OSP Journal of Environmental Studies

Two Lessepsians Nudibranchs species, Tayuva lilacina [A. Gould, 1852] [Nudibranchia, Discodorididae] and Plocamopherus ocellatus Rüppell and Leuckart, 1828 [Polyceridae] and two Mediterranean Nudibranchs species Doris verrucoas [A. Gould, 1852] [Discodorididae] and Felimare picta [Philippi, 1836] [Chromodorididae] are reported for the first time in Latakia coastal water, and it is the first known occurrence of these four species in the Syrian Sea. The sea slugs were photographed in situ and identified in HIMR based on their species descriptions, Photographs and information available in global databases specialized in marine life.

This short paper will discuss the importance of harmonization of environmental management law based on L and C matrixes which may be used to develop artificial intelligence platform (AI-P). L and C matrixes are used here to show the process of legal harmonization. The AI-P will be able to facilitate national and international stake holders to communicate each other to harmonize their environmental management law, including natural, human, and man-made resources law (the law). What they should harmonize is legal and institutional aspects of the law (the aspect) and components of environmental management activity regulated by the law (the component). The aspect consists of legal objective, legal mandate, institutional organization carried out the mandate, means and infrastructure, network and working mechanism, and legal target as a part of legal objective. The component involves planning, organizing, actuating, and controlling or plan, do, check, and action. An expected result of legal harmonization is environmental public order as a prerequisite to realize legal objectives as stated in the law.

The devolution of power and resources by the State to local authorities much en vogue today in Cameroon and other areas of the world is fast becoming a governance model which could be relied upon for the assertion and articulation of communities based land management and ownership rights. This is so given that the advantages of bringing local communities to the decision-making centres to determine the fate of local lands and resource ownership and control can hardly be exhaustive in any single legal debate. Besides, it might be key to determining communities’ rights, while enhancing the dignity of its members. After all, communities’ lands are not only owned by a single generation, but by those considered as ancestors, the living and those yet to be born. To this effect, an attempt to weave the pieces of national land legislations within the decentralization paradigm arguably remains ideal in articulating efficient land governance. Thus, if Cameroonian government is embracing decentralization as governance option, then she must beside other things be ready and prepared to relinquish her high-handed and overwhelming powers and control over land and land resources to local stake holders especially local collectivities which could be construed to reflect the aspirations of the local communities they are supposed to represent.

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) is a binational agreement, first signed in 1972 by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and President Richard Nixon, wherein the two countries (the Parties) commit to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem”. This paper explores the governance regime of this transnational ecosystem, including the role of the International Joint Commission (IJC) to provide guidance to the international efforts that are advancing Marine Spatial Planning and implementation. It explores differences in regulatory approaches and collaborative governance frameworks. It concludes that creative, distributed governance mechanisms ad new institutional arrangements [14] stimulate and sustain advances in the clean up local waterways, raise public awareness of individuals' responsibilities, provide for accountability and transparency, build capacity to address unexpected stressors, unite a community around a shared vision, purpose, and goals, and improve the likelihood of successful implementation.

The Global Center for Climate Change and Transboundary Waters (GCTW) integrates hydroclimate modeling, water quality monitoring, and forecasting with community-engaged mixed-methods to harmonize Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Indigenous Knowledge (IK), and Western Science (WS) for the purposes of developing 21st century transboundary water resources governance protocols. To advance harmonizing TEK with WS, a fundamental mission of GCTW, the Center cohosted a TEK Summit with community leaders at Six Nations of the Grand River (Six Nations) in the spring of 2024. We report on how this summit facilitated discussions and establish connections among Indigenous Knowledge Holders, scholars, students, youth, environmental groups, academics, and conservationists.