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Development and sustainability Sustainable/alternative development Roots and Resources - global experience and anlaysis These documents and links may help people in Burma/Myanmar think about the risks and benefits of "development", especially when imposed from top and from outside, without full and deep consultation with the people whose are most affected. This and other sections (Land, Forests etc.) also cover corporate and military-corporate appropriation of land and other resources. Websites/Multiple Documents Title:   "Resurgence" Magazine online Description/subject:   " Since 1966 Resurgence magazine has been one of the pillars of environmental thinking, generating an ecological awareness essential for human and planetary well-being and survival..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   "Resurgence" Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   30 January 2005 Title:   "The Ecologist" online Description/subject:   "Founded in 1970, The Ecologist is the world's most widely-read environmental magazine. Published in four continents, The Ecologist is read by over 200,000 people in 150 countries. A key player in major environmental campaigns against GM crops, rainforest destruction, climate change and the impact of globalisation, The Ecologist's early-warning signs have helped set environmental and political agendas across the world...." Language:   English Source/publisher:   "The Ecologist" Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   30 January 2005 Title:   Center for the advancement of the steady-state economy (CASSE) Description/subject:   "Perpetual economic growth is neither possible nor desirable. Growth, especially in wealthy nations, is already causing more problems than it solves. Recession isn't sustainable or healthy either. The positive, sustainable alternative is a steady state economy. Learn More >> Language:   English Source/publisher:   CASSE Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   09 November 2012 Title:   Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation web site Description/subject:   Documents on alternative development, including specifically on Burma. Language:   English Source/publisher:   Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Date of entry/update:   23 January 2005 Title:   Environmental magazines and alternative media links (text and video) Description/subject:   55 online publications Language:   English Source/publisher:   "Resurgence" magazine Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   05 May 2013 Title:   Focus on the Global South Description/subject:   "Focus on the Global South is a program of development policy research, analysis and action. Focus engages in research, analysis, advocacy and grassroots capacity building on critical issues. It was founded in 1995 and is currently attached to the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute (CUSRI) in Bangkok, Thailand. Focus was founded, the same year the World Trade Organization came into existence. At that time, the system of corporate-driven globalisation was at its apogee. Focus’s program and structure reflected the priorities of a people’s movement that was facing a steep uphill struggle as it grappled with the impact of globalisation on the daily lives and struggles of the poor and marginalized people in the South. Today, corporate-driven globalisation is suffering a deep crisis of legitimacy globally and is on the ideological defensive, even as its poverty-creating, inequality-increasing, and ecologically destructive structure and dynamics continue to grind on. Focus has also traveled considerably from its starting point. It is today widely considered a “key player” in the global movement for a different and better world. Its analyses of global developments are extensively consulted, as are its suggestions for structural change. Focus’ goals have not changed. They continue to be the dismantling of oppressive economic and political structures and institutions, the creation of liberating structures and institutions, demilitarization, and the promotion of peace-building instead of conflict. It is the programmatic and organizational expressions of these goals that need to be adapted to the changes in the global balance of forces" ... Rich seam of articles, links, news etc. Language:   English, French, Spanish, Thai, Indonesian, Portuguese Source/publisher:   Focus on the Global South Format/size:   html, pdf Date of entry/update:   10 August 2010 Title:   Forest People's Programme - Supporting forest people's rights Description/subject:   Environmental governance...Climate and forests...Legal and human rights...Responsible finance Language:   English Source/publisher:   Forest People's Programme Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   20 June 2012 Title:   ifda dossier Description/subject:   These are pdf versions of the 81 ifda dossiers published between 1978 and 1991. The "Dossier" was an important milestone in the emergence of alternative development theory, and this archive, maintained by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, remains an important source of inspiration and ideas... "... The International Foundation for Development Alternatives (IFDA) was set up in 1976 to contribute to the movement towards both another development and genuine international cooperation, defined as follows: • another development hinges on five interrelated pillars: satisfaction of human needs in their diversity; self-reliance; endogeneity; harmony with nature and ecological sustainability; non-violent democratization of societal structures. It is a systemic process, personal and social, cultural and technological, economic and political. It offers a project to every society, wherever located, North or South, whatever its space, global, national or local; • genuine international cooperation implies respecting differences and ensuring cultural pluralism. It calls for the restructuring of international relations through, among others, a global conception - at the same time political, ecological and social - of security , complete disarmament, non-alignment, Third World collective self-reliance as well as the emergence of new actors, especially those from the civil society. It is the transition from old and new hegemonies and the resulting unequal exchange to a world order supportive of another development..."... The files are, unfortunately, pdf image files of several megabytes each, which many people in the South will have diffculty in downloading. If is to be hoped that the DHF will eventually be able digitise the files and thus reduce their bulk. Language:   English, Francais, Espanol Source/publisher:   Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Alternate URLs:   http://www.dhf.uu.se/ifda/default.html (introduction and history of ifda dn the dossier) Date of entry/update:   23 January 2005 Title:   New Economics Foundation Description/subject:   " nef (the new economics foundation) is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. We aim to improve quality of life by promoting innovative solutions that challenge mainstream thinking on economic, environment and social issues. We work in partnership and put people and the planet first. nef was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) which forced issues such as international debt onto the agenda of the G7 and G8 summits. We are unique in combining rigorous analysis and policy debate with practical solutions on the ground, often run and designed with the help of local people. We also create new ways of measuring progress towards increased well-being and environmental sustainability. nef works with all sections of society in the UK and internationally - civil society, government, individuals, businesses and academia - to create more understanding and strategies for change..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   New Economics Foundation Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   14 October 2012 Title:   New Economics Institute Description/subject:   "The mission of the New Economics Institute is to conceive, create, communicate, and catalyze new economic theories and practices toward a just and sustainable world. We uniquely combine vision, theory, action, and communication to effect a transition to a new economy—an economy that gives priority to supporting human well-being and Earth’s natural systems. Our multidisciplinary approach employs research, applied theory, public campaigns, and educational events to describe an alternative socio-economic system that is capable of addressing the enormous challenges of our times. Our premise is that a fair and sustainable economy is possible and that ways must be found to realize it. "The Institute, formerly the E. F. Schumacher Society, is working in close partnership with the New Economics Foundation from London to add the programs and experience developed in the UK to its own work in the US..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   New Economics Institute Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   14 October 2012 Title:   Practical Action Description/subject:   "Our distinctive practical approach:- Technology challenging today's divided world: Practical Action works alongside communities to find practical solutions to the poverty they face. We see technology as a vital contributor to people’s livelihoods. Our definition of technology includes physical infrastructure, machinery and equipment, knowledge and skills and the capacity to organise and use all of these. We actively seek to work with communities and adopt a collaborative approach, sharing knowledge and experience. We increase our impact by scaling up success and pushing for policy change that directly benefits poor communities... Practical Action's vision and mission: Vision - Technology justice: a sustainable world free of poverty and injustice in which technology is used for the benefit of all... Mission - To contribute to poor people’s wellbeing, using technology to challenge poverty by: * building the capabilities of poor men and women; * improving their access to technical options and knowledge; and * working with them to influence social, economic and institutional systems for innovation and the use of technology..."....The Documents Library contains many appropriate technology downloads. Language:   English Source/publisher:   Practical Action Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   14 October 2012 Title:   Resolve Description/subject:   "RESOLVE is a novel, cross-disciplinary research collaboration between four separate groups in the University of Surrey: the Centre for Environmental Strategy, the Environmental Psychology Research Group, the Surrey Energy Economics Centre and the Department of Sociology. The overall aim of RESOLVE is to develop a robust understanding of the links between lifestyle, societal values and environment. In particular, RESOLVE will work to provide robust, evidence-based advice to policy-makers in the UK and elsewhere who are seeking to understand and to influence the behaviours and practices of 'energy consumers'. Specific objectives of the proposed research group will be:..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   University of Surrey Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   14 October 2012 Title:   Rights and Resources Initiative Description/subject:   A global coalition of 14 Partners and over 120 international, regional and community organizations advancing forest tenure, policy, and market reforms..... Core Beliefs: "Based on our experience, we find that empowerment of rural people and asset-based development are part of a process that is dependent on a set of enabling conditions, including security of tenure to access and use natural resources. As a coalition of diverse and varied organizations, RRI is guided by a set of core beliefs... Rights of Poor Communities Must Be Recognized and Strengthened: We believe it is possible to achieve the seemingly irreconcilable goals of alleviating poverty, conserving forests and encouraging sustained economic growth in forested regions. However, for this to happen, the rights of poor communities to forests and trees, as well as their rights to participate fully in markets and the political processes that regulate forest use, must be recognized and strengthened. ... Progress Requires Supporting and Responding to Local Communities: We believe that progress requires supporting, and responding to, local community organizations and their efforts to advance their own well-being... Now is the Time to Act: We believe that the next few decades are particularly critical. They represent an historic moment where there can be either dramatic gains, or losses, in the lives and well-being of the forest poor, as well as in the conservation and restoration of the world’s threatened forests... Progress Requires Engagement and Constructive Participation by All: It is clear that progress on the necessary tenure and policy reforms requires constructive participation by communities, governments and the private sector, as well as new research and analysis of policy options and new mechanisms to share learning between communities, governments and the private sector... Reforming Forest Tenure and Governance Requires a Focused and Sustained Global Effort: We believe that reforming forest tenure and governance to the scale necessary to achieve either the Millennium Development Goals, or the broader goals of improved well-being, forest conservation and sustained-forest-based economic growth will require a new, clearly focused and sustained global effort by the global development community." Language:   English (French and spanish also available) Source/publisher:   Rights and Resources Initiative Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   22 August 2012 Title:   Rio+20 Portal - Building the Peoples Summit Rio+20 Description/subject:   MAIN THEMES: Ethical and philosophical fundamentals: subjectivity, domination, and emancipation... Human rights, peoples, territories, and defense of Mother Earth... Political subjects, the architecture of power, and democracy... Production, distribution and consumption, access to wealth, common goods, and economies in transition. Language:   English (French, Spanish, Portuguese also available) Source/publisher:   Rio+20 Portal Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   26 June 2012 Title:   Shift Description/subject:   "Shift is an independent, non-profit center for business and human rights practice. We help governments, businesses and their stakeholders put the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights into practice. We share our learning by developing public guidance materials that help build the field globally. We were established in July 2011, following the unanimous endorsement of the Guiding Principles by the UN Human Rights Council, which marked the successful conclusion of the mandate of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie. Our team was centrally involved in shaping and writing the UN Guiding Principles, and Prof. Ruggie is Chair of our Board of Trustees..." . Language:   English Source/publisher:   Shift Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   06 May 2013 Title:   Third World Network Description/subject:   "... The Third World Network is an independent non-profit international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the Third World and North- South issues. Its objectives are to conduct research on economic, social and environmental issues pertaining to the South; to publish books and magazines; to organize and participate in seminars; and to provide a platform representing broadly Southern interests and perspectives at international fora such as the UN conferences and processes. Its recent and current activities include: the publication of the daily SUNS (South - North Develoment Monitor) bulletin from Geneva, Switzerland, the fortnightly Third World Economics and the monthly Third World Resurgence; the publication of Third World Network Features; the publication of books on environment and economic issues; the organizing of various seminars and workshops; and participation in international processes such as UNCED and the World Bank - NGO Committee..." Its online publications include extracts and compilations of • "Third World Resurgence"; • "Third World Economics"; • "TWN Features"; • Position Papers; • Briefing Papers etc. Language:   English Source/publisher:   Third World Network Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   23 January 2005 Title:   Vandana Shiva Description/subject:   Articles etc. by Vandana Shiva Language:   English Source/publisher:   Z-Space Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   05 November 2012 Title:   Worldwatch Institute Description/subject:   Publishes the annual "State of the World" reports and other publications Language:   English Source/publisher:   Worldwatch Institute Format/size:   html, pdf Date of entry/update:   25 January 2005 Title:   Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy Description/subject:   Research Group 1: Future Energy and Mobility Structures Research Group 2: Energy, Transport and Climate Policy Research Group 3: Material Flows and Resource Management Research Group 4: Sustainable Production and Consumption Cross-cutting projects: – Sustainable Globalisation – Eco-Sufficiency and Quality of Life – Integrated Sustainability Scenarios ...includes "Wuppertal Papers" published in English, publications by Wolfgang Sachs etc. Language:   English, Deutsch, German Source/publisher:   Wuppertal Institute Format/size:   html, pdf Alternate URLs:   http://www.wupperinst.org/ Date of entry/update:   30 January 2005 Individual Documents Title:   "Donor Playground Cambodia?" - What a look at aid and development in Cambodia confirms and what it may imply Date of publication:   19 November 2010 Description/subject:   "This paper is confrontational and challenges many deep assumptions in mainstream development. It argues that from the early 1990s in many ways Cambodia became a ‘donor playground’, a term that some may find troubling, if not actually offensive. It supports this argument by reference to various arguments in development studies, to a specific case study of intervention in Cambodia, and to an examination of important parts of the relevant donor ‘knowledge production’. For us, these show that this term is, indeed, suitable and we will make various practical recommendations as to how things may progress in the future..." Author/creator:   Adam Fforde & Katrin Seidel Language:   English Source/publisher:   Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Format/size:   pdf (413K) Date of entry/update:   05 May 2013 Title:   "The Wealth of the Commons" - A world beyond market & state Date of publication:   04 February 2013 Description/subject:   "Over the past few years an explosion of innovative activism, scholarship and projects focused on the commons has been gaining momentum around the world. This growing movement consists of activists fighting international land grabs and the privatization of water; commoners collectively managing forests, fisheries and farmlands; Internet users generating software and Web content that can be shared and improved; and urban dwellers reclaiming public spaces. "The Wealth of the Commons" brings together the most vibrant strands of this burgeoning international work into a single volume, revealing the significant potential of the commons as a new force in politics, economics and culture... We are poised between an old world that no longer works and a new one struggling to be born. Surrounded by centralized hierarchies on the one hand and predatory markets on the other, people around the world are searching for alternatives. The Wealth of the Commons explains how millions of commoners have organized to defend their forests and fisheries, reinvent local food systems, organize productive online communities, reclaim public spaces, improve environmental stewardship and re-imagine the very meaning of “progress” and governance. In short: how they’ve built their commons. In 73 timely essays by a remarkable international roster of activists, academics and project leaders, this book chronicles ongoing struggles against the private commoditization of shared resources – often known as “market enclosures” – while documenting the immense generative power of the commons. "The Wealth of the Commons" is about history, political change, public policy and cultural transformation on a global scale – but most of all, it’s about commoners taking charge of their lives and their endangered resources. It’s about common people doing uncommon things..." Author/creator:   David Bollier, Silke Helfrich Language:   English, Deutsch, German Source/publisher:   The Commons Strategy Group Format/size:   html Alternate URLs:   http://band1.dieweltdercommons.de/inhaltsverzeichnis/ http://www.transcript-verlag.de/ts2036/ts2036.php Date of entry/update:   05 May 2013 Title:   2012 Global Hunger Index Date of publication:   November 2012 Description/subject:   The Challenge of hunger: ensuring sustainable food security under land, water and energy stresses..."World hunger, according to the 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI), has declined somewhat since 1990 but remains “serious.” The global average masks dramatic differences among regions and countries. Regionally, the highest GHI scores are in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. South Asia reduced its GHI score significantly between 1990 and 1996—mainly by reducing the share of underweight children—but could not maintain this rapid progress. Though Sub-Saharan Africa made less progress than South Asia in the 1990s, it has caught up since the turn of the millennium, with its 2012 GHI score falling below that of South Asia. From the 1990 GHI to the 2012 GHI, 15 countries reduced their scores by 50 percent or more. In terms of absolute progress, between the 1990 GHI and the 2012 GHI, Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nicaragua, Niger, and Vietnam saw the largest improvements in their scores. Twenty countries still have levels of hunger that are “extremely alarming” or “alarming.” Most of the countries with alarming GHI scores are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (the 2012 GHI does not, however, reflect the recent crisis in the Horn of Africa, which intensified in 2011, or the uncertain food situation in the Sahel). Two of the three countries with extremely alarming 2012 GHI scores—Burundi and Eritrea—are in Sub-Saharan Africa; the third country with an extremely alarming score is Haiti. Its GHI score fell by about one quarter from 1990 to 2001, but most of this improvement was reversed in subsequent years. The devastating January 2010 earthquake, although not yet fully captured by the 2012 GHI because of insufficient availability of recent data, pushed Haiti back into the category of “extremely alarming.” In contrast to recent years, the Democratic Republic of Congo is not listed as “extremely alarming,” because insufficient data are available to calculate the country’s GHI score. Current and reliable data are urgently needed to appraise the situation in the country. Recent developments in the land, water, and energy sectors have been wake-up calls for global food security: the stark reality is that the world needs to produce more food with fewer resources, while eliminating wasteful practices and policies. Demographic changes, income increases, climate change, and poor policies and institutions are driving natural resource scarcity in ways that threaten food production and the environment on which it depends. Food security is now inextricably linked to developments in the water, energy, and land sectors. Rising energy prices affect farmers’ costs for fuel and fertilizer, increase demand for biofuel crops relative to food crops, and raise the price of water use. Agriculture already occurs within a context of land scarcity in terms of both quantity and quality: the world’s best arable land is already under cultivation, and unsustainable agricultural practices have led to significant land degradation. The scarcity of farmland coupled with shortsighted bioenergy policies has led to major foreign summary investments in land in a number of developing countries, putting local people’s land rights at risk. In addition, water is scarce and likely to become scarcer with climate change. To halt this trend, more holistic strategies are needed for dealing with land, water, energy, and food, and they are needed soon. To manage natural resources sustainably, it is important to secure land and water rights; phase out inefficient subsidies on water, energy, and fertilizers; and create a macroeconomic environment that promotes efficient use of natural resources. It is important to scale up technical solutions, particularly those that conserve natural resources and foster more efficient and effective use of land, energy, and water along the value chain. It is also crucial to tame the drivers of natural resource scarcity by, for example, addressing demographic change, women’s access to education, and reproductive health; raising incomes and lowering inequality; and mitigating and adapting to climate change through agriculture. Food security under land, water, and energy stress poses daunting challenges. The policy steps described in this report show how we can meet these challenges in a sustainable and affordable way." Language:   English Source/publisher:   International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe and Green Scenery: Format/size:   pdf (3MB) Date of entry/update:   02 November 2012 Title:   A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT OF CAMBODIA’S LAND SECTOR Date of publication:   April 2012 Description/subject:   "Despite the tens of millions of dollars in aid and concessional loans being spent in Cam- bodia with the ostensible aim of securing land tenure and making the management of land and natural resources more equitable and sustainable, the evidence shows that tenure insecurity, forced evictions and large-scale land grabbing are escalating to alarming levels. Against this backdrop this discus- sion paper proposes a better approach to development interventions in the land sector, in which processes and tools that elevate rights, transparency and accountability are incorporated throughout the project cycle and broader country strategy. The paper calls on development partners to adopt a ten-pronged framework for a human rights approach to development that aims to shift power to Cam- bodia’s citizens and increase accountability of decision-makers and power-holders. The paper begins with a rationale for adopt- ing a human rights approach to development. Human rights are the foundation of just and prosperous societies in which individuals have WKHRSSRUWXQLWWROLYHGLJQL¿HGIXOODQGPHDQ - ingful lives. The ultimate goal of development should therefore be a society in which civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are fully respected and enjoyed as social and legal guarantees on a non-discriminatory basis. The path of development will be most conducive to such an outcome if members of society are encouraged to be active and informed agents in the development process, including through public debate, and are able to hold decision-makers to account..." Author/creator:   Natalie Bugalski Language:   English Source/publisher:   Bridges Across Borders Cambodia, Heinrich Böll Stifftung, Cambodia Format/size:   pdf (4.8MB) Date of entry/update:   05 May 2013 Title:   BUDDHIST ECONOMICS Date of publication:   1973 Description/subject:   "... "Right Livelihood" is one of the requirements of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. It is clear, therefore, that there must be such a thing as Buddhist economics. Buddhist countries have often stated that they wish to remain faithful to their heritage. So Burma: “The New Burma sees no conflict between religious values and economic progress. Spiritual health and material well-being are not enemies: they are natural allies.” 1 Or: “We can blend successfully the religious and spiritual values of our heritage with the benefits of modern technology.” 2 Or: “We Burmans have a sacred duty to conform both our dreams and our acts to our faith. This we shall ever do.” 3 All the same, such countries invariably assume that they can model their economic development plans in accordance with modern economics, and they call upon modern economists from so-called advanced countries to advise them, to formulate the policies to be pursued, and to construct the grand design for development, the Five-Year Plan or whatever it may be called. No one seems to think that a Buddhist way of life would call for Buddhist economics, just as the modern materialist way of life has brought forth modern economics. Economists themselves, like most specialists, normally suffer from a kind of metaphysical blindness, assuming that theirs is a science of absolute and invariable truths, without any presuppositions. Some go as far as to claim that economic laws are as free from "metaphysics" or "values" as the law of gravitation. We need not, however, get involved in arguments of methodology. Instead, let us take some fundamentals and see what they look like when viewed by a modern economist and a Buddhist economist..." Author/creator:   E.F. Schumacher Language:   English Source/publisher:   Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. Format/size:   html, pdf Alternate URLs:   http://neweconomicsinstitute.org/schumacher/buddhist-economics Date of entry/update:   16 January 2005 Title:   Environment and Human Rights. Date of publication:   October 2003 Description/subject:   Wuppertal Paper, October 2003... "The Institute's Globalisation project published the first English Wuppertal Paper "Environment and Human Rights" by Wolfgang Sachs. First, it outlines six typical situations in which patterns of resource use come into conflict with subsistence rights: namely, extraction of raw materials, alteration of ecosystems, reprogramming of organisms, destabilization as a result of climate change, pollution of urban living space, and effects of resource prices. It then introduces the debate on human rights and locates respect for subsistence rights as a component of economic, social and cultural human rights. Finally, it offers some markers for an environmental policy geared to human rights, the aim of which is to guarantee civil rights for all in a world with a finite biosphere..." >>> Further Literature on Ecology and Human Rights Author/creator:   Wolfgang Sachs Language:   English Source/publisher:   Wuppertal Institute Format/size:   pdf (1.3MB) Date of entry/update:   30 January 2005 Title:   LAND-GRABBING LINKED WITH HUNGER Date of publication:   October 2012 Description/subject:   A new study finds a link between land rights, water, energy and hunger...Countries where people lack adequate access to land rights, water and energy – are among the worst performers in the annual Global Hunger Index (GHI). “We find there is a definite correlation between these resources and food insecurity,” said Claudia Ringler, a co-author of this year’s GHI study, which was produced jointly by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the NGOs Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. The GHI study compared data on people’s access to arable land, clean water and cheap energy to their countries GHI scores, which are calculated using three indicators: undernourishment, child mortality and child underweight data. Twenty countries have levels of hunger that are “extremely alarming” or “alarming” according to the index. Most countries with alarming GHI scores are in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia; the three countries with extremely alarming GHI scores are Burundi and Eritrea and Haiti. Food security is inextricably linked to developments in the water, energy, and land sectors, as many experts have begun to show. "We are not saying anything people don't know already, but drawing their attention to it again through this study," said Ringler. The study underscores the role of land grabs - the practice of leasing out land to international companies, often to grow export crops to produce biofuel - in food security. “Rising energy prices affect farmers’ costs for fuel and fertilizer, increase demand for biofuel crops relative to food crops, and raise the price of water use,” says the GHI report. Language:   English Source/publisher:   Irin via Third World Network Features Format/size:   pdf (78K) Date of entry/update:   02 November 2012 Title:   Prosperity without growth? The transition to a sustainable economy Date of publication:   2009 Description/subject:   "Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth. For the last five decades the pursuit of growth has been the single most important policy goal across the world. The global economy is almost five times the size it was half a century ago. If it continues to grow at the same rate the economy will be 80 times that size by the year 2100. This extraordinary ramping up of global economic activity has no historical precedent. It’s totally at odds with our scientific knowledge of the finite resource base and the fragile ecology on which we depend for survival. And it has already been accompanied by the degradation of an estimated 60% of the world’s ecosystems. For the most part, we avoid the stark reality of these numbers. The default assumption is that – financial crises aside – growth will continue indefinitely. Not just for the poorest countries, where a better quality of life is undeniably needed, but even for the richest nations where the cornucopia of material wealth adds little to happiness and is beginning to threaten the foundations of our wellbeing. The reasons for this collective blindness are easy enough to find. The modern economy is structurally reliant on economic growth for its stability. When growth falters – as it has done recently – politicians panic. Businesses struggle to survive. People lose their jobs and sometimes their homes. A spiral of recession looms. Questioning growth is deemed to be the act of lunatics, idealists and revolutionaries. But question it we must. The myth of growth has failed us. It has failed the two billion people who still live on less than $2 a day. It has failed the fragile ecological systems on which we depend for survival. It has failed, spectacularly, in its own terms, to provide economic stability and secure people’s livelihoods..." Author/creator:   Tim Jackson Language:   English Source/publisher:   Sustainable Development Commission Format/size:   pdf (3MB) Date of entry/update:   14 October 2012 Title:   Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Date of publication:   20 December 2010 Description/subject:   Summary: "The reinvestment in agriculture, triggered by the 2008 food price crisis, is essential to the concrete realization of the right to food. However, in a context of ecological, food and energy crises, the most pressing issue regarding reinvestment is not how much, but how. This report explores how States can and must achieve a reorientation of their agricultural systems towards modes of production that are highly productive, highly sustainable and that contribute to the progressive realization of the human right to adequate food. Drawing on an extensive review of the scientific literature published in the last five years, the Special Rapporteur identifies agroecology as a mode of agricultural development which not only shows strong conceptual connections with the right to food, but has proven results for fast progress in the concretization of this human right for many vulnerable groups in various countries and environments. Moreover, agroecology delivers advantages that are complementary to better known conventional approaches such as breeding highyielding varieties. And it strongly contributes to the broader economic development. The report argues that the scaling up of these experiences is the main challenge today. Appropriate public policies can create an enabling environment for such sustainable modes of production. These policies include prioritizing the procurement of public goods in public spending rather than solely providing input subsidies; investing in knowledge by reinvesting in agricultural research and extension services; investing in forms of social organization that encourage partnerships, including farmer field schools and farmers’ movements innovation networks; investing in agricultural research and extension systems; empowering women; and creating a macro-economic enabling environment, including connecting sustainable farms to fair markets." Author/creator:   Olivier De Schutter Language:   English Source/publisher:   United Nations (A/HRC/16/49) Format/size:   pdf (257K) Date of entry/update:   22 January 2012 Title:   Steven's Portal - For everyone concerned about humanity and the world we live in. Description/subject:   Useful links, mainly to groups in North America..."Welcome to a gateway to the common good. It is based on the efforts of real people who are helping and healing the world. Your participation is invited! If you've visited before, then you know this portal was conceived independently of any philosophy, tradition or school of thought. The intention is to provide a space for sharing online resources while increasing awareness of what is being done for the betterment of communities, society, culture and the Earth. You're invited to explore the links library and, additionally, to suggest your own favorites. New connections are wanted to individuals as well as groups, whether nonprofit or for-profit. My only expectations are that their efforts be environmentally and socially responsible. I especially like to include links connecting to small and lesser-known grassroots groups whose websites offer informative and inspiring depictions of their work. Please feel free to submit a site. Make yourself at home — you've arrived at an enlightened corner of cyberspace among like-minded people with a caring, compassionate outlook. This invitation is extended to men and women of goodwill everywhere across the globe. The current number of active links is 518 — and each of these has been formed through genuine person-to-person linkages. Here is a thought, given the vastness of cyberspace: if, thanks to fate, destiny, Karma, or a seemingly ordinary Google search, you've arrived here and are taking the time to read these words, there may be a reason. Please send a link suggestion today!..." Author/creator:   Steven Williams Language:   English Source/publisher:   Steven Williams Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   05 May 2013 Title:   The Archaeology of the Development Idea Date of publication:   1990 Description/subject:   "Ruined buildings hide their secrets under piles of earth and rubble. Archaeologists, shovel in hand, work through layer upon layer to reveal underpinnings and thus discover the origins of a dilapidated monument. But ideas can also turn out to be ruins with their foundations covered by years or even centuries of sand. I believe that the idea of development stands today like a ruin in the intellectual landscape, its shadows obscuring our vision. It is high time we tackled the archaeology of this towering conceit, that we uncovered its foundations to see it for what it is: the outdated monument to an immodest era... Wind and snow stormed over Pennsylvania Avenue on 20 January 1949 when, in his inauguration speech before Congress, US President Harry Truman defined the largest part of the world as "underdeveloped areas". There it was, suddenly a permanent feature of the landscape, a pivotal concept which crammed the immeasurable diversity of the globe's south into single category: underdeveloped. For the first time, the new world view was thus announced; all the peoples of the earth were to move along the same track and aspire to only one goal: development. And the road to follow lay clearly before the President's eyes: "Greater production is the key to prosperity and peace." After all, was it not the US which had already come closest to this utopia? According to that yardstick, nations fall into place as stragglers or lead runners. And "the United States is pre-eminent among nations in the development of industrial and scientific techniques". Clothing self-interest in generosity, Truman outlined a programme of technical assistance designed to "relieve the suffering of these peoples" through "industrial activities and "a higher standard of living". Looking back after forty years, we recognise Truman's speech as the starting gun in the race for the South to catch up with the North. But we also see that the field of runners has been dispersed, as some competitors have fallen by the wayside and others have begun to suspect that they are running in the wrong direction..." Author/creator:   Wolfgang Sachs Language:   English Source/publisher:   Wolfgang Sachs Format/size:   pdf (81K) Date of entry/update:   02 November 2012 Title:   The Development Dictionary - a guide to knowledge as power Date of publication:   2010 Description/subject:   WOLFGANG SACHS, Preface to the New Edition... WOLFGANG SACHS, Introduction... GUSTAVO ESTEVA, Development... WOLFGANG SACHS, Environment... C. DOUGLAS LUMMIS, Equality... MARIANNE GRONEMEYER, Helping... GÉRALD BERTHOUD, Market... IVAN ILLICH, Needs... WOLFGANG SACHS, One World... MAJID R AHNEMA, Participation... ARTURO ESCOBAR, Planning... BARBARA DUDEN Population... MAJID R AHNEMA, Poverty... JEAN ROBERT, Production... JOSÉ MARÍA SBERT, Progress... VANDANA SHIVA, Resources... CLAUDE ALVARES, Science... HARRY CLEAVER Socialism... SERGE LATOUCHE, Standard of Living... ASHIS NANDY, State... OTTO ULLRICH, Technology. Author/creator:   Wolfgang Sachs (ed) Language:   English Source/publisher:   Zed Books via Northeast University Format/size:   pdf (2.4MB) Date of entry/update:   05 November 2012 Title:   The Millennium Development Goals Report Date of publication:   2010 Description/subject:   "The Millennium Declaration in 2000 was a milestone in international cooperation, inspiring development efforts that have improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Ten years later, world leaders will gather again at the United Nations in New York to review progress, assess obstacles and gaps, and agree on concrete strategies and actions to meet the eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The Goals represent human needs and basic rights that every individual around the world should be able to enjoy—freedom from extreme poverty and hunger; quality education, productive and decent employment, good health and shelter; the right of women to give birth without risking their lives; and a world where environmental sustainability is a priority, and women and men live in equality. Leaders also pledged to forge a wide-ranging global partnership for development to achieve these universal objectives. This report shows how much progress has been made. Perhaps most important, it shows that the Goals are achievable when nationally owned development strategies, policies and programmes are supported by international development partners. At the same time, it is clear that improvements in the lives of the poor have been unacceptably slow, and some hard-won gains are being eroded by the climate, food and economic crises. The world possesses the resources and knowledge to ensure that even the poorest countries, and others held back by disease, geographic isolation or civil strife, can be empowered to achieve the MDGs. Meeting the goals is everyone’s business. Falling short would multiply the dangers of our world – from instability to epidemic diseases to environmental degradation. But achieving the goals will put us on a fast track to a world that is more stable, more just, and more secure. Billions of people are looking to the international community to realize the great vision embodied in the Millennium Declaration. Let us keep that promise. -- Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations Language:   English Source/publisher:   United Nations Format/size:   pdf (6.7MB) Date of entry/update:   21 November 2012 Title:   The One-Straw Revolution Date of publication:   1978 Description/subject:   An Introduction to Natural Farming Author/creator:   Masanobu Fukuoka Language:   English Source/publisher:   Masanobu Fukuoka Format/size:   pdf (455K) Date of entry/update:   22 January 2012 Title:   United Nations Strategic Framework 2012-2015 [Myanmar] Date of publication:   19 January 2012 Description/subject:   Table of Contents: Foreword... Signatories: October 2011... Acronyms and Abbreviations... Map of UN offices in Myanmar... Section I: Development Context... Human Development and the MDGs.... UN in Myanmar.... Section II: The Strategic Framework... Strategic Priority 1: Encourage inclusive growth (both rural and urban), including agricultural development and enhancement of employment opportunities ... Strategic Priority 2: Increase equitable access to quality social services..... Strategic Priority 3: Reduce vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change.... Strategic Priority 4: Promote good governance and strengthen democratic institutions and human rights... Section III: Resource Requirements... Section IV: Management and Implementation.... Section V: Monitoring and Evaluation..... Section VI: Operationalization of the UN Strategic Framework Language:   English Source/publisher:   United Nations Country Team in Myanmar Format/size:   pdf (2.6MB) Alternate URLs:   http://unic.un.org/imucms/userfiles/yangon/file/UN_Strategic_Framework_for_Myanmar_2012-2015.pdf Date of entry/update:   21 November 2012 Sustainable/alternative development for Burma Websites/Multiple Documents Title:   Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation web site Description/subject:   Documents on alternative development, including specifically on Burma. Language:   English Source/publisher:   Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Date of entry/update:   23 January 2005 Title:   Dag Hammarskjold Foundation -- Burma Seminars Description/subject:   Another development for Burma: Strengthening the capacity within the Burmese democracy movement for meeting future development challenges has been a recent major initiative. New capacity building activities will seek to strengthen further the democratic forces in the world...plus other related material Language:   English Source/publisher:   Dag Hammarskold Foundation Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   04 December 2009 Title:   Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) Description/subject:   ABOUT KESAN: "KESAN is a community based organisation with a central office in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We implement project activities on the Thai Burma border and in Karen and Kachin states in Burma. For the past eight years we have been working towards improving rural livelihood security using an approach that empowers and educates communities and institutions to sustain existing indigenous knowledge and practices to use and manage forest resources for the long term benefit of the community. KESAN also plays a leading role in addressing environmental and development concerns in environmental law and policy formulation in preparation for the post transition period in Burma. KESAN networks with local, regional and international organisations towards increased recognition of local and indigenous peoples rights to use and manage their natural resources for sustainable development. Vision Karen indigenous people in Burma live peacefully in a healthy environment and actively participate in maintaining ecological balance and livelihood security. Mission KESAN is a local organization working alongside local communities in Karen State and Kachin State, Burma to build up capacities in natural resource management, raise public environmental awareness, support community-based development initiatives; and collaborate with organizations at all levels to advocate for environment policies and development priorities that ensure sustainable ecological, social, cultural and economic benefits and gender equity . Objectives 1. To enhance capacities of local communities and community-based organizations to enable activities for environmental protection and social development 2. To develop indigenous environmental education and materials to increase children and youth awareness and participation in environmental protection 3. To support community-based development initiatives to preserve our environment, cultures and traditional livelihoods 4. To advocate for environment policies and practices and development priorities that are environmentally friendly, socially equitable, culturally beneficial and economically viable 5. To systematize and scale up ongoing efforts to mainstream a gender perspective in all aspects of KESANs program of work." Language:   English, Karen Source/publisher:   Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   19 November 2009 Title:   Need-Burma : Network for Environment and Economic Development Description/subject:   ABOUT US: Message from Executive Director; Who We Are; History of NEED; Ecological Crisis in Burma; Why Sustainable Agriculture?; Volunteer... OUR PROJECTS: Model Farm (MF); MF - Our Approach; MF - Activities; MF - Blog; MFI School (MFI); MFI - Overview; MFI - Apply; MFI - FAQ; MFI - Calendar; Village Level Capacity Building (VCB); VCB - Skill Development; VCB - Alumni Activities...RESOURCES & PUBLICATIONS: NEED Publications; NEED Videos; Photo Gallery; Alumni Resources; Related Publications; Resource Links; Contact Us; Donate Now; Sitemap; NEED Feeds; NEED Brochure - "Growing Food, Sharing Knowledge" Language:   English, Burmese Source/publisher:   Need-Burma Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   14 March 2012 Title:   OBL's Environment section Description/subject:   This section contains several articles and reports on economic and enviromental sustainability in Burma Language:   English Source/publisher:   Online Burma/Myanmar Library Date of entry/update:   23 January 2005 Title:   [JICA] Activities in Myanmar Description/subject:   Development Study on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development for Poverty Reduction Programme in the Central Dry Zone Language:   English Source/publisher:   Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Individual Documents Title:   Access Denied - Land Rights and Ethnic Conflict in Burma Date of publication:   May 2013 Description/subject:   The reform process in Burma/Myanmar by the quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein has raised hopes that a long overdue solution can be found to more than 60 years of devastating civil war... Burma’s ethnic minority groups have long felt marginalized and discriminated against, resulting in a large number of ethnic armed opposition groups fighting the central government – dominated by the ethnic Burman majority – for ethnic rights and autonomy. The fighting has taken place mostly in Burma’s borderlands, where ethnic minorities are most concentrated. Burma is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse countries. Ethnic minorities make up an estimated 30-40 percent of the total population, and ethnic states occupy some 57 percent of the total land area and are home to poor and often persecuted ethnic minority groups. Most of the people living in these impoverished and war-torn areas are subsistence farmers practicing upland cultivation. Economic grievances have played a central part in fuelling the civil war. While the central government has been systematically exploiting the natural resources of these areas, the money earned has not been (re)invested to benefit the local population... Conclusions and Recommendations: The new land and investment laws benefit large corporate investors and not small- holder farmers, especially in ethnic minority regions, and do not take into account land rights of ethnic communities. The new ceasefires have further facilitated land grabbing in conflict-affected areas where large development projects in resource-rich ethnic regions have already taken place. Many ethnic organisations oppose large-scale economic projects in their territories until inclusive political agreements are reached. Others reject these projects outright. Recognition of existing customary and communal tenure systems in land, water, fisheries and forests is crucial to eradicate poverty and build real peace in ethnic areas; to ensure sustainable livelihoods for marginalized ethnic communities affected by decades of war; and to facilitate the voluntary return of IDPs and refugees. Land grabbing and unsustainable business practices must halt, and decisions on the allocation, use and management of natural resources and regional development must have the participation and consent of local communities. Local communities must be protected by the government against land grabbing. The new land and investment laws should be amended and serve the needs and rights of smallholder farmers, especially in ethnic regions. Language:   English Source/publisher:   Transnational Institute (TNI), Burma Centre Netherlands Format/size:   pdf (161K-OBL version; 3.22MB-original) Alternate URLs:   http://www.tni.org/sites/www.tni.org/files/download/accesdenied-briefing11.pdf Date of entry/update:   14 May 2013 Title:   Accessible Alternatives: Ethnic Communities' Contribution to Social Development and Environmental Conservation in Burma (Burmese) Date of publication:   September 2009 Description/subject:   ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံသဘာဝပတ္ဝန္းက်င္အလုပ္အဖြဲ႔ (စက္တင္ဘာ ၂ဝဝ၉)...ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ သဘာဝပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ အလုပ္အဖြဲ႔ (BEWG) အေၾကာင္း… အစီရင္ခံစာ အက်ဥ္းခ်ဳပ္… ေနရာအမည္မ်ားႏွင့္ ေငြေၾကး အေခၚအေဝၚမွတ္စုမ်ား … ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံေျမပံုႏွင့္ ျဖစ္ရပ္မွန္ေလ့လာမႈေဒသမ်ား … နိဒါန္း … ရခိုင္ျပည္နယ္… ေျမလွန္ပစ္ျခင္း။ ဒီေရေတာမ်ား ဖ်က္ဆီး ပစ္ျခင္းႏွင့္ ေဒသခံကမ္းရိုးတမ္း လူမႈ အသုိက္အဝန္းမ်ား အေပၚ သက္ေရာက္ မႈမ်ား။ သဘာဝပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ႏွင့္ စီးပြားေရးဖြံၿဖိဳး တိုးတက္မႈ လုပ္ငန္းကြန္ယက္ (NEED-Burma)… တရုတ္ ေရနံရွာေဖြ တူးေဖာ္ျခင္း ၿခိမ္းေျခာက္မႈကို ခံေန ရေသာ မိရိုးဖလာ ေရနံတြင္းတူးသူမ်ား… အာရ္ရကန္ ေရနံေစာင့္ၾကည့္ ေလ့လာေရးအဖြဲ႔ (AOW)… ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္ ကခ်င္ ရိုးရာ တုိင္းရင္းေဆး လုပ္ငန္း အစီအစဥ္၊ သဘာဝပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ ထိန္း သိမ္းျခင္းႏွင့္ ဝင္ေငြဖန္တည္းျခင္း အတြက္ အခြင့္ အလမ္းမ်ားဖန္တီးျခင္း။ ပန္ကခ်င္လူမႈအသိုက္အဝန္း ဖြံ႔ၿဖဳိးတိုးတက္ေရးအဖြဲ႔ (PKDS)… ဟူးေကာင္း ခ်ိဳင့္ဝွမ္း က်ားထိန္းသိမ္းေရး နယ္ေျမရွိ ကခ်င္ျပည္သူမ်ား အခန္းက႑၊ ကခ်င္ ဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေရး လုပ္ငန္းကြန္ယက္အဖြဲ႔ (KDNG) … ကရင္ျပည္နယ္ အတြင္းရိွ။ သဘာဝ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ ကာကြယ္ေစာင့္ ေရွာက္ျခင္း။ ဌာေန တုိင္းရင္း သားမ်ား အသိပညာ ႏွင့္ အသက္ေမြးဝမ္းေက်ာင္းမႈ၊ သဘာဝ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ ထိန္းသိမ္းေသာ လူမႈအသိုက္အဝန္းတစ္ခု ကိုေလ့လာျခင္း၊ ကရင္သဘာဝ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ ႏွင့္ လူမႈေရး လႈပ္ရွားမႈ ကြန္ယက္ (KESAN) … ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ သဘာဝ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ အလုပ္အဖြဲ႔ ကရင္ျပည္ နယ္ ေျမာက္ ဘက္ျခမ္း အတြင္း အစားအစာ လံုၿခံဳမႈ ႏွင့္ ေဒသခံ ျပည္သူမ်ား ရင္ဆိုင္ ေျဖရွင္းျခင္း နည္းလမ္းမ်ား အေပၚၿခိမ္းေျခာက္မႈမ်ား။ ကရင္သဘာဝ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ ႏွင့္ လူမႈေရး လႈပ္ရွားမႈ ကြန္ယက္ (KESAN)… ပဲခူးတိုင္း။ ေရႊက်င္ၿမိဳ႔နယ္အတြင္း ေရႊတူးေဖာ္ျခင္း။ ေျမကမာၻအခြင့္အေရး(EarthRights International)… ႏွစ္ျမဳပ္ပစ္လိုက္ျခင္း - တာဆန္းေရကာတာ ႏွင့္ ေဒသခံ ရွမ္းလူမႈအသိုက္ အဝန္းႏွင့္သဘာဝ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္အေပၚ သက္ေရာက္မႈ။ ရွမ္းသဘာဝ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ထိန္းသိမ္းေရး အဖြဲ႔ (Sapawa)… မူးယစ္ေဆးဝါး တိုင္းျပည္ တည္ေဆာက္ျခင္း ႏွင့္ သႏာၱေက်ာက္တန္း ေဖာက္ခြဲျခင္း။ ညံ့ဖ်င္းသည့္ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္က ေက်ာေထာက္ ေနာက္ခံ ျပဳ ထားေသာ ဖြံၿဖိဳး တိုးတက္ေရး လုပ္ငန္း စီမံခ်က္မ်ားႏွင့္ လားဟူ ျပည္သူမ်ားအေပၚ သက္ေရာက္မႈမ်ား။ လားဟူအမ်ိဳးသား ဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေရးအဖြဲ႔ (LNDO)… Language:   Burmese/ ျမန္မာဘာသာ Source/publisher:   Burma Environmental Working Group (BEWG) Format/size:   pdf (5.46MB) Date of entry/update:   12 February 2012 Title:   Accessible Alternatives: Ethnic Communities' Contribution to Social Development and Environmental Conservation in Burma (English) Date of publication:   September 2009 Description/subject:   CONTENTS Acknowledgments ...About BEWG ... Executive Summary... Notes on Place Names and Currency... Burma Map & Case Study Areas ... Introduction ..... Arakan State: Cut into the Ground: The Destruction of Mangroves and its Impacts on Local Coastal Communities (Network for Environmental and Economic Development - Burma)... Traditional Oil Drillers Threatened by China�s Oil Exploration (Arakan Oil Watch)..... Kachin State: Kachin Herbal Medicine Initiative: Creating Opportunities for Conservation and Income Generation (Pan Kachin Development Society) ... The Role of Kachin People in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve (Kachin Development Networking Group) ..... Karen State: Environmental Protection, Indigenous Knowledge and Livelihood in Karen State: A Focus on Community Conserved Areas (Karen Environmental and Social Action Network) ... Threats to Food Security and Local Coping Strategies in Northern Karen State (Karen Environmental and Social Action Network) ... Gold Mining in Shwegyin Township, Pegu Division (EarthRights International) ..... Shan State: Drowned Out: The Tasang Dam and its Impacts on Local Shan Communities and the Environment (Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization) ... Building up of the Narco-State and Reef Blasting: Failed State-Sponsored Development Projects and their Impacts on the Lahu People (Lahu National Development Organization) Language:   English Source/publisher:   Burma Environmental Working Group (BEWG) Format/size:   pdf (2.3MB - OBL version; 7.3MB - original) Alternate URLs:   http://www.kesan.asia/Resources/bewg_report.pdf Date of entry/update:   04 December 2009 Title:   ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT FOR BURMA' Date of publication:   12 January 2003 Description/subject:   Report from the High-Level Seminar...Table of contents: Introduction; The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and Another development; Summary of presentations; Kjell-à ke Nordquist of the Peace and Conflict Research Department at Uppsala University: 'Priorities in Transition' and �Post-Transitional Challenges'; Walden Bello of Focus on the Global South: �International Institutions, Transnational Corporations and Globalisation – Future Challenges and Alternative Perspectives'; Sheila Coronel of the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism: 'The Role of Media in the Struggle for Democracy', �The Role of Media During Transition' and �The Right to Know'; Emilia Pires of the Ministry of Planning and Finances of East Timor: 'Strategies for Development '; Appendix I, Programme; Appendix II, International Resource Persons; Appendix III, List of Participants... Language:   English Source/publisher:   Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Format/size:   pdf Date of entry/update:   23 January 2005 Title:   ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT FOR BURMA: Priorities in Transition / ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေရးအျခားနည္းလမ္း - အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းေရးအ� Date of publication:   2004 Description/subject:   Preface ... Introduction ... The Dag Hammarskjold Foundation and Another Development"... Kjell-Ake Nordquist: "Priorities in Transition and Post-Transitional Challenges" ... Walden Bello: "International Institutions, Transnational Corporations and Globalisation: Future Challenges and Alternative Perspectives" ... Sheila Coronel: "The Role of Media in the Struggle for Democracy, the Role of Media during Transition and the Right to Know" ... Emilia Pires: "Strategies for Development - Experiences from East Timor" ... International Resource Persons..... အမွာစကား ... နိဒါန္း ... “ဒက္ဟမ္မားရိးေဖာင္ေဒးရွင္းႏွင့္ ဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေရးအတြက္ အျခားနည္းလမ္း ေဟာေျပာ တင္ျပခ်က္မ်ား ၏အက်ဥ္းခ်ဳပ္” ... “အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းေရးတြင္ ဦးစားေပးေဆာင္ရြက္ ရမည့္ အခ်က္မ်ားႏွင့္ အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းျပီးေနာက္ ေတြ႔ႀကံဳရ မည့္ ျပႆနာစိမ္ေခၚခ်က္မ်ား” ... “ႏိုင္ငံတကာအဖြဲ႔အစည္း မ်ား၊ ႏိုင္ငံေဘာင္ေက်ာ္ေကာ္ပိုေရးရွင္းႀကီးမ်ားႏွင့္ ဂလိုဘယ္လိုက္ေဇးရွင္း၊ အနာဂတ္ျပႆနာစိန္ေခၚခ်က္မ်ားႏွင့္ အျခားအျမင္ရေဒါင့္မ်ား” ... “ဒီမိုကေရစီတိုက္ပြဲတြင္း မီဒီယာ၏အခန္းက႑၊ အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းေရးကာလအတြင္း မီဒီယာ၏ အခန္းက႑ႏွင့္ ျပည္သူလူထု၏ သတင္းမ်ားရရွိပိုင္ခြင့္”... “ဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေရး မဟာဗ်ဴဟာမ်ား၊ အေရွ႔တီေမာ အေတြ႔အႀကံဳ” ... “ႏိုင္ငံတကာမွ ဖိတ္ၾကားေဟာေျပာေစေသာပညာရွင္မ်ား” Language:   English/Burmese Source/publisher:   Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Format/size:   pdf (397K) Date of entry/update:   04 October 2012 Title:   Community Agriculture Handbook Date of publication:   June 2009 Language:   Karen Source/publisher:   Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) Format/size:   pdf (1.7MB) Date of entry/update:   19 November 2009 Development in Myanmar - general articles Individual Documents Title:   A Comparative Study of State-Led Development in Myanmar (1988–2010) and Suharto’s Indonesia: An Approach from the Developmental State Theory Date of publication:   2011 Description/subject:   Abstract: "This article explores the institutionalization of state-led development in Myanmar after 1988 in comparison with Suharto’s Indonesia. The analysis centres on the characteristics and theory of developmental states that emerged from the studies of East Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. In Southeast Asia, Suharto’s Indonesia was perceived as a successful case and was studied by scholars in line with the characteristics of the developmental state. The Tatmadaw (military) government in Myanmar was believed to follow the model of state-led development in Indonesia under Suharto where the military took the role of establishing economic and political development. However, Myanmar has yet to achieve its goal of building a successful state-led development. Therefore, this paper argues that implementing an efficient and effective institutionalization is essential for a successful state-led development (developmental state) in Myanmar.".... Keywords: Myanmar, Suharto’s Indonesia, state-led development, developmental state, institutionalization....ISSN: 1868-4882 (online), ISSN: 1868-1034 (print Author/creator:   Sai Khaing Myo Tun Language:   English Source/publisher:   Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 1/2011: 69-94 Format/size:   pdf (230K) Date of entry/update:   21 August 2011 Title:   Excluded - Burma’s Ethnic Nationalities on the Margins of Development & Democracy Date of publication:   December 2012 Description/subject:   "This report presents documented evidence that ethnic nationalities directly affected by development projects in Burma are systematically denied their right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC). While development related abuse has been well documented, no report has shed light on the staggering scale of the widespread denial of participation rights in Burma...Our research shows that: • Close to 90% of those surveyed did not receive any information about the development project before it was started by a decision maker. In all but 2 sites, not one person was given any information. • Approximately 80% of the total survey population did not know who to contact or where to go to find out more information about the project. In 3 sites, the figure soared to 100%. • Less than 1% said a public forum was held by a project decision maker where the local community could attend. • Of the total sample population, less than 2% felt they would not be punished if they sought information about the project. • Close to half (44.1%) felt unsafe seeking further information about the project, while 45.2% were not sure whether it was safe or unsafe. • Less than 1% experienced positive impacts from the development project... This report is meant to serve as a warning of the risks entailed in denying participation rights as well as a reminder to potential investors of their human rights obligations..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   Nationalities Youth Forum (NY-Forum) and Students Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB) Format/size:   pdf (1.9MB) Date of entry/update:   15 May 2013 Title:   United Nations Strategic Framework 2012-2015 [Myanmar] Date of publication:   19 January 2012 Description/subject:   Table of Contents: Foreword... Signatories: October 2011... Acronyms and Abbreviations... Map of UN offices in Myanmar... Section I: Development Context... Human Development and the MDGs.... UN in Myanmar.... Section II: The Strategic Framework... Strategic Priority 1: Encourage inclusive growth (both rural and urban), including agricultural development and enhancement of employment opportunities ... Strategic Priority 2: Increase equitable access to quality social services..... Strategic Priority 3: Reduce vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change.... Strategic Priority 4: Promote good governance and strengthen democratic institutions and human rights... Section III: Resource Requirements... Section IV: Management and Implementation.... Section V: Monitoring and Evaluation..... Section VI: Operationalization of the UN Strategic Framework Language:   English Source/publisher:   United Nations Country Team in Myanmar Format/size:   pdf (2.6MB) Alternate URLs:   http://unic.un.org/imucms/userfiles/yangon/file/UN_Strategic_Framework_for_Myanmar_2012-2015.pdf Date of entry/update:   21 November 2012 Development and the civil war Individual Documents Title:   Lessons from the Kachin “development” experience (Kachin, English, Burmese) Date of publication:   May 2012 Description/subject:   "Burma’s government is using the promise of development as a key component in its current peace negotiations with armed ethnic organizations, proposing ceasefire first, then development, and finally a national political agreement. This process has been tried before in Kachin State with disastrous consequences. This report summarizes findings from seven years of research and demonstrates that the Kachin experience should serve as a warning to other ethnic groups attempting peace through a similar process. Without a political resolution first, there can be no just or sustainable development of Burma..." Language:   English, Kachin, Burmese Source/publisher:   Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) Format/size:   pdf (1MB-English; 770K-Burmese; 873K-Kachin) Alternate URLs:   http://www.kdng.org/publication/236-lessons-from-the-kachin-development-experience.html http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs13/lessons_from_the_kachin_development_experience(bu)-red.pdf http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs13/lessons_from_the_kachin_development_experience(kachin)-red.pdf Date of entry/update:   17 May 2012 Title:   Rural development and displacement: SPDC abuses in Toungoo District Date of publication:   13 January 2009 Description/subject:   "The SPDC has continued to militarise larger and larger swaths of Toungoo District under the false banner of 'development', subjecting local villagers to forced labour and extortion and forcing others to flee into hiding. Life is hard for villagers both under and outside of SPDC control: villagers living within SPDC-controlled areas are often forced to work for the SPDC rather than focus on their own livelihoods while villagers in hiding continue to struggle with a shortage of food. Ultimately, many residents of Toungoo face a mounting food crisis that is a direct result of SPDC policy. This report discusses incidents that occurred between May and September 2008..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F1) Format/size:   pdf (850 KB) Alternate URLs:   http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f1.html Date of entry/update:   31 October 2009 Title:   SPDC road construction plans creating problems for civilians Date of publication:   27 January 2006 Description/subject:   "In the opinion of one KHRG field researcher, “The SPDC’s road construction plans are related to the Salween dam project.” The dam itself, however, is partly a weapon to extend the regime’s control. The SPDC and its predecessors have tried to military crush all resistance in the Karen hills for over 50 years already without success, so ‘development projects’ like roads and dams are a new tactic for penetrating areas where resistance forces are strong and forcing villagers out of the hills to settle in state-controlled areas. The first to suffer from the road construction are the villagers living under SPDC control, who have to secure the road construction, carry loads, act as messengers and provide food and materials. Many will also have their fields or irrigation systems destroyed and their livelihoods undermined. Then will come the effects on displaced villagers living beyond SPDC control, whose mobility and security will be threatened by the roads and increased militarisation, undermining their food security, physical security, and their children’s access to education. The SPDC forces would like these people to go and live under their control, but the villagers know that if they stay under SPDC control they will have to do forced labour as porters, carrying loads, and as messengers, and will face extortion and looting of their money, livestock and belongings. There is some speculation that the dam project itself, by threatening the territory and supply lines of resistance forces, could also lead to intensified armed conflict, and villagers in the area would be the first to suffer from this. Dozens of villages and huge areas of forest and farmland would be inundated, most likely with no compensation offered to villagers except the option of moving to an SPDC-controlled village where they would be landless labourers, regularly exploited for forced labour. The future is therefore very uncertain for the thousands of Karen villagers living in this region." Language:   English Source/publisher:   Karen Human Rights Group Orders Reports (KHRG #2006-B1) Format/size:   pdf (338 KB) Alternate URLs:   http://www.khrg.org/khrg2006/khrg06b1.html Date of entry/update:   28 January 2006 Title:   Why ceasefires fail in Myanmar Date of publication:   18 May 2012 Description/subject:   "In northern Myanmar, government troops continue to push into the heartland of the ethnic Kachin armed opposition. Next month, the renewed conflict will mark its first birthday, and while protracted fighting has eased in other areas of the ethnically diverse country, the battle for Kachin State rages on. The limited gains made by government negotiators with at least six ethnic rebel groups over the past year make the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) something of an anomaly. Lower House member of parliament Aung Thaung, whose hawkish persona was seen as ripe for the recalcitrant group, was recently retired from his post as peace broker. More than five high-level meetings with Kachin officials failed to net a result, and as additional battalions are deployed to the frontline, the prospect of a ceasefire anytime soon seems unlikely. The narrative runs that the Kachin distrust the government, which they fear could renege on an agreement and rekindle the conflict at any time. But their reluctance to sign a ceasefire runs deeper; indeed it is their experience with the recent era of "peace" that makes the three-point roadmap demanded by Aung Thaung - entailing a ceasefire and then economic development before cementing a political solution - so objectionable. Among Kachin civilians, the 1994 ceasefire deal was seen to facilitate the rapacious development of the state, which 33 years of insurgency had somewhat stifled. The inflow of investment came with alarming levels of environmental degradation, particularly around areas rich in minerals, timber and hydropower potential. While the abuses associated with fighting lessened, including forced portering and rape, the number of people displaced by the development drive may well have taken a heavier toll than the years of conflict..." Author/creator:   Francis Wade Language:   English Source/publisher:   "Asia Times Online" Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   17 May 2012 Microfinance Websites/Multiple Documents Title:   Microfinance for the Poor Description/subject:   Summary: "The UNDP microfinance project in Myanmar is currently servicing more than 440,000 clients, of whom 97% are women with a total portfolio around US$29.5 million .This is 92% of clients and 93% of the total portfolio in Myanmar microfinance sector. The programme is one of the largest and most successful in the world and ranked 20th among all microfinance programmes worldwide. The micro-lending operations have a huge impact on the poor, benefiting particularly women who enter into business of their own and are having income of their own. They are now playing increasing roles in decisions within their households as well as within their community and their self confidence and social status have also risen." Language:   English Source/publisher:   UNDP Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   10 November 2010 Individual Documents Title:   Microcrédit et changement social au Myanmar (Birmanie) Date of publication:   2007 Description/subject:   Une étude anthropologique et économique dans l’État Chin..."La recherche qui est restituée ici a pour objectif de comprendre l’influence d’une structure de microfinance dans une région enclavée du nord-est du Myanmar, l’État Chin. Depuis quinze ans, la microfinance a conquis ses lettres de noblesse. Fondée sur des crédits de petits montants et un principe de caution mutuelle au sein de groupes d’emprunteurs, elle permet de donner accès au crédit à des populations qui étaient exclues de l’accès à un crédit formel. C’est une des actions emblématiques de la lutte contre la pauvreté et un ensemble très riche d’expériences et de savoir-faire s’est constitué au travers des réussites et des échecs. Pourtant, si de nombreuses études d’impact ont été menées, rares sont celles qui replacent l’offre de crédit et la façon dont les clients l’utilisent dans le contexte plus large des évolutions sociales et économiques de la zone concernée. La plupart d’entre elles relèvent des « suivis de clientèle », des études de satisfaction. Les études d’impact, y compris celles qui ont été réalisées au Gret jusqu’à présent, se centrent sur les usages du crédit pour les différents types de clients avec une approche semi-quantitative : en fonction des objectifs, il s’agit de préciser la clientèle touchée et les éventuels exclus, de savoir quelles sont les principales utilisations (audelà des objectifs annoncés lors de l’emprunt), de mesurer quels sont les effets perçus par les clients, de mieux comprendre qui sont les non-clients et pourquoi certains anciens clients quittent le dispositif. Parfois, l’objectif est aussi de préciser les stratégies de recours au microcrédit dans les stratégies de gestion de la trésorerie familiale, par rapport à une « offre » préexistante (usuriers, commerçants faisant de l’avance sur récolte, entraide familiale ou de voisinage, etc.). Globalement, on se centre sur le crédit, ses usages, ses effets, avec le fait que la fongibilité du crédit (l’argent emprunté se fond dans la trésorerie familiale) rend difficile d’imputer tel effet au crédit lui-même. Les dynamiques économiques locales, les trajectoires des ménages emprunteurs même, restent souvent dans l’ombre. On lit des effets incontestables (une régulation des problèmes de trésorerie, des petites logiques d’accumulation, parfois des “success stories” construites au fil de la succession des crédits, parfois une baisse de la demande après quelques années) sans que les ressorts de ces effets soient véritablement mis en lumière. L’étude d’impact restituée ici part d’un tout autre point de vue. Confiée à un anthropologue du CNRS, spécialiste du Myanmar (François Robinne) et un agroéconomiste spécialiste de la microfinance (Grégoire Danel-Fédou), elle vise à comprendre si, dans quel sens et par quels processus, l’accès à la microfinance a eu des impacts sur les dynamiques sociales et économiques en cours dans la région. Si les nombreux entretiens approfondis portent bien sur le crédit et ses usages, il s’agit avant tout de le replacer dans ces dynamiques, de comprendre les stratégies économiques familiales dans un contexte en profonde évolution, et le rôle qu’a eu l’accès au crédit dans les trajectoires familiales, dans la capacité différenciée des acteurs à saisir les opportunités. Il s’agit aussi de s’intéresser à la façon dont l’offre de crédit et l’organisation qu’elle suscite (les groupes de caution, les comités villageois de crédit) s’inscrivent dans des rapports sociaux en évolution et contribuent à cette évolution. Il s’agit finalement de prendre au sérieux l’épaisseur du « contexte » et de se centrer sur la compréhension des dynamiques de changement en pays Chin dans sa diversité, pour resituer le crédit et le rôle qu’il joue. Cela ne signifie pas se désintéresser des usages du crédit, du fonctionnement des groupes ou des perceptions par les usagers, mais se donner les moyens de leur donner sens parce qu’on les replace dans les dynamiques d’ensemble..." Author/creator:   Grégoire Danel-Fédou et François Robinne Language:   Francais, French Source/publisher:   Éditions du Gret Format/size:   pdf (900K) Date of entry/update:   16 November 2010 Rural development in Burma/Myanmar Websites/Multiple Documents Title:   Country Agency for Rural Development - Myanmar Description/subject:   "CAD (Country Agency For Rural Development) is a Catholic faith based local non-governmental and non-profitable organization working for remote villagers in 3 townships (Hakha, Matupi and Thangtlang) in the central part of Chin state and Monhla village in Ye Oo township of Sagaing division. The inception of CAD is propelled by the backward of Lautu tribe, one of FOUR tribes in Thang Tlang and Matupi Townships in the central part of Chin state. CAD has been spearheading development projects in this region since 2005. CAD has supported our development projects to 23,143 populations at 42 villages in the said townships for 2006. The area’s elevation ranges about 4,250 feet above sea level. Being surrounded by mountains and river fresh air and fish, organic vegetables and crops are available in this region. Furthermore, seasonable flowers are blooming and are exuding different sweet smell of their fragrance around the thick forest." Language:   English Source/publisher:   Country Agency for Rural Development Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   [JICA] Activities in Myanmar Description/subject:   Development Study on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development for Poverty Reduction Programme in the Central Dry Zone Language:   English Source/publisher:   Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Individual Documents Title:   Agricultural diversification and rural industrialization as a strategy for rural income growth and poverty reduction in Indochina and Myanmar Date of publication:   1999 Description/subject:   Abstract: CONTENTS: Introduction; concepts and rationale; concept of diversification; rationale for diversification; significance for IMR; Structural features of IMR and their relevance to diversification; evidence of diversification in the IMR; trends in areas and production of crops and meat production; agricultural exports; future challenges and guiding principles; references....Keywords: Agricultural diversification Economic aspects.; Indochina Economic policy.; Poverty alleviation.; Myanmar Economic policy.; Meat industry and trade. Author/creator:   Francesco Goletti Language:   English Source/publisher:   International Food Policy Research Institute Format/size:   pdf (160K) Date of entry/update:   22 April 2008 Title:   Agricultural Marketing Reform and Rural Economy in Myanmar Date of publication:   28 January 2004 Description/subject:   The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of marketing reforms implemented in the late 1980s in Myanmar. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of the reform on the rural economy and its participants, namely farmers, landless laborers and marketing intermediaries. The reform had a positive effect on all these participants through the creation of employment opportunities and increased income. The driving force of this success was "market forces,"absence of bad policy" is emphasized as a key for the success in the context of Myanmar, where excessive and murky government intervention often resulted in failure to induce private sector development. Author/creator:   Ikuko Okamoto Language:   English Source/publisher:   IIDE ( Institute of Developing Economies) Format/size:   pdf (98KB) Date of entry/update:   08 January 2005 Title:   Agricultural Policies and Development of Myanmar’s Agricultural Sector : An Overview Date of publication:   June 2006 Description/subject:   Abstract "This paper reviews the development of the agricultural sector in Myanmar after the transition to an open economy in 1988 and analyzes the nature as well as the performance of the agricultural sector. The avoidance of social unrest and the maintenance of control by the regime are identified as the two key factors that have determined the nature of agricultural policy after 1988. A major consequence of agricultural policy has been a clear difference in development paths among the major crops. Production of crops that had a potential for development showed sluggish growth due to policy constraints, whereas there has been a self-sustaining increase in the output of those crops that have fallen outside the remit of agricultural policy." Author/creator:   Koichi FUJITA, Ikuko OKAMOTO Language:   English (also available in Japanese(?) Source/publisher:   IDE Discussion Paper No. 63 Format/size:   pdf (344K) Date of entry/update:   16 July 2006 Title:   Agriculture authorities forced farmers to grow subsidiary crops Date of publication:   20 November 2004 Description/subject:   "Mudon Township agriculture authorities forced farmers to grow subsidiary crops on farms irrigated by the Win-Pha-None Dam, according to villagers in the area. “A group of township agriculture authorities came to the villages and gathered villagers to grow subsidiary crops such as rice and beans,” a villager said. According to Nai Jorn, a reporter, villagers are dissatisfied with authorities because they were forced to grow crops in previous years and received no benefits for growing them..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   Independent Mon News Agency (Mon State) Format/size:   html (8K) Date of entry/update:   24 December 2004 Title:   BURMA: Nobel Laureate Stiglitz to advise junta on poverty – Date of publication:   30 November 2009 Description/subject:   "...The list of high-profile foreigners heading to Burma to engage and advise the country’s military regime is about to get longer. The latest due to join that flow is Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz. The former chief economist of the World Bank will fly into Burma, or Myanmar as it is also known, on Dec. 14 for a mission aimed to examine and improve the South-east Asian nation’s rural economy, says Noeleen Heyzer, head of a United Nations regional body based in Bangkok. “He will share his ideas on what kind of economic decision making is critical for growth in the rural economy and poverty reduction,” adds the executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). “He will be there for a couple of days.”..." Author/creator:   Marwaan Macan-Markar Language:   English Source/publisher:   Inter Press News Service (IPS) Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   Commentary on the visit by Professor Stieglitz and necesary follow-up Date of publication:   09 January 2010 Description/subject:   Commentary of 9 January 2010 by U Myint on the visit by Joseph Stiglitz and necessary follow-up. A major section of the address dealt with how to boost the rice economy in Burma Author/creator:   U Myint Language:   English Source/publisher:   "The Irrawaddy" Format/size:   pdf (108K) Date of entry/update:   31 January 2010 Title:   Credit vital to boosting development in Myanmar, economist says Date of publication:   23 December 2009 Description/subject:   "...With 70 per cent of Myanmar’s population dependent on agriculture, credit reform could help the Asian nation reach its full productivity potential and enhance development, Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz said after a United Nations-backed visit to the country. “If you’re going to reduce poverty and meet the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], a focus on agriculture is absolutely essential,” Mr. Stiglitz told reporters after his trip. Surveys, he pointed out, have shown that the cost of credit is very high in Myanmar, with many farmers and casual labourers having to borrow money at interest rates of 10 per cent or more per month. The loans are reminiscent of “pay day” loans in the United States, he said, except that the interest rates charged in Myanmar are even more “usurious.” While in the country, the economist met with Government officials and academics, as well as visiting projects in rural areas. Farmers, he said, told him that while irrigation had increased their productivity, “because they could not get the credit to buy fertilizer and high quality seeds, the full potential was not being realized.”.." Language:   English Source/publisher:   UN News Service Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   Cultivating Inequality (Review of Ikuko Okamoto's "Economic Disparity in Rural Myanmar" ) Date of publication:   July 2008 Description/subject:   A Japanese study illustrates how farmers created an agricultural market in spite of the military government’s bureaucrats... "Economic Disparity in Rural Myanmar" by Ikuko Okamoto. National University of Singapore Press, 2008... "THE devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis and spiraling global food prices have placed even more pressure on the agricultural sector of Burma, once the world’s largest rice exporter and potentially one of Asia’s most prodigious producers of agricultural staples. The majority of the Burmese labor pool is in farming, and rice production remains not just a national priority but an obsession of the junta. Successive regimes have attempted a number of initiatives to increase agricultural production, first through disastrous socialist policies, and since 1988 with piecemeal open market reforms which have continued to stifle the true promise of the agricultural sector. Ikuko Okamoto’s book looks at one success story in this sad litany of state failure. Economic Disparity in Rural Myanmar is an academic analysis of the rapid increase in production of pulses in one township close to Rangoon. A pulse is a bean, in this case one called pedishwewar, or golden green gram, otherwise known as the mung bean. It is a close study of the relationship between Burmese farm laborers, rural traders, tractor dealers, some available land, rice paddy crops and a fortuitous gap in the global rice market that produced a pulse market where before there was none. The sting is that most of the people on the lower rungs—the farmer-laborers—profited least from their labors. Pulses brought in a total of 3.6 billion kyat (US $3 million) in 2007, mainly due to India, which reduced pulse cultivation, allowing farmers and traders in Burma to fill the demand. Okamoto, a researcher at Japan’s Institute for Developing Economies, spent several years studying production techniques in Thongwa Township, east of Rangoon and home to 64 villages and about 150,000 people. In this well-designed and detailed study, she looks at how the dramatic growth in green gram production produced an export success..." Author/creator:   David Scott Mathieson Language:   English Source/publisher:   "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 16, No. 7 Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   15 July 2008 Title:   ESCAP brings Nobel Laureate Stiglitz to Myanmar to advise on economic policy and rural poverty reduction Date of publication:   15 December 2009 Description/subject:   "The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Government of the Union of Myanmar today held a wide-ranging dialogue aimed at boosting the country’s agricultural sector and to help it reclaim its status as the rice bowl of Asia. At the invitation of ESCAP, Nobel Prize-winning economist Prof. Joseph Stiglitz and other eminent experts discussed strategies for Myanmar to cut poverty in light of Asia’s regional and subregional experiences. “It is my hope these ideas and analysis will open a new space for policy discussion and a further deepening of our development partnership,” UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer said at the event held in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw. “These development objectives can only be achieved through the successful engagement of local experts and people who know what is happening on the ground. This development partnership, requested by the Government of Myanmar, provides a unique platform for eminent international scholars and local researchers to exchange experiences and ideas with government agencies and civil society,” Dr. Heyzer added..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   UNESCAP News Services Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   Myanmar's generals plow a rich furrow Date of publication:   19 December 2009 Description/subject:   "Joseph Stiglitz, the American Nobel economics laureate, advised Myanmar's military-run regime this week that political reform is necessary if the generals hope to revitalize the country's stagnant, mostly agriculture-based economy. Any reform of the rural sector, which employs 70% of the workforce and accounts for nearly half of gross domestic product (GDP), will run up against the widespread and largely institutionalized corruption of the military..." Author/creator:   Brian McCartan Language:   English Source/publisher:   Asia Times Online Format/size:   html, pdf (62K) Alternate URLs:   http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs08/Stigliltz03.pdf Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   Regime Should Heed Advice Date of publication:   January 2010 Description/subject:   Joseph Stiglitz offered a realistic assessment of Burma’s economic needs. But were the country’s rulers really listening?... "There is the hope that this is the moment of change for the country,” said Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Economics laureate and former chief economist of the World Bank, after his visit to Burma in December. Stiglitz was speaking at a press conference in Singapore organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) after attending an economics forum in the Burmese capital, Naypyidaw. During his visit, Stiglitz told Burmese military officials led by Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Maj-Gen Htay Oo and National Development Minister Soe Tha that revenues from oil and gas, if well used, could open up a new era for the country. He called specifically for an increase in spending on education, which he said was necessary because the country is aging and the next generation needs to be prepared to face the challenges of economic development. He especially urged the Burmese regime to improve the economic conditions of the rural poor. Around 75 percent of the country’s estimated 57 million people live in rural areas. Burmese farmers are especially hard hit by crippling loan charges. According to researchers, farmers pay as much as 7 to 10 percent interest a month in Burma—which Stiglitz described as a symptom of serious malfunctioning of the credit system. He stressed this point repeatedly and noted that productivity suffered because of the lack of capital to buy fertilizers..." Author/creator:   Kyaw Zwa Moe Language:   English Source/publisher:   "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 1 Format/size:   html Alternate URLs:   http://www2.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=17483 Date of entry/update:   28 February 2010 Title:   Rich Periphery, Poor Center: Myanmar's Rural Economy Date of publication:   March 2004 Description/subject:   Abstract: "This paper looks at the case of Myanmar in order to investigate the behavior and welfare of rural households in an economy under transition from a planned to a market system. Myanmar's case is particularly interesting because of the country's unique attempt to preserve a policy of intervention in land transactions and marketing institutions. A sample household survey that we conducted in 2001, covering more than 500 households in eight villages with diverse agro-ecological environments, revealed two paradoxes. First, income levels are higher in villages far from the center than in villages located in regions under the tight control of the central authorities. Second, farmers and villages that emphasize a paddy-based, irrigated cropping system have lower farming incomes than those that do not. The reason for these paradoxes are the distortions created by agricultural policies that restrict land use and the marketing of agricultural produce. Because of these distortions, the transition to a market economy in Myanmar since the late 1980s is only a partial one. The partial transition, which initially led to an increase in output and income from agriculture, revealed its limit in the survey period."...There are 2 versions of this paper. The one placed as the main URL, which also has a later publication date, seems to be longer, though it is about 30K smaller. Author/creator:   Ikuko Okamoto, Kyosuke Kurita, Takashi Kurosaki and Koichi Fujita Language:   English Source/publisher:   IDE ( Institute of Developing Economies) Discussion Paper No. 23 Format/size:   pdf (213K) Alternate URLs:   http://www.econ.yale.edu/conference/neudc03/papers/1d-kurosaki.pdf Date of entry/update:   05 December 2003 Title:   Rural Credit Markets in Myanmar: A Study of Formal and Non-Formal Lenders Date of publication:   July 2007 Description/subject:   ABSTRACT: "This paper conducts an empirical investigation of the rural credit market in Myanmar to help guide policy formulation on the microfinance operations in the country. Specifically, it looks into the determinants of credit demand and of rationing loans at the household level, and identifies the similarities, differences and relationships among the various segments of the rural credit market. Data are primarily gathered through a survey covering a total of 301 households among 7 villages in the Dry Zone. The results reveal the characteristics distinguishing the different types of credit sources, implying that the formal and semiformal credit are targeted towards different sets of clientele. The findings also suggest that promoting the semiformal credit sources likewise strengthens the development of formal credit sources".....N. B. there is a confusion about the issue and date of this article -- the header says it is Vol 4, No. 1 (June 2007), while the website gives it as Vol. 3, Nos. 2 & 3 (December 2006) Author/creator:   Tomoko Kaino Language:   English Source/publisher:   "Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development", Volume 4 No. 1 Format/size:   pdf (378K) Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   Rural development and displacement: SPDC abuses in Toungoo District Date of publication:   13 January 2009 Description/subject:   "The SPDC has continued to militarise larger and larger swaths of Toungoo District under the false banner of 'development', subjecting local villagers to forced labour and extortion and forcing others to flee into hiding. Life is hard for villagers both under and outside of SPDC control: villagers living within SPDC-controlled areas are often forced to work for the SPDC rather than focus on their own livelihoods while villagers in hiding continue to struggle with a shortage of food. Ultimately, many residents of Toungoo face a mounting food crisis that is a direct result of SPDC policy. This report discusses incidents that occurred between May and September 2008..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F1) Format/size:   pdf (850 KB) Alternate URLs:   http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f1.html Date of entry/update:   31 October 2009 Title:   Rural Households' Food Security Status and Coping Strategies to Food Insecurity in Myanmar Date of publication:   February 2009 Description/subject:   "...This study will examine the food (rice) availability at the national level using the official and FAO data. Second, a case study in the rice deficit region (Dry Zone) will present the characteristics and food security status of the farm and non-farm rural households (landless) and the determinants of food security. The Dry Zone was chosen to study because the EC & FAO (2007) classified this region as the most vulnerable area of the country. Furthermore, the FAO projected that the Net Primary Production would be decreased significantly in the Dry Zone in the next two decades. It is essential to collect the primary and secondary data on food availability, access, stability and utilization for understanding the current reality of food security at both macro and micro level... Objectives of the Study: > To assess the food (rice) availability at the national level by using indicators of trend of production index, growth rate of sown area, production and yield, average availability of rice, average per capita rice consumption, rice surplus, dietary energy supply of rice, share of food expenditure in total budget, self-sufficiency ratio, trends in domestic prices of rice and the estimated effects of the Nargis cyclone on rice self-sufficiency. > To investigate the rural household's access to food in terms of human capital, food production, household income, asset ownership, and income diversification of farm and non-farm (landless) households. > To examine the farm and non-farm household's food security status by applying the national food poverty line and the index of coping strategies method along with some indicators such as food share in the household budget, percentage of food expenditure in the total household income, and nutrition security indicators of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, diseases, and number of children death. Author/creator:   Dolly Kyaw Language:   English Source/publisher:   Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (V.R.F. Series No. 444) Format/size:   pdf (656K) Date of entry/update:   10 August 2009 Title:   Second Development Partnership Roundtable and Development Forum held Date of publication:   18 December 2009 Description/subject:   Jointly organized by Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Second Development Partnership Roundtable and Development Forum on economic policies for growth and poverty reduction: lessons from the region and beyond was held at the hall of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation here on 15 December. Roundtable on enhancing Myanmar’s rural economy was held at 9 am...Since food security and rural livelihoods contribute to the income of the rural people, increasing agricultural productivity is the core policy for Myanmar. In order to increase agricultural productivity, promoting access to irrigation water and its sustainable uses are the main necessity. Myanmar has heavily invested and constructed 228 irrigation dams, 322 river water-pumping projects, constructing and repairing small irrigation tanks throughout the dryzone, enhancing underground water utilization through more than 7000 tube wells. In addition to promoting access to irrigation water for increasing crop production, rural electrification is also being promoted by installation of mini hydropower along canal drop structures of irrigation networks. On the other hand, regarding access to irrigation water, Myanmar is proactive rather than reactive to adapting climate change and mitigating its effects..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   "The New Light of Myanmar" Format/size:   pdf (66K) Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   Status and Potential for the Development of Biofuels and Rural Renewable Energy: Myanmar Date of publication:   2009 Description/subject:   CONTENTS: v Abbreviations... vi Acknowledgment... 1 Introduction: 1 Agroecological Zones and Administrative Divisions... 1 Land Use... 1 Workforce in Agriculture... 3 Expansion of the Irrigation Network... 3 Food Security Situation... 4 Rationale and Objectives..... 6 Energy Market and Outlook: 6 Energy Supply and Demand... 18 Potential Alternative Sources of Energy... 21 Justification of Biofuel as an Alternative Energy Source... 22 Obstacles to the Development of Biofuels in Myanmar..... 23 Resource Base for Biofuels Production: 23 Energy Security and Sustainability... 23 Biofuel Options... 24 Biodiesel Production... 27 Bioethanol Production... 33 Biomass Energy Consumption from Wood Fuel..... 38 Prioritization of Feedstocks: 38 Priority Feedstocks for Biodiesel Production... 40 Priority Feedstocks for Bioethanol Production..... 42 Agribusiness Models: 42 Existing Biofuel Business Model... 42 Opportunities and Constraints to Biofuel Business Development... 45 Integration of Small Farmers into the Agribusiness Chain and Options... for Promoting Biofuel Business Ventures..... 47 Case Studies of Biofuel Ventures in Myanmar..... 56 Policy, Regulatory, and Institutional Support for Biofuel Development: 56 National Policies and Strategies for Biofuel Development... 57 Development Program and Plans to Address Agriculture Sector Objectives... 58 Institutional Analysis for Biofuel Development... 60 Investment and Financing Arrangements... 60 The Way Forward..... 61 Appendix 1: Oil Content of Different Land Races of Jatropha Curcas..... 62 Appendix 2: A Proposed Institutional Structure and Implementation Mechanism for Biofuels Development..... 63 Appendix 3: Indicative National Biofuel Program for Myanmar. Author/creator:   U Hla Kyaw, Thandar Kyi, San Thein, U Aung Hlaing, U Tin Maung Shwe Language:   English Source/publisher:   Asian Development Bank (ADB) Format/size:   pdf (1.8MB) Date of entry/update:   17 December 2009 Title:   Stiglitz Advises Regime to Use Oil and Gas Revenues Wisely Date of publication:   17 December 2009 Description/subject:   "Nobel Economics Laureate Joesph Stiglitz has told a forum in the Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, that revenues from oil and gas, if well used, could open up a new era for the country. If not well used, valuable opportunities would be squandered, Stiglitz told the forum on “Restoring Burma as the Rice Bowl of Asia.” The forum on Monday was organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Burma's Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development. A UN press release said the former World Bank chief emphasized the inseparable nature of economics and politics. Before his visit, some analysts questioned the wisdom of giving economic advice to military generals who had a bad reputation for ignoring the input of experts. For Burma to take a role on the world stage and to achieve true stability and security, there must be widespread participation and inclusive processes, Stiglitz said..." Author/creator:   Ba Kaung Language:   English Source/publisher:   IRROL Format/size:   pdf (58K) Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   Transcript of Press Conference on the ESCAP/Myanmar Second Partnership Development Roundtable and Forum Date of publication:   21 December 2009 Description/subject:   "...There was general consensus that there were seven issues where ESCAP and the international community could be helpful, and I can share a partial list with you of those priorities that were identified for immediate follow-up. First and foremost is an examination of the country’s credit policies. It is imperative that farmers have access to capital so they can buy seeds and fertilizers and other implements. Research was presented that indicated informal lenders are charging up to 10 per cent a month for credit, which in a matter of a few months, negates all the farmer’s income for that year. So we need to look at what kind of credit is needed and where it is needed. Second, we will look at employment and income security, and human capacity building. Myanmar needs to shift from a labour intensive system to one that is more technologically-based and knowledge-based, which requires education. We also need to look at how the large number of casual labourers is utilized as well as some forms of social protection for farmers, including things like crop insurance and employment guarantees. How do we build the social foundation of more resilient households and communities in Myanmar? And finally, there is a need to take a look at the national revenues, and how to ensure that financial systems are transparent, and revenue is allocated to where they are needed..." Author/creator:   Joseph Stiglitz, Noeleen Heyzer Language:   English Source/publisher:   UNESCAP Format/size:   pdf (59K) Date of entry/update:   01 January 2010 Title:   Will junta focus on agricultural reform? Date of publication:   29 January 2010 Description/subject:   New Delhi (Mizzima) 's report recently urged Burma to prioritize its agricultural sector in the fight against poverty, as it has considerable growth potential. However, economic experts have cast doubts that agricultural reform can be feasible under dictatorial rule. The Myanmar Humanitarian Partnership Group meeting, held Wednesday in Burma's former capital of Rangoon, was attended by over 70 experts, including heads of UN agencies, diplomats and aid workers, and highlighted the crucial need of promoting the agricultural sector to address the economic challenges faced by Burma. "Economic growth and poverty alleviation will depend on improvements in productivity and growth of agricultural crops, fisheries and livestock,"Over 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and all indicators suggest that the agricultural sector has considerable growth potential."..." Author/creator:   Salai Pi Pi Language:   English Source/publisher:   Mizzima Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   31 January 2010 Urban development Individual Documents Title:   A Visit to Chinatown Date of publication:   September 2009 Description/subject:   "Chinese influence is growing in Rangoon, but not everyone is happy about it..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 17, No. 6 Format/size:   html Date of entry/update:   19 January 2010 Title:   HUMAN SETTLEMENTS SECTOR REVIEW, UNION OF MYANMAR Date of publication:   1991 Description/subject:   The oft-cited UN Habitat report on the 1989-1990 urban resettlement programme in Burma which the report estimates affected 1.5 million people (16 percent of the urban population). "...During the early months of 1990 international attention was focused on the Yangon squatter clearance and resettlement programme launched by the Government in 1989. The Mission found that the programme is not limited to Yangon, but has broad national coverage. The scale and characteristics of the land-development and other works was considered by the Mission to be of such overwhelming significance to the present and future urban situation that the Mission concentrated its resources on attempting to assemble a comprehensive record of the programme and assessing the impacts and implications. The programme consists of: (a) land development for sites-and- services resettlement schemes, and for complete housing units for public servants; (b) new and improved roads; (c) urban rail transport; (d) road, rail and pedestrian bridges; (e) parks and gardens; (f) redevelopment for commercial and residential uses of sites cleared as a result of resettlement and fires; (g) clean-up campaigns, building renovations, and repainting of facades; and (h) rehabilitation of drains and water bodies. For the size of the overall country population and for an urban population of less than 10 million, the scale of works within the time period allocated is probably unprecedented internationally. Based on visits to selected towns, analysis of maps and layout plans, and the data supplied by GAD and HD, the Mission estimates that the total population affected by the resettlement and new housing components is in the order of 1.5 million, or 4 per cent of the total population, and 16 percent of the urban population. Roughly 50 per cent of this number is in Yangon, Mandalay, Taunggyi and Bago, all centres visited by the Mission..." Language:   English Source/publisher:   The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) Format/size:   pdf (2.1MB) Date of entry/update:   10 January 2007 Title:   Yangon’s Development Challenges Date of publication:   March 2012 Description/subject:   Overview: "Yangon is an attractive and relatively livable city that is on the brink of dramatic change. If the government of Myanmar continues its recent program of economic and political reform, the economy of the country is likely to take off, and much of the growth will be concentrated in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city and commercial capital. This paper argues that Yangon is poorly prepared to cope with the pressures of growth because it has only begun to develop a comprehensive land use and development plan for the city that would guide the location of key activities including export-oriented industries and port terminals. In addition, the city lacks the financial resources to finance the infrastructure and other public services required to serve the existing population, let alone support a population that is larger and better off. Failure to address these challenges will not only make Yangon a less livable city but will also reduce the rate of economic growth for the entire country. Myanmar needs a dynamic and vibrant Yangon to thrive."..."...In sum, Yangon and Myanmar appear to be on the verge of explosive growth, making up for decades of stagnation or decline. Yangon is almost certain to become a key engine in the nation’s economic growth as Myanmar’s largest city, commercial capital, most important port and tourist destination, and most logical site for export-oriented manufacturing. But how well Yangon fulfills these roles depends on how well the city is managed. Yangon’s slow growth in the past had a hidden benefit in that it preserved many assets—greenery, parks and open spaces and historic buildings—that other Asian cities lost. As a result, Yangon has an opportunity to avoid becoming another sprawling, polluted and highly congested Asian megacity and grow instead into a greener and more livable metropolis. But it will do so only if it prepares a plan before development threatens to overwhelm it. And the plan will succeed only if it is based on thoughtful and realistic analyses of issues like the location of special economic zones and ports and the provision of affordable housing and quality infrastructure." Author/creator:   José A. Gómez-Ibáñez, Derek Bok, Nguyễn Xuân Thành Language:   English Source/publisher:   Ash Center, for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard University Format/size:   pdf (452K) Date of entry/update:   08 July 2012