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1051. Rethinking Support for Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change

Author:
Simon Levine, Eva Ludi, and Lindsey Jones
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) was established in 2009 with the aim of understanding how development interventions can contribute to adaptive capacity at the community and household level, and to inform the design and implementation of development planning by governments and non-governmental development partners to support adaptive capacity for climate change and other development pressures. This paper is based on an analysis of three country studies conducted by national research teams in eight research sites in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Mozambique for ACCRA. It describes the Local Adaptive Capacity framework developed for this project, its application during the research, and the evidence found about the impact of development interventions on the adaptive capacity of people and communities.
Topic:
Environment
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, and Ethiopia

1052. Review of Climate Change Adaptation Practices in South Asia

Author:
Charlotte L. Sterrett
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Despite all its progress over the last quarter century, South Asia remains home to four out of every 10 of the world's poor ; 600 million of South Asia's 1.5 billion people live on less than $1.25 per day. Almost half the children below five are underweight, accounting for more than half of the world's undernourished children. Imbalances in economic growth, inequality among castes, classes, between genders, and a region beset by disasters, have added to the suffering of the poor and those most vulnerable and marginalised.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
South Asia

1053. Investment incentives and the global competition for capital

Author:
Kenneth P. Thomas
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
Investment incentives (subsidies designed to affect the location of investment) are a pervasive feature of global competition for foreign direct investment (FDI). They are used by the vast majority of countries, at multiple levels of government, in a broad range of industries. They take a variety of forms, including tax holidays, grants and free land. Politicians, at least in the United States, may have good electoral incentives to use them.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

1054. Behind the Facade of Rwanda's Elections

Author:
Filip Reyntjens
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
Rwanda is a de facto one-party state where the ruling party maintains a façade of legitimacy through a sham electoral process. The country's turbulent past has given rise to a tense, and at times, violent political environment. The international community must develop a comprehensive strategy with the people of Rwanda to establish a legitimate and functioning democratic process.
Topic:
Environment
Political Geography:
Rwanda

1055. China is My Backyard: China's Environmental Degradation in a Global Context

Author:
Darrin Magee
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
China's environmental degradation and resultant human health impacts are embedded in global political and economic cycles. There is an urgent need to minimize the release of noxious byproducts of manufacturing and de-manufacturing into the environment. This will likely only be achieved by the coordinated efforts of Chinese authorities to tighten regulations and strengthen enforcement, by the demands of corporations for higher standards along their supply chains, and by the demands of consumers via purchasing decisions for manufacturers to prioritize environmental and health concerns.
Topic:
Environment
Political Geography:
China

1056. Managing the growing impacts of development on fragile coastal and marine ecosystems: Lessons from the Gulf

Author:
Hanneke Van Lavieren, John Burt, David A. Feary, Geórgenes H. Cavalcante, Elise Marquis, Lisa Benedetti, Charles Trick, Björn Kjerfve, and Peter F. Sale
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Like many other places in the world, the coastal region of the Persian Gulf (also known as the Arabian Gulf, and hereafter referred to as 'the Gulf') faces continuous environmental degradation. The unprecedented rate and scale of development that has occurred poses numerous environmental challenges and may be the greatest threat facing the Gulf's marine communities in the coming decades as urban populations along it's shores continue to grow. Some Gulf countries have already developed more than 40% of their coastline during the last 20 years. Pressure on coastal ecosystems is especially high in the smaller Gulf countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, where residents either live entirely, or almost entirely within 100 km of the coast. Development has led to loss and severe degradation of important natural habitats, including mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs. Coastal 'mega-projects' including artificial islands, waterfront cities, ports, marinas and man-made waterways have sometimes been poorly conceived from an environmental perspective, leading to severe pressure on natural environments. Because development has taken place so rapidly there has not been enough time to develop adequate regulatory, technical, and monitoring capacity to guide this growth appropriately. Present trends suggest that development will not be accompanied by appropriately sophisticated policies and mechanisms for minimizing and mitigating deleterious impacts on the environment.
Topic:
Development, Environment, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
Arabia

1057. Corruption in the Land Sector

Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
Unprecedented pressures on land have been created as new areas are cultivated, taken over by expanding urban centres or are abandoned due to degradation, climate change and conflict. These developments have strained the rules, processes and institutions that determine which land resources are used, by whom, for how long and under what conditions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Corruption, Environment, Natural Resources, and Governance

1058. Standards Regulations for the Geologic Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Waste

Author:
Rodney C. Ewing
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University
Abstract:
This paper draws on my experience as a reviewer of the scientific programs and performance assessments of the geological repository for transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and the proposed repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. In addition, I have served on numerous committees of the National Research Council that have addressed many aspects of nuclear waste management. These comments and recommendations focus on standards and regulations for licensing a geological repository for SNF and HLW; however, I have added a brief annex on the classification of nuclear wastes. The initial classification of the waste determines the disposal strategy: deep geological disposal vs. near surface disposal.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Science and Technology, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
Mexico

1059. Needing to Have A Voice: Linguistic Grouping in the Digital Networked Environment

Author:
Han-Teng Liao
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:
“[T]here isn't an economic internet and a social internet and a political internet; there's just the Internet,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said about the U.S.'s Internet freedom agenda, claiming that there should not be “walls that divide the Internet.”
Topic:
Environment, Globalization, Science and Technology, Communications, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States

1060. Making Rio 2012 work: Setting the stage for global economic, social and ecological renewal

Author:
Alex Evans and David Steven
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
The Rio 2012 summit on sustainable development is now one year away. Over two decades since the 1992 'Earth Summit', sustainable development has not materialized: as global GDP has risen, so have greenhouse gas emissions, species loss and environmental degradation.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Economics, Environment, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Latin America