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PODCAST – Mitigating Conflict Through Natural Resource Management
›March 17, 2008 // By Sean PeoplesNew research suggests that strengthening local natural resource management (NRM) can also improve governance and reduce the risk of violent conflict. Community involvement in governing natural resources is vital to successful conflict prevention, however. In this ECSP podcast, Masego Madzwamuse of the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) Region of Southern Africa office describes how IUCN’s Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Support Programme in Botswana helps communities manage their own rangeland, forests, and water. Illustrating NRM-governance-conflict connections in a different part of the world, David Bray of Florida International University recounts his work in two adjacent watersheds in Guerrero, Mexico—one where strong community-led NRM helped prevent conflict, and another where weak community institutions contributed to violent situations.
Click below to stream the podcast:
Mitigating Conflict through Natural Resource Management: Download. -
Rising Food Prices Destabilizing Dozens of Countries
›March 12, 2008 // By Sonia SchmanskiRising prices for staple crops like rice, wheat, and corn—driven by growing demand, poor harvests in some regions, the high price of oil, and the conversion of many crops to biofuel—have spurred recent protests in Mexico, Morocco, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Senegal, where people are becoming unable to afford to feed themselves and their families. Last week, the European Union announced its largest food aid package ever, dedicating $243 million to Africa, Asia, and the
Last month, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that skyrocketing food prices have caused 36 countries to need external food assistance, and noted that many of these countries have seen their food shortage difficulties exacerbated by extreme weather or violent conflict. Earlier this month, the FAO released a report showing that climate change will likely diminish agricultural output in the Middle East and North Africa. (Visit the FAO’s World Food Situation Portal for more valuable data and reports on food scarcity.)
Some developing countries have found it more economical to import food than produce their own, which has simultaneously decreased global food supply and increased demand. In addition, when developing countries like China and India do achieve greater prosperity, this generally leads to higher consumption of meat and dairy products, which require more grain—and eight times more land—to produce than vegetables and staples.
Experts and leaders agree that boosting agricultural production should be a top international priority. “It is clear,” said John Beddington, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, “that science and research to increase the efficiency of agricultural production per unit of land is critical.” In addition, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently suggested that a “Green Revolution” in Africa could help increase efficiency and food security. (Read more on prospects for a Green Revolution in Africa here.)
Speaking last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, World Bank President Robert Zoellick called hunger and malnutrition “the forgotten Millennium Development Goal” and argued that “increased food prices and their threat—not only to people but also to political stability—have made it a matter of urgency to draw the attention it needs.”
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Climate Change Will Threaten Global, European Security, Says EU Report
›March 11, 2008 // By Rachel WeisshaarA European Union (EU) report released ahead of a major EU summit on March 13-14 warns that climate change is likely to create or worsen a host of local, regional, and global security challenges. “Climate change is best viewed as a threat multiplier which exacerbates existing trends, tensions and instability,” says the report.
Reiterating conclusions other climate-security reports have drawn, the report argues that shrinking per capita supplies of water, food, energy, and other natural resources could generate political, economic, and social unrest, as well as large-scale migration—much of it from developing countries to European ones.
The report, written by Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European commissioner for external relations, also warns that as the polar ice cap in the Arctic melts and exposes previously unnavigable shipping routes and large unclaimed oil and natural gas reserves, it could trigger new geopolitical rivalries. -
Kenyan Army Cracks Down on Mount Elgon Militia
›March 11, 2008 // By Rachel WeisshaarThe Kenyan army launched a major assault on the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) yesterday, said officials. More than 500 people have been killed in land clashes involving the SLDF over the past year and a half, including 13 last week.
According to the International Crisis Group, the SLDF, which is based in the Mount Elgon region of western Kenya, is one of the strongest and best-armed non-state groups in Kenya. It comprises members of a Kalenjin sub-clan who believe the government’s Chebyuk Settlement Scheme, which redistributed land in the area, was unjust and should be nullified.
The crackdown—involving hundreds of soldiers and five helicopters—is unusual because Kenyan governments have largely avoided addressing the incendiary issue of land reform. -
How Will Population Affect Climate Change?
›March 4, 2008 // By Wilson Center StaffIn “An End to One-Child Families in China?,” a recent post on his blog, Dot Earth, New York Times science reporter Andrew Revkin comments on reports that China is considering ending its one-child policy. But a few of Revkin’s assumptions about population and its relationship to climate change are a tad oversimplified:
1. Revkin writes, “Demographers I consulted today said this [relaxing of the one-child policy] could overturn predictions of an imminent end to global population growth.”
Who’s predicting an imminent end to population growth? The latest UN mid-range projections predict the global population will continue to grow over the next several decades—to 9.2 billion by 2050. Furthermore, even without China abandoning its one-child policy, many already consider the UN mid-range projections optimistically low, since they assume that funding for family planning will continue to increase and the total fertility rate will continue to fall (neither of which is guaranteed). If fertility rates remain the same as they are today, the world population will be 11.9 billion in 2050.
2. Revkin also writes, “Urbanization is likely to help [reduce human impact on the environment] more than hurt.”But according to Brian O’Neill, a scientist who studies the relationships between demographic variables and climate change at the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Institute for the Study of Society and Environment, preliminary projections of future urbanization in China show higher levels of urbanization correlating with an increase, not a decrease, in carbon emissions. (For more on O’Neill’s findings, click here.) 2008 will mark the first time in history more people have lived in urban areas than in rural ones, and the UN Population Division estimates that by 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will reside in cities. Given that the vast majority of future population growth—including urban population growth—will be in developing countries, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly design in developing country cities will be crucial in the coming decades.
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PODCAST – Modeling the Future: Population and Climate Change
›March 3, 2008 // By Sean PeoplesUncovering the numerous variables that can influence global climate change can be daunting. Brian O’Neill and his colleagues are improving our understanding of some of these factors by modeling how demographic shifts—such as aging or urbanization—could impact climate change. O’Neill is a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Institute for the Study of Society and Environment in Boulder, Colorado, and also leads the Population and Climate Change (PCC) Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. Researching population-environment interactions and the science and policy of global climate change led to O’Neill’s recent work as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change‘s Fourth Assessment Report. In this podcast, O’Neill describes how shifting demographic patterns could influence a changing climate.
Click below to stream the podcast:
Modeling the Future of Population and Climate Change: Download. -
Uganda, Rwanda, DRC Join Together to Protect Threatened Mountain Gorillas
›February 26, 2008 // By Liat RacinRwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced an unprecedented joint effort to save the critically endangered mountain gorilla on February 20, 2008. As part of the 10-year Transboundary Strategic Plan, the countries will develop and adhere to a consistent set of conservation policies and laws in Virunga National Park, which overlaps the three countries and is home to more than half of the world’s 700 remaining mountain gorillas.
In addition to protecting the gorillas, the plan will also seek to promote regional stability and improve the livelihoods of nearby communities. The links between environmental conservation and poverty alleviation are particularly strong in areas close to gorilla habitats, where foreign tourists bring in significant revenue for local communities and national governments. The plan calls for more of the $500-a-person gorilla tracking permit revenue to go to local communities.
The first four years of the plan are being funded by the Dutch government, which Susan Lieberman of the World Wildlife Fund praised for recognizing “that species conservation and sustainable development and poverty alleviation go hand in hand.”
Heavy fighting in the DRC between Congolese troops and ex-general Laurent Nkunda’s rebel soldiers has prevented park rangers from entering Virunga National Park for months at a time. This has left the gorillas vulnerable to poaching and execution-style killings. In addition, the expansion of human settlements has damaged their habitat. -
Coca Cultivation Devastating Colombian National Parks
›February 25, 2008 // By Rachel WeisshaarToday’s Los Angeles Times reports that Colombia’s Macarena National Park is being deforested and polluted by illegal coca farms. After being driven from farmland by U.S.-sponsored aerial fumigation, coca growers have invaded Macarena and other national parks, where fumigation is illegal. In August 2006, six workers manually clearing coca in Macarena were killed by a bomb detonated by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Recently, Colombia has begun to shift away from aerial fumigation toward manual eradication, which is more effective but poses significant risks to the workers and the security personnel guarding them.
Coca farming gives rise to a wide range of negative environmental effects, including “chemical dumping, deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution, a shift to mono-agriculture, bio-diversity loss, and a potential loss of cultural eco-knowledge,” according to American University’s Trade and Environment Database.
A New York Times article from 1989 demonstrates that, sadly, coca trafficking has been causing violence and environmental destruction across South America for decades.
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