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.     

Infant feeding in emergencies

Recent experience of emergency relief operations in middle-income countries has shown that infant feeding issues can greatly complicate attempts to protect infant health. The two main problems are: how to protect and support breastfeeding in communities where it is no longer the norm and how to assist artificially fed infants without exposing them to the dramatically increased risks associated with artificial feeding under disaster conditions. This article explores the underlying issues and makes a number of recommendations for policy and programmes.     

Response of the predatorRhizophagus grandis to host plant derived chemicals inDendroctonus micans larval frass in wind tunnel experiments (Coleoptera: Rhizophagidae,Scolytidae)

Summary Adults of the predatory beetleRhizophagus grandis are strongly attracted to both adult and larval frass of its specific prey,Dendroctonus micans, in walking bioassays. Spruce bark and resin are relatively unattractive. Solvent extracts of larval frass that were attractive toR. grandis adults in a flight wind tunnel contained a mixture of monoterpenes of host plant origin. A synthetic mixture of these monoterpenes, (+)—-pinene, (–)—-pinene, -phellandrene,dl limonene and 3-carene, was responsible for 70–80% of the activity of the most attractive extract. We suggest that a blend of monoterpenes in frass acts as a kairomone forR. grandis but that attraction to monoterpenes is only the first of a sequence of behavioural responses that ensures successful host location and identification.     

Green supply chain management: pressures,practices and performance within the Chinese automobile industry

Increasing pressures from a variety of directions have caused the Chinese automobile supply chain managers to consider and initiate implementation of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices to improve both their economic and environmental performance. Expanding on some earlier work investigating general GSCM practices in China, this paper explores the GSCM pressures/drivers (motivators), initiatives and performance of the automotive supply chain using an empirical analysis of 89 automotive enterprises within China. The results show that the Chinese automobile supply chain enterprises have experienced high and increasing regulatory and market pressures and at the same time have strong internal drivers for GSCM practice adoption. However, their GSCM implementation, especially with consideration of external relationships, is poor. Therefore, GSCM implementation has only slightly improved environmental and operational performance, and has not resulted in significant economic performance improvement. In furthering this analysis we investigate one specific organization in this supply chain, the Dalian Diesel Engine Plant, and how this pioneering company has addressed the issues identified by the broader empirical analysis.     

U-turn: the rise and demise of the automobile industry

This article introduces the fundamental rational that supports the ‘technological regime’ of the modern automobile, as well as its potential for inertia, transformation and decline. It presents the main concepts used in automobile design, material selection, and the economic fundamentals that orient today's car assembly and commercialisation. The practices currently adopted by automakers that aim at the rationalisation of systems of production, such as platform consolidation, ‘architectures’ and modular assembly are briefly discussed. The article inquires into the main reasons for the high pace of consolidation that characterised the automobile assembly and supplier sectors during the 1990s. Subsequently, the discussion about the choice of materials and its impact throughout the life-cycle of cars illustrates the complexities involved in reducing the overall environmental impact of the industry. Finally, by questioning the levels of efficiency of current automobiles and by identifying the core competences of automakers, the final part of the article explains why the automobile industry currently faces one of the most challenging moments of its history.     

Worker representation and psycho-social risks: A problematic relationship?

This paper explores the relationship between worker representation and the prevention and control of psycho-social risks at work. It argues that to understand this relationship it is helpful to position it within the labour relations context in which it occurs and which helps explain the strengths and limitations of interventions involving worker representation.The paper opens with some important questions of definition with regard to psycho-social risks and worker representation and consultation on health and safety. It goes on to review the evidence for the success or otherwise of worker representation in health and safety generally and discusses this evidence in relation to the control of psycho-social risks specifically. It discusses the problems that the restructuring of work pose for the sustainability of the preconditions for the effectiveness of the statutory model on which worker representation on psycho-social risk is predicated. In so doing the paper notes that many of the features of current restructuring of work that present problems for traditional model of worker representation are the same ones that lead to the increased prevalence of psycho-social risks at the workplace.The paper identifies both barriers and opportunities presented by the changing world of work for achieving an improved preventive scenario for psycho-social risks and discusses the implications of these for current and future strategies of trade unions. It concludes that in the present political and economic climate the state cannot be relied upon for effective regulatory strategies on the psycho-social risks of work. In the absence, or much reduced presence, of this support, some joined up thinking on the part of organised labour is required. Interventions by health and safety representatives on psycho-social risks at the workplace level need to be fully integrated in such thinking if they are to be effective.     

Effect of gyrodactylid ectoparasites on host behaviour and social network structure in guppies <Emphasis Type="Italic">Poecilia reticulata</Emphasis>

Understanding how individuals modify their social interactions in response to infectious disease is of central importance for our comprehension of how disease dynamics operate in real-world populations. Whilst a significant amount of theoretical work has modelled disease transmission using network models, we have comparatively little understanding of how infectious disease impacts on the social behaviour of individuals and how these effects scale up to the level of the population. We experimentally manipulated the parasite load of female guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and introduced fish either infected with the ectoparasites Gyrodactylus spp. (experimental) or uninfected (control) into replicated semi-natural populations of eight size-matched female guppies. We quantified the behaviour and social associations of both the introduced fish and the population fish. We found that infected experimental fish spent less time associating with the population fish than the uninfected control fish. Using information on which fish initiated shoal fission (splitting) events, our results demonstrate that the population fish actively avoided infected experimental fish. We also found that the presence of an infected individual resulted in a continued decline in social network clustering up to at least 24 h after the introduction of the infected fish, whereas in the control treatment, the clustering coefficient showed an increase at this time point. These results demonstrate that the presence of a disease has implications for both the social associations of infected individuals and for the social network structure of the population, which we predict will have consequences for infectious disease transmission.     

Incorporation and institutionalization of SD into universities: breaking through barriers to change

Many years have passed since sustainable development (SD) became world famous in the Brundtland Commission publication, “Our Common Future”; however, still many universities are unaware of it or confuse it with environmental sustainability. The SD concept contrasts with existing teaching methods, mainly focused into resource depletion. This paper focuses on SD incorporation and institutionalization into universities. This process is bound to face resistance from inside and outside stakeholders. Several approaches and strategies are presented to overcome this resistance. The paper also presents the types of conflicts that might arise and the role of the campus SD champion in preventing or solving them.