Message-ID: <mailto:Pine.3.89.9506302023.B12199-0100000@lan.vita.org> Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 21:02:46 -0400 From: DevelopNet News <mailto:dnn@lan.vita.org> Subject: Your DevelopNet News for July To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% mailto:@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@ @@@@@ @@@@@@ mailto:@@ @@@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ mailto:@@ @@@ @@@@@@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ mailto:@@ @@@ @@ @@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ mailto:@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@ @@ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% mailto:@@ @@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ On-Line News and Views on mailto:@@@ @@ @@ @@ mailto:@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@ Technology Transfer in mailto:@@ @@@ @@ @@ mailto:@@ @@ @@@@@@@ @@ International Development %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% mailto:@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@ mailto:@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ mailto:@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@ mailto:@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ mailto:@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% July 1995 Volume 5, No. 7
IN THIS ISSUE
LESSONS LEARNED
Pollution Control in Southeast Asia
LITERATURE REVIEWS
Coding Indigenous Knowledge
Cookstoves Revisited
ORGANIZATIONS
Appropriate Technology International
VITA PROJECTS
Information Center in Madagascar
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Intellectual Property: The Right to Know?
Worldtech '95 in Bangkok
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DevelopNet News is published monthly by Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) in Arlington, Virginia, USA. For additional information, please see the end of this newsletter.
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POLLUTION CONTROL IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Rapid industrial development of a country often leads to increases in industrial pollution. That is what is happening in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and a number of developing countries. Already, pollution from industrial sources has damaged human health, economic activity, and natural ecosystems by three principal means: (1) suspended particulate matter in the air; (2) water pollution from dumped organic waste on which microbes thrive (called biochemical oxygen demand or BOD); and (3) toxic waste discharge. The costs and risks of industrial pollution are greatest where human populations are dense. What can the world learn from recent experiences in these three countries?
The Impact of Industrial Pollution
Air pollution has already become an urgent problem in Southeast Asian cities. Particulate matter and lead are especially unhealthful. Concen- trations of particulates in Bangkok have been continuously rising over the past years; they have violated the standards of the World Health Organization every year since 1988. Though particulate concentrations have slightly declined between 1980 and 1990 in Kuala Lumpur, the levels are still two to three times higher than in New York and Tokyo. In all three countries, industrial sources are major contributors to air pol- lution and its resulting problems.
Dumping of industrial effluents has seriously polluted many rivers in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. BOD pollutants cause deficiencies in dissolved oxygen, particularly during dry seasons. Problems can be severe where industries are concentrated. For example in Java (Indo- nesia), industrial pollution constitutes from 25% to 50% of the total pollution load in several rivers. In Bangkok, the industrial contribu- tion of BOD pollutants is about 25%. Pollution by heavy metals and other toxic substances poses direct threats to human health in some locations. For example, Indonesia's leather tanning industry discharges highly toxic chromium together with BOD into Java's rivers.
Pollution increasingly threatens the supply of drinking water. This is happening in Indonesia and Thailand. In addition, bad water affects some industries; for example, the commercial shrimp fishery and irrigated farming in Indonesia
Those are short-term effects. Over the longer term, toxic and hazardous wastes pose an even more serious threat to human health and welfare. They are now deposited in uncontrolled landfills, dumped into rivers along with other industrial wastes, and in some cases, spread to agri- cultural areas by irrigation water and wind. Information on such wastes is sketchy, and evidence of pollution is often hard to confirm.
Many communities of people live near dump sites or make a living by scavenging from them. These people, as well as workers in industries dealing with toxic substances, are at high risk. In Thailand, the inci- dence of occupational disease from exposure to toxic substances dramat- ically increased during the 1980s. During the same period, significant amounts of lead, cadmium, and mercury appeared in seafood. In Indonesia, mercury and other toxic metals have contaminated ground water and Jakarta Bay.
Fortunately, these countries have started to balance industrial growth against environmental protection through policy changes. Although they have a long way to go, other countries may already learn from their suc- cesses and failures.
Challenges to Effective Pollution Control
First among obstacles are organizational problems. In Thailand, too many agencies are involved in the system that seeks to enforce pollution con- trol laws. The amount of monitoring that is needed is more than the agencies can handle. Fines are small and factories are rarely shut down when they violate the rules. Further, formal enforcement action has to be initiated by the police, who have no training in environmental issues. Thus, existing systems for enforcing pollution control laws are weak.
Policy formation and implementation have often been concentrated in cen- tral government agencies, to the exclusion of local governments, nongov- ernmental organizations (NGOs) and the public. In response to these shortcomings, environmental laws have been revised, environmental agen- cies have been restructured and the roles of agencies have been rede- fined several times in all three countries.
Too few people are trained in environmental technology. In Indonesia and Thailand, environmental NGOs play an increasingly important role in staff training as well as policymaking. Indonesia's 54 university-based environmental studies centers have trained several thousand government staff members, private consultants, and community leaders in Environ- mental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures, as well as several hundred specialists in EIA evaluation.
Industrial zoning is often overlooked as a strategic tool to control industrial pollution. Indonesia and Thailand have indiscriminately dispersed industries in commercial, residential and rural sectors. But Thailand has recently begun attempts to control the concentration of industry in urban areas. Economic incentives encourage industries to settle in industrial estates or areas outside the Bangkok region. Only Malaysia has used planned industrial zones to reduce the population's exposure to dangerous pollutants.
Successful Interventions
Government controls have been successful when they targeted high- polluting industries. For example, the Thai government established its first central treatment facility to treat waste water from sugar factor- ies before their release into the rivers. The government initially paid for the design and construction of the facility and later collected the money from the sugar companies. Malaysia has successfully reduced pol- lution loads from its palm oil and rubber factories through a collabor- ative program between government and industry, and by research coopera- tion among government, industry, and universities. BOD discharges were reduced by almost 90% between 1982 and 1987.
Indonesia's Clean Rivers Program was an early, low-cost attempt to address the problem of inadequate organizations. It brought together local authorities, communities, the media, and industry. Not only did it achieve many control objectives, but it signalled the seriousness of the government's commitment to a cleaner and more healthy environment.
Lessons Learned
Experience from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia shows that when indus- trial growth is rapid, organizational capacities for industrial pollu- tion control should be established as early as possible. The reasons? First, because of the long lead time of establishing the capacity to monitor and enforce environmental standards, manufacturing activity can be expected to more than double in that period.
Second, measures implemented in an early stage of industrial development are the most cost-effective way to control the future impact of indus- trial pollution. Early planning allows the use of industrial zoning, which is one of the most cost-effective means of preventing industrial pollution. Enacting zoning in the first place is much cheaper than relocating industries later on.
Government actions tend to be successful if they target key industries or geographic regions. Because the major pollution loads are concentra- ted in relatively few areas, targeted enforcement programs are very cost-effective. Given limited institutional capacity, focusing govern- ment involvement on a few critical areas also can substantially increase the credibility of government commitment to the implementation of pollu- tion control policies.
All three countries have successfully shared responsibility for planning and implementing pollution control among several nongovernmental sec- tors. Sharing has extended to EIA processes and pollution monitoring. Malaysia now has an effective public complaint system to support envir- onmental monitoring efforts. The new environmental law in Thailand ensures people's right to participate in the enhancement and conserva- tion of environmental quality. And in Indonesia and Thailand, environ- mental NGOs have become key players in the formulation and implementa- tion of environmental law.
Source: JMCA, Inc. & Associates, 8813 Woodland Drive, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910; tel. +1 (301) 585-9234; fax +1 (301) 585-9113.
L i t e r a t u r e R e v i e w s
CODING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
Rhodora M. Gonzalez, 1995. "KBS, GIS, and Documenting Indigenous Know- ledge." Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor (The Hague), volume 3, no. 1 (April), pages 5-7.
Knowledge-based systems (KBS) that describe the world from one point of view reside in the minds of farmers and other indigenous managers of natural resources and the environment. A crucial task is to document this knowledge so it can be used by other people, perhaps even in other places. The challenging task of converting this database to a globally useful format ought to be made easier by computer technologies and, especially, by geographic information systems (GIS). Tools of formal logic can be applied to indigenous knowledge to produce formal state- ments like "If <premise> then <conclusion and/or action>." Such state- ments can then be processed by artificial-intelligence computer pro- grams, thus bringing together indigenous knowledge and "Western" technology.
Computerized GIS are in wide use in natural resources management. The information bases may consist of maps, tables, aerial photographs, satellite images, field surveys, reports, and census data. In this paper, Gonzalez (Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands, and Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, Quezon City, The Philippines) describes the cultivation of maize and other crops in the Neguev region of Costa Rica, where farmers associate soil types with the performance of their most important crops. Although the farmers may not be able to articulate the reasons for their land-use choices, GIS can create maps that integrate indigenous with Western knowledge of land use. The result is a more complete description of land resources, pro- viding a better basis for programs directed toward sustainable agricul- ture. Gonzalez adds: "Most important of all, farmers and scientists are learning from each other's expertise."
COOKSTOVES REVISITED
Daniel M. Kammen, 1995. "Cookstoves for the Developing World." Scien- tific American, volume 273, no. 1 (July), pages 72-75.
Many readers have noticed the veritable outpouring of articles on cook- stove development during the past decade or so. But Daniel Kammen's (Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey) short article clearly and usefully documents the present state of "cookstovery" to help all of us understand the impressive progress that has been made and its social significance.
The cookstoves recently in use by half the world's households are unhealthy for their owners and damaging to the environment. The first improved stoves appeared in the early 1980s and were designed by inter- national assistance groups. The devices were not successful because of poor design and poor marketing. The present, much more successful, models are the product originally of efforts in Thailand and Kenya, refined gradually through work during the mid 1980s. The feminist move- ment throughout the developing world included organizations with con- cerns for community health and the environment; these organizations helped to redesign the stoves and stressed the importance of user training.
The best-known current model, the Kenyan _jiko,_ typically saves 550 kg of fuel a year per household and makes available the equivalent of $65 for other family needs; this amount may be as much as 20% of the annual income for urban dwellers. Further improvements have reduced the pur- chase price of a stove from the $2 to $5 range, down to as little as $0.80. Further steps hastened the development of local manufacturing infrastructure. High-efficiency stoves have been adopted in many devel- oping countries, including China and India.
O r g a n i z a t i o n s
APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
ATI tersely describes its international mission as "transforming small producer economies." Under this broad heading, it includes the transfer of appropriate technology, microcredit programs, training in entrepre- neurship and marketing skills, and policy change. Its projects include partnerships with other organizations. Some examples: A new dairy pro- ducer initiative in India is designed to reach more than 650,000 dairy enterprises in Gujarat State alone, in cooperation with four leading development institutions. An oilseed entrepreneurship program in Tanzania is refining ram-press technology and improving oil products to extend processing and marketing opportunities to more individuals, including increasing the participation of women. And in Guatemala's highlands, ATI is collaborating with sheepherders, artisans, and business-oriented nongovernmental organizations to expand opportunities for wool producers and processers.
With its main office in Washington, D.C., ATI operates programs in 20 countries of Central and South America, East and West Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. Its 1993 annual budget was $6.7 million, of which the largest contribution, 46%, came from the U.S. Agency for Inter- national Development.
Information: Susan Drake Smith, Appropriate Technology Incorporated, 1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20036. Tel. +1 (202) 293-4600, fax +1 (202) 293-4598, e-mail <mailto:atintl@igc.apc.org>.
V I T A P r o j e c t s
INFORMATION CENTER IN MADAGASCAR
On 24 June 1995, VITA opened a new information center in Maramanga, Madagascar, as part of its environmental management project in that country. The complex, long-term Integrated Conservation & Development Project (ICDP) began in 1994. It is is being implemented in one of Madagascar's best-known protected complexes -- the Andasibe-Mantadia Protected Area (APAM) which encompasses almost 10,000 hectares of rain forest. Its immediate goals are to stop gross forms of ecosystem degrad- ation inside the protected area as well as in the peripheral zones and to launch activities supporting long-term conservation.
As the protected area closest to the country's capital, Antananarivo, with easy accessibility, APAM is an established tourist site and con- tains the most popular public reserve in Madagascar. As a result, it is expected to play a prominent and vital role in future ecotourism devel- opment as well as generate a significant amount of money that can be poured back into conservation activities. Because of its popularity, the reserve is also a test-bed for new and innovative schemes that, if suc- cessful, can be replicated in Madagascar's other protected areas.
Maramanga is the town nearest to APAM. The Center's purpose is to help meet the technological and scientific needs of the park and provide information about ecologically acceptable activity. Henry Norman, VITA's President, says "the Center will provide urgently needed day-to-day com- munications. It will also provide distance education, support training for students in the nearby high school, offer a resource for park visi- tors, secure hotel and airline reservations, and provide related serv- ices. Of course, hard-copy publications and other printed material will be available but the backbone of the Center will be computerized capa- bilities to retrieve and to generate information."
Local interest in the Center's success is already high. VITA has already enlisted the support of the community's leaders, who provided VITA with the building for the Center.
"The local community already understands that it has a stake in the Cen- ter's success," says Norman. "It views the Center as a way to promote the city as a regional commercial center, to increase the number of vis- itors to the park, to lengthen visitors' stays and thus generate income to make improvements. The Center also helps to add value to VITA's ICDP project by helping it accomplish its objective of communicating environ- mentally sound practices."
The value that the community places on the Center is also evident in the commitment of hotel and restaurant association members there to pay part of the costs of maintaining it. The remaining costs will pay dues and fees. These are expected to cover operating expenses within the first twelve months making it self-sufficient and sustainable.
"The effort we have made in Maramanga could be replicated in protected areas throughout the country if the resources were available," says Norman. "Networking such resources around the country would add value to all of them."
To achieve this VITA plans to link the center with other parks through a VITA installed terrestrial packet radio communications unit. When VITA's newest low earth-orbiting satellite is launched next month, a ground station will be installed to permit international connectivity through the Internet to other information sources.
Information: Mohammad Shah, VITA <mailto:mshah@vita.org>.
A n n o u n c e m e n t s
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: THE RIGHT TO KNOW?
>From 21 to 25 August 1995, the International Congress on Intellectual
Property Rights for Specialized Information, Knowledge and New Technol-
ogies is sponsoring a conference on "Intellectual Property Rights"
called KnowRight '95. It will be held in Vienna, Austria, and aims to
create a forum to discuss the highly complex issues of intellectual
property rights for specialized information. The conference organizers
hope to prepare the ground for property-law solutions to meet the needs
of information developers and users. It is organized by the Austrian
Computer Society, the Austrian National Commission for UNESCO, the
Vienna University of Technology, and the Special Interest Group on
Computers and Society.
The conference will address property rights issues related to knowledge bases, databases, information and communication services, software, graphics and design protection.
Information: Walter Grafendorfer, Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research, Wollzeile 1-3, A-1010 Vienna; tel. +43 (1) 512-0235; fax +43 (1) 512-02359; e-mail <mailto:u2061dac@vm.univie.ac.at>. Preliminary information is available as a text file from ftp://wsrcom.wsr.ac.at/pub/ocg/knori.txt .
WORLDTECH '95 IN BANGKOK
>From 4 November to 16 December 1995, the Royal Thai Government will
sponsor a world agricultural and industrial conference and exhibition.
Worldtech '95 aims to create an international forum for the demonstra-
tion of ideas, processes, products, and new technologies in the spheres
of agriculture, industrial technology and environmental protection. It
is anticipated that Worldtech'95 will enhance the development and appli-
cation of advanced agricultural, industrial, and environmental technol-
ogy for the region. It is expected that the conference will be attended
by representatives of governments, organizations and associations, and
the private sector.
Information: Claudia Kris, Worldtech'95, 128 Phaya Thai Plaza Building, 8th floor, Phaya Thai Road, Bangkok 10400; tel: +1 (662) 2165-7501; fax: +1 (662) 2165-77982.
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DevelopNet News is an electronic newsletter published monthly by Volun- teers in Technical Assistance (VITA), a private, nonprofit, interna- tional development organization located in Arlington, Virginia. The newsletter needs your stories: you are invited to send them to the edi- tor in electronic form. Your redistribution of DevelopNet News is encouraged. Kindly send us a message on the approximate size of your mailing list; it will be helpful in our planning. Back issues can be downloaded gratis from VITA's on-line information services.
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