http://www.wri.org/publication/building-local-democracy

by Payson Schwin

In practice, everything but democratic decentralization has taken place in the name of 'democratic decentralization' reforms: privatization, administrative deconcentration, NGOization, selective civil society inclusion, participatory processes, co-management, and committee-based project implementation.

The interventions being chosen by environmental policy makers or projects in the local arena are not empowering 'democratic' local partners. They do not support local democracy because they usually lack the two key elements of effective democratic decentralization: downward accountability and significant discretionary power.

While many interventions increase local participation in natural resource decisions, they may do so in non-sustainable ways or in ways that hinder the institutionalization of local democracy within local government. We still have a lot to learn about the best ways for governments, donors, and large NGOs to support local institutions to foster the emergence and consolidation of local democracy, and the research for this brief yields a number of important initial recommendations.

The brief includes detailed case studies of Benin, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malawi and Senegal.

Alec Crawford, Arthur J. Hanson, David Runnalls -
Arctic sovereignty is a complicated business. Promises of vast resources and fabled shipping lanes set free by a melting ice pack have triggered a competition for land and influence across the region. Climate change has made it clear that the Arctic environmental transformation poses some very real security concerns for Canada. There is a danger, however, that these perceived security threats, the shared expectations of what lies beneath the Arctic ice and the race to define our northern sovereignty could overshadow some of the current and expected environmental challenges to be faced by the Arctic ecosystem and the communities that depend upon it.

This short report focuses on the important northern issues that Canada should be focusing on beyond those currently grabbing the headlines. In addition to increasing its defence spending in the North, Canada, to guarantee its Arctic sovereignty and the health of its northern ecosystem, must:

Engage indigenous and northern communities, NGOs, international organizations and countries outside of the Arctic Council in the debate and decision-making on Arctic sovereignty and security;

Take the lead on environmental stewardship in the North;

Invest more money in Arctic research and the capacity to turn research into meaningful policy;

Go beyond the Ilulissat Declaration to cement cooperation on a number of issues with the other Arctic stakeholders; and

Update its Northern Foreign Policy.