Planning standards in developing countries

This paper examines the reasons behind the transference of planning standards from the developed western world to the less developed countries which has been widespread in the period 1950–1970. The consequences of this are noted together with recent attempts to build a methodology to establish indigenous standards in south Asia and the Middle East.     

Assessing disaster needs in megacities: Perspectives from developing countries

Megacities are extreme manifestations of urban complexity that present aid agencies with major disaster assessment challenges. Geographers can contribute to improving megacity disaster assessments by: 1) defining megacity disasters; 2) improving socioeconomic measures of disaster to allow for clearer differentiation of effects among different population sub-groups; 3) specifying criteria for identifying thresholds of disaster and trends in the status of disaster-affected populations; and 4) developing credible data collection and analysis methods appropriate for complex urban environments. In addition, long term research is needed to encourage the formulation of models of megacity life that provide better understanding of human survival under normal conditions of severe adversity.The views expressed herein are entirely those of the author and are not attributable to organizations which have sponsored the author's research.     

Biomass for energy in developing countries

Biomass, like fossil fuels, can provide cooking and heating energy, electricity, chemicals and liquid fuels. Today about 14% of the worldwide primary energy supply is provided by biomass resources — equivalent to 1000 million tons oil each year. Most of this biomass use occurs in rural areas of developing countries where half the world's population lives. For example Kenya derives about 75%, India 50%, China 33% and Brazil 25% of their total energy from biomass, A number of industrialized countries also derive a considerable amount of energy from biomass, such as Finland 18%, Ireland 16%, Sweden 9% and USA 3%. World ependiture on biomass programmes exceeds S 2 bn/yr; several natioal biomass energy programmes are discussed. Biomass resources and conversion technologies are described, as are the factors necessary for successful regional implementation of biomass energy schemes.     

Food security and environmental degradation: evidence from developing countries

GeoJournal - In recent times, food security has received growing attention as a means to alleviate hunger, and to ensure sustainable supply of nutritious, secure and accessible food to the...     

Multi-hazard model for developing countries

Disaster risk assessment related to natural events has generally been carried out separately by specialists in each area of earth sciences, which has two negative consequences: Firstly, results of investigations are presented in different formats, mainly maps, which differ significantly from each other in aspects such as scale, symbols and units; secondly, it is common for an area or territory to contain several hazards that can potentially interact with each other, generating cascade effects or synergies. While some authors have proposed a multi-hazard analysis framework based on the use of probabilities, the quality and quantity of data required for this approach are rarely available in developing countries. Qualitative methods, on the other hand, have traditionally been limited to overlapping maps, without considering possible spatial interactions. Given the importance of integrated assessment of natural hazards for land use planning and risk management, this article proposes a heuristic multi-hazard model appropriate for developing countries, based on a standardization of classifications and a spatial interaction matrix between hazards. The model can be adjusted to be applied at different scales and in different territories; to demonstrate its versatility, it is applied to the municipality of Poás, Costa Rica, a territory with multiple natural hazards.

     

Mobile phones and safety in developing countries: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper is concerned with the relationship between safety and mobile phones with particular reference to Sub-Saharan Africa; and looks at a range of geographical contexts: non-violent, conflict and post-conflict situations. The main part of the paper reports on recent findings of extensive field-work into the use of mobile phones in 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings are important partly because from a welfare view, it is use rather than mere adoption that generates actual benefits to consumers. What the survey finds is that use of the mobile phone is mainly for safety-related purposes and that the countries that fare highest in terms of usage are drawn from the richest and poorest members of the sample. In explaining these results I draw heavily on the relationships and interactions between poverty, inequality and crime. For example, the dominance of Southern African countries is ascribed to their exceptionally high levels of inequality, which, in turn, are due partly to the unequal effects of resource abundance.     

Mapping of hazard from rainfall-triggered landslides in developing countries: Examples from Honduras and Micronesia

Loss of life and property caused by landslides triggered by extreme rainfall events demonstrates the need for landslide-hazard assessment in developing countries where recovery from such events often exceeds the country's resources. Mapping landslide hazards in developing countries where the need for landslide-hazard mitigation is great but the resources are few is a challenging, but not intractable problem. The minimum requirements for constructing a physically based landslide-hazard map from a landslide-triggering storm, using the simple methods we discuss, are: (1) an accurate mapped landslide inventory, (2) a slope map derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) or topographic map, and (3) material strength properties of the slopes involved. Provided that the landslide distribution from a triggering event can be documented and mapped, it is often possible to glean enough topographic and geologic information from existing databases to produce a reliable map that depicts landslide hazards from an extreme event. Most areas of the world have enough topographic information to provide digital elevation models from which to construct slope maps. In the likely event that engineering properties of slope materials are not available, reasonable estimates can be made with detailed field examination by engineering geologists or geotechnical engineers. Resulting landslide hazard maps can be used as tools to guide relocation and redevelopment, or, more likely, temporary relocation efforts during severe storm events such as hurricanes/typhoons to minimize loss of life and property. We illustrate these methods in two case studies of lethal landslides in developing countries: Tegucigalpa, Honduras (during Hurricane Mitch in 1998) and the Chuuk Islands, Micronesia (during Typhoon Chata'an in 2002).     

Ships,ports and developing countries

From being largely uniform in character 20 yr ago, cargo handling technology has become varied with specialised, often larger vessels in many trades. Maritime transport through its impact on the port can have a profound influence on the spatial aspects of development. Investment costs for the new technology are high and successive improvements result in more rigorous location selection processes and increasing concentration of activity. Choice of technology becomes a critical issue and should be influenced by considerations of timing, spatial impact, appropriateness and overall development benefits. Greater dispersion may be achieved by the development of inland terminals or the adoption of more flexible technologies such as that offered by the barge carrying ship.     

New perspectives on natural resource development in developing countries

The link between natural resources and economic development is more and more regarded as a fact today even though the whole process of development is only partially understood. The awareness has now spread to the developing countries of the world where resources have yet to be developed to bring about an improvement in standards of living especially for rural populations, as well as a general improvement in the quality of life for the people. Unfortunately many of the resources of these countries are still to be surveyed and development planning is often based on flimsy, inadequate or even unreliable natural resource data. The improvement of data base for resource planning would go a long way to ensure more knowledge about natural resources in developing countries and better use and management of the available resources. There are economic, technological and environmental difficulties to be overcome before more efficient natural resource utilization in these countries could be achieved. The role of population growth in resource realization is still clouded with an inconclusive debate. But even more important is the need for technological assistance and the application of modern technology to food and agriculture and to other resources to ensure a better life for the populations of developing countries. Developments in agriculture will need the greatest attention since it is a primary resource which provides employment for large proportions of the population, food for the rural and urban populations and exportable surpluses required for the purchase of industrial goods for use in the other sectors of the economy. The activities of transnational corporations distort developments in agriculture and mining in many developing countries and many of these countries are today making greater moves to realize full sovereignty over their natural resources as a first step towards more efficient and meaningful planning for economic growth and development. Energy resources, and in particular the development of new and renewable sources of energy, present one of the greatest challenges to developing countries. Examples of the development of rural energy systems in China and India are promising to open the way to alternative forms of energy for the rural masses of other similarly placed developing countries. Finally, new developments in the natural resources debate concerned with the sharing of the resources of the oceans as seen in the Law of the Sea Conference are a pointer to a more equitable approach to the use of global resources for the continued development of the developed as well as the developing countries of the world.The view expressed in this paper are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations University.     

Water development in developing countries: Problems and prospects

Important as water is to man's manifold activities, a significant percentage of mankind still do not have access to clean water for drinking and personal hygiene. According to a WHO survey of facilities available in developing countries to the end of 1975, 75 % of urban population and 20 % of rural population have access to potable water. Studies carried out by the UN system estimate that investment necessary to provide clean water and sanitation by 1990 to both rural and urban areas is on the order of $ 132,940 million in constant 1977 dollors. Furthermore, provision of clean water alone is unlikely to eliminate all water-borne diseases, since it is only one of several complex factors affecting human health.The situation in developing countries on water requirements for agriculture, industry and generation of hydroelectric power also requires attention because of large amounts of water involved. Effectiveness and efficiency of the supply and distribution systems must be given top priority. There is a considerable potential for improving the efficiency of water use in virtually every developing country and in every sector.     

Let us create flood hazard maps for developing countries

The recent flood disaster in Pakistan with the ensuing coordination chaos and lack of information has highlighted the urgent need for flood maps in developing countries. Nationwide inundation maps of extreme flood events can help with infrastructure and mitigation planning, as well as provide essential insight for aid delivery during the crisis itself. The NATO C3 Agency (NC3A) and the National University of Singapore have successfully developed a simple method to create accurate flood maps for developing countries.     

Absenteeism; crop cultivation and standard of living in developing countries

There is a complex relationship between absenteeism on the one hand and crop cultivation and standard of living on the other. This article investigates how the absence of able-bodied men from rural areas influences the pattern of subsistence crop cultivation. It shows that lack of male manpower might have effects on production of crops for households in two villages in Botswana. Further, this in most households has effects on the standard of living.However, the exact effect of absence of male manpower differs from region to region and from household to household. This article shows that factors such as population pressure, physical conditions for crop cultivation, the organization of work, characteristics of the absent worker system and the absent worker household must be taken into consideration when determining whether the absent worker system has consequences on crop cultivation and standard of living.     

Spatial inequality in municipal solid waste disposal across regions in developing countries

The regional inequalities in socio-economical characteristics such as income, population density, age composition, unemployment rate and the education level may bring about variation in waste generation, recycling and collection. Using environmental Kuznets curve, the factors affecting municipal solid waste disposal are examined. The results demonstrate that an inverted N-shaped curve executes on municipal solid waste disposal for all regions. As personal disposable income increases, per capita municipal solid waste disposed firstly declines, then grows at the second stage and finally decreases again. All the explanatory variables including economic factors, social characteristics and geographical barriers are found to influence municipal solid waste disposal significantly. Each person increase in population density leads to an increase in municipal solid waste disposed by approximately 1.17 ×10^?4 kg/day. Each percent increase in age composition results in a decrease in municipal solid waste disposed by approximately 0.0224 kg/day; in the unemployment rate causes a decrease of 0.0901 kg/day and in the education level results in a decrease of 0.01556 kg/day. In general, municipal solid waste disposal starts to increase at the first turning point of personal disposable income NT$ 198,000 (about US$ 6,280) and to decrease at the second point of NT$ 389,000 (about US$ 12,350) for all regions (pooled data). The rural regions, however, cannot support the inverted N-shaped curve by the ‘reduced form’ while urban regions have a significant outcome. This result implies that income can only explain a portion of variation while other social and geographical factors contribute a lot to identify the variation in municipal solid waste disposal between urban and rural regions.     

Institutionalising IWRM in developing and transition countries: the case of Mongolia

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) forms the widely accepted ecosystem approach to managing water and its related resources in a sustainable way. Nevertheless, its implementation is still lagging behind, especially in developing and transition countries which are often short of essential resources and face complex political dynamics. IWRM often requires a fundamental realignment of governance structures. This may lead to problems of fit and institutional interplay as particular challenges of multi-level governance. Against this background, a case study of Mongolia was carried out, a transition country suffering from extreme climatic conditions and increasing depletion of its resources. While an attempt to introduce IWRM exists on paper, it is less clear how it will be made politically and institutionally applicable. A document review and stakeholder interviews were carried out to understand the progress and problems of introducing IWRM in Mongolia in the face of its transition and decentralisation process. Problems of fit and interplay—which are in part results of the transformation—were identified, as well as the approaches for their solution. Attempts are underway to overcome problems of fit such as the establishment of river basin councils which are presently facing the challenges concerning their room for manoeuvre. Problems of interplay arise when it comes to the cooperation and coordination of numerous water-related organisations which often lead to inconsistent water governance.     

Conceptual issues in dealing with land degradation/conservation problems in developing countries

Among experts in the field, there is general agreement that land degradation/conservation is a matter of life or death to hundreds of millions of people. There is general agreement too that in spite of the great efforts being made to combat desertification in the last 10 years, the problem is growing worse every day. On the other hand the technology and know-how to deal with all sorts of land degradation problems is available everywhere in abundance. Why then do we in the developing world, the most affected by the problem, seem handicapped or not able to deal effectively with it? What do we really lack? Do we lack the knowledge, the experience, the money or do we lack the will to live? This paper, while trying to give at least partial answers to all those questions, assumes that the right way of thinking in dealing with resources degradation is the most serious thing we are lacking. With some examples from Egypt and other developing countries, the paper will point to some aspects that may constitute part of the conceptual framework that is required to save our world and to keep the forthcoming disasters at an acceptable level.