlan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Data Accessibility ◽  
Data Portal

As more ocean plans are developed and adopted around the world, the importance of accessible, up-to-date spatial data in the planning process has become increasingly apparent. Many ocean planning efforts in the United States and Canada rely on a companion data portal–a curated catalog of spatial datasets characterizing the ocean uses and natural resources considered as part of ocean planning and management decision-making.Data portals designed to meet ocean planning needs tend to share three basic characteris- tics. They are: ocean-focused, map-based, and publicly-accessible. This enables planners, managers, and stakeholders to access common sets of sector-speci c, place-based information that help to visualize spatial relationships (e.g., overlap) among various uses and the marine environment and analyze potential interactions (e.g., synergies or con icts) among those uses and natural resources. This data accessibility also enhances the transparency of the planning process, arguably an essential factor for its overall success.This paper explores key challenges, considerations, and best practices for developing and maintaining a data portal. By observing the relationship between data portals and key principles of ocean planning, we posit three overarching themes for data portal best practices: accommodation of diverse users, data vetting and review by stakeholders, and integration with the planning process. The discussion draws primarily from the use of the Northeast Ocean Data Portal to support development of the Northeast Ocean Management Plan, with additional examples from other portals in the U.S. and Canada.

Epilogue

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Alice Watt ◽  
David Lowenthal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
General Management ◽  
Point Reyes ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
General Management Plan ◽  
Ranch Management

This epilogue tracks the more recent developments in the land use versus land preservation debate, including further controversies surrounding Point Reyes. A new lawsuit was filed against the NPS in Point Reyes, with demands that the ongoing ranch management planning process be suspended until the thirty-six-year-old PRNS General Management Plan can finally be updated with studies of the environmental impacts of grazing. Elsewhere in the United States, the chapter covers the aftermath of an armed standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. However, the chapter goes on to outline more hopeful changes across the country, such as the fact that more and more people are beginning to compromise on “what a park is for.”

Disaster response and people experiencing homelessness: Addressing challenges of a population with limited resources

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Wexler, MD, MPH ◽  
Mary-Elise Smith, MD, MA
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Delivery Of Care ◽  
Psychiatric Conditions ◽  
Communication Methods ◽  
And Training

In this article the authors provide an overview of some issues that inhibit disaster planning and response for people experiencing homelessness and discuss the planning process conducted for this population in Worcester, MA. People experiencing homelessness face numerous challenges in preparing for disasters both natural and human caused. Similarly, providers attempting to aid these individuals must recognize and overcome various factors that hamper efforts to provide assistance. People experiencing homelessness lack the general resources many in the United States take for granted, including food, shelter, communication methods, and transportation. The population also has an increased prevalence of medical and psychiatric conditions. These factors amplify the typical difficulties in preparedness, communication, sheltering, and training for disasters. With these principles in mind, the authors reviewed the literature for best practices, identified potential stakeholders, and developed an annex to help address organization and delivery of care to those experiencing homelessness during a disaster.

“The Greatest Nation on Earth”

2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah K.M. Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Manifest Destiny ◽  
The United States ◽  
Northern Mexico ◽  
Texas Revolution

Between 1820 and 1827 approximately 1,800 U.S. citizens immigrated to northern Mexico as part of that country’s empresario program, in which the federal government granted foreigners land if they promised to develop and secure the region. Historians have long argued that these settlers, traditionally seen as the vanguard of Manifest Destiny, were attracted to Mexico for its cheap land and rich natural resources. Such interpretations have lent a tone of inevitability to events like the Texas Revolution. This article argues that the early members of these groups were attracted to Mexico for chiefly political reasons. At a time when the United States appeared to be turning away from its commitment to a weak federal government, Mexico was establishing itself on a constitution that insured local sovereignty and autonomy. Thus, the Texas Revolution was far from the result of two irreconcilable peoples and cultures. Moreover, the role that these settlers played in the United States’ acquisition of not just Texas, but ultimately half of Mexico’s national territory, was more paradoxical than inevitable.

scholarly journals Early Responses to Climate Change: An Analysis of Seven U.S. State and Local Climate Adaptation Planning Initiatives

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Andrew Poyar ◽  
Nancy Beller-Simms
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Climate Adaptation Planning

Abstract State and local governments in the United States manage a wide array of natural and human resources that are particularly sensitive to climate variability and change. Recent revelations of the extent of the current and potential climate impact in this realm such as with the quality of water, the structure of the coasts, and the potential and witnessed impact on the built infrastructure give these political authorities impetus to minimize their vulnerability and plan for the future. In fact, a growing number of subnational government bodies in the United States have initiated climate adaptation planning efforts; these initiatives emphasize an array of climate impacts, but at different scales, scopes, and levels of sophistication. Meanwhile, the current body of climate adaptation literature has not taken a comprehensive look at these plans nor have they questioned what prompts local adaptation planning, at what scope and scale action is being taken, or what prioritizes certain policy responses over others. This paper presents a case-based analysis of seven urban climate adaptation planning initiatives, drawing from a review of publicly available planning documents and interviews with stakeholders directly involved in the planning process to provide a preliminary understanding of these issues. The paper also offers insight into the state of implementation of adaptation strategies, highlighting the role of low upfront costs and cobenefits with issues already on the local agenda in prompting anticipatory adaptation.

Implications of the 2012 U.S. Election for U.S. Policy in Africa’s Great Lakes Region

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-191
Author(s):  
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Lakes Region ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
White House ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
The U.S

Abstract:While Africans are generally satisfied that a person of African descent was reelected to the White House following a campaign in which vicious and racist attacks were made against him, the U.S. Africa policy under President Barack Obama will continue to be guided by the strategic interests of the United States, which are not necessarily compatible with the popular aspirations for democracy, peace, and prosperity in Africa. Obama’s policy in the Great Lakes region provides an excellent illustration of this point. Since Rwanda and Uganda are Washington’s allies in the “war against terror” in Darfur and Somalia, respectively, the Obama administration has done little to stop Kigali and Kampala from destabilizing the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and looting its natural resources, either directly or through proxies. Rwanda and Uganda have even been included in an international oversight mechanism that is supposed to guide governance and security sector reforms in the DRC, but whose real objective is to facilitate Western access to the enormous natural wealth of the Congo and the Great Lakes region.

Revitalizing Human Communities and Reclaiming Biological Communities

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Burch ◽  
Gary E. Machlis ◽  
Jo Ellen Force
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Ecosystem Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Integrated Network ◽  
Biological Communities ◽  
Human Ecosystem ◽  
Problems And Solutions

This chapter demonstrates how the Human Ecosystem Model (HEM) offers a unity of understanding with shared concepts, a framework, and a model for resolving complex human ecosystem problems. With it, decision-makers from different organizations—public and private—may coordinate their work with that of local citizens. The emphasis is on the whole system, which combines issues such as trends in crime, housing, education, health, natural resources, and community stability into an integrated network. The chapter illustrates how the framework and model was applied in a major city in the United States: Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore story emphasizes that certain universal problems and solutions confront all human societies. The universality of problems and the search for integrated solutions required a framework like the HEM to identify, apply, and store learning.

scholarly journals The use of cultural risk assessment within the 1994 Tribal land-grant colleges and universities

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Alvin L Young
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Land Grant ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Cultural Issues

In 1994, the United States Congress established 35 Colleges or Universities on Reservation Lands of the Native Americans throughout the Midwest and Western United States. These new institutions were provided annual funds from the United States Department of Agriculture for education, research and extension, components of the Land-Grant system. Today, issues related to risk assessment and risk management confront tribal decision-makers as they cope with risks, both real and perceived, that include the transportation of hazardous materials through the reservation, the clean-up of contaminated sites within the reservation, the environmental restoration of Federal facilities, the siting of waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, the development of tribal mineral and other natural resources, and the construction and operation of industrial and commercial facilities within the reservation. Tribal decision-makers lack Indian-specific epidemiologic, genetic, and cultural information that impact current risk assessment models needed to incorporate tribal cultural issues. There is a need to enhance the science skills of tribal college faculty in assisting tribal councils and tribal colleges in the long-term planning and stewardship of natural resources on their reservations.

scholarly journals Protecting Indigenous Peoples through Right to Natural Resources: Lesson from the Existence of Navajo Tribe in the United States

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
I Gusti Ngurah Parikesit Widiatedja
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Pollution Prevention ◽  
The United States ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
Pollution Prevention And Control ◽  
And Control ◽  
Indigenous Land

From the perspective of international law, indigenous peoples have the rights to own, use, and control their natural resources within their territories. In the United States, the Navajo Tribe has enjoyed those rights. In terms of law making process, this tribe can enact some acts to preserve a control over their natural resources. Specifically, the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Solid Waste Act. Concerning law implementation and enforcement, Navajo Tribe has a right to equitable benefit sharing in natural resources and fair court proceeding for breach. As a result, the existence of rights for natural resources requires the U.S federal government to ensure fair administration of natural resources in order to mitigate an economic exploitation of natural resources in indigenous land.

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