This report summarizes the findings of a review aimed at understanding emerging approaches to energy subsidy reform, discerning trends, and identifying major strands of thinking and research in the field, as reflected in major policy and academic journals relevant to the subject. The review was initiated in early 2020 as …
The Spanish government's proposal to end subsidies for renewable fuels has made the country's Association of Renewable Energy Producers (arep) see red. The government feels that the sop should be done away with as certain forms of renewable energy are mature enough to compete in the open market. But arep …
Excessive farm power subsidies have sent fiscal deficits soaring in most states of India, says a new World Bank study. A glaring example of this largesse leaving states impoverished is Madhya Pradesh (mp). The state doled out a whopping Rs 3,250 crore as power subsidy in 2000-2001. As against this, …
all the three partners in the coalition government of Sweden ratified a new energy policy allowing trading certificates in renewable energy. Under the new system guaranteed investment subsidies for particular forms of energy will be eliminated and replaced by market-based
The European Union (eu) has proposed to amend the 40-year-old Common Agricultural Policy (cap). Under the proposal, subsidies will be granted to farmers on the basis of their observing public health, safety and environmental norms. This is in contrast to the existing system wherein farmers receive sops on the basis …
UPDATE Beached! Non-government organisations get the sinking feeling that the wssd will deliver nothing, after the final preparatory meeting in Bali comes to no good "M r Annan, the Earth Summit is sinking,' alarmed civil society groups wrote to un Secretary General Kofi Annan, after the final preparatory meeting to …
There were quite a few adherents to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture at the World Food Summit. The treaty defines plant genetic resources as any genetic material of plant origin of actual or potential value for food and agriculture. India ratified the pact along …
the World Food Summit, convened by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (fao) and held in Rome from June 10-13, failed to secure an enhanced commitment to its goal of reducing the number of hungry people from 800 million to 400 million by 2015. What it could just do was to …
the recently concluded World Food Summit at Rome was a sorry affair. The aim was to review the progress made since the food summit in 1996 when the world had jointly resolved to halve the number of malnourished to 400 million by 2015. But the report card is shameful. The …
Over the past couple of decades, agricultural research has seen increasing involvement of the private sector in what was almost exclusively the preserve of public-funded institutions. With research taking place in the public sector, there was no problem with sharing technology. The spread of the Green Revolution technology is a …
There is disappointment down under over the us farm bill which has recently become a law. The us bill will provide new subsidies for domestic farmers over the next decade. It raises subsidy rates for soyabean, wheat, corn, cotton and barley. Australian trade minister Mark Vaile says that a dithering …
Brazil is set to challenge the controversial us farm subsidy programme. It is likely to file a case with the World Trade Organisation (wto) regarding the farm bill that would deprive the Brazilian soyabean and cotton farmers of more than us $1.5 billion a year in exports while boosting annual …
The reforms to the European Union's (eu) Common Fisheries Policy (cfp) are getting delayed, thanks to intense lobbying from Spain. Now, the reform proposal has been removed from the agenda of the weekly commission meetings. Fishing in Spain has political importance. It receives us $1.2 billion in public subsidies from …
IS THE world's environment really in crisisor is thecrisis simply in the imagination of environmental groupsresearchers andthe media? In The Skeptical EnvironmentalistBj
Two home truths about irrigation departments across India: they are a fountainhead of corruption and run on huge losses. But July 2002 may prove to be a watershed for rural water supply management. Around that time, the Maharashtra government will hand over control of irrigation facilities to the state's farmers
However, the Doha declaration does not take a decision on whether countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector will be allowed to import generic drugs to deal with a health crisis. Instead, it calls upon the trips council to
agriculture remains the biggest source of inequity in the world trading system. Unlike telecom, financial, and legal services, farming practices in the North have stoutly resisted the logic of market forces. Farming in the North thrives on prodigious subsidies and price support systems combined with coddling protection through high tariffs …
Developing countries also fear the huge costs associated with greener technologies, which will be unbearable by their domestic industries. It could make their goods uncompetitive in western markets. This unequivocal opposition to greening of trade is what brings the motley crew of poor countries together. “If there’s one thing that …
the choice of venue was clever and the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center added to the security paranoia. The result was that it combined to give trade negotiators somewhat of a breather when they met in Doha, Qatar, for the fourth ministerial conference of the World Trade …
giving impetus to non-conventional energy, the parliamentary budget committee of Germany decided to raise subsidies for solar, thermal, biogas and geothermal energy to 400 million marks from 300 million in 2001. Earlier, the Economics minister, Werner Mueller, wanted to cut this budget by 100 million marks. He also wanted to …
