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Public Lecture: “Donald Trump: Aggravator or Catalyzer of the EU crises?”

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The Center for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) and Department of Political Sciences invite you to our public lecture, “Donald Trump: Aggravator or Catalyzer of the EU crises?” with guest speaker Professor Wolfgang Seibel from the University of Konstanz (Germany). Professor Seibel is a Professor of Political and Administrative Sciences at the University of Konstanz, Germany, and an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. He held guest professorships at the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University and the Central European University, Budapest. He was twice a temporary member of the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, and a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. In 2009, he was elected member of the Heidelberg Academy of Science. His latest publications include “Arduous Learning or New Uncertainties? The Emergence of German Diplomacy in the Ukrainian Crisis” (Global Policy, 2015), “Persecution and Rescue. The Politics of the ‘Final Solution’ in France, 1940–‐1944” (University of Michigan Press, 2016).

Date: 15 February 2017
Time: 16:00‒18:00
Venue: GovInn Headquarters, Old College House (Building 24 on campus map), University of Pretoria Main Campus (Hatfield), please use entrance on University Road.
RSVP: 14 February by following this link: https://goo.gl/forms/rhfD2049F70G0dKM2
Enquiries: info@governanceinnovation.org

Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) Old College House
University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20
Hatfield – 0028 Pretoria

South Africa

www.governanceinnovation.org

‘The rubber will hit the road for developing countries at COP22 in Marrakech’ 04.10.16

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In her latest op-ed for The Conversation, GovInn senior research fellow Dr. Camilla Adelle considers the implications of African states swift adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement ahead of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) taking place in Morocco. The discrepancy between the US$ 100 billion promised to developing countries to assist with climate change and the actual number mobilized is problematized against the accepted OECD report claiming a figure of around US$ 57 billion which is accepted as credible. Read the full article here.

“What next for environmentalism?”

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The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Institute for Futures Research will be hosting a debate entitled “what next for environmentalism?” which considers the relevance of the environmentalism narrative to a broader audience and the role of the environmental movement in the achievement of an equitable future. Issues such as the role of ecomodernism in creating a new narrative for environmental sustainability and the question of a more integrated view of the environment in economic development will form part of the discussions.

Participating in the debate is GovInn friend and We-Africa partner, Saliem Fakir, head of the Policy and Futures Unit at the WWF South Africa.

Gauteng-Invite

 

Date: Thursday 2 June, 2016

Time: 15:30 for 16:00-18:00

Venue: CSIR International Convention Centre, 1 Meiring Naude Road, Pretoria,

RSVP: Nazirah Davids, ndavids@wwf.org.za

“The power of community: Water security in times of scarcity

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Invitation-5 (2)

The Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) and SIWI invite you to a Rethinking Development Seminar

“The power of community: Water security in times of scarcity”

Presented by Rajendra Singh, The Water Man of India

Rajendra Singh is a well-known water conservationist. Also known as “Water Man of India”, he won the Stockholm Water Prize in 2015. Previously, he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2001 for his pioneering work in community-based efforts in water harvesting and water management. He has been instrumental in fighting slow bureaucracy and  mining lobbies and has helped villagers take charge of water management in their semi-arid areas through the use of ‘johad’, rainwater storage tanks, check dams and other time-tested as well as path-breaking techniques. He is one of the members of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) under the Indian Ministry of the Environment. In 2008, The Guardian named him as one of the “50 people who could save the planet”.

Date: Thursday 3 March 2016
Time: 14:00-16:00 PM
Venue: GovInn Headquarters, Old College House, University of Pretoria Main Campus (Hatfield)

RSVP essential: Contact Neil Kasselman neil.kasselman@governanceinnovation.org by 29 February 2016.

Organisations like the African Union must find a way to monitor countries' environmental commitments.

“How Africa can up its game to meet environmental challenges”, The Conversation, 11 February 2016

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“How Africa can up its game to meet environmental challenges”

Organisations like the African Union must find a way to monitor countries' environmental commitments.

Organisations like the African Union must find a way to monitor countries’ environmental commitments.

Read Camilla Adelle’s latest contribution to the discussion surrounding Africa’s environmental roles and responsibilities.

“Africa has enormous natural resource wealth. At the same time it is extremely vulnerable to the impact of environmental degradation, including climate change. These are two good reasons, one might assume, for prioritising the environment in development efforts. Yet the continent has a woefully inadequate structure for the governance of the environment.”

Read more on https://theconversation.com/how-africa-can-up-its-game-to-meet-environmental-challenges-54204

Fully-funded full-time collaborative post-graduate studentship in ‘Transdisciplinary Approaches to Wildlife Security’

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Call for Applications: Fully-funded full-time collaborative post-graduate studentship in ‘Transdisciplinary Approaches to Wildlife Security’

Deadline: 31 October 2015

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) at the University of Pretoria are accepting applications for a fully-funded, full-time PhD or Master studentship starting in 2016. GovInn, the University of Pretoria and CSIR have a national and worldwide reputation for excellence in research, innovation and the application of innovative solutions to complex problems.

For more information: Transdisciplinary wildlife crime studentship

Contexualising the tool development process through a knowledge brokering approach: The case of climate change adaptation and agriculture

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Camilla Adelle has published an article in Environmental Science and Policy that tests various knowledge brokerage approaches in a ‘real life’ policy context.

Abstract: This article applies a ‘knowledge brokering’ approach to contextualise the development of an integrated computer modelling tool into the real world policy context of adaptation of agriculture to climate change at the EU level. In particular, the article tests a number of knowledge brokering strategies described and theorised in the literature, but seldom empirically tested. The article finds that while the policy context can be used to identify a theoretically informed knowledge brokering strategy, in practice a strategy’s ‘success’ is more informed by practical considerations, such as whether the tool development process is knowledge or demand driven. In addition, in practice the knowledge brokering process is found to be dynamic and messy, which is not always apparent in the literature. The article goes on to question the perception that there is always a need (or a desire) to bridge the gap between researchers and policy makers in the tool development process. Rather than a problem of design and communication, the science policy interface may be characterised more by a high level of competition between researchers and research organisations to have their tool legitimised by its use in the policy making process.

Read the full article in Environmental Science and Policy

“Framing Environmental Problems” by Magalie Bourblanc

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“Framing Environmental Problems: Problem Entrepreneurs and the Issue of Water Pollution from Agriculture in Brittany, 1970–2005” by GovInn researcher Magalie Bourblanc was included in the special selection that the Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning on the occasion of the The 9th International Conference on Interpretive Policy Analysis.
The papers included in the selection are described as “excellent examples of the deployment of interpretive and critical approaches in the field of environmental policy and planning”.

Abstract: The claim that public problems are constructs is now widely recognized as justified and was first established in social problem theory. The high instability of problem definition activities in the case of water pollution coming from agriculture in Brittany demonstrates this particularly well. The objective of this article is to describe ways by which an environmental movement organization (EMO) conceives its activities of public problem construction. Inspired by social movement theory, but aiming at overcoming its weaknesses, the paper seeks to highlight the influence of EMO endogenous meaning production in problem construction processes, a dimension often overlooked even by framing theory. In a bid to support that claim, the paper shows the influence of the affective dimension over the strategic one within the problematization process. Forging a conceptual distinction characterized by a perceived problem and strategic definitions, the paper underlines the fundamental interrelated nature of these two components and consequently emphasizes the reciprocal dependence of the perceived problem over the strategic (either material or cognitive) definitions. Finally, the paper evokes the benefit and impact of this conceptual distinction on the policy-making process. Read the full paper here

Mining, regional integration and environmental imperatives: perspectives from West Africa

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Mining, regional integration and environmental imperatives: perspectives from West Africa
(GovInn, June 2014)

Author: Frank Nyame

Prior to European colonization of the African continent, mining of gold by indigenous people was an important activity for many tribal states and kingdoms that used gold as a medium of exchange to trade in various goods and services. It served as a symbol of power, wealth and influence especially in mineral-rich regions. Well established pre-colonial kingdoms such as the Ashanti in Ghana flourished for centuries partly through conquest and the incorporation of mineral-rich but militarily weaker states or tribes. Pre-colonial mining was thus probably a source of conflict and “integration” in what is now West Africa.

For more info see: http://governanceinnovation.org/wordpress/mining-regional-integration-and-environmental-imperatives-perspectives-from-west-africa/govinnpolicybrief72014-compressed/

A successful regional approach to environmental governance: The case of the European Union

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A successful regional approach to environmental governance: The case of the European Union
(GovInn, June 2014)

Author: John McCormick

Environmental policy was a latecomer to the agenda of the European Union (EU), only establishing itself as a formal interest of European integration with the passage of the 1987 Single European Act. The years since then have seen a flurry of legislative and policy activity, with EU institutions addressing a broadening base of environmental problems. From a time when most legal activity was focused on air and water quality, waste management and the control of chemicals, the EU has become involved in issues as varied as noise pollution, energy conservation, the control of genetically modified organisms, organic agriculture, and efforts to address climate change.

For more info see: http://governanceinnovation.org/wordpress/a-successful-regional-approach-to-environmental-governance-the-case-of-the-european-union/govinnpolicybrief52014-compressed/