Advancing climate compatible development: lessons from southern Africa

Climate compatible development (CCD) has emerged as a new concept that bridges climate change adaptation, mitigation and community-based development. Progress towards CCD requires multi-stakeholder, multi-sector working and the development of partnerships between actors who may not otherwise have worked together. This creates challenges and opportunities that require careful examination at project and institutional levels and necessitates the sharing of experiences between different settings. In this paper, we draw on the outcomes from a multi-stakeholder workshop held in Mozambique in 2012, the final in a series of activities in a regional project assessing emerging CCD partnerships across southern Africa. The workshop involved policymakers, researchers and representatives from NGOs and the private sector. We employ a content analysis of workshop notes and presentations to identify the progress and challenges in moving four case study countries (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe) towards CCD pathways, by exploring experiences from both project and policy levels. To advance institutional support for the development of successful CCD policies, practices and partnerships, we conclude that there is a need for: (a) institutional development at the national level to strengthen coordination and more clearly define roles and responsibilities across sectors, based on the identification of capacity and knowledge gaps; (b) partnership development, drawing on key strengths and competences of different stakeholders and emphasising the roles of the private sector and traditional authorities; (c) learning and knowledge-sharing through national and regional fora; and (d) development of mechanisms that permit more equitable and transparent distribution of costs and benefits. These factors can facilitate development of multi-stakeholder, multi-level partnerships that are grounded in community engagement from the outset, helping to translate CCD policy statements into on-the-ground action.     

Inefficient cooking systems a challenge for sustainable development: a case of rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The use of low efficient cookstoves has several severe negative impacts. Burning solid fuels kills about 4 million people every year, a number which is...     

Towards deliberative coastal governance: insights from South Africa and the Mississippi Delta

Coastal sustainability is elusive in South Africa and the Mississippi delta. These case studies and convergent literatures demonstrate the merits of reconceptualising coastal management as a transformative practice of deliberative governance. A normative framework is presented that focuses attention on underpinning deliberative outcomes to enable governance actors and networks to build cognitive, democratic, sociopolitical and institutional capacity to transform unsustainable and maladaptive coastal practices. But operationalising such intentions is complex and contested and requires a volte-face in thinking and practice. The South African and Mississippi delta experiences provide insights about how to develop a deliberative praxis of coastal governance based on consideration of the choice of process, timeliness, quality of process, equity and representation, connections to the policy cycle, impact, implementation and institutionalisation.     

Understanding vulnerability in southern Africa: comparative findings using a multiple-stressor approach in South Africa and Malawi

Within southern Africa, many households are facing increasing pressures as they deal with multiple challenges such as low employment, high levels of disease, environmental resources under pressure and changing political landscapes. To respond to the needs of different individuals and households, it is important to define the nature of their vulnerability. An increasing amount of theoretical and empirical work on the concept of ‘vulnerability’ has led to a range of definitions, indicators and measurement tools, which have come to characterise this field of study. As a result, there is no one general consensus. This paper presents the results from the latest in a series of applied studies conducted since 2004 by a network of scientists working in southern Africa, aimed at refining the definition and application of the concept of vulnerability. The study employed a recently developed multiple-stressor model to guide the collection and analysis of data from three sites in South Africa and Malawi. In this paper, we identify and explore five key ‘symptoms’ of vulnerability emerging from our multi-country data and reflect on the usefulness of the model employed.     

Green procurement in South Africa: perspectives on legislative provisions in metropolitan municipalities

This paper sets an objective to analyse legislative provisions for green procurement in South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities in the context of climate change and sustainable development. The main methods for data generation were interviews and document analysis. There were 30 interviews granted by among others, procurement officers, town planners and economic development specialists. In addition, 51 policy documents were retrieved, followed by a keyword search. The keywords were carefully selected and limited to those commonly used in green procurement terminology to include climate change, green procurement, renewable energy, energy efficiency, mitigation, clean technology, carbon footprint, sustainable development and green economy. The findings are that although all the metropolitan municipalities have procurement policies in place, only the City of Cape Town and eThekwini metropolitan have incorporated green procurement strategies into their supply chain management. The City of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipalities also emerged as the only ones with stand-alone green procurement strategies. To this end, the research concludes that legislative provisions mandating green procurement in South African metropolitan municipalities are not entirely lacking, although more work needs to be done to roll this out to cover all the existing metropolitan municipalities.     

Attitudes of rural population in emergency exposure situations

People growing crops in kitchen gardens eat locally self-produced food and are the subject of growing attention as the potential for a more sustainable development. A survey was carried out in two provinces in northern Italy to gather information on the consumption of local horticultural products, peoples’ expectations of authorities in the case of a nuclear accident and peoples’ behaviour in the absence of official information. Results show that up to 70% of the owners of kitchen gardens possess diets comprised of more than 60% of self-produced vegetables and can be regarded as particular groups of population. In the case of a dispersion of radioactive material, the local population would take advantage of official information on preventive measures to protect farms and local crops from contamination. Results of the survey show differences in the attitude of the population due to age, gender and past experience.     

城乡污染转移的利益悖论及对策研究

污染从城市向农村的转移加剧了农村生态环境问题,已经成为制约农村经济发展的主要瓶颈之一。城乡污染转移是城乡经济主体为实现自身利益相互博弈的结果,本质是一个政治经济学问题。本文利用政治经济学研究方法,分别剖析了城乡家庭、企业和政府的利益诉求及其在污染问题中的行为选择,解释了城乡污染转移的可能性和必然性,在此基础上进一步研究了污染转移所导致的利益悖论,并对悖论形成的深层原因进行挖掘,进而提出城乡污染协同治理的政策建议。研究表明,城乡污染转移表面上看是经济主体利益最大化的理性选择:农村家庭受经济发展水平、信息获取能力和政策影响能力的限制,更注重短期经济利益而忽略长期环境利益;乡镇企业和污染企业对经济利益的追逐加快了城乡污染转移;地方政府为实现当地区域利益所采取的重城市轻乡村战略和政府之间的利益冲突也为污染转移提供了助力。事实上,城乡污染转移违背了经济发展的一般规律,形成污染转移的利益悖论:转移到农村的污染危害农业生产、进而损害城乡人力资本,有悖于长期经济增长;加剧农村生态资源退化、扩大城乡差距,有悖于区域协调发展;污染转移是城市对农村、当代人对后代人环境容量的剥削,有悖于环境的公平。认为:经济主体长期利益和短期利益的矛盾、城乡区域利益和整体利益的冲突以及制度供给不足和制度监管缺位是造成污染转移悖论的深层原因。在此基础上,提出了化解污染转移悖论的对策建议:统筹规划,实现长期利益和短期利益的统一;整合城乡,促进区域利益和整体利益协同;强化制度创新,完善制度供给;完善制度监管,提高执行效率;促进技术创新,减少污染排放。     

山岳景区依托型乡村旅游就业吸附的空间特征

乡村振兴战略和乡村产业转型发展背景下,休闲旅游产业在乡村地域的兴起扰动了当前就业人口由乡村向城镇流动的宏观趋势,乡村旅游就业吸附正从微观上改变着城乡间劳动力空间流动的格局和过程。为科学理解乡村旅游就业吸附引起城乡劳动力空间流动发生变化的特征与机制,文章基于在浙晋山岳景区依托型乡村旅游地深度访谈的一手数据,分析了乡村旅游就业人口流动的空间分布特征、就业吸附的空间模式和过程机制。结果表明:①山岳景区依托型乡村旅游就业吸附呈现距离衰减和空间层级结构的特征,0~4 km为核心层、4~12 km为过渡层、12 km以上为外缘层;但在不同社会经济发展环境下该特征存在区域差异,欠发达地区乡村旅游就业吸附的空间集中性,比发达地区更加明显。②研究从城乡地域空间系统的视角,基于人口转移“推—拉”理论对乡村旅游就业人口空间流动特征和影响机制进行分析,发现山岳景区依托型乡村旅游就业吸附呈现以城镇、乡村为就业吸附极,以城乡接合部为吸附效用“分水岭”的空间模式;其中,连接城乡间的便捷交通是乡村旅游就业吸附实现的关键介质。③基于乡村旅游就业吸附空间适用性,文章针对性提出了“空间围栏效应”的概念。文章不仅从微观尺度上丰富了乡村旅游就业人口空间流动特征、过程、模式等的理论认识,而且对切实指导乡村地域在乡村旅游开发实践中理性理解乡村旅游的就业促进作用,提升乡村旅游开发规划和投资的效率具有积极意义。     

Rural women and agrotourism in the context of sustainable rural development: A case study from Turkey

As in many developing countries also in Turkey, agriculture is on the center of rural development and rural women are on the center of agriculture. Although they are main part as a major labor force at every stage of agricultural activity and undertake responsibilities such as domestic task and childcare, women do not profit from social and economic benefits proportionate to the responsibilities they have undertaken. Agrotourism is an alternative activity in the rural development process, which combines agriculture and tourism, improves natural resources, contributes the rural area socially and economically. The aim of this study is to examine the participation conditions of rural women to the agrotourism activities, which is considered as an option in the context of sustainable rural development, and to identify the possible social and economic implications of agrotourism on the rural women’s life, after determining the situation and importance of rural women in the agricultural activity. This research was carried out in three villages of Kalecik district of Ankara and data gathered from group meetings and surveys.     

Rural women and agrotourism in the context of sustainable rural development: A case study from Turkey

As in many developing countries also in Turkey, agriculture is on the center of rural development and rural women are on the center of agriculture. Although they are main part as a major labor force at every stage of agricultural activity and undertake responsibilities such as domestic task and childcare, women do not profit from social and economic benefits proportionate to the responsibilities they have undertaken.Agrotourism is an alternative activity in the rural development process, which combines agriculture and tourism, improves natural resources, contributes the rural area socially and economically.The aim of this study is to examine the participation conditions of rural women to the agrotourism activities, which is considered as an option in the context of sustainable rural development, and to identify the possible social and economic implications of agrotourism on the rural womens life, after determining the situation and importance of rural women in the agricultural activity. This research was carried out in three villages of Kalecik district of Ankara and data gathered from group meetings and surveys.Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Multi-stakeholder process of co-designing small-scale fisheries policy in South Africa

In 2005, a group of researchers, community-based organizations and lawyers got together with small-scale fishers to launch a class action law suit against the government of South Africa in its allocation system of Individual Transferable Quotas, on the ground that the system was unfair to small-scale fishing communities and threatened their right to practise their livelihoods. This effort resulted in the cabinet adoption of a new small-scale fisheries policy in 2014, with amendments being made to fisheries law (the Marine Living Resource Act 18 of 1998) to accommodate the issues and concerns of small-scale fisheries. Draft regulations and an implementation plan have recently been released, paving the way for the implementation of small-scale fisheries allocations in 2016. These legal and policy shifts are of great significance for small-scale fisheries, both in South Africa and elsewhere, and deserve careful examination. This paper discusses the processes leading to the development of a new small-scale fisheries policy and what has followed since. Specifically, the analysis focuses on a variety of collaborations between scholars from different disciplines; researchers from multiple fields; community practitioners representing diverse professional and community perspectives; and community organizations across local, state, national and international levels. The paper uses a model of change that crosses research and practitioner boundaries based on three key strategies: getting noticed; organizing at scale; and getting a seat at the negotiation table. It also considers the “transdisciplinary” process of involving all relevant actors in strategic, collective, reflection–action–reflection–action “from below”, which was crucial in the co-designing of this small-scale policy formulation in South Africa.     

Efficiency of common-pool resource institutions: focusing on water users associations in South Africa

Despite of the promulgation of new water laws post-apartheid by the South African government, some parts of the country are still faced with inequitable, inefficient and inadequate water supply. Water institutions in South Africa and other developing countries are faced with various and multi-faceted challenges that consequently lead to their failure to provide water resources effectively. The evident responsibility of governing water resources in developing countries is commonly played by local and national institutions, using the water sector’s fundamental regulations, policies as well as statutory enactments. This paper draws lessons from the international examples to analyse the motivation for WUAs and the challenges they are faced with. The method for data generation used in this article is document analysis. A narrative approach using the literature and document analysis provided an insight into the economic and institutional history of WUAs. The analytical framework to study path dependency and power relations in connection with WUAs in South Africa was drawn from a literature review of transition studies and NIE. This study established that the current and future decisions made by the WUAs in South Africa are not entirely independent of those made in the past under irrigation boards. The study argues that establishing WUAs cannot automatically substitute for the domains of relations which existed within irrigation boards.     

Ecotourism as a development strategy: experiences from Costa Rica

This article reflects on the Costa Rican experiences with ecotourism by assessing the positive and negative environmental, economic and social impacts of ecotourism development at four tourist destinations—Manuel Antonio, Monteverde, Tortuguero and ASCOMAFOR. These destinations represent different stages of tourism development. The assessment shows that the development of ecotourism has a dilemma character. Compared to alternative land-use options, ecotourism remains a promising development strategy. However, it should be embedded in a broader process of capacity building.     

CDM Projects under the Kyoto Protocol: A Methodology for Sustainability Assessment – Experiences from South Africa and Uruguay

Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, industrialised countries may finance greenhouse gases mitigation projects in developing countries. The Kyoto Protocol explicitly requires that the CDM shall assist developing countries to achieve sustainable development. However, a clear definition of sustainability for CDM projects is still debatable. MATA-CDM (Multi-Attributive Assessment of CDM Projects) is an approach that facilitates a quantitative assessment of potential projects regarding their contribution to sustainable development. This paper presents applications of MATA-CDM in two different countries. In South Africa, the application was done mainly for academic and demonstrative purposes, whereas in Uruguay it was implemented together with the responsible Designated National Authority (DNA). The work in both countries included the selection of sustainability criteria and measurable indicators. Experts weighted the criteria using personal interviews and a multi-stakeholder workshop. This method was applied to three potential CDM projects in South Africa and one in Uruguay. Results show that under the conditions of this study, the MATA-CDM approach yet fails to yield a perfect quantitative overall sustainability assessment of CDM projects but that several findings could be useful to further develop the approach with the aim to translate the vague term sustainable development to a mainstream project level. Valuable experience was in particular collected with different stakeholder processes to perform criteria weighting.     

Integrated and adaptive governance of water resources: the case of South Africa

Climate change and its impact on water resources have become a reality in many parts of the world. Uncertainties in water supply as well as the gradual and abrupt change in water availability are increasing. To maintain the sustainability of the water sector, its ability to adapt to unforeseen events needs to increase. Making adaptation an integral part of the governance of water resources will thus be one of the major future challenges for the water sector. This paper focuses on how far Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), the guiding concept of water management and governance, is able to address these challenges and which additional features would be required for increasing the adaptability of water governance and management. In the empirical part of the paper, South African water legislation and its adaptability to the challenges of climate change is scrutinised. The paper finds that IWRM offers a number of entry points for increased adaptability. However, the IWRM concept should be complemented with features of adaptive governance such as polycentric, redundant and flexible governance structures to be better prepared for unforeseen events. It is concluded that the features of IWRM and adaptive water governance comprise a number of synergies and trade-offs, which play out differently in different combinations and contexts. The paper outlines the need for further empirical research on these trade-offs as well as on the appropriate degree of features such as participation, flexible institutions and redundancy.     

Mapping interactions between the sustainable development goals: lessons learned and ways forward

Pursuing integrated research and decision-making to advance action on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) fundamentally depends on understanding interactions between the SDGs, both negative ones (“trade-offs”) and positive ones (“co-benefits”). This quest, triggered by the 2030 Agenda, has however pointed to a gap in current research and policy analysis regarding how to think systematically about interactions across the SDGs. This paper synthesizes experiences and insights from the application of a new conceptual framework for mapping and assessing SDG interactions using a defined typology and characterization approach. Drawing on results from a major international research study applied to the SDGs on health, energy and the ocean, it analyses how interactions depend on key factors such as geographical context, resource endowments, time horizon and governance. The paper discusses the future potential, barriers and opportunities for applying the approach in scientific research, in policy making and in bridging the two through a global SDG Interactions Knowledge Platform as a key mechanism for assembling, systematizing and aggregating knowledge on interactions.     

Monitoring and guiding development in rural Egypt: local sustainable development indicators and local Human Development Indices

This paper puts forward sustainable development indicators and an index appropriate for monitoring and guiding development planning in the villages of rural Egypt, as an improvement on the current approach which is informed by locally calculated Human Development Indices (HDI). This has two principal weaknesses. Firstly many of the issues of importance to villagers are not covered by the economic and social scope of the HDI. Secondly the HDI, along with international sustainable development indicator sets, fails to identify problems which are of importance in specific national or sub-national contexts. We have therefore worked from a simplified but holistic model of the socio-economic-environmental system of a rural Egyptian village, informed by the outputs of a participatory planning process. An indicator set based on a one-to-one correspondence between system components and indicators was created. This comprehensive set is detailed but consequently rather unwieldy, and a core set is selected and compared with the HDI indicators for a sample of villages to demonstrate the impact of considering environmental and institutional factors on establishing priority areas for government intervention. We conclude that a combination of a locally relevant index and an easily comprehended diagrammatic approach to presenting a small indicator set offers advantages to decision makers in comparison to local application of the HDI.