The Political Economy Of The Human Right To Water

Water being essential to human survival, a political economy directed to satisfying human basic needs, should be especially concerned with the issue of water availability and distribution. Why is there such inequality in its distribution? This inequality represents a serious violation of a human right, as it will be developed in the paper and therefore should not be tolerated. The issue this paper wishes to address concerns the role played by economics in the unequal assertion of every people?s human right to clean water. First of all, what are we talking about when we talk about economics? A rapid overview can identify at least twenty schools of economic thought, from neoclassic to evolutionary, from Marxist to post-Keynesian. If one had to be accurate, a paper on the impact of economics on the human right to water human rights would then have to be divided in at least twenty chapters. The sort of economics we will be referring to in this paper results from a considerably narrower point of view: economics, here, will be mainstream economics, the school of thought which dominates not only within the academia, but also within the political cabinets and the media. More specifically, this paper will examine how mainstream economics discourse can be conflictive with human rights in general and the right to water in particular. First, within mainstream economic analysis satisfying wants implies the use of concepts like prices, supply and demand, or cost and benefit, and therefore, the issue is ability to pay, in other words purchasing power. With rights, on the other hand, the issue is quite different; the heart of the matter here concerns entitlement, the criteria according to which an individual should qualify to enjoy rights, purchasing power being obviously excluded as well as the consequences of the use of such criteria. Therefore it is perfectly admissible for economics to exclude from access to water those that do not have the capability to pay violating the basic principles of human rights. Second, by putting emphasis on the market as the default regulation institution, mainstream economics also hinders the human right to water because on one hand market is inefficient in reaching universal coverage of water supply and on the other hand it is an unaccountable institution and human rights purveyors need by principle to be submitted to democratic control.Human Rights, Right to Water, Economic Theory, Market.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER

A água é essencial à sobrevivência humana. Uma economia política humanizada, isto é dirigida para a satisfação das necessidades básicas, deve preocupar-se com a questão da disponibilidade e distribuição de água. No que diz respeito à satisfação das necessidades básicas, podemos afirmar que é relativamente fácil e barato fornecer água para todos. Porque razão, então existe uma desigualdade na distribuição? Esta desigualdade representa uma violação séria de um direito humano, como será desenvolvido à frente, e não deverá ser tolerada. Este artigo trata do papel que a economia desempenha no desigual exercício do direito humano de acesso à água potável. Este artigo examina como o discurso da economia dominante pode entrar em conflito com os direitos humanos em geral, e o direito à água em particular. No âmbito da teoria económica dominante, a satisfação de necessidades implica a utilização de conceitos como preço, oferta, procura, custos e benefícios, e por conseguinte a questão é capacidade de pagar ou poder de compra. Com os direitos, o assunto é diferente, sendo a questão principal, o critério de acordo com o qual um indivíduo está habilitado a usufruir dos direitos, não podendo por isso ser utilizado o critério do poder de compra. Para a economia é perfeitamente admissível excluir do acesso à água aqueles que não têm capacidade de pagar, violando princípios básicos dos direitos humanos. A economia dominante ao pôr toda a ênfase no mercado como a instituição reguladora, torna invisível o direito humano à água. Por um lado o mercado é ineficiente em atingir uma cobertura universal de água potável e por outro lado o mercado é uma instituição que não presta contas e a satisfação dos direitos humanos precisa por princípio de ser submetido ao controlo democrático. ---------------------------------------------Water being essential to human survival, a humane political economy, in other words a political economy directed to satisfying human basic needs, should be especially concerned with the issue of water availability and distribution. In what the satisfaction of basic needs is concerned, one could fairly safely state that it is relatively easy and cheap to provide access to water to everybody. Why is there such inequality in its distribution then? This inequality represents a serious violation of a human right, as it will be developed in the paper, and, therefore, should not be tolerated. The issue this paper wishes to address concerns the role played by economics in the unequal assertion of every people’s human right to clean water. First of all, what are we talking about when we talk about economics? A rapid overview can identify at least twenty schools of economic thought, from neoclassic to evolutionary, from Marxist to post-Keynesian. If one had to be accurate, a paper on the impact of economics on the human right to water human rights would, then, have to be divided in at least twenty chapters. The sort of economics we will be referring to in this paper results from a considerably narrower point of view, though. Economics, here, will be mainstream economics, the school of thought which dominates not only within the academia, but also within the political cabinets and the media. More specifically, this paper will examine how mainstream economics discourse can be conflictive with human rights in general and the right to water in particular. First of all, within mainstream economic analysis satisfying wants implies the use of concepts like prices, supply and demand, or cost and benefit, and therefore, the issue is capability to pay, in other words purchasing power. With rights, on the other hand, the issue is quite different; the heart of the matter here concerns entitlement, the criteria according to which an individual should qualify to enjoy rights, purchasing power being obviously excluded, and the consequences of the use of such criteria. Therefore it is perfectly admissible for economics to exclude from access to water those that do not have the capability to pay violating the basic principles of human rights. Secondly by putting emphasis on the market as the default regulation institution mainstream economics also hinders the human right to water because on the one hand the market is inefficient in reaching universal coverage of water supply and on the other hand it is an unaccountable institution and human rights purveyors need by principle to be submitted to democratic control.Human rights, Water, Market, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

O Papel das Mulheres no Desenvolvimento Rural: Uma Leitura para TimoraLeste

It has been a long way, until both gender and development were recognized as important issues in academic and political arena. Several fields of science, such as sociology, anthropology, and economy contributed to the knowledge in this area, in addition to recent developments in feminist and pos-colonial studies. As a result, there are different gender approaches to development. The first objective of this paper is to stress the role of women in rural development, identifying their roles, the main gender approaches to development and women status under international law framework. The second aim is to analyze the position of women in East Timor with respect to social aspects, namely the gender roles, the family, access to natural resources and women status under the legal system and the traditional law. This analysis used documental sources of information and observations made in East Timor in 2000 and 2003. The contribution of East Timorese women to the development is heavy constrained by the gender inequality present in traditional/customary law, in which unequal access to natural resources, in special land access, is relevant. The HRBA seems to be the best approach to a full integration of women in the development process, once it vindicates the right to equality and non discrimination and advocates training and empowerment as means to make women exercise their rights.Gender, Land rights, Rural development, East Timor.

CHARACTERISATION AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF PORTUGUESE WINE FARMS

This study aims to characterise the evolution of vineyard production, to measure the levels of technical efficiency, and to relate these with farmers and farms attributes. The sample used is composed of a panel of vineyard farms, for the period 2000-2005, belonging to Portuguese Alentejo region. The methodology used to estimate technical efficiency, was the stochastic production frontier. The results showed that there are room to improve the levels of technical efficiency in input use and that efficiency is variant with time. It was observed that technical efficiency increases with economic size and net farm income, as well as with family entrepreneurship.efficiency, parametric, vineyard, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management,

Portugal's Entry into the EC: The Challenge for Small Farmers

Portuguese farmers face price declines for several major enterprises because of the country's entrance into the European Economic Community (EC). The small farmers in Northwestern Portugal face some of the biggest adjustments. Price projections suggest that 1996 prices for their key enterprises may fall 15 to 30 percent below current levels, and their farm income may decline from 10 to 250 percent. Medium and large dairy farms will not be able to cover the fixed costs of the investments they were encouraged to make in recent years. Simulations of alternative scenarios were conducted for four farming systems in the region. Technological changes in existing enterprises will be adequate to recover the income lost on large farms. The smallest farms are not as affected by price declines because much of their income is earned off the farm. Medium farms face the greatest challenge. They cannot achieve the scale of large farms, and cannot earn as much off-farm income as small farms. Their future success will depend on the operation of the land market, and their ability to rent or buy more Iand

Positive Mathematical Programming: a Comparison of Different Specification Rules

In this paper, the prescriptive capacity of different types of positive mathematical programming models applied to the Alentejo agricultural sector is analysed. Model results are compared for 2000 and 2004 agricultural price and subsidies scenarios, regarding optimal combination of activities. Thus, it is tested, on one hand, models capacity to reproduce Alentejo agricultural sector behaviour, and by the other hand, their response and adjustment capacities to changes in prices and in agricultural policy.Positive mathematical programming, agricultural supply, Alentejo, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

CARACTERIZAÇÃO E EFICIÊNCIA TÉCNICA DE EXPLORAÇÕES VITÍCOLAS DA REGIÃO ALENTEJO

Este estudo teve como objectivos caracterizar e analisar a evolução, medir os níveis de eficiência técnica e relacionar esta com alguns atributos dos agricultores e das explorações, de uma amostra de explorações vitícolas pertencentes à região Alentejo. Os atributos considerados foram a dimensão física e económica, idade do produtor, natureza jurídica do produtor, tipo de posse da terra, irrigação, tipo de comercialização e especialização cultural e produtiva. A amostra analisada é composta por um painel de explorações, produtoras de uva para vinho para o período 2000-2005, pertencentes à Rede de Informação de Contabilidades Agrícolas, do Ministério da Agricultura, Desenvolvimento Rural e Pescas (MADRP). A caracterização e a análise da evolução das explorações vitícolas foram feitas com base num conjunto de indicadores técnicos e económicos. Para medir a eficiência, a metodologia utilizada foi paramétrica, utilizando uma fronteira de produção estocástica, em que foram testadas as características da distribuição utilizada para medir a eficiência, assim como a variabilidade desta ao longo do tempo. Para testar a relação entre a eficiência e os atributos dos produtores e das explorações utilizou-se o teste de análise de variância e o de Kruskall-Wallis. Os resultados mostraram que para estas explorações existe espaço para um aumento dos níveis de eficiência na utilização dos factores de produção e que a eficiência é variante em ordem ao tempo. Verificou-se um aumento da eficiência técnica com a dimensão económica e com o rendimento líquido das explorações, assim como com a empresarialização das mesmas.----------------------------------------------------------------Thi s study aims to characterize and to analyse the evolution of wine production, to measure the levels of technical efficiency, and to relate these with farmers and farms attributes. The attributes considered were the physical and economic size, the producer age, the farmer legal status, type of land ownership, land irrigation, type of commercialization and productive specialization. The sample used is composed of a panel of wine farms, producers of grapes for wine, for the period 2000-2005, enrolled in the European Farm Accounting System, belonging to the Alentejo region of Portugal. The characterization and the evolution analysis of the wine farms were done based on a set of technical and economic indicators. In order to measure the efficiency, the methodology utilized was the parametric one, making use of a stochastic production frontier. The characteristics of the utilized distribution to compute the efficiency were tested, as well as the efficiency variability with time. The relationship between the efficiency and the farms and farmers attributes was tested making use of analyses of variance and Kruskall-Wallis tests. The results showed that there are room to improve the levels of technical efficiency in input use and that efficiency is variant with time. The increase on technical efficiency with economic size and with farm net income was observed, as well as with farm entrepreneurship.eficiência técnica, métodos paramétricos, vinha, technical efficiency, parametric methods, vineyards, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries,

DESENVOLVIMENTO RURAL, MULHERES E TERRA - UM OLHAR SOBRE TIMOR-LESTE

O caminho percorrido para que as questões do género e do desenvolvimento e em especial a sua interligação sejam assuntos importantes e alvo de atenção tanto académica como política, foi longo. Várias áreas do conhecimento, como a sociologia, a antropologia e a economia, contribuem para a construção do conhecimento neste domínio, a par de outras mais recentes como os estudos feministas e os estudos pós-coloniais. Como resultado, as teorias e os conceitos sobre a relação das mulheres com o desenvolvimento e os efeitos deste sobre as mulheres têm sido vários. O objectivo deste trabalho foi em primeiro lugar caracterizar o papel da mulher no desenvolvimento rural, identificando as suas funções, as principais abordagens utilizadas e a sua situação perante o enquadramento jurídico internacional. Em segundo lugar fazemos uma análise da situação da mulher em Timor-Leste, abarcando aspectos sociais, nomeadamente os papéis de género, da família, e o acesso aos recursos naturais. Faz-se igualmente uma leitura da situação da mulher perante o direito positivo e o sistema costumeiro. A análise recorreu a informação documental e a observações e dados recolhidos no local em 2000 e 2003. Os contributos que as mulheres de Timor-Leste poderão dar ao desenvolvimento do seu país está bastante condicionado pelas desigualdades de género presentes no direito consuetudinário, no qual destacamos o desigual acesso aos recursos naturais, com relevo para a terra. A HRBA parece ser a abordagem que melhor se adapta a uma integração plena da mulher no processo de desenvolvimento, ao defender a igualdade e a não discriminação das mulheres em qualquer circunstância, e ao apelar à formação e ao empoderamento das mulheres para o exercício dos seus direitos.---------------------------------------------It has been a long way, until both gender and development were recognized as important issues in academic and political arena. Several fields of science, such as sociology, anthropology, and economy contributed to the knowledge in this area, in addition to recent developments in feminist and pos-colonial studies. As a result, there are different gender approaches to development. The first objective of this paper is to examine the role of women in rural development, identifying their roles, the main gender approaches to development and women status under international law framework. The second aim is to analyze the position of women in East Timor with respect to social aspects, namely the gender roles, the family, access to natural resources and women status under the legal system and the traditional law. This analysis used documental sources of information and observations and data collected in field work in East Timor in 2000 and 2003. The contribution of East Timorese women to the development is heavy constrained by the gender inequality present in traditional/customary law, in which unequal access to natural resources, in special land, is relevant. The HRBA seems to be the best approach to a full integration of women in the development process, once it vindicates the right to equality and non discrimination and advocates training and empowerment as means to make women exercise their rights.género, direitos à terra, desenvolvimento rural, Timor-Leste, gender, land rights, rural development, East Timor, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital,

A PROGRAMAÇÃO MATEMÁTICA POSITIVA COMO INSTRUMENTO DE CALIBRAÇÃO E PRESCRIÇÃO DOS MODELOS DE OFERTA AGRÍCOLA

Neste artigo avalia-se a capacidade de calibração e de prescrição de resultados de um modelo de oferta agrícola da Região Alentejo. A capacidade de calibração é analisada para o regime de preços e de ajudas agrícolas em vigor no ano 2000, comparando os resultados de diferentes formas de especificação da função dos custos variáveis totais do modelo de programação matemática positiva com os resultados do modelo tradicional de programação linear e com os dados estatísticos observados. Depois de calibrado, o modelo de programação matemática positiva foi utilizado na prescrição dos resultados relativos ao cenário de preços e ajudas em vigor no ano de 2004. Concluiu-se que a programação matemática positiva para além de ser um eficaz instrumento de calibração dos modelos de oferta agrícola, constitui também uma forma de prescrição de resultados. ---------------------------------------------In this paper, calibration and prescription capacity of different types of positive mathematical programming models applied to the Alentejo agricultural sector is analysed. Model results are compared in the 2000 and 2004 agricultural price and subsidies scenarios, regarding optimal combination of activities. Results allow concluding that positive mathematical programming is an efficient instrument on calibration of agricultural supply models, as well as on prescription of its results.programação matemática positiva, oferta agrícola, calibração, prescrição, positive mathematical programming, agricultural supply, calibration, prescription, Agribusiness,