Archive for the ‘sustainable development’ Category
| Newer Entries »In this week’s issue of Nature: Solving deforestation in Madagascar by first solving social challenges
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
In another Nature article (subscription required), Anjali Nayar highlights the R.E.D.D. strategy of wealthy countries buying carbon offsets in developing countries by paying to prevent deforestation.
One of the big challenges is the issue of permanence–making sure the forests remain intact so that they serve as an effective carbon sink. Doing so in Madagascar will take more than money; it will require dealing with poverty and political instability.
An excerpt:
Non-governmental organizations such as the WCS and Conservation International are working through the turmoil. But even they are worried. “We could have a very difficult time selling carbon if this political situation becomes the norm,” says Lisa Gaylord, head of the WCS in Antananarivo, the country’s capital. “Why would an investor want to come here?”
The potential:
- 30-yr R.E.D.D. projects will prevent the release of 9 million tons of CO2e, similar to the emissions of 2 million cars in the US.
- Money from R.E.D.D. projects could total $5 million/yr, funding health and development projects to reduce poverty.
The challenges:
- 85% of the population lives below $2/day
- Slash and burn agriculture is common to cultivate rice, but rapid productivity declines means that farmers must carve deeper into the forests every few years.
- Forests had declined form 90% to 15% of Madagascar’s land area by 2005.
- The recent military-backed coup led to an increase in illegal logging and wildlife harvests. Government police are doing little to stop what’s being called a logging free-for-all.
- R.E.D.D. is at risk of losing funding because international donors are not convinced illegal harvests can be controlled. Loss of funding further impedes the ability to patrol against illegal harvests.
- Without R.E.D.D. funding, more people are returning to slash and burn agriculture.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wggyfrog/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Posted in nature and culture, policy, sustainable development | 1 Comment »
In this week’s issue of Nature: Brazil hopes to lead developing nations by example
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
In this week’s Nature (subscription required), Jeff Tollefson describes how Brazil is talking big greenhouse gas reductions—possibly as much as 40% by 2020:
- 2/3 coming from reducing deforestation by 80%.
- 1/3 coming from the energy, agriculture, and reforestation.
- Brazil is also warming up to the idea that foreign countries can offset their greenhouse gas emissions by investing in forest conservation.
One outstanding question is how forest conservation projects and carbon markets like R.E.D.D (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries) might affect indigenous land rights.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/visionshare/ / CC BY-NC 2.0
Posted in nature and culture, policy, sustainable development | No Comments »
Good intentions, bad legacies: A history of why natural resource management sometimes fails
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
In the latest issue of Ecology and Society (open access), Colin Beier and colleagues provide an interesting case study of the Tongass National Forest (Alaska), examining the social-ecological dynamics of resource systems and why they often fail–in the long term–to deliver either improvements in public welfare or ecological sustainability. It’s important to note that they’re talking about a paradigm typical of 19-20th Century USA (i.e., post-colonial people of European descent in North America).
What I like about this case study is its generality to several kinds of natural resources and the lessons it offers when considering development in the modern world.
You’ll see at the end that they describe a solution similar to the growing Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA) movement promoted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). And you’ll see an example of the changing focus of The Nature Conservancy as they work to promote sustainable development alongside conservation.
An excerpt:
Government efforts to stimulate the development of natural resources for public benefit often seek to implement a vision at grand scales that, over time, creates a cycle of dependency that undermines the original social purpose as well as the resource base that was intended to be sustained. In the United States, this has occurred with respect to agriculture, forestry, fisheries, water, and many other types of resource systems. Similar cycles of dependency have emerged through international aid programs to developing nations that were intended to create self-sufficiency through resource development. Although the goals of these programs are often socially admirable and provide an economic stimulus to initiate changes that would otherwise lack the resources to emerge —i.e., to escape from poverty traps —they often result in challenging social traps that can constrain options for future generations. Why have these governance efforts failed so consistently, and what lessons can be learned that would enlighten efforts to address new frontiers of resource governance and public welfare in a rapidly changing world?
What did they find?
Tags: industry, logging, Tongass
Posted in community conserved areas, environmental history, sustainable development | No Comments »
Bono: The idea of America
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
In Bono’s latest column in the NY Times, he argues that it’s time for the U.S. to take the lead in dealing with what he calls “the three extremes — poverty, ideology and climate” beginning to come together.
Excerpts:
In dangerous, clangorous times, the idea of America rings like a bell (see King, M. L., Jr., and Dylan, Bob). It hits a high note and sustains it without wearing on your nerves. (If only we all could.) This was the melody line of the Marshall Plan and it’s resonating again. Why? Because the world sees that America might just hold the keys to solving the three greatest threats we face on this planet: extreme poverty, extreme ideology and extreme climate change. The world senses that America, with renewed global support, might be better placed to defeat this axis of extremism with a new model of foreign policy…
Americans are like singers — we just a little bit, kind of like to be loved. The British want to be admired; the Russians, feared; the French, envied. (The Irish, we just want to be listened to.) But the idea of America, from the very start, was supposed to be contagious enough to sweep up and enthrall the world.
And it is. The world wants to believe in America again because the world needs to believe in America again. We need your ideas — your idea — at a time when the rest of the world is running out of them.
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/u2005/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Tags: america, bono
Posted in nature and culture, policy, social movements, sustainable development | No Comments »
Sustainable food conundrums
Friday, October 16th, 2009
This column in the Guardian (Climate action shouldn’t target poor farmers) as well as work by Peter Singer illustrate some of the tradeoffs associated with the trend towards eating more organic and locally sourced food.
Is it better to eat locally or import food from poorer, developing nations?
One of the big problems uncovered recently is the fact that humanitarian food aid may be undercutting the ability for poor farmers to establish profitable, self-sustaining agricultural systems, thereby perpetuating food insecurity. There is nothing worse than competing with free food if you are a fledgling producer.
If developed nations reduce agricultural imports from developing countries because of the locavore movement, this, too, could undermine long-term agricultural development and increase the risk of food insecurity.
It’s important to note that this argument is a bit simplistic. International trade is complex, affecting food security in several ways:
- International trade agreements and structural adjustments recommended by the World Bank often favor industrialization over agricultural development in poor countries. This can turn these nations into net food importers, subjecting them to the whims of the global food market.
- Developed nations have been running chronic surpluses of many staple crops since the 1970s. This depresses global commodity prices and further undercuts the ability of poor farmers to develop sustainable agricultural systems (for more about these points, read chapters 5 and 6 in this FAO report and chapter 9 in this FAO report).
Another issue is organic foods. As Singer asks, is it better to buy organic food locally or from a developing nation like Mexico? The food miles associated with international transport increase carbon emissions, but the tradeoff is supporting organic farming economies in developing countries.
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeycart/ / CC BY-NC 2.0
Posted in food and agriculture, organic, sustainability, sustainable development | 2 Comments »
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