Fundamental Rights and Judicial Review: The Zambian Experience

A legal analysis of how the Zambian Bill of Rights is applied in real life situations in Zambian courts of law.This article is about the application of the Zambian Bill of Rights to real life by the Courts. In a wider sense it is also a comparative study of similar types of constitutional devices. The article was originally written several years ago during my days as an academic lawyer. It has been updated a few times up until 1981 when publication was expected but then became unavoidably delayed. Therefore I do not lay any claim to be making an up to date statement of Zambian law or any other law that is referred to. However I do believe that most of what is stated is still valid though not exhaustive. Perhaps the article will prove more valuable to the reader with a more universal interest in fundamental rights and the way they have been conceived and interpreted in various jurisdictions over the last century

Advancing Green Economy through Technology Transfer: Experiences from Malawi

The transfer of green technologies to developing countries is often touted as a key green economy measure for alleviating poverty and improving welfare. This qualitative study explores the transfer of renewable energy technologies in Malawi with a view to (i) evaluating how green economy principles have been integrated in technology transfer projects, and (ii) highlighting how successfully implemented pilot and innovative solar energy kiosks and solar fish dryers can serve as case studies on enhancing environmental education efforts. Based on experiences from the projects, a literature review, site visits and key-informant interviews were conducted. A qualitative evaluation was performed based on intuitive judgment and a general framework of internationally agreed-upon green economy principles. The results show that the technology transfer projects integrated a substantial number of green economy principles, and that embracing local traditional knowledge in  implementing modern green economy technologies in the context of helping local communities to alleviate poverty are key factors in encouraging innovation in environmental education, and improving project  acceptability among local communities. We recommend increased knowledge-sharing to popularise the   integration of green economy measures into poverty alleviation projects. This can be accomplished through both technical and educational study visits to the  technology transfer projects, documenting practical, locally generated sustainable ideas, and disseminating information on successes and lessons learnt

Developing the greatest Blue Economy: Water productivity, fresh water depletion, and virtual water trade in the Great Lakes basin

The Great Lakes basin hosts the world\u27s most abundant surface fresh water reserve. Historically an industrial and natural resource powerhouse, the region has suffered economic stagnation in recent decades. Meanwhile, growing water resource scarcity around the world is creating pressure on water-intensive human activities. This situation creates the potential for the Great Lakes region to sustainably utilize its relative water wealth for economic benefit. We combine economic production and trade datasets with water consumption data and models of surface water depletion in the region. We find that, on average, the current economy does not create significant impacts on surface waters, but there is some risk that unregulated large water uses can create environmental flow impacts if they are developed in the wrong locations. Water uses drawing on deep groundwater or the Great Lakes themselves are unlikely to create a significant depletion, and discharge of groundwater withdrawals to surface waters offsets most surface water depletion. This relative abundance of surface water means that science-based management of large water uses to avoid accidentally creating “hotspots” is likely to be successful in avoiding future impacts, even if water use is significantly increased. Commercial water uses are the most productive, with thermoelectric, mining, and agricultural water uses in the lowest tier of water productivity. Surprisingly for such a water-abundant economy, the region is a net importer of water-derived goods and services. This, combined with the abundance of surface water, suggests that the region\u27s water-based economy has room to grow in the 21st century

Frameworks for estimating virtual water flows among U.S. states

The United States is the world\u27s top virtual water exporting nation, but not much is known about the country\u27s internal virtual water flow patterns and the volumes involved. Previous studies have suggested that the import of virtual water, defined as the volume of water required to produce a commodity or service, can relieve pressure on a region\u27s water resources. This study seeks to quantify virtual water flows among U.S. states using the water footprint and input-output analytical methods, and to compare the quantitative results to actual water use volumes in agriculture. The results showed an overall pattern where virtual water is transferred from sparsely populated states mostly in the Midwest, where the country\u27s most fertile agricultural land is located, to the relatively dry Western states, and to the densely populated, but relatively wet coastal regions in the East of the country. For the year 2008, states used 196 Gm3 of water to produce agricultural commodities (crops and livestock) that were exported for consumption in other states. This total virtual water export volume is equivalent to 35 percent of total water withdrawals for all sectors in the U.S., or 41 percent of total rainfall evapotranspiration volume. Gross annual virtual water import volumes were 191 Gm3, giving a net interstate virtual water flow volume of 5 Gm3 for all states. The total virtual water import volume represent 34 percent of total water withdrawals in the U.S., or 40 percent of total rainfall evapotranspiration volume. The estimates in this study cover virtual water flows as a result of trade in 9 primary crops which represent 95 percent of the cultivated area harvested, and trade in nine primary animals that represent nearly 90 percent of animal establishments, and 97 percent of the total national sales in the U.S. for the year 2008. The estimates do not include virtual water flows as a result of trade in processed crop and livestock products and industrial products, which would have resulted in even higher virtual water flow volumes. Commodities making the greatest call on the nation\u27s water resources were corn for grain, with 20 percent of total water use, and milk cows with 17 percent. The total evapotranspiration volume for the nine primary crops analyzed was 332 Gm3/yr. This consists of 93 Gm3 irrigation water (excluding 25 percent irrigation losses), and 239 Gm3 from rainfall, showing that rainfall contributed 72 percent of the total water volumes required to produce primary crops. If irrigation return flows are considered, the proportion contributed by rainfall becomes 65 percent, compared to 35 percent (128 Gm3) for irrigation water. The nine live animals for all states used 636 Gm3 in 2008, with beef cattle taking up 340 Gm3, or 53 percent of the total volumes used for animal production. Net virtual water exports in absolute terms ranged from 91 Mm3/yr in the state of Washington, to 15 Gm3/yr in Iowa, while the minimum net virtual water import value was 47 Mm3/yr in Vermont, to 11 Gm3/yr in Florida. On a per capita basis, the people of North Dakota were responsible for the largest agricultural net virtual export volume (16,011 m3/yr/ca), although the state has only 0.2 percent of the national population. Washington was responsible for the lowest per capita net virtual water export (375 m3/yr/ca). The people of Delaware (0.3 percent the total population) were responsible for the largest net virtual water imports related to agricultural commodities on a per capita basis (1511 m3/yr/ca), with Nevada ranking lowest. In absolute terms, water footprint values in relation to the 18 primary crops and livestock groups ranged from 1157 Mm3/yr in Rhode Island, to 61,471 Mm3/yr in California. Water footprint per capita values ranged from 1,083 m3/yr/capita in New York, to 4,872 m3/yr/capita in Nebraska. Both water footprint and input-output methodologies showed that virtual water transfer constitutes a substantial portion of the water balance in water scarce states such as California, where imports and exports were found to be 13 and 15 percent of total actual water use. The ratios of net virtual water import to agricultural water use volumes were very high for relatively humid states such as Rhode Island (nearly 5,000 percent) and Connecticut (more than 3,500 percent), partly showing that factors related to economic structure dominate climatic factors (water endowments) in shaping virtual water flow patterns in most U.S. states. These results suggest that rather than being the main reason behind observed virtual water flow patterns, water availability is complimentary to other factors of production, mainly the availability of suitable agricultural land. Similar to Japan or some European countries, most highly states in the eastern part of the country rely heavily on virtual water imports to meet their local agricultural consumption requirements, while their economies focus on sectors that are less land and water intensive, such as the services industry. The study also revealed that the volumes of international virtual water imports and exports are dwarfed by internal (interstate) virtual water volumes in the U.S., showing an overall preference for home consumption to international trade. The productive value of water ($/m3 used) was found to be much higher for industry and domestic sectors, in comparison to more water intensive agricultural use. While input-output analysis appears less prone to estimation errors and is less laborious to implement, it is limited in assessing the virtual water content of individual commodities when compared to water footprint analysis. However, the two alternative methodologies both produced results that are to a large extent consistent with production and consumption patterns in the U.S. The study adds new insights and information to earlier global studies that did not elaborate much on the internal virtual water flow dynamics of the world\u27s largest virtual water exporter. The knowledge is relevant for this large country, where there are wide variations in water and other natural resource endowments between regions

Water resource requirements of corn-based ethanol

Ethanol derived from fermentation of corn is a very water-intensive product with water to ethanol mass ratios of 927 to 1178 and volumetric ratios of 1174 to 1492 for the major rainfed corn-growing U.S. states of Illinois and Iowa and the leading irrigated corn-growing state of Nebraska, respectively. Over 99% of water requirements are for growing corn feed stocks, with 99% of that amount in Illinois and Iowa, occurring as evapotranspiration of rainfall in corn fields, and 60% as evapotranspiration of applied irrigation water in Nebraska. As a rough measure of water quality impacts, 65.5 g N, 23.8 g P, and 1.03 g of pesticides are applied, and 4.8 kg of soil is eroded per liter of ethanol produced. These results add to knowledge on corn-based ethanol\u27s low net energy balance and high carbon footprint by demonstrating the high water resource intensity of corn-based ethanol production

THE EFFECTS OF CONTRASTS IN ACCOUNT-LEVEL FRAUD RISK ASSESSMENTS ON AUDITORS\u27 EVIDENCE EVALUATION

Evidence from research in psychology and auditor judgment has shown that perceptions that form early in a sequential judgment process can influence subsequent judgments. Auditing Standard 12 requires auditors to identify fraud risk factors and assess the risk of fraud as part of the process of assessing overall misstatement risk. While it is expected that fraud risk assessments should have a bearing on overall risk assessments, it is possible that perceptions formed from assessments of fraud risk can negatively affect the evaluation of any evidence reviewed thereafter. Because different classes of transactions may be affected by fraud risk factors in different ways, fraud risk assessments may differ across classes of transactions. These differences may make subsequent auditor judgments susceptible to the contrast effects bias, where subjects overreact to the differences such that the fraud risk assessments influence auditor judgment more than they should. This study examines whether auditors who learn that fraud risk is low for one class of transactions immediately after examining a class of transactions that has high fraud risk, can overreact to the contrast such that they reduce their sensitivity to evidence that suggests increased misstatement risk. The study also examines whether these contrast effects can be mitigated by acquiring information about fraud risk assessments later in the sequence of evidence, after auditors have reviewed and assimilated evidence related to other risks. The study finds that, as predicted, auditor judgments are influenced by contrast effects. Auditors who examined classes of accounts for which fraud risk assessments were different were less sensitive to evidence suggesting increased risk in accounts that had been identified as having low fraud risk. However, contrary to predictions, these contrast effects were not mitigated by evidence order