Emergency preparedness consultants at the local government level: the Israeli experience

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Municipal Emergency Consultation project in eight Israeli local authorities. The initiative centres on the appointment of independent emergency preparedness consultants entrusted with tailoring an emergency preparedness package to suit the specific needs of each locality. Regarding emergency preparedness improvements, in all of the municipalities examined, a concept of municipal emergency operation was consolidated and the derived emergency plan tested. Emergency work processes were structured and service‐level agreements reached between municipality departments. Where necessary, a‐linear patterns of municipal functioning in an emergency were established. Concerning a ‘spillover’ of emergency preparedness improvements into routine operations, and a ‘spillover’ of routine management improvements into local emergency preparedness, two municipalities near Gaza, which typically function in an emergency routine, saw a significant ‘spillover’ of emergency preparedness into routine functioning. In other localities, local managers chose to improve a number of municipal structures and procedures in times of routine functioning, which are also related to the functioning of the municipality during an emergency.     

Natural resource industry involvement in collaboration for water governance: influence on processes and outcomes in Canada

Natural resource industries are increasingly significant actors in environmental decision-making. Possessing vast institutional and technical capacity, firms have an important role to play in ‘new’ governance strategies such as collaboration. These strategies are often based upon assumptions of equitable influence. This paper investigates the nature of resource industry participation in collaborative water governance in Canada, and the potential consequences of that participation as investigated using power theory. The study used comparative cases to reveal that resource industries are able to shape collaboration, and the issues collaborated upon, at multiple analytical levels both internal and external to the collaborative process in ways not available to other actors. Analysis also revealed that resource industry participation in collaboration did not reflect a commitment to engage in shared learning and the reexamination of values and interests as presupposed by collaborative theory. Collaboration is thus challenged in producing equitable, representative outcomes when resource industries participate.     

Typifying conservation practitioners’ views on the role of education

Education is an established tool to enhance human–environment relationships, despite the lack of empirical evidence to support its use. We used theories of change to unpack assumptions about the role of education in conservation. We interviewed practitioners from 15 conservation organizations in Madagascar to typify implicit pathways of change and assess whether emerging pathways echo theoretical advances. Five pathways were drivers of change: increasing knowledge, changing emotional connection and changing traditional cultural practices, fostering leaders, diversifying outcomes, and influencing community and society. These pathways reflect existing sociopsychological theories on learning and behavioral change. Most interviewees’ organizations had a predominant pathway that was often combined with elements from other pathways. Most pathways lacked culturally grounded approaches. Our research reveals assumptions about the role of education in conservation and indicates that organizations had different ideas of how change happens. The diversity of practices reflects the complexity of factors that influence behavior. Whether this diversity is driven by local sociocultural context, interaction with other conservation approaches, or contingencies remains unclear. Yet, typifying the pathways of change and reflecting on them is the first step towards comprehensive evaluation of when and which pathways and interactions to promote.     

Environmental policy implementation during the economic crisis: an analysis of European member state ‘leader-laggard’ dynamics

ABSTRACT

The long-standing debate on environmental policy ‘leaders’ and ‘laggards’ lends itself to a new analysis following with the advent of the 2008 economic crisis. This paper, therefore, asks the question to what extent do European Union (EU) member states have the capacity and willingness to implement EU environmental policy amid austerity, budget cuts, and rising costs over the period 2008–2014. Building upon previous studies, 26 interviews with European, Greek and United Kingdom participants and records of environmental infringements, the paper provides a contemporary picture of the environmental policy ‘leader-laggard’ dynamic in Europe. The findings demonstrate that the impact of the economic crisis seems contestable and varies amongst member states, while the reduction in environmental infringements appears to have a link with the decrease in economic activity. Although environmental policy ‘leaders’ maintain patterns of strong implementation, the improved implementation performance of some ‘laggards’ reflects a shift in their implementation patterns amid a period of intense political and economic controversies.     

A post‐earthquake psychopathological investigation in Armenia: methodology,summary of findings,and follow‐up

The post‐earthquake psychopathological investigation (PEPSI) was designed to probe the short‐and long‐term effects of the earthquake in northern Armenia on 7 December 1988 on survivors' mental and physical health. Four phases of this study have been conducted to date, and, overall, more than 80 per cent of a sub‐sample of 1,773 drawn from an initial cohort of 32,743 was successfully followed during 2012. This paper describes the methodology employed in the evaluation, summarises previous findings, details the current objectives, and examines the general characteristics of the sample based on the most recent follow‐up phase outcomes. Despite a significant decrease in psychopathology rates between 1990 and 2012, prevalence rates of post‐traumatic stress disorder and depression among study participants in 2012 were greater than 15 and 26 per cent, respectively. The paper also notes the strengths and limitations of the study vis‐à‐vis future research and highlights the importance and potential practical implications of similar assessments and their outcomes.     

Parsing participation: models of engagement for outcomes monitoring in urban stewardship

Few urban environmental stewardship, or civic ecology, practices monitor their impacts on local communities and ecosystems. This lack of monitoring prevents lay stewards from adapting their practices based on outcomes. For those that do collect data on their practices, we see different forms of practitioner engagement in outcomes monitoring. We categorise these different forms of engagement according to five published models of public participation in scientific research, revealing different strategies for collecting and analysing data towards adaptive co-management in urban ecosystems. We propose two broad strategies for expanding outcomes monitoring in these contexts: creating openly accessible tools and protocols for do-it-yourself inquiry and supporting more resource-intensive partnerships between practitioners and scientists for more complex forms of outcomes monitoring.     

Review,assessment and recommendations on environmental policies in Western China

Reviewing the existing environmental policies in Western China,we find that:in time sequence,the characteristics of China's western environmental policies shift from"development drive governance"to the full implementation of environmental protection and construction;and in spatial sequence,the ecological,social,and economic development of Western China reach to coordination through the nature reserve setting,ecological migrants,fiscal transfer payment and differentiated ecological environmental policies.Due to the implementation of the policies and projects,environmental degradation trends in the western ecological environment were alleviated significantly,the living conditions of farmers and herdsmen were improved,and many successful experiences were explored.However,future ecological environmental construction in Western China requires further improvement in integrated planning,eco-compensation mechanism,and policy assessment.This paper concludes with specific recommendations such as drawing up ecological environment construction planning,strengthening environmental law enforcement and incentive mechanisms,improving policy assessment and scientific support,enhancing environmental protection capacity,improving eco-compensation mechanism,and refining the environmental policies for key areas.     

Shared aggression concerns and organizational outcomes: The moderating role of resource constraints

Most research on workplace aggression focuses on the antecedents and consequences of aggression for individual workers. The current study examines how shared workplace aggression concerns relate to internal and external organizational outcomes. Drawing on the work stress, social identity, and social contagion literatures, we propose relationships between unit‐level aggression concerns and unit‐level measures of performance and employee attitudes in a public school sample (2989 employees; 163 schools). We also propose that these relationships differ depending on the resource context of the school. Consistent with our expectations, schools in which teachers had strong shared concerns about aggression also had poorer shared job attitudes and poorer student outcomes, as indicated by average standardized test scores at the school. The impact of shared concerns about aggression on school‐level standardized test scores was stronger for resource‐rich schools than for schools with fewer resources. The current study contributes to organizational research as it establishes that workplace aggression concerns have adverse consequences for the whole organization, not only for the individuals experiencing the events. Our findings demonstrate that employees' shared concerns about aggression have an impact on organizational outcomes and suggest a prevention‐focused approach to workplace aggression. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Positive emotions,negative emotions,or utility of discrete emotions?

We note a tendency in organizational behavior research to link positive emotions with positive outcomes and negative emotions with negative outcomes. In this Incubator, we argue against this simple association and provide suggestions for researchers to develop interesting lines of enquiry that look beyond simple symmetrical associations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.