Decision-making

Citizen scientists collect more nature data than ever, showing us where common and threatened species live

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 27, 2023

For decades, keen amateur naturalists have been gathering data about nature and the environment around them – and sharing it.

Key Points: 
  • For decades, keen amateur naturalists have been gathering data about nature and the environment around them – and sharing it.
  • But what is new is the rate at which citizen scientists are collecting and sharing useful data.
  • Despite the growing success in collecting data, there has long been scepticism over how reliable the data are when used to, say, estimate how abundant a threatened species is.
  • It turns out, citizen science is extremely useful – especially when paired with professionally collected data.

How did we test it?

    • Around Australia, thousands of people contribute regularly through platforms like iNaturalist, DigiVol, 1 Million Turtles, FrogID and Butterflies Australia.
    • But data from all major citizen science apps is also shared with the Atlas of Living Australia, Australia’s largest open-source open-access biodiversity data repository.
    • But for the red-browed firetail (Neochmia temporalis), citizen science was the main contributor in over 86.5% of its locations.
    • Read more:
      From counting birds to speaking out: how citizen science leads us to ask crucial questions

What about rarely recorded species?

    • For some rare species, citizen science is proving invaluable in ongoing monitoring.
    • Take the threatened black rockcod (Epinephelus daemelii), a large, territorial fish which been decimated by spearfishing and other pressures.

Citizen science is coming of age

    • By combining citizen science data with professionally collected data, we can get the best of both worlds – a much richer picture of species’ distributions.
    • He told us:
      My drive to contribute to citizen science is to further my understanding of the natural world and contribute to decision making on environmental matters.
    • Using citizen science platforms, I have been able to learn so much about harder-to-identify organisms.
    • My drive to contribute to citizen science is to further my understanding of the natural world and contribute to decision making on environmental matters.
    • Using citizen science platforms, I have been able to learn so much about harder-to-identify organisms.

Swift adoption of Regulation to streamline cross-border enforcement needed

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 27, 2023

With this Joint Opinion, we aim to ensure that the new Regulation works for all parties involved.

Key Points: 
  • With this Joint Opinion, we aim to ensure that the new Regulation works for all parties involved.
  • In addition, the Commission’s proposal to boost consensus-finding early on in the cooperation procedure, is key to a more efficient and enhanced enforcement cooperation.
  • Moreover, time limits, extendable in duly justified circumstances, should be defined for certain procedural steps to allow swift and efficient enforcement.
  • The draft template aims to specify what gatekeepers should include in the independently audited descriptions of their profiling techniques.
  • These descriptions will be transmitted by the Commission to the EDPB and will inform enforcement actions by DPAs.

The family home in South African townships is contested – why occupation, inheritance and history are clashing with laws

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 26, 2023

In racially segregated townships, living in “family houses” and passing them on depended officially on a range of permits.

Key Points: 
  • In racially segregated townships, living in “family houses” and passing them on depended officially on a range of permits.
  • A crucial measure in undoing apartheid was transferring ownership of township houses to their long-term residents.
  • In 1986, a few years before apartheid’s end, the law changed to enable outright ownership for black people in urban areas.
  • The family house is central but effectively legally invisible, leaving many people uncertain about what it even means to own or inherit.

Collective home but individual property

    • Often, a group of siblings is at the core – the children of an earlier, typically male, household head.
    • Family members might build extra structures on the site to live in.
    • A family member would come forward as family “representative” and “custodian” of the collective home.
    • In many cases, relatives were unaware that this had happened, or even that an application for title had been made.

Inheritance: an added layer of complexity

    • Inheritance has added another layer to the problem.
    • These were finally struck down by the Constitutional Court in 2000 and 2004.
    • Inheritance by the eldest son was replaced by rules for all South Africans, prioritising spouses and children in nuclear families.

Efforts to resolve the issue

    • In Gauteng province, where Johannesburg is located, housing tribunals were set up in the late 1990s to decide ownership and to broker family house rights agreements.
    • But it turned out that they held no legal water: from the point of view of deeds registration, custodians’ ownership was unrestricted.
    • In the Master’s Office, where inheritance is administered, kin complain that their family home somehow became the property of one relative.
    • In Johannesburg, officials try to explain the law, while where appropriate querying how title came to be acquired.

Towards legal recognition

    • In 2022, the Shomang judgment in the North Gauteng High Court called for legally recognising the family house.
    • A sufficiently flexible notion of family title would be challenging to work out, and doubtless the basis for countless disputes.

NZ's Green Party is 'filling the void on the left' as voters grow frustrated with Labour's centrist shift

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 26, 2023

With a 14.2% share in the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll, up by 1.9 percentage points since the previous poll, that is more than half the Labour Party’s 26.5%.

Key Points: 
  • With a 14.2% share in the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll, up by 1.9 percentage points since the previous poll, that is more than half the Labour Party’s 26.5%.
  • The gain seems to have come from voters unimpressed by Labour’s centrist shift under leader Chris Hipkins, which leaves the Greens to fill a wider void on the left.
  • The party can claim policy success in several areas – environment and climate, housing quality, family and sexual violence prevention.

Distinctive party rules

    • Changes to the party constitution in May last year scrapped the requirement for a male co-leader.
    • The Greens’ 2023 party list reflects both new talent and greater ethnic diversity than in the past.
    • Far more than any other political party (save Te Pāti Māori), the distinctive leadership structure and decision-making rules allow the Greens to give effect to their commitments to te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi, gender equity and grassroots democracy.

Policy success

    • If getting the policy architecture in place to facilitate implementation is one measure of political success, then the Greens have achieved credible action on many fronts.
    • Getting the 2019 Zero Carbon Act across the line with cross-party support, with the subsequent setting up of the Climate Change Commission, was certainly a success.
    • Ultimately, the Greens’ policy positions on a range of issues are more radical than the outcomes that have been achieved under the Labour government.

Ending poverty and tax reform

    • However, there is no question the Greens have shifted the terms of the debate on poverty in Aotearoa.
    • The party’s Ending Poverty Together policy proposes an income guarantee that would ensure everyone, including students, receives at least NZ$385 a week after tax.
    • Its reconfigured tax structure claims to benefit an estimated 95% of all tax payers, a much broader group than National’s proposed tax cuts would affect.
    • While the details of the Greens’ tax policy would undoubtedly need refining, the potential to eliminate poverty and ensure free dental care for all offers a glimpse of what truly transformational policy can look like.

Future direction

    • At 14.2% in the polls, the party is closing in on its highest ever level of 15%, reached in 2017 in a TVNZ poll.
    • If current polling holds up and translates into a significantly expanded caucus, it may allow the Greens to more actively pursue their ideals.
    • This leaves a void on the left for the Greens to fill, while further eroding Labour’s base.

Ukraine war: mixed signals among Kyiv's allies hint at growing conflict fatigue

Retrieved on: 
Monday, September 25, 2023

But it has also tested those in the west that have supported Ukraine from the start.

Key Points: 
  • But it has also tested those in the west that have supported Ukraine from the start.
  • This much was evident from the mixed reception Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, received last week when he visited the US and Canada.
  • There are two camps: many western leaders following Ukraine’s line that the country’s territorial integrity needs to be restored first.
  • Moving up to Canada, Zelensky received a universally warm reception and left with a military aid package worth C$650 million (£394 million).

Europe: growing division

    • Poland then went one step further and also put a – temporary – halt on any weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
    • This was decried by Zelensky in his speech before the UN general assembly as “political theatre” and a gift for Moscow.
    • The grain dispute between Poland and Ukraine has been simmering for some time, and it was a question of when, not if, it would ultimately escalate.
    • It comes in the wake of growing western unease about the course and cost of the war.
    • But Ukraine’s recent successes are almost certainly not enough to dispel the growing sense that the war is becoming a lasting stalemate.

Tim Flannery's message to all: rise up and become a climate leader – be the change we need so desperately

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, September 16, 2023

So what makes a great climate leader and why are we not seeing more of them?

Key Points: 
  • So what makes a great climate leader and why are we not seeing more of them?
  • For two years now I’ve been on a journey, a quest if you like, to find good climate leaders.

Missed opportunities and wasted time

    • If we’d been on the right emissions reduction trajectory a decade ago, we’d have more time to deal with the problem.
    • But we’ve wasted ten years.
    • Over that period, probably 20% of all of the carbon pollution we’ve ever put into the atmosphere has been emitted.

A different style of leadership

    • In my opinion, that is true leadership.
    • […] it was about finding the big things that everyone could agree on and designing policy that brought everyone together.
    • […] it was about finding the big things that everyone could agree on and designing policy that brought everyone together.
    • On the subject of leadership, they share similar sentiments with Australia’s Dharawal and Yuin custodian and community leader Paul Knight.
    • So in a species like ours, that’s what true leadership consists of.

What’s holding us back?

    • The links are interwoven, with people moving from the fossil fuel industry to politics and back.
    • And we still allow people to become extremely rich at the expense of all of us.
    • I think that’s what’s holding us back.

Rise up

    • And the story is usually somewhat similar: people realise they could lose something very precious.
    • We heard it time and time again in the making of this documentary.
    • For community campaigner Jo Dodds the trigger was the Black Summer bushfires, the near-loss of her house and the loss of her neighbours’ houses.
    • The level of public awareness is far greater now than when I came to this issue in the early 2000s.

Sustainable tourism needs to be built with the help of locals

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 6, 2023

In the wake of the pandemic, tourism is experiencing a period of transition in which two trends which were already prevalent pre Covid-19 have gained momentum:is not easy, fast or affordable.

Key Points: 


In the wake of the pandemic, tourism is experiencing a period of transition in which two trends which were already prevalent pre Covid-19 have gained momentum:

  • is not easy, fast or affordable.
  • This is especially true since, rather than conforming to standards, labels or certifications, we must change our relationship with the environment in order to be sustainable, rather than just appearing to be so.

Sustainability must be economical, environmental and social

    • Economic sustainability is taken for granted and environmental sustainability is taken into immediate consideration, while social sustainability is put on the back burner (see, among many others, the case of Ibiza and the cost of housing).
    • If there is to be true social sustainability, which in turn drives economic and environmental sustainability, the governance of tourism has to evolve.
    • Before the pandemic, and in the post-pandemic period, news related to the sustainability of tourism appeared in the media.


    The case of the island of Sardinia and its beaches is perhaps less well known than others, but very telling in this context.

Appreciating tourism

    • This happens when the tolerance level of the local community is exceeded and tourism no longer contributes positively to their quality of life.
    • When no one asks them, listens to them, takes them into account and decisions are made that severely affect their lives, it is not surprising that citizens turn against tourism when, in reality, the problem is not tourism, but the management of it.
    • It is only by involving these communities in decision-making that we will find the missing link in tourism governance.
    • However, this is the best way to support the tourism industry and to overcome mistrust and detachment.

Co-governance and well-being

    • It is not about managing a destination, but a community with permanent residents and tourists, the latter being understood as temporary residents.
    • The well-being of both must be at the core of the governance architecture.
    • Are the voices of the local population heard and taken into account in the decision making processes, with a view to their well-being?

Air traffic control chaos: how human error can lead a tiny glitch to spiral out of control

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Several thousand passengers were stranded at airports, hotels and connection depots following the recent system-wide glitch of the UK air traffic control systems.

Key Points: 
  • Several thousand passengers were stranded at airports, hotels and connection depots following the recent system-wide glitch of the UK air traffic control systems.
  • So what was the glitch and how did it create so much chaos?
  • The problems appear to have been caused by unusual data in a flight plan submitted into the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) system by a French airline.
  • But, in my experience as a researcher of management, managers further up the chain can often pay more attention to immediate threats.
  • They may therefore underestimate the impact of accumulated errors, or may not have enough time to monitor them.

Bigger picture

    • “This system should be designed to reject data that’s incorrect, not to collapse,” Walsh explained.
    • Lundgren said a review of the situation should determine whether NATs is “really fit for purpose, not only on the systems but on the technology, on the staffing levels”.
    • Another point to bear in mind: many senior managers – particularly at chief executive and managing director level – are not necessarily technicians.
    • Unfortunately, as long as the glitch is not salient and the machine still works, people usually ignore it.

Next steps

    • But managers and authorities should also offer replacement flights, coupons or other objects of comparable value as compensation.
    • Managers have been improving communication between technicians and non-technicians and should be praised for this change in attitudes.
    • The risk for the industry is that passengers affected by the problems may look to alternative forms of transport in the future.

Charms and rituals are used by criminals in Nigeria – should police deploy spiritual security too?

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 6, 2023

The pervasiveness of crime has repeatedly called into question the effectiveness and efficiency of the Nigeria Police Force.

Key Points: 
  • The pervasiveness of crime has repeatedly called into question the effectiveness and efficiency of the Nigeria Police Force.
  • Many told us that they believed criminals used spiritual security for power and protection.
  • Nigerians use spiritual security mechanisms in other areas of social life such as healthcare delivery, conflict resolution and household crime control.

Traditional belief systems

    • Spiritual security is a traditional knowledge system that dates from precolonial times.
    • The knowledge system of most African societies is generally predicated on a belief system that’s divided into the physical (visible and seen) and the spiritual (mysterious and unobservable).

The study

    • We interviewed 35 police officers belonging to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
    • We wanted to know to what extent the police were aware of criminals using spiritual security mechanisms.
    • Most police officers acknowledged that the system of spiritual security mechanisms was part of a cultural heritage which many Africans employed.
    • Participants said that their professional experiences in the field showed that criminals routinely used spiritual security mechanisms.
    • They did so to strengthen and protect themselves when perpetrating crime such as armed robbery, kidnapping, rape and homicide.

Physical security and spiritual security

    • The work experiences of police officers, however, generally demonstrated the importance of a knowledge system that recognises a connection between physical security and spiritual security.
    • We recommend that Nigeria’s police force should explore any potential advantages that the system of spiritual security mechanisms might offer.

London is a major reason for the UK's inequality problem. Unfortunately, City leaders don't want to talk about it

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 5, 2023

In 2022, the richest fifth of the UK population had an income more than 12 times that of the poorest fifth.

Key Points: 
  • In 2022, the richest fifth of the UK population had an income more than 12 times that of the poorest fifth.
  • Many of these firms are located in the City, which the Corporation states “drives the UK economy, generating over £85bn in economic output annually”.
  • An alternative perspective is that these contributions should be balanced against what the City takes out of the wider UK economy.
  • In 2022, the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that the biggest boom in City bonuses since the 2008 financial crisis would further increase this inequality gap.

The City’s diversity smokescreen

    • This is a complex picture, but few disagree that developing a more equitable UK economy and society requires significant structural change.
    • Politically, this has been recognised from most sides amid often heated debates about the new levelling-up bill.
    • Read more:
      Class and the City of London: my decade of research shows why elitism is endemic and top firms don't really care

Changing the national conversation

    • I believe they are well placed to help change the national conversation, by asking more of their leaders on this front.
    • Within many corporate organisations, the issue of inequality is positioned as part of corporate sustainability agendas, or the currently more fashionable “environmental, social and governance”.
    • The momentum to help drive these and many other changes requires a majority of the population on board.
    • We need its leaders to play a central role in our national debate about how to address this problem.