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851. Clean Air for Asia - China - India - Japan - United States Cooperation to Reduce Air Pollution in China and India

Author:
Richard L. Lawson, John R. Lyman, Donald L. Guertin, Tarun Das, Shinji Fukukawa, and Yang Jike
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
For China and India, rapid economic growth is imperative to alleviate poverty, raise income levels and improve their citizens' quality of life. In 2000, China and India's combined populations of 2.3 billion represented over 38 percent of the world's population. With both countries determined to grow their economies rapidly, there will be an associated rapid rise in energy demand. One of the most significant problems facing the two countries is the existing and increasing level of air pollution that will accompany growing energy consumption. This report focuses on the challenge of developing economic, energy, and environmental policies that will complement existing policies designed to reconcile the drive for economic growth with the need for greater environmental protection of air quality.
Topic:
Economics and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, China, India, and Asia

852. Canada as a Minor Ally: Operational Considerations for Relations with the United States

Author:
Christopher Sands
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Good morning. I want to thank the organizers of this year's Canadian Crude Oil Conference for bringing me out here to join you today. Albertan hospitality is hard to beat, and for a kid from Detroit, I am happy to say that I had the chance to live here as a temporary Albertan one summer. My Dad is a professor of geography and urban planning, and one summer our family relocate d to Alberta while he researched a book on the patterns of suburban development in four cities: Edmonton, Calgary, Phoenix, and Houston. It was a great adventure for me, especially camping and hiking in Banff and Jasper. You will get a sense of how long ago this was when I tell you that my souvenir from that summer was a t-shirt with Chewbacca, C3PO, and R2-D2 posing with a bear.
Topic:
Energy Policy and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and North America

853. U.S.-Mexico Binational Council Report: U.S-Mexico Transboundary Water Management: The Case of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo

Author:
Armand Peschard-Sverdrup and Meghan Bishop
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Although the highly publicized water dispute between the United States and Mexico has focused attention in both nations on the issue, the need to address comprehensively the problem of water scarcity and water quality is not one that is limited to the U.S.-Mexico border region. In fact, water scarcity is increasing around the world and approaching crisis conditions in many regions. It is a phenomenon that is impacting the lives of a growing number of the world's people. According to the United Nations, 31 countries in the world are currently facing water stress and scarcity. Over 1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water, and almost 3 billion people have no access to sanitation services. It is estimated that today 166 million people in 18 countries suffer from water scarcity, while another 270 million in 11 additional countries are considered "water stressed." By the year 2025, the world's population will have increased by more than 2.6 billion, but as many as two-thirds of those people will be living in conditions of serious water shortage, and one-third will be living with absolute water scarcity. By 2025, the affected populations will increase to about 3 billion people, or about 40 percent of the world's population, most of them in the poorest countries. As a result of this daunting diagnosis, there is now a consensus that the severity of the problem requires a strategic approach that emphasizes equitable and sustainable management of water resources.
Topic:
Environment
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, and North America

854. Living with a Climate in Transition: Pacific Communities Plan for Today and Tomorrow

Author:
Eileen Shea
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Earth's climate is in a state of flux. Whether in terms of relatively short-term shifts, called climate variability, or long-term climate change associated with greenhouse gases, consequences of changing climate conditions appear unprecedented. Losses due to weather-related disasters have soared recently—especially in the Pacific, where island environments, societies, and infrastructures are particularly vulnerable. For generations, human response to climate events has been just that: response after the fact to phenomena that neither residents nor scientists adequately understood. Now, a growing body of information about the causes of climate events is enabling Pacific Islanders and others to anticipate events and move past being victims to become informed planners. This new knowledge can only be successfully applied via dynamic partnerships between science and society. Particularly promising is the emerging field of climate risk management, in which disaster management and climate science communities unite, forming model partnerships to plan for the inevitabilities linked with the planet's variable and changing climate.
Topic:
Environment and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Australia/Pacific

855. Environmental Taxation and Revenue for Development

Author:
Agnar Sandmo
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper considers the role of global environmental taxes both as instruments for improving the global environment and as a source of revenue for funding economic development. It reviews the general case for environmental taxes and the particular issues that arise for the adoption of such taxes in an international setting without a single jurisdiction. It also discusses the possibilities for political acceptance of such taxes when tax revenue is linked to the goal of economic development. The revenue potential of global environmental taxes is evaluated with special reference to a global carbon tax. It is found that this tax alone has the potential to raise sufficient revenue to finance the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Environment, and International Trade and Finance

856. 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

857. '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

858. 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

859. New Role in U.S. Trade Policy

Author:
John Audley
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
On a hot day in August, President George W. Bush signed into law the Trade Act of 2002. Months of debate between the administration and members of Congress, their constituencies, and other governments were over; with the stroke of his pen President Bush became the first president in almost a decade to enjoy the benefits of trade promotion authority (TPA).
Topic:
Economics, Environment, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States

860. U.S. Climate Policy After Kyoto: Elements for Success

Author:
Daniel Bodansky
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
With the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol and the agreement's likely entry into force, it appears that the United States and the rest of the world will go their separate ways on climate change. The United States now faces a stark choice: Do nothing, join Kyoto, or come up with a policy of its own. The first option would be unwise, environmentally and politically. The second would require an embarrassing flip- flop by the Bush administration. This leaves the third option: proposing a credible U.S. approach separate from Kyoto.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States