NESDA-AFRICAN ENVIRONMENTAL NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 30-31 - JUNE-JULY'96

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This newsletter is a publication of the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA). Contributions, suggestions, comments and articles should be addressed to Abou Bamba, Editor, NESDA, BP 95, Guichet Annexe BAD, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, tel: 225. 20 52 23, fax: 225. 20 59 22, email: bambaa@nesda.org

Subjects of special interest to our readers, information on ongoing and upcoming events, conferences on ESD in SSA, letters to the editor or any other type of contributions are welcomed.

Material contained in this newsletter may be freely reproduced provided that acknowledgment of the source is made. NESDA would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source.

This newsletter is also available in French.

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In this issue:

1. PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL AS AN APPLIED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICAN RURAL AREAS.

2. WORLD BANK WORKSHOP ON ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN WEST CENTRAL AFRICA.

3. REGIONAL TRAINING AND SENSITIZATION WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE SITES IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA.

4. UNEP INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY CENTRE (IETC) PROVIDES TRAINING ON ASSESSING AND APPLYING NEW TECHNOLOGIES.

5. TERI HOSTS THE 20TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IAEE.

6. OZONACTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE DISKETTE VERSION (OAIC-DV 4.0) AVAILABLE.

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@HEADLINE = PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL AS AN APPLIED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICAN RURAL AREAS

Top-down rural development strategies in Africa have generally not succeeded in raising living standards among the rural poor. It is argued that inappropriate development strategies have stemmed from methodologies which fail to appreciate the whole picture in rural communities and, in particular, ignore local people's perceptions, needs and understanding. In the past, many approaches assumed that all development activities implicitly embodied objectives of poverty-reduction and that positive progress would be achieved through the process of `trickle down'. To date there has been a `distinct failure' of these processes as a means of reaching the poor. In South Africa, after decades of imposed state control and marginalisation, new development strategies and research methodologies are required to assess and cater for the needs of the rural populace.

A positive trend globally and in South Africa, in recent years, has been a notable shift in the focus of rural development strategies, from dictatorial `top-down' approaches to locally based and more democratic `bottom-up' strategies.

One of the key reasons for this paradigmatic swing is undoubtedly due to the development of new, more enlightened and sensitive rural research methodologies, most notably an array of methods known collectively as `Participatory Rural Appraisal' (PRA). At one level PRA can be seen as a reaction to previous econometric and quantitative approaches, which frequently ignored `people' and preferred to concentrate on issues of `production' rather than on 'the producers', and the critical role played by indigeneous people and coping systems. The emergence of PRA han led to a reappraisal of research methods, which has in turn led to a reformulation of rural development strategies.

A key feature of PRA is its holistic outlook, in which the interaction between different elements in people-environment relationships are considered. This article describes PRA in the specific context vitally needed rural development in postapartheid South Africa, where past strategies either ignored rural people or subjected them to harsh forms of control. PRA has not yet been fully recognised and accepted by planners and policy makers as a research methodology in South Africa.

New times and new policies clearly require new technics to help solve rural development challenges and to better understand the dynamics of rural communities and their needs. There is an urgent need to implement policies in South Africa which leads to empowerment of people, promote rural development and lay the basis for a sustainable utilization of available resources. This would represent a major departure from previous approaches, and would hopefully encourage the ideals of democracy and transparency which are gradually developing in the new South Africa. To assist with the process of change and to involve people in the development process, it is suggested that PRA provides a vital mechanism to incoporate the views and skills of rural people in formulating locally appropriate development strategies.

PRA, unlike earlier methodologies, recongnises that indigeneous pepople are capable of identifying and expressing their needs and aspirations themselves and in their on way, such that the role of the researcher is reduced to that of a listener, learner, catalyst and facilitator.

Some of the key PRA techniques included:

- direct observation, and 'do it yourself',
- discussion with key informants,
- case-studies and stories,
- group discussions,
- participatory mapping and modelling,
- transect walks,
- time-lines and trend and change analysis,
- seasonal analysis,
- daily time use analysis,
- wealth ranking, and
- matrix scoring and ranking.

PRA is still in its infancy in South Africa, but where it has been attempted the results are positive and constructive in nature. The authors have undertaken an exploratory PRA exercise in various rural, community initiated development schemes in order to determine community dynamics, aspirations, needs and the potential to help empower communities to recognize and articulate their development needs and to help to attain them.

T. Hill and E. Nel
Rhodes University
Grahamstown, 6140.
Department of Geography
South Africa

Tel: (0461) 318324
e-mail: iwth@giraffe.ru.ac.za

Check out the new South African Environment Homepage at
http://www.ru.ac.za/departments/law/SAenviro/saep.html

@HEADLINE = TATA ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (TERI) IS HOSTING THE 20TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS (IAEE) WITH THE THEME "ENERGY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH-IS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH POSSIBLE?"

TERI, jointly with the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) is hosting the 20th Annual International Conference of the IAEE on the theme "Energy and Economic Growth-Is Sustainable Growth Possible?" between January 22 24, 1997 in New Delhi, India. Invitations has been sent out for (i) submission of abstracts of 300-500 words and ii) expressions of interest in organising a session with proposed topics, objectives and possible speakers.

The Plenary sessions of the conference are:

Globalization: challenges and opportunities in shaping a common future Emerging development paradigms and rural energy needs

International environmental problems and coping strategies

Technology transfer and national capacity enhancement

Financing sustainable energy development

Emerging markets and environment friendly development

India: energy markets and policy framework

Concurrent Sessions are proposed around the following:

1. Energy Alternatives and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
2. Globalisation of the Energy Industry and Regional Growth
3. Energy Supply-Demand Projections: How Big is the Gap?
4. Experiences and Lessons From the Pilot Joint Implementation Phase
5. Implications of Energy Taxes and Subsidies for Sustainable Energy Growth
6. Lifestyles, Technology Changes, and Energy in the 21st Century
7. The Energy Cycle, Resource Degradation, and Human Health
8. Energy Efficiency and the Role of Informal Markets
9. Promoting Renewable Energy Projects
10. Valuing Environmental Costs of the Energy Cycle
11. Financing Sustainable Energy Development: Options and Sources
12. Managing Urban Transport Growth
13. Energy Security and Environment Security: What determines? 14. Recent Developments in the Hydrocarbon Sector
15. Promoting Clean Energy Technologies
16. Biomass: An Environment Friendly Energy Alternative?
17. Bridging the Energy Gap: Private Participation, Reforms, and Regulatory Structuring

TERI would be grateful if you could pass the word around and give it some serious thought yourself. Any suggestions on Plenary speakers, keynote speakers?

For more information, please contact: Ms Leena Srivastava
Dean Policy Analysis
TERI
Darhari Seth Block
India Habitat Centre
Lodi Road
New Delhi 110003
Email:leena@teri.ernet.in

@HEADLINE = THE WORLD BANK ORGANIZED A WORKSHOP ON ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN WEST- CENTRAL AFRICA.

The World Bank organized a workshop on "Environmentally Sustainable Development in West Central Africa", in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire, from 1-5 July 1996.

The initial objectives of the workshop as defined by the organizers were:

- to clearly define the environmental priorities in each participating country;

- to encourage and facilitate a dialogue between the stakeholder countries on their main environmental problems; - to explain the World Bank's assistance strategies;

- to discuss the opportunities for better analysies of the transboundary problems and to share succes stories and lessons learned.

However, the planning meeting which brought together all participating countries representatives set the two major objectives as follows:

- reach a clear agreement on the fundamental and priority problems which the West-Central African countries are currently facing with emphasis on sub-regional cooperation;

- to identify the type of assistance needed to efficiently address the priority problems identified with emphaisis on the resources of the concerned countries.

The keynote speech was delivered by the Minister of Environment of Cote d'Ivoire, and was followed by different plenary sessions were organized on the following themes:

- Sustainable Development Strategy in West Central Africa; -Integration of Environment in National Planing and Budget Processes;

- Participation of Stakholders in the Development and Implementation of Environmental Projects and Programmes;

- Training, Awareness and Education;

- Sub-regional Collaboration: Session 1: Data management and Exchange of Information;

- Sub-regional Collaboration: Session 2: Management of Coastal Zones;

- Sub-regional Collaboration: Session 3: Management of Transboundary Parks, Rangelands, Forest and Biodiversity Conservation.

The workshop also included working group sessions on the themes discussed during the plenary session. A presentation was made on NESDA's objectives, goals, strategies, etc... A meeting was then organized with environmental NGOs which have requested membership with NESDA. The last day of the workshop was devoted to a detailed presentation on the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The participants adopted the "Declaration of Yamoussoukro", constituting the core of what the 7 country representatives expected from the international donor community in terms of collaboration.

A common statement of international partners and agencies including NESDA was also delivered.

Plenary session documents, working group reports, the common statement of international partner agencies and the "Declaration of Yamoussoukro" are available at NESDA's Secretariat for consultation.

@ HEADLINE = THE UNEP INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY CENTRE (IETC) PROVIDES TRAINING ON ASSESSING AND APPLYING NEW TECHNOLOGIES

UNEP Information Note.

For use as information. Not an official record.

Workshop on Environmental Technology Assessment in Sub- Saharan Africa: A UNEP EnTA Leadership Programme Organized in Cooperation with the Centre for Regional Development of Potchefstroom University for CHE, South Africa, 25-28 November 1996

The UNEP IE/IETC Environmental Technology Assessment Programme (EnTA), in collaboration with the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, is organizing a leadership training programme for Sub-Saharan Africa on the utilization of Environmental Technology Assessment (EnTA) for decision-making in the management of Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs). The training for 20 participants is scheduled for 25-28 November 1996 at Potchefstroom University for CHE, South Africa. The workshop will be based on a pilot programme field-tested in November 1995 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Environmental technology assessment is an analytical tool used to help understand the likely environmental impacts of a new technology being used by an industry, municipality, country or society. As such, EnTA can be utilized to strengthen EST decision-making capabilities. The planned training will be structured around case studies from either the city hosting the seminar or from the countries of the participants and will emphasize the exchange of experiences among trainees. In addition, each trainee will generate a personal action plan aimed at implementing local EnTA training activities of their own that will be directed toward building/strengthening decision-making capabilities in their respective country.

Training Content:

The training programme has been designed and formatted as a series of proactive workshops, including on-site visits, that address the following key topics:

    EnTA and development issues
    Institutional aspects of technology assessment
    EnTA as a communication process
    Identifying environmental impacts of technologies on
    large cities and
    lake/reservoir basins
Target Audience:

The training will be targeted at the needs of Sub-Saharan African government, civil-society and industrial decision- makers in the area of technology implementation/regulation, as well as at those with responsibilities involving environmental issues. A limited number of senior to mid- level managers of (environmental) training centres will also be targeted in order that they may facilitate the implementation of future national EnTA training events.

In addition to these two training activities, IETC has developed a pilot training programme on Environmental Risk Assessment (EnRA) for sustainable cities which was successfully field-tested in a regional workshop for Eastern and Central European countries, held in Katowice, Poland, in April 1996. Another training programme is under preparation based on IETC's International Source Book on Environmentally Sound Technologies for Municipal Solid Waste Management.

For more information:

Dr. Richard A. Meganck
Director, UNEP IETC
2-110 Ryokuchi-Koen, Tsurumi-ku, Osaka 538 Japan
Tel: +81-6-915-4580, Fax: +81-6-915-0304
or Mr. Christina Strohmann, IETC Information Officer (Email: cstrohma@unep.or.jp)

UNEP Information Note 1996/17

@HEADLINE = REGIONAL TRAINING AND SENSITIZATION WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE SITES IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA.

The University of Abobo-Adjame of Cote d'Ivoire, in collaboration with UNESCO, the Ivorian Ministry of Environment and World Wildlife Fund International, organized a regional workshop on the theme mentioned below, from 10-13 June, 1996, .

The objective of the workshop was to give the opportunity to African professionals to share experience in biodiversity conservation.

Participants came from Cameroon, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, CAR, Senegal and Zaire. They delivered papers on case- studies related to the workshop theme with regard to the situation they are facing in their countries. Among others, the following case-studies were debated:

- "Biodiversity Conservation in Cameroon, The Biosphere Reserve of the Dja Forest."
- "Natural Heritage Sites of Mount Nimba - Guinea"
- "Problematic and Strategies for Conservation of World Natural Heritage Sites in Senegal"
- "How WWW International Can Contribute to the Implementation of the Biodiversity Convention in African Francophone Countries"
- "World Natural Heritage Sites Problematic and Their Roles in the Biodiversity Conservation in Cote d'Ivoire"

Information on the workshop can be obtained from:

Pr. Houenou Pascal
Vice-Recteur
Centre Universitaire d'Abobo-Adjame
02 BP 801 Abidjan
Cote d'Ivoire
T. +225. 37 81 16
F. +225. 37 21 18

@HEADLINE = OZONACTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE DISKETTE VERSION (OAIC-DV 4.0)

UNEP Information Note

For use as information. Not an offical record.

UNEP's OzonAction Programme released the fourth version of the database OzonAction Information Clearinghouse diskette version (OAIC-DV 4.0) to coincide with World Environment Day, 6 June 1996.

This information exchange service is specifically designed to assist National Ozone Units (NOUs) and industry associations in developing countries with their programmes to phase out ozone depleting substances (ODS).

It is intended to assist in the transfer of environmentally- sound "ozone-friendly" technologies and "know how" from companies, organizations and individuals that have experience with successfully phasing out ODS, to their counterparts in developing countries who seek the technology and expertise required for their transition to non-ODS alternatives.

OAIC-DV is updated twice a year and developed as part of UNEP Industry and Environment Office as an Implementing Agency under the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol.

The OAIC-DV is a collection of data bases that contains the information equivalent of approximately 1000 pages of written text. It is a handy electronic reference tool that is easily searchable by specific keywords or any word(s) one specifies, and the results can be quickly printed out using your word processor.

A copy of the OAIC-DV 4.0 can be obtained from the OzonAction Programme of UNEP IE in Paris.

Please contact:

Mr. Rajendra Shende, Coordinator
UNEP IE OzonAction Programme
Tour Mirabeau, 39-43 Quai Andre Citroen, 75739
Paris, CEDEX 15, France.
Tel: (33 1) 44 37 1450, Fax: (33 1) 44 37 14
74, E-mail: ozonaction@unep.fr

UNEP Information Note 1996/12

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