The copper and aluminum industries: A review of structural changes

In this article the evolution of the aluminium and copper industries is examined, with a view to deriving policy options open to Third World copper producers, which face a declining rate in the growth of consumption. Market structure, company behaviour and performance are analysed for both industries. The impact of energy and general economic crisis in copper and aluminium industries is assessed and market concentration trends are discussed. We conclude that Third World copper producers must change their basic orientation and become seriously involved in market development.     

An examination of the compatibility of World Bank policies towards population, development and biodiversity in the Third World

This paper addresses the compatibility of World Bank policies towards population growth, development and biodiversity in the Third World. The World Bank has been central to the design and implementation of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the remit of which includes the conservation of global biodiversity. However, the Bank's influence over the facility has in itself created controversy which may undermine its effectiveness. More significantly, the Bank's commitment to the GEF is subverted by its policies in other social and economic sectors. The World Bank, together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), directs the structural adjustment of Third World economies through economic deregulation and privatization. This approach exacerbates inequalities and further empowers large landowners who may then displace tenant farmers and claim exclusive rights to former common land. Thus, biodiversity loss occurs as large landowners reorientate the land use towards the production of export goods and dispossessed farmers invade marginal land. Population growth influences biodiversity loss through its contribution to agricultural intensification and the settlement of marginal land. The World Bank encourages this trend through its non-committal approach to population control, but more especially through structural adjustment's positive effect on fertility.     

Ethical and political problems in third world biotechnology

Third World countries are not pursuing scientific and technological policies leading to the development of strong biotechnological industries. Their leaders have been misled into believing that modern biotechnological industries can be built in the absence of strong, intellectually aggressive, and original scientific schools. Hence, they do not strive to reform their universities, which have weak commitments to research, and do not see the importance of having research hospitals able to generate excellent and relevant clinical investigation. These strategic gaps in scientific capability, the lack of governmental and corporate research funding, and the dependent nature of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries of the Third World make the development of competitive biotechnology a highly improbable event. If the present trend continues, underdeveloped countries will continue to be testing grounds for biological materials and agents, sources of valuable germplasm, and markets for high-value-added products and processes invented and manufactured in the First World. This article recommends that the international organizations collaborate in the urgent task of educating the Third World political leaders and administrators in the real problems connected with the generation of high technology.     

A biotechnological agenda for the third world

Third World countries should exploit the genetic information stored in their flora and fauna to develop independent and highly competitive biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries. The necessary condition for this policy to succeed is the reshaping of their universities and hospitals—to turn them into high-caliber research institutions dedicated to the creation of original knowledge and biomedical invention. Part of the service of the Third World foreign debt should be co-invested with the lending banks in high technology enterprises. This should be complemented with an active program of investments in First World biotech companies and university research departments which could contribute to the solving of problems connected with the First World. These strategic alliances would allow effective training of molecular biologists, improvement of South American universities, and education of biotechnologists, managers, and lawyers in the complexities of high-technology business. The establishment of real joint ventures between developed and underdeveloped countries might contribute to change the present strained relations between the North and the South, and science and technology could become real forces of social and economic development.     

Sources of funds for developing country petroleum development

The Third World debt crisis has drastically altered the options open to Third World countries to fund petroleum development. Restricted access to international capital markets means that developing countries are having to reconsider alternative financial options to achieve a satisfactory rate of petroleum development. Of these, only foreign direct investmentis capable of compensating for the loss of more traditional sources of funds. To this end, developing countries are revising and harmonizing prior restrictive direct investment rules and tax codes, with recent financial innovations further underwriting the process.     

Regional development benefits of mineral projects

This paper discusses the development impact of mining and mineral processing on the regions in which they are located. The discussion is organized so as to be of relevance for policy formulation in resource-rich developing countries which consider the exploitation of their mineral wealth. The hypothesis is that mining technology, interpreted in a broad sense, has undergone a profound change since 1900. In consequence, experiences of mineralbased regional development in the industrialized countries around the turn of the century are of little relevance to the Third World in the 1980s. Contemporary mineral ventures have very weak regional development repercussions in the absence of forceful policies specifically directed towards the regional development goal.     

Government policy and environmental protection in the developing world: The example of Nigeria

Environmental protection is a topical and controversial issue of contemporary Third World development. As a result of the growing crisis of environment and development as well as issues of global environmental balance, divergent views and proposals have been put forward by external governments, international agencies, and environmental groups in resolving the environmental degradation problems of the developing world. However, very little appraisal has been made of the efforts by indigenous Third World governments in facing up to their environmental conservation issues. This article examines the role of past and recent government environmental control policies and programs in Nigeria. The article analyzes three aspects of environmental protection: (1) the theoretical economic bases of environmental protection and the Nigerian approach to environmental protection, including traditional values and modern institutional control measures, the latter embracing nature conservation efforts; (2) environmental considerations in national development plans; and (3) the evolution of a federal environmental protection agency and a national policy on environment. Finally, the article discusses the future challenges and directions for environmental policy.     

Aerial photographs: their use in guiding pilgrims and pointers for developing countries

The problems faced by authorities in Saudi Arabia in managing the large numbers of pilgrims visiting Muna during a brief period each year has led to experiments with aerial photography and computer techniques. This paper describes briefly the new method initiated in 1981 emphasising the remarkably short time available for information assembly and interpretation and concludes with pointers towards the development of the techniques for Third World urbanisation studies.     

基于变参数模型的北京碳排放影响因素研究

基于STIRPAT模型,建立了北京碳排放与经济发展水平、能源消耗强度、产业结构和能源消费结构间的变参数模型,得出以下结论：①经济发展水平、能源利用效率和能源消费结构与人均碳排放正相关;产业结构大多数年份与人均碳排放负相关.②经济发展水平对人均碳排放的变弹性系数最大,依次是能源消费结构、能源利用效率和产业结构.③经济发展水平、能源利用效率和产业结构的变弹性系数呈现先升后降再升的趋势,只是上升和下降转折点有差异,能源消费结构变弹性系数波动较大.     

The grassroot development planning process: the role of physical planning in the rural environment

The concern of this paper is with the spatial consequences of development in a given rural setting and the way in which physical planning fits into the revival of a dying rural area, particularly in Third World Countries. It is based on experience derived from Dekinal in Benue State, Nigeria and endeavours to define a rural area by briefly discussing its characteristics and highlighting its problems. It proposes a comprehensive development planning process to induce development based on available resources.     

Environmental education in third world schools: Rhetoric or realism?

Summary Approaches to teaching about environmental concerns that have been successful either in Western schools or in non-formal Third World projects are unlikely to be effectively implemented in Third World schools. The perceptions of schooling in the Third World, together with the economic, political and social context in which it is conducted, present constraints that are very different. Unless these constraints are recognized, attempted reforms by environmental educators will, at best, remain only at the rhetorical level and, at worst, prove counter-productive. The paper discusses three broad categories of constraint: arising from the socio-political context of schooling, the educational system itself, and issues concerning school-village transfer. The argument is illustrated by reference to research in developing countries on similar educational reforms, such as community schooling, and with examples from the author's research in Papua New Guinea. The paper concludes with some positive lessons for those wishing to see a concern for environmental issues pervade the curriculum of schools in the Third World. The danger of making such reforms over-ambitious is stressed. To be successful, such work must be given high status in the eyes of students and teachers and examination reforms should be introduced to reinforce this.Dr Graham Vulliamy lectures in Sociology in the Department of Education at the University of York. Following field research trips to Papua New Guinea in 1979–1980, 1982 and 1986, he has a special interest in the implementation of educational reforms in developing countries. He is an executive editor of theBritish Journal of Sociology of Education and of theInternational Journal of Educational Development.     

Integrating gender and environment in NGO training

The global concern for the survival of the planet earth draws particular attention to the Third World countries and the impact of degrading forces on sustainable development. A different response to the growing ecological crisis has recently come to the fore. This response comes from women engaged in the struggle for survival. Women in the Third World, because of their situation on the fringes of society and their role producing sustenance, are often able to offer ecological insights that are deeper and richer than the recipes of technocrats and international experts or ideas resulting from enquiries addressed only to the men in communities. In the following the author seeks to demonstrate how women often bear the brunt of suffering resulting from environmental degradation, wars and poverty that plague the Near East region. However, training of women, especially poor women, in environmental management, and the active participation of local women in community and regional decision making holds a clear promise of eventually controlling the vicious circle of poverty and environmental degradation. An intermediate step is the coordination of NGO activities in a common front for environmental protection and income generation for the poor. Further training of the NGO's own staff in the design and implementation of such projects is also required.     

Are intensive agricultural practices environmentally and ethically sound?

Soil is fragile and nonrenewable but the most basic of natural resources. It has a capacity to tolerate continuous use but only with proper management. Improper soil management and indiscriminate use of chemicals have contributed to some severe global environmental issues, e.g., volatilization losses and contamination of natural waters by sediments and agricultural fertilizers and pesticides. The increasing substitution of energy for labor and other cultural inputs in agriculture is another issue. Fertilizers and chemicals account for about 25% of the production energy investment in agriculture. An additional 60% is accounted for by machinery, gasoline, electricity, and power-related inputs. Fertilizer additions to cropland are not utilized fully and significant amounts, depending on conditions, are either lost in surface runoff or leached into the ground water. The annual discharge of dissolved solids from agricultural lands to the waterways in the USA is substantial. The increasing use of herbicides in agriculture is a threat to the quality of surface and ground water, although this threat is dependent upon both the chemistry of the compound and the ecosystem in which it is used. Especially within the Third World, development of an environmental ethic and environmental laws have not kept pace with the increase in pesticide use. Above all is the severe and global problem of soil degradation currently occurring at the rate of five to seven million hectares per year. The policy and moral aspects of these issues are discussed.     

Reusable and disposable cups: An energy-based evaluation

A group of five different types of reusable and disposable hot drink cups have been analyzed in detail with respect to their overall energy costs during fabrication and use. Electricity generating methods and efficiencies have been found to be key factors in the primary energy consumption for the washing of reusable cups and a less important factor in cup fabrication. In Canada or the United States, over 500 or more use cycles, reusable cups are found to have about the same or slightly more energy consumption, use for use, as moulded polystyrene foam cups used once and then discarded. For the same area paper cups used once and discarded are found to consume less fossil fuel energy per use than any of the other cup types examined. Details of this analysis, which could facilitate the comparative assessment of other scenarios, are presented.     

Surveying and mapping of natural resources by remote sensing

Sustainable economic development requires detailed knowledge of the natural resources of any nation. Acquiring the needed information by conventional means may require a large investment in time, personnel, and therefore, in cost. A viable alternative is space-age technology which provides the necessary tools to conduct surveys of natural resources in a timely manner. Such technologies can obtain the required data by means of digital sensors, radar imaging systems and stereo cameras. These data can be utilized to map structures that may contain oil and gas deposits, recognize high concentrations of economic minerals, and discover regions with fertile soils and good potential for groundwater. Those applications warrant greater use of remote sensing methods and techniques by the international scientific community, particularly for the development of natural resources in the Third World. This paper represents a general review of the available, and easily interpretable, space-borne data that are useful in the mapping of natural resources.     

Comparing indicators to rank strategies to save potable water in buildings

The main objective of this paper is to compare indicators based on energy consumption and financial savings to rank strategies to save potable water in buildings. The method is based on potable water savings, embodied energy, energy consumption for operation, and investment feasibility analysis; and it was applied to a school in the city of Florianópolis, southern Brazil. The strategies considered to save potable water were rainwater, greywater, water-efficient appliances, and their combinations. The embodied energy was estimated using indices of embodied energy per mass of material, and labour. The indicators used to rank the strategies were potential for potable water savings, index between potable water savings and embodied energy or total energy consumption, net present value, internal rate of return, discounted payback, and index between potable water savings and initial costs. All strategies and combinations were feasible, but the use of water-efficient appliances was the best. Amongst the indicators used to rank the strategies, five of them led to the same ranking. Such indicators can be applied to rank potable water saving strategies in other types of buildings and climates.     

Demographic impact of introducing modern medicine to a subsistence-level agrarian population: A simulation

Typical of many peasant communities in the Third World, the highland Indian population of Nuñoa, Peru operates close to its capacity for providing members with adequate nutrition. High birth and mortality rates maintain population stability in groups such as this. The introduction of modern medical services could decrease mortality and stimulate population growth, thus upsetting stability of the population size.Development of Third World countries includes improving health of subsistence-level populations by providing modern medical services. However, such changes would have secondary effects which should be anticipated. Using the Nuñoa population as a representative data base, and making a number of simplifying assumptions to increase the generality of this case, a simulation model has been devised to explore some of the consequences of introducing modern medical services.The model predicts that decreased mortality would initiate population growth. Some growth would be supported by changes in individual consumption patterns. But unless decreases in birth rate stabilized the population, it would increase beyond the level sustainable by local resources. Starvation or emigration would cause the population to crash. The model identifies several strategies for reducing birth rate sufficiently to avoid a population crash. Despite these strategies, increased equilibrium size of population would reduce per capita consumption. Since the population lives at the subsistence level, hardship, hunger, and even starvation could result. Thus, introduction of modern medical services could involve a trade-off between short-term improvements in health and. long-term economic hardship for the population. The model suggests that improved well-being of the population would require not only modern medical services but also (a) reduced birth rates; and (b) the improved technology necessary to increase food production.     

Energy justice and ethical consumption: comparison,synthesis and lesson drawing

This paper takes a first step in comparing and synthesising the emerging concept of energy justice with extant ethical consumption literatures as two complementary theoretical approaches to ethics and consumption. To date, theories of ethical consumption and energy justice remain somewhat disconnected, so while they have some areas of potential comparability, these have not yet been fleshed out or developed. To address this lacuna, this paper explores areas where research into ethical consumption might be useful for furthering concepts of energy justice. More specifically the discussion draws on the philosophical foundations, the relationship between consumption and development, and the role of transparency and visibility in reconnecting consumption and production practices as the main areas of overlap in these literatures. The conclusion points to some lessons for emerging energy justice literatures that can be drawn from this task of comparison and synthesis.     

南京市工业系统资源环境减量投入分析

本文将物质减量图解应用于工业系统的资源环境减量投入上,对南京市工业系统1986～2004年的资源环境的使用强度和减量化水平进行了计算和分析。结果表明,南京市工业系统的资源环境使用强度在评价期间逐年降低,2004年的工业用水、能源消耗、废水排放、废气排放和“固废”排放的强度分别为1986年的18.14%、15.14%、4.36%、14.95%、15.72%;在评价期间南京市工业系统只有工业废水实现了绝对减量排放;而水耗、能耗、废气排放和“固废”排放四项指标均没有实现绝对减量,致使在此期间南京市工业系统水耗增加了384100.66万吨,能耗增加了1409.32万标准吨煤,废气排放量增加19852018.00万立方米,“固废”增加排放603.26万吨。     

1980--2009年中国经济增长对化石能源消耗的依赖关系

随着中国经济的发展，我国高化石能源消耗问题也越来越突出。计算了1980--2009年中国人均化石能源足迹，并将其与人均GDP联系起来进行研究，发现在这30年中我国人均化石能源消耗和人均GDP都呈现逐步增长趋势，在用E—G两步法进行协整检验的过程中发现两者存在长期稳定的均衡关系；采用格兰杰因果检验进行进一步的验证分析发现，我国人均化石能源足迹和人均GDP之间互为因果关系，进一步说明我国经济发展对能源消耗尤其是化石能源消耗具有依赖性，且经济发展会进一步刺激化石能源使用的增加。因此，采取节能降耗措施应从调整产业结构和能源消费结构入手，在降低能耗期间我国会出现经济增长放缓的现象。