Posts Tagged ‘Environment’
Governance Workshop on Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
Roger Longhorn forwarded the following through the GSDI Legal Econ Digest:
Governance Workshop on Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)
The GMES Governance workshop organised by the EARSC and EUROSPACE Associations in cooperation with the GMES Bureau and the European Economic and Social Committee, EESC held on May 11 in Brussels, was successful in that it lived up to the main objective exposing possible governance models and making a first evaluation of their impact on the industry.
One of the workshop’s main strengths, warmly acknowledged by speakers and attendees alike, proved to be its relevance to the representatives from the EO industry community and institutions who were there to discuss, between others, topics as dialogue mechanisms, long-term funding commitment, specific legislative and regulatory framework and governance structures and challenges.
The Workshop’s speakers’ presentations are available on the EARSC website at the following link: http://www.earsc.eu/news/presentations-gmes-governance-workshop-may-11-2009-brussels
“Planetary Skin” – NASA and Cisco Partner for Climate Change Monitoring
WASHINGTON, March 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — NASA and Cisco Inc. announced Tuesday a partnership to develop an online collaborative global monitoring platform called the “Planetary Skin” to capture, collect, analyze and report data on environmental conditions around the world.
Under the terms of a Space Act Agreement, NASA and Cisco will work together to develop the Planetary Skin as an online collaborative platform to capture and analyze data from satellite, airborne, sea- and land-based sensors across the globe. This data will be made available for the general public, governments and businesses to measure, report and verify environmental data in near-real-time to help detect and adapt to global climate change. …
For full text of the article, visit: http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/03-03-2009/0004982176&EDATE=
For more information about Planetary Skin and how to partner with this project, visit: http://www.planetaryskin.org
Source: PRNewswire, March 3, 2009
Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making
A document that might be of interest to the participatory mapping community:
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING
A new report from the National Research Council probes deeply into the positive and occasionally negative effects of public participation on the environmental policymaking process.
It is practically an article of faith in democratic societies that openness and public participation are presumptively good, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. On closer inspection, however, including empirical studies of participatory processes, the new NRC report was able to reach some encouraging conclusions.
“When done well, public participation improves the quality and legitimacy of a decision and builds the capacity of all involved to engage in the policy process. It also can enhance trust and understanding among parties,” the report said.
On the other hand, “public participation, if not done well, may not provide any of these benefits — in some circumstances, participation has done more harm than good.”
The 250 page report, including a valuable 50 page bibliography, elucidates some of the conditions for successful participation and those that are likely to lead to failure.
….
See “Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making” by Thomas Dietz and Paul C. Stern, editors, National Academies Press, 2008:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12434
Source: Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, Volume 2008 Iusse No. 86, Sept 4, 2008
