Civil society in trade policy-making in Latin America: the case of the environmental movement

In recent years, and particularly perhaps since the ‘battle of Seattle’ in 1999, the issue of civil society participation in trade policy has attracted increasing policy and academic attention. Much of this attention has been drawn to the question of institutional access and channels of participation and representation within the WTO. The challenge is one that has faced other global institutions such as the World Bank and IMF for a number of years (O’Brien et al 2000). Improving the transparency of and access to decision-making in the context of up-scaling civil society participation is not exclusively a global challenge, however. There has been a great deal of activity at the regional level around trade negotiations and increasingly in Latin America with the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) following in the wake of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and Mercosur (Mercado Común del Sur). Few institutional reforms have been brought about without significant pressure from civil society, however. Some challenges are common to all movements attempting to participate and make their voice heard in the sensitive and traditionally closed arena of trade negotiations. But others are unique, and reflect distinct regional political histories, previous experiences of mobilisation and prevailing social and material realities. Given this, it becomes important to understand what can be learned from the experience of a globally significant region like Latin America about the possibilities and limitations of civil society participation in trade policy. By comparing the documented experiences of NAFTA with analysis of Mercosur and the evolving FTAA negotiations, in terms of the participation of the environmental movements, important insights may be gained about: who is participating in trade policy, how and with what effect and, equally importantly, who is not participating and what are the implications of this? The analysis will therefore attempt to identify key factors which shape these dynamics. These include; * key strategic issues within the movements and among groups themselves (diversity of strategies, politics of coalition-building, patterns of influence and engagement/non-engagement) * the organisation of institutional access (rights, representation, process, decision-making) * key economic and political regional dynamics which affect each of the above (differences between and within individual countries regarding key issues and attitudes towards participation) By comparing across different sets of trade negotiations and institutional arrangements it will be possible to identify what the key drivers and shapers of change appear to be. In other words, the extent to which these appear to derive from the nature of the institution or process itself, the strategies of the movement engaging with it, or more likely still, some combination of both these elements. The challenge is to account for diverse forms of engagement and non-engagement and, more importantly, to derive lessons from them about the possibility of constructing more effective, sustainable and transparent mechanisms of participation and representation in trade policy based on experiences to date in Latin America

Driving towards a just transition? The case of the European car industry

Data availability: The authors do not have permission to share data.Actors within the European Union are seeking to pursue a just transition in their shift to a low carbon energy system, but their ability to do this often conflicts with relations of power embedded in the geographical distribution of global capitalist production. This paper explores the shift from manufacturing internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles in Europe and highlights how, despite attempts to address justice issues in this transition, it reproduces regional and social inequalities. We seek to explain this by drawing on literature on global production networks and world-systems theory to show how pre-existing inequalities between key actors are often deepened, as high value added processes are retained in the so-called ‘core’ countries while the ‘semi-periphery’ states of Europe are forced to compete against one-another to maintain the economic growth and employment that underpins their legitimacy. Although a just transition implies attention to procedural, distributive, and restorative aspects of justice, this paper shows how difficult it is to address each of these dimensions in practice through the case of the European automotive sector and relations between manufacturers in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe in particular.John Szabo [British Academy Visiting Scholar] reports financial support was provided by Europäische Klimaschutzinitiative-backed (EUKI)

Climate smart agriculture? Governing the sustainable development goals in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines the political economic and governance challenges faced by African governments in operationalizing Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) as part of their pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is a need to enrich our understanding of the diverse contexts and ways in which governments will have to navigate and address the inevitable choices and conflicts, synergies and trade-offs that will characterize efforts to simultaneously implement these global goals. Here we seek to develop an account of why and how countries are managing the interrelationship between SDGs, particularly those associated with food security and climate action. We develop explanations for the diversity in approaches and provide an initial assessment of what the consequences are for policy and practice. The analysis is informed by the contrasting experiences of four Eastern African countries, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, as they seek to build more “climate resilient” food and agricultural systems that are compatible with achieving the SDGs

Towards a World Environment Organisation?

Summary This article explores the possible need for a new international body to address environmental problems along the lines of a World Environment Organisation (WEO). A case is made that existing institutions and policy mechanisms for combating environmental problems have fallen short in several crucial respects. Perhaps most notable among the failings of contemporary approaches is a failure of internalisation. A WEO is argued to facilitate the internationalisation of environmental costs, as well as redress many of the other problems identified with existing international cooperative responses. The article is a summary of a larger project on the perspectives of different LDCs towards the possible creation of such an institution

Active-Optical Reflectance Sensing Evaluated for Red and Red-Edge Waveband Sensitivity

Uncertainty exists with corn (Zea mays L.) N management due to year-to-year variation in crop N need, soil N supply, and N loss from leaching, volatilization, and denitrification. Active-optical reflectance sensing (AORS) has proven effective in some fields for generating N fertilizer recommendations that improve N use efficiency. However, various sensors utilize different wavebands of light to calculate N fertilizer recommendations making it difficult to know which waveband is most sensitive to plant health. The objective of this research was to evaluate across the US Midwest Corn Belt the performance and sensitivity of the red (R) and red-edge (RE) wavebands. Forty-nine N response trials were conducted across eight states and three growing seasons. Reflectance measurements were collected and topdress N rates (40 to 240 lbs N ac-1 on 40 lbs ac-1 increments) applied at approximately V9 corn development stage. Both R and RE wavebands were compared to the at-planting N fertilizer rate, V5 soil nitrate-N, and end-of-season calculated relative yield. In every comparison the RE waveband demonstrated higher coefficient of determination values over the R waveband. These findings suggest the RE waveband is most sensitive to variations in N management and would work best for in-season AORS management over a geographically-diverse soil and weather region

Prevalence of treatment-resistant hypertension after considering pseudo-resistance and morbidity: a cross-sectional study in Irish primary care

peer-reviewedBackground To confirm treatment-resistant hypertension (TRH), ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM) must exclude white-coat hypertension (WCH), three or more medications should be prescribed at the optimal doses tolerated, and non-adherence and lifestyle should be examined. Most previous studies have not adequately considered pseudo-resistance and merely provide an apparent TRH (aTRH) prevalence figure. Aim To conduct a cross-sectional study of the prevalence of aTRH in general practice, and then consider pseudo-resistance and morbidity. Design and setting With support, 16 practices ran an anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) drug search, identifying patients on any possible hypertensive medications, and then a search of individual patients' electronic records took place. Method ABPM was used to rule out WCH. The World Health Organization-defined daily dosing guidelines determined adequate dosing. Adherence was defined as whether patients requested nine or more repeat monthly prescriptions within the past year. Results Sixteen practices participated (n = 50 172), and 646 patients had aTRH. Dosing was adequate in 19% of patients, 84% were adherent to medications, as defined by prescription refill, and 43% had ever had an ABPM. Using a BP cut-off of 140/90 mmHg, the prevalence of aTRH was 9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 9.0 to 10.0). Consideration of pseudo-resistance further reduced prevalence rates to 3% (95% CI = 3.0 to 4.0). Conclusion Reviewing individual patient records results in a lower estimate of prevalence of TRH than has been previously reported. Further consideration for individual patients of pseudo-resistance additionally lowers these estimates, and may be all that is required for management in the vast majority of cases.PUBLISHEDpeer-reviewe

Impact of Tumour Epithelial Subtype on Circulating MicroRNAs in Breast Cancer Patients

While a range of miRNAs have been shown to be dysregulated in the circulation of patients with breast cancer, little is known about the relationship between circulating levels and tumour characteristics. The aim of this study was to analyse alterations in circulating miRNA expression during tumour progression in a murine model of breast cancer, and to detemine the clinical relevance of identified miRNAs at both tissue and circulating level in patient samples. Athymic nude mice received a subcutaneous or mammary fat pad injection of MDA-MB-231 cells. Blood sampling was performed at weeks 1, 3 and 6 following tumour induction, and microRNA extracted. MicroRNA microArray analysis was performed comparing samples harvested at week 1 to those collected at week 6 from the same animals. Significantly altered miRNAs were validated across all murine samples by RQ-PCR (n = 45). Three miRNAs of interest were then quantified in the circulation(n = 166) and tissue (n = 100) of breast cancer patients and healthy control individuals. MicroArray-based analysis of murine blood samples revealed levels of 77 circulating microRNAs to be changed during disease progression, with 44 demonstrating changes .2-fold. Validation across all samples revealed miR-138 to be significantly elevated in the circulation of animals during disease development, with miR-191 and miR-106a levels significantly decreased. Analysis of patient tissue and blood samples revealed miR-138 to be significantly up-regulated in the circulation of patients with breast cancer, with no change observed in the tissue setting. While not significantly changed overall in breast cancer patients compared to controls, circulating miR-106a and miR-191 were significantly decreased in patients with basal breast cancer. In tissue, both miRNAs were significantly elevated in breast cancer compared to normal breast tissue. The data demonstrates an impact of tumour epithelial subtype on circulating levels of miRNAs, and highlights divergent miRNA profiles between tissue and blood samples from breast cancer patients

In vivo function and comparative genomic analyses of the Drosophila gut microbiota identify candidate symbiosis factors

Symbiosis is often characterized by co-evolutionary changes in the genomes of the partners involved. An understanding of these changes can provide insight into the nature of the relationship, including the mechanisms that initiate and maintain an association between organisms. In this study we examined the genome sequences of bacteria isolated from the Drosophila melanogaster gut with the objective of identifying genes that are important for function in the host. We compared microbiota isolates with con-specific or closely related bacterial species isolated from non-fly environments. First the phenotype of germ-free Drosophila (axenic flies) was compared to that of flies colonized with specific bacteria (gnotobiotic flies) as a measure of symbiotic function. Non-fly isolates were functionally distinct from bacteria isolated from flies, conferring slower development and an altered nutrient profile in the host, traits known to be microbiota-dependent. Comparative genomic methods were next employed to identify putative symbiosis factors: genes found in bacteria that restore microbiota-dependent traits to gnotobiotic flies, but absent from those that do not. Factors identified include riboflavin synthesis and stress resistance. We also used a phylogenomic approach to identify protein coding genes for which fly-isolate sequences were more similar to each other than to other sequences, reasoning that these genes may have a shared function unique to the fly environment. This method identified genes in Acetobacter species that cluster in two distinct genomic loci: one predicted to be involved in oxidative stress detoxification and another encoding an efflux pump. In summary, we leveraged genomic and in vivo functional comparisons to identify candidate traits that distinguish symbiotic bacteria. These candidates can serve as the basis for further work investigating the genetic requirements of bacteria for function and persistence in the Drosophila gut