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1512. Caribbean Tourism: Igniting the Engines of Sustainable Growth
- Author:
- Anthony T. Bryan
- Publication Date:
- 11-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- Tourism drives economic growth in ways that make it one of the best engines for job creation and development for poor countries that possess natural beauty and relevant infrastructure. The industry is highly labor intensive and encourages entrepreneurship. Under its ambit, property owners, restaurants, and local suppliers of goods and services, among others, develop the habits of risk taking without which no economy can realize its full potential. Tourism holds out the prospect of a better life for those stakeholders who make money from it. Not unlike trade, it improves an economy's competitiveness. Trade does so because it stimulates local suppliers to match the quality and variety of imported goods. Tourism does so because returning travelers to a destination demand the goods and services they have seen in other countries (Elliott 2001).
- Topic:
- Development, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States, Latin America, and Caribbean
1513. Geography, Markets, Resources, and Development: The Assets of the Americas Revisited
- Author:
- L. Ronald Scheman
- Publication Date:
- 07-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- In May 1996, the price of copper crashed from US$2,600 to $1,775 per ton. The Sumitomo Corporation of Japan acknowledged unprecedented losses of $2.6 billion from unauthorized trading by its chief copper trader, one of the faceless manipulators of the international commodities markets, Yasuo Hamanaka. Among the major banks caught in this modern variation of the Ponzi scheme were J.P. Morgan and the London Metal Exchange. Chile, whose economy was highly dependent on income from the commodity, was quickly and painfully reminded that the highly leveraged markets on which it depended, even in the hands of the most reputable institutions, are fragile and subject to unexpected forces beyond its control. Copper prices began a downward spiral, and they have not yet recovered.
- Topic:
- Development, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and Caribbean
1514. Lessons on Sustainable Development from Costa Rica's Forests
- Author:
- Eduardo Silva
- Publication Date:
- 05-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- Costa Rica enjoys a reputation as a peaceful, democratic, and equitable Central American country with a strong commitment to nature protection. Government environmentalism began with a focus on nature preservation during the administration of Daniel Odúber (1974-1978), the presidential father of the national parks system. Under President Oscar Árias (1986-1990), Costa Rica's leaders became aware that responses to the problems of environmental protection versus development required more than the creation of national parks. Since then, they have worked tirelessly to weave the norms and principles of the concept of sustainable development into their nation's policies and institutional framework. Costa Rica's institutional and programmatic innovations have turned it into a laboratory for sustainable development, especially with respect to the forest. It is seen as a leader and pioneer in community forestry, bioprospecting, green taxes, carbon emissions trading, and administrative decentralization in the management of protected areas. As occurs with all trailblazers, Costa Rica's efforts to implement a policy of sustainable development raise a number of questions. What trade-offs have the forest and biodiversity conservation policies of the 1990s generated with respect to the different components of sustainable development? Are the measures adopted likely to be successful? How were those policy choices made? By what means can the components of sustainable development that have been neglected be incorporated, especially those related to livelihood? This paper will address these questions
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- Central America
1515. Thinking About Environmental Security: Southeast Asia and the Americas in Comparative Perspective
- Author:
- Frank McNeil and Joseph Stark
- Publication Date:
- 10-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- This paper is styled a “work-in-progress” with good reason. It is the latest, not entirely ripe fruit of a North-South Center project, the “commonalities” study, about the shared challenges facing the developing nations of Latin America and the Caribbean and the developing nations of Asia, particularly those of Southeast Asia. These views have taken their shape, over more than three years, from the authors' reflections about their extensive interviews in both regions with policy “influentials” and knowledgeable academics, as well as through participation in occasional conferences.
- Topic:
- Security and Environment
- Political Geography:
- America, Latin America, Caribbean, and Southeast Asia
1516. Should one bargain over two issues simultaneously or separately?
- Author:
- Bård Harstad
- Publication Date:
- 05-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- International negotiations on trade (e.g. GATT and TRIPS) have typically been of the package-form, and different issues have therefore been linked to each other. Trade issues have not been linked to e.g. environmental agreements in negotiations, however. This paper studies the outcome of linked bargaining, where two issues are simultaneously negotiated over by two countries. We notice that there always exist gains from linkages in bargaining, and that such linking will always occur in equilibrium if there is a pre-stage where the countries are bargaining over the agenda. The outcome under linked bargaining is compared with the outcome under separate negotiations, and the circumstances where a country will gain or lose from linking are characterized. The results help us to understand different countries' preferences for linkages in bargaining.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Europe
1517. International — WTO Outlook
- Publication Date:
- 11-2001
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxford Analytica
- Abstract:
- This piece examines the prospects for the WTO Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha beginning November 9. The central issue for the Qatar meeting is whether WTO members can agree to launch new negotiations, and in so doing restore confidence in the WTO itself. In the background are the September 11 terrorist attacks and the worsening global economic outlook, all of which simultaneously raise the stakes at the meeting and improve prospects for success. The outlook for the Qatar summit has improved, and agreement by WTO members in favour of wide-ranging trade negotiations is now on balance the most likely outcome. However, failure remains a real possibility, unless members can resolve remaining differences on agriculture, implementation of WTO agreements, environmental goals, US anti-dumping practices and pharmaceutical patents.
- Topic:
- Environment, Industrial Policy, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Qatar
1518. International — OPEC Quandary
- Publication Date:
- 11-2001
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxford Analytica
- Abstract:
- OPEC President Chakib Kelil yesterday expressed confidence that the cartel can bring prices back to 25 dollars per barrel through production cuts implemented from January 1. Kelil's remarks follow a recent meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers to secure non-OPEC support for a production cut at OPEC's November 14 meeting. The moves take place against a backdrop of falling oil prices and an outlook for even lower prices as global economic growth deteriorates and oil producers fail to implement earlier output cut decisions. Significant uncertainties cloud the oil market and make micro-management extremely difficult. OPEC's apparent failure to secure non-OPEC cooperation for production cuts undermines market credibility for OPEC cuts at its November meeting. Unless the cartel can develop a plausible response, there is a real possibility that it will face an oil price collapse reminiscent of 1997-99.
- Topic:
- Environment, Industrial Policy, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
1519. Ratifying The Kyoto Protocol: The Case For JapaneseRussian Joint Implementation
- Author:
- Benito Müller
- Publication Date:
- 05-2001
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- In direct reaction to President Bush's speedy reneging on a campaign pledge to set 'mandatory reduction targets' for carbon dioxide emissions from power generation (a mere 53 days into his presidency), Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, Director General of the German Environment Ministry, admitted that 'maybe it will be necessary to ratify the Protocol without the US and to instead pave the way for them to join later'. Since then, this sentiment has been rapidly gaining ground internationally, in particular after President Bush unilaterally declared the failure of the Kyoto Protocol. Indeed, at a meeting in Kiruna (Sweden) on 31 March 2001, EU environment ministers pledged to pursue ratification of the treaty with or without the United States. Environment minister Kjell Larsson, for the Swedish Presidency, stated that 'the Kyoto Protocol is alive, contrary to what has been said from the other side of the Atlantic. No individual country has the right to declare a multilateral agreement dead.'
- Topic:
- Environment, International Law, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Japan, and Israel
1520. From Rio To Johannesburg:The Earth Summit And Rio + 10
- Author:
- Duncan Brack, Fanny Calder, and Muge Dolun
- Publication Date:
- 03-2001
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) – the 'Earth Summit' – took place in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992. Unprecedented in size and scope, Rio resulted in a number of important agreements including Agenda 21, two new conventions and the foundation of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Among these Agenda 21 has a particularly important role in defining sustainable development and providing a blueprint for change. Within the next two years the world will be preparing for the tenth-year review of the Rio Conference, which will lead to the World Summit on Sustainable Development – 'Rio+10'.
- Topic:
- Environment, International Law, and Science and Technology