International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development - Volume 1, Issue 2, 2002

In an assessment of the state of the world ten years after the 1992 Earth Summit, this paper argues that neither the environment nor socio-economic development has fared well. While awareness of environmental issues has increased and remarkable progress made in niches such as wind power and organic farming, nearly all global indicators continue to be headed in the wrong direction. Many social issues advanced slowly, with some of the gains offset by setbacks. The decade since Rio saw decreases in deaths from infectious diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, but a six-fold increase in deaths from HIV/AIDS, with people in developing countries most at risk. The paper addresses the need to focus on such issues as increased participation of women in development activities, and system-wide rather than incremental approaches when considering policies and strategies for sustainable development.

This paper addresses issues relating to the centrality of climate change to sustainable development; the challenges envisaged in implementing climate change agreements; and prospects for moving the climate change agenda forward. It shows how the science, technology, economics, policy, business, and politics of climate change have evolved in the decade since Rio, and argues that these developments, taken together, make the climate challenge in 2002 fundamentally different from that in 1992. The Kyoto Protocol is seen as a challenge to global action on climate change, and the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit as an opportunity for making Kyoto work.

Poverty reduction programmes often falter when development initiatives are not conceived and implemented in the framework of sustainability. Using the case of the Lake Tana region in north-western Ethiopia, this paper discusses the environmental, social and economic consequences of urbanisation and development activities in the region. The paper notes the threat to sustainable development posed by the growth of social and economic activities in the region. At issue is the current practice of discharging untreated industrial, municipal and domestic waste into the Lake and the adverse effects of this on the sustainability of the use value of the Lake; on prospects for urban development in the region; and on the livelihood of traditional communities around the Lake. The paper sets in context the issue of environmental management and development in the region, and points out the need for more research to inform policy, so that interventions in the form of development initiatives can be directed in ways that enhance sustainability of the aquatic and agro-ecosystems of the region.

An NGO project played a facilitative role in El Salvador by assisting smallholder coffee cooperatives that provided members with credit, training, extension, input supply, processing, and marketing services. Costs were recovered through processing and marketing margins and interest spreads. Lessons learned include the importance of a subsector approach to capacity building; the need to plan for external risks; appropriate roles of service providers and facilitators; the value of indirect cost recovery; validity of subsidies in post-war reconstruction; advantages of centralised credit administration; profitability of some improved environmental practices; and how expansion and replication activities increased cost effectiveness and impact.