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ODI Forest Policy and Environment Group (FPEG)

FPEG seeks to inform the processes of policy change in tropical forestry in ways which improve the livelihoods and well-being of the forest-dependent poor, whilst also securing the long-term future of forest resources. We do this by: * conducting independent policy-orientated research on forestry issues; * providing policy and institutional advice to international and national donors, governments, parliamentarians and civil society groups; * contributing to strategic global, regional and national learning through workshops, information exchange and dissemination activities.

http://www.odifpeg.org.uk

(Added: Thu Oct 16 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 10 2005   Hits: 173)

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)

Oil Palm and Other Commercial Tree Plantations, Monocropping: Impacts on Indigenous Peoples' Land Tenure and Resource Management Systems and Livelihoo

This paper aims to raise awareness and initiate debate on the impact of commercial tree plantations and monocropping on indigenous peoples'lands and communities (2007).

http://www.tebtebba.org/tebtebba_files/unpf/pf6/6session_crp6(2).pdf

(Added: Tue Jul 31 2007   Modified: Thu Nov 01 2007   Hits: 101)

Outflanked : the World Trade Organisation, international trade and sustainable development

It is clear that the relationship between trade liberalisation and the environment is an uneasy one. It appears that the main international focus has been on the liberalisation of trade, with the benefits that this may bring, while failing to recognise the full environmental or social impacts that this liberalisation may have. It is paramount that, where liberalisation is pursued, effective accompanying measures are adopted to prevent or limit the environmental and social impacts. Without such measures, international trade liberalisation is only likely to add to environmental degradation. Moves to address environment-trade issues may ultimately prove inadequate unless the WTO can be used to ensure that sustainable development is more fully considered in trade negotiations, and unless Millennium Ecosystem Assessments (MEAs) are able to protect the environment without the risk of contravening WTO rules. (House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, November 2006)

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmenvaud/1455/1455.pdf

(Added: Wed Feb 14 2007   Hits: 170)

Pacific Ecologist issue 11 summer 2005/2006

The Pacific Ecologist magazine summer 2005/6 issue is available now. This issue is entitled "Will Unchecked Global Warming Destroy Civilisation?" and looks at the issue of climate change, nuclear vs renewable energy, and appropriate development. $10 from PIRM, PO Box 12125, Wellington, New Zealand. - email pirmeditor@paradise.net.nz

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00308.htm

(Added: Thu Feb 02 2006   Hits: 80)

Participation of NGOs in International Environmental Governance (PDF)

The new research study by the Federal Environmental Agency, entitled "Participation of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in International Environmental Governance", explores functions, rules and practices of NGO participation in international environmental co-operation. Although the role of NGOs in international environmental governance has increased since the 1992 Rio Summit, considerable progress has yet to be made in order to fully implement the measures of Chapter 27 of Agenda 21. In this context, the report discovers fundamental differences in the participation practices of relevant organisations and institutions and identifies a number of options for enhancing the role of NGOs in this regard. (PDF - 922KB)

http://www.ecologic.de/publications/2002/iii/ReportNGOs.pdf

(Added: Thu Sep 05 2002   Modified: Thu Jun 09 2005   Hits: 189)

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: 129)

People, parks and poverty: political ecology and biodiversity conservation [pdf]

A recent article in Conservation and Society explores, once again, the parks-people-poverty relationship. In this paper, however, the authors - Bill Adams and Jon Hutton - note that to date this discussion has not been based, to any great extent, on an explicit understanding of the political and economic dimensions of conservation policy. They suggest that one important reason for this is "the disciplinary gulf that exists between predominantly natural science-trained conservation planners and predominantly social science-trained critics of conservation." (Bill Adams and Jon Hutton, Conservation and Society, 2007)

http://www.conservationandsociety.org/cs-5-2-1-147-adams.pdf

(Added: Thu May 01 2008   Hits: 73)

Poverty Environment Net

Poverty Environment Net is the leading index of poverty-environment knowledge and resources. This site is dedicated to sharing information and lessons gained from the beneficial relationship between environmental management and poverty reduction.

http://www.povertyenvironment.net/

(Added: Wed Oct 03 2007   Modified: Thu Oct 04 2007   Hits: 41)

poverty, climate and energy: the case against oil aid

This joint brief by Friends of the Earth, Weed, Oil Change International, and Jubilee South argues that fossil fuel subsidies provided to developing countries as a form of development aid are environmentally detrimental and do not alleviate poverty.

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/oil%20poverty%20briefing.pdf

(Added: Mon Jun 30 2008   Hits: 13)

Power tools: for policy influence in natural resource management

This website introduces a range of Power Tools - "how-to" ideas that marginalised people and their allies can use to have a greater positive influence on natural resources policy. This website presents: 26 power tools based on experience from around the world; Discussion of power tools in theory and practice - See the What is a Power Tool? and the Strengths and Limits of Tools in Practice pages, plus individual tools; Related research on policy tools in action - Look at Related Research pages; A directory of the many other websites that contain policy tool resources - Consult Directory of Tools Links page. From Participatory Learning and Action.

http://www.policy-powertools.org/

(Added: Fri Feb 17 2006   Hits: 99)

Putting the right price on nature: environmental economics

Growing populations and an increasing demand for greater material wealth are placing unprecedented pressure on the earth's natural systems. But assigning values to such systems is a difficult process - not least because they are generally thought of as free goods that everyone has a right to use. Environmental economics offers a number of tools to help policymakers ensure that the benefits we obtain from ecosystems are properly valued, enabling a framework to be built for sustainable use and conservation of the environment. (Anantha Duraiappah, SciDev Net, October 2006)

http://www.scidev.net/dossiers/index.cfm?fuseaction=policybrief&policy=132&dossier=11

(Added: Fri Mar 09 2007   Hits: 230)

Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC)

RECOFTC's mandate is to promote peoples' participation in forest management. RECOFTC is an international organization that closely collaborates with partners to actively support community forestry. As a learning organization, RECOFTC designs and facilitates learning processes and systems that support the development of capacities of actors in community forestry. RECOFTC seeks to constructively promote dialogue between multi-stakeholders to ensure improved governance and equitable management of forest resources.

http://www.recoftc.org/

(Added: Wed Sep 03 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 10 2005   Hits: 176)

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: 49)

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)

Shell Shocked: People of the Niger Delta fight back against violence and corruption

Over a decade has passed since the Nigerian government killed Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists. Saro-Wiwa led a non-violent struggle against Royal Dutch Shell and other oil multinationals whose operations in the region were devastating the environment and livelihoods of local people. While the struggle remains the same today, the tactics have changed. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is a well-armed, well-organized group of youth who aim to localize control of the Niger Delta's oil wealth and are demanding compensation for communities environmentally devastated by oil operations. The group has already shut down nearly one fifth of the country's oil production, and are hitting headlines with regular kidnappings of American oil workers. This article looks at the connections between multinational oil companies and Nigeria's military government, and to the links between deep poverty and foreign oil production in the Niger delta. (Hillary Bain Lindsay, Znet, March 23, 2006)

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=9975

(Added: Mon Apr 03 2006   Modified: Tue Jun 27 2006   Hits: 108)

SHWE Gas Movement

In cooperation with Burma's military junta, a consortium of Indian and Korean corporations are currently exploring gas fields off the coast of Arakan State in Western Burma. Discovered in December 2003, these fields--labeled A-1, or "Shwe" (the Burmese word for gold)--are expected to hold one of the largest gas yields in Southeast Asia. These Shwe fields are destined to become the Burmese military government's largest single source of foreign income. However, for the people of Burma this project will likely bring more suffering than benefits. Key concerns are the exploitation of the voiceless, human rights abuses, destruction of environment and culture, and the entrenchment of the dictatorship. Learn more and take action via this website.

http://www.shwe.org/take-action

(Added: Sat Mar 12 2005   Modified: Fri Feb 09 2007   Hits: 239)

Small Island Developing States: Case Study Projects

Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN(2001). Since 1997, the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), through the Division for Sustainable Development, has been recording successful efforts to implement Agenda 21. The practice is usually to focus on success stories related to Agenda 21 topics currently being discussed at the CSD. However, this year the volume has been entirely dedicated to reports on success stories in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Volume five of the success stories is a report on practical measures taken in SIDS to further the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Barbados Programme of Action. The success stories collected are presented to the CSD to help share positive experiences and encourage information-sharing about sustainable development in SIDS. Several stories demonstrate that with the necessary technology and political will SIDS can achieve sustainability. In most of the cases community involvement and participation has been instrumental to the success of the project. Communities not only usually have an extensive knowledge of the problems affecting their territory, but they are also aware of the fact that it is now possible to learn and implement proper ways of sustainable use, management and conservation of their natural resources.

http://www.sidsnet.org/successtories/

(Added: Thu Nov 14 2002   Modified: Tue Jun 07 2005   Hits: 184)

South East Europe Development Watch

South East Europe Development Watch (SEEDW) - formerly known as Stability Pact Watch - is a coalition of South East European environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) monitoring and campaigning on the investments made by international financial institutions (IFIs) and the European Union (EU). SEEDW is a project within CEE Bankwatch Network and its members are: For The Earth (Bulgaria); Terra Milleniul III (Romania); Eco-Sense (Macedonia); CEKOR (Serbia) and Green Action (Croatia).

http://seedw.org/index.php

(Added: Tue Oct 02 2007   Modified: Thu Oct 04 2007   Hits: 91)

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)

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: 70)

The human footprint and the last of the wild

Author(s): Sanderson, E.; Jaiteh, M.; Levy, M.; Redford, K.; Wannebo, A.; Woolmer, G. Produced by: Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) (2002)** This paper describes the methodology used to produce a map of the human footprint - the human impact and resource use on Earth.

http://www.wcs.org/media/file/human_footprint2.pdf#search=%22The%20human%20footprint%20and%20the%20last%20of%20the%20wild%22

(Added: Thu Nov 07 2002   Modified: Fri Aug 25 2006   Hits: 169)

The soul of environmentalism: rediscovering transformational politics in the 21st Century

Challenging the notion that the environmental movement has died: This paper is written by nine economic, environmental, and social policy leaders in response to a previous paper entitled the "Death of Environmentalism". It discusses the ideas and actions needed for winning progressive environmental alliances by re-examining modern political strategy. (Eldis, April 2007)

http://www.redefiningprogress.org/soul/soul.pdf

(Added: Tue Apr 10 2007   Hits: 135)

The State of Food and Agriculture 2007

The State of Food and Agriculture 2007 explores the potential for agriculture to provide enhanced levels of environmental services alongside the production of food and fibre. The report concludes that demand for environmental services from agriculture - including climate change mitigation, improved watershed management and biodiversity preservation - will increase in the future, but better incentives to farmers are needed if agriculture is to meet this demand.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a1200e/a1200e00.htm

(Added: Wed Dec 19 2007   Hits: 78)

The strange, slow-motion disaster of the mud volcano

Early in 2007 an Indonesian energy company drilling for natural gas accidentally opened a fissure in the ground from where hot, viscous mud began erupting. The unstoppable stinking ooze has since swallowed up 11 towns, destroying homes, factories, schools, and farms, and forcing some 16,000 people to uproot. (The Christian Science Monitor, November 2007)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1128/p01s04-woap.html

(Added: Thu Nov 29 2007   Hits: 68)

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