Search results for sustainable development (94)

‚Eliminating corruption is crucial to sustainable development‘; follow #NoToCorruption

 

‚Eliminating corruption is crucial to sustainable development‘; follow #NoToCorruptionhttp://j.mp/1WsWp7U 

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News Lens: The next wave of development finance innovation http://bit.ly/1OVSekv 

 

 

Ungarns Premier sieht „große Geldmänner“ wie George Soros als Verantwortliche der Flüchtlingskrise

 

 

Wer ist für die vielen Flüchtlinge in Europa verantwortlich? Nach der Theorie von Viktor Orbán sind es Menschenrechtler. Einen knöpft sich Ungarns Ministerpräsident sogar…

Sustainable Development, Water & Tourism

ismawati

*IUCN FOCUS ON WATER*

http://balifokus.asia/balifokus

www.ipen.org/hgfree

www.unud.ac.id

www.goldmanprize.org

“When public services fail to serve all populations equally, if people get more trust and empowerment, most of the problems can be solved closer to the source in a more sustainable way with less costs than the conventional and centralized approach.”  — Yuyun Ismawati, Indonesia, Sustainable Development

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country’s 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island. With a population recorded as 3,551,000 in 2009, the island is home to the vast majority of Indonesia’s small Hindu minority. About 93.2% of Bali’s population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, while most of the remainder follow Islam. It is also the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. Read > HERE <

Tourism in Bali – The island of Bali, Indonesia, always has been an enchanting place for foreigners. Images of rice paddies, beautiful beaches and temples and a fascinating culture draw tourists from all around the world. It was only in the 1970s that tourism in Bali started to develop. The industry did bring many benefits to the island, such as increased employment, and its transformation from a marginal economic area of the country to the most important area in Indonesia after Jakarta. However, Bali s tourism development occurred quickly and without proper planning.

Therefore, tourism has caused some serious damage to the island’s environment. As one example, the sleepy village of Kuta became a tourist enclave, with its natural resources degraded and its infrastructure overwhelmed. This paper will discuss the origins of tourism in Bali and how it has affected the island’s environment. It also will discuss proposed alternatives to let tourism and the environment coexist in a more balanced fashion.

DescriptionMass tourism in Bali began in 1969 with the construction of the new Ngurah Rai International Airport, allowing foreign flights directly into the island, rather than arrival via Jakarta. Three years later, in 1972, the Master Plan for the Development of Tourism in Bali was drawn by the government of Indonesia. The government wanted to make Bali the „showcase“ of Indonesia and to serve as the model of future tourism development for the rest of the country. The plan was financed by the United Nations Development Programme and carried out by the World Bank.

A Solution to Stop Garbage Destroying Tourism – Tourism took off on the island in the 1970s. The economic benefits are clear: the island went from being economically marginal to ranking second only to the country’s capital, Jakarta, in wealth creation. The island received more than 2.38 million tourists in 2009, up 14.5 percent compared with 2008, according to Ida Komang Wisnu, head of the provincial statistics office. But tourism produces on average five kilograms of waste a day per tourist – 10 times what the average Indonesian produces (Bali Fokus).

In the past, the traditional way of serving food in Indonesia was to wrap it in, or serve it on, a palm leaf: a biodegradable approach. But with the huge expansion in use of plastics and non-biodegradable packaging, the waste disposal problem is out of control.

In Indonesia, government garbage disposal services tend to collect between 30 and 40 percent of solid waste, most of this from high income communities. The majority poor population are left to fend for themselves when it comes to waste disposal.

A solution by Yuyun Ismawati, an environmental engineer and consultant, has since 1996 focused on helping poor communities find ways to safely dispose of waste.

Yuyun Ismawati is an Indonesian environment engineer. She has worked on design of city and rural water supply systems, and later on designing systems for safe waste management.

In 2000, she started her own NGO – Bali Fokus – and opened a waste management facility in the Bali village of Temesi. The recycling plant employs 40 people from the village, who sort garbage into recyclables, compost and residual waste. Income from the recycled waste and compost goes to helping local farmers.

Bali Fokus’ successful approach has now been replicated in six other sites on the nearby island of Java. And the government of Indonesia has promised to help create 15 more each year.

In 2009 Ismawati won the Goldman Award which honors grassroots environmental heroes from the six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America.

She is also working on using decentralized grassroots approaches to bringing sewage disposal and clean water to communities.

ALL IS NOT WELL – Environmentalists and some government officials say the problems could become worse unless significant investment is made and people started conserving water.

„If there’s no change in this fast-growing tourism development, it’s not impossible that Bali will suffer from a water crisis in the next 10 years,“ said Agung Wardana from Wahli, a leading Indonesian environment group.

„The current emphasis is the development of the tourism industry which results in changes in productive and open lands that reduce the ability to provide ground water. This is made worse by neglect of river system,“ he added.

Many Balinese rely on wells for water but in some areas, particularly in the tourist centre of Kuta, so much is being extracted that salt water is fouling supplies. Rubbish and sewage being dumped into rivers was also affecting water quality.

Bali has few reservoirs and many of its rivers are used to channel water to an intricate traditional network of channels to feed the island’s iconic emerald rice fields.

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85% of Balis freshwater tapped or not clean, most freshwater urged by tourism

„Since the development of tourism industry is very fast, in the future we will have a big problem,“ said Ida Cakra Sudarsana, head of the mining and energy division in the Bali Department of Public Works.

He said Bali’s problems were not lack of ground or river water but one of development and he urged an expansion of reservoirs and tree-planting schemes in Bali’s volcanic mountains to curb deforestation and water-conservation schemes.

„We’re supposed not to face a water shortage until at least 2025,“ said Raka Dalem, a senior lecturer in environmental management and ecotourism at Bali’s Udayana University. „But in actual situation we do face a shortage situation because of bad management of water resources.

„During the wet season, lots of water flows to the sea and then in the dry season we face a bad problem. That’s the main issue, how we manage the water so that it can be used throughout the year,“ he said.

While tourist businesses and farmers diverting water from Bali’s lakes were partly to blame, there was also significant damage caused by the felling of forest trees near catchment areas for cash crop cultivation, experts said.

A lack of trees meant water and silt rushed into the lakes during downpours but there were less regular river flows during the dry season. It also meant that water was not being absorbed into the ground to fill underground basins that will provide for Bali’s water needs in the future. Water conservation is crucial.

Already at Nusa Dua, an enclave of five-star hotels and a major conference centre, the government has banned deep-well water. All big hotels in Nusa Dua used recycled waste water for watering gardens. Many luxury villas also used water-recycling systems, said Nils Wetterlind of ecovilla developer Tropical Homes.

But most villas also have large swimming pools filled from well or town water. And very few villas used solar/natural gas electricity systems now widely available or used certified plantation timber, meaning they weren’t very green.

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Development Banks Urged to Review Support for Mekong Dams, 10 Years After Nam Theun 2

1st April 2015

For Immediate Release internationalrivers.org/campaigns/nam-theun-2-dam

Development Banks Urged to Review Support for Mekong Dams, 10 Years After Nam Theun 2

Amsterdam/Bangkok/Manila/Prague/Tokyo – Non-governmental organizations are calling on the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and European Investment Bank (EIB) to publicly acknowledge the millions of dollars of failed investment in their flagship project, Nam Theun 2. This 1070 MW dam has failed to bring intended development benefits, and instead has unleashed a range of negative impacts on the affected populations in central Laos.

On March 31, 2005, the World Bank approved the provision of US $153 million for the development of Nam Theun 2. Exactly ten years ago, on April 1, 2005, the ADB offered $90 million to the Government of Laos and the Nam Theun 2 Power Company1, while the EIB and France’s Agence Française de Développement also pledged millions of dollars towards the project. Nam Theun 2 began operations in 2010, displacing over 6,300 indigenous people to make way for the 450 square kilometer reservoir and affecting more than 110,000 people downstream along the Xe Bang Fai River, a tributary of the Mekong River. Over 90% of the electricity generated is exported to Thailand.

According to Tanya Lee, Lao Program Coordinator for International Rivers, „The development benefits outlined in World Bank and ADB promotional material have never been achieved, including protection of the watershed area, accountability in public revenue earnings and livelihood restoration for those displaced and the downstream populations.“

„Over the past ten years, we have carried out systematic research with villagers living downstream along the Xe Bang Fai River and have documented the devastating impacts of the project. Some of the impacts of Nam Theun 2 include a dramatic drop in wild fish catches, flooding of low-lying rice fields, inundation of riverbank gardens used for food cultivation, and recurring skin rashes from the now turbid river water,“ she continued.

These problems are confirmed by the World Bank’s project-specific ratings, which currently evaluates overall implementation progress of the project to be  „moderately unsatisfactory“.2 The ADB and World Bank-financed Panel of Experts (POE) has also noted similar problems. In their most recent report, dated December 2014, the POE warned that the Government of Laos had failed to comply with the project’s Concession Agreement by not providing necessary support to the livelihood programs for affected villagers. 3 In addition, the POE has highlighted:

-the lack of sustainable employment and access to resources for the resettled population;
-the poor quality of land allottments and limited possibilities for food or cash crop cultivation in the resettlement areas;
-heavy reliance of people displaced by the project on the lucrative trading of illegal wildlife and timber to pay for daily needs;
-unmet livelihood restoration commitments for downstream communities; and
-the lack of access to livelihood programming for 67 affected villages in the surrounding area, which were instead only compensated with one-time cash handouts.
According to Rayyan Hassan, Executive Director of the NGO Forum on the ADB, „Ten years since the disbursement of millions of  dollars in loans, we are challenging the World Bank, ADB and EIB to seize this opportunity. They must revise their attempts to uphold Nam Theun 2 as a success story, and recognize the need for all affected villages to receive restorative reparations. The falsehoods perpetrated by those involved in the Nam Theun 2 Dam that the project is sustainable has sidetracked regional governments and the public from engaging in comprehensive energy options assessments, demand-based forecasting and planning, and advancing renewable decentralized energy source options.““Nam Theun 2 was the beginning of the current rush to build dams on both the Mekong mainstream and its tributaries. While the ADB directly finances large-scale hydropower projects in the region, the World Bank Group along with ADB are promoting hydropower interests by funding transmission line projects, offering private sector loans, technical assistance and knowledge exchange to hydropower companies and consultancy firms, and facilitating working groups to establish a regional power grid,“ explained Toshiyuki Doi, Senior Advisor for Mekong Watch.

He continued, „As a result of the ‚development aid‘ and investments in the hydropower sector, they have caused local communities to suffer. Rather than helping to achieve poverty alleviation, communities impacted from large scale dams in the Mekong Region have experienced a severe loss of access to natural resources, land-grabbing, impoverishment and dislocation due to forced resettlement. Instead of helping to encourage public participation in decision-making where environmental, social and human rights safeguards standards are fragile or non-existent, large scale dam building in the region is shutting out the voices of villagers, human rights defenders and sustainable development advocates.“

Shalmali Guttal from Focus on the Global South concluded, „The World Bank, ADB and EIB remain completely unaccountable for their actions. The bills for their expensive mistakes will be picked up by local populations in Laos and the Mekong Region. They must publicly acknowledge their complicity in the destruction caused by Nam Theun 2, and take legal, financial and moral responsibility for the damages to peoples‘ lives and the environment. The failures of Nam Theun 2 provide more than enough evidence for these banks to stop supporting large-scale hydropower development projects in the Mekong Region.“

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News Lens: ADB, IMF, World Bank to cooperate with China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, leaders say http://bit.ly/1Nda1Sd 

Media Contacts:
Toshiyuki Doi, Senior Advisor, Mekong Watch | Ph: +66869742941| Email: toshi-doi@mtd.biglobe.ne.jp 
Tanya Lee, Lao Program Coordinator, International Rivers | Ph: +60193746433| Email: tlee@internationalrivers.org
Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South | Email: s.guttal@focusweb.org 

 

Endnotes:
[1] NTPC is owned by a consortium comprising of Electricity de France International (35%) Thailand’s Electricity Generating Company of Thailand (25%), Italian Thai Development Company Limited (15%), and the Government of Lao PDR (25%).


[2] World Bank. Projects: Nam Theun 2 Social and Environment Project. „Ratings“. <http://www.worldbank.org/projects/P049290/nam-theun-2-social-environment-project?lang=en> Accessed 1 April 2015.


[3] Nam Theun 2 Power Company. Twenty Third Report of the International Social and Environmental Panel of Experts. 29 December 2014. <http://namtheun2.com/images/stories/poe/poe23.pdf> Accessed 1 April 2015.


LeadEarth – Environmental & Int. Development

Lead Earth Programme

http://masa.leadearth.org

European Maccabi Games 2011

Jews, Christs & Muslims ~ Intercultural Dialog

Isralestinian Ghandis – Meditation for Peace

Israel (Hebrew: יÖשÖׂרÖאÖל‎, YisrÄ’el; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيلُ‎, IsrÄ’Äl), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: About this sound מÖדÖינÖת יÖשÖׂרÖאÖל (help·info), MedÄnat YisrÄ’el; Arabic: دَوْلَةُ إِسْرَائِيلَ‎, Dawlat IsrÄ’Äl), is a country in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, the Gaza Strip and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is the world’s only predominantly Jewish state, with a population of 7.5 million people, of whom 5.7 million are Jewish. Arab citizens of Israel form the country’s second-largest ethnic group, which includes Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Samaritans.

The modern State of Israel has its historical and religious roots in the Biblical Land of Israel, also known as Zion, a concept central to Judaism since ancient times. Political Zionism took shape in the late-19th century and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 formalized British policy preferring the establishment of a Jewish state. Following World War I, the League of Nations granted Great Britain the Mandate for Palestine and the responsibility for establishing „the Jewish national home“ within it. Read More: > HERE <

Tamil Nadu (Tamil: தமிழ்நாடு „Country of the Tamils“, pronounced [t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ]( listen)) is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai (formerly known as Madras). Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the States of Puducherry (Pondicherry), Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is bound by the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and Palakkad on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait in the south east, and by the Indian Ocean in the south. Read More: > HERE <

Leadearth is an 8 months leadership program of Environmental and Social projects in Israel and India. LeadEarth is an eight-month leadership program for young professionals who wish to gain experience in the fields of social action, community empowerment and environmental and international development.

The LeadEarth program was designed to foster social entrepreneurs in the fields of environmental sustainability and informal education and enable them to acquire the skills, knowledge and hands-on experience to initiate, develop and lead projects in their own communities and in developing countries.

LeadEarth offers professional training, personal growth, self empowerment and a unique opportunity to initiate, develop and lead community projects.

The LeadEarth program includes a five-month training program in Israel followed by three months of field work in India and a closing seminar to prepare participants for further professional work and studies.

During the first five months of the program, participants live on Kibbutz Ein Zivan, where you will study and volunteer. Here you will receive professional training in the fields of sustainable ecological development and project management.

In the second part of the program, volunteers will travel to the Tamil Nadu state of India where you will live in an international volunteer community and work with grassroots NGOs, including the Center for Culture and Development (CCD) and Sadhana Forest. These organizations, together with an Adam LeAdam professional team leader, guide the volunteers in the initiation, development and operation of community projects, while focusing on promoting environmental awareness through informal education.

As LeadEarth graduates, you will receive ongoing support to enable you to sustain social and environmental involvement and activities in India or in your home community.

As a participant of the program you will: Prepare for further studies and professional job opportunities in the fields of environmental studies, ecological sustainability, international development and project management. Gain knowledge of Israel and India through living and working with local communities. Work and train with the next generation of international, young, Jewish, social entrepreneurs. Receive professional training in sustainable living including: clean energy, building planning, composting, chemical-free products and organic farming. Undergo survivor training in order to learn to deal with uncertainty in outdoor conditions. Receive accreditation from leading NGOs in Israel and India.


 

 

 

 

Check out the new @IISD_ELP e-book by Stefanie Schacherer

CCHR releases annual report on #FairTrial Rights in #Cambodia

Experten warnen vor Einsparungen bei Flüchtlingskursen



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Bericht der UNO zu zivilen opfern in Afghanistan im ersten Halbjahr 2017


EU countries, including Italy, should increase safe and legal channels into the EU, including working with the UNHCR to resettle recognized refugees currently in Libya. Other pathways such as humanitarian, student, work and research visas could help reduce demand for smuggling and dangerous journeys, Human Rights Watch said.

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Benjamin Ferencz legendary Nuremberg Prosecutor spoke of international justice and in particular the #ICC

 

„Lasst sie in die Schule fahren!“ – Jetzt offenen Brief unterzeichnen:

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Musiker wurde abgeschoben

„Wie im Gefängnis“:

München – Am Freitag wurde der afghanische Musiker Ahmad Shakib Pouya aus München abgeschoben. Nun befindet er sich gemeinsam mit seinem Freund Albert Ginthör in einem Hotel in Kabul – aus dem sie nicht hinauskönnen.

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Tawan for ever! Rest In Peace!
แด่เจ้าหนูน้อยตะวันชั่วนิจนิรันดร์ หลับให้สบายนะหลานรัก

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Auch asylwerbernde Schüler_innen sollen das TOP Jugendticket bekommen. Wie sollen umF oder auch begleitet Kinder zu Bildung komme, wenn sie selbst bei den Fahrkarten schlechter behandelt werden

Lasst sie in die Schule fahren!“ – Jetzt offenen Brief unterzeichnen: aufstehn.at/ticket-jetzt

Tausende junge Geflüchtete, die in Wien in die Schule gehen oder Bildungskurse besuchen, haben keinen Zugang zu leistbaren Fahrscheinen für die Öffis. Unsere Forderung: „Top-Jugendticket“ für SchülerInnen und Lehrlinge auch für junge AsylwerberInnen! #schulefueralle

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ganz wichtige Forderung!!! Mobilität ist unerlässlich für Integration

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Hilfe gegen eine bevorstehende Katastrophe 

us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f6ad8870170754151adcd5245&id=0e415ff117&e=8157c1b566

 

Nazli Kamvari: Die Exil-AktivstInnen konzentriern sich auf den harten Kern der Machtstruktur und auf die islamischen Gesetze!

Nazli Kamvari: Die Exil-AktivstInnen konzentriern sich auf den harten Kern der Machtstruktur und auf die islamischen Gesetze!

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#UNGA shld establish a special prosecutor for #Syria NOW!

Nächste Etappe beim Technologiezentrum: Anfang 2018 startet die Erweiterung des Technologiezentrums Seestadt mit Flächen für Produktion, Forschung & Entwicklung. Die Planungsausstellung zum Projekt läuft noch bis 22. Dezember im Foyer des Technologiezentrums (Seestadtstraße 27, Mo-Fr, 9-17 Uhr). SPECIAL: Die Planungsverantwortlichen sind heute, Donnerstag, von 15 – 17 Uhr vor Ort und beantworten gerne Fragen.




United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit Austria

Media invited to press conference  and various events

 

VIENNA, 2 December (UN Information Service) – On his final official overseas trip away from headquarters, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Austria from 7 to 9 December 2016.

The Secretary-General will meet Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Youth Employment and former Chancellor of Austria, Werner Faymann.

The Secretary-General will attend an unveiling ceremony of Sustainable Development Goals branding at the Vienna International Centre. Mr. Ban will also visit a restaurant run by refugees and Austrians, Habibi & Hawara, as part of the Together campaign which promotes diversity and inclusion. The global campaign led by the United Nations to counter xenophobia,  emphasizes direct personal contact between host communities and refugees and migrants and highlights the positive contributions made by refugees and migrants.

On the International Anti-Corruption Day, Friday 9 December, the Secretary-General will attend and deliver remarks at an Anti-Corruption Excellence Award Ceremony hosted  by His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of Qatar at the Hofburg Palace.

While in Vienna Mr. Ban will also meet the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) and Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, representatives of the other Vienna-based UN organizations and address staff.

 

Media representatives are invited to attend the following events:

At The UN, Every Day Is Staff Day

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URGENT “Preventing a lost generation:” barriers to education for #Syria

Photo published for Education for Syrian Refugee Children: What Donors and Host Countries Should Do

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Bashar al-Assad’s crimes against humanity, caught on camera

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We have to do what is in our power to rebuild, within Europe, the trust that has been lost. Only on the basis of trust will we once again be able to achieve a stable security order in Europe.

 

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NEUJAHRSWUNSCH DES PRÄSIDENTEN Dr. Fuat SANAC Möge 2016 allen mehr Frieden Gerechtigkeit, gegenseitigen Respekt und… Posted by Fuat Sanac on Thursday,December 31, 2015

2016 – EIN NEUER ANFANG MIT NEUEN HOFFNUNGEN2016 – UMUTLARLA DOLU YENÄ BÄR BAŞLANGIÇ ونسأل الله ان يجعل عام ٢٠١٦ عام... Posted by Fuat Sanac on Thursday, December 31, 2015

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