Global environmental governance: the challenge of accountability

This repository item contains a single issue of Sustainable Development Insights, a series of short policy essays that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The series seeks to promote a broad interdisciplinary dialogue on how to accelerate sustainable development at all levels.This issue argues that accountability – or lack thereof- is a fundamental challenge in confronting improved global environmental governance (GEG) and that success must be measured not simply by the vitality of the negotiation process but by the robustness of implementation. States as well as institutions must be judged not by their statements of good intentions but by measurable implementation of their commitments and achievement of goals. The authors provide five reasons for GEG’s culture of unaccountability and seven related ideas for GEG reform

Rio+20: accountability and implementation as key goals

This repository item contains a single issue of Sustainable Development Insights, a series of short policy essays that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The series seeks to promote a broad interdisciplinary dialogue on how to accelerate sustainable development at all levels.Over the past two decades, the Global Environmental Governance (GEG) system has grown and evolved, making much progress in incorporating sustainable development as the central goal of environmental governance, and delivering scores of new international institutions, legal instruments, declarations and financial mechanisms. However, the GEG system lacks the crucial components of accountability and implementation as part of its core operating system. The authors argue that the upcoming Rio + 20 meeting provides the perfect opportunity to help bring about these much needed changes to strengthen the GEG and help achieve its ultimate goals. The authors propose a set of four accountability-enabling mechanisms: 1. Improved metrics and reporting mechanisms. 2. Transparency mechanisms. 3. Compliance mechanisms. 4. Capacity building. The authors also propose a set of four enabling institutional arrangements: 1. Compendium of best (and worst) practices. 2. Registry of commitments. 3. Renewed focus for CSD. 4. A global “Aarhus” instrument

Willingness to Pay for Primary Education in Rural Pakistan

Highly subsidised public schools are the principal provider of education in the rural areas of Pakistan. Steady growth of school age population over time coupled with stagnant public funding has put enormous pressure on this system. The alternative of cost recovery through user charges has its own critics. They argue that introduction of tuition fees would substantially reduce the already small representation of low-income households in primary schools due to high price elasticity of their demand for schooling. Moreover, the revenue-generating potential of this policy may also be limited due to same reason. The present study uses a discrete choice random utility model of household utility maximising behaviour to evaluate feasibility and consequences of introducing user fees in primary schools in rural Pakistan, particularly with reference to above criticisms. The demand function for school enrolment derived from this model allows us to test the hypothesis that price elasticity of demand for schooling varies with income. It also provides estimates of the parameters of the utility function needed for measuring parents’ willingness to pay for their childrens’ education if money generated from tuition fees is reinvested in education. The estimated demand function takes into account total price of education, including opportunity cost. Estimation results show that price elasticity of demand for school enrolment is higher for lower-income groups. Hence school enrolment of the poorest children would bear the main brunt of user fees policy. Children’s gender and age, father’s education, presence of T.V. in the household, and community variables like the presence of an elected district council member, electricity, and public transport in the village turn out to be significant influences on the probability of primary school enrolment. Willingness to pay for education is lower for poorer households and can generate revenues to cover only a fraction of the cost of running a school. Hence the need to search for other sources of financing primary education in rural Pakistan.Primary Education, Pakistan

Rio+20: another world summit?

This repository item contains a single issue of Sustainable Development Insights, a series of short policy essays that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The series seeks to promote a broad interdisciplinary dialogue on how to accelerate sustainable development at all levels.This issue explores the possibility of holding a Sustainable World Summit in 2012 and three possible options to support such an event . The paper concludes, “The world may not choose any of our three options as the grand purpose for a 2012 World Sustainability Summit. But whatever goal is chosen for a summit needs to be not only grand, but truly meaningful. If it is, then future generations will remember that event like we remember Stockholm and Rio. If it is not, then another summit is not what the world needs right now.

Connecting the dots: information visualization and text analysis of the Searchlight Project newsletters

This report is the product of the Pardee Center’s work on the Searchlight:Visualization and Analysis of Trend Data project sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. Part of a larger effort to analyze and disseminate on-the-ground information about important societal trends as reported in a large number of regional newsletters developed in Asia, Africa and the Americas specifically for the Foundation, the Pardee Center developed sophisticated methods to systematically review, categorize, analyze, visualize, and draw conclusions from the information in the newsletters.The Rockefeller Foundatio

Study of lifestyle factors leading to male subfertility - a prospective observational study

Context: In recent days, the inability to conceive is a common problem. Reason can either be due to female or male factor infertility. Lifestyle associations such as consumption of alcohol, tobacco smoking and chewing are few of the most discussed subjects of male infertility. Aims: The aim was to prove the association of semen quality (sperm count and motility) of male subjects indulging in alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and tobacco chewing and its detrimental effects on sperm parameters of such patients. Settings and Design: This prospective study was conducted in and around of our institute, during the period of SEP 2018 to SEP 2019. Materials and Methods: A total number of 242 cases, aging between 18to50years, were included and subjected for semen analysis by using manual method according to World Health Organization 2010 criteria and also put through a validated questionnaire about lifestyle practices and health status. Data analysis was performed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 19. Results: Out Of 242 samples, 145(59.91%) cases were between the ages of 18 and 30 years. Present study reported that normozoospermia, oligozoospermia and azoospermia were in 71.90%, 21.48% and 06.61%, respectively. Out of 52(21.48%) sample of oligozoospermia, 40(76.92%) subjects were alcoholic, 29 (55.76%) men were tobacco smokers and 10 (19.23%) men were in indulged tobacco chewing. A total of 84 (34.71%) out of 242 samples manifested reduced sperm motility, of which 56 (66.66%) patients were enslaved to alcohol consumption. Conclusion: This study indicates that male fertility parameters are adversely affected by negative influences of lifestyle factors. Therefore, before the attempt to conceive, it is advisable to modify lifestyle habits discussed in the present study that helps supervise and manage their own fertility potential. Keywords: Infertility, lifestyle factors, sperm count, sperm motility

Mapping the complexity of higher education in the developing world

This repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.On October 27 and 28, 2009, a workshop of experts on higher education in developing countries was convened by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The meeting was supported by a grant from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative with additional support from the Pardee Center and the Office of the Boston University Provost. The meeting brought together experts in economics, public policy, education, development, university management, and quantitative modeling who had rich experiences across the developing world. These experts offered a variety of conceptual tools with which to look at the particular complexities associated with higher education in developing countries. The meeting was convened by the authors of this paper. This policy brief builds upon and reflects on the discussion at this meeting, but is not a meeting report, per se

Production of Cognitive and Life Skills in Public, Private, and NGO Schools in Pakistan.

The share of private and NGO schools in primary education has substantially increased over time, though the public sector is still a major player in this area. The present study analyses the factors determining the quality of education offered by the three types of schools and draws policy recommendations for improving primary education in Pakistan. The study compares learning achievement of Class 4 students enrolled in 50 public, private, and NGO schools located across six districts of Pakistan and in Azad Kashmir in terms of their scores in Mathematics, Urdu, and General Knowledge tests. The analysis shows that, practically, there is no gap between public and NGO schools in terms of the test scores of their students. However, a significant test score gap was found between the students enrolled in public and private schools. This gap was largely explained by family background and school-related variables, including teachers’ qualification and student/teacher ratio. However, the performance of private schools was not uniform across districts. In some districts public schools performed even better than private and NGO schools. The findings of this study highlight the need for improving the quality of education in public schools by recruiting more qualified teachers and improving overall supervision. Teacher training is the area where the public and private sectors can benefit by pooling their resources and expertise.