Impact of Trade Facilitation on Export Competitiveness: a Regional Perspective

In line with the liberalization of the economy, the Government of Sri Lanka undertook several measures to introduce accompanying policies that would facilitate trade and integrate the economy with the global economy. Although Sri Lanka's competitiveness has increased over the years, with a Global Competitiveness Index ranking of 70 for 2007-2008 (out of 131 countries), the current status of transport and infrastructure in the country has been a significant disadvantage in terms of export competitiveness.Export, Competitiveness, Sri Lanka, facilitation, custom, transport

The Impact of Urban Heat Islands: Assessing Vulnerability in Indonesia

The impacts of global change can be felt by local communities during both short-term events such as intense storms and long-term changes such as rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns. Natural disasters related to hydrometeorology are likely to increase in severity, while in coastal areas sea-level rises require serious attention. At city scale, with high levels of urbanisation, local rising temperatures can affect the quality of life of communities. Urban heat islands (UHI) reflect the magnitude of the difference in observed ambient air temperature between cities and their surrounding rural regions. This study aims to identify whether the urban heat island phenomena is occurring two cities in Indonesia: Jakarta, a large metropolitan city with a business and industrial background, and Bandar Lampung, a growing city with an agricultural background. The aim is to identify community vulnerability to UHI impacts and community adaptation efforts related to UHI. The results show that UHI is present in both Jakarta and Bandar Lampung. The UHI was clearly evident in morning temperatures in Bandar Lampung, showing that the area surrounding the city had more air moisture due to vegetation land cover, compared to the city area. In Jakarta the UHI effect was clearly visible in the afternoon, and the highest temperature was in high density settlement areas compared to the business and industrial area. Communities in both Bandar Lampung and Jakarta were assessed to have average (moderate) vulnerability levels. Bandar Lampung's moderate vulnerability level is due to low levels of community knowledge of climate change impacts and public facilities, but there were indications of adaptation in the form of natural spontaneous adaptation. Jakarta faces rising temperatures but has low adaptation levels which could be due to low levels of participation in community programmes in general

Construction of environmental knowledge: experiences from India

This paper explored key issues in how knowledge of the environment is constructed in the Third World. Drawing on which, it showed that there are both explicit and implicit ways in which this knowledge is contested. Particularly, it discussed how implicit forms of contestation are problematic in Third World economies because they are exclusionary and also where such issues become ‘headlines’ only after environmental damage and accompanying social injustices have resulted. It concludes by raising crucial questions for environmental research in the Third World where there is limited role of governments and communities in protecting their environment