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101. Beyond Kyoto: Real Solutions to Greenhouse Emissions from Developing Countries

Author:
Roger Bate and David Montgomery
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Whether the Kyoto Protocol is ever ratified is fast becoming irrelevant. Many of the European nations that ratified the convention are failing to reach their targets, while developing countries, not required to comply with Kyoto, claim they will never participate in targets and timetables, as it would retard their economic growth. Given that developing countries are likely to emit well over half of future greenhouse gases (GHGs), a more promising strategy would be to devise an approach that limits emissions while helping development.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Treaties and Agreements, and Third World
Political Geography:
Europe

102. The household water crisis in Syria's Greater Damascus Region'

Author:
Elie Elhadj
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
Damascus residents talk in recent years of long periods of daily water shut-offs for most months especially between June and the following January. “ In 2001 … stringent water rationing was in force in Damascus… the authorities … shut off the capital's piped water supply for 20 hours each day (compared with 16 hours previously) from July of that year. Europa Publications (2002: p.979).”
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Environment, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Europe and Syria

103. Economic Survey of the Netherlands, 2004

Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
The economic downturn in the Netherlands, like the boom that preceded it, has been more marked than in most other European countries. This is partly attributable to greater exposure to international trade, especially with the US, and to greater sensitivity to international stock price movements. But there are also some structural policies – pension fund regulation, housing and wage setting institutions – that have undermined economic efficiency and contributed to the amplitude of the cycle. Furthermore there has been a marked deterioration in public finances, part of which is structural. Longer term growth trends too are unfavourable. In view of these developments, the main challenges are to reform those policies that have reduced efficiency and increased volatility, put public finances on a sustainable path, and, most importantly, increase trend growth by increasing both employment and productivity.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Environment, Human Rights, International Organization, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Europe and Netherlands

104. Feasible Financing Strategies for Environmentally Related Infrastructure

Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
An important obstacle to achieving environmental goals in many countries has been the failure to adequately address the associated financial issues: the costs of achieving goals; how those costs could be minimised; and the challenge of matching costs with available resources. The need for a fresh approach has become evident as central European countries come to terms with mobilising substantial financial resources to comply with challenging EU environmental requirements, and as the countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) struggle to maintain even the low levels of services currently delivered by environmentally-related infrastructure.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe

105. Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking, and Organized Crime

Author:
Raimo Väyrynen
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
It is important to make a careful distinction between illegal immigration, human smuggling, and human trafficking which are nested, but yet different concepts. This distinction is relevant because these different categories of the illegal movement of people across borders have quite different legal and political consequences. Human smuggling and trafficking have become a world-wide industry that 'employs' every year millions of people and leads to the annual turnover of billions of dollars. Many of the routes and enclaves used by the smugglers have become institutionalized; for instance, from Mexico and Central America to the United States, from West Asia through Greece and Turkey to Western Europe, and within East and Southeast Asia. More often than not flourishing smuggling routes are made possible by weak legislation, lax border controls, corrupted police officers, and the power of the organized crime. Naturally, poverty and warfare contribute to the rising tide of migration, both legal and illegal.
Topic:
Environment and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Turkey, East Asia, Greece, Asia, Latin America, Central America, North America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and West Asia

106. 'Self-fulfilling geopolitics'? - or: the social production of foreign policy expertise in Europe

Author:
Stefano Guzzini
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper sketches the very first research hypotheses and methodological framework for exploring the puzzle why at the peaceful end of the Cold War, more militarist versions of realism and decidedly geopolitical thought have known a comeback in different European countries while not in others. It proposes a constructivism-inspired analysis which, in a sequence, explores geopolitics as an intellectual tradition, an expression of state interests, and of identity politics. It proposes to analyse the actual revival (and/or the lack of) via a sociological process-tracing inspired by already existing institutionalist approaches yet embedded in an application of Bourdieu's field theory to 'foreign policy'. Needless to say that the most important part needs still to be done, both on the methodological level (the concrete framework) and on the comparative empirical analysis which necessarily asks for a collaborative teamwork.
Topic:
Agriculture, Environment, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe

107. Kyoto Flexible Mechanisms: Opportunities and Barriers for Industry and Financial Institutions

Author:
Josef Janssen
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The Kyoto Protocol established global markets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions and permits. Such emerging markets will offer challenging opportunities to a wide variety of different players in industry and commerce. By means of the market-based Flexible Mechanisms Joint Implementation, Clean Development Mechanism and International Emissions Trading it will be possible to trade emissions permits globally. This chapter explores opportunities of the Flexible Mechanisms for industry, including the financial sector. Moreover, it identifies possible barriers to their realisation. This analysis is preceded by a discussion of the possible seize of global markets for emissions permits. In addition, this chapter examines key features of the Flexible Mechanisms that are relevant from an industry perspective.
Topic:
Environment and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

108. Sustaining a Revolution: A Policy for Crop Engineering

Author:
David Victor and C. Ford Runge
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Controversy, even fear, of new foods is not new. The tomato was widely regarded as poisonous in the United States and northern Europe as late as the 1830s, due to its relationship to the night-shade family of plants. There was such concern that in 1820, the state of New York banned their consumption. Tomatoes even had their own “Frankenfood” label: “wolf 's peaches.”
Topic:
Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

109. Migration, Population Change, and the Rural Environment

Author:
Richard E. Bilsborrow
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
This article considers issues pertaining to the linkages between rural populations, migration from and to rural areas, and the environment—focusing on developing countries in the latter part of the 20th century. The article concentrates on internal migration, although it does briefly discuss the state of knowledge on the interplay between international migration and the environment. It addresses questions such as: What are the recent—and projected—patterns of rural population growth? How much internal migration in developing nations is towards rural environments? What kinds of rural environments are people moving into, in what countries, and what are the environmental consequences? Are there relationships in the other direction as well—that is, does environmental deterioration play an important role in out-migration from rural areas? And does out-migration from rural areas have environmental effects on the places of migratory origin? The article concludes with policy recommendations.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Migration, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Europe and Asia

110. Reducing urban and industrial pollution in Russia

Author:
Steve Gale
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Agency for International Development
Abstract:
A USAID wastewater treatment project improved Moscow's drinking water and its companion watershed development project advanced environmental education in the districts near Moscow. A third project in Volgograd failed to build a viable air quality monitoring program to curb pollution. Sustainability and replicability were undercut by failure to plan for replication from the outset and promotion of state-of-the-art (rather than appropriate) technology. Lack of good baseline data and the inability to distinguish results stemming from the projects from those related to the economic downturn made independent assessment of project effectiveness difficult.
Topic:
Environment, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Moscow