environment and sustainable development

DOWIE Mark

Conservation Refugees: When conservation means kicking people out

> Orion Magazine, November-December 2005

http://www.oriononline.org/pages/om/ (...)

It’s no secret that millions of indigenous peoples around the world have been pushed off their land to make room for big oil, big metal, big timber, and big agriculture. But few people realise that the same thing has been happening for a much nobler cause: land and wildlife conservation. It’s not just corporations that have a bad name amongst indigenous communities, but also, and increasingly, some international non-governmental organisations.  read

date of on-line publication : 3 July 2006

dossier

The Educational Travel Community

Responsible Travel Handbook 2006

> 2006, 94pp., PDF

http://www.travelearning.com/content (...)

This handbook is a compilation of articles and resources aimed at helping travellers to understand, research and ultimately organise responsible travel. Resources include definitions of the vast collection of terms related to responsible tourism, an explanation of the concept of VolunTourism, which involves travelling to another place to directly interact with the destination and its residents with the objective of improving their well-being through socio-cultural development or environmental conservation, a critical look on the World Bank’s commitment to sustainable tourism, a reflexion upon educational travel as a model for responsible tourism, Ecotourism Guidelines and an analysis of the marginalisation of indigenous peoples in tourism certification schemes.  read

date of on-line publication : 18 May 2006

dossier

MSN

Coming Clean on the Clothes We Wear

> ETAG (Ethical Trading Action Group) & AccountAbility, December 2005, 86pp., PDF

http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/sit (...)

The Transparency Report Card assesses and compares 25 apparel retailers and brands selling apparel products in the Canadian market on the basis of their programs to achieve compliance with recognized international labour standards in the factories where their products are made, and the steps they are taking to communicate thoroughly, effectively and transparently these efforts to the public.
The Report Card does not attempt to evaluate actual labour practices. Nor does the Report Card assess how companies’ labour standards policies and compliance programs apply to their retail employees. The focus of this report is exclusively on supply chains. It is based solely on information made public by the companies being researched.  read

date of on-line publication : 18 May 2006

MALHOTRA Heide B.

NGOs Losing Privileged Status

> Epoch Times, January 31, 2006

http://english.epochtimes.com/news/6 (...)

NGOs are facing increased regulation by governments such as Russia and bodies such as the European Commission. As governments increasingly rely on NGOs for information and analysis, they want to further regulate and monitor NGO activities that impact on decision making, as well as NGOs that have differing political objectives. Some NGOs choose to work with governments, leading to participatory processes and funding channels. However other NGOs express concern that such relationships compromise independence.  read

date of on-line publication : 20 February 2006

HUKILL Traci

Planet Earth, Year 2050

> AlterNet, January 25, 2006

http://alternet.org/envirohealth/312 (...)

The authors of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), the world’s most overlooked environmental study, held a press briefing last week in Washington to discuss what life on the planet will be like in 2050. Their upbeat conclusion: fundamental changes, in practice and policy, can protect us from the worst consequences of overpopulation and climate change.

• Read the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• See the four scenarios for the year 2050

date of on-line publication : 20 February 2006

SUSSKIND Yifat

African Women Confront Bush’s AIDS Policy

> Pambazuka, 12 Jan 2006

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?i (...)

African women are the hardest hit by HIV/Aids in Africa and yet the approach to fighting the epidemic advocated by the Bush administration fails to take account of their specific needs and circumstances. Yifat Susskind examines the "man-made" components of the crisis, including economic austerity measures, US pharmaceutical companies and onerous debt repayments.  read

date of on-line publication : 13 January 2006

BHAT Sairam

Civil, but criminal

> India Together, Nov 2004

http://www.indiatogether.org/2004/no (...)

"Laws to protect the environment cannot follow a simple prohibition model; what is needed instead is an elaborate scheme of regulation and licensing, following rules designed to promote fairness and efficiency." Here the author outlines the differences between the two legal approaches to protecting the natural environment.  read

date of on-line publication : 4 January 2006

SOGGE David

Development Aid Is Driven by Politics, Not a Desire to Alleviate Poverty

> Transnational Institute, Dec 2005

http://www.tni.org/archives/sogge/ai (...)

This article takes a critical look at aid which is based on ’Market Fundamentalism’, looking particularly at the effects this had on states in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The author questions the real motives behind government aid programs, arguing that it is often intended to facilitate trade relations and investment, as oposed to specifically alieviating poverty. The article concludes by proposing a plan of "coherence and democratisation" to overcome this.  read

date of on-line publication : 16 December 2005

MONBIOT George

Worse Than Fossil Fuel

> ZNet, Dec 2005

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarti (...)

Following the European Commission’s proposals to increase the use of biofuels, the much touted "green" alternative to fossil fuels, the article fiercly underlines the environmental shortcomings of this fuel, stating that "biodiesel enthusiasts have accidentally invented the most carbon-intensive fuel on earth". It stresses furthermore the need for policies which reflect the need to cut down on our energy use, rather than trying to substitute with alternative sources.

• see the proposals by the European Commission

date of on-line publication : 13 December 2005

dossier

Transnational Institute (TNI)

Hoodwinked in the Hothouse

The g8, climate change and free-market environmentalism

> Transnational Institute/Carbon Trade Watch, June 2005, 64pp., PDF, 600Ko

http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs (...)

This briefing examines the relationship between free-market economic forces and climate change policy while scrutinising the rhetoric and reality behind promises on climate made by the most powerful politicians in the world - the G8. It also explores the origins of free-market environmentalism and analyses the conflicts and synergies that arise when the worlds of trade and environment collide.  read

date of on-line publication : 1 December 2005