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Sustainable Development Update Issue 4, Volume 6, 2006 The Sustainable Development Update (SDU) focuses on the links between ecology, society and the economy. It is produced by Albaeco, an independent non-profit organisation. SDU is produced with support from Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Environment Policy Division. Dr. Fredrik Moberg, Editor Click the miniature below to download in pdf-format: 
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The Planet has turned into a movie star and I’ve become post-modern According to post-modern theory there is a strong sense that our reality, our public reality, is mediated: nothing is real except what’s on television or on film. I come to think about these ideas when watching “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore’s efforts to educate the public about global warming. A movie critic of Sweden’s largest daily paper took a sceptical position and asked two questions. 1) Are “Gore and his researcher friends and activists right”? 2) Is the movie the start of a campaign for a better understanding of climate change or for the U.S. presidency? The first question is the most intriguing one for me as a popular science writer: did Gore really get the science right or is he just a dooms-day saying activist? On the whole, the minor errors made don’t detract from the fact that the former vice-president is remarkably up to date with the very latest climate research! The vivid picture painted of the consequences of global warming: melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and increasing numbers of floods and droughts do hold water when scrutinised. But when he talks about the relationship between sea surface temperature and hurricane intensity, and uses the Katrina disaster to illustrate what kind of impacts climate change may have on society, he stress the connection a little more than is appropriate. The great science blog “Real Climate” reports a few other scientific errors that are important in the film: Gore’s claims that you can see the aerosol concentrations in Antarctic ice cores change ‘in just two years’, due to the U.S. Clean Air Act is criticised (dust and aerosols can’t be seen at all with the naked eye in the ice cores, but the effect of reduced leaded gasoline use does clearly show up in Greenland ice cores). Another criticism made is against Gore’s claim that the problem of invasive plant species is predominantly due to climate change (land use change and importation are still the main reasons even though climate change seems to exacerbate the problem). Still, these are rather minor errors. A more serious error is how the long ice core records of CO2 and temperature in Antarctic ice cores are used. Gore says, somewhat misleading, that a rise in CO2 always precedes a rise in global temperature, but in reality the relationship is much more complex and a number of other factors also contribute to the change in temperature. Some times it can even be the opposite: that a rise in temperature comes first and is followed by a change in CO2 levels. Notwithstanding, Gore’s main point is painfully correct: current level of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is much higher now than at any time in the past 650,000 years! So, on the whole “An inconvenient truth” is a really well made movie about the current scientific consensus on climate change. And it is not alone. “The Planet”, a new Swedish documentary intended for a global audience, also deals with the global environment. It is said to be the most expensive documentary film ever in Sweden and includes interviews with environmental scientists like Gretchen Daily, Herman Daly, Carl Folke, Jared Diamond and Will Steffen. Next time somebody asks me if climate change is real I’ll take a very “post-modern” position and simply say ‘it’s just like in the movies’. The difference is that in reality you can’t leave the cinema if you don’t like what you see. /Dr. Fredrik Moberg, Editor
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New landmark study: "There is sufficient water to end world hunger"
Life-support systems threatened To start with the scientists paint a worrisome picture of the world water situationstating that already today one third of the world population faces water scarcity. This alarming finding totally overruns earlier predictions that this would not happen until 2025. – More water is required for poverty alleviation, for food production, for cities and industries, yet taking more water out of other ecosystems threatens our life support systems, said David Molden of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and coordinator of the Assessment. The Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture is based on five years of research and the work of more than 700 scientists and practitioners from over 100 institutions worldwide. – The last 50 years of water management practices are no model for the future when it comes to dealing with water scarcity. We need radical change in the institutions and organizations responsible for managing our earth’s water supplies, said Frank Rijsberman, Director General of IWMI. Growing more with less water Scientists warn that if nothing changes, in 2050 the agriculture sector will need to double the amount of water to grow the food we eat. But with appropriate action, total growth in water use could slow down by 50 percent, and water withdrawals from rivers could stabilize. The report recommends a radical new agenda for agricultural water management— one that prioritizes obtaining the maximum social, environmental and economic value out of every drop of water—be it from a river basin or a rainstorm—against the backdrop of a globalized world. The authors argue that growing more food, fish and fodder for animals with less water and getting more value for each drop of water are the only ways to both reduce poverty and stop damage to the environment. Further, they state that improving rain-fed agriculture in the African savannahs, home to a large number of the world’s malnourished rural poor, is a key priority for resolving the water crisis. – One of the most widespread misconceptions of semiarid savannahs is that there is no water. During rains there is plenty of water. The problem is that the water rapidly runs off the soil and that the gullies dry up so quickly. Water harvesting is a crucial low-tech alternative with a great potential to increase food production in dry regions with variable rainfall, said Johan Rockström, director of the Stockholm Environment Institute. /Fredrik Moberg More at: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Assessment/
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Contingent Valuation Method (CVM): is probably the most controversial of the methods economists use to put “price tags on nature”. The CVM estimates values by asking people in a survey to directly state their willingness to pay for specific ecosystem benefits, based on a hypothetical scenario. As such the method is one of the only ways to assign dollar values to values that do not involve market purchases. Hence, the CVM tries to put value on everything from basic life-support services to the value people place on knowing that dolphins or lions exist. Why value then? The world economy would crash without the vital services that natural ecosytems provide. The value of the generation of fertile soils, purification of air and water, the mitigation of floods and drought, pollination and pest control is in this sense infinite - we simply cannot live without them. Unfortunately, “infinite” often becomes “zero” in the economic calculations that guide land-use and policy decisions. Overcoming market failures The value of forest services, like flood control, recycling of rainfall and carbon dioxide uptake, can be several times more valuable than its timber yield. So even if forest clearcutting is profitable for a logging firm, it might involve large costs for society at large. This is what economists call a “market failure,” when market prices do not reflect the full social costs or benefits of a good or service. Therefore, many argue that the value of ecosystem services must be incorporated into market prices so nations can make rational, environmentally sustainable, economic choices. This is of special importance to developing countries as poor people are generally more directly dependent on the benefits provided by their local natural systems and vulnerable to the effects of environmental hazards. CVM:s are debated over and over again in the economics literature. The basic problem is that the method is about asking people questions instead of observing their actual behavior. This involves a vast array of empirical and practical problems. In 1997, Robert Costanza of the University of Maryland and twelve co-authors estimated the annual value of the world’s ecosystem services at US$33 trillion. It was more than the value of the global gross national product (GNP) that year. /Fredrik Moberg More at: http://www.ecosystemvaluation.org/contingent_valuation.htm | ||||||
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How to make tourism contribute to economic and environmental development of local communities in Bolivia
Bolivia is a country with immense biological diversity and a sparkling cultural heritage – and a fast growing tourism industry. The non-profit organisation Kawsay is therefore planning for the future by offering a course in “Community ecotourism”. Carmen is head of the course and thinks that the interest in Community ecotourism in her country has emerged out of a feeling of discontent: – The course in Community ecotourism derives from indigenous communities in Bolivia that no longer wish to be part of an economical system ruled by external interests. Instead they wish to generate a new alternative economical income via ecotourism based on local knowledge. Carmen continues by presenting the objective of Community ecotourism: – Community ecotourism will strengthen indigenous communities and organisations and will also generate a fair economical system in which sources and distribution of incomes will be based upon democracy and local demands. The participants of the course receive diplomas as “Operating technicians on Community ecotourism”. The plan is that these technicians shall further develop the strategies for implementing democracy and local demands in the tourism business. The technicians also bear a responsibility of creating educational prospects for visiting tourists. Based on fundamental values While talking to Carmen, I understand that the foundation of Community ecotourism is based upon the need and the rights of the indigenous people to manage their own territory and to administrate their local natural resources, hence to plan and to somewhat steer the development of their own communities. Carmen puts everything in perspective by explaining the fundamental values of her organisation: – Kawsay strives at strengthening the identity and the organisations of the indigenous people’s communities in the diverse regions of Bolivia, and this is a matter of re-establishing cultural values and more thoroughly to incorporate local democratic and ecological values on economical development.
Stating the obvious We end our discussion by stating the obvious. Local communities and organisations should not be the objectives of tourism but on the contrary, in charge of both planning the tourism and administrating the allocated resources. To achieve a truly sustainable and fair tourism, we need to promote reciprocity of local knowledge, i.e. Community ecotourism. /Andreas Severinsson
Using strategic tree planting to increase water availability Right trees planted in the right areas may increase water availability and therefore improve the living conditions of the poor. Trees can change water flow in ecosystems in complicated ways, shifting the mix of water flowing into the ground, evaporating or running off into streams. If planted trees evaporate more water than the vegetation that they are replacing, they can reduce water availability. However, these changes can be subtle, and different tree species can change these flows in different ways. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) researchers have shown how planting the appropriate type of trees can improve agricultural watershed management. SciDev.net writes about how Strategic tree planting could save water in dry areas (24 August 2006): “Researchers say that planting trees in dry regions of the world could make better use of scarce water resources increasingly threatened by climate change. They warn, however, that although planting the right species in the right areas could improve water efficiency, other species could make the problem much worse. The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) findings, based on 20 years of research in Kenya, were announced at the World Water Week meeting in Stockholm on 22 August. Many African countries have large plantations of pines or eucalyptus. But ICRAF scientists advise against planting these fast-growing evergreen trees because they need a lot of water. Instead, they recommend planting deciduous trees in integrated ‘tree-crop’ systems, in which agriculture and forestry are practised on a single piece of land. Such trees shed their leaves for up to six months of the year, nearly halving the amount of water they need. This enables them to cope with long dry spells and also means they won’t compete with crops for water.” /Garry Peterson
More at: http://resilience.geog.mcgill.ca/blog/ Using climate to predict leishmaniasis outbreaks might help the poor A new statistical approach based on climatic data and its correlation to outbreaks of the parasitic “poverty disease” leishmaniasis could form the basis for a new early warning system. This could help predicting the onset of vector-transmitted epidemics and enable health officials to set up disease control strategies in time.  A sand fly delivers what could be a parasite-carrying bite that causes leishmaniasis. Photo: Dr. Ed Rowton The new study conducted by researchers from Michigan University investigated the correlation between climate fluctuations and leishmaniasis transmission in Costa Rica. The statistical approach considered factors such as average temperature, sea surface temperature and indices of the weather phenomenon El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in relation to disease incidence. It showed that interannual changes in those variables match up with Leishmaniasis outbreaks, which were predicted to have their peaks in May and raise and fall in three-year cycles. Testing of the model showed furthermore that it was able to forecast outbreaks of the disease in three out of four cases and up to one year ahead of time. Two million people infected each year Each year two million people get infected with the parasite that causes leishmaniasis through bites of infected sand flies. Leishmaniasis primarily affects poor communities in isolated areas. It is present in more than 80 countries, but is most common in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal, and Sudan. There are different forms of the disease but the most common ones are “cutaneous” leishmaniasis (characterized by skin lesions that often result in disfiguring scars) and “visceral” leishmaniasis (which affects some of the internal organs of the body). In the future, the numbers of infections might increase due to global warming since higher temperatures accelerate the metabolic rate of insects and increase egg production. This is predicted to ultimately lead to an increase in the vectors’ range and numbers and the frequency of blood feeds. The climate dependent pattern of the leishmaniasis outbreaks found in the new study could help to set up an early warning system that allows preparation for leishmaniasis epidemics before their onset and gives time to initiate counter measures. However, existing medicines are costly and poor people in tropical countries are at risk from a range of diseases for which they cannot get treatment because medicines are too expensive or simply not available. Additionally, the approach of the new study could become a useful tool to understand the impact of climatic effects on the dynamics of other vector-borne diseases such as Malaria, Sleeping sickness and Yellow fever. Despite its implicated potential to predict vector-transmitted diseases it is important to also consider non-climatic factors in order to justify the development of climate-based early warning systems, states the world health organization WHO in an earlier report. They underline the necessity to compare the contributions of climatic and non-climatic factors (e.g. population movements, housing conditions and agricultural practices) to the predictive power of such systems and suggest incorporating both, in cases where the accuracy of predictions can be significantly increased. /Nadja Neumann
Sources: LF Chaves and M Pascual. 2006. “Climate Cycles and Forecasts of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, a Nonstationary Vector-Borne Disease”. PLoS Medicine, Vol 3, Issue 8: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030295 http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/oeh0401/en/ Gates and Rockefeller Foundations to fund new African Green Revolution A new increase in crop yields is welcome, but unlike the first revolution this new revolution must work with rather than against local ecosystems.  Malawi farmer with Pigeon pea, a drought-resistant and nitrogen fixing legume, that requires low inputs and can be intercropped with traditional crops. Photo: FAO The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation are launching a new program Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) designed to fund a new Green Revolution for Africa. Seperately, but with similar goals, George Soros is donating $50 million to pay for fertilizers, seeds, classrooms in Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium Promise project. The original Green Revolution helped greatly increase farm yields in Asia and Latin America., but in never succeeded in Africa. The Green Revolution’s increase in crop yields greatly increased human wellbeing, but also had major negative environmental impacts and often failed to benefit poorer farmers. Hopefully, this Green Revolution will follow the advice of the former president of the Rockefeller Foundation, the applied ecologist Gordon Conway. His 1997 book The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for All in the 21st Century argued that a new increase in crop yields is needed, but unlike the first revolution this new revolution must work with rather than against local ecosystems. /Garry Peterson More at: http://resilience.geog.mcgill.ca/blog/ http://www.rockfound.org/Agriculture/Announcement/218 Low input agriculture as a tool for poverty alleviation In many places around the world farmers are discovering that lower input of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture can be more profitable, and imply lower risk, than conventional high input alternatives.  Facilitator teaching Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in a rice field in Cambodia. A major result of this work is the realization by farmers that they do not require large amounts of “modern” inputs, particularly pesticides, to grow their rice and control insects. Photo: FAO Ethan Apri on NextBillion.net (A development through enterprise blog, created by the World Resources Institute) points to an Asia Times article “Turkey’s born-again farmer” about Nazmi Ilicali, a farmer in Eastern Turkey who promotes organic agriculture to reduce rural poverty. The region grows organic wheat, rye, barley, white beans, green lentils, chickpeas and bulgur wheat and promotes itself and organizes sales via www.daphan.org. In the article Ilicali explains why, ironically, the poverty of this area makes it perfect for starting organic farming projects: “The earth in this area is especially suitable, because the local population is so poor that for years they have been unable to afford chemical fertilizers. The climate is good for organic agriculture, too. The frost and cold here even kill the eggs laid in the earth by insects, and because of that there is no need for pesticides - we have a totally chemical-free soil.” /Garry Peterson http://resilience.geog.mcgill.ca/blog/ http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2006/08/28/turkeys-born-again-farmer New UN principles for responsible shrimp farming A FAO meeting in New Delhi have agreed on a set of non-binding international principles for responsible shrimp farming. It is the first attempt ever to provide an international framework for making the shrimp farming industry more sustainable. The hope is to reduce the environmental damage while improving farms’ capacity to reduce poverty. Current shrimp farming practice is notorious for destroying mangroves and ruining the livelihoods of poor coastal communities, but shrimp exports from the developing world amounts to almost 9 billion dollar a year, according to the FAO. If well-managed and fairly distributed this flow of income could help alleviate poverty. Consequently, the new principles include the location of farms and their design, the use of water and feed, as well as the social impacts of aquaculture on local communities. They have been tested in a consultative process involving organisations such as the Network for Aquaculture Centres for the Asia Pacific, WWF, the World Bank and the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). Around 13 percent of world aquaculture comes from export- oriented ‘industrial aquaculture’ operations involving species like shrimp or salmon. The bulk of production still comes from plant- eaters, like carp and tilapia, on small-scale farms in developing countries where it meets pressing food and nutrition needs. http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000391/ index.html "The return of slime" threatens ocean life What used to be thriving fisheries are being transformed into gelatinous soups dominated by algae and jellyfish. Marine ecologists say we are witnessing the return of slime.  Many marine and aquatic ecosystems are witnessing the demise of fish and corals while algae, bacteria and jellyfish are growing unchecked. Jeremy B.C. Jackson, a marine ecologist and paleontologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, says we are witnessing “the rise of slime”. In the systems where this pattern is most pronounced, scientists evoke a scenario of evolution running in reverse, returning to the primeval seas of hundreds of millions of years ago. Jellyfish and seaweed populations are growing because they can. Their natural predators and competitors have become scarce because of human overexploitation linked to the onset of industrial fishing. Adapting to the new situation Today, the most degraded coral reefs in the world are little more than rubble, seaweed, and slime. What used to be thriving fisheries in the Black Sea, the eastern U.S, the gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Namibia have now been transformed into gelatinous soups dominated by jellyfish. In some cases communities have quickly adapted to the new situation. Jellyfish fisheries are springing up in Australia, the United States, England and Turkey as fishermen look for ways to stay in business. Today, 450,000 tons of jellyfish are hauled in per year, more than twice as much as a decade ago. But the net effect of these “regime shifts” seems to be negative, with consequences ranging from significantly reduced fish catches and burst trawl nets to clogged up power station coolants. /Albert Norström Sources: Lynam and others. 2006. “Jellyfish overtake fish in a heavily fished ecosystem”. Current Biology 16 (13): 492-493 http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/lame-ocean30jul30,0,952130.story
The quote: "We don’t know what we’re treating. When they have stinging eyes or noses we give them drops. We want to know what it is so we know how to treat it" A manager of a local hospital in the Ivory coast where people die from the toxic waste dumped in Abidjan by a ship several weeks ago in unclear circumstances: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5335956.stm |
