The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
a planning Commission expert group on groundwater recently released its report. Titled Groundwater management and ownership, the report suggests community-based groundwater management at the farm level. It is, however, silent on urban and industrial use. In October 2005, the Planning Commission created an expert group headed by its energy and …
Africa's largest slum, has got a radio station. A five-story apartment building at the edge of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya recently sprouted a new antenna
a community similar to the European Union will soon be created in South America. The Rio Group, a cluster of 18 South American nations, has agreed to form the "South American Community of Nations' to foster political, economic and infrastructural integration. The decision was taken by the foreign ministers of …
Aboriginal peoples are considered as one founding nation of Canada. Before European settlers arrived, Aboriginal peoples already had governance structures and legal systems. Aboriginal peoples had two choices: either adapt or assimilate to the foreign culture and system, or to keep its own and ignore the settlers, which ended up …
Multinational oil giants Chevron Texaco Oil Company, Shell and Total Fina Elf have shut down operations in Nigeria's trouble-torn southern Delta region. The companies estimate that the disruptions have reduced Nigeria's daily oil output by about 30 per cent. The country is the world's sixth largest oil exporter. Dozens of …
In the face of mounting protests against the Comprehensive Wasteland Development Project (cwdp), the characteristically intractable chief minister (cm) of Tamil Nadu (tn), J Jayalalithaa, has been forced to climb down partially. The state government's ambitious programme has been in the eye of a storm ever since it was conceived …
Peruvian local communities are on the warpath. They are accusing mining companies of not only causing contamination in the region, but also holding them responsible for the seizure of their land. More than 1,000 of these community members marched to the nation's capital, Lima, and demanded action against the big …
In a move that may render nearly half a million families homeless, Thailand's senate recently withheld the passage of the much-awaited community forestry bill (cfb). The proposed legislation that has been blocked was meant to hand over control of forests to the people residing in them. Instead, the country's upper …
In a major judgement, the Delhi High Court has directed the Union government to dissolve a high-powered wildlife committee set up a year ago . Counsel for the petitioner had moved an application that as three of the seven members of the committee had passed away, it should be reconstituted. …
A welcome stepM S Swaminathan i am happy that at last the Lok Sabha has passed the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Bill. This is a major step in incorporating the ethics and equity provisions of the convention on biological diversity in a sui generis system of varietal …
a village famous for its delicious mangoes is now also an outstanding example of community participation and local entrepreneurship. Lying off the Lucknow Malihabad road near Kakori, in Uttar Pradesh, the village has had its share of troubles. Deteriorating and diminishing yields had pushed the people into the grip of …
INDIA might be the software superpower but its remote villages still remain caught in a time warp where the effects of modernistion have not yet filtered down. Even after 54 years of independence, the rhetoric of development and conservation rings hollow without the people's participation in development schemes. Here in …
Despite the shortcomings of the Neeru Meeru (water and you) programme reflected during its first and second phase, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, has decided to launch the third phase of the programme from May 2001, with a new name
india 's ancient tradition of community-based water harvesting is declining and being replaced by the role of the state in water management. This is promoting a wasteful and profligate consumption pattern in the country. Not only surface water, even groundwater resources are also being overexploited and polluted. Therefore, it has …
nepal's forest bureaucracy is set to follow the footsteps of its Indian counterpart. What was hailed as a radical community forest management (cfm) programme is on the brink of a complete, disastrous makeover. The Forest (Second Amendments) Bill, 2001, to be soon placed in parliament for approval, will strip the …
Forest bureaucracy arms itself to halt the spread of CFM • In the guise of a finance bill, the Nepalese government has given district forest officers powers to punish forest users' groups (FUGs) members l In the terai , the government is interested to give the forest to foreign companies …
the Andhra Pradesh government's move to legalise forest users' groups called Van Samrakshana Samitis (vss), created under its joint forest management (jfm) programme, has sparked off a controversy. The government recently drafted a legislation called the Joint Forest Management and vss Rules, 2000, as an addition to its Andhra Pradesh …
