Environmental management conflicts in developing countries: An analysis

An analysis of conflicts in environmental management has been made by identifying the major characteristics of conflicts. Examples of some environmental management conflicts have been presented to clarify the major issues involved It is shown that without active conservation groups it will be difficult to achieve environmental protection Two conflict resolution models are presented for analyzing various conflicting situations     

Stakeholder analysis for natural resource management in developing countries

The purpose of this paper is to share our ideas and experience of developing and applying stakeholder analysis to natural resource management, and to stimulate further development of its concepts and methodologies. Stakeholder analysis emerged in response to the perceived deficiency of conventional economic and social approaches for assessing and designing projects and policies. It is emphasized, however, that it is intended to complement rather than replace existing methods. The paper sets out the principles of stakeholder analysis (SA) and provides indicative guidelines for conducting SA in different situations. SA is an approach and procedure for gaining an understanding of a system by means of identifying the key actors or stakeholders in the system, and assessing their respective economic interests in that system. It is shown to have particular advantages for getting to the heart of many natural resource problems and for understanding the conflicts of interest and trade offs that may threaten the success of a project or policy. The paper discusses the origins of SA, the contexts of its application, how one goes about it, and quotes examples from northern Thailand .     

Refinery deregulation in developing countries

For much of the 1980s refining has been unprofitable. The continued operation of small refineries in oil-importing developing countries has therefore come under intense scrutiny, especially by the international financial institutions concerned with high levels of external debt. This paper examines the specific case of Morocco. Even though refining may be unprofitable at the world's export refineries, refining may still be part of the least-cost solution to meeting developing country petroleum demands as a result of transport differentials. Unlike some other refineries in Africa, those of Morocco are well run, and closure is unwarranted. Rather the need is for regulatory and pricing reform, such that refiners can respond more flexibly to changes in world markets.     

Electric load management in developing countries

Energy planners in developing countries have traditionally sought to meet their nations' growing electricity demands by adding more generation and transmission capacity. But as the foreign investment situation became critical in the 1980s, private investment and system efficiency improvement programmes began to garner interest. One of the most promising system efficiency improvement options is load management, which uses a variety of techniques to utilize the electricity system's existing capacity more efficiently. However, to date, only three countries have seriously considered implementing large load management programmes: Pakistan, Peru and Costa Rica. This paper describes a 1987-89 load control demonstration programme in Costa Rica, sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (AID), in which participating industries were able to reduce their peak demand by 14%.     

Management of environment in developing countries

Summary Environmental problems in developing countries partly arise out of lack of development, hence they are intricately linked to the socio-economic conditions. Environmental awareness and environmental education are critical under these conditions but these are time consuming and slow solutions. Integration of economic and environmental plans for various regions have to be attempted systematically. Time is running out, and unless comprehensive steps are taken up some of the capital assets (such as forests, fresh water, soils, etc.) are likely to be irretrievably damaged.Dr B. Bowonder was, until recently, Chairman of the Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology at the Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad. He recently joined this Journal's Advisory Board and his analysis of the Bhopal Incident (The Environmentalist, 5 (2) 89–103) created considerable interest. He is currently a member of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific.     

Sustainable forestry management in developing countries

The central message of this paper is that natural forests have multiple uses and multiple users. The paper describes the crisis in Asian forestry and four failures which lie behind the crisis. The first failure is related to economic policy which has consistently underpriced timber, not accounting for the true cost of replacing the felled trees or the value of non-timber goods and services (including environmental services). The second failure stems from the lack of community involvement in managing forests. The third failure is that of forestry institutions which have not been able to adapt to changes required to meet new challenges — away from timber extraction towards environmental services and social forestry. The fourth failure arises from technological constraints, including difficulties in carrying out long-term research (to cover the 20–40 year time horizon in the forestry sector) and ineffective application of research results. A number of specific suggestions for moving toward sustained yield management in Asia are presented. The sustainable management of forests in Asia is crucial not only for indigenous peoples, the environment and economies of the countries of Asia, but also for the biodiversity and health of the global environment.     

Modelling and analysis of international recycling between developed and developing countries

To deal with the complexity of recycling, a wide variety of models have been developed, each serving a specific purpose. Despite the current trend increasing international trade in recycling-related material flows, the international dimension of physical and economic relationships in recycling is often ignored in current models and analyses. This paper develops a formal model of an international material-product chain (MPC) that represents the mechanism behind international recycling. The attention is focused on the case of a developed and a developing country that exchange material commodities, final products and recyclable waste. Among others, the model demonstrates that taking into account environmental externalities results in higher levels of recycling. Moreover, we show that international recycling is mainly driven by regional differences in the quantity and quality of factor endowments and economic efficiency of recycling. Given that industrialised countries are relatively well endowed with recyclable waste, the recovery rate usually exceeds the utilisation rate. In developing countries, an opposite pattern is observed.     

Analysis of cooking energy in developing countries

Cooking is the major energy end use in most developing countries. A general model to calculate energy-use cost for cooking with 15 combinations of fuel and end use device based on prevailing market conditions is proposed by this paper. The model has been implemented to develop an independent computer software which ranks the combinations on the basis of least cost. The model reflects cooking energy consumption patterns in urban Nepal, where it was tested. The results suggest that biomass energy used in efficient stoves is the most attractive option for cooking in Nepal. Hence, a policy for effective use of biomass is necessary .     

Issues in natural resources management in developing countries

Recognizing the steady depletion of natural resources in developing countries, this study analyses its causes by focusing on the ownership of such resources. Resource degradation was found associated with an array of individual, socioeconomic, politicoeconomic and institutional factors. In the pursuit of sustainable regional resources management and conservation, it is necessary to analyse and incorporate these multifarious factors into the design of a comprehensive strategy. While local government should be responsible for devising management strategies, their implementation requires the interfacing of field agencies with local communities that are to be assisted in the short term and instructed in depth; their performance should be closely monitored over the long term.     

Citizen funds and Dutch Disease in developing countries

Are Alaska-style citizen revenue distribution funds the solution to the resource curse in developing countries as their proponents conjecture? Unfortunately it appears not. First, it is questionable whether developing countries have the institutional capacity to implement and operate such funds successfully. Second, citizen funds are unlikely to have any substantial impact on governance and their macroeconomic effects are uncertain. Finally, as a comparative case study of the three natural resource-intensive economies that successfully steered clear of excessive real appreciation and crowding out of the non-minerals tradables sector—Botswana, Indonesia and Norway—shows, citizen funds are likely to carry detrimental indirect effects on the ability of governments to surmount the Dutch Disease.     

United Nations mineral exploration activities in developing countries

The purpose of the United Nations' mineral exploration activities is to assist the developing countries in identifying, evaluating and developing their mineral resources as a means of stimulating their economic development. Since 1978, these programmes have been executed by the Natural Resources and Energy Division of the Department of Technical Co-operation for Development (DTCD) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) providing the bulk of the financing. In the past 30 years, more than 450 projects in some 100 developing countries have been executed at a cost estimated at US$600 million. This input has contributed to the discovery of deposits valued at billions of dollars, many of which are now being mined.     

Moving toward economic-cum-environmental sustainability in Asian developing countries

Summary Environmental degradation in the Asian Pacific area developing countries continues and has probably increased since the Stockholm Conference of 1972. The causes for this continued environmental degradation in Asia are analyzed. The paper assesses the actions of the International Assistance Agencies in providing support for the Asian developing countries since Stockholm. The Asian Development Bank project on Economic Policies for Sustained Development is described, and advocated as an important first step in a strategy moving towards economic-cum-environmental sustainability. Drastic changes and bold initiatives are suggested and required to establish true sustainable development for the developing countries.Dr Harvey F. Ludwig is Chairman of SEATEC International Consulting Engineers. He is a regular contributor to this journal.     

The pricing of water services in developing countries

This paper focuses on improving efficiency in the water and sewerage sectors through long-run marginal cost pricing, adjusted for financial needs, externalities, second best considerations, lifeline tariffs and cross subsidization within an integrated water resource planning (IWRP) framework. Supply efficiency suggests that for a given price structure, an optimal long-run investment plan and a corresponding level of supply quality should be determined which maximizes net social benefits. Supply efficiency also requires efficient operation of the water system, including optimization of losses.     

Water supply policies and issues in developing countries

The significant progress made during the UN International Water Decade is reviewed, eight years after its inception in 1981. Major issues remain, especially in rural areas. The advantages of an integrated water resource planning framework (IWRP) are explained, including the use of this process to develop a flexible strategy for the water and sewerage sector to meet national policy objectives. Economic efficiency in supply implies optimal service quality and least cost planning, while efficient pricing policy requires the implementation of long-run marginal cost based tariffs. Better sector organization, management, accountability, options for decentralization and innovative financing methods are also discussed.     

Assessing slope stability in unplanned settlements in developing countries

Unplanned housing in developing countries is often located on steep slopes. Frequently no building code is enforced for such housing and mains water is provided with no drainage provision. Both of these factors can be particularly significant in terms of landslide risk if, as is so often the case, such slopes lack any planned drainage provision. There is thus a need to develop a model that facilitates the assessment of slope stability in an holistic context, incorporating a wide range of factors (including surface cover, soil water topographic convergence, slope loading and point source water leakage) in order that appropriate advice can be given as to the general controls on slope stability in such circumstances. This paper outlines a model configured for this specific purpose and describes an application to a site in St. Lucia, West Indies, where there is active slope movement in an unplanned housing development on relatively steep topography. The model findings are in accord with the nature of the current failure at the site, provide guidance as to the significance of slope drainage and correspond to inferences drawn from an application of resistance envelope methods to the site. In being able to scenario test a uniquely wide range of combinations of factors, the model structure is shown to be highly valuable in assessing dominant slope stability process controls in such complex environments.     

Fog collection's role in water planning for developing countries

In certain locations, the combination of meteorological conditions and topography are such that persistent fogs cover coastal or interior mountains. The droplets from these fogs are collected by trees or other tall vegetation. They can also be collected by appropriately designed man-made collectors, to provide large volumes of water for domestic, agriculture or forestry uses. The largest project to date has provided, since March 1992, an average of 11 000 litres of water per day (*****l/d) to a village of 330 people in the arid coastal desert of northern Chile. This project and others are reviewed. The impact of the deforestation of high elevation areas, and the subsequent loss of fog water input in a watershed are discussed, as are guidelines for water planners.     

Soil erosion in developing countries: a socio-economic appraisal

Soil erosion is the single most important environmental degradation problem in the developing world. Despite the plethora of literature that exists on the incidence, causes and impacts of soil erosion, a concrete understanding of this complex problem is lacking. This paper examines the soil erosion problem in developing countries in order to understand the complex inter-relationships between population pressure, poverty and environmental-institutional dynamics. Two recent theoretical developments, namely Boserup's theory on population pressure, poverty and soil erosion and Lopez's theory on environmental and institutional dynamics have been reviewed. The analysis reveals that negative impacts of technical change, inappropriate government policies and poor institutions are largely responsible for the continued soil erosion in developing countries. On the other hand, potential for market-based approaches to mitigate the problem is also low due to the negative externalities involved. A deeper appreciation of institutional and environmental dynamics and policy reforms to strengthen weak institutions may help mitigate the problem.