Power of Forest Stakeholders in the Participatory Decision Making Process: A Case Study in Northern Italy

Abstract

The paper provides an empirical analysis of the macroeconomic factors that enhance revenue gap in South Africa using the multivariate cointegration techniques for the period 1965 to 2012. The results from the cointegration analysis indicate that the revenue gap in South Africa is negatively associated with the level of imports while positively related to external debt and underground economy. The former finding is consistent with the notion that imports are subjected to more taxation than domestic activities because of certain features of international trade that tend to make tax evasion difficult. On the other hand, the positive relationship between external debt and tax gap shows that the South African government relies upon external debt to finance its budget deficit resulting from missing revenues. Furthermore, the observed negative effect of the post-apartheid dummy confirms that the tax policy reforms that South Africa introduced following the liberation in 1994 have led to a reduction in missing revenues. The results from the Granger causality test also show that there is a unidirectional causality running from imports and underground economy to revenue gap, while revenue gap on the other hand is found to Granger-cause national income and external debt in South Africa.

After the Wildfires: The Processes of Social Learning of Forest Owners’ Associations in Central Catalonia, Spain

“…In particular, we need to understand the specific motivations of, and the strategies employed by, forest owners to manage their properties [23,24] as it is related to social perceptions of wildfire risk [25][26][27], and to be dependent on the information owners have about this risk [28][29][30]. The organizational responses of forest owners have been found to influence political decision-making [31], whilst information exchange between social agents is reported to help build a sense of community [32]. It should be stressed from the outset that EU forests account for 42% of the Union's total land area, and that 60% of this area is privately owned [33].…”

The management model of the Natura 2000 network in Puglia: opinions and expectations of stakeholders

“…La degree centrality esprime la posizione di un singolo portatore d'interesse nella rete. Tale indice può essere considerato una misura indiretta del potere/prestigio di un portatore d'interesse all'interno del network (Paletto et al 2016b). Più alto è il numero di relazioni intraprese da un portatore d'interesse, maggiore è il suo valore di degree centrality.…”

Forest Management Teams, a Citizenship Paradigm Analysis through Influence and Importance Factors; Experience from Arabuko Sokoke Forest, Kenya

“…The ASFMT model presents an arrangement where both numbers of stakeholders and the stakes are high, the participatory process is strongly influenced by relationships thus the coalitions of interests and the balance of power among the participants as noted by Paletto et al (2016) will be a critical process. Further, the ASFMT retained multiple identity and function in the Team; the individual organizations have their organizational mandates, roles and activities and have responsibility for those activities assigned to them by the Team which they implement separately or jointly (as part of the team).…”

“…A stakeholder has an influence on another when they are able to alter the other stakeholder's behavior through the application of pressure (Paletto et al, 2016). In Teams, access to resources is used to influence actions/decisions as noted by Paletto et al (2016). Control of resources (finances) gives people power which enables stakeholders to gain and control organizations and Teams to support their activities or approaches.…”