Energy Systems

Almost entirely dependent on energy imports from outside, cities are the key driving force behind the demand for energy, which is an essential resource for industries, households and services. Up to now, the Chilean energy system has met Santiago’s needs satisfactorily. However, development trends in the current energy system pose significant risks to its future. Using selected energy indicators and a distance-to-target approach, a detailed sustainability analysis of the energy sector in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago and of Chile as a whole was conducted. Risks to the sustainable development of the energy sector were detected, such as increasing concentration in the energy sector, import dependency on fossil fuels and rising CO2 emissions due to energy consumption. Alternative options were assessed for a more sustainable development of the megacity Santiago within the frame of the national Chilean energy system, such as enhancement of energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energies

The 'feminisation of poverty' in Costa Rica: to what extent a conundrum?

Quantitative data from Costa Rica suggest that poverty is 'feminising', especially in respect of female-headed households, who, since the early 1990s, have constituted a progressively greater share of the population classified as poor. This presents something of a conundrum given significant attempts on the part of the state to promote gender equality and to direct public expenditure to low-income women. Some light on this apparent paradox is shed by qualitative fieldwork undertaken in Guanacaste province where female headship seems to have become a more viable, and sometimes, preferred, option among women on account of its role in enhancing well-being. This is largely on account of social and legal changes that have contributed to making women less inclined to tolerate gender inequalities at the domestic level. The findings underline the importance of embracing gendered subjectivities in analyses of the 'feminisation of poverty' and invite caution about the latter being a unilaterally negative phenomenon

Upgrading of Lowland coffee in Central America

A persistent fall of coffee prices in the 1990s brought the International Coffee Organisation, national governments, and coffee companies to propose the promotion of good quality highland coffee as the exclusive strategy for Central America to neutralize the negative income effects. This implies that cultivation on low- and medium-altitude lands should be discouraged, which means that 60% of the coffee growers and workers will lose their means of subsistence in this region. We have used a combined environmental-global commodity chain approach to question the new common wisdom. In buyer-driven chains, there are different quality attributes to satisfy consumers wants. As most food products, coffee receives quality premiums for both sensorial and non-sensorial credence characteristics. However, mass consumption markets in developed countries are served by powerful downstream roasters with blends that contain a major part of low sensory quality coffees. Market demand and a credence characteristic as the highly rewarded environmental friendliness should both be considered in assessments. This creates opportunities for lowland growers to stay in business and for mass coffee markets to become more sustainable. [Econlit: L660, Q170, Q560] © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.