Right to food,right to mine? Competing human rights claims in Bangladesh

The right to food is increasingly evoked by a range of actors, but there is not sufficient critical analysis of distinct interpretations of what this right means in practice. Through examination of a mineral extraction project with agricultural implications, this article explores diverse human rights narratives and illuminates associated corporate efforts to minimize recognition of food as a fundamental right. A British mining company proposes the Phulbari open pit coal mine in an agriculturally important region of Bangladesh. Highly contested by affected populations, clashes in 2006 between the police and protestors turned deadly in the area. In February 2012, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs cautioned the Government of Bangladesh regarding human rights violations associated with the planned mine. They warned that the project would displace hundreds of thousands of people, while destroying fertile agricultural land. In contrast, an ongoing publicity campaign by the corporation attempts to promote their intervention as a positive step, fully compliant with international human rights and corporate social responsibility standards. Taking this case as an exemplar, the article illuminates the pursuit of mining profit and the distinct use of human rights narratives by corporations and UN Special Rapporteurs. These diverse actors represent the layering of voices weighing in on mineral extraction and associated right to food concerns. Collectively, these layered narratives represent a new terrain for the promotion and contestation of mining and highlight the need to scrutinize mining practices in light of social responsibility and human rights claims being voluntary and self-regulated.     

河南省耕地保护态势与社会责任问题探讨

运用综合分析法、历史分析法、比较分析法等,探讨了耕地保护的责任机制问题.认为政府在耕地保护中应承担主导责任,农民应承担参与责任、企业应承担节地责任.提出了构建新的耕地保护评价指标体系,改进现有管理办法;建立耕地保护的激励机制,提高耕地保护意识和主动性;积极推进全民参与的力度;重视中低产田改造和耕地生态环境防治问题等落实耕地保护共同责任机制的措施和建议.耕地保护需要构建"大家管、大家用、大家负责"的全社会的共同责任机制.     

“This is a Montreal Issue”: Negotiating responsibility in global production and investment networks

While geographers have increasingly focused on how global commodity and production networks create new ‘geographies of responsibility’ there has been little empirical work considering how responsibility is worked into management systems and social activism in such networks. Drawing on literature from global production networks, geographies of responsibility and other literatures, this paper explores the dynamic and contested ways in which concepts of responsibility can play a role in network regulation. Both foreign direct investment and commodity networks (here referred to as ‘global production and investment networks’) are subject to complex negotiations and compromises involving corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives as well as shareholder activist, human rights, labor, and environmental activism. This is illustrated by reference to conflicts in Canada over Alcan, Inc.’s investments from 1993 to 2007 in the Utkal Alumina Project in Orissa, India. The project involved significant socio-environmental conflict. In Canada, Alcan’s investment was met by civil society campaigns that tested the company’s commitments to sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The case study suggests revising theories of geographies of responsibility. While foreign direct investment can create new relationships between distant others, these are fluid and contingent and not necessarily desirable. Rather than see networks as a source of responsibility we should work to ensure that the relationships that networks foster be structured to ensure our deeper values are respected.     

流动人口的流迁模式与社会保护:从"城市融入"到"社会融入"

基于福建省福州市流动人口问卷调查及流动人口、企业雇主和相关政府部门官员的深入访谈,考察了流动人口流迁模式的复杂性和多元分化及其对他们社会保护的影响.研究结果表明,流动人口的流迁模式呈现在流入地定居、保持流动状态和向流出地回流的三维分化,并由此导致其对社会保护需求在整体上不同于流入地当地居民,在其内部呈现多元分化的局面;...     

玛纳斯河流域人工绿洲扩张对社会经济和生态环境的影响分析

 利用2007—2009年的实地调查资料,结合1958—2006年的5期遥感影像解译数据,从干旱区内陆河流域典型绿洲的演变进程出发,分析了新中国成立以来近60 a玛纳斯河流域人工绿洲快速扩张的影响,强调了保持绿洲适宜规模的重要性,并从可持续发展的角度探讨了绿洲今后发展的方向。主要结论为:①近60 a玛纳斯河流域耕地和绿洲分别以107.756 km2·a-1和122.401 km2·a-1的速度迅速增长,二者扩张的方向基本一致;②绿洲的快速扩张对社会经济产生一定推动作用的同时,也带来了一系列的环境问题。如地表水利用率超过90%,地下水过度开采并以0.5~1 m·a-1的速度下降,水质污染增加,防护林大量死亡,森林破坏严重,草地从1958年到2006年减少4 316.39 km2,土地荒漠化威胁严重等;③从可持续发展的角度看,控制绿洲规模,适度开采地下水,转变产业结构,建立生态补偿机制等是今后本区发展的关键。     

Creative democracy and the quiet politics of the everyday

John Dewey envisioned creative democracy as a process of agonistic engagement, and Bob Lake shares Dewey’s optimism for the possibilities of creative democracy. In this response, I suggest that scholars should look beyond the obvious moments of democratic political engagement, whether activism in the public square or in the occupied park, to pay attention to the quiet politics of the everyday, where everyday decisionmaking by individuals and communities can gradually, episodically, change dominant hegemonic norms and understandings, proviing new understandings for social change. I highlight several examples, including the Settlement house movement from the late 19th century and intentional neighboring from the twenty-first century, that illustrate the kind of daily work that brings together different social classes and ethnicities in a situation of sharing and working toward conditions of equality and new ways of living in the world.     

An Integrated Moral Obligation Model for Landowner Conservation Norms

This study applies an integrated moral obligation model to examine the role of environmental and cultural values, and beliefs in the activation of landowner conservation norms. Data for this study were collected through a self-administered survey of riparian landowners in two Minnesota watersheds: Sand Creek and Vermillion River watersheds. Study findings suggest that collectivistic and biospheric–altruistic values form the bases for the activation of personal norms. Further, beliefs about local responsibility and ability to act influence personal norms to protect water resources. Findings suggest that landowners’ personal norms of water conservation are more likely to be activated by conservation strategies that appeal to biospheric–altruistic and collectivistic values, emphasize adverse consequences of water pollution, highlight water resource protection as a local responsibility, and provide the resources needed to protect water resources.     

商业建筑的昨天今天和明天

从人们交换农业、手工业产品的“市”到店铺林立的商业一条街,商业和商业建筑的发展与社会和经济的发展密不可分,现代商业建筑的发展更与人们生活和消费水平分不开。因此,必须研究人们的职业与消费习惯、消费心理、做好市场调查和预测,把握市场机遇,创造适合经济和社会发展各阶段的商业间环境,研究国外现代商业建筑的发展,借鉴其经验,使我国商业建筑沿着正确的道路发展。     

基于块数据的社会治理云平台研究与实现

针对当前基层社会治理所面临的主要问题,利用GIS技术实现空间信息与社会治理数据资源的关联融合,按照管理层级构建底数明朗的社会治理数据底板.以深圳市南山区为例,设计并开发了基于块数据的社会治理云平台,建立了任务分配、事件分拨、指挥调度、考核评价等功能模块,通过数据驱动基层工作,以信息化建设助力基层社会治理精细化、智能化水...     

"政社分开"大背景下社会组织创新发展的思考与建议 ——以海洋社会组织为例

党的十九大以来,随着我国社会组织的不断发展和政府职能转变的逐步推进,社会组织面临着前所未有的机遇与挑战。文章以海洋社会组织为例,研究在"政社分开"过程中遇到的问题。研究表明,"政社分开"后,社会组织遇到的困难一是失去物质资源,难以正常开展活动;二是失去"主心骨",难以建立公信力;三是失去主要业务来源,发展内生动力不足。为新形势下社会组织如何更好地健康发展,提出了建立健全社会组织法律法规、加强对社会组织的扶持力度、拓展社会组织经费来源结构等对策建议。