The role of agriculture for overcoming rural poverty in Romania

Topical literature sees agriculture's ability to provide food and cash income as a major role in poverty reduction. However, it can only be a driving force for economic development for very poor countries. Economic indicators confirm that Romania is not a very poor country, although poverty has been an issue. During recent years, Romania has progressed successfully in reducing poverty. On the one hand, this can be attributed to its positive overall economic development. On the other hand, agriculture has served as a social safety net for many millions of people. Now the agricultural sector is dominated by subsistent and semi-subsistent farm households headed by persons of retirement age without formal agricultural training. Only 40% of the utilised agricultural area (UAA) is operated from commercial private and corporate farms. Thus, their creating incentives for economic growth are unlikely. While large-scale corporate farms are already integrated in agri-food chains, the upcoming group of commercial private farmers will have to show that it can compete on the agri-food market. Although agriculture has been contributing to poverty reduction, there are good reasons to believe that future economic development will rather come from outside the agricultural sector and agriculture will continue to play the role of a social safety net. Strengthening the Romanian agricultural sector calls for concerted policy actions that are targeted to different groups. Fostering land restitution to former owner families, developing a functioning land sales and rental market, and providing access to agricultural product markets could promote the resurgence of a highly productive group of commercial private farmers. Non-farm job creation in rural areas could provide income opportunities for an abundant agricultural labour force. Both new farmers and potential non-farm employees seem to require profession-specific advice and training to become competitive in their transition environment. The large group of pensioners could be convinced to exit the agricultural sector if they could rely on an income from social provisions that covers their daily needs. --

The Question of Non-trade Issues in the WTO from a Developing Country Perspective

Many developed countries have proposed enlarging the mandate of the WTO to protect the environment and labor rights. The idea was fiercely challenged by third-world countries becoming an unsurpassable obstacle in the negotiations. For supporters of a stronger WTO, the TRIPS Agreement is a good example that underscores the need to back up the trading system to enforce standards. This analysis attempts to demonstrate that there are less controversial alternatives to achieve environmental and social goals. The different nature of IPR and labor rights makes the TRIPS Agreement a weak example to prove the goodness of enforcing standards through the WTO. Moreover, certain gaps in this Agreement provide developing countries wit enough reasons to believe that a broader WTO scope would serve to disguise protectionist measures. Overarching the WTO members with obligations other than those which led their incorporation would be an encroachment of national sovereignty. However, since trade affects other areas of international law grater coherence is necessary

Decision Making in the Environmental Impact Assessment Process

This essay analyzes the decision-making processes used by government agencies to approve or reject projects that have significant impacts on the environment. One may believe that an agency will use a well-defined procedural process for making decisions, but in reality, various internal and external factors have greater influences over the decision maker. This essay examines some of the real-life inputs into the decision-making process and analyzes the results of three agency decisions that affected the environment. To begin with, I will describe some of the basic requirements for decision making as provided in the implementing regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). I will also discuss several academic observations about decision making with an emphasis on environmental assessments. I present three case studies involving different projects that were analyzed by government agencies using the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. For each example, I provide an overview of the project and the significant issues as documented in the respective EISs. I also describe the agencies’ final decisions and the reasons given for each decision. I plan to demonstrate that government agencies tend to elevate social, cultural, and political concerns over the natural environment. In addition, I plan to demonstrate that unique factors influenced the decision maker in each situation. In the next section, I describe some of the regulatory requirements for environmental decision-making

Hand in hand: Public endorsement of climate change mitigation and adaptation

This research investigated how an individual's endorsements of mitigation and adaptation relate to each other, and how well each of these can be accounted for by relevant social psychological factors. Based on survey data from two European convenience samples (N = 616 / 309) we found that public endorsements of mitigation and adaptation are strongly associated: Someone who is willing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) is also willing to prepare for climate change impacts (adaptation). Moreover, people endorsed the two response strategies for similar reasons: People who believe that climate change is real and dangerous, who have positive attitudes about protecting the environment and the climate, and who perceive climate change as a risk, are willing to respond to climate change. Furthermore, distinguishing between (spatially) proximal and distant risk perceptions suggested that the idea of portraying climate change as a proximal (i.e., local) threat might indeed be effective in promoting personal actions. However, to gain endorsement of broader societal initiatives such as policy support, it seems advisable to turn to the distant risks of climate change. The notion that "localising" climate change might not be the panacea for engaging people in this domain is discussed in regard to previous theory and research

STUDENT ATTITUDE TO ETHICAL CONSUMPTION AS NEW ECOLOGICAL PRACTICE

Purpose of the study: The aim of this article is to analyze the attitude of students to ethical consumption as a new environmental practice; to explore current research on ethical consumption. Methodology: The leading methods for the study of this problem are the methods of questioning and testing, allowing to make a qualitative analysis of the students' attitude to the new environmental practice – ethical consumption and contributing to a more detailed identification of such issues as: knowledge of students about ethical consumption; students' attitude to separate waste disposal; students' attitude to the use of environmental packaging products; identification of students' practices of secondary consumption. Results: The article deals with the theoretical and methodological foundations of the analysis of students' attitudes to ethical consumption as a new environmental practice. It is established that the level of students' awareness of ethical consumption is low. The proportion of informed students among social and humanities specialties is twice more than high as students of technical specialties. It is revealed that more than a third of respondents do not know about the production of environmentally friendly goods.  Almost all students are aware of the separate disposal of garbage and believe that it is necessary to install the appropriate bins. More than half of students are ready to sort garbage in the presence of such containers, and the readiness of humanitarians is 1.5 times higher than that of students of technical specialties. The main reasons why respondents would not buy goods in eco-friendly packaging are the lack of funds and the lack of sense for students. The majority of students believe the practice of secondary consumption to be popular one.  Applications of this study: The data obtained in the work can be used in environmental psychology, social psychology, pedagogy, the psychology of education, age psychology, sociology, as well as for further theoretical development of this issue. Novelty/Originality of this study: The originality of this article lies in the analysis of the social phenomenon of ethical consumption, which implies that only purchase and consumption of those goods, the production of which does not cause great harm to the environment, those goods in the production of which are not infringed the rights of the worker and moreover child labor is not used, and most importantly the recycling of waste after consumption of the product will not harm nature is ethical one

Crisis of traditional identity in the built environment of the Saudi cities :

PhD ThesisOver the last four decades, the built environment in Saudi has lost its traditional identity, as a result of the economic boom. The characteristics of construction heritage in Saudi cities have been affected and exposed to a lot of harm. Tabuk is one of the cities that face a crisis with regards to its traditional identity in the built environment, due to the lack of maintenance by the owners and leaseholders, in addition to changes made to the buildings, in order to meet personal needs. As a result of the extremely poor services provided in the old town and with no particular planning policies for the development of the old city, most of the significant old buildings have been damaged. The development is likely to negatively affect these places due to the change in the residents' economic conditions and their rapid and collective move to developed areas surrounding the city. Most of the inhabitants of Tabuk associate the traditional buildings with a negative appearance and believe that traditional buildings are not suitable for modern life. Therefore, many old buildings have been removed and new buildings have been constructed in the old city, although these new buildings do not represent the local identity. Additionally, the traditional way of life in the old city is usually accompanied by poor social conditions . This makes it necessary to study the transformation of traditional identity in the old city of Tabuk, in order to find ways of preserving our heritage in the built environment. This research presents an investigative study to understand why the traditional identity of the built environment has been lost and why we need to preserve it. This study has adopted a mixed method approach because it is necessary to understand the reasons behind this crisis, in addition to the relationship between people and their physical environment. The interaction between people and physical form required the researcher to study the traditional built environment in Tabuk, both prior to and after the changes. Moreover, not only did the physical environment require to be investigated, but also the perceptions of the local people towards the alterations, as well as the impact of these changes on their sense of place in the old city of Tabuk.HRH Prince Mansour bin Met'eb bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (Municipal and Rural Affairs Minister) for sponsoring my studie

Former High School Bullying Victim Perceptions of Support to Prevent Bullying Incidents

Bullying was a pervasive issue affecting high schools in the United States despite anti-bullying programs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of former high school bullying victims about why anti-bullying programs have not reduced incidents of bullying. The conceptual framework that supported this study was Bronfenbrenner’s ecology of human development, a theory that assumes an individual’s development is affected by the changing environment and the larger social context in which the environment resides. The research questions were designed to find out why anti-bullying efforts have been ineffective in preventing bullying incidents and what participants believe is needed to prevent incidents of bullying. A basic qualitative research design was used to capture the insights of purposefully selected 10 former high school bullying victims through semistructured interviews. Emergent themes were identified through open coding, and the findings were developed and checked for trustworthiness through member checking, rich descriptions, and researcher reflexivity. The findings revealed shared perceptions regarding the reasons bullying programs were not perceived as effective and the types of efforts needed to prevent bullying; these findings suggest that anti-bullying efforts were ineffective and anti-bullying programs were nonexistent. Future research should explore the reasons anti-bullying efforts are ineffective to gain additional knowledge from all aspects. This study can influence positive social change by providing information that leads to improved outcomes for students who are victims of bullying

Free Expression on Campus: A Survey of U.S. College Students and U.S. Adults

U.S. college students are highly confident that First Amendment rights are secure, yet a slight majority say the climate on campus prevents some people from saying what they believe because others might find it offensive, a Gallup survey has found. The survey, sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Newseum Institute, revealed differences in the attitudes of students and the U.S. population as a whole toward First Amendment rights, as well as differences among male, female, white and minority students about whether it was ever appropriate to restrict free speech. This study sought to better understand how U.S. college students interpret their First Amendment rights, and their views of how to balance those rights against other considerations

Radical moral encroachment: The moral stakes of racist beliefs

Historical patterns of discrimination seem to present us with conflicts between what morality requires and what we epistemically ought to believe. I will argue that these cases lend support to the following nagging suspicion: that the epistemic standards governing belief are not independent of moral considerations. We can resolve these seeming conflicts by adopting a framework wherein standards of evidence for our beliefs to count as justified can shift according to the moral stakes. On this account, believing a paradigmatically racist belief reflects a failure to not only attend to the epistemic risk of being wrong, but also a failure to attend to the distinctively moral risk of wronging others given what we believe