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1541. Reducing Urban and Industrial Pollution in Chile

Author:
Joseph M. Lieberson, Mark G. Hodges, and Gene M. Owens
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Agency for International Development
Abstract:
In Chile's capital of Santiago, the summer sun rises over a hazy, smog-filled sky. The sky darkens as the day progresses and often turns a light brown. In winter, air quality is even worse, and visibility drops sharply. A ring of mountains and thermal inversions trap pollution in a choking cloud over the city. But the mountains and air currents are not the whole problem. Twenty years ago the air was relatively clean. That was before economic growth accelerated sharply. A rapid increase in industrial production and a major increase in truck, bus, and automobile traffic are all pumping pollutants into the air. The result is a high level of respiratory problems, sickness, and premature death.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
South America, Latin America, and Chile

1542. Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts

Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Over the past 15 months, the National Intelligence Council (NIC), in close collaboration with US Government specialists and a wide range of experts outside the government, has worked to identify major drivers and trends that will shape the world of 2015. The key drivers identified are: Demographics, Natural resources and environment, Science and technology, The global economy and globalization, National and international governance, Future conflict, The role of the United States. In examining these drivers, several points should be kept in mind: No single driver or trend will dominate the global future in 2015 Each driver will have varying impacts in different regions and countries The drivers are not necessarily mutually reinforcing; in some cases, they will work at cross-purposes. Taken together, these drivers and trends intersect to create an integrated picture of the world of 2015, about which we can make projections with varying degrees of confidence and identify some troubling uncertainties of strategic importance to the United States.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

1543. The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States

Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
New and reemerging infectious diseases will pose a rising global health threat and will complicate US and global security over the next 20 years. These diseases will endanger US citizens at home and abroad, threaten US armed forces deployed overseas, and exacerbate social and political instability in key countries and regions in which the United States has significant interests.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Human Welfare, and National Security
Political Geography:
United States

1544. Commentary: Trade and the Environment After Seattle–Perspectives From The Wilson Center

Author:
William M. Daley, Andrea Durbin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Martin Albrow, Stacy D. Vandeever, Anju Sharma, Stephen Clarkson, Kent Hughes, and Tamar Gutner
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Free trade, seen by many as the engine of world economic growth, has once again become the subject of bitter dispute. Nowhere was this more evident than at the meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle at the end of 1999. There, environmentalists joined with trade unionists and advocates for developing countries in staging mass protests. These diverse groups claimed the WTO is unrepresentative and undemocratic, overlooking environmental interests and those of the world's poor in favor of big business. Inside the negotiating halls, the United States and the European Union clashed over agricultural subsidies and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Developing country representatives complained that they remained marginalized in the official talks.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

1545. Exploring Capacity for Integration: University of Michigan Population-Environment Fellows Programs Impact Assessment Project

Author:
Denise Caudill
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Since 1993, the University of Michigan Population-Environment Fellows Programs (PEFP) has linked the population and environment sectors of development both at the field level and in policy analysis. The PEFP and Denise Caudill of World Neighbors launched the Impact Assessment Project to develop a framework for assessing an integrated program. This article addresses project findings, including the successes, constraints, and obstacles of integrated/linked programs, as well as provides field examples from Ecuador and Madagascar. Denise Caudill, the coordinator for this project, offers lessons on the implications of implementing integrated/linked programs from the community to the national, regional, and international levels.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Madagascar

1546. Oiling the Friction: Environmental Conflict Management in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Author:
Okechukwu Ibeanu
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
The Niger Delta, a sensitive ecosystem rich in biodiversity, has witnessed considerable violence as a result of the tense relationship among oil companies, the Nigerian state, and oil-bearing communities. Environmental damage from the extraction and movement of fossil fuels is a central point of dispute among the parties while the precise extent of ecological damage remains unknown. Drawing on numerous interviews while living and working in the Niger Delta, Dr. Okechukwu Ibeanu analyzes the management of conflicts surrounding petroleum production in the region, including the role of state violence and contradictory perceptions of security held by Delta communities and the oil companies and their partners in the Nigerian federal government.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Nigeria

1547. Human Population and Environmental Stresses in the Twenty-first Century

Author:
Richard E. Benedick
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Human populations have put pressure on their natural surroundings throughout history. Yet the world is now facing truly global environmental challenges and rapid population growth in the final half of the twentieth century is a critical component to understanding these phenomena. In his article, Ambassador Richard Benedick examines a host of population dynamics and their complex interlinkages with three representative environmental issue areas: forests, freshwater resources, and climate change. These connections raise the importance of meeting the commitments made at the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development. Benedick maintains that investments in measures to slow the rate of population growth-and thereby to reach a stable population earlier, and at lower levels, than under current trends-would significantly reinforce efforts to address the environmental challenges of the century ahead, and considerably lower the cost of such efforts.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Central America

1548. Governance, Urban Environment, and the Growing Role of Civil Society

Author:
María Elena Ducci
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
In urban areas in developing countries, the current experience indicates that well organized and well-informed citizens have become the best motors for positive change within cities and it is the state that has fallen out of touch, in spite of constant declarations about the importance of citizens' participation. María Elena Ducci explains how in Latin America, the urban social movements that focused on the fight for land and housing from the sixties to the eighties today have become citizens' groups seeking to maintain and improve quality of life. Once again, territory has become the focus for city inhabitants who are discovering new ways of being social and becoming the political protagonists of their own lives in the city. According to Ducci, the dynamic of urban politics is changing as these new players—the citizens' groups that are defending their urban environment—come to the fore with enormous strength and energy. They oppose and block public and private urban projects of enormous scope, which raises costs and lengthens time frames for the companies involved. This paper focuses on how these groups, which demand a better quality of life and more equality, are working in an increasingly globalized and polarized city.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, Environment, Government, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
South America and Latin America

1549. National Intelligence Estimate: The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States

Author:
David F. Gordon, Donald Noah, and George Fidas
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Infectious diseases are a leading cause of death, accounting for a quarter to a third of all deaths worldwide. The spread of infectious diseases results from both human behavior such as lifestyle choices, land-use patterns, increased trade and travel, and inappropriate use of antibiotic drugs, as well as mutations in pathogens. These excerpts from a January 2000 National Intelligence Estimate highlight the rising global health threat of new and reemerging infectious diseases. The National Intelligence Council argues that the infectious disease threat will complicate U.S. and global security over the next twenty years. These diseases will endanger U.S. citizens at home and abroad, threaten U.S. armed forces deployed overseas, and exacerbate social and political instability in key countries and regions in which the United States has significant interests, according to the report.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

1550. Institutional Challenges and Opportunities in Environmentally Sound Trade Expansion: A Review of the Global State of Affairs

Author:
Aaron Cosbey
Publication Date:
04-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
This paper surveys some of the key trade-sustainable development issues likely to be addressed in the coming years at the multilateral level that may have implications for the Americas. The study looks further to opportunities and threats at the domestic level and recommends a number of ways in which sustainable development might be advanced, striving to achieve environmental improvement and improved development prospects North and South. Whether in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), or other similar forums, these are the types of solutions that will pass the acid test of political acceptability.
Topic:
Environment, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
America