The elaboration of the 'Stockholm convention' on persistent organic pollutants (POPs): a negotiation process fraught with obstacles and opportunities

The conclusion in December 2000 of the negotiations for the 'Stockholm Convention' can clearly be labeled as a success. The Convention text was negotiated in merely five sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) and accomplished after its fifth session despite the fact that numerous controversial issues, such as the inclusion of new substances under the ambit of the Convention, the acknowledgement of the precautionary principle or--clearly most controversial--the financing mechanisms, remained to be resolved. This paper attempts to provide a somewhat impressionistic account of the negotiations leading to the conclusion of the 'Stockholm Convention' as experienced by the members of the Swiss delegation participating in the negotiations of the INC. Besides a brief overview on the 'history' of the negotiations, it will focus on some issues of special interest--and controversy--to the negotiators, and finally attempt to provide an outlook on the future of the work performed by the INC and the implementation of the Convention. Issues of special interest are environmental policy issues, capacity building and financing, trade-related issues, precautionary principles, and technical and scientific issues.     

East Timor emerging from conflict: the role of local NGOs and international assistance

International assistance efforts have represented a conundrum for East Timorese seeking to assert their new independence and autonomy. While urgent needs have been met, local participation, involvement and capacity building have not been given adequate attention. This outcome is aptly demonstrated in the case of local non-government organisations (LNGOs). This paper specifically examines the role of LNGOs in the recovery of East Timor within the international assistance programme. It examines the challenges of rehabilitation efforts in East Timor with a particular focus on capacity building of East Timorese NGOs as part of a broader effort to strengthen civil society. The initial crisis response in East Timor highlighted tension between meeting immediate needs while simultaneously incorporating civil society actors such as NGOs and communities. It has been argued that local NGOs and the community at large were not sufficiently incorporated into the process. While it is acknowledged that many local NGOs had limited capacity to respond, a greater emphasis on collaboration, inclusion and capacity building was desirable, with a view to supporting medium and longer term objectives that promote a vibrant civil society, sustainability and self-management.     

Consensus Building and Sustainability: Some Lessons From an Adverse Local Experience in Greece

The paper focuses on the example of a local island community in Greece, to illustrate the difficulties of effective consensus building, in support of sustainable policies. In the first section the issue of sustainability and the importance of participation are discussed, before moving to a brief outline of the nature of participation and its sources since the 1960s. It follows an analysis of the epistemological framework of consensus building process which is considered as the most integrated and sophisticated version of participatory planning. This analysis serves as a background for judging the appropriateness of consensus building for the resolution of an environmental problem harassing a Greek island community. It is about the problem of water availability and management in the small Aegean island of Leros. The paper shows how illegal practices in the use of water, administrative fragmentation and confusion over knowledge of the problem and its solutions lead to divisions in the stakeholder groups and to obstacles in the way of participation. The intrinsic problems embedded in Greek (and probably not alone) society and political culture, which prevent collective action and participation, account in part for the anticipated risk of unwelcome, illegitimate outcomes of a potential consensus building process. Nevertheless, if communicative planning is to gain universal acceptance, it should first resolve some critical theoretical and practical shortcomings related to its normative, ethical and philosophical assumptions. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Using evidence to improve reproductive health quality along the Thailand-Burma border

The Mae Tao Clinic, located on the Thailand-Burma border, has provided health services for illegal migrant workers in Thailand and internally displaced people from Burma since 1989. In 2001, the clinic launched a project with the primary aim of improving reproductive health services and the secondary aim of building clinic capacity in monitoring and evaluation (M&E). This paper first presents the project's methods and key results. The team used observation of antenatal care and family-planning sessions and client exit interviews at baseline and follow-up, approximately 13 months apart, to assess performance on six elements of quality of care. Findings indicated that improving programme readiness contributed to some improvement in the quality of services, though inconsistencies in findings across the methods require further research. The paper then identifies lessons learned from introducing M&E in a resource-constrained setting. One key lesson was that a participatory approach to M&E increased people's feelings of ownership of the project and motivated staff to collect and use data for programme decision-making to improve quality.     

采动区建筑物移动变形规律实测研究

为了研究开采影响下的建筑物移动变形规律、指导矿井安全生产,兴隆庄煤矿专门在4326综放工作面上方设立建筑物移动观测站。通过对观测资料的分析研究,获得该区条件下建筑物的移动变形规律,给出建筑物移动变形与地表移动变形之间的单因素系列关系式,并总结了不同长高比条件下建筑物变形与地表变形之间的综合关系式,获得的一些有益成果为矿区建筑物下安全采煤及采动区建筑物保护设计提供了科学依据。     

建筑火灾风险评估研究

目前,建筑火灾风险评估常用方法有基于模糊数学的模糊综合评判法和基于性能化设计的性能化评估方法.在前人研究的基础上,利用系统原理,把建筑作为一个由若干相对独立的空间区域组成的系统,通过评估各个区域的火灾风险来确定整个建筑的火灾风险.该方法的优点是便于防火设计和管理人员确定重点防火区域,通过降低重点区域的火灾风险,来降低整个建筑的火灾风险.     

多层多室建筑火灾的缩小比例实验设计

利用中国科学技术大学火灾科学国家重点实验室的五层模型楼研究多层多室建筑火灾,介绍了缩小比例(1:2)的实验设计方案、五层模型楼的改造方案并对温度测量、风流风压差测量、烟流成份测量、图像数据采集、实验过程中使用的燃料以及测点分布等进行了介绍,其中的实验结果将在后续的研究中进行报道.     

Enhancing climate technology transfer through greater public–private cooperation: Lessons from Thailand and the Philippines

This article contributes to debates about climate change policy and technology transfer by analyzing the success factors underlying collaboration between private companies and communities in developing countries. To date, much attention to capacity building for enabling environments — including public–private collaboration — under the climate change convention has focused on state‐led initiatives and on the innovation and development of technologies. This article, instead, focuses on how private‐sector investors and host communities may collaborate in the diffusion of technologies, by reducing the costs of technology transfer, and making technology more appropriate to developing countries. The article describes cases of collaboration concerning waste management and waste‐to‐energy in Thailand and the Philippines. The article argues that successful public–private partnerships between investors and communities depends on minimizing transaction costs, strengthening collaborative (or assurance) mechanisms, and in maximizing public trust and accountability of partnerships. Lessons are then drawn for enhancing capacity building for technology transfer under the climate change convention and applications such as the Clean Development Mechanism.     

某危房的检测鉴定与加固

通过对某办公大楼检测、鉴定和破损原因分析，提出了切实可行的加固处理方案，加固后有效提高了房屋的整体承载能力和总体刚度。