scholarly journals Science in Policy Making

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Weiland ◽  
Vivien Weiss ◽  
John Turnpenny

Ecological challenges are becoming more and more complex, as are their effects on nature and society and the actions to address them. Calls for a more sustainable development to address these challenges and to mitigate possible negative future impacts are not unproblematic, particularly due to the complexity, uncertainty, and long-term nature of possible consequences (Newig et al. 2008). Knowledge about the various impacts—be they ecological, economic, or social—policies might have is therefore pivotal. But the relationship between such knowledge and the myriad ways it may be used is particularly challenging. The example of policy impact assessment systems is a case in point. Recent years have seen an institutionalization of such systems for evaluating consequences of regulatory activities across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2008) and the European Union (CEC 2002). It is argued that, by utilizing scientific and other evidence, impact assessment has the potential to deliver more sustainable policies and to address large-scale global challenges.

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
Bogdan Stanescu ◽  
Adriana Cuciureanu

The present article presents the expertise realized by the Department of Environmental Monitoring Pollution Evaluation within the INCD ECOIND, in the evaluation of the quality of urban soils in the municipality of Bucharest and the main big cities in Romania. The current data available at the level of the 27 member states of the European Union show that annually over 100,000 hectares of land are introduced into the urban environment, a direct consequence of the development of cities. There are a number of legislative obstacles to strategic soil protection measures. Moreover, at the level of the local authorities there is a conflict regarding the measures of soil protection in the long term, on the one hand, and, the accelerated economic development in the short term, on the other. European environmental experts consider that the urban development, absolutely necessary for the economic growth, requires an adequate management of the natural resources in order for the development to be done on a sustainable basis, respectively to follow a series of strategic objectives. In our country, at least in the last decade, we find on a large scale the conversion of industrial areas into commercial or residential areas. The footprint of industrial activities can be found even after long periods of time present by identifying the remnant of soil pollution or in those areas known as historically polluted (for example the town of Copsa Mica). The conclusions stemming from the assessment of pollution in urban areas over large areas, in correlation with the potential sources of pollution, underline the need to monitor the quality of soils in the urban environment, but also to apply a performance management in order to protect this natural resource in the long term.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-405
Author(s):  
Mariano Aguirre

The debate about how to influence policy and how useful policy is for decision-makers is related to the evolution, dynamics and interaction among ways to do politics; the role of the state; the role of different social and political actors; the relationship between public and private approaches to academia; and the influence of communications technologies. These are the actors and factors that operate in the complex reality of international politics. The speed of modern politics and the role of media pundits work against the long-term academic perspective. Fastness and complexity, superficiality and deepness compete in the policy-making field creating gaps, revolving doors and competition.


1993 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 166-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motori Nishimori ◽  
Ryuichi Kawamura

Atmospheric circulation patterns associated with snowfall fluctuations in Japan are examined using a rotated empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. We also compute correlation coefficients between the scores of EOF modes in the 500 hPa geopotential height field of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and amounts of snowfall in Japan on annual, monthly and pentad time scales. It is found that recent variability of snowfall amount in Japan is closely related to the long-term variations of large-scale circulation patterns. It is suggested that the dominance of teleconnection patterns such as Pacific/North American (PNA) and Northern Asian (NA) are responsible for the increase of snowfall in the coastal regions of the Sea of Japan during the cold period for Japan (1977–86).


Author(s):  
John R. Campbell

In sharp contrast to the sense of a “migrant crisis” which prevails in Europe, nation states in the Horn of Africa understand migration, including state-induced population displacement, as unexceptional. The chapter addresses this apparent paradox by contrasting European policy discourse on migration with the long-term political and structural processes in northeastern Africa that cause population displacement and migration. The chapter then examines the migration policies of governments in the Horn and concludes by arguing that the European Union misrepresents and misunderstands the factors responsible for large-scale migration and the role of states in exploiting migrants. For these reasons it is highly unlikely that the EU-Horn of Africa Action Plan/Khartoum process will bring about better border management policies and practices.


2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Weingarth ◽  
◽  
C. Heibl ◽  
F. Knauer ◽  
F. Zimmermann ◽  
...  

Eurasian lynx are individually identifiable by their unique coat markings, making them ideal candidates for capture–recapture (CMR) surveys. We evaluated the use of digital photography to estimate Eurasian lynx population abundance and density within the Bavarian Forest National Park. From November 2008 to January 2009 we placed 24 camera trap sites, each with two cameras facing each other on well–used walking tracks). The units were placed based on a systematic grid of 2.7 km. We captured five independent and three juvenile lynx and calculated abundance estimates using Program Mark. We also compared density estimates based on the MMDM method (Mean Maximum Distance Moved) from telemetry data (½MMDMGPS) and from camera trapping data (½MMDMCAM). We estimated that in an effectively sampled area of 664 km2 the Eurasian lynx density was 0.9 individuals/100 km2 with ½MMDMCAM. The Eurasian lynx density calculated with ½MMDMGPS was 0.4 individuals/100 km2 in an effectively sampled area of 1,381 km2. Our results suggest that long–term photographic CMR sampling on a large scale may be a useful tool to monitor population trends of Eurasian lynx in accordance with the Fauna–Flora–Habitat Directive of the European Union.


Author(s):  
Natallia Yankevich ◽  
◽  
Stsiapan Yankevich

To create a competitive and resource-efficient transport system, the European Union transport policy provides by 2030 achieving almost zero carbon dioxide emissions of vehicles used in large urban centers, and gradually phasing out the use of vehicles using traditional fuels - by 2050. The large-scale and accelerated development of the principles of electric mobility in Europe can make a significant contribution to the realization of these goals, has a positive impact on the ecological friendliness of the environment, and can also improve the situation with employment in Europe. However, it is impossible to abandon immediately of piston power units, including diesel ones - there are too many of them. Moreover, considering the size of the ―carbon footprint‖ of cars, which means the totality of all the harmful emissions and greenhouse gases that an object produces during its life cycle, it is currently impossible to state unambiguously about the environmental superiority of electric vehicles compared to cars equipped with gasoline and diesel engines. Therefore, the development of approaches that can justify strategic directions, describing the principles of long-term operation of machines with various types of engines, is relevant


2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Rigt Poortman ◽  
Marieke Voorpostel

This study examines long-term effects of parental divorce on sibling relationships in adulthood and the role of predivorce parental conflict. It used large-scale retrospective data from the Netherlands that contain reports from both siblings of the sibling dyad. Results show limited effects of parental divorce on sibling contact and relationship quality in adulthood but strong effects on sibling conflict. The greater conflict among siblings from divorced families is explained by the greater parental conflict in these families. Parental conflict is a far more important predictor than parental divorce per se. Siblings from high-conflict families have less contact, lower relationship quality, and more conflict than do siblings from low-conflict families. Finally, when it comes to sibling relationship quality, the effect of parental divorce depends on the amount of parental conflict. Parental divorce has little effect on the quality of the relationship in low-conflict families, but it improves the relationship in high-conflict families.


2012 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 532-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Inoue ◽  
Y Nishimura ◽  
Y Fujita ◽  
Y Ono ◽  
T Fukunaga

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Gardner

The year 2016 will be marked as a year in which identity politics reached new levels of significance. Among numerous dramatic events, the UK referendum on membership of the European Union has brought many issues of interest to archaeologists to the fore. These range from entirely contemporary concerns, such as the future of research funding in Britain, to topics of more longitudinal significance, including the interactions between different identity groups in particular economic and political circumstances. In this paper, I wish to explore aspects of the distinctive position of Britain as an illustration of identity dynamics in the long term, focussing on the relationship between imperialism and identities and viewed through the lens of recent work in Border Studies. Brexit can be seen as the culmination of the collapse of the British empire, and transformation of British identity, in the post-Second World War era and the particular dynamics of this process invite comparison with Britain’s earlier position as one of the frontier provinces of the Roman empire, especially in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. This comparison reveals two paradoxical dimensions of imperial identities, the first being that so-called ‘peripheries’ can be more important than ‘cores’ in the creation of imperial identities and the second that such identities can be simultaneously ideologically powerful yet practically fragile in the circumstances which follow imperial collapse. Such insights are important because, at a time of apparently resurgent nationalism in many countries, archaeologists need to work harder than ever to understand identity dynamics with the benefit of time depth.


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