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Environment and Urbanization

This twice-yearly journal, published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), focuses on urban and environmental issues and their interconnections, with a particular emphasis on Africa, Asia and Latin America (where most of world's urban population now lives). Each issue of the journal focuses on a particular theme and includes between 9 and 15 papers on that theme, papers responding to the themes of previous issues and a Book Notes section with details of new publications. Examples of journal themes include: globalization and cities; chronic poverty; ecological urbanization; meeting the Millennium Development Goals in urban areas; participatory governance; violence and security; water and sanitation; sustainable cities; and rural-urban linkages. Most issues of the journal include profiles of innovative organizations; some include papers on participatory tools and methods and a guide to the literature. A full text of all its issues (from its first issue in April 1989) is available on-line. All but the issues from the past two years are open-access.

http://eau.sagepub.com/

(Added: Wed Jan 31 2007   Hits: 177)

Oil and Violence in Sudan Drilling, Poverty and Death in Upper Nile State

The discovery of oil in a developing country can be a blessing or a curse. In Sudan's case, oil exploration and development has helped fuel vicious warfare. The 2005 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which brokered an end to fighting between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), offers a framework to depart from that brutal legacy, but so far its promise has not been realized. The foreign-owned Petrodar Operating Company has served as a loyal partner of the government of Sudan. It has never raised its voice against the government's use of violence to clear the way for oil development. (Egbert Wesselink and Evelien Weller, Multinational Monitor, May/June 2006)

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2006/052006/wesselink.html

(Added: Wed Jan 10 2007   Hits: 62)

Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble

Our global civilization today is on an economic path that is environmentally unsustainable, a path that is leading us toward economic decline and eventual collapse. China has eclipsed the United States in the consumption of most basic resources, and the western economic model-the fossil-fuel-based, auto-centered, throwaway economy-is not going to work. This book, which is available for download by chapter online, explains why business as usual-Plan A-cannot take us where we want to go. It is time for Plan B, time to build a new economy and a new world. Plan B has three components-(1) a restructuring of the global economy so that it can sustain civilization; (2) an all-out effort to eradicate poverty, stabilize population, and restore hope in order to elicit participation of the developing countries; and (3) a systematic effort to restore natural systems. (Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute, 2006)

http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/Contents.htm

(Added: Thu Nov 16 2006   Hits: 378)

Voices from the Amazon: Tribal people whose way of life is threatened by development speak out

Kamalurre Mehinaku of the Mehinaku tribe in Brazil: "We left our land in the Xingu to come to Europe to speak out about the many problems we are facing. All the headwaters of the great Xingu river are very polluted. This is because the white people who are agriculturalists throw in toxic pesticides. They chuck everything in there - rubbish, empty cans and bottles of rum. They also kill the wild animals and they leave the dead bodies rotting by the river. We are very, very worried because now a hydroelectric dam is being built on the Culuene river. We need our land and rivers for our life and traditions. I am beginning to understand things about the whites. What I see is that we, the Indians, respect them but they don't respect us. (Guardian Weekly, 13-19 October 2006)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianweekly/outlook/story/0,,1896810,00.html

(Added: Fri Oct 27 2006   Hits: 64)

People, Land and Water: Participatory Development Communication for Natural Resource Managemen

The book describes the major issues involved in applying participatory development communication to natural resource management practices and research, discusses the challenges and the difficulties linked to such an approach, and offers insights and lessons from research and experience in Asia and Africa. (Guy Bessette, Earthscan/IDRC 2006)

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-98617-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

(Added: Thu Oct 26 2006   Hits: 132)

World Hits Annual Sustainable Resource 'Overshoot'

The world on Monday reached the point where the consumption of resources for the rest of the year will exceed the ability of the planet to replace them. Scientists say the world first reached Ecological Debt Day, or Overshoot Day, on Dec. 19, 1987, and the date creeps forward every year. The trend, scientists warn, threatens not only the environment but also the livelihood of millions around the globe. (Environmental News Network/Reuters, 9 September 2006)

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11405

(Added: Wed Oct 11 2006   Hits: 47)

Supply and command: natural gas in Burma set to entrench military rule

This paper highlights the need for democracy and justice in natural gas sector in the Arakan region of Western Burma. It focuses on the so-called Shwe project, a project led by Indian and Korean corporations in partnership with the Burmese dictatorship, which exploits gas field off the coast of the Arakan State. The paper gives a detailed overview of Burma's history since the discovery of natural gas, and also assesses the extractive industries' role in entrenching Burma's military dictatorship. The paper shows how the export of natural gas from Western Burma provides the dictatorship with its single largest source of income, thereby allowing it to insulate itself from international pressure to stop its human rights abuses. (SHWE Gas Movement, 2006)

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/reports/shwe_gas.pdf

(Added: Wed Oct 04 2006   Modified: Fri Jan 12 2007   Hits: 72)

How the World Bank's energy framework sells the climate and poor people

The April 2006 version of World Bank's clean energy investment framework is based on scenarios for global greenhouse gas emissions at levels that would allow "dangerous climate change" as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The framework also promotes additional funding for energy technologies that have negative social and environmental impacts, and that will in many cases further contribute to climate change. The framework does not catalyze the necessary massive shift to renewable energy technologies that could create the double dividend of environmental benefits and poverty reduction. The framework's "business as usual" approach will not adequately address climate change, and will continue to keep more than one billion poor people in the dark. (FOE et al, September 2006)

http://www.foe.org/camps/intl/EnergyReportDraft091406.pdf

(Added: Fri Sep 22 2006   Modified: Fri Sep 29 2006   Hits: 74)

Linking the dots: MDGs and the 2010 Global Biodiversity Challenge

Beginning with the 1972 Stockholm Summit on Sustainable Development, the links between economic, social and environmental aspects to achieving sustainable development have received increasing attention. Currently, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), form the basis of all debates and discussions on development around the world. This paper will not attempt to exhaust all resources and literature available on the MDGs and the 2010 target, but to engage readers in a broad discussion on the validity of the indicators, the need for cross-cutting references and analysis, and the need for reviewing and/or generating newer indicators. (Agorra Foundation, 2006)

http://www.agorrafoundation.org/res/CBD_MDG_FINAL.pdf

(Added: Tue Sep 12 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 103)

Bulldozing Progress: Human Rights Abuse and Corruption in PNG's Large Scale Logging Industries

The logging industry in Papua New Guinea is dominated by a handful of Malaysian companies and is is synonymous with political corruption, police racketeering and the brutal repression of workers, women and those who question its ways. Its operations routinely destroy the food sources, water supplies and cultural property of those same communities. They provide a breeding ground for arms smuggling, corruption and violence across the country. In return, the industry generates no lasting economic benefit to forest communities, considerable long-term cost and a modest 5 per cent contribution to the national budget. A concerted international effort backed by credible enforcement agencies is now needed to reform the industry and restore the human and economic rights of PNG forest communities. (Australian Conservation Foundation, 2006)

http://www.acfonline.org.au/uploads/res_ACF-CELCOR_full.pdf#search=%22Bulldozing%20%22

(Added: Mon Sep 11 2006   Hits: 277)

Report on the expert seminar on indigenous peoples' permanent sovereignty over natural resources and their relationship to land

This report reflects the outcome of the expert seminar on indigenous peoples' permanent sovereignty over natural resources and their relationship to land that took place in Geneva from 25-27 January 2006. The report explains how colonial laws were used to dispossess indigenous peoples of their lands and resources. It states that although the meaning of 'permanent sovereignty' in the context of indigenous peoples signified respect for the States' territorial integrity, it also included the right of indigenous peoples to own, freely dispose of, manage and control resources. The report points to the absence of legislation that protects indigenous peoples' lands and resources, and to the obstacles to the implementation of existing legislation. It underlines the potential collaboration between indigenous peoples and States to ensure that activities of multinational companies and free trade agreements were not detrimental to the interest of indigenous peoples. It recognizes free, prior and informed consent, and permanent sovereignty over natural resources as two practical and interrelated concepts. (United Nations, 5 April 2006)

http://www.treatycouncil.org/section_21141711211121112.htm

(Added: Thu Sep 07 2006   Hits: 50)

Still Drilling

In this article Monbiot argues that the rebranding of Shell and BP is a fraud. For a company that claims to have moved "beyond petroleum", BP has managed to spill an awful lot of it onto the tundra in Alaska. Oil companies have seized upon the peak oil arguments of environmentalists to argue that if oil supplies are in danger, they must be permitted to prospect in new places. And while the aggression that characterised Shell's campaign against the Ogoni may have gone, their abuse of human rights and the environment continues unchecked. (George Monbiot, Guardian, 13th June 2006)

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/06/13/still-drilling/

(Added: Wed Jul 05 2006   Hits: 76)

India: soft drinks, hard cases

The Indian government forced Coca- Cola out of the country in 1977. The company's return, in October 1993, coincided with the arrival of its arch-rival Pepsi. The United States multinationals now own 90 factories in India: Coca-Cola 52 and Pepsi 38. They describe these as bottling plants; actually they are pumping stations, each of which extracts up to 1.5m litres of water a day from the ground. It takes nine litres of clean water to manufacture a litre of Coke. The extraction of groundwater deprives poor people of their fundamental right of access to clean water. The factories spew out toxic waste that threatens health and the environment. (Vandana Shiva, The Environment Times, Sep. 2005)

http://www.environmenttimes.net/article.cfm?pageID=205

(Added: Tue Jun 06 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 180)

Trends in sustainable development

This report looks at progress in sustainable development, focusing on four areas: energy for sustainable development, industrial development, atmosphere and pollution, and climate change. (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, April 2006)

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/trends2006/trends_rpt2006.pdf

(Added: Tue Jun 06 2006   Modified: Fri Aug 18 2006   Hits: 227)

Tiempo: A bulletin on climate and development - Issue 59, April 2006

This issue of Tiempo includes articles on: the assimilation of gender issues in the climate change debate; the International Year of Deserts and Desertification; climate change impacts on fisheries in Malawi; adaptive capacity in Bangladesh; the global distribution of low coastal zone settlements; the latest news on the climate negotiations and climate events world-wide. (International Institute for Environment and Development, April 2006)

http://www.tiempocyberclimate.org/newswatch/latest.htm

(Added: Wed May 24 2006   Modified: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 134)

Nepal's biogas initiative gets major funding boost

The Nepal Biogas Project promotes the use of underground 'digesters' that use bacteria to generate methane gas from cattle dung. This provides clean, efficient energy to rural communities in Nepal.The project received a major boost this month in the form of a deal that rewards it for reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions. (Arjun Adhikari, SciDev.Net, 19 May 2006)

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=2852&language=1

(Added: Tue May 23 2006   Hits: 76)

Road and dam building 'threaten Indian fish supplies'

Scientists have warned that development projects in the northeast of India are degrading rivers and putting fish populations at risk of extinction. (Linda Chhakchhuak, SciDev.Net, 17 May 2006)

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=2843&language=1

(Added: Tue May 23 2006   Hits: 85)

What next? Carbon markets and clean development

The European Union announced last week that in 2005 it had emitted about 60 million tonnes of greenhouse gases - or 3.3 per cent - less than projected. Although this may seem positive, it is potentially bad news for the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which has helped to fund hundreds of 'green' projects in the South. (Catherine Brahic, SciDev.Net, 19 May 2006)

http://www.scidev.net/Features/index.cfm?fuseaction=readFeatures&itemid=523&language=1

(Added: Tue May 23 2006   Hits: 75)

Another Sort of World Map

This website maps the world - but uses carbon emmissions and population size instead of land mass to determine the size of countries. (World Watch, April 2006)

http://www.worldwatch.org/press/news/2006/01/12/

(Added: Wed May 03 2006   Hits: 328)

A Fury Building Up Across India

In this interview, Arundhati Roy updates her essay on the Narmada issue, The Greater Common Good, published in 1999. Roy talks about how the battle in the Narmada Valley has raised radical questions about the top-heavy model of development India has opted for. But also how it has raised very specific questions about specific dams. Though much of the noise now is centered on the issue of displacement and resettlement, Roy argues that the really vital questions that have not been answered are the ones that question the benefits of dams.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=10174

(Added: Mon May 01 2006   Hits: 121)

Defiance in the land of the free

For over 30 years, Carrie and Mary Dann have fought the US government for Western Shoshone rights to 60m acres of land that stretch through Nevada into neighbouring states. Until now, the harassment has hardly scratched the conscience of America, but that might be about to change. In March, in an unprecedented document, the UN demanded that the US government halt all actions against the Shoshone and find a solution acceptable to them and in accordance with their rights. This landmark decision could force the government to transform antiquated federal Indian law. (Nicola Graydon, The Sunday Times, 23 April 2006)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-2142374.html

(Added: Fri Apr 28 2006   Modified: Wed Jun 21 2006   Hits: 126)

Darkness in the Lesotho Highlands: Promises for Power Go Unfulfilled

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is a massive, multi-dam scheme built to divert water from Lesotho's Maloti Mountains to South Africa's industrial Gauteng Province. In an effort to prevent the permanent impoverishment of these people, the governments of South Africa and Lesotho promised in the LHWP Treaty that affected people "will be enabled to maintain a standard of living not inferior to that obtaining at the time of first disturbance." Now, ten years after the pledge was made, affected people's hopes of electricity have faded. It is just another promise not kept. (Ryan Hoover, International Rivers Network, October 31, 2000)

http://www.irn.org/programs/lesotho/index.php?id=001031darkness.html

(Added: Thu Apr 27 2006   Hits: 99)

IDB President Admits Serious Problems in Spill-Prone Amazon Pipeline

The Inter-American Development Bank has finally acknowledged the multiple problems with the Camisea gas project, a flagship bank project that has caused devastating social and environmental impacts in Peru, including five spills in the first 18 months of operation. (Amazon Watch, Aprl 2006)

http://www.amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=1134

(Added: Thu Apr 20 2006   Modified: Tue Jun 27 2006   Hits: 126)

A Capability Centred Approach to Environmental Sustainability: is productive employment the missing link between micro and macro policies [PDF]

This paper, produced by the United Nations Development Programmes' International Poverty Centre, examines economic growth, personal well-being, the environment and employment using the Capabilities Approach to poverty measurement popularised by Amartya Sen. The paper's authors discuss how different economic strategies fare with respect to poverty reduction (as defined using the capabilities approach) and environmental sustainability.

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/newsletters/WorkingPaper13.pdf

(Added: Tue Apr 18 2006   Hits: 155)

Guidelines for Practitioners: Integrating Indigenous and Gender Aspects in Natural Resource Management

Women are largely absent from public decision-making in environmental management, protection, and conservation while being critical actors at the grassroots level. The draft Platform argues that women, particularly indigenous women, have pivotal roles in environmental conservation. It identifies a linkage between poverty and deteriorating natural environments and states that the strategic actions needed for sound environmental management requires a holistic, multidisciplinary, and inter-sectional approach. It proposes actions towards promoting the involvement of women in environmental decision-making at all levels and to ensure the integration of women's needs, concerns, and perspectives in policies and programs for environmental and sustainable development. (IGNARM: Network on Indigenous Peoples, Gender and Natural Resource Management, 2006)

http://www.ignarm.dk/resources/guidelines_introduction.htm

(Added: Fri Apr 07 2006   Modified: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 221)

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