Defining the Legal and Policy Framework to Stop the Dumping of Environmentally Harmful Products

Environmental dumping is a practice historically associated with the export of hazardous product waste from a developed country for irresponsible and often illegal disposal in a developing country. Now, with the industrialization and globalization of China and other developing countries, environmental dumping can involve both developing and developed countries as origin and destination. This dumping can be especially harmful to attempts to control under the Montreal Protocol ozone-depleting and climate-forcing chemical substances and/or products requiring unnecessarily high energy consumption. While developing country Parties to the Montreal Protocol are allowed to delay their phasedown of climate-forcing and ozone-depleting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) during a multi-year grace period, there are advantages to earlier implementation when superior alternatives are already available at reasonable costs, as is the case for many uses of HFCs today. Thus, developing countries can benefit under the Protocol from setting controls for environmental dumping. This article aims to give policymakers, especially those in developing countries, a legal and policy “toolkit” that can be used to stop unwanted environmental dumping. It includes an examination of the history of environmental dumping, illustration of such dumping in practice, a detailed explanation and examination of the legal and policy tools, and a summary of the consequences of environmental dumping

Towards sustainable ecological networks of peat bogs in central Russia; development of local environmental action program (LEAP) as a practical tool for protection and restoration of peat bogs in Egorievsk sub region

In central and northern Meshera the habitats for many characteristic peat bog species now show a very fragmented pattern. As a result, the potential for viable populations of characteristic peat bog species has decreased considerably. Peat-mining and other human influences are the most important reasons. To maintain and increase the potential for viable populations of characteristic species, protection and restoration of especially high peat bogs are the most important strategies. To this end, a local environmental action programme (leap) has been developed for peat bogs in Egorievsk subregion. All local stakeholders, such as administration, forestry, peat-mining company and NGOs, support the LEAP. At the short term, protection of peat bogs seems tobe the most realistic strategy

Evaluating the uncertainty of a UN indicator for sustainable development goal 6.1 : case study on water access in Morocco

This report examines the reliability of an indicator used by the UN to monitor the progress of member nations on Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 related to improved universal water access. The report examines the international and national framework for development indicators with a case study on Morocco. This study discusses limitations posed by household surveys and post-census investigations on providers of water services. It proposes a methodology to harmonize conflicting indicator definitions that is leading to contested statistics. The new methodology combines user-based stratified sampling techniques and provider-based definitions of the population’s strata with satellite image processing to select households. Two experiments demonstrate improvements in the indicator’s precision and accuracy. A first experiment simulates the uncertainty of water access estimates resulting from a typical household survey. A second experiment provides the reasoning and implementation of the new sampling methodology, showing a clear reduction of bias and variance in water access estimates.Public Affair

Northern Territory safe streets audit

This audit examined crime and safety issues in the Northern Territory urban communities of Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs to help inform effective strategies to reduce the actual and perceived risk of victimisation. Abstract This Special Report is a research driven response to community concerns regarding the level of crime and fear of crime in the Northern Territory. The Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University and the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) were commissioned by the Northern Territory Police Force (NT Police) to undertake the NT Safe Streets Audit. The purpose of the Safe Streets Audit was to examine crime and safety issues in the Northern Territory urban communities of Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs and to help inform effective strategies to reduce the actual and perceived risk of victimisation. The audit involved a literature review exploring issues impacting on the fear of crime in the Northern Territory, focus groups with a range of stakeholders in Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine, the analysis of media articles on crime and policing, the analysis of incident data from NT Police on assault offences and public disorder incidents, and a rapid evidence assessment of the effectiveness of strategies targeting NT crime problems. Implications for future crime reduction approaches in the Northern Territory were then identified

Watched over or over-watched? Open street CCTV in Australia

Most developed countries, Australia included, are witnessing increased government and public concerns about crime and security. Amid these anxieties, closed circuit television (CCTV) systems to monitor public spaces are increasingly being touted as a solution to problems of crime and disorder. The city of Perth established Australia’s first open street closed circuit television system in July 1991. Subsequently, there has been significant expansion. At the end of 2002 Australia had 33 “open street” CCTV schemes. Based on site inspections, extensive reviews of documentation and interviews with 22 Australian administrators, this article discusses issues relating to system implementation, management and accountability.We also suggest ways relevant authorities might ensure that current and future schemes are appropriately audited and evaluated. We argue that rigorous independent assessment of both the intended and unintended consequences of open street CCTV is essential to ensure this measure is not deployed inappropriately. Finally, this article suggests any potential crime prevention benefits must be carefully weighed against the potential of CCTV to exacerbate social division and exclusion

Portfolio of Mine Action Projects 2011

We are pleased to present to you the 2011 Portfolio of Mine Action Projects and simultaneously to highlight the immense value mine action brings to peacekeeping, humanitarian relief and development efforts. As a cross cutting activity, mine action delivers concrete and measurable results. It saves lives, protects livelihoods and provides assistance to mine victims, including through job skills training, socio-economic initiatives, and employment opportunities. Mine action workers assist victims and their families, reduce the risk to affected communities, and remove dangers from farmer’s fields, from roads, from villages; all of which allow children to safely travel to school, communities to have access to water and to collect firewood, and commercial trade to return to assist with the socio-economic recovery of affected areas. With increased awareness of the links between mine action and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, mine-affected countries are pursuing mine action as a development priority as well as a humanitarian, security and human rights priority, and are giving it due prominence in their national development plans, strategies and budgets