Fostering sustainable small-scale investments: lessons from experience and ideas for intervention and innovation

This article presents lessons from experience pertinent to implementing small-scale natural resource and related investment projects in developing countries. It outlines ideas for intervention and innovation to foster such investments. Particular emphasis is placed on private-sector participation in these investments. Following a brief presentation of the economic development and other arguments that support intervention and innovation in support of such small-scale natural resource investments, the article discusses many of the lessons learned from experience. These lessons reinforce those touched upon in the investment-specific discussions in the previous articles. The experience and associated lessons that are examined include experiences in both developing and developed countries and encompass not just lessons from natural resource investments, but also small-scale investments in other sectors. Financing and other innovations which facilitate meeting the challenges are drawn from relevant experience where barriers to investment have been surmounted. Options for programme and project interventions to increase market penetration of small-scale investments and achieve the associated development linkages and synergies are suggested. These suggestions are aimed especially at governments and bilateral and multilateral development finance and development assistance entities. It is those players who might support such interventions in collaboration with local financial institutions and other market players.     

Sustainable Development and the Role of the Financial World

The incapacity to finance sustainable development through philanthropic official assistance turned the Johannesburg Summit to business world and the financial industry. Pioneering financial institutions – including development banks and private banks – have developed a wide range of innovations that can support sustainable development. This article highlights a few innovative products and markets and focuses on the progress made by financial players on the level of standards, metrics and guidelines to improve sustainability management systems, reporting and accounting practices and the multi-stakeholder dynamic. The role of the socially responsible investing (SRI) community has been underexposed by the Summit. Through its voice and market success, SRI has moved from a green market niche to the mainstream, however not becoming mainstream. The invaluable levering effect of SRI has just been discovered by authorities and market regulators and is becoming instrumental. In order to show the business case of Corporate Social Responsibility and to prove the financial viability of the People, Planet, Prosperity investing approach, the SRI community should critically reflect on its own quality assurance systems, sound disclosure and verification practices.     

我国经济快速发展区工业VOCs排放特征及管控对策

近年来随着我国经济快速发展,挥发性有机物(VOCs)作为雾、霾和臭氧前驱物日益受到关注,经济快速发展区VOCs污染情况尤为复杂.本文对京津冀、长三角和珠三角的12种典型工业行业及垃圾、废水处理厂与综合工业园区、居民区的VOCs排放特征与分布趋势进行系统分析.解析出制药、橡胶和油漆喷涂为12种典型工业行业中VOCs平均排...     

The potential of current legal structures to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interests in the Australian bush food industry

There are complex connections between Australia’s native plants and first peoples, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The maintenance of these connections is central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and well-being and the tangible realisation of Australian policy commitments. Diverse cultural connections combine with other motivations to underpin an array of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interests in the commercial development of traditional plant foods (‘bush foods’). Despite nation-wide policy support for these interests, there is no national legal framework to support them. This fortifies the popular call for a new (sui generis) law that transforms the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples into enforceable legal rights. It is unclear the extent to which a single sui generis law might help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples realise their diverse interests in the development of gourmet bush food products and new bush food varieties. It is also unlikely that Australia will implement such a law in the near future. This paper offers a preliminary study of the capacity of current legal structures to support some key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interests that might arise in these two development contexts. The study can inform the future development of practical legal strategies to support the diverse interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the bush food industry.     

Private participation in isolated grids in Mozambique

This article presents a case study from Mozambique of the electrification of two selected towns under a World Bank financed project. Low-cost electricity services were extended to the two isolated areas after an enabling framework had been created for private sector participation. The World Bank project also demonstrates that the private sector can be attracted to participate in rural electrification schemes even in a poor country. The example shown in this article is one of the few of its kind in SubSaharan Africa.     

试论高职院校学生非正式群体及其教育对策

本文详细分析了高职院校学生中非正式群体产生的心理原因、类型、特征和功能,提出了切实可行的教育对策.     

Forgetting about hazard

Abstract

This paper examines long-term recovery outcomes of businesses impacted by major natural disasters. Data were collected via two large-scale mail surveys—one administered to Santa Cruz County, California businesses 8 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake and the other administered to businesses in South Dade County, Florida, 6 years after Hurricane Andrew. Based on the results of OLS regression models, we argue that long-term recovery experiences of businesses are affected by various factors, including the economic sector in which a business operates, its age and financial condition, and the scope of its primary market; direct and indirect disaster impacts, including physical damage, forced closure, and disruption of operations; and owner perceptions of the broader economic climate. Previous disaster experience, level of disaster preparedness, and use of external sources of aid were not found to significantly affect the long-term economic viability of businesses in the two study communities.     

Estimation of emission reduction potential in China’s industrial sector

The industrial sector is usually the largest economy sector for carbon emissions in many countries, which made it the sector with greatest potential for carbon reduction although the process duration might be very long. Studying the potential of industrial emission reduction has great significance in estimating the carbon emission peak of China on the one hand, and adjusting its strategy in international climate change negotiations. By employing the economic accounting method, this article estimates the emission reduction potential of China’s Industrial sector for the period of 2010–2050. It reveals that, taking 2030 as the year when the emission reaches the peak, the total reduction can be 8.38 billion tons (bts) for the period of 2010–2030, with 3.12 bts from structural reduction while 5.26 bts from intensity reduction. Afterwards, reduction will continue with a total amount of 6.59 bts for the period of 2030–2050, where the structural reduction accounts for 2.47 bts, and intensity reduction 4.115 bts. If both industrial and energy consumption structures are improved during the above period, the reduction potential can be even greater, e.g. the emission peak can arrive five years earlier (in the year of 2025) and the peak value can decline by about 8% as compared to the original estimation. Reviewing the trajectory of emission changes in developed countries indicates that the industry sector can contribute to the overall reduction targets through the dual wheels of structural reduction and intensity reduction, even beyond the emission peak. This article concludes with the following policy suggestions. (1) Our estimation on the emission peak of the industrial sector suggests that China should avoid any commitment earlier than 2030 on the timeline of the overall emission peak; (2) the great potential of industrial emission reduction can improve the situation of China in climate change negotiation, where the intensity reduction can serve as an important policy option. (3) Reduction potential can be further enhanced through technology advancement, which requires furthering of market oriented reforms and improvement of institutional design. (4) To secure the reduction effects of the industrial structure adjustment, the balanced development among different regions should be encouraged in order to avoid the reverse adjustment caused by industrial transferring. (5) International cooperation promoting the application and development of industrial emission reduction technologies, including carbon capture, utilization and storage, should be encouraged.     

Greenhouse gas mitigation options in the Forest sector of Russia: National and project level assessments

Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation options in the Russian forest sector include: afforestation and reforestation of unforested/degraded land area; enhanced forest productivity; incorporation of nondestructive methods of wood harvesting in the forest industry; establishment of land protective forest stands; increase in stand age of final harvest in the European part of Russia; increased fire control; increased disease and pest control; and preservation of old growth forests in the Russian Far-East, which are presently threatened. Considering the implementation of all of the options presented, the GHG mitigation potential within the forest and agroforestry sectors of Russia is approximately 0.6–0.7 Pg C/yr or one half of the industrial carbon emissions of the United States. The difference between the GHG mitigation potential and the actual level of GHGs mitigated in the Russian forest sector will depend to a great degree on external financing that may be available. One possibility for external financing is through joint implementation (JI). However, under the JI process, each project will be evaluated by considering a number of criteria including also the difference between the carbon emissions or sequestration for the baseline (or reference) and the project case, the permanence of the project, and leakage. Consequently, a project level assessment must appreciate the near-term constraints that will face practitioners who attempt to realize the GHG mitigation potential in the forest and agroforestry sectors of their countries.     

金融危机下民营制造业可持续发展路径与政府责任

制造业仍然是中国国民经济的支柱产业.金融危机对外向型的中国制造业造成了严重的冲击,应对危机的根本途径是在提高国际竞争力和承担社会责任之间取得平衡,走可持续发展道路.在中国制造业中,民营企业已经占据主体地位,但是国际竞争力并不强.增强民营制造业企业的国际竞争力是我国制造业乃至整个国民经济摆脱困境的必然选择.目前,我国民营制造企业虽有一定发展,但总体上还处于国际分工价值链的低端,"硬竞争力"和"软竞争力"都明显不足,既受到技术、资金的硬件限制,又没有形成优秀的品牌和企业文化.要提高其国际竞争力,既取决于民营制造企业自身的努力,又要靠政府提供有利的发展环境.民营制造业企业要自主创新、以质取胜、加强管理,并且要增加社会责任感.政府需要在准入条件、融资环境和税收环境方面提供支持.