Action Plan to Follow-up on UNCED: Report of the CGIAR Task Force

Report of a task force assigned to formulate a CGIAR response to UNCED's Agenda 21, and the conventions on biological diversity, climate change, and desertification that were now emerging from it. The task force prescribed four CGIAR global initiatives: Marginal Soils, Genetic Resources, Human Resources, and a joint effort with the UNEP to develop a geographic information system (GIS) and agroecological database. It was proposed that all four initiatives be financed by a UNEP trust fund administered by a steering committee comprised of CGIAR and non-CGIAR representatives, with a full time facilitator.Appendixes are a detailed proposal for the GIS, and terms of reference for the proposed trust fund.Agenda document at TAC 62 and CGIAR International Centers Week, October 1993

Greening Capitalism? A Marxist Critique of Carbon Markets

Climate change is increasingly being recognized as a serious threat to dominant modes of social organization, inspiring suggestions that capitalism itself needs to be transformed if we are to ‘decarbonize’ the global economy. Since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, carbon markets have emerged as the main politico-economic tools in global efforts to address climate change. Newell and Paterson (2010) have recently claimed that the embrace of carbon markets by financial and political elites constitutes a possible first step towards the transformation of current modes of capitalist organization into a new form of greener, more sustainable ‘climate capitalism.’ In this paper, we argue that the institutionalization of carbon markets does not, in fact, represent a move towards the radical transformation of capitalism, but is better understood as the most recent expression of ongoing trends of ecological commodification and expropriation, driving familiar processes of uneven and crisis-prone development. In this paper, we review four critical Marxist concepts: metabolic rift (Foster, 1999), capitalism as world ecology (Moore, 2011a), uneven development and accumulation through dispossession (Harvey, 2003, 2006), and sub-imperialism (Marini, 1972, 1977), developing a framework for a Marxist analysis of carbon markets. Our analysis shows that carbon markets form part of a longer historical development of global capitalism and its relation to nature. Carbon markets, we argue, serve as creative new modes of accumulation, but are unlikely to transform capitalist dynamics in ways that might foster a more sustainable global economy. Our analysis also elucidates, in particular, the role that carbon markets play in exacerbating uneven development within the Global South, as elites in emerging economies leverage carbon market financing to pursue new strategies of sub-imperial expansion. </jats:p

Filling a blank on the map: 60 years of fisheries in Equatorial Guinea

Despite a scarcity of pertinent information, it has been possible to reconstruct time series of marine fisheries catches for Equatorial Guinea from 1950 to 2010 using per capita fish consumption and population numbers for small-scale fisheries, catch rates and number of vessels for industrial fisheries and discard rates to estimate the discarded bycatch. Small-scale fisheries, industrial large-scale fisheries, domestic and legal and illegal foreign fisheries and their discards are all included. Total catches were estimated at 2.7 million tonnes over the time period considered, of which 653 000 t were caught domestically compared to 187 000 t reported by FAO. This shows that fisheries have more importance for Equatorial Guinea's food security than the official data suggest. In contrast to what is suggested by official figures, fisheries were shown to be strongly impacted by civil and political unrest; notably, they declined overall because of civil and political conflicts, socio-demographic dynamics, and a growing role of the newly discovered oil resources, which directly and indirectly threaten the food security of the people of Equatorial Guinea

A quantified triple bottom line for tourism: experimental results

The tradition of tourism businesses and regional tourism industries is to measure their value to the host community by jobs, wages and tax revenues even though every member of that community is impacted on a daily basis though a broad variety of impacts. This paper demonstrates a conceptual approach for measuring the relative importance of the major dimensions of community quality of life that can be influenced by the tourism industry in order to calculate an indication of overall impact on the well being of community residents. Furthermore, we have formulated a conjoint model that values this overall performance in monetary units. A conjoint model for estimating importance is successfully implemented using samples of college students and tourism industry professionals in the US and Cyprus. A monetary version of Triple Bottom Line impacts is calculated for the impacts of a specific hypothetical tourism business development

The emergence of circular economy: a new framing around prolonging resource productivity

In this article we use Hirsch and Levin’s (1999) notion of ‘umbrella concepts’ as an analytical lens, in order to articulate the valuable catalytic function the circular economy concept could perform in the waste and resource management debate. We realize this goal by anchoring the circular economy concept in this broader debate through a narrative approach. This leads to the insight that while the various resource strategies grouped under circular economy’s banner are not new individually, the concept offers a new framing of these strategies by drawing attention to their capacity of prolonging resource use as well as to the relationship between these strategies. As such, circular economy offers a new perspective on waste and resource management and provides a new cognitive unit and discursive space for debate. We conclude by discussing research opportunities for the IE community relating to the concept’s theoretical development and its implementation. Specifically, we pose that reinvigorating and growing the social science aspects of IE is required for both. After all, it is the wide adoption and collective implementation of an idea that shapes our material future

Swajaldhara: ‘Reversed’ Realities in Rural Water Supply in India

For the last two decades and more, nations, international organisations and civil society, both local and global, have been rallying for the cause of ‘efficient’ and ‘equitable’ water supply and distribution. To this end, the New Delhi Statement, a precursor to the Dublin Statement, in many ways marks the first step in reforming the water sector. This article explores how ideas of community ownership and participation lauded in the New Delhi Statement and reiterated in the Dublin Statement later translate into practice when they meet the complex sociopolitical and institutional realities at the ground. It locates the genesis of Swajaldhara, the flagship rural water reform programme in India, the origin of which can be traced to the Delhi?Dublin configuration and shows how a success model became a story of poor implementation defined in the language of ‘gaps and slippages’ or ‘policy reversals’. It argues further that the objective of ‘Some for All’ still remains a target yet to be achieved in many parts of the country. The work underlines the disconnect between the global paradigms and local manifestations of such ideas and investigates the reasons for the same. Based on field research in two villages of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the article unpacks the processes that lead to policy?practice dichotomy

INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: A GENDER PERSPECTIVE

Summary The concept of integrated water resources management (WRM) is currently high on the international policy making agenda and has gained momentum as an approach important from both economic and environmental viewpoints. This article looks critically at the broad approach to women adopted in the WRM policy and then examines, using a gender perspective, two key areas of the policy agenda: pricing and environmental protection and conservation. Although the approach has potential for increased responsiveness of WRM to the interests of women, it is argued that to the extent that gender analysis is limited, these potentialities may be lost. Given the likely influence of the policy, it is crucial at this stage to ensure that a gender analysis of the conceptual, methodological and empirical dimensions of WRM informs the frameworks and practices currently being developed and authenticated under the ‘new consensus’. RESUME La gestion intégrée des resources en eau: une perspective basée dans le genre Le concept WRM de la gestion intégrée des ressources en eau occupe actuellement une place avancée à l'ordre du jour de la politique internationale; qui plus est, l'importance de ce concept s'accroît non seulement en termes économiques mais aussi, du point de vue de l'environnement. Les auteurs de l'article offrent un aperçu critique de l'approche générale adoptée dans la politique WRM au niveau des femmes; puis, à partir de la perspective du genre, l'article examine deux aspects clef du programme politique: la détermination des prix, et la protection/conservation de l'environnement. Bien que l'approche offre plus de potentiel au niveau de l'accroisement et de l'amélioration du concept WRM en ce qui concerne les intérêts des femmes, il est par contre proposé que (dans la mesure où l'analyse par le genre est peu développée dans ce concept), ces potentialités manquent de se concrétiser. Si l'on tient compte des éventuelles influences de cette politique de gestion intégrée, il est essentiel de veiller à ce stade à ce que l'analyse par le genre des dimensions conceptuelles, méthodologiques et empiriques du concept de la gestion intégrée des ressources en eau puisse informer les structures et les pratiques en voie d'élaboration et de valorisation dans le “nouveau concensus”. RESUMEN El manejo integrado de la provisión de agua: una perspectiva de género El concepto de un manejo integrado en la provisión de agua (WRM) va adquiriendo mucha importancia en la agenda de elaboración de políticas internacionales, y ha cobrado más impulso como enfoque importante desde puntos de vista tanto económicos como medio ambientales. Este artículo da una opinión crítica de la actitud hacia la mujer adoptada por las políticas de WRM, y también examina, desde una perspectiva de género, dos áreas clave de esta agenda: el precio de la protección ambiental y la conservación. Aunque el enfoque se presta para una mayor repuesta de WRM a los intereses de la mujer, mientras este análisis de género se mantenga limitado este potencial puede perderse. Tomando en cuenta la posible influencia de este enfoque, es esencial en la presente etapa asegurar que el análisis de género de las dimensiones conceptuales, metodológicas y empíricas de WRM informen exhaustivamente a los esquemas y prácticas de trabajo actualmente en proceso de desarrollo y autenticación bajo el ‘nuevo consenso’

Analysing learning at the interface of scientific and traditional ecological knowledge in a mangrove ecosystem restoration scenario in the eastern coast of Tanzania

Records from community-based coastal management initiatives indicate that local communities who are key actors in activities that aim at safeguarding the health status of terrestrial and marine ecosystems face a lot of challenges associated with adapting and applying indicators that are scientifically abstracted and methodologically too reified, given varying social, contextual and technical conditions prevailing amongst them. This paper brings into view possible challenges of adapting and applying scientific indicators in community-based monitoring of mangrove ecosystem and suggests a new approach that may lead to development of indicators which are less reified, more congruent to users (coastal communities) and likely to attract a wider social learning in the mangrove restoration context. It also sets a bridge for scientific institutions (including universities), to understand various social, cultural and contextual needs that determine epistemological access between them and local communities, which need to be addressed prior to engaging target communities in participatory monitoring programmes. The paper attempts to analyse learning at the interface of knowledge that scientific institutions produce and the potential knowledge that exists in local context (traditional ecological knowledge) for purposes of widening and improving knowledge sharing and safeguarding the health status of mangrove species and fisheries that use them as key habitats. The paper stems from a study which employs processes of abstraction and experiential learning techniques such as Experiential Learning Intervention Workshop carried out in 2012, to unlock knowledge that local communities have, as an input for underlabouring existing scientific indicators in the eastern coast of Tanzania. It brings into view the need to consider contextual realities on ground, the level of education that the participating group has, the minimum level of participation that is required, structures that govern coastal monitoring practices at local level and the need for scientific institutions to consider the knowledge that local people have as an input for enhancing or improving coastal monitoring, especially monitoring of mangrove and fishery resources. The paper finally comes up with a framework of indicators which is regarded by coastal communities as being less reified, more contextually and culturally congruent and which can easily be used in detecting environmental trends, threats, changes and conditions of mangrove and fisheries resources, and attract wider social learning processes

Sustainability and urban food supply in Africa

Agenda 21 has made a major contribution to a range of aspects of development initiatives, of which one chapter, Chapter Seven, focuses on sustainable human settlements. There are a growing number of publications on issues relating to food supply to urban areas in the less developed world. These publications have several focuses, particularly fruit and vegetables, urban agriculture and food marketing. The main aspects of the chapter of Agenda 21 relating to sustainable human settlements are discussed and also the role that the emerging research on urban food systems suggests can be played in establishing sustainable development in cities in less developed countries. Particular attention is paid to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania