Sixth Sustainable Development Conference
11-13 December, Holiday Inn, Islamabad
Trade
and Sustainable Development
Capacity
Building for Trade and Sustainable Development: Emerging Lessons
from the Trade Knowledge Network
David
Boyer (Canada)
The
Goal of the Trade Knowledge Network is to foster long-term capacity
to address the complex issues of trade and sustainable development
in partner-country research institutions, governments and the wider
policy community, including business, academia and environment and
development NGOs. Trade Knowledge Network Partners in eight countries
have conducted research and policy workshops on opportunities and
challenges for achieving sustainable development goals in their
countries around specific sectors or trade agreements. TKN research
organizations have explored issues which range among opportunities
for achieving sustainable agriculture within the Agreement on Agriculture;
to standards, labels, and market access in relation to organic products,
GMOs, and shrimp aquaculture; to liberalization of electricity and
tourism services. While the focus of the research has differed from
country to country, the learnings and lessons that have emerged
are of interest to all the countries trying to find benefits and
over come the challenges of integrating sustainable development
goals into trade policy and practice.
Trade,
Environment and Sustainable Development: Towards a Proactive Agenda
for the South
Adil
Najam (USA)
The
purpose of this paper is to better understand Southern concerns
about the ongoing trade and environment negotiations and to explore
how an emergent Southern agenda might take shape within the current
‘Development Round’ negotiations. It has been evident
for some time that trade policy and environmental policy can no
longer pretend to ignore each other’s existence. Conceptually,
each is an integral element of sustainable development, which, ostensibly,
is a stated goal of both. Practically, they already cast long shadows
on each other and the actual implementation of each influences,
and is influenced by, the other. This paper argues that within the
context of the WTO, the question is no longer whether trade and
environmental policy are going to be linked, but how. The answer,
of course, is far from clear because a) the Doha mandate on trade
and environment was left purposely vague; b) the issue is new to
multilateral trade negotiations and its many implications and manifestations
have not yet been fully explored; and c) because of that, parties
have yet to fully develop and firm their positions on this subject
as they have on many others. For all of these reasons, there is
an opportunity for all parties to shape the agenda on future trade
and environment negotiations in rather more profound ways than might
be possible on many other issues. This opportunity is particularly
pertinent to the developing countries of the South because they,
for most part, have been generally suspicious of environmental issues
seeping into trade deliberations and accepted the Doha mandate for
trade and environmental negotiations rather hesitantly, if not grudgingly.
Policy
Interventions at the Fisher Folk and Agrarian Levels to Promote
Sustainable Development
Faisal
H. Shaheen (Pakistan)
The
World Trade Organization Agreements have long been accused by the
global civil society members as framing international trade in a
manner that removes barriers for the growth of multinational and
transnational corporations through easing restrictions on capital,
finance and product flows from developed nations, while restricting
the infrastructure required for the development, protection and
subsidization of small and medium enterprises within which they
struggle to establish themselves. While the World Trade Organization’s
management structure will not admit to making room for SMEs within
the draft agreements, indirect recommendations have been made within
the South Asian forums for governments to take a role in protecting
small and medium sized businesses. Indigenous sectors in Pakistan,
from the fisher folk communities of the Indus mangrove ecosystem
to the small farmers of Punjab are all affected by the binding agreements
of the WTO, either directly through tariff and input prices/support
or the scale of economic activity by adjacent sectors. This paper
seeks to explore the linkages between sectors built upon sustainable
livelihoods and their interactions with other areas of economic
activity that may or may not be as sustainable. The paper also lays
out a series of guidelines for regional and national policymakers
to consider in their efforts to protect indigenous economies and
encourage sustainable development.
Implementation
of Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreements and Application
of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS): Regional Initiatives
Shaheen
Rafi Khan and Sadia Haider (Pakistan)
Developing
country exporters are awakening to the reality that prices are not
the only criteria for saleability. As import tariffs decline and
quota entitlements under the MFA phase out, production and trade
regimes in South Asia will need to become leaner and cleaner, reflecting
emerging consumer preferences and inter-governmental requirements.
These are articulated in the form of a growing array of quality,
social and environmental standards. In other words, only those products
will have a competitive edge which are of a high quality, have no
adverse health impacts embodied in them and can be safely disposed
after use. Not surprisingly, these standards evoke reactions in
the South, ranging from sovereign issues to concerns about non-tariff
protection. There is merit in each of these viewpoints but there
is also a convergence of interest as well as available recourse.
Thus, industries in the south act in the national interest when
their actions limit damage to the environment or institute health
and safety measures for workers. Conversely, the World Trade Organization
(WTO) has mechanisms for dealing with unfair trade practices.
At
the end of the day it is not only expedient, but also profitable
for exporters to comply with the increasingly complex demands of
international clients - both in the public and private sectors.
However, ‘willingness’ to comply does not translate
easily into ‘ability’ to comply. This is based upon
a complex mix of institutions, policies, financial means and technical
capacity. Further, such capacity needs to be able to address the
different dimensions associated with compliance namely, the implementation
of standards, information access and dissemination, certification
and accreditation. The WTO Agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade
(TBT), and on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
(SPS) contain provisions for harmonizing international standards
and facilitating technical assistance to developing countries to
comply with them.
Developing
countries often advocate the need to become more proactive in the
standards setting process. The argument is that international standards
should reflect their cultural affinities and environmental tolerances.
There is no quibble with this but it does track back to the issue
of scientific and institutional capability. Absent such capability,
developing countries will not be able to comply with international
standards, much less engage with the TBT, SPS and other voluntary
ISBs in setting- for lack of a better word-‘south-sensitive
standards’.
This paper identifies regional capacity building approaches to enhance
compliance with the TBT and SPS Agreements and company bilateral
requirements pertaining to technical regulations and voluntary standards,
in order to increase access for South Asian exports. Clearly there
is an established need for this as regional and global economies
become more closely integrated. However, the backward linkages with
national capacity building imperatives are also emphasized. This
recognizes both the embryonic nature of the initiatives underway
in the region and the political and logistical complexities associated
with regionalization. While there is undeniable merit in being forward
looking, grounding this in the national context will make the regional
constructions more realistic.
The
paper has five sections. Section two examines the pros and cons
of a regional approach to capacity building to effectively implement
and benefit from the TBT and SPS Agreements. Section three assesses
the relevance of the European model for harmonizing standards for
the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region.
Section four identifies the institutional prerequisites for effective
compliance in the region and for a more active role in standards
formulation. Section five presents a synopsis of the country studies.
Section six presents a menu of small, but achievable steps that
would demonstrate that cooperation is possible and help build confidence
and trust relationships.
Civil
Society and Advocacy
Rethinking Activism, Redesigning Advocacy
Arshed
H. Bhatti (Pakistan)
This
presentation attempts to examine the conventional notion of ‘activism’,
its various meanings and forms and how it has been deployed as means
to policy advocacy/ reform.
The
presentation highlights the various expressions and articulations
of activism in Pakistan that worked and various others that did
not. In certain instances we see concentrated activism premising
on the physical gathering of activists, but not winning its objectives
and in others it may seem diffused, but not necessarily less impeccable.
It
is one’s understanding that contemporary developments in information
technology and techniques have affected the modes of communication
and social transactions, resulting in a more complex and more unpredictable
state and its institutions regarding their roles and conduct. Therefore,
there is need of more informed activism to respond to the ensuing
complexity and unpredictability.
In
one’s view, a rethought activism has a logical link with redesigned
advocacy. The latter is more cognizant of, and sensitive to, the
present day world, which is full of multiple agendas, diverse interests
and heterogeneous players. These players are not equally competent
to comprehend and appreciate the complex range and varied implications
for the application of national and global policies. Their indifference,
rigidity, insensitivity or disinterest, in fact, only perpetuates
the status quo. It could well be a product of lack of intellectual
skills combined with ‘reducible ignorance’ and inability
to decipher the complexities of issues at hand. Thus, a need for
redesigned advocacy.
The
presentation will cite several examples and present a few scenarios
to substantiate the case for rethinking activism and redesigning
advocacy, particularly in Pakistan.
Social
Authority of the Mullahs and the Participation of the Pakhtun Mullah
in the 20th century Tribal Areas
Sana Haroon (England)
This
paper will examine the role of the mullah within the Pakhtun clan,
and the means by which he could promote his socio-political agenda
and will compare the mullah’s services to the community as
a conductor of religious ritual to his social authority that exceeds
simple Quranic interpretations and applications. This study draws
on historical examples from the Khyber, Mohmand, Bajaur and Swat
districts, political agencies and Waziristan, and is focused on
the participation of the Akhund Abdur Ghaffur (or the ‘Swati
Baba) murids in the tribal areas.
Considering
the foundations of religious authority in the frontier tribal areas
counters a persistent bias in the study of Pakhtun social organization
that has separated religion and ‘real’ Pakhtun culture
into two separate domains. It has been argued that British colonial
authority that had “considerably weakened the traditional
structure of secular authority amongst the tribes, enabled religious
leaders to place themselves… (only) temporarily, at the head
of a movement to re-assert tribal independence.”
Much
of this analysis has derived from the public face of frontier mullahs
and their voicing and pursuit of the supposedly purist Islamic ideals
and union with the Afghan state. The anthropologist-historian Akbar
Ahmed considers the Pakhtun society of the tribal areas to have
been a pure form of competitive honor-concerned clan groups. Mullahs,
he argues, ‘imported’ Islamic ideals into an otherwise
pragmatic society. Senzil Nawid, on the other hand, characterizes
the activities of the Eastern Afghan and some tribal areas religious
functionaries (including the mullah Chaknawar and Haji Turangzai)
as a product of their relations with the Afghan state. There is
no doubt that both an externally derived religious ideology and
associations with the Afghan government were of great significance
to religio-political trends in the tribal areas. But the central
focus on these mullahs as agitators and leaders of jihad, or else
virulently pro-Afghan and anti-British activists obscures their
multifaceted participation in life in the tribal areas. The paper
attempts to move beyond what Robert Nichols has termed ‘the
simple opposition between absolute partisans of Islam, the state
or Pakhtun society,’ and focuses on the pedagogic, religious,
organizational, jurisprudential and policing techniques and engagements
of the mullahs of the tribal areas to assess their social role and
authority during the early 20th century.
Forced
Migration and Human Trafficking
Labor
Migration and Trafficking of Women: An Insight into the Socio-Economic
Implications
Ayesha
Aftab (Pakistan)
Human
trafficking has been a flourishing and lucrative trade for over
some decades now. The practice, though illegal in nature has become
synonymous with employment prospects in the South Asian region.
Labor migration has affected men, women and children alike in all
the South Asian countries. Unemployment underemployment, and moreover
globalization of the world economy has increased labor mobility
from one place to another.
This
paper will be based on research conducted with reference to women’s
employment concerns and labor migration amongst females in South
Asia. It will focus on three significant aspects: women’s
employment conditions and how they affect labor migration, the nature
and scope of women trafficking to and from South Asia, and the implications
of human trafficking on women at various levels.
As
the entry of women in the employment sector has increased, so has
their vulnerability against exploitative conditions at work. This
paper will introduce and describe how women are affected by gaps
in decent working conditions and labor standards. It will focus
on the factors determining women’s migration for better employment
prospects. Human trafficking is a consequence of labor migration
and both pose a threat to women workers in various forms.
Whereas
trafficking in humans is a result of several factors including poverty,
war, socio-economic disparity, etc., the paper will specifically
focus on the employment aspects and interlink it with the trafficking
of women. Pakistan is a country of origin, transit and destination
for women trafficking. India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, along
with the former, form the network from where the supply and demand
of trafficked women originates. This paper will hence supply details
on how the trafficking of women occurs from these countries, the
nature and process of the illegal trade of women. Side-by-side it
will also reflect on the socio-cultural exploitation of women through
this illegal trade.
Trafficking
of women is not a novel practice. This paper will reflect on the
problems arising as a result of trafficking, through case studies.
It will highlight how women are victimized as an aftermath of trafficking.
The objective is to highlight the situation of trafficked women
and those involved in illegal professions. At the end, the paper
will also propose implementation measures for the protection and
rehabilitation of trafficked women and their re-entry into decent
working environment.
Forced Migration and Human Trafficking
Salma
Ali (Bangladesh)
In
today’s modern world of globalization, migration is a common
phenomenon and necessity. Millions of lives are affected by migration,
since 2.5 percent of the world’s population is migrant. Many
factors cause migration, but forced migration is the most unexpected
and least accepted form in society.
Migration
and trafficking are two distinct but inter-related phenomena. Migration
is broad and general, while trafficking is a subset of this broader
concept. In some cases, forced migration should be considered trafficking,
since both occur without the concern for the person trafficked and
migrated forcefully. Although political change, natural calamities,
famine, development programs and opportunities of employment are
the major reasons of migration – they should not take place
if the persons involved are not willing or contemplated.
Women and Children Trafficking: Myths and Realities
Professor
Ishrat Shamim (Bangladesh)
The
defining variable of trafficking in persons is the violation of
the migrant’s human rights. Trafficking affects mainly, but
not exclusively, women and children. They are most frequently trafficked
for sexual abuse or/and labor exploitation, though they sometimes
end up falling into begging, delinquency, adoptions, false marriage
or trade of human organs. Victims of trafficking are exposed to
physical and psychological violence and abuse, denied labor rights,
are illegal before the law and are often found in forced and unwanted
relationships of dependency with their traffickers. Radhika Coomaraswamy
has rightly pointed out, ‘Traffickers fish in the stream of
migration.’ They can easily identify those who are most easily
deceived or coerced.
Many
a times, women voluntarily migrate but end up being trafficked.
Migration with consent does not mean trafficking with consent. Trafficking
with consent is a contradiction in terms, because no one ever consents
to slavery, servitude or forced labor conditions. Recent trends
in globalization have broken down the traditional family structure
for many rural households. Each member of the family has become
‘a separate and independent unit of labor to be plugged into
the modern labor market.’
Among
the South Asian countries, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are the
major countries of origin, while India and Pakistan are countries
of destination or transit to other regions, especially the Middle
East. In the countries of South Asia, traffickers work through several
networks operating from both within the national boundaries as well
as the neighboring countries and beyond. It is reported that young
girls and women are being trafficked across well-beaten paths within
South Asia and further beyond. From just two routes - Nepal to India
and Bangladesh to Pakistan- an estimated 9,000 girls and women are
trafficked annually.
Trafficking
takes place by a variety of means such as promises of jobs or marriages,
and at times, even by physical violence and abduction. Where there
is massive poverty, promises of jobs hold new hopes for better life
for the whole family. But the employment is usually not of the kind
they had anticipated. It is also reported that some of them have
been sold to brokers by their own parents, guardians and husbands
to evade poverty and hunger. They often become unwittingly and unwillingly
victims of sexual exploitation and prostitution.
Although
there are laws prohibiting trafficking in women and children and
harsh penalty in the South Asian countries, figures on prosecution
of traffickers are still low due to corruption among law enforcement
officials, lack of monitoring in the borders and training on trafficking
issues for low-level police officers.
Some
pertinent, interrelated issues need to be considered for effective
future strategies, namely invisibility of the problem of trafficking
in women and children owing to its illegal nature; powerlessness
and vulnerability of the women and child victims, especially due
to their gender and age; use of women and children as economic commodities
to be exchanged or sold by strong trafficking syndicates; lack of
proper and timely prosecution; lack of legislative measures addressing
regional trafficking in women; and societal attitudes condoning
trafficking in women and young girls and hence causing stigmatization.
Trafficking is a national development issue, linked to the regional
development process. As such, strategic interventions should address
research and advocacy, prevention, legal measures and prosecution,
rescue, repatriation and integration.
This
paper explores the points of demarcation and similarity between
forced migration and trafficking, and portrays the scenario of trafficking
in women and children in this region. The socio-economic perspective
of trafficking and forced migration is another focus of the paper,
which ends with some recommendations for combating incidences related
to trafficking and forced migration.
Ir/relevance
of Social Sciences in South Asia
Social
Science Research and Education in Pakistan: Relevant/Irrelevant
Dr.
Faisal Bari (Pakistan)
The
literature on the philosophy of science in general, and the philosophy
of social sciences in particular, has tackled the issue of whether
social sciences qualify for being a science or not in great depth.
The success or failure of the social sciences, therefore, get annexed
to the discussion on whether they qualify for the status of being
a 'science'- a status that has largely been defined with the methods
of the 'pure sciences' in mind. In most cases the model has actually
been physics and pre-Einstein physics at that.
But
this does little justice to the areas of study that we call social
sciences. The above-mentioned issue involves a debate that does
not look at the role that the social sciences can and should play
in a society. Almost all science is contextual: it depends on the
historical circumstances it developed in and the environment. Social
sciences are more contextual than pure science. Though we cannot
create theory in the social sciences that is as context-free as
in the pure sciences, it does not detract from the important role
they can play in understanding our social context, in making sense
of the environment, and in creating both small and large scale inputs
into policies.
The
paper will explore the role that social sciences can play in connecting
us with the priors that come from humanities, and that give us some
of the ultimate ends that root our being and furnish us with a purpose.
Here social sciences can act as a bridge between the world of ends
and the world of means.
The paper will also talk about the state of social sciences in Pakistan
and then see what directions can be moved in to improve the current
situation and connect it with the desirable levels that we would
ultimately want. Most of the examples used will come from economics.
Bridging the Real and Ideal in Social Sciences
Kelly
Teamey (England)
This
paper discusses how social science methods of policy and discourse
analysis can be used to study how that which is idealized in policies
is being translated into what is being practiced in reality. Within
the context of Pakistan, the research focuses on the ways in which
the Millennium Development Goals (specifically those concerning
education and sustainable development) have been translated and
mediated across different development-focused organizations to local
practices. In particular, the ways in which these organizations
(global, national and local) have interpreted policies and conceptualized
education, development, poverty, sustainable development and environment,
are examined.
Social
science research has the power of being both highly relevant and
irrelevant within a given context. The level of relevancy is dependent
upon a variety of factors that relate to how power is circulated
between different individuals, institutions and communities, whose
knowledge is recognized as being legitimate, and the ways in which
power and knowledge have constituted the truth. For instance, through
particular methods, social science research might be able to shed
light on how international development policies are interpreted
into national policies and mediated through different genres by
different development-focused organizations and put into practice.
This research could be directly relevant both to policy makers and
practitioners - to see how opportunities are being realized and
missed. This research could also be indirectly relevant to those
'on the ground' whom these policies are supposed to help, if the
knowledge gained through this type of research is able to change
practices and forms of communication towards being more effective,
socially just and locally applicable. However, on the same note,
this research could be irrelevant to those on the ground if the
knowledge gained is marginalized, particularly if it counters more
dominant notions and understandings of development as stated in
international policies, and is consequently not recognized as legitimate
knowledge.
The
Knowledge Production Function and R & D Spillovers
Dr
Talat Mahmood (Germany)
Innovative
activities are linked to knowledge generating inputs through what
has become known as the Knowledge Production Function. While a long
tradition has been established of estimating the knowledge production
for firms, or even for industries, most studies implicitly assumed
that economic geography played no role. Only recently has a wave
of studies emerged focusing on the extent of knowledge spillovers
within geographically spatial units. This paper will introduce a
spatial model at the level of cities. An innovative activity, measured
as the number of patents issued to firms located within a city,
is linked to the knowledge producing inputs such as the R&D
expenditures by private corporations, as well as research undertaken
at university laboratories at the state level within which the city
is located. In addition, several sources of knowledge specific to
the city, such as the presence of a high degree of human capital
and the number of research centers are linked to the innovative
output of that city.
Research
in Social Sciences: Gender Equity its Impact on Policy Making Bodies
Dr.
Iftikhar. N. Hassan (Pakistan)
The
role of social sciences research has been quite subdued in Pakistan
compared to research in basic sciences and agriculture. Researches
that have been carried out are only marginally related to the issue
of Gender Equity. Due to lack of research funds within the universities,
researchers are forced to look for resources outside their institutions.
Many donor agencies and NGOs do give funds for research, but they
also give directions to the researchers. For instance, most of the
donor funds in the 1980s were for income generating skills, while
in the 1990s the attention was on violence against women. Currently
many studies are sponsored for research on poverty alleviation or
devolution of power. This may or may not be relevant to understanding
the ethos of society that is not willing to give space to women
for development.
The
current study will analyze research studies done with a gender perspective
in the last ten years, and consider their impact on policy formulation
of the government. The study will also look into the dissemination
mechanism of research studies and whether or not the studies actually
reach the end users. The time frame of this analysis is restricted
to social sciences research studies with a gender perspective from
the year 1992 to 2002, and their impact on government policies.
The
second issue relates to the use of research for policy formulation.
Generally, the economic data is collected and utilized by the policy
makers, mostly the bureaucrats but there is no tradition of studying
the impact of these policies on civil society from a public point
of view, much less on women.
Gender
Studies have received much publicity in the media, but most of these
are very limited in scope and are donor directed. There is a need
to carry out basic researches at national level to identify the
factors, which are holding back healthy growth of fifty percent
of our population.
The
paper will look at the university as well as institutional research
efforts in the last ten years to see the trends and how far these
are relevant to policies regarding gender.
Social Sciences and Academe: The Achilles
Heel of Postcolonial Societies?
Shaheen Sardar Ali (UK)
This paper seeks to initiate conversations around
questions of relevance/irrelevance of social sciences in academe
to contemporary issues impacting on socio-legal and political thought
in Pakistan. It is argued that except for economics (development
economics in particular ), which in a mechanistic way has been termed
as ‘directly’ relevant and important in many south countries,
politically-sensitive social science disciplines including law,
politics and sociology, have historically been discouraged and its
efficacy hugely undermined. The fallout of this overt/covert subversion
of conversational spaces in the social sciences both in the academy
and in civil society has been (barring a few ‘oasis’),
an intellectually barren wasteland, devoid of stimulus, innovation
and challenge. Further, that the roots of what appears a contemporary
issue are deep and tenacious striking the very core of our societies’
worldview. The question I would pose here is: Is this absence of
challenge, critical analysis and lacklustre environment of social
sciences an extension of what Ayesha Jalal describes in another
context as “the convenience of subservience”? After
all there is a sense of safety and security in treading on familiar
territory and simply being led (taqlid) rather than choosing the
more strenuous, painful path of challenging the status quo, seeking
new horizons, stretching the boundaries and borders of existing
knowledge (ijtihad). I use terms from Islamic Jurisprudence to pose
the hypothesis that production and reproduction of knowledge, including
research and dissemination has been pervaded by an over-arching
ideological framework of being and living in an ‘Islamic society’.
The now challenged, but largely ascribed to belief of the ‘closure
of the gate of ijtihad’ heralded the demise of independent
logical reasoning and application of thought and mind, reinstating
taqlid as the only acceptable alternative for Muslim communities
since the end of the 12th century AD. I argue that this mindset
brought to the fore as the only avenue open to Muslim scholars and
thinkers coincided with the decline of Muslim political power. Henceforth,
it was deemed strategically appropriate to legitimate ‘the
duty to follow’ (taqlid) rather than ‘lead’ by
innovative thinking and discourse that might ‘rock’
unstable political dispensations! Colonial rule further precipitated
this decline and permeated all spheres of life, particularly the
academe. Postcolonial societies therefore inherited a stunted, stagnated
pool of knowledge and knowledge beliefs; the colonial period ‘blotting’
the collective memory of any critical engagement with local thoughts
on social science questions, debates and theorising.
Related to the above, and of concern in a postcolonial
environment, is to find points of reference for social science conversations
emanating predominantly from erstwhile colonial bases. From curriculum
development to research questions and agendas for engagement in
the social sciences as well as the wider development portfolio,
most of the inspiration, legitimacy and formulation is derived or
sought from ‘western’ discourse. The huge potential
of generating a rich, contextual south-south engagement is virtually
absent when formulating questions/debate/narrative/conversations
in the social sciences, a need only recently articulated and expressed
in some south countries.
This paper will explore the above thematics
through examples in social science, policy-related developments
in Pakistan.
Globalization
and WTO: Post Ministerial Debriefing Session
The
Precautionary Principle and the Risk Assessment of New Technologies
Prabir
Purkayastha (India)
Introduction
of new technologies- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) earlier
and nano technology now - involve risks. There is a degree of ignorance
of their full impact and the difficulty of confining them to a simple
laboratory scale. The paper will discuss the existing ecological
balance and the nature of technologies today, particularly with
respect to the use of finite resources and accumulation of wastes.
It will argue that freezing all science and technology to current
levels to avoid such dangers is not a viable option.
The
paper will discuss the Precautionary Principle, in the context of
addressing such dangers. It now underpins much of the debate on
the introduction of new technologies, as well as a number of international
protocols and treaties. The proponents of new technologies have
quite often argued that the Precautionary Principle is too ambiguous
for actual use. Instead, they would like to argue using two other
principles: a) the principle of substantial equivalence, and b)
the sound science. In this paper, we will examine rigorously the
three above principles and show that they differ not on how they
treat lack of knowledge, but the stand they have towards such ignorance.
Some
have argued that we should use conventional risk assessment techniques
for determining the safety or otherwise of new technologies. The
paper will analyze different aspects of risk and show that conventional
risk analysis cannot be used for evaluating new technologies. The
paper will try and develop some elements of what a new framework
of risk analysis can be for evaluating such technologies. The paper
will also examine the implications of privatisation of science with
respect to the institutional framework of risk assessment. The paper
will end with addressing some of the North- South issues regarding
evaluation and introduction of new technologies.
Panel:
State, Violence and Migration
Doing Peace: Women resist daily Battle in South Asia
Ritu
Menon (India)
This
paper discusses the impact of protracted conflict- a distinct feature
of South Asia-on women, as well as on their changing roles as victims
and agents in this scenario. It then looks at their attempts to
wage peace in the region, and at the difficulties of sustaining
such efforts in an overall context of exacerbated violence.
Refugee
Issues
Comparing
Afghan refugees and local population: What is to be done?
Saba Gul Khattak (Pakistan)
This paper addresses the issue of vulnerability among both Afghan
and Pakistani populations with special attention to women and children.
Overall, we find that 72 percent Afghans are in the most vulnerable
category compared to 39 percent Pakistanis. While it is difficult
to assess the exact effect/correlation between the refugee presence
and the hosting population, the paper examines the negative and
positive social and economic impacts of the Afghan refugee population
upon the NWFP and Balochistan, and in turn how they have been affected
by the changes themselves. Specifically, we look at the impact upon
the local labor market, food security and access to social services
such as water, sanitation, health, education, and utilities such
as electricity and gas. In addition, it attempts to investigate
the role of local government institutions (both elected and government
functionaries) as well as local administrative structures.
State
and Statelessness in South Asia: A contribution to the critique
of state and nationality
Imtiaz Ahmed (Bangladesh)
There has been little or no focus on the
organization of the state (that is, the way the state is being reproduced)
in the understanding of statelessness, and this is somewhat of an
irony given the intrinsic relationship between the state and statelessness.
Interestingly, the latter stands not for the absence of the state
but rather for the over-presence of the state, with the objective
of ensuring the absence of certain people and things. In fact, two
areas of the state remain critical in creating and reproducing statelessness
- one is the mode of governance, while the other is the mode of
development. Although these are methodological distinctions and
their separate existence are not found in reality, the modes of
governance and development combine to constitute the nature of the
state, with statelessness intrinsically related to the organization
and reproduction of the latter. This will be examined in detail
in the paper.
Farmers
Rights Program: Impact of Globalization on the Lives and Livelihood
of the HKH Communities
The
Impact of the High Yielding Paddy Varieties on the Traditional Paddy
Varieties in the context of Draft Plant Breeders Rights Legislation:
A case study of Sri Lanka
Avanthi Weerasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Paddy is a crop that is of immense importance
to Sri Lanka as it is the staple article of food in the diet of
Sri Lankans. It is an indigenous crop that had been improved in
to a large number of varieties by the Sri Lankan farmers over centuries
and has been adapted to the local climate conditions. It is stated
that Sri Lanka had been the original home of over 3000 traditional
varieties. Before the colonial domination and the green revolution
Sri Lankan paddy production solely relied upon traditional varieties.
However, with the colonial domination and the green revolution the
farming community started abandoning indigenous crop varieties in
favour of plantation crops and improved varieties bred by the rice
research institutes of the department of agriculture that gave a
high yield. As a result at present Sri Lanka has faced a threat
of its gene pool and genetic diversity getting deteriorated.
The threat posed by the extinction of indigenous
varieties is further aggravated by the draft legislation on the
Protection of New Plant Varieties 2001 which has been drafted by
Sri Lanka which is based on the UPOV model in order to fulfil its
obligations under Article 27(3) b of the TRIPS agreement. The draft
does not have any provision to protect the rights to crop wild relatives,
traditional crop varieties, or newly developed crop varieties already
in the public domain. There are no provisions to get just compensation
in cases where one or more of these are used to make a variety by
a private breeder which would be covered by breeders rights. Furthermore,
the draft has not provided any rights to the farmers who are the
custodians of the traditional varieties who are being relegated
to the role of an ‘optional exception.’ Further the
provision on ‘essentially derived varieties’ is capable
of preventing both the local farmers and public breeders, namely
the department of Agriculture from using patented varieties for
breeding purposes which could adversely affect the food security
of the country in the context of the over dependence of the farmers
on the varieties improved by the department of agriculture. Hence,
one can see two main threats posed by the said law to the agriculture
and the food security of the country. Firstly, non-recognition of
traditional knowledge and rights of farmers will lead to indigenous
varieties being pirated by private breeders. Secondly, the restrictions
placed on public breeding activities by private monopolistic rights
given to private breeders would halt the breeding activities conducted
by the department of Agriculture that is the main source from which
farmers obtain seeds. The second year research of the Law and Society
Trust under the Farmers Rights Project was aimed at addressing the
above issues. The site selected was Mathugama in the district of
Kaluthara that is rich in biodiversity. While highlighting the lacunas
in the draft Sri Lankan legislation on Plant Variety Protection,
the paper contains the following recommendations to overcome the
threats posed by the said law on the rights of farmers and breeding
done by public breeders in the interest of the public:
- The protection given to genetic material of
Sri Lanka including wild rice species and traditional paddy varieties
through the legal regime should be two fold namely:
(i) Domestic Protection should be given to traditional and public
varieties and wild varieties.
(ii) A new law has to be enacted to prohibit exportation of rice
genetic material that is lacking at the moment.
- Policies to conserve traditional rice
varieties by:
(i) Existing situ conservation
(ii) In situation conservation by creating a niche market for
traditional varieties.
Panel:
Population, Environment and Development
Poverty-Environment
Nexus in the Context of Institutional Framework in Pakistan
Abdul Qadir Rafiq (Pakistan)
The institutional development in Pakistan has
remained a challenge. Established institutions use centralized authority
and very few efforts have been made for a decentralized decision
making process and to empower the people to control the resources
and take decisions in their interest. This has created strong dependence
on the public sector institutions for service delivery and development.
The public sector, however, with gradual growth in size, but having
meager resources could not keep at pace with the needs of the growing
population. The public sector development plans never met the targets
except during the 1960s, when heavy infra-structural development
activities were undertaken mainly to enhance the agricultural activity.
Therefore, with continued gap between the actual and planned targets
in the developing plans and lack of opportunities for people there
has been an upward trend of increase in poverty. Currently over
one third of population is living below the poverty line.
The high incidence of poverty is a consequence of - as well as has
a direct impact on - the environmental degradation in the country.
The public sector institutions have limited capacities to ensure
that the natural resources are used judiciously. The poor with meagre
access resources as the means for survival are pushed to adopt unsustainable
user practices. Another factor that influences the degradation of
the environment is the weak enforcement and regulation, and the
huge imbalance in terms of demand from the better-offs and the capacity
to keep resource utilisation within the sustainable growth limits.
This paper presents the role of various public sector institutions
and the difference these institutions can play for better environmental
management. The reasons for lack of participation from the civil
society organizations and local governments are highlighted. This
is a gap analysis that would lead towards understanding the poverty-environment
linkages in the context of institutional development in Pakistan.
As such, the paper complements UNDP-Pakistan’s work with the
national partners at the policy level for integrating environment
into the institutional framework. The paper highlights the need
for enabling an environment that can promote progress for meeting
the targets under MDGs 1 and 7.
Factors associated with increased suicides
among Pakistani youth: a case study of 366 attempted suicides in
Sindh
Mohsin Babbar & Ali Abbas
Qazilbash (Pakistan)
In Pakistan, suicide rates have alarmingly increased
over the past three years, and a great majority of them are among
the youth of this nation. In 1999, more than 332 suicide cases were
reported; rising to 550 in the year 2000. This figure jumped four-fold
in 2001, when 2,386 suicidal cases were reported, suggesting that
approximately 6-7 suicides occur everyday in Pakistan. These figures
are the recognized reports from different sources, yet the number
of unreported suicides is an unknown factor. Hence, the actual figures
may be as high as high as 10 suicides per day, which would translate
to over 3,500 suicides this year!
An analysis of the 366 reported attempted suicides
in the province of Sindh, over a period of four-months (September
– December, 2002), 38 per cent survived, while the rest perished.
Considering the predominating cause of such a high suicide rate,
this study revealed that economic and social problems accounted
for 52 per cent and 32 per cent of the total suicides, respectively.
Other reasons are attributed to failures and decline in self-belief,
mental disorders and torture.
Of the 366 suicides committed, over a period of
four months, the youth accounted for more than 63 per cent of the
total. Of these 229 cases (63 per cent) comprised youth within the
age bracket of 15-24 years and 15 cases (4 per cent) constituted
the very young – 14 years or less. The sex-wise distribution
pattern showed that, of these attempted suicides cases, 70 per cent
were males and 30 per cent females, indicating an overwhelming male
tilt. The study also revealed that of the reported attempted suicides,
13 per cent were among the Hindus and 87 per cent among the Muslims.
A vast majority of the suicide was committed in the rural communities
of Sindh (83 per cent). Of the total 366 cases of attempted suicides,
51 per cent were unmarried youth, while 47 percent were married
and 2 per cent were either divorced or widowed.
The principal mode of choice among those who attempted
suicide was household poison (40 per cent), pesticides (27 per cent),
followed by hanging (12 per cent), shooting (11 per cent), cutting,
burning and drowning oneself (2 per cent each). The remaining modes
used were electrocution, hit by train, car etc., which accounted
for 14 per cent of attempted suicides.
Despite the fact that Sindh contributes 65 per
cent to the national exchequer, it receives less than 23 per cent
per of the annual budgetary allocation. Rural Sindh has the lowest
ranking for human development nationwide. Such is the deplorable
state of social economy in rural Sindh. Who is to blame for such
a debacle? Is it the government policies, grossly mismanaged projects
and programs for poverty alleviation, lack of proper and fair representation
in the local, provincial and national governments? Is it the pure
greed of vested interest groups, in the government, who exploit
a given situation and abuse the rights of the poor, uneducated,
unaware people of the land? Or is it the people, who seem to have
accepted their fate and are more willing to fight amongst themselves,
than to unite and advocate for the common cause of sustained development
and livelihoods, plus the overall uplifting of the infrastructure.
The answer is as complex as the problem itself, with the youth bearing
the brunt of ineptness to address these issues. As a result the
young population of Sindh, seeing no light at the end of the tunnel,
find themselves immersed deep in the morass of hopelessness and
despair. Unable to cope with the unbearable burdens of a normal,
fulfilling life, the youth, who choose not to continue with their
struggle, cut short their journey through to life by callously attempting
and often committing suicide.
The findings of this study highlight the urgency
of the need for an effective youth policy, which enables a strong
partnership between the public and private sectors to ensure implementation
of an affective sustainable livelihood, program as the first step
in addressing the socio-economic problems of Pakistan, thereby curbing
the suicide rate.
Role of the Media in Advocating Population related Issues
Structural-Functional Role Taxonomy of Media and Sustainable Development
Campaigns
Asmat Ullah
Media use behavior of audience is
contingent upon the synthesis of structural-functional models. The
structuralists’ center of attention circumambulate around
demographic or social characteristics of audience while the functionalists’
reserve their attention to the area like uses and gratification
which stand the audience as active recipient who array media contents
to satisfy the predetermined set of requirements under media-related
needs.
The blend of structural-functional approaches, in fact, broaden
the scope of media role in formulating considerably effective media
campaigns to keep sustainable development process in tact.
This paper encompasses the role of media in the process of sustainable
development with special focus on structural functional paradigms
to examine the extent of media effects accumulating into consideration
the manifest and latent functions and dysfunctions that help clarifying
and anticipating the courses of media effects. The paper also includes
the dissection of major organisms in an effort to unfold the roles
of sequential elements in the process of communicative act. This
insight will help identifying chasms among research and policy dichotomy
at national level in Pakistan.
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