Sustainable Development

many biologists consider that protecting ecosystems is a matter of societal choice and not an issue of market. They claim that taking care of ecosystem services should be a matter of policy, not of money, just like health, safe drinking water and so many others. They argue that values are extremely difficult to assess...and values tend to lose when compared to - and competing with - other drivers operating in the opposite direction, for example in Argentina, the international price of soybean. Is it possible to separate markets from policy? Who’s paying the policy?

This article examines how pastoralists of the Horn of Africa negotiate the need for herd mobility (production) under conditions of variable rainfall and grazing conditions, with the necessity to market animals at fixed market locations. It addresses a set of related questions: (1) are herder mobility and other production decisions being altered by improved market opportunities; (2) what roles do markets play in pastoralist drought and drought recovery strategies; (3) which groups of producers are taking advantage of and/or benefiting from which market chains; and (4) what factors other than price help to explain why and when pastoralists sell livestock? The article concludes that macro-economic forecasts about
supply response in the region may be overly optimistic and off target, because they fail to appreciate the non-price factors that influence pastoralist households’ decisions to sell livestock.

This article has the scope to open the discussion about the sustainable development in the city of Santos-SP by the proposal to implement a system of green corridors on the banks of the city’s drainage channels, which are currently occupied by areas of vehicles parking.
Primarily, at this moment, specific actions will be analyzed aiming to diagnose the validity of the proposal. The history of the channels and its relevance to the city, as far as the health issues and the urban landscape are concerned, will be considered for this study.

A atividade turística assume um papel central para a grande maioria das regiões, gerando receitas e criando empregos. Num contexto atual, verifica-se que o turismo balnear é o mais significativo para as zonas costeiras. Além de se constatar um crescente aumento nas receitas turísticas e no respetivo desenvolvimento económico, evidenciam-se impactos essencialmente a nível social e ambiental. Portanto, torna-se imprescindível a inclusão de um contexto sustentável, como forma de a garantir a autenticidade, singularidade e preservação das características de uma região. O objetivo deste artigo prende-se no estudo do projeto NaturRia, pertencente ao concelho da Murtosa. O projeto consiste num conjunto de percursos ribeirinhos, onde visitantes e residentes podem vislumbrar de paisagens naturais únicas, bem como conhecer as tradições e costumes típicos da região da Murtosa. O NaturRia visa a conservação da fauna e da flora típicas da região, bem como a promoção da mobilidade ecológica, já que as rotas destinam-se a indivíduos que pretendam circular a pé ou de bicicleta. Conclui-se que o projeto NaturRia ambiciona preservar as zonas costeiras através do combate à erosão costeira e da preservação das diversas espécies que habitam neste local. Contudo, a sua aplicabilidade prática é praticamente nula porque não há o devido contributo dos agentes locais. A necessidade de consciencialização dos residentes assume um dos principais aspetos a serem explorados, pois é através das suas ações que se poderá garantir a sustentabilidade do destino.

The Caspian Project is a weekly digital magazine organized by the online analytical resource, Modern Diplomacy. Dr. Matthew Crosston is the Senior Editor of the project, which aims to acquaint people with this critically undervalued region of the world. The analyses go far beyond the standard issue of energy and encapsulates economics, politics, culture, religion, global affairs, conflict and peace.

This edition of the Caspian Project testifies to the enormous wealth of analytical opportunity seen all across the region. While in the past we have enjoyed producing single-issue specializations (which we did over the past two weeks with The Russian Debate and The Persian Gambit, to great fanfare and applause), the true essence of the Project is to have great diversity for the readers every issue. No. 11 as it turns out is something of a hybrid of these two aspects: readers with this issue get quite a bit of diversity while also getting to enjoy a mini-specialization, as a number of the articles inside deal with different aspects of the Russian intelligence community, namely, the Federal Security Service or FSB.

So, on top of some very thought-provoking and hard-hitting articles dealing with the ethics, surveillance, and transnational activities of Russian intelligence, readers ALSO get to learn more in this issue about the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Turkmenistan’s human rights record, and Kazakhstan’s entrance into the WTO. It is an issue, therefore, that cuts across domestic politics, global affairs, security, economics, and international organizations. This is something we at Modern Diplomacy hold dearly when it comes to the Caspian Project: so much that is happening in the world today, affecting so many countries, transects in one way or another the greater Caspian sea region. It shall always be a hub of activity and importance, far beyond the standard call about energy and natural resources.

    The current world is going through a number of challenges in terms of sustainability.  The climate change, the increase of ageing world population and that of consumption of natural resources are just a few subjects in which our current civilisation is at stake, forcing us to change the way we live our lives to allow future generations to enjoy at least the same life quality.
    Little attention if any is paid, however, to the fact that our monetary system is not designed to be sustainable, which means that we are obliged to end up with facing with economic crises sooner or later.  The legal tenders are usually regarded as an indispensable tool for us to live such an advanced economy, but the way they are currently issued as bank credit requires borrowers to repay not only the principals but also the compound interest which grows exponentially, and such a system can only last when there is more and more money injected into the economy, indebting the society furthermore.  While sustainable development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations, 1987), it is unfortunately little known that our very currency system today is incompatible with this sort of development, especially by incrementing permanently the debts in the society, discounting future assets and redistributing the wealth for the rich. 
    This article begins with analysing five unsustainable features of our current monetary system according to Lietaer et al (2012), questioning the status quo in which money is issued as bank credit and its creation is at the mercy of private banks whose primary goal is to maximise profits and not to pump out enough money supply into the whole economy, with the compound interest rate which forces every economy to grow exponentially and increases the income gap, and whereby the social capital is eroded.  Then necessary features are indicated to solve such problems, with special focus on demurrage, a monetary reform suggested by Gesell (1916) to put a penalty fee for those who hoard money.
    Then different SCCs are classified according to their typology and based on the collateral, such as those backed with official tenders, with other goods and/or services or tax payment, those based with users’ mutual trust, those issued as bank credit but under different criteria, and fiat currencies, with explanations on their advantages and sometimes disadvantages as well.  And finally, examples are given to prove that SCCs can contribute to the sustainable development.

At least one billion people around the world struggle with insufficient access to water. However, the global water crisis is not, as some suggest, primarily driven by water scarcity. Although limited water supply and inadequate institutions are indeed part of the problem, we assert that the global water crisis is fundamentally one of injustice and
inequality. This declaration expresses our understanding of water injustice and how it can be addressed.

Focusing on how to improve the quality of education for sustainable national development in Nigeria, the study implicated the fact that once quality education is assured, the outcome of it is development. Discussion in the paper pointed out the fact that school managers have a lot to do for schools to achieve their goal of ensuring quality education. It is however noted in tertiary institutions that despite accreditation instituted they are found wanting in the area of ensuring improved quality education and hence stunted development observed over the years. Corruption and examination malpractice are identified to be rubbishing every efforts made towards attainment of improved quality education that could guarantee sustained national development in Nigeria. It was recommended that accreditation exercise in tertiary institutions be strengthened and as well extended to primary and secondary schools to help in instilling consciousness on the managers and other stake holders. That school managers or administrators should be monitored to ensure that they faithfully carry out their statutory duties and that concerted efforts should be made by school proprietors, managers, teachers, parents and the society to curb corruption and examination malpractice in schools.

The threats that Andean water user collectives face are ever-growing in a globalizing society. Water is power and engenders social struggle. In the Andean region, water rights struggles involve not only disputes over the access to water, infrastructure and related resources, but also over the contents of water rules and rights, the recognition of legitimate authority, and the discourses that are mobilized to sustain water governance structures and rights orders. While open and large-scale water battles such as Bolivia’s 'Water Wars' or nationwide mobilizations in Ecuador get the most public attention, low-profile and more localized water rights encounters, ingrained in local territories, are far more widespread and have an enormous impact on the Andean waterscapes. This paper highlights both water arenas and the ways they operate between the legal and the extralegal. It shows how local collectives build on their own water rights foundations to manage internal water affairs but which simultaneously offer an important home-base for strategizing wider water defence manoeuvres. Hand-in-hand with inwardly reinforcing their rights bases, water user groups aim for horizontal and vertical linkages thereby creating strategic alliances. Sheltering an internal school for rights and identity development, reflection and organisation, these local community foundations, through open and subsurface linkages and fluxes, provide the groundwork for upscaling their water rights defence networks to national and transnational arenas.

Tourism is considered as the least-cost model for development and often ignores its effects on the edifice on which it is built. This paper focus on the tourist- host relationship in Kumarakom, adopting the theoretical framework of Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC). The study is of the view that TALC hypothesized a slow demise of tourist centres if due consideration is not given to the interrelationship between the entities. Hence the study urges to give due importance to environment aspects in order to make tourism a sustainable.

Payment for Environmental Services (PES) schemes receive much policy attention as a new approach to protect ecosystems and foster livelihood development. In the Andean region, policy makers and development institutes have embraced this approach of applying market mechanisms to regulate water allocation and territorial conservation. By critically analyzing PES, this paper argues that such schemes threaten to break down local water control through undermining community institutions and collective action. The introduction of ‘market rationality’ produces replacement of context- and history-rooted “water territories” by commoditizing and individualizing the complex array of mutual dependence relations and Andean water management arrangements. Policy makers and development institutes, rather than relying on expert knowledge, objectified values, and blueprint approaches, need to profoundly consider place-based history and diversity and local-global power relations

Kumarakom Panchayath falls under Kottayam taluk and the Pallom development block of the Kottayam district. At present 61.22 Hectare of land is categorized as Resort area. Due to rapid growth of tourism, there will be a higher demand for land which will result in the faster development of the remaining resorts. It is assumed that over and above 61.22 ha of already committed resort areas an additional 40.44 ha of perennial crop with settlement will also be utilized for resort development and related activities. For Kumarakom panchayath a future scenario (Year 2011) of spatial structure has been worked out here based on the existing scenario and the envisaged changes in the land use structure. In addition to the projected population of 27,300, the tourist equivalent population also has to be considered for evaluating all central facilities requirement as well as utilities service requirement for Kumarakom panchayath. This means Kumarakom Panchayath is loaded with 42,000 (27,300 + 14,700) population instead of 27,300 natural population for providing services and facilities. The holding capacity of 91.5 ha of resort area in Kumarakom Panchayath estimated till 2011 will be 3660 beds (40 x 91.5 beds). The holding capacity of tourist beds in Aymanam and Arpookara panchayaths will be 20% of 3660 i.e. 732 beds.  Thus, total holding capacity will be approximately 4392 beds. Usual tourist staff ratio of a luxury resort of three to five star is 1:3.  Therefore, population equivalent for a tourist is assumed as 4. This means for a holding capacity 3660 tourist in Kumarakom panchayaths, population equivalent of tourist will be 14, 640 (3660 x 4).  Various suggestions regarding restricted development and environmental protection are suggested through this study.

Hungary, like many other Eastern and Southern European countries, is suffering from a serious housing crisis induced by social estrangement, an aging society, out-dated housing typologies, rigid legal structures and a lack of long-term strategies. Bottom-up initiated co-housing developments could be a potential solution, but the development process is blocked by several factors like memories about “top-down housing cooperatives” forced by the socialist regime, the lack of tradition in bottom-up developments and the lack of knowledge about co-housing. So how can one start the process?
The first step in the realisation of co-housing projects is knowledge transfer through introduction, promotion and education. What are the main points of introduction? On which platform should one promote co-housings? How can one integrate co-housing to education? We are looking for the answers to these questions to start co-housing projects in Hungary and other non-co-housing countries.

Emergencies occur nearly every day and affect many displaced and refugee communities around the world, leaving people in urgent need of help to survive and recover. The circumstances can range from catastrophic rapid-onset natural disasters and disease outbreaks to slow-onset crises. In any of these situations, rapid assistance can save lives. African local communities, relief agencies and local organisations are the pioneer responders that deliver support within hours or days, when the need is most immediate response is critical. It is thus important to understand how local communities and these institutions can be made better prepared to respond to and recover from emergency situations. The discussion will focus on the response of pioneer responders to humanitarian crisis situations to date and how they can be made better prepared to respond to and recover from emergency situations.
As part of the global coalition for peace and human security, our vision must be inspired to create an Africa that is free of authoritarianism and where every African can enjoy the full benefits of the right to life in peace, harmony and meaningful livelihood security. Innovative actions that ensure support for people running away from conflicts include inter alia, building the capacity of pioneer responders, changing the status quo ante of humanitarian action, developing humanitarian think tanks and innovative humanitarian partnership with local humanitarian groups and communities. The value of such partnership should embrace a set of common ideals and principles based on strong African political leadership and commitment as the basis for effective action. Hence, conflict early warning information, capacity assessment of potential host communities and CSOs based on the early warning, establishing Humanitarian Emergency Fund and using community adaptive strategies to build sustainable livelihoods: integrated packages of policy, technology, investment strategies and appropriate decision-making tools, built on local adaptive strategies.

Property relations in irrigation and water rights distribution have become central issues in current policy debates and rural development initiatives. Nevertheless, there is still a great lack of understanding about what water rights-in-practice are, how they function, and how they are created, consolidated, and transformed from abstract sociolegal categories into local procedures and in-the-field practices. Understanding users’ rationality and local expressions of water rights in peasant and indigenous communities is of crucial importance if we want to comprehend their claim for water rights and perhaps support local empowerment processes in common property water control systems. This article explores irrigation development in the Ceceles zone in Ecuador. It is based on action research that has pulled the researchers into an analysis of the peasants’ struggle to acquire and define water rights and to achieve recognition for the legitimacy of their normative system authorizing those rights. The article analyzes how different interest groups have sought to defend and control rule making amidst conflicting normative frameworks. The research made clear that actual water rights are not simply defined in lawyers’ offices and at engineers’ design desks; they are negotiated and enforced in processes of social struggle. Moreover, water rights not only give access to water but also constitute power relations that define the control over decision making on water management. Water rights are dynamic, and even long-standing rights may be sacrificed to strengthen local autonomous organization.

Some of the biggest challenges faced in contemporary cities involve the unintended consequences that silently emerge from local actions and urban interventions. As local, cumulative effects, they may amount into endemic problems that affect from the city form to the elusive workings and social, microeconomic and energy performances of cities. Using Thomas Schelling’s insights into individual choices and their large-scale, unintended consequences, this work examines processes of city-making. Identifying a number of Schelling-type urban emergences, this article focuses on a radical example: the chain of silent implications stemming from the fixation of particular building types, leading to the reduction of pedestrian movement, stimulus to car dependence and decreases in urban mobility, the patterning of fragmented urban landscapes and the emergence of other urban pathologies.