Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter » equity

Indigenous Brazilian group certified to trade carbon credits

A. Cherson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:21:23 +0000

[RIO DE JANEIRO] Brazil’s Paiter Suruí community has become the first indigenous group in the country to receive international certification to sell carbon credits in return for protecting and restoring forests in their Amazonian territory.The Suruí community, which numbers around 1300 people, was first contacted by outsiders in 1968. Over the past decade, with assistance from environmental advocates, they have conducted a sophisticated campaign to prove to the world that they are helping to preserve their 248,000 hectare forest territory.Four years ago, they established the Suruí Forest Carbon Project, with a view to selling carbon credits under the so-called REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism.

Indigenous Brazilian group certified to trade carbon credits – SciDev.Net

Global Common Resources and the Just Distribution of Emission Shares: Some Alternative Views

A. Cherson — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:54:08 +0000

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2012.00416.x

No related posts.

Global Picture on Global FIsh Stocks: Capacity Needs to be Cut by 36-43%

A. Cherson — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:20:35 +0000

Many of the world’s fish stocks are depleted as a result of overexploitation, pollution and habitat loss. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) sets a target for fisheries to maintain or restore stocks to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) by 2015. We assessed the global stock status and found that 68% were at or above the MSY level in 2008 and that the 2015 target is unlikely to be met. We compiled data for eight indicators to evaluate the sustainability of fisheries and the gap to meet the WSSD target. These indicators show that the overall condition of global fisheries is declining, long-term benefits are being compromised, and pressures on fisheries are increasing despite fisheries policy and management actions being taken by coastal States. We develop a bio-economic model to estimate the costs and benefits of restoring overfished stocks. Our results show that the global fishing capacity needs to be cut by 36–43% from the 2008 level, resulting in the loss of employment of 12–15 million fishers and costing US$96–358 billion for buybacks. On the other hand, meeting the WSSD goal will increase annual fishery production by 16.5 million tonnes, annual rent by US$32 billion and improve biodiversity and functioning of marine ecosystems. However, progress towards rebuilding has been hindered by an unwillingness or inability to accept the short-term socio-economic consequences associated with rebuilding fisheries. Thus, there is a pressing need for integration of rebuilding plans into national political and economic decision-making.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2012.00460.x

Impact of Transportation Infrastructure on Development in East Africa and the Indian Ocean Region

A. Cherson — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:47:50 +0000

The study explores the relationship between transportation and development in the East Africa and Indian Ocean (EAIO) region. A positive link between development, defined in terms of gross national income per capita (GNI/cap), and transportation, operationalized in terms of the different major forms of transport infrastructure in the study region, is hypothesized. Multiple regression involving natural logarithms and concomitant statistics is employed to test the hypothesis. The resultant model is positive and statistically significant at the 95% level. Thus, the hypothesized relationship is confirmed. Two seemingly counterintuitive results, namely the not-statistically-significant negative association between railways and development, and the statistically significant link between dirt roads and development, are noted. Two plausible explanations are proffered for this unexpected finding. One is that dirt roads constitute a hindrance, rather than a facilitator, to development during the rainy season when they are impassable. The other is that railways in the area suffer from neglect and are not harmonized enough to maximize their utility. On account of the revelation that transportation, as a whole, is positively linked to development, and the fact that the functioning of other sectors depends largely on transportation, it is recommended that transport infrastructure and facilities be prioritized as an investment target in the EAIO region.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000091

No related posts.

Natural Products As Sources of New Drugs over the 30 Years from 1981 to 2010

A. Cherson — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:55:35 +0000

This review is an updated and expanded version of the three prior reviews that were published in this journal in 1997, 2003, and 2007. In the case of all approved therapeutic agents, the time frame has been extended to cover the 30 years from January 1, 1981, to December 31, 2010, for all diseases worldwide, and from 1950 (earliest so far identified) to December 2010 for all approved antitumor drugs worldwide. We have continued to utilize our secondary subdivision of a “natural product mimic” or “NM” to join the original primary divisions and have added a new designation, “natural product botanical” or “NB”, to cover those botanical “defined mixtures” that have now been recognized as drug entities by the FDA and similar organizations. From the data presented, the utility of natural products as sources of novel structures, but not necessarily the final drug entity, is still alive and well. Thus, in the area of cancer, over the time frame from around the 1940s to date, of the 175 small molecules, 131, or 74.8%, are other than “S” (synthetic), with 85, or 48.6%, actually being either natural products or directly derived therefrom. In other areas, the influence of natural product structures is quite marked, with, as expected from prior information, the anti-infective area being dependent on natural products and their structures. Although combinatorial chemistry techniques have succeeded as methods of optimizing structures and have been used very successfully in the optimization of many recently approved agents, we are able to identify only one de novo combinatorial compound approved as a drug in this 30-year time frame. We wish to draw the attention of readers to the rapidly evolving recognition that a significant number of natural product drugs/leads are actually produced by microbes and/or microbial interactions with the “host from whence it was isolated”, and therefore we consider that this area of natural product research should be expanded significantly.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/np200906s

Rumination: Ecologically Sustainable Taxation

A. Cherson — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:50:40 +0000

In the US there seems to be a perennial battle over taxation. Who should be taxed? What should be taxed? How much? Every point of view on this subject is tinged with a heavy self-interested bias. I now ask the question, ‘what is the ecological approach to taxation?’ I propose that the emphasis of taxation systems from the ecological sustainability angle should be on the taxation of income rather than wealth. For this discussion, wealth is the equivalent of accumulated savings and income is any addition to this amount produced from labor, capital appreciation, or investment. Wealth is therefore the equivalent of conservation and income, the equivalent of consumption. Ecological economics, being as it is, about conservation, about sustainable consumption, is therefore on the side of controlling consumption behavior and of encouraging conservation behavior. Let me try to give a hypothetical, schematic illustration. Supposing small logger A in Equatorial Guinea decides to apply a form of super efficient irrigation that allows him to enjoy a very large profit in Years 1-5. Each year he pays off some of the cost of the irrigation system and takes saves some of the profit. In Year 6, his savings provide him with enough income to allow a reduction in the size of his woodland, therefore allowing a portion of the woodland to return to wilderness. Eventually, he is able to live entirely from the income generated from savings and convert the entire woodland into wilderness. In effect, logger A has exchanged livelihoods. He used to earn his livelihood from the timber market and now it is earned from the capital market. In fact, his accumulated wealth is no different than his former timber land: it is an asset being applied towards generating income, the only difference being in the transformation of a certain amount of land from timber use to wilderness.

This illustration shows why I am in favor of a universal consumption tax to replace all other forms of taxation. The way this tax works is as follows: 1) all forms of income are considered the same (wages, capital appreciation, and investment), 2) all income is taxed in the year accrued, 3) any income that is saved is exempt from taxation (in other words, if an individual earns 50 in wages and is able to deposit 10 of that in the bank, he is taxed only on 40; likewise, 50 in interest is taxed only to the extent that the 50 is withdrawn (consumed), 4) any withdrawal from savings is considered consumption and is taxable (if in year 2, the individual then withdraws the 10 he saved in year 1, then that amount once again becomes taxable).

The US revenue system already has a policy instrument that leads the way towards the consumption tax: the Individual Retirement Account. At the moment this account allows individuals to deposit a portion of their earned income and avoid paying any tax on that income until withdrawn at retirement. My suggestion builds on this concept. The Consumption Tax would create an Individual Wealth Account (IWA) that works in much the same way: 1) individuals could deposit any form of income into the account and thus avoid being taxed on that income until withdrawn, 2) individuals could withdraw funds from the IWA at any time, but any amount withdrawn is subject to the Consumption Tax, 3) any income not deposited into the IWA is also subjected to the Consumption Tax, 4) tax rates would be adjusted according to the revenue needs of the polity and could be made as progressive as desired by the polity, 5) all other forms of tax: property, sales, corporate, and inheritance, are ABOLISHED!

This, in a nutshell, is the most ecologically sustainable system of taxation.