Assuring fish safety and quality in international fish trade

International trade in fishery commodities reached US 58.2 billion dollars in 2002, a 5% improvement relative to 2000 and a 45% increase over 1992 levels. Within this global trade, developing countries registered a net trade surplus of US 17.4 billion dollars in 2002 and accounted for almost 50% by value and 55% of fish exports by volume. This globalization of fish trade, coupled with technological developments in food production, handling, processing and distribution, and the increasing awareness and demand of consumers for safe and high quality food have put food safety and quality assurance high in public awareness and a priority for many governments. Consequently, many countries have tightened food safety controls, imposing additional costs and requirements on imports. As early as 1980, there was an international drive towards adopting preventative HACCP-based safety and quality systems. More recently, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to food safety and quality throughout the entire food chain. Implementation of this approach requires an enabling policy and regulatory environment at national and international levels with clearly defined rules and standards, establishment of appropriate food control systems and programmes at national and local levels, and provision of appropriate training and capacity building. This paper discusses the international framework for fish safety and quality, with particular emphasis on the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) strategy to promote international harmonization and capacity building.     

TWO HUNDRED HECTARES OF GOOD BUSINESS: BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE IN A THEMED SPACE*

Geographers have recognized that trade fairs and other temporary spaces function as centers of knowledge, but we have a weak understanding of how fairs are themed spaces, similar to parades, festivals, and built environments, that produce cultural and political meanings. In this article we analyze the morphology, iconography, and performance of a large agricultural fair in Brazil, the Bahia Farm Show, which produces a regional identity of highly productive, leading‐edge, and globally competitive agriculture in a former economic backwater. We discuss the production of themes in terms of power relations, cultural processes, relations with nature, and sociotechnological norms for agriculture. Omissions from the Farm Show indicate tension and accommodation between elites at different geographical scales. Brazil's high‐input, high‐output agriculture relies in part on the meanings that events such as agricultural fairs sustain and reproduce.     

Markets and women's trade: exploring their role in district development in Ghana

The economic importance of periodic and daily markets as well as the crucial role played by women in these markets has been well noted in the development literature on West Africa. While markets in Ghana have been examined in various aspects, not enough work has been done on their potential role within the context of the current decentralized district development process. This article makes the case for market development with the study of markets in two district capitals in the Central Region of Ghana. In both districts, with little industry and a weak tax base, levies on markets serve as a major source of internally generated revenue to local government, namely District Assemblies. The study also indicated that, for many people, the markets in the district capitals serve as the main avenue for interacting with the ‘centre’ (urban), thereby promoting rural‐urban interactions. However, these markets are underdeveloped. This article emphasizes the need to upgrade the infrastructure in these markets in order to generate more revenue for district development, improve agriculture and income, and reduce poverty, especially among women, and generally provide an alternative means to district development.     

International trade and industrial dynamics: Geographical and structural dimensions of Chinese and Sino-EU merchandise trade

This paper draws on trade data to examine the degree of upgrading of China’s trade structure with the world as a whole and in particular with the European Union (EU). More specifically it examines the evolution of the industrial structure of China’s trade with the world and with the EU between 1996 and 2008 and of the underlying dynamic indicators of revealed comparative advantage. This method of analysing China’s industrial structure provides clear evidence of upgrading into more advanced industries without at present losing significant competitive advantage in industries employing unskilled workers. The examination of revealed comparative advantage indices for world and Sino-EU trade also indicates an increasingly high degree of interdependence between the EU and China between 1996 and 2008. The EU (especially Germany, the UK, and France) is China’s most important export market, though it is also much more important as a market for China’s exports than the EU is as a supplier for China. China’s consequent trade surplus with the EU has gradually shifted from textiles and clothing to machinery and furniture. Further investigation reveals that the complementary Sino-EU bilateral trade is moving towards intra-industry trade at the 4-digit level of HS (Harmonization System) commodity classification. Although China is still a ‘global sweatshop’ with a strong specialization in labour-intensive commodities produced for economically developed countries (by importing machinery, raw materials and exporting processed goods), there are signs of technological upgrading in number of selected sectors in China, noticeably electronics, computers and telecommunications equipment. China’s reliance of imports of minerals indicates however that energy and resource security could be an important constraint on China’s long-term economic development.     

规模经济、对外贸易与区域双核结构模式探讨——以山东半岛济南—青岛双核结构为例

区域双核结构模式是一种重要的经济地理现象。基于新经济地理学的研究视角和分析框架,论文构建模型,分析了规模经济和对外贸易推动区域双核结构模式的生成过程和经济机理。模型研究表明,规模经济和对外贸易是塑造区域双核结构模式的基本力量:规模经济的增强放大了本地市场效应,导致了区域核心城市的出现;对外贸易影响着沿海地区的经济地理优势,决定着港口区位核心城市和内陆地区核心城市的并存。山东半岛济南—青岛双核结构模式生成过程的实证研究也表明,双核结构模式是制造业活动完成由以手工业为主导向现代化大生产为主导转变、区域发展环境完成由相对封闭向相对开放转变之后才产生的经济地理现象。     

广西对越边贸口岸的空间分析

广西是我国对越边贸的主要省区，拥有全方位开发的口岸，由于区位，交通条件的差异性，口岸群的空间结构具有明显的层次，并在边贸业迹上有所表现，为了优化广西边贸口岸的空间结构，文中提出了突出重点把凭祥、东兴建成现代化边贸口岸、培育特色口岸经济，加大边贸的开放力度、提高口岸群的整体水平，以及建立新型的边境贸易空间组织－边境贸易开发等对策建议。     

Geographical indications and the South Africa–European Union free trade agreement

Geographical indications, as a form of intellectual property, are becoming increasingly important in global trade. In South Africa's trade and cooperation agreement with the European Union, problems over the use of names such as 'port' and 'sherry' provided an important obstacle to the conclusion of the trade deal. This paper argues that the conflict over geographical indications in this trade agreement must be seen in the context of broader initiatives to establish a system of protecting this form of intellectual property through the World Trade Organisation.     

Socio-structural forces predicting global water footprint: socio-hydrology and ecologically unequal exchange

ABSTRACT

Growth in water use and threatened shortages of water have become increasingly important in the modern world system. Natural resources are exploited extensively by capitalist interests in industrially advanced nations, while the lower strata of the world system, the underdeveloped societies, are left with limited access to natural resources for their productive processes, particularly water resources. We contribute to socio-hydrological research by examining underlying socio-structural factors that play a part in the process of deteriorating conditions of global water resources. Drawing on a world-systems perspective, this study examines how socio-structural forces – world-system position, per capita beef consumption, per capita energy consumption, and urbanization – affect per capita water footprint, which includes an accounting of “virtual water” consumption. We find that per capita beef consumption and per capita energy consumption have significant positive direct effects, and the world-system position has a significant indirect and total effect on per capita water footprint.     

当代世界经济贸易地理格局及其形成的地缘基础

本文首先论述了当代世界经济贸易地理格局的特点：美、日、西欧三足鼎立与众多实力较弱经贸集团并存的多极格局开始形成；然后着重对这种格局形成的地缘基础进行了分析；最后对影响世界经贸格局形成的主要因素—地缘经济及其发展的新特点进行了概括。     

我国对越南直接投资初探

本文从理论和实际的结合上，论述了我国开展对越直接投资的必要性和可能性。文中对投资机遇、边境贸易、对越经援等问题作了深入分析，并提出了对越投资的产业导向和区域战略。