Category: NGOs

Because of the increasing diversity and dynamics in the micro socio-economic needs of the world growing population, enhanced economic interests of the private sector, multi-national organizations, and the limited control and economy of public sectors; “Non-Governmental-Organizations” are becoming important catalysts and mouthpiece for safeguarding the interests of stakeholders, either individuals or groups. “NGOs” are becoming influential democratic instruments in many places around the world by watch-guarding the dynamics and interactions between the political, social and the economical spheres. These issues and activities are becoming increasingly important for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments around the world on the national and international levels through cooperation between sister NGO-organizations.

Korean’s Sustainability Concept for Water Resourse Management – Smart Water Grids 

The increasing pressures and competition on water resources on different spatio-temporal scales require developing more friendly and sustainable approaches to meet the increasing constrains from population growth, uncertain energy production and accelerating threats from global warming. 

Among newly emerging solutions is Grid-concept “water production-distribution-consumption” which is described in the attached Link that describes “Sustainable Water Distribution Strategy with Smart Water Grid” (http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/4/4240/htm).

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UN-SGD – Last Emergency Call For Intensive Care of Mother Earth

Indeed, UN-SDG can be regarded as the last call, after a series of regular and continuous calls on several regional and global levels, for meeting pressing and urgent needs for implementation of effective, practical and immediate solutions and measures of the pilling threats and degradation on earth’s environmental and climate systems.

Now the UNEP releases its recent GEO-6 Regional Assessment documents, May 2016. The Networking of “sustain-earth.com” got this information also from Hussein Abaza, an excellent Reporter on sustainability issues and Director at Centre for Sustainable Development Solutions “CSDS”, Cairo, Egypt.

A series of regional reports on the state of the planet’s health deliver the message that environmental deterioration is occurring much faster than previously thought and action is needed now to reverse the worst trends. The ‘Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6): Regional Assessments,’ published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), is a compilation of six reports examining environmental issues affecting the world’s six regions: the Pan-European region, North America, Asia and the Pacific, West Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and Africa.
The release of the regional assessments coincides with the second session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-2), which is convening in Nairobi, Kenya, from 23-27 May 2016. The Pan-European assessment will be launched at the eighth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference in Batumi, Georgia, on 8 June 2016.

The assessments found that the regions share a range of common environmental threats, including climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, population growth, rapid urbanization, rising consumption levels, desertification and water scarcity, which all must be addressed in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The assessments involved 1,203 scientists, hundreds of scientific institutions and more than 160 governments, and are based on scientific data and peer reviewed literature. The regional assessments will inform GEO-6, which will be released before 2018 and will provide an assessment of the state, trends and outlook of the global environment.
The GEO-6 LAC assessment notes the strong impact of emissions from agriculture in the region, including an increase in nitrous oxide emissions of about 29% between 2000 and 2010 from soils, leaching and runoff, direct emissions and animal manure, and an increase in methane emissions of about 19% due to the plethora of beef and dairy cattle. Regarding air pollution, the assessment points to particulate matter (PM) concentrations above World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. In addition, Andean glaciers, which provide water for millions, are shrinking. The LAC region has eliminated lead in gasoline and made headway in reducing ozone-depleting substances.
Approximately 41% of all reported natural disasters over the last two decades have occurred in the Asia and the Pacific region, according to the regional assessment. In Southeast Asia, more than one million hectares is deforested annually. Other environmental issues discussed in the report reference that: approximately 30% of the region’s population drinks water contaminated by human feces; water-related diseases and unsafe water contribute to 1.8 million deaths annually; uncontrolled dumping is a significant source of disease; and population growth, a growing middle class and urbanization have led to higher emissions, ill-managed waste and increased consumption.
In West Asia, an increase in degraded land and the spread of desertification are among the region’s most pressing challenges, as they lead to an increase in water demand, over-exploitation of groundwater resources and deteriorating water quality. In addition, conflict and displacement are having severe environmental impacts, such as heavy metals from explosive munitions and radiation from missiles leaching into the environment, and increased waste production and disease outbreaks. Almost 90% of municipal solid waste is disposed of in unlined landfill sites and is contaminating groundwater resources. The report estimates that air pollution alone caused more than 70,000 premature deaths in 2010.
In Africa, air pollution accounts for 600,000 premature deaths annually. The report also highlights that 68% of the population had clean water in 2012. In addition, inland and marine fisheries face over-exploitation from illegal, under-reported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. According to the report, around 500,000 square meters of land in Africa is being degraded by soil erosion, salinization, pollution and deforestation. African megacities, such as Cairo, Kinshasa and Lagos, have inadequate sanitation services.
In North America, environmental conditions, including air pollution, drinking water quality and well-managed protected areas, have improved due to policies, institutions, data collection and assessment and regulatory frameworks. However, aggressive hydrocarbon extraction methods can lead to increased emissions, water use and induced seismicity, while coastal and marine environments are experiencing, inter alia, ocean acidification and sea-level rise. Climate change is exacerbating the drought in California by approximately 15-20%, and Hurricane Sandy, in 2012, was directly responsible for approximately 150 deaths and US$70 billion in losses. However, mitigation efforts are having a positive impact; for example, solar deployment made up 40% of the market for new electricity generation in the US in the first half of 2015, and solar now powers 4.6 million homes. In the Arctic, warming has increased at twice the global average since 1980, and over the past twenty years, summer sea ice extent has dramatically decreased, which has, inter alia, created new expanses of open ocean, enabling more phytoplankton to bloom and alter the marine food chain.
Overall, recommendations of the assessments include, inter alia: strengthening intergovernmental coordination at the regional and sub-regional levels; improving gathering, processing and sharing data and information; enhancing sustainable consumption and production (SCP); harnessing natural capital in a way that does not damage ecosystems; implementing pollution control measures; investing in urban planning; reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and diversifying energy sources; investing in environmental accounting systems to ensure external costs are addressed; and building resilience to natural hazards and extreme climate events. [UN Press Release] [UNEP Press Release] [UNEP Knowledge Repository] [Factsheet for GEO 6 Regional Assessment for Africa
] [Factsheet for GEO 6 Regional Assessment for Asia Pacific]
 [Factsheet for GEO 6 Regional Assessment for Latin America and the Caribbean
] [Factsheet for GEO 6 Regional Assessment for North America] [
Factsheet for GEO 6 Regional Assessment for West Asia] [
Full Regional Assessment for Africa
] [Full Regional Assessment for Asia Pacific] 
[Full Regional Assessment for Latin America and the Caribbean
] [Full Regional Assessment for North America
] [Full Regional Assessment for West Asia].

Now it remains to see how these “SMART GOALS” will be further put in an effective and fast implementation agenda of actions. They are still many unclear details as what, when, how and where these goals will be dealt with in particular who will do what, how and when. Though the UN-SDG seem to be more or less specific in general terms, they need to be successful and instruments have to be put in place to measure such success as what you can not measure is does not exist and what you can not measure you can not control. Unless these goals become successful they will be gone with the wind as many other smart UN goals.

2016-05-30 08.22.08

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Education, R&D and Public Awareness are Imperative for Sustainable Policies 

Understanding existing pressures and constrains for implementation and performance of successful sustainable policies requires tight and continuous involvement of all citizens on large-scale and long-term socio-economic policies. 

Planet Earth is a complex living organism with delicate balance that makes possible the unique functioning and metabolism of all life forms on earth. Water, energy and natural resources are essential and basic components that contribute in the earth’s delicate balance. Modern neccessities and future challenges are becoming more and more clear and require from us and future generations to keep such balance in tact with nature’s own dynamic processes. Our consumption of water, energy and natural resources needs to take in consideration the nature’s own delicate balance. 

Visit, share and contribute in “Sustain-earth.com” to inform and be informed on our growing needs for understanding the basic of APPLIED SUSTAINABILITY. An introduction is given at ABOUT (http://sustain-earth.com/about/).

  

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Egypt is heading Towards A New future – The New Cairo

Among the new plans for the socio-economic developments of Egypt a new capital “New Cairo” is planned to be established in region of the Red Sea so the pressure on the existing capital can be mitigated. Interesting enough the Red Sea region and Sinai, including the Suez Canal are becoming among the major changes and reforms in “Egypt the Future”. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=941998875850439

To know more visit also, http://m.bbc.com/news/business-31874886

 

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Clean and Crime Free Environment – How, Where and When?

Clean and crime free environment to all living creatures on our earth is a mission humanity. This mission is not only limited to science and politics. Active contributions of all of us, our awareness of existing realities and our continuous support for scientific and political efforts are IMPERATIVE for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments worldwide. We are sharing one planet for living and our lives are dependent on sharing clean air, water and food. To have clean and crime free environment, not only for us but also for the future generations, we need to have all the necessary instruments, actions and efforts for conservation and protection of our common natural resources on earth.

http://missioncleanenvironment.com.au

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EdX – Free Interactive Online Classes and MOOCs from the world’s best universities

MIT “Massachusetts Institute of Technology” and Harvard University along with other world’s best universities offer FREE online classes and MOOCs. EdX initiative, which was launched May 2012, is offering highest quality courses, created by schools and partners who share joint commitment to excellence in teaching and learning, both online and in the classroom. Currently, there are 300+ courses in many areas of study, including biology, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, finance, electronics, engineering, food and nutrition, history, humanities, law, literature, math, medicine, music, philosophy, physics, science, statistics and more. These courses and MOOCs are available in English, Chinese, Mandarin, French, Hindi, Spanish, (Latin America). So far, x-Consortium involves 400+ faculty and staff teaching courses and discussing topics online where 100,000+ certificates were earned by edX students from around the world. As of 22 October 2014, more than three million users  joined over 300 courses online. EdX is a massive open online course (MOOC) provider and an online learning platform and differers from other MOOC platforms, such as Coursera and Udacity, in that it is nonprofit and runs on an open-source software platform.

Charter Members of Edx colleges and universities drive the edX vision and mission, including the founding members MIT and Harvard, along with the other leading global institutions of the x-Consortium. Member institutions are a carefully selected group of universities, NGOs, businesses and other high-profile quality course builders.

Check the web-site of Edx to find our the participating universities and institutes, available cources and classes and how to register and join On-line e-learning.

https://www.edx.org/schools-partners

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Technology and Innovation for Rural Sustainability

Appropriate and sustainable rural technologies are very rare as most of the global attention, driven by economical interests, is focused on urbanization. Such technologies are very poorly needed because of several reasons. They are, also, imperative for promoting successful long-term and large-scale sustainable urbanization. This is, even, essential in agricultural regions where rural communities are major parts of the national socio-economic structure, which is the case in many developing countries in particular Africa. This is at least necessary in the transition periods prior to large-scale and long-term transformation to urbanized societies where gradual, appropriate and sustainable integration of rural regions is necessary.

Urbanization has caused an accelerating drain of un-favored groups to mega and large cities (http://www.academia.edu/847075/Mexico_City._The_marginal_communities_social_and_ethnic_segregation_of_the_native_population). The random and rapid expansion of urbanized regions has promoted an ever accelerating pile-up of slum-communities in many regions around the world (http://www.schooljotter.com/showpage.php?id=158173) which indeed is not sustainable both from the economic and environmental perspective.

Some parts of the problem are associated with the negative impacts from global education, research and technology driven-policies around the world by being supported by national and international institutes and organizations including the United Nations and World Bank. Management of research, education and development programs fails to involve people from the developing countries to contribute in solving problems and difficulties in their native countries or at least to find partners from the developed countries willing to participate in solving the enormous problems and difficulties in this respect.

Fortunately, the global community started to recognize such problems and to take steps and  efforts, though limited in extent, for achieving successful socio-economic development that is very much related to reducing poverty and the associated impacts of environment and climatic threats. An innovative example “Ecological System Designs for the Indigenous Community of Maruata, Michoacan, Mexico” is given here where researchers from the developing countries are demonstrating how to bring about successful ecological designs for living better, cheaper and ecologically sustainable.

file:///Users/farid/Desktop/Indigenous%20Community%20of%20Maruata,%20Mexico%20(Design%20Example).webarchive

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Urbanization and Future Impacts of Water Treatment on Natural Waters

Without proper water treatment healthy life in out cities wouldn’t be possible. To further couple the importance of water treatment to other sectors in the society we need some background information. This is described at http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_treatment

Also, how drinking water is made and how water treatment plants function is explained in:

With this background information and with the expected prognoses that 70% of world population will be gradually moving to cities during the twenty first century it is not clear how water treatment plant would cope with the increasing waste that is generated from human consumption, i.e. household, agriculture and industry. Unlike solid waste, which is subject to sorting in some parts of the world, wasted water from urbanized areas carry an increasing number and amounts of pollutants in their end products, i.e. effluents and sludge. Though water treatment plants may be effective to provide good quality of water, wastewater treatment plants however are not as effective in removing whatever exist in wastewater. This means that the net effect of urbanization is an increasing production and injection of waste and pollution that is delivered to natural aquatic water systems. This would, of course, provide large-scale and long-term threats on ecological water, and life quality, and will have negative feedback effects on “raw” water that will be later used in water treatment plants.

In summary we have an accelerating internal urbanization of water that generates waste and pollution as end products to be injected and delivered to the main natural global water cycle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Role of Human-Computer Interaction – From Awareness and Education to Sustainability

WWW (World Wide Web) is a system of interlinked hypertext documents, intended to provide global and effective communication systems through the Internet. Webpages can be viewed for their content of text, videos, and other multimedia where hyperlinks allow the navigation between different contents. The inventor of WWW, Tim Berners-Lee, realized in 1989 that his proposal for a more effective CERN communication system could be implemented throughout the world through hypertext “to link and access information of various kinds as a web of nodes in which the user can browse at will”. This was jointly done in 1990 with Robert Cailliau.

Douglas Engelbart already in 1968 demonstrated the invention of “human-computer interaction” where “The Mother of All Demos” retrospectively illustrated the complete computer hardware and software system of all known fundamental elements of modern personal computing. It was the first to publicly demonstrate all features, elements and capabilities of modern computers as communication and information-retrieval machines where the previous idea of Vannevar Bush for a Memex was turned into reality. Memex was visioned by Vannevar Bush, in 1945, that it could implement what is known today by hypertext with the aim to help humanity to have a collective memory and to avoid the use of scientific discoveries for destruction and war, probably an early starting point for sustainability.

Hypertext, including tables, images and other presentational content forms, is displayed on a computer display and other smart devices (mobiles, tablets, …..) with interaction to other text which the reader can immediately, or progressively at multiple levels, access via hyperlinks. An innovation of extreme importance for effectively and globally promoting communication, with high speed never known anywhere expect the speed of light, in all sectors and on all levels with tectonic changes and shifts within and between know and unknown boarders. Apart from economic, scientific and technical importance; populations around the world can easily access and afford sharing information, also for professional to produce and market products and services. Human-computer interactions are now advancing with unprecedented importance for public awareness and education on all levels especially for empowering individuals, groups and association in a wide spectra of new activities for engagement and shaping socio-economic sustainability on micro-levels, at any time and in regions and remote places that were never reached before. What we though was virtual yesterday is in fact very real today.

Since the birth of WWW an accelerating interest in human-computer interactions in all sectors of modern societies has emerged with tectonic changes in the flora of social media, public awareness and educational tools such as blogs and MOOCs “Massive Open Online Courses” focusing on Sustainability on different levels, specialities and content. Blogs and MOOCs are internet based and generally free of charge a matter of increasing importance for achieving socio-economic sustainability. They don’t have any entry requirements and are open to anyone anywhere in the world with an internet connection. MOOCs are linked to universities, may lead to certificates/diplomas and some universities give packages of MOOCs leading to degrees but this may be subject to fees.

https://www.mooc-list.com/tags/sustainability; is a general link with MOOC-list on sustainability issues with technical information, short specifications and descriptions of the courses. Some examples are given below:

https://www.coursera.org/course/susdev provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of sustainable development. It describes the complex interactions between the world economy and the Earth’s physical environment. Ecological processes and constraints significantly shape the patterns of economic development, demography, and wealth and poverty. At the same time, human activities change the physical environments, increasingly in dangerous ways.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140511172841978 is a free MOOC course on “The age of sustainable development” that gives students an understanding of the key challenges and pathways to sustainable development – that is, economic development that is also socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable.

https://open.sap.com/course/sbi1; Conducting business in more sustainable ways is becoming increasingly relevant today and a “must-have” in the future. The sustainability megatrend is driven by a growing population, accelerating urbanization, resource intensity, government regulation, climate change, and – most importantly – by the fact that consumers are increasingly demanding healthy, affordable, as well as socially and environmentally responsible products.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/sustainability-society-and-you; it provides the knowledge and skills to do this by investigating sustainability from multiple angles and exploring what small steps you can take to have a real impact upon all our future. It gives an introduction to the values and principles associated with sustainability and some of the knowledge and understanding required to make sustainable decisions in personal and professional life.

http://50plus20.org/archives/2952; is a Collaborative MOOC on Responsibility, Sustainability and Ethics for Business and Leadership. The emerging model of offering Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) could pose a major threat to traditional model of management education with some estimating that up to 60% of traditional teaching could be disrupted or in part replace by MOOC offerings. Early adopters of online learning platforms will however find a limited choice of material and courses focused on the broad topic of “Sustainability, Ethics and Responsibility in Business and Leadership”.

Http://sustain-earth.com will continue reporting on sustainability and emerging global trends.

 

 

 

 

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Sustain-Earth.Com – Connecting People For Healthy and Wealthy Future

Professionals in all sectors and on all levels around the world are corner stones in shaping the future on our planet; they are, also, leaders that can direct its path. However, for our fellow citizens to be safe, secure and share their responsibility the conservation and sustainable management of our collective natural resources on the earth requires innovation, engagement, transparency and full participation in “serve and get served”. With these objectives we can turn past difficulties, existing obstacles and future threats to solutions, admittance and prosperity.

About

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Invitation – A NEW Logo For Sustain-Earth.

http://sustain-earth.com is a platform and a BLOG for integrating and marketing sustainability in education and research, and popularization of sustainability in science and technology. It supports “Open Access”. It has built-in functions and instruments for coupling education, research and technology with society, market and population needs on national and international levels. It, also, acts for promoting “Business-to-Business” and creating “Career-Development-Plans” for professionals and graduates in the emerging applications of sustainability and socio-economic developments. http://sustain-earth.com is an instruments and vehicle for developing and implementing applied sustainability in all sectors and on all levels.

LOGO of "sustain-earth.com" has three colours. Main colour of "earth" is green a product of "blue" for clean water and "yellow" for clean energy.

LOGO of “sustain-earth.com” has three colors. Main color of “earth” is a dynamic green-product of “blue” for clean water and “yellow” for clean energy. A green main arrow representing the functioning and metabolism of “sustain-earth” through fueling life by constant clean water “blue” supported by clean energy “yellow”.

To learn more and get introduction on “http://sustain-earth.com” please visit “ABOUT”. We welcome any questions and inquiries through “CONTACT”. You are, also, most welcome with innovative posts at “CONTRIBUTE”.

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Historical Development of Stand for Vulnerable Organization on Child Development Services

The Stand for Vulnerable Organization (SVO) was founded by Misganaw Eticha Dubie and his wife Tadelu Debissa Eticha with other three co-founders: Berhanu Kenea Yifru, Fayera Abdissa Kitla and Daniel Fantaye Bekana.

Misganaw Eticha Dubie (the founder) was a second year university student in 1992. On April 3, 1992, he went outside of the university campus to look for a shoeshine after he had his lunch. While a Shoe shiner was polishing his shoes, the founder looked at the nearby mother who was sitting on the roadside with her three children, two daughters and a son. Her tears were flowing down while the son was eating bread but the two daughters were crying for. The founder asked the mother “why are you weeping and your children are crying?” The mother immediately responded, “They are hungry”. He was stricken by her words of hunger and gave her the bread that he took for a Shoe Shiner from his lunch plate. This bread was to be given to the Shoe Shiner instead of the payment of some coins. Because of the sensitivity of the founder towards the incident, humanitarian service concept conceived on that day in his mind. He recalled the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 25: 35-45, which directs His disciples to reach for the poor and geared his mind to start thinking on how to give birth of the conception. His heart never got a rest from that day onwards to seek ways and strategies of realizing desired wholistic development for children and empowering their guardians particularly their mothers who mostly suffer with their children.

The founder understood that children and mothers are the most affected vulnerable sections of a society from external shocks. The situation has persuaded him to concentrate on prioritizing children and their mothers/ women’s’ involvement in any process of development undertakings. He started reading and learning operational experiences of other previously established humanitarian organizations on their organizational administration, effectiveness, efficiency, partnership, leadership and other related issues to have an organization with a strong ground in bringing the desired goal in Ethiopia. This enabled him to learn the strengths and weaknesses of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and started to design how to share his vision and recruit people who shared the vision and willing to shoulder the burden and serve their communities with a genuine good will. The dream to have strong kind of NGO in Ethiopia challenged the founder and pushed him to take time to work on effective founding strategies of the Stand for Vulnerable Organization (SVO).

During his efforts to share his vision, he faced many challenges from different people. Many people and organizations were suspicious about a motive of NGO establishment since they see some NGOs misuse organizational resources. This has made the beginning difficult to convince and get committed collaborators to found the SVO. Since it was difficult to believe the idea that was not concrete and on the ground, people were with full of questions and reluctant to work with the founder except a few people. However, the pain of Ethiopian people never gave him rest to evacuate from the vision but continued his way with perseverance, which finally brought forth the birth of the Stand for Vulnerable Organization (SVO) after 12 years of its conception.

Finally, by organizing five co-founders including his wife, who was committed for the founding of the organization at all required costs and shared his burden, he led the meeting on the birth of SVO on October 15, 2005. The intention is to have a strong organization that was not simply adding the number of NGOs but to bring an NGO that is able to influence the development of the country in a meaningful way. With this notion and experience of its first conception of incidence in mind, SVO set priority to address the needs of children and their guardians, particularly women, in its development works to revenge poverty that has been the enemy of generations. It is all about empowering the Ethiopian communities so that they are able to fight poverty particularly the state of being devoid of basic needs.

Fulfilling all the legal requirements, SVO was officially registered on July 26, 2006 at the national level by its previous name, the Stand for the Vulnerables Association (SVA). Under the new Proclamation of 621/2001, the Stand for Vulnerable Organization was re-registered on October 16, 2009 by Charities and Societies Agency with a slight change to its name as the Stand for Vulnerable Organization (SVO).

After its legal registration, the first General Assembly Meeting was held on August 26, 2006 at the Marxist (Dibab Square) in front of Addis Ababa University (Main Campus) and its first official executive board members and executive director were appointed by the General Assembly. The meeting was held at the Square because of the organization was a new beginner without office. The rain that was falling on the attendants of the meeting was unforgettable in the history of SVO since it indicates the level of commitment of the General Assembly members who were recruited and committed to contribute to the development of our country.

The Stand for Vulnerable Organization (SVO) then after was shifted from the vision of single person to the vision of many people who were organized into legal body of General Assembly members to aggressively fight the poverty in the country. The General Assembly members of SVO consists of trained development experts with rich experiences in child and women development, natural resource management, livelihood improvement, health development, consultancy work, education, leadership and management working with different non-governmental and government organizations. It is with this strong background that the General Assembly members were well equipped with expertise and experience of project planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Above all, they are people with deep love for their country and committed heart to serve their people at any cost. This commitment of the founders and General Assembly members helped SVO to move forward to the position of bringing inexorable impact in the development direction of our country.

Misganaw Eticha
Executive Director
Stand for Vulnerable Organization ( SVO)

· © 2014 Stand for Vulnerable Organization (SVO) (http://www.sva.org.et/about-us/historical-background/)

Author name: Misganaw Eticha
Speciality and expertise: Sociology (BA); Development Studies
Sector/Affiliation: Child and Youth Development
Adress: Addis Ababa – Ethiopia
E-mail: misganaweticha.svo@gmail.com
Mobile: +251911516426
Type of contribution: Child Development

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Lessons to be learned – The Sustainability Program of North Ireland

While there are no “standard maps” for achieving successful sustainable socio-economic developments everywhere in the world, yet we can learn from exiting strategies and solutions. Naturally, nations around the world have own conditions, structures, needs and may exist in different stages of development with complex internal and external political, economical and trade relations. Assessing the existing models and strategies helps formulating short and long-term roadmaps that are appropriate and suitable to the socio-economic needs and conditions. Successful socio-economic developments can’t be based on random actions and have to follow robust strategies emanating from effective, collective and coherent interactions between all sectors and on all levels. In this context, cloudy and conflicting interesting “within and between” nations can be major obstacles for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments.

An example on how to build national roadmaps for bring about successful socio-economic developments even under economic constrains is given here.

http://www.sustainableni.org/index.php

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Mechanized Agriculture in Sudan – Collapse of Sustainable Land-Water Management.

UNEP along FAO, ICRAF and a number of Sudanese NGOs and institutes describe how and why the agricultural sectors in Sudan were gradually degraded and moved rapidly towards more or less total collapse because of environment over-taxation. Since the introduction of mechanization of rain-fed agriculture by the British in 1944 several negative impacts, due to lack of control and planning, were piled up during the last half of the 20th century. This has caused large-scale destruction of environment and triggered severe negative impacts in other sectors as well. The traditional and mechanized agriculture account for 55 and 45 percent respectively of the rain-fed cultivated area. The importance of the irrigated sub-sector is reflected in the fact that while it makes up only 7 percent of the cultivated area, it accounts for more than half of the crop yields. However, irrigated land has own problems. Rapid, uncontrolled privatization, random investment and failure to couple education and research to market and society needs are major causes.

Management of land-water resources in Africa is IMPERATIVE. However, past experiences show not only major failure but the great threats of the blind and random implementation of imported technologies, e.g. Sudan where its cultivable land is about 42 percent with frequent claims that it is the potential ‘breadbasket’ of Africa and Middle East. Agriculture, the largest economic sector in Sudan, became the heart of some of the country’s most serious environmental problems: wide-range of land degradation, riverbank erosion, invasive species, pesticide mismanagement, water pollution and canal sedimentation. Also rangeland’s vulnerability to overgrazing is high and its overlap with cultivation is a major source of potential conflict. The significance of these threats cannot be underestimated: not only are 15 percent of the population partly or wholly dependent on imported food aid, but the population is growing, per hectare crop yields are declining and the enhanced competition over scarce agricultural resources.

The agricultural sector in Sudan is the main source of sustained growth and backbone of Sudan’s economy. Unfortunately, the sector’s economic stake is declining more and more with the emergence of the oil industry. Sudan continues to depend heavily on agriculture, whose share fluctuates around 40 percent of the GDP. The crop and livestock sub-sectors together contribute 80 to 90 percent of non-oil export earnings. With these trends the country will face more unemployment and famine as fifty-eight percent of the active workforce is employed in agriculture and 83 percent of the population depends on farming for its livelihood.

Global warming adds new threats as the agricultural sector in Sudan is highly vulnerable to shortages in rainfall and there has been substantial decline in precipitation and climate change models predict that this trend will continue. Without major action to stop the wave of de-gradation and restore land productivity, the natural resource base will continue to shrink, even as demand grows. Resolving this issue is thus central to achieving lasting peace and food security.

Click to access 08_agriculture.pdf

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ResearchGate – Free Access to Scientific Knowledge

Social-networking is an ever expanding activity even for scientific researchers. ResearchGate is an emerging social-media platform for researchers where about 3 million researchers from around the world, including 5 of them this year’s Nobel Laureates, are sharing scientific publications, experiences and enjoying discussions. It can be a supplemenary instrument to get free-access to literature and “knowledge”. It is, in its way to establish itself in the increasing virtual space and landscape of social-networking.

http://www.researchgate.net/

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