International Institute for Environment and Development

In Our World: 17 May (forest food, city resilience, climatic effects and more)

mike.shanahan@iied.org (Mike Shanahan) — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:07:30 +0100

"In Our World" relates to IIED's world of environment and development. It connects us with what’s going on in both the real world and online worlds.

Forests Mean Food

Scientists aim to pinpoint role of forests in battle against “hidden hunger”. Julie Mollins reports.
Forests and food security: back on the global agenda, says Terry Sutherland.

Land and Nature

New study suggests farmers should share land with nature not spare land for nature.
Rubber barons, logging and land grabs in Lao and Cambodia. By Amy Hall (+ land grab infographic).
Revising ideas on what is pristine and wild. Fred Pearce reports.

Energy

Africa’s oil demand to rise fastest, says the International Energy Agency.
Bornean rainforest people urge Norway’s King to recall energy executive.
Peru spares Amazon rainforest from oil and gas push.
Mafia "deeply involved" in renewable sector, say Chinese companies. By Xie Dan and Wang Yue.

Development

How we are misled by African development statistics and what to do about it. By Morten Jerven.
Aid groups fear high-level panel on development has turned into "a bit of a car crash".
Africa’s new science and innovation agenda, by Calestous Juma.
The pollution crisis and environmental activism in China: A Q&A with Ralph Litzinger
Chart shows a big decline in famine deaths in recent decades.

In the Cities

Angola's poor hit hard by urbanisation crackdown in Luanda. By Lily Peel.
Rockefeller Foundation announces a US$100 million fund to help cities face climate-related or man-made disasters.
Mohammed Ehsanul Haque Tamal on what low-income citizens of Dhaka think about climate change.
When a market burns, traders fear eviction follows. Sharon Benzoni reports from Ghana.

Climate Change

A survey of thousands of peer-reviewed papers published in scientific journals over 20 years has found 97.1% agreed that climate change is caused by human activity.
Here's what happened when Christiana Figueres took to Twitter to talk gender and climate change.
Delali Dovie and Eno Anwana say links between researchers, communities and policy makers, help coastal Ghanaians become climate resilient.
Fish species are shifting their ranges in response to warming oceans, a new study found.
Study: half of common plant species and a third of animals could lose habitat range because of climate change.

Mike Shanahan is IIED’s press officer.

In Our World is a new blog series. Each week it will publish links to top content about environment and development that we have seen online in the past week. You can subscribe by email here or via the RSS feed using this link. As we develop this new feature its content and length will vary – so do let us know what you like and don’t like about it.

Myanmar: Could an unusual yam help the march of community forestry?

duncan.macqueen@iied.org (Duncan Macqueen) — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:14:57 +0100

An unlikely sounding tuber could help local farmers achieve a landscape of community forestry in all but name in Myanmar.

Chin state in northwest Myanmar is ruggedly mountainous. A patchwork cloak of forest and shifting cultivation is governed by customary rules based on clan, community and private holdings.

As the population grows the length of time that land that can be left fallow to restore the over worked soils is reducing. Then it’s used again to grow the staple crops of upland rice, maize, red and yellow millet, and various beans.

While people continue to carry out shifting cultivation, they are also establishing more permanent home gardens boasting a rich diversity of agricultural and tree crops including: strawberries, elephant foot yam, a tuber cash crop, turmeric, ginger, coffee, pineapple, limes, sour oranges, Jackfruits, mango, avocado, bamboo and Agarwood, often used in incense or perfumes, and Thanaka, a tree whose ground wood powder is also used in cosmetics.

Here, and in an increasing number of more permanently settled plots, farmers are experimenting to maintain soil fertility through terracing, contour planting and mulching – using various designs of intercropping with trees. The permanence of such plots provides an incentive to establish longer term crops, such as coffee or tree crops. Sadly, high value teak trees are rarely planted as they are the designated property of the state even if planted by farmers.

The current shifting cultivation system is not recognised by law. It is branded “cultivatable wasteland”. Such lands can be appropriated by the state or transferred to distant investors. By contrast “community forestry” secures a formally recognised 30 year land lease arrangement for which Chin communities can apply to secure their heritage.

But while it is straight forward to claim community forest rights on State forest land, it is much more difficult to negotiate in areas spanning the clan, communal and private holdings of customary tenure. Here there are trade-offs between insecure but permanent customary rights and more secure but time-limited formal ones.

How then to secure the land and forest rights of local communities – which are essential as an incentive for replanting longer term crops such as trees?

Unusual tuber could hold answers to community forestry

A market led approach to community forestry – and an unusual tuber - might provide the answer. The tuber in question is the Elephant Foot Yam. Cut into slices, dried and eventually powdered, this sizeable tuber forms the raw material for Japanese and Chinese dietary foods (low calorie noodles and artificial meats). The market is booming – with agents from Mandalay supplying China and agents in Yangon supplying Japan, (where annual tax free import quotas are growing by the year).

Chin State boasts the ideal growing conditions for Elephant Foot Yam. Compared to an income per acre of about US$ 215-320 for maize, the income per acre from Elephant Foot Yam can be anything between US$ 2000-8500.

Unsurprisingly, farmers want to grow the crop (and have already established associations of farmers and traders in towns such as Mindat). But they are hampered by a lack of loan finance to buy seeds or small tubers, a lack of technical assistance about optimal planting practice, and a lack of business organisation to bargain more effectively with the agents. Local NGOs such as Ar Yone Oo are working to implement a market-led approach that addresses these constraints with the support of IIED through the Pyoe Pin programme.

The broader advantage of Elephant Foot Yam cultivation is that it benefits from tree shade – thus providing a powerful incentive for farmers to maintain or plant trees. Like shade grown coffee, this crop can lead to community forest restoration and management (even if not formally registered as community forestry).

Because the crop takes 2-3 years to mature it is also less amenable to traditional methods of shifting cultivation and so encourages a voluntary move towards permanent plots which, if managed well, can be less degrading of surrounding forest. In those plots, a range of commercial trees can be planted that may provide longer term business opportunities. By using a market-led approach based on local control and a mixture of agricultural and tree crops, short and longer-term economic options, it may be possible to achieve a landscape of community forestry in all but name. The trick will be to have such systems formally recognised in law.

Strengthening farmer capacity in Myanmar

Strengthening forest and farm producer groups such as the Mindat Elephant Foot Yam Association is very much at the heart of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) that held a launch mission in Myanmar the last week of April 2013.

The FFF will be acting immediately, through a competitive call for proposals, to offer small grants to strengthen forest and farm producer group’s capacity for profitable business using different crops and in different ecologies across Myanmar. The selection criteria include the requirement that such businesses create local incentives for sustainable forest management – as is happening with the Elephant Foot Yam.

The FFF will also convene an inter-ministerial policy dialogue to showcase different business models that are working both to improve local livelihoods and protect forests in Myanmar. The longer term aim is to formally recognise models of land and forest tenure to achieve it.

While it is still early days, the elephant foot yam could show that farmers can make a profit from a cash crop and reforest their land at the same time. Other farmers could learn from these farming pioneers on what different models of land and forest tenure they used to achieve this win-win situation.

Find out more about IIED's forestry work

Mali – A pathway out of crisis

camilla.toulmin@iied.org (Camilla Toulmin) — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:36:54 +0100

Tomorrow in Brussels a meeting will be held of governments and multilateral organisations to discuss with the Malian government and civil society groups how best to help the country overcome its current crisis. The last year has seen the country shaken by invasion, coup d’état and finally the French and African military intervention to expel Islamic terror movements from the north of the country. This meeting represents a key moment to define a shared strategy, allowing the entire country to rebuild its commitment to peace, democracy and development.

For IRAM and IIED, a number of critical points mustn’t be forgotten in these discussions:

Rebuilding trust

For many years Mali has drawn on a deep foundation of social cohesion and trust that has allowed the country to navigate a series of crises. But today, this social capital has been badly damaged. There is a loss of trust between people from the north and from the south, between different groups in the north, and between the State and populations in the north. A climate of confidence must be re-established to make long lasting peace a possibility. This could be achieved by means of a dialogue process, that would bring in each and every community to think through together how to rebuild development and peace. Donors need to support the government of Mali in this process, not only as a means to achieve reconciliation and peace, but also to open up discussion of the questions that divide as well as unite Mali’s people.

Holding presidential and legislative elections is essential to such a fundamental re-establishment of the democratic process. But for the elections to bring that greater confidence, and avoid further polarisation and disengagement, they must be held within a timeframe and under conditions that make it possible for all peoples to participate effectively. Such conditions are not self-evident today.

Assessing and renewing the institutional structure

Despite the current crisis, Mali is not bereft of institutions, although some need renewal to allow them to operate effectively, given the challenges to be addressed. There is much that elected local government can offer, if renewed interest and investment is made, so that they can support development initiatives and meet the expectations and needs of citizens. However, that would require a clear-eyed assessment of its ability to ensure delivery of key services in a fair manner, and support both economic development and management of conflicts throughout the country, particularly in the north.

Rethinking aid delivery

It is likely that significant funding will be pledged at tomorrow’s meeting in Brussels to help Mali place peace and development at the heart of government action. It should be remembered however, that despite some successes, development activity in the north in particular has achieved much less than hoped-for. Large amounts of aid have been spent without much result, and little improvement in people’s well-being. A new governance of aid needs to take root. Aid flows need to address real problems, linking both national policy and local structures, and ensuring that civil society scrutiny overcomes doubts about effective use of aid.

Investing in appropriate development

As soon as security conditions allow it, both northern and southern Mali need significant economic, social and infrastructural investment, as part of a larger, widespread process of dialogue and coordination. In the north, alongside irrigated agriculture, a major focus is needed on support to the mobile pastoral livestock sector. Livestock are a major economic resource without which different northern peoples would have no sure basis for a prosperous future. Making the livestock sector more productive will greatly help the rebuilding of social relations between communities, and joined up management of land and natural resources, central to the maintenance of peaceful co-existence between different groups.

Today, some of the refugees who have taken shelter in Burkina Faso, are suffering heavy livestock losses. Rapid intervention to guarantee the survival of stock numbers will be needed to ensure these groups don’t suffer the total loss of their livestock wealth, without which they are condemned to deep impoverishment, from which it will be impossible to recover. This threat is real; without such livestock wealth and seeing their loss as a result of conflict and injustice meted out to them, such people, particularly young men, risk joining the ranks of extremist groups and putting back yet again the peace process.

Taking a regional perspective

While Mali has been the main focus of attention in the last 12 months, many of the problems the country faces are similar to the Sahel region as a whole, such as rainfall variability and climate instability, the spread of narcotic trafficking and jihadist movements, and the deepening poverty underlying the prospects of so many people in rural and urban areas. At the same time, most of the difficulties facing Mali as a nation state will need the support of neighbouring countries, given the huge size and difficulty in policing frontiers. If Mali is to get full benefit from the River Niger, for example, it needs to coordinate investment in irrigation and hydro-power with other riverine states. If the narcotics trade is to be tackled and jihadist groups effectively controlled, a regional approach will be key. As a landlocked country, alongside Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, Mali relies hugely on the infrastructural investments made by coastal neighbours. Finally, the threats from a more volatile climate will affect the region as a whole, so a wider approach to building resilience locally, nationally and regionally would make most sense.

Knowledge programme publications

nick.turner@iied.org (nickt) — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:18:23 +0100

The Knowledge Programme Small Producer Agency in the Globalised Market project has promoted cross fertilisation between the work of the Learning Network, the work done by commissioned researchers and the material from the series of provocations held since its inception in 2009. This research aims to reshape the debate on smallholder producers reaching and influencing global markets. All published material is available free to download.

Books and papers

Small producer agency in the globalised market: making choices in a changing world
International expectations for the world’s half-billion small farms are growing, against a very dynamic backdrop. Small-scale farming is expected to contribute solutions in areas ranging from poverty reduction and food security to climate change adaptation.

Small-scale farmer strategies to make markets work
This Reflect and act briefing paper showcases a joint Hivos/IIED project on small producer agency in the globalised market and highlights lessons learnt from this work.

Small-scale farmers' agency in the face of globalisation and rapid rural change: outputs of a global knowledge programme
Brochure with details of project work and related publications produced from the three-year small-scale farmer Knowledge Programme led by IIED, Hivos and a global Learning Network.

Global studies

Filling knowledge gaps has been a major concern of the Knowledge Programme since its inception. The programme commissioned papers on overarching themes. How has the debate on small farmers and globalisation evolved over time? How have small-scale farmers reacted in the face of extremely rapid economic modernisation, or under alternative 'popular' socialist systems? Do we have the right approach to policy and markets for the new rural generations?

Changing perspectives: small-scale farmers, markets and globalisation (Available in English and Spanish)

Small-scale farming and youth in an era of rapid rural change (Available in English and Spanish)

Small-scale farmers in China in the face of modernisation and globalisation (Available in English and Spanish)

Small-scale farmers under socialist governments: Venezuela and the ALBA People's Trade Agreements (Available in English and Spanish)

Regional studies

Actors who work closely with small-scale farmers – in farmer federations, in trade, in support functions and in research – are in the best position to reshape the debate. The Knowledge Programme facilitated a learning space where academics, practitioners and business people could reflect through research and debate in their countries or in international and global meetings and events. The Learning Network was convened in April 2010 and brought together leaders and practitioners from the worlds of academia, farming and agribusiness, from Latin America, Asia and Africa. Members have produced new insights and studies to contribute to redefine the terms of the debate. The findings of these national studies have been compiled in Regional documents.

Innovating to compete: smallholder farmers' agency and markets in East Africa (Available in English and Spanish)

Small-scale farmers' decisions in globalised markets (Available in English and Spanish)

How do small producers in Latin America position themselves to engage with markets? (Forthcoming)

Provocations

IIED, HIVOS and collaborating organisations have hosted a travelling series of seminars across Europe, to explore and stimulate the debate on smallholders and markets. The 'provocations' looked at some of the big assumptions, impacts, benefi ts and risks of common approaches taken by the development community to 'make markets work' for small-scale farmers.

Pro-poor business, development and smallholder empowerment

Rights-based versus market-based development: a false dichotomy for small-scale farmers?

Producer agency and the agenda to 'make markets work for the poor'

Other papers

Small-scale farmers' agency: how the poor make markets work for them (briefing paper)
Instead of thinking about how to make markets work for the poor, we must look at how the poor make markets work for them.

Transforming agriculture in Uganda: nine points for action (opinion paper)

Issue 44: Markets, smallholders and empowerment (Journal publication co-edited by IIED and Hivos, published by Capacity.org

Africa Roundtable report

Asia Roundtable report

Latin America Roundtable report

Minutes from first Learning Network meeting, Geneva April 2010

These titles are also listed within our publications database

Small Producer Agency in the Globalised Market

nick.turner@iied.org (nickt) — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:18:09 +0100

What are the strategies and constraints of small-scale producers in an era of globalisation? This project provides insights that can help in designing better policies and business interventions to support them.

Agriculture is still a small-farm story: half a billion farmers, working on plots of less than two hectares, produce a significant proportion of the world’s food. More than 90% of food in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be produced by smallholder farmers, for example. Globalisation, and particularly the food price crises of the past five years, have placed small-scale producers under the spotlight as part of the answer to creating a more sustainable food future.

Some of the challenges facing small-scale farmers are highlighted in a video playlist – click on the playlist and scroll to see all the videos.

Small-scale farmers: important economic actors

A debate has been raging about whether that future is best achieved through inclusion of small-scale farmers in markets, or through resisting the market-based logic of globalisation.

Arguments on both sides often have one point in common: they continue a tradition of viewing smallholders as victims or as beneficiaries of external interventions. They miss producers’ role as economic actors in their own right who analyse their options, manage risks and make decisions.

The joint knowledge programme of IIED, Hivos and Bolivia-based Mainumby Ñakurutú has focused on understanding the strategies and constraints of small-scale producers in an era of globalisation and big changes in rural areas, and to provide new insights that can help in designing better policies and business interventions to support them.

The Programme got underway in 2009 with the establishment of a global peer-to-peer Learning Network, led from Bolivia by Mainumby Ñakurutú. This Network brought together leaders and practitioners from the worlds of academia, farming and agribusiness in Latin America, Africa and Asia, who contributed new insights and studies to the debate.

Filling knowledge gaps has been a major aim of the programme, and research was commissioned on the evolution of the debate on small-scale farmers and globalisation, on how small-scale producers have reacted to economic modernisation in China and to small-scale farmers under socialist governments, and on agriculture and youth.

Provocation series on how to make markets work for small-scale farmers

IIED, Hivos and collaborating institutions have hosted a series of 'provocative seminars' held in different locations across Europe, looking at some of the big assumptions, impacts, benefits and risks of approaches taken by the development community to ‘make markets work’ for small-scale farmers. The seminars have challenged conventional wisdom on how to include smallholders in markets and bring fresh perspectives to the discussion on what works and why.

A compilation of the insights and material gathered from these seminars, from the work of the Learning Network, and the commissioned research is now available. The main issues are summarised in a briefing paper and further discussed in this short film. For further details of other related publications we have produced a brochure.

Researcher – Agroecology, sustainable food and agricultural systems

jessica.gleeson@iied.org (Jess Gleeson) — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:22:00 +0100

Summary of Department

The Natural Resources Group aims to promote sustainable governance of natural resources by building capacity and promoting informed decision-making in communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Our priority is on local control and management of natural resources and other ecosystem services, and on the necessary changes needed in national and international government to make this happen.

Summary of Role

The postholder will contribute to the full portfolio of research projects of the Agroecology objective. In particular they will contribute to projects on the theme of sustainable / agro-ecological agricultural systems and their potential and challenges, as compared to agro-industrial systems, analysing experience and evidence from across the developing world, including Africa. The postholder will support IIED staff and partners throughout the research, publication and dissemination process.

To succeed in this role you must have a post-graduate qualification in agricultural sciences or another relevant social, economic or environmental science discipline, as well as demonstrable experience working on agricultural production or other food and agriculture related issues in Africa, Asia and/or Latin America. You must have experience of writing and editing for a range of audiences and a demonstrated ability to support and manage projects.

Please see attached job description for further information.

In Our World: 10 May (natural resources, climate, cities and more)

mike.shanahan@iied.org (Mike Shanahan) — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:49:38 +0100

"In Our World" relates to IIED's world of environment and development. It connects us with what’s going on in both the real world and online worlds.

Resources and Rights

Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan urges David Cameron to use Britain's G8 to end to 'unconscionable' exploitation of Africa's resources.
Here’s Annan’s opinion piece in the New York Times ‘Stop the plunder of Africa’.
And here is his African Progress Panel’s report “Equity in Extractives”.
Global biodiversity panel urged to heed local voices, reports Imogen Mathers.
Can rural women also have it all? Voices of “elite women” important for truly oppressed.

Forest Futures

New UN report gives low marks in forest governance to Indonesia, home to the third largest area of tropical forest coverage in the world.
Expanding agriculture by deforesting the Amazon will only harm farming by creating more climate change, says a new study [PDF].
Satellite-based monitoring and law enforcement prevented the clearing of over 59,500 km² of Amazon forest area from 2007 to 2011.
Violence hits Nicaraguan rainforest as land invasions mount.
Here's a declaration [PDF] by forests scientists and others who Prince Charles gathered at his palace this week.

Changing Climate

Jake Schmidt and Barbara Finamore give their tips to the new US-China working group on climate change.
Joanna Carpenter reports on how the UN Climate Technology Center and Network can help developing countries access technology to deal with climate change.
Can political changes bring new action on climate risks in Kenya?
A view from Nepal: Ramesh Prasad Bhushal on climate diplomacy.
Nepal floods change river course and threaten tourism. By Navin Singh Khadka.
Chris Shaw: Is it time to abandon the 2-degree target?

Communicating sustainable development

COMPASS: Navigating the rules of scientific engagement.
Duncan Green asks: Why are there so few bloggers at the UN.
Ian Thorpe, a blogger at the UN replies.
And Duncan writes again, about how the World Bank (with 300 bloggers) has cracked it.

Tales from the Cities

The world needs more slums says Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar.
Through illegal pipes and shady cartels, water flows into a slum in Kenya. Jason Patinkin reports.

Trading Up

UNEP report shows how advancing the green economy in six key sectors creates new trade opportunities
US$25 million fund launched to connect smallholder famers in Africa to international markets.

Mike Shanahan is IIED’s press officer.

Report scopes sustainability of China-Latin America relations

mike.shanahan@iied.org (Mike Shanahan) — Thu, 9 May 2013 06:10:30 +0100

Study examining Chinese trade and investment in mining, agriculture and forestry in Chile, Brazil and Peru says sustainability is increasingly on the agenda.

While much attention focuses on Chinese investment and trade in Africa, another story is unfolding in Latin America, with which China will become the second biggest trading partner next year, overtaking the European Union.

A report published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development, says sustainability is increasingly on the agenda in trade and investment relations between the two regions, and that Chinese companies are showing signs of learning from the previous mistakes they’ve made in international investments.

The discussion paper uses primary and secondary data sources and interviews with stakeholders to examine Chinese trade and investment in mining, agriculture and forestry in Chile, Brazil and Peru. It shows how complex interactions between regulations, shareholder and investor demands, consumer preferences and civil society pressure shape the sustainability of these new relationships.

"China’s demand for materials – from timber and minerals to soybeans, its desire to access new markets and its strategy of south-south cooperation and ‘soft power’ diplomacy are driving a boom in trade and investment that will have important implications for the sustainability of natural resource development in the region," says Emma Blackmore, the report’s lead author.

"To satisfy the demands of investors, consumers and other stakeholders, businesses involved in this trade increasingly apply international standards that aim to ensure sustainable, accountable operations."

In addition, there are new national standards being developed and implemented. These include the Guidelines on Environmental Protection for China's Outbound Investment and Cooperation, developed by China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Environmental Protection, as well as China's 'green credit' guidelines, which should shape the investment decisions of Chinese banks through the assessment of environmental and social risks.

"China's Green Credit guidelines are likely to play a growing role in shaping the nature of Chinese investment both within China and overseas," says Blackmore. "But it will be important to monitor the implementation of these guidelines and their impact."

Much of China's visible investment in Latin American comes from state-owned enterprises. In 2012, in Brazil, these provided 93 per cent of all Chinese investment. And while China’s Industrial Bank has signed up to the Equator Principles -- by which banks can manage environmental and social issues in project financing -- other Chinese banks that lead financing of overseas direct investment have not, and the Chinese government does not yet endorse the Principles. National standards developed in China may end up being far more important – and having more legitimacy – than ‘international’ standards like the Equator Principles.

The report shows how host country legislation and enforcement is also important in determining the performance standards of Chinese companies and in legislating the types of investments that can take place.

Peru, for instance, is more flexible than Brazil in the types of investments it allows. While Chinese investors have set up new companies and projects in Peru that are fully Chinese owned, or obtained majority shares of local companies, Chinese investors in Brazil have typically had to partner with local companies. As a result Chinese investors in Brazil have inherited the sustainability agendas of local companies, which are relatively well developed because of tougher legislation and enforcement and greater external pressures to be sustainable and accountable.

"While Chinese companies have often been accused of performing worse in terms of sustainability than their foreign and domestic counterparts, evidence for this is far from conclusive," says Blackmore.

"Chinese investors face steep learning curves with respect to local practices and the contexts in which they are operating – both cultural and regulatory. But they are showing signs of increased recognition of the importance of sustainability in informing investment decisions and in building long-term relationships and China’s reputation in the region. The key test will be putting these good intentions into practice."

Download the report Sustainability standards in China-Latin America trade and investment

Volunteer, biodiversity team

nick.turner@iied.org (nickt) — Mon, 6 May 2013 04:00:09 +0100

The biodiversity team are seeking a volunteer to work on the Poverty and Conservation Learning Group initiative. The ideal candidate will be a person looking to gain experience in an international environment and development research institute and who has a particular interest in communications, information management and networking.

The position is ideally for six months part time (2-3 days a week), but alternatives can be explored.

Summary of the department

The biodiversity team aims to highlight the multiple values of biodiversity – for local livelihoods, poverty alleviation and to promote conservation mechanisms that support good governance and social justice.

Summary of the role

To develop, maintain and update the website of the Poverty and Conservation Learning Group.
To produce monthly newsletters for the Poverty and Conservation Learning Group.
To improve the communication strategy of the Poverty and Conservation Learning Group through the use of a range of social networking tools, like electronic mailing lists, blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn.

See terms of reference linked below for more information.

CBA7: 7th conference on community-based adaptation to climate change

nick.turner@iied.org (nickt) — Fri, 3 May 2013 12:35:16 +0100

Over 250 participants attended IIED’s 7th community-based adaptation to climate change conference (CBA7) in Dhaka, Bangladesh in April 2013, with many more taking part virtually through a live blog which featured live web streamed video, comments and social media. The conference shared the latest thinking on approaches for mainstreaming community-based adaptation into international, national and local planning and processes.

Catch up on the highlights (including comments, blogs, social media coverage and more) from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 and watch interviews below with speakers and participants.

CBA7 video interviews

The interviews are included in a playlist – click on the playlist and scroll through to see all the videos available to watch.

Plenary session recordings, April 2013

Missed the webcast? Watch all 42 plenary session recordings on our YouTube playlist.

Feeling overwhelmed? A programme of events is available to download so you can see who spoke when to help you decide which webcasts to watch.

Powerpoint presentations and photos

See presentations on SlideShare

Gallery of photos from the event on Flickr

Virtual conferences: not in the future, but now

suzanne.fisher@iied.org (Suzanne Fisher) — Fri, 3 May 2013 11:53:32 +0100

In this digitally connected world, could virtual participants meaningfully follow and take part in an IIED conference, cutting carbon footprints and expense?

Last year at a conference I met a project manager and mum who said that she and many of her colleagues were increasingly opting out of attending conferences. Worried about her carbon footprint, the expense of flights and accommodation and being away from her family, she felt conferences didn’t always justify the expense and extra exhaust fumes. And for many people, attending an international conference is financially impossible.

Generating evidence through hands-on research with grassroots partners is one of IIED’s key aims. Helping participants get inside conference rooms where knowledge is being shared, and helping them actively participate in proceedings by asking questions or leaving comments is an important part of that work.

This year at CBA7 the web team at IIED used a number of different technologies to do just that. We used Scribble Live, also used by a number of news agencies, including Reuters, CNN and the Press Association, to report live from the conference.

Once up and running, it allowed participants (both those at the conference and also ‘virtual’ online ones) to:

read curated content on the live blog, including comments and social media postings that participants had published on social media accounts and which were then pulled through onto the live blog page
live ‘report’ from the event (through comments and social media content)
leave comments – for instance, by watching the live web cast and then asking questions online.

How we did it

The live pages were actually running on the Scribble live site, so we needed to make alterations to make the pages conform to the IIED site design. The web team adapted some of the style sheet (CSS) settings on the Scribble live template, changing fonts, font sizes and colours, so that it sat seamlessly when embedded within the IIED website. And we embedded the live blogging technology onto our website to ensure that we generated traffic on our site.

All the content posted by participants ‘pulled through’ onto a dashboard, and was checked before it was posted live to ensure no defamatory comments or spam ended up on the live blog.

The result

Was the hard work worth it? The online statistics suggests it was. We had 203 comments on the live blog. This means that during the four day conference 203 people bothered to log in and participate in the discussion, which shows a high level of interest.

Overall we had 3,568 unique page views on our CBA7 web pages (including the live blog and the highlights pages) from 21 – 29 April 2013. If we include the CBA-related blogs and press releases in total the figure is 4,367 unique page views for this time period. This is an impressive achievement for eight days.

Likely a two-hour online debate on how the poorest can act to adapt, hosted by IIED and AlertNet Climate and held a few weeks before the event, helped drive online traffic and interest in the conference. According to AlertNet Climate, that chat alone had 832 unique visitors, 80 of whom posted comments themselves. At least some of those participants likely followed CBA7 virtually. Read a storify summary of the AlertNet Climate chat.

Viewer figures were higher on the first day and then progressively tailed off on the following days. We can only guess why, but generally the live blogging model works best in short and sharp bursts – and it’s harder to maintain momentum over a four day period.

Teething problems

We produced a web page with highlights from the live blog each day, including social media, comments and web link highlights from the day. The first day I tried to use Scribble live to do this, but found that it only pulled through the first day of social media data. On contacting Scribble live, they said this was a bug they were addressing. So, my experience was that this functionality is still in its infancy. I switched to using Storify, which is built to curate user generated content on the last three days. Read the online highlights from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4.

Given the number of comments we received, we were under-resourced to respond to all the virtual participants in a timely and meaningful way. Many comments were quite technical in nature, and required responses from researchers. We will need to think this through in more detail before the next ‘virtual’ event.

A major obstacle that we faced in Bangladesh was connectivity. It often dropped out in the main conference hall, which meant that at times the live web cast stopped working for virtual participants and that we couldn’t live report on the conference. Many of the hotel conference rooms, where side events were being held, didn’t have wifi. All of this no doubt had an impact on people’s social media and web participation, as most people couldn’t get onto the live blog to comment or onto social media to live tweet from the side panel sessions, or lost their connection in the main hall and gave up.

But, the figures show that, despite the obstacles, there was great interest to follow the proceedings and to take part.

Of course, there are important perks to attending conferences. Meeting someone face to face over a coffee is invariably better than communicating virtually. Most of the community-based adaptation conferences involved participants visiting communities and projects to see first-hand how communities are adapting to climate change. That kind of experience can’t be replicated online.

But this was an important first step in helping virtual participants take part. And it made me wonder: will we all be virtual participants by 2020?

Do you have any experience of managing a virtual conference - if so, what technology did you? Any lessons to share? Were you a real or virtual CBA7 participant? Do you have any suggestions on how we could improve the experience for virtual participants next year? Please get in touch and leave a comment below.

In Our World: 3 May (transparency, investment, environment and more)

mike.shanahan@iied.org (Mike Shanahan) — Fri, 3 May 2013 11:01:08 +0100

"In Our World" relates to IIED's world of environment and development. It connects us with what’s going on in both the real world and online worlds.

Out in the Open

VIDEO: Kofi Anna urges civil society to work with politicians and businesses to improve transparency and accountability in the extractive industries.
The Access Initiative has published the Jakarta declaration on strengthening the right to information for people and the environment.
To mark World Press Freedom Day – the Committee to Protect Journalists published an Impunity Index.
Alice Harrison asks how transparent the Green Climate Fund will be.
Technology to promote transparency around land acquisitions.

Climate Change

As the latest round of UN talks end today, Ed King has a great summary of the big issues…
... and an interview with UNFCCC chief Christiana Figueres about where the talks are headed.
Poorest nations show low-carbon willing in climate talks
This month could see the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide reach 400 parts per million.
Jake Schmidt outlines five reasons we need a new global agreement on climate change by 2015

Urban Angles

Why Africa should be wary of its ‘new cities’, by Jane Lumumba.
Creating organised communities of slum dwellers in Uganda.

Water Stories

Why has water-rich Yunnan become a drought hotspot? By Yang Fangyi and Zhou Jiading.
VIDEO – “Damocracy”, documentary highlights battles over the Belo Monte and Ilisu dams in Brazil.

Forests, Land and Biodiversity

Global Witness says Africa’s logging permit crisis puts EU at risk of laundering illegal timber imports
Greater Mekong countries 'lost one-third of forest cover in 40 years'.
Linking deforestation and agricultural sourcing is an important first step to consumer goods companies meeting their zero deforestation target, writes Joanne Sonenshine.
Hazel Healy reports from Mozambique on a land rush in full swing.
Europe debates draft biopiracy law to compensate indigenous people for use of their knowledge.

Invest or Divest

Norway’s government pension fund divests US$314 million from unsustainable palm oil producers.
Ten US cities commit to pursue fossil fuel divestment.
Naomi Klein argues that big environment groups are hypocrites for investing in fossil fuels.
Led by Mexico, clean energy investment is booming in Latin America with US$4.6 billion recorded in 2012.
Deborah Brautigam explains why a new database on Chinese finance in Africa is “way off”.
Investors bet on Asia's smoggy, polluted cities, writes Anjani Trivedi.

Development Futures

Anju Sharma says the last thing the world needs is another “to-do” list for developing countries policed by rich countries.
Should overseas aid be spent on the military? Dan Smith takes a look.

Mike Shanahan is IIED’s press officer.

Postdoctorate researcher

donatella.gnisci@iied.org (Donatella Gnisci) — Fri, 3 May 2013 09:22:23 +0100

IIED in collaboration with CIFOR and ZSL is undertaking a systematic review of the effectiveness of alternative livelihoods projects. The project partners are looking to hire a postdoctoral researcher to lead the review process. The appointment will be made as a 12 month consultancy to CIFOR but the appointee could be located either at CIFOR’s office in Bogor or at IIED’s office in London. A salary of c US$40,000 is available for the 12 month period, ideally starting in June 2013.

US Supreme Court dims a light in corporate accountability

lorenzo.cotula@iied.org (Lorenzo Cotula) — Wed, 1 May 2013 12:11:16 +0100

A recent US judgment is a setback in efforts to improve corporate accountability, but promising developments elsewhere are creating new opportunities.

As the spread of economic globalisation continues to extend its reach, competing interests backed by unequal negotiating power are coming into contest. From the oilfields of Nigeria to the farmland of Laos through to the copper mines of Papua New Guinea, local villagers find their claims to land and resources squeezed by concessions for petroleum, mining, forestry or agricultural developments.

Legal recourse as a pathway to accountability

Local-to-global alliances of affected villagers, federations of producer organisations, activists, NGOs, diaspora associations and public interest lawyers are pursuing multiple strategies to hold governments and companies to account.

Legal recourse in national, international and transnational legal arenas provides opportunities for villagers to seek justice and accountability – as discussed in a recent IIED report exploring accountability in the global rush for Africa’s land, for example.

In recent years, communities who have felt wronged by large natural resource projects have brought their claims to national courts, to regional and global human rights bodies, and to grievance mechanisms that companies, lenders and multi-stakeholder bodies estalished to deal with complaints.

Transnational court litigation – that is, suing a company in its home country, or in a third country for the activities of its subsidiaries overseas – has also emerged as an important part of this wider set of legal strategies. But the contours of transnational court litigation are changing fast.

US courts shine a light

For the past three decades, the United States has provided a unique legal arena for efforts to hold companies to account through transnational litigation. The Alien Tort Statute, a statute adopted in 1789, gives US courts jurisdiction for violations of customary international law. This statute was mainly intended to fight piracy, and remained an obscure and little-used law for centuries.

But in 1980, successful litigation brought by a Paraguayan national against a Paraguayan government official for alleged human rights violations that took place in Paraguay changed the relevance of the statute, because US courts held that they had jurisdiction to hear cases involving conduct with no or minimal connection to US territory.

This case opened the door to a flurry of transnational litigation against companies accused of ‘aiding and abetting’ foreign governments in violating human rights overseas.

Transnational litigation based on this law has provided relief to victims of human rights violations in different parts of the world. There are many reasons why claimants may want to litigate in the United States, instead of their own country. Claimants may have little faith in the independence or effectiveness of their national courts. They may have inadequate legal support in their country, and they may be able to obtain higher damages and more easily enforceable judgements in the United States. There is also symbolic value in bringing a case against a parent company in a highly visible public arena.

The wind is changing

In recent years, however, US courts have taken an increasingly restrictive approach to interpreting the Alien Tort Statute. In 2010, an appeals court found that companies could not be sued under the statute, arguing that there is no clear norm of customary international law that makes companies responsible for human rights violations – though other judgements held otherwise.

On 17 April 2013, the Supreme Court issued a long-awaited judgement on a high-profile claim brought by Nigerian nationals against a European oil giant. Years ago, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights found that the Nigerian government had violated fundamental rights of the Ogoni people in the 1990s, when the Ogonis were struggling against the marginalisation and environmental degradation associated with oil developments in the Niger Delta.

In the US lawsuit, the claimants accused Shell of supporting the Nigerian government in its repression of Ogoni leaders. The Supreme Court dismissed the complaint unanimously, though judges differed in the reasoning.

The majority opinion held that laws should be presumed not to have extraterritorial application unless they explicitly state otherwise, and that there was no evidence that the Alien Tort Statute was intended to depart from this presumption. Because the alleged human rights violations occurred entirely outside US territory, and because the suit was brought against a company based outside the US, the court held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the case.

A fatal blow?

This change in interpretation is a major blow for human rights activists, and for victims of human rights abuses worldwide. Only a few years ago, the same oil company agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle a related claim brought under the Alien Tort Statute by relatives of other Ogoni leaders, who were killed in the 1990s as part of the Nigerian government’s crackdown on the Ogonis. The company denied any wrongdoing, but said it hoped the settlement would aid reconciliation.

Many pending cases filed under the Alien Tort Statute are now likely to be dismissed. The Supreme Court has already ordered that a ruling that affirmed US jurisdiction in a lawsuit against a UK-based mining company be reconsidered. The lawsuit was brought against the company for alleged human rights violations in Papua New Guinea.

But this is not the end of transnational litigation under the Alien Tort Statute.The statute could still be relied on in future lawsuits against US companies.The court held that claims must be connected to US territory ‘with sufficient force’, but it did not provide clear guidance on what level of connection might be required.

Human rights activists will no doubt work to push the boundaries of this opening. But it is equally possible that US companies will lobby harder against the use of legislation that now puts them at a disadvantage compared to their international competitors.

Also, depending on the jurisdiction, transnational litigation could be brought under the ordinary law of torts – the norms whereby any person who wrongfully harms others must bear responsibility for the actions. Those who suffer damage as a result of activities carried out by subsidiaries operating overseas may try to sue the parent company in its home state under these norms. There is experience with this type of litigation in some jurisdictions, for example in the United Kingdom, though there are also considerable legal and practical barriers.

Looking east

But the notion that transnational litigation can provide a legal arena for the pursuit of corporate accountability is spreading beyond western countries. In Thailand, the National Human Rights Commission has been prepared to hear complaints involving natural resource investments (such as the building of dams or agricultural plantations) made by Thai companies operating in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

For example, in July 2012 the Thai human rights commission found that it had jurisdiction to examine a complaint filed by the Cambodia Legal Education Center, a Cambodian public interest law group, on behalf of villagers affected by a Thai-owned sugar cane plantation and processing facility in Cambodia. The lawsuit involved allegations of illegal confiscation of land from local people, the use of force, threats and intimidation in evicting villagers from their land and the killing of their livestock.

As the balance of global economic power and the source of investment flows are shifting east, new openings for transnational litigation in emerging economies are undoubtedly a positive development.

Read Accountability in Africa's land rush: what role for legal empowerment

Find out more about our Legal tools for citizen empowerment project

In Our World: 26 April (cities and forests, mines, climate and more)

mike.shanahan@iied.org (Mike Shanahan) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:11:50 +0100

"In Our World" relates to IIED's world of environment and development. It connects us with what’s going on in both the real world and online worlds.

Gold Standard

Afua Hirsch reports on Ghana's gold rush in an article and film that discovers how Chinese immigrants are profiting from industrialising the country's small-scale mining industry.

Nature’s Riches

The 2013 Biodiversity Barometer [PDF] found that 75% of consumers surveyed worldwide are aware of biodiversity, while 48% can give a correct definition of the term.
Human actions threaten the world's pollinating insects.
Rachel Kyte says natural capital accounting is central to the World Bank’s core mission.

Tales from the Cities

The battle for Golibar: urban splintering in Mumbai.
William Cobbett, argues that cities can eliminate slums is by getting behind the people who live in them.
Architecture must be defended: informality and the agency of space.
The 70 per cent in Ghana (hint: it’s the informal sector).
Can a party for the urban poor rise in the Philippines?

Forest News

A new study says Brazil's success in reducing deforestation will be hard to replicate in other countries where commodity production is a major driver in forest loss.
Forest-dwelling Borneo children foresee grim times ahead.
Since 2004, 600,000 hectares of forest cleared for mining in India.
Cloud forests keep tropical dams in water.

Viewpoints

Jacob Scherr asks if PINCs-- partnerships, initiatives, networks, and coalitions -- can save the planet
Science and NGO practice are closer than they appear, say Anita Makri and Nick Ishmael Perkins.
‘Buttering the parsnips’ – how to ensure research has an impact. By Simon Bager.
Anju Sharma says we need a marriage counsellor to overcome distrust between the environment and development camps and their parallel SDGs and MDG processes.
Hannah Ryder suggests a user-review rating system for development knowledge.
Does farm size really matter in Africa?

Climate and Development

Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and the UEA block climate change from UN poverty goals,
Minister Xie Zhenhua announces Chinese Climate Law within 1 to 2 years at GLOBE Event in Beijing.
Are current efforts to integrate climate change and development misdirected? Tom Tanner blogs about this IDS event (video).
Straight-talking John Ashton answers questions on climate negotiations and policy.
China taking unfair blame for its exported carbon emissions.

China’s Challenge

The environment in China and the return of civil society, by Isabel Hilton.
In China, breathing becomes a childhood risk, writes Edward Wong.
Audio slideshow: Lu Guang's 'the polluted landscape'.

Least Developed Countries

Energy subsidies in developing countries: An inefficient policy for LDCs especially?
Over-armed and underfunded: essays examine the impact of disarmament on LDCs.

Mike Shanahan is IIED’s press officer.