WRI Stories Feed: Equity, Poverty, and the Environment

6 Top Environment and Development Stories to Watch in 2013

Andrew Steer — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:17:17 -0500

This post originally appeared on Bloomberg.com.

As we enter 2013, there are signs of growth and economic…

Managing Land for Mining and Conservation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Peter Veit — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:46:41 -0400

This paper originally appeared on the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group website. The full text of the paper is available here.

Summary

With significant areas of overlapping high biodiversity resources and mineral wealth, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces increasing pressure from competing uses of land widely considered incompatible. This policy paper reviews the rise of commercial mining and the mining concessions afforded ostensibly at the expense of conservation efforts where protected areas and mining permits overlap. The paper highlights the need for the DRC to review and harmonize multiple and often contradictory laws, strengthen land use laws, and build implemetation and enforcement capacity.

Read the full paper

Why Land Rights Should Be on the Rio+20 Agenda

Peter Veit — Fri, 25 May 2012 09:55:20 -0400

As government leaders prepare for next month’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil, one issue is conspicuously absent from the agenda: land rights. Strong property…

MEDIA ADVISORY: Hope or Hype? WRI Experts Host Press Call on Rio+20 Summit

James Anderson — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:28:05 -0400

As leaders in government, business and civil society prepare to head to Rio de Janeiro for the UN Sustainable Development Summit, known as Rio+20, experts from the World Resources Institute will host a press call to discuss issues and expectations for the meeting.

WRI experts will discuss issues, including the green economy, governance, climate change, role of business, and more. WRI will provide an update on the state of play and on possible outcomes for the global summit.

Listen to the audio recording of WRI’s press call below:

WHAT:

Press call to discuss expectations for the Rio+20 Summit.

WHO:

Manish Bapna, Interim President, WRI

Craig Hanson, Director, People & Ecosystems Program, WRI

Lalanath de Silva, Director, The Access Initiative

Jennifer Morgan, Director, Climate & Energy Program, WRI

Followed by a Q&A session

WHEN:

Tuesday, May 22, 10:00a.m. EDT // 11:00a.m. BRT

CALL-IN:

United States (Toll free): (866) 803-2143

Brazil (Toll Free): 0800-8911992

Other international locations (Toll): +1 (210)795-1098

Passcode: Callers should ask for “RIO”

You can read more about WRI’s work at Rio +20 at: http://insights.wri.org/topic/rio20.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Michael Oko: Tel. + 1 (202) 729-7684; email: moko@wri.org; or

James Anderson: Tel. +1 (202) 729 7608; email: JAnderson@wri.org

For Oil Industry Transparency, Uganda Should Look to Other African Countries

Peter Veit — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:18:32 -0400

Since the discovery of an abundance of oil in 2008, and despite the Parliament’s drafting of the Resolution of Parliament on…

Access to Information Gains Ground in Africa

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:48:30 -0400

This piece originally appeared on the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) website.

Access to information is widely recognized as a cornerstone of good governance and an important anti-corruption tool. Almost 100 countries, including 10 in Africa, have national laws or decrees that recognize the public’s right to access information or records from government.

An IDRC-supported initiative launched in 2011 is looking at access to information in three African countries — Ghana, South Africa, and Uganda — through an environmental and natural resource lens. Natural resources drive the national and household economies of these and many other developing countries. Thus, promoting transparency in this sphere is considered key to assuring healthy, prosperous societies.

The “ATI in Africa” initiative is investigating to what extent citizens are gaining access to information through environment and natural resource laws and institutions. The World Resources Institute (WRI), based in Washington, D.C., is working on the two-year effort with three leading research organizations: the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, the Open Democracy Advice Centre in South Africa, and Greenwatch Uganda.

“Africa lags behind on a whole series of indicators associated with access to information,” says Peter Veit, a senior fellow at WRI who is managing the project. “But the good news is there is huge momentum for reform in Africa right now. There are probably more countries discussing, debating, and negotiating ATI bills in Africa than anywhere else in the world.”

Recent progress

Policies and practices to implement the right of access to information began to emerge in Africa only in recent years. The three project countries are at different stages of this process. In 2000, South Africa became the first country on the continent to pass an ATI law. Uganda’s Access to Information Act was enacted in 2005 but has not been fully implemented. After years of debate and a national consultation, a proposed freedom of information bill in Ghana has yet to be passed.

The right of access to information is enshrined in many countries’ constitutions. Even in the absence of comprehensive national ATI legislation, citizens and advocacy groups in Africa have used constitutional provisions or environmental laws to access information.

Research teams in the three focus countries are reviewing court cases and ATI laws, policies, and practices in the energy and natural resource sectors. Which issues arise most often? Which requests for information are most likely to be rejected? For example, is information on high-value natural resources such as oil and minerals more likely to be considered confidential than information on forestry and the environment?

Learning lessons

The teams are also incorporating evidence from Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe, as they review the status of ATI laws there. Says Veit: “There’s a real need across the continent for assistance to be provided South-South and North-South on how to draft ATI laws as well as those governing the extraction and use of natural resources — and how to create institutions that can deliver the functions prescribed to them in those laws.”

The researchers are making and monitoring citizens’ ATI requests, and trying to determine the extent to which particular groups can access information. They asked three types of requesters to seek information from governments: a freelance journalist, a so-called “poor citizen,” and an NGO advocate. Preliminary results from Ghana indicate that refusal rates were high for all types of requesters, especially journalists, who had the highest refusal rate of 60%.

Carole Excell, a lawyer and senior associate at WRI, points to another potential hurdle applicants face. “With two exceptions, every African country’s law refers a citizen who makes a request and is refused, to ultimately go to the courts for relief. This has really restricted the ability of citizens and journalists to seek a remedy.” In most cases, she says, having recourse to an independent ombudsman or information commissioner rather than the courts would be simpler, faster, and less costly.

Change on the ground

The researchers hope their findings will be useful to many other countries — and to the African Union as it develops a model ATI law for the whole continent. They also want to help ensure implementation of the declaration approved at the 2011 Pan-African Conference on Access to Information. The African Platform on Access to Information encourages African countries to become more transparent and was developed specifically to recognize the context and needs of African countries.

The research partners will make their work freely available to other researchers and governments, to support the creation of robust ATI laws throughout Africa. They also hope to encourage better information storage and retrieval in the region by fostering stronger and clearer laws on document archiving.

“Change on the ground is most important,” Excell says. “Our African partners want research that leads to results in policies, practices, and legal reforms.”

Map: Candice Schibli/WRI

Biofuel Investments Threaten Local Land Rights in Tanzania

Peter Veit — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:15:23 -0500

This piece originally appeared on the International Land Coalition Land Portal. This full text is available here.

Just a couple weeks ago, Iowa State University (ISU) withdrew from advising the Iowa-based firm AgriSol Energy on its planned land deal in Tanzania. AgriSol Energy is seeking to acquire 320,000 hectares in Rukwa Region for large-scale food and biofuel production.¹ ISU’s role had been to ensure that the for-profit venture be socially responsible and benefit local communities. However, the development of AgriSol’s large-scale farm requires the eviction of 162,000 local farmers – hardly a benefit to the local communities.

In October 2011, work at the jatropha² plantation in Kisarawe District, Tanzania came to a halt when managers of Sun Biofuels, a British company, told more than 300 workers to collect their final paychecks and leave until further notice. The company established the 8000-plus hectare estate in 2008, but is now facing serious financial problems.

These layoffs came on the heels of BioShape, a Dutch company, ceasing operations in November 2009 on its 34,000 hectare jatropha plantation in Kilwa District. BioShape had employed more than 100 permanent staff, and about 700 casual laborers. In February 2010, the company suspended its last field operations and stopped paying salaries to its local employees and, in June 2010, BioShape was officially declared bankrupt

Other biofuel projects in Tanzania are also struggling to sustain their operations, including Swedish Sekab AB, Europe’s largest ethanol company. Despite these experiences, however, the government of Tanzania is considering allocating even more land to biofuel companies such as AgriSol Energy.

Most rural people in Tanzania make a living off their land, including subsistence farming and animal husbandry. When their land is taken—even if properly compensated for their losses—many fall into deeper poverty. New policies and government practices are urgently needed to protect local property rights to land and natural resources.

Read the full text here >>>

Iowa-based Summit Group and Global Agriculture Fund of the Pharos Financial Group, in partnership with AgriSol Energy LLC and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University, are developing a large agriculture enterprise in Tanzania. The site encompasses three “abandoned refugee camps”– Lugufu in Kigoma province (25,000 ha), Katumba (80,317 ha), and Mishamo (219,800 ha), both in Rukwa province. ↩
Jatropha seeds contain oil that can be processed into biodiesel. ↩

Threats to Village Land in Tanzania: Implications for REDD+ Benefit- Sharing Arrangements

Peter Veit — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:28:02 -0500

This piece originally appeared in Lessons About Land Tenure, Forest Governance and REDD+: Case Studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America.¹ The full text of the article is available here.

Abstract

REDD+ presents an important opportunity for Tanzania to leverage its forest resources to bring in new capital flows, promote forest management and provide benefits to communities. With a legal framework designed to promote decentralization and more than a decade of experience with Participatory Forest Management, the country appears ready to capitalize on REDD+.

On closer examination, however, villagers face multiple obstacles in securing rights over land and realizing forest benefits. This paper examines five challenges—classification of General Land; recognition of Village Land; recognition of village government; transfer of Village Land to General or Reserved Land; and Participatory Forest Management procedures. Legal ambiguities and contradictions coupled with inconsistent implementation and governance structures pose unique threats to the success of REDD+ in Tanzania. With REDD+ infrastructure yet to be developed, however, opportunities exist for these challenges to be addressed. The current legal and institutional framework needs clarification and strengthening to make REDD+ a success for all Tanzanians.

Read the full article

Naughton-Treves, L. and C. Day. eds. 2012. Lessons about Land Tenure, Forest Governance and REDD+. Case Studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Madison, Wisconsin: UW-Madison Land Tenure Center. ↩

Government Report on Deepwater Horizon Spill Fails to Recognize Its Own Responsibility

Alisa Zomer — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:15:33 -0400

An official report released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE, formerly MMS) and the Coast Guard puts BP, Transocean, and other contractors at…

SEC Regulations Could Bring Oil Revenue Transparency to Uganda

Alisa Zomer — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:07:24 -0400

Now twice delayed during the public comment and rule-drafting periods, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is due to release regulations for Section 1504 of the Wall Street Reform Act in late August. Recent developments in Uganda’s…