Can China control the side effects of motor vehicle growth?Walsh, Michael P.
doi: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2007.00136.xpmid: N/A
Motor vehicle growth in China is the fastest in the world. This is placing great strain on the urban environment and causing a rapid increase in oil imports and motor vehicle carbon dioxide emissions. To deal with the environmental and health effects of air pollution, China has adopted a strong motor vehicle pollution control programme and imposed limits on fuel consumption of new light duty vehicles. The article will review these problems and programmes. Special focus will be given to the need to reduce sulphur levels in both gasoline and diesel fuel.
A systematic integrated approach for crafting poverty reduction and sustainable development projectsDowns, Timothy J.
doi: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2007.00129.xpmid: N/A
Poverty reduction and sustainable development programmes lack a systematic, integrated approach that serves to frame issues, simplify complexity and guide action. Responding to five common challenges yields such an approach: 1) How diverse groups can work together effectively, mitigating power inequities and corruption; 2) How to prioritize problems more objectively; 3) How to build sufficient contextual understanding of problems; 4) How to compare alternative solutions for relative sustainability; and 5) How to build sufficient societal capacity to sustain solutions. The approach weaves together five strands: Social learning theory and participatory methods to build collaboration; Vulnerability theory to prioritize problems; Systems thinking to understand context; Sustainability assessment to compare alternative solutions; and integrated capacity building to sustain the preferred solution: SVSSC for short. Existing projects often fail to recognize several of these strands and synergy is not exploited, undermining progress. Globally, the approach seeks to strengthen Agenda 21 and Millennium Project plans that are prescriptive. The literature foundation is complemented by case study applications: urban industrial poverty and health risks in Massachusetts, USA (design and implementation using SVSSC); malaria in the Lake Victoria Region, East Africa (framing and design); and watershed stress in Central Mexico (framing and design). The SVSSC model can strengthen governance, can be scaled up or down, applied across different sectors, tailored to existing contexts yet remain adaptive to change.
Transfrontier conservation areas: Integrating biodiversity and poverty alleviation in Southern AfricaMunthali, Simon M.
doi: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2007.00130.xpmid: N/A
Sub‐Saharan Africa continues to face the daunting challenge of alleviating poverty due to slow economic growth. In southern Africa, most countries are adopting policies that promote the integration of biodiversity conservation and rural development to contribute to rural poverty alleviation. Numerous approaches have been undertaken in this endeavour, including Transfrontier Parks (TFPs) and Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs). This paper discusses some of the limitations of the TFPs. In conclusion I posit that unlike TFPs, which are state controlled and managed, TFCAs, which promote multi‐land use and multi‐stakeholder participation are attainable and have a higher probability of sustaining biodiversity conservation and contributing to the alleviation of rural poverty, if: (i) areas of high biodiversity conservation within communal areas can be identified, zoned and leveraged to biodiversity conservation and managed in partnership between the communities and the private sector; (ii) local communities can secure legal rights to their customary land being devoted to biodiversity conservation and use such pieces of land as collateral in negotiating partnerships with the private sector in developing conservation‐based enterprises; (iii) functional community natural resource governance institutions can be established and empowered to represent their constituencies in securing fair equity from profits made from sustainable use of the conserved biodiversity assets and tourism businesses; (iv) concerted effort can be invested in developing and implementing family planning and fertility reduction strategies that would slow down human population growth to levels that can be sustained by the available natural resources; and (v) if sustainable financing mechanisms can be developed, and the governance of protected areas occurring in the TFCAs can be broadened to include other stakeholders.
State interventions and natural resource management: A study on social interfaces in a riverine fisheries setting in Kerala, IndiaSunil, D. Santha
doi: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2007.00128.xpmid: N/A
This article attempts to analyse the social interface between formal institutions and local fishing communities along the Pamba‐Achankovil River Basin in Kerala, India. It examines primarily the nature of the relationship between state agencies and traditional fishing communities in the context of (i) enforcing certain formal regulations of resource use and (ii) implementing resource enhancement programmes. The article also analyses the nature of social interfaces that emerge when local level formal organizations, such as cooperatives and gram panchayats, take up resource management or community welfare schemes on behalf of the traditional fisherfolk in the study region. Social interfaces can be understood in terms of social processes, such as cooperation, accommodation and conflicts between various actors involved in fisheries management. The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork. Interview guides and focus group discussions were the primary tools of data collection. The findings show that the relationships between formal institutions and traditional riverine fishing communities lack mutual trust. Conflicts between fishing communities and state agencies emerge when the formal institutions threaten or contradict those elements of local culture that sustain livelihood needs. Conflicts and discontent with a particular formal institution can also lead to the modification or violation of coexisting institutional arrangements.
Social‐environmental certification: Sustainable development and competitiveness in the mineral industry of the Brazilian AmazonRodrigues da Silva Enríquez, Maria Amélia; Drummond, José
doi: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2007.00127.xpmid: N/A
This article examines the relationship between increased metal mining and sustainable development in the eastern section of the Amazonian state of Pará in Brazil. Since the early 1980s, mining has grown rapidly in Pará and local mining operations have become global leaders in the production of iron, manganese, bauxite, aluminum, gold, copper and — in the near future — nickel. To stay in tune with global standards, these companies have committed themselves to the principles of sustainability and have obtained certification for both social and environmental aspects of their activities. The article looks into whether such certification is linked to sustainable development of the relatively poor regions where these companies operate. The main findings are that: (1) there is a visible association between certification and improved performance by the companies, but not with the development of nearby areas; and (2) social‐environmental certification processes place more emphasis on ecological variables than on social ones.