Information Disclosure Strategies for Green Industries

Environmental information disclosure strategies, which involve corporate attempts to increase the availability of information on pollution and emissions, can become a basis for a new wave of environmental protection policy that follows and has the potential to complement traditional command and control and market-based approaches. Although a growing body of literature and operational programs suggest that publicly disclosing the information can motivate improved corporate environmental performance, this phenomenon remains poorly understood. This paper reviews the economic and legitimacy theory behind information disclosure and analyzes the current practice and programs adopted in industrialized and industrializing countries. Admittedly few in number, the cases studied reveal the advantages of such voluntary approaches, when the countries of developing Asia must deal with weak institutions, growing markets, and strong communities. Factors that contributed to widespread success of selected programs in the People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the United States are information quality, the dissemination mechanisms, provision of incentives for good performers, and public and private pressure

Fostering coastal resilience to climate change vulnerability in Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon and Uruguay: a cross-country comparison

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. This paper describes a comparative study of four different cases on vulnerability, hazards and adaptive capacity to climate threats in coastal areas and communities in four developing countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon and Uruguay. Coastal areas are vulnerable to sea-level rise (SLR), storm surges and flooding due to their (i) exposure, (ii) concentration of settlements, many of which occupied by less advantaged groups and (iii) the concentration of assets and services seen in these areas. The objective of the paper is twofold: (i) to evaluate current evidence of coastal vulnerability and adaptive capacity and (ii) to compare adaptation strategies being implemented in a sample of developing countries, focusing on successful ones. The followed approach for the case evaluation is based on (i) documenting observed threats and damages, (ii) using indicators of physical and socioeconomic vulnerability and adaptive capacity status and (iii) selecting examples of successful responses. Major conclusions based on cross-case comparison are (a) the studied countries show different vulnerability, adaptive capacity and implementation of responses, (b) innovative community-based (CBA) and ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) and (c) early warning systems are key approaches and tools to foster climate resilience. A recommendation to foster the resilience of coastal communities and services is that efforts in innovative adaptation strategies to sea-level rise should be intensified and integrated with climate risk management within the national adaption plans (NAPAs) in order to reduce the impacts of hazards

A comparative study on the role of public-private partnerships and green investment banks in boosting low-carbon investments

Following the successful climate agreement in Paris, global attention shifted quickly to how countries will achieve their nationally determined contributions. To achieve the goals, governments need to make full use of the private sector capacity to unlock much larger flows of private investment in low-carbon green infrastructure. This paper focuses on two different types of mechanism, public-private partnerships (PPPs) and green investment banks (GIBs). PPPs are more practical for countries that have robust demand, and are complemented by strong institutions and governance, protection of investments, and dispute resolution mechanisms. In contrast, the other options for green investments should use innovative transactions, risk-reduction structures, and market expertise. Although their common objective is to upscale low-carbon investment, both PPPs and GIBs have been established in a variety of national contexts to achieve a range of goals, including access to concessional capital at lower interest rates and longer tenures for green investments. This paper examines the rationale, mandates, and financing activities of these two categories of financial architecture within the context of India and Japan. It provides stocktaking of the actual and potential use of these two approaches, and for strengthening bilateral cooperation between India and Japan

Sustaining Agriculture through Modernization of Irrigation Tanks: An Opportunity and a Challenge for Tamilnadu, India

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a Technical article from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 3 (2001): V. Anbumozhi, K. Matsumoto, and E. Yamaji. Sustaining Agriculture through Modernization of Irrigation Tanks: An Opportunity and a Challenge for Tamilnadu, India. Vol. III, August 2001

A Clinico-pathological Study of Primary Intracranial Neoplasms in A Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Central nervous system neoplasms represent a   unique, heterogeneous population of neoplasms and include both benign and Malignant  tumours. The tumours of central nervous system are reported to be less than 2% of all Malignancies. Aim: To study the frequency of intracranial tumours and their histopathological typing and their correlation with several clinical variables such as age, sex and clinical symptoms . Material & Methods: Study Design: Hospital based Prospective observational study. Study area: Dept. of. Pathology, Study Period: 2 years. Study population: patients who presented with signs and symptoms of primary intracranial tumours were examined and followed up for the histopathological diagnosis. Sample size: Study population consisted a total of 68 patients.  Sampling method: Simple Random sampling method. Inclusion criteria: Patients with both benign as well as Malignant primary neoplasms of the brain including pituitary tumours. Exclusion criteria: All the spinal cord, calvarial and metastatic tumours were excluded. Ethical consideration: Institutional Ethical committee permission was taken prior to the commencement of the study. Study tools and Data collection procedure: Staining Procedures Adopted: After grossing, proper tissue bits were subjected for routine processing, fixation, dehydration, clearing and embedding in paraffin wax and blocks were made.&nbsp