archives@tulane.edu / Over the course of research from 2008-2010 in the Kaqchikel Maya community of Ch’aqa’ Ya’, Guatemala, in which I documented the sacred sites utilized by residents who practice costumbre, or indigenous Maya spirituality, I began to find links between concepts fundamental to this belief system and local strategies of ecological management. The report below details subsequent research (2011-2016) into local human interaction with the environment as mediated through a sacred relationship with the landscape. In the pages that follow I show how local sacred sites are vital to human-ecological interaction in Ch’aqa’ Ya’ as well as highlight how beliefs essential to costumbre engender a conservation ethic that assures the continuance of a healthy ecosystem over the long-term. Moreover, I describe how local sacred sites also illustrate the adaptive nature of Maya belief and ritual, indicating the means in which ecological knowledge has remained viable through the many changes of the last centuries (even millennia). I found that long-term traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) – the body of institutions, beliefs, and practices developed through interaction with the biophysical environment over a long period – is embedded in the local spiritual system. However, institutional or social frameworks nested across scales are necessary for the acquisition, transmission, and effective use of TEK. In this report I detail how Maya spirituality is such a framework, remaining highly adaptive and transcending scalar issues to mediate between short-term wants and long-term sustainability as well as transfer on-the-ground ecological knowledge into long-term social memory. In fact, even in the face of the abandonment of ‘traditional’ belief, prior conceptions of the sacred still impact ecological management practices in ways that safeguard the health and resilience of both the local landscape as well as the human population integral to it. Scholars have noted that the best means to learn how to manage resources is to inquire of those who have been doing it the longest (Berkes et al. 2000:1251-1253; Peters 2000:219), and it is through such enquiry that I gained an understanding of the system of environmental management practice and belief extant in Ch’aqa’ Ya’ that I offer in the dissertation below. / 1 / Michael P Saunders

No description available.

<p>Sustainably managing marine ecosystems has proved extremely difficult, with few success stories. Traditional approaches to managing ocean-borne activities, including the structure of the governance systems themselves, have had difficulty keeping pace with the dynamics of coupled human, ecological, and oceanographic systems. In essence, our governance systems for ocean resources and environments have had difficulty keeping pace with advances in ocean use and exploitation technologies.</p><p>In the United States today there are over twenty federal agencies and thirty-five coastal states and territories operating under hundreds of statutory authorities shaping coastal and ocean policy. For years, among marine ecologists and policy experts there has been consensus that a major overhaul in U.S. ocean governance is necessary. This dissertation broadly suggests the public trust doctrine--an ancient legal concept that is already incorporated in U.S. state coastal laws--could uniquely provide a critical legal foundation for a new era in U.S. federal ocean governance.</p><p>Though the public trust concept can be located in the legal systems of many countries, it robustly manifests in the United States, where it has historically protected the public's rights to fishing, navigation, and commerce in and over navigable waterways and tidal waters. In its most basic form, the doctrine obliges governments to manage common natural resources, the body of the trust, in the best interest of their citizens, the beneficiaries of the trust. Today the public trust doctrine is integral to the protection of coastal ecosystems and beach access in many states and has even made its way into state constitutions. It would be simple, and seemingly logical, to assume that the same fiduciary responsibility of states to protect public trust uses of their waters extends to all marine resources within the United States' 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). However an artificial line has been drawn around state waters, and the legal authority and responsibility of the U.S. government to protect public trust resources in the vast space of its EEZ (the largest of any country on earth) have never been fully and expressly established. The second chapter in this dissertation outlines the development of states' public trust doctrines; discusses the expansion of U.S. sovereignty over its neighboring ocean waters during the twentieth century; analyzes possible avenues for expanding the doctrine to federal waters; and considers how a federal public trust doctrine could clarify some specific issues in U.S. oceans management. At the heart of this chapter's analysis lie three questions: (1) does a federal public trust doctrine exist; (2) if so, can it be rightfully extended to include the entirety of the U.S. ocean waters; and (3) could the doctrine provide the missing catalyst for federal agencies to manage the use of U.S. ocean resources in a coordinated, sustainable fashion? </p><p>The third chapter asks how the public trust doctrine could inform marine spatial planning in US waters. It argues that in the absence of a statutory mandate for agencies to collaborate in their management of ocean-borne activities, the public trust doctrine could provide a framework for restructuring the way the US federal government regulates ocean uses. The forth chapter examines the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010, and surmises that regulatory capture of the Minerals Management Service aided by a balkanized ocean governance regime in the pre-Deepwater Horizon era provided a potent source of systemic risk in the U.S. offshore oil and gas industry. It discusses the factors contributing to MMS' susceptibility to capture in the pre-Deepwater Horizon era, as well as examples of decisions it made that suggest dynamics of regulatory capture were at play. The chapter then explores the reform of offshore oil and gas regulation under BOERME and the National Ocean Council to understand the how these new governmental structures might be less susceptible to capture. Lastly, the chapter considers the added value of extending two alternative versions of a clear federal public trust mandate - a foundational US natural resources doctrine - to offshore oil and gas regulation and, more generally, to coastal and marine spatial planning under the National Ocean Council. </p><p>The final substantive chapter of this dissertation concerns the US Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force and reports the results of a case study analysis that I conducted to explore how and why the Task Force designed the National Ocean Policy and interagency governance structure, the National Ocean Council, like it did. I found that the recommendations of the Task Force drew heavily from previous studies of US federal ocean policy and the Committee on Ocean Policy, which lasted from 2004-2009. Additionally I sought to understand the Task Force within the context of other US interagency collaborative efforts and theories concerning collaborative governance. I found that the Task Force process was characterized by several characteristics that policy scholars have previously identified as important to promoting collaboration among agencies. I also found support for the theoretical proposition that often external and political factors have major impacts on the level of success attained by interagency efforts. Lastly, via interviews with Task Force staffers and content analysis of public comments submitted to the Task Force, I determined that - though not included in the National Ocean Policy - there remains interest in the principles of the public trust doctrine as underpinning for the policy, which seeks "[t]o achieve an America whose stewardship ensures that the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes are healthy and resilient, safe and productive, and understood and treasured so as to promote the well-being, prosperity, and security of present and future generations."</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of South Florida, 2002. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 323 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Recent developments in environmental management (EM) in Trinidad and Tobago have produced several umbrella legislation and institutional reforms. Since their enactment in 1995, there are still questions about their efficacy and key issues of these are examined. A multi-variant, cross-comparison approach relates the new and existing EM strategies to recommended guidelines found in the literature and collected from local opinion. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is used in tandem with EM, as it is the main tool of EM in Trinidad and Tobago. A case study of EIA application is used to assess the effectiveness of EIA and EM in Trinidad and Tobago. Recommendations for reform are made based on the analysis and the case study.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Hous.Man.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-114).

abstract: Maricopa County has exceeded the 24 hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for Particulate Matter 10 micrometers in diameter or smaller (PM-10) of 150 micrograms per meter cubed (&#956;g/m3) since 1990. Construction and construction related activities have been recognized as the highest contributors to high PM-10 levels. An analysis of days exceeding 150 &#956;g/m3 for four of Maricopa County&#8223;s monitors that most frequently exceed this level during the years 2007, 2008, and 2009 has been performed. Noted contributors to PM-10 levels have been identified in the study, including earthmoving permits, stationary source permits, vacant lots, and agriculture on two mile radius maps around each monitor. PM-10 levels and wind speeds for each date exceeding 225 &#956;g/m3 were reviewed to find specific weather or anthropogenic sources for the high PM-10 levels. Weather patterns for days where multiple monitors exceed 150 &#956;g/m3 were reviewed to find correlations between daily weather and high PM-10 levels. It was found that areas with more earthmoving permits had fewer days exceeding 150 &#956;g/m3 than areas with more stationary permits, vacant lots, or agriculture. The Higley and Buckeye monitors showed increases in PM-10 levels when winds came from areas covered by agricultural land. West 43rd Avenue and Durango monitors saw PM-10 rise when the winds came in over large stationary sources, like aggregate plants. A correlation between weather events and PM-10 exceedances was also found on multiple monitors for dates both in 2007, and 2009. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Technology 2011

abstract: Traditional methods of environmental regulation and enforcement have been questioned over the last decade. Due to the number of environmental regulations, and subsequent cost of enforcement, governments have begun to incentivize the adoption of environmental management systems (EMSs). These management systems encourage companies to better manage their environmental performance voluntarily. It is the purpose of this study to list the types of government incentives that have been used and categorize them into three groups based off of their characteristics. Ten incentive types were identified and put into three categories; (a) reducing the barriers to EMS adoption; (b) enhancing benefits derived from EMS adoption, and (c) rewarding EMS implementers with reduced enforcement. The research shows that each category of incentives encourages different manufacturing facilities to adopt EMSs. Using data from previously conducted case studies and surveys to determine what type of manufacturing facilities are affected, this study finds that government incentives have been shown to have a measurable impact on the decision makers of manufacturing facilities to adopt an EMS. The study concludes that a combination of traditional environmental regulation used with targeted incentives provide the most efficient use of resources by governments. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Environmental Resources 2011

This research examines how recommendations for ecological restoration at a landscape scale are collaboratively developed and integrated into the United States Forest Service (USFS) decision-making and implementation processes. As the USFS embarks upon innovative approaches to collaboration after decades of legislation that encourages public input and collaborative planning processes, the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) marks a shift as it requires collaboration through planning, implementation and monitoring on landscape scale ecological restoration projects. While collaborative planning has become widely practiced in public lands management (Wondolleck & Yaffee, 2000; Koontz et al., 2004), challenges emerge about how to provide for effective collaboration throughout implementation. Collaborative literature suggests that formal processes create a clear decision-making structure and provide legitimacy (Bryson et al., 2006), and more informal processes help generate the dialogue and innovation necessary to resolve complex problems (Innes et al., 2007). Other normative principles suggest the success of collaborative planning is contingent upon having an open and inclusive process with representation from all stakeholder groups that have a stake in the issue at hand (Gray, 1989; Innes & Booher, 2010). In this research, I examine how different collaborative organizational structures can shape effective collaborative implementation. The question this research analyzes is: How do the different collaborative organizational structures perform in processing information, enabling dialogue among diverse interests, generating recommendations, and contributing to the implementation of landscape restoration? I address this question through a comparative case analysis of five of the collaborative groups originally funded under CFLRP in 2010. I conducted more than 10 interviews with participants from each landscape collaborative, analyzed numerous documents from the original proposals to annual reports, NEPA planning documents, meeting minutes and other relevant materials, and observed collaborative meetings on all of the landscapes. While each collaborative group developed various organizational structures and processes for creating opportunities for dialogue and processing technical information, they each performed differently in regard to the generation of recommendations for restoration treatments. Through my comparative analysis of the different collaborative groups, I found that the highest performing group was strategically and systematically inclusive of a range of interests and formally established with a charter between the group and USFS. Meanwhile, informal and exclusive structures struggled to obtain social legitimacy and were unable to develop and deliver recommendations that were incorporated into agency decision-making. Moreover, inconsistent meeting forums made it difficult to engage in dialogue, process information, or generate recommendations. I conclude with propositions about collaborative implementation. Among these propositions, there are two important structural elements that help refine the existing literature about how to structure collaboration to sustain itself throughout implementation. First, I argue that while informal dialogue is crucial to collaborative processes, formality provides legitimacy and transparency of process that can enhance consistent engagement in dialogue throughout all phases of the policy process. Second, inclusion of diverse stakeholders is critical to ensure that collaborative input is socially and politically legitimate as well as meeting minimal legal requirements for engaging with public land management agencies in planning, implementation and monitoring. These propositions refine existing theories of collaborative governance while adding nuance to our understanding of effective collaboration in practice. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban & Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / April 7, 2015. / Collaborative decision-making, Collaborative implementation, Forest restoration / Includes bibliographical references. / William Butler, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Christopher Coutts, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; John Scholz, University Representative; Eric Coleman, Committee Member.