Press Release
8 July 2008
'Roots of Resilience' - World Resources Report 2008 to be launched in Gloucestershire
Enterprises based on nature can be a path out of poverty for the world's rural poor, building their ability to withstand environmental, governance and economic changes, according to the World Resources Report 2008.
Almost half the world's population (2.5 billion people) live on less than $2 per day and one billion live on less than $1 per day. The majority of these people live in rural areas and are heavily dependent on the natural resource base for their livelihoods. In many cases they have limited rights of access and use, and limited powers to manage their local resources.
Manish Bapna, Managing Director of the World Resources Institute (WRI) will be officially launching this latest report, entitled 'Roots of Resilience: Growing the Wealth of the Poor' at the 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons Conference, which is being organised by the Countryside and Community Research Institute at the University of Gloucestershire, UK, on 14-18 July 2008.
The report argues that 'resilience' defined as 'the capacity to adapt and thrive in the face of challenge' is the key to tackling poverty and enabling the world's poor to withstand the shocks from climate change.
It further states that properly designed ecosystem-based enterprises that address the link between poverty and the environment can create economic, social and environmental resilience that will allow communities to better withstand the impacts of climate change, and make them more economically and socially stable. Increased resilience means that communities will be better able to face economic risk, better able to work together for mutual benefit, and the eco-systems on which they depend can become biologically more resilient as well as more productive and stable.
The key to creating more resilient communities lies in improved governance. Improved governance requires national governments handing resource rights to local communities to enable local level management that will result in economic benefits flowing into communities. One of the major problems, sometimes caused by development projects themselves, has been the large-scale forestry, mining, fishing, and agricultural development that have depleted the natural resource base while the economic benefits have flowed to the urban centres or even outside the countries where the activity take place.
Conference organiser, Dr. John Powell, states: "This World Resources Report is extremely valuable, not just for the quality of the research and analysis, but also for its recommendations on approaches to address the link between poverty and the environment, and its recognition of the importance of effective institutions for governing commons. Over two billion people worldwide depend on common property for at least some significant part of their livelihoods. The global implications of poor resource management and conflict between individual interests and the common good are increasingly recognised in terms of poverty, loss of biodiversity, destruction of valued resource systems and global warming impacts. One of the key findings of the report is that majority of world's poor live in rural areas - thus new approaches to rural development are essential. The main theme of the IASC conference is to address how common resources should be managed at local, regional, national and global levels to promote a more sustainable world."
The report finds that although overall wealth of the world has increased, and new influential economic powers such as Brazil, India and China are emerging, poverty still exists on a massive scale. Overall poverty is expected to decline over the next 10 years but many countries will not achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty levels by 2015, and no regions are on track to meet other Millennium Development Goals for reducing child mortality, or improving nutrition and sanitation. Wealth continues to be concentrated in a small number of countries and within those countries in urban areas. Nearly three-quarters of the poorest families live in rural areas. These families are heavily dependent on the natural resource base for their livelihoods, but in many cases they have limited rights of access and use, and limited powers to manage their local resources.
The report argues that scaling up natural resources based income for the rural poor requires three elements: -
- ownership - good governance that transfers real authority over resources and elicits local demand for better management of these resources
- enabling local capacity for development - communities must have the knowledge and capabilities to manage ecosystems competently, carry out ecosystem-based enterprises and distribute the income from these enterprises fairly
- creating connections - requires establishment of adaptive networks that connect and nurture enterprises, provide them with the ability to adapt, learn and link to markets and mature into businesses that can sustain themselves and enter the economic mainstream
A panel of experts, including Manish Bapna from Word Resources Institute, Camilla Toulmin, Director of International Institute for Environment and Development and Zuo Ting of the China Agricultural University, will be discussing some of the key issues raised in the report.
Details of the conference can be obtained from Gillian Parker +44 (0)1242 714123 gparker@glos.ac.uk
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______________________________________________________________Notes for Editors
The launch of the 2008 World Resources Report 'Roots of Resilience' will take place on Friday 18th July, 12.45 – 14.00 at the IASC 12th Biennial international conference: “Governing shared resources: connecting local experience to global challenges”, July 14-18, 2008, Park Campus, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, England, and is organised by the Countryside and Community Research Institute, a specialist rural research institute which is a collaboration between the Universities of the West of England and Gloucestershire.
The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) is a creation of a unique collaboration between the University of Gloucestershire, the University of the West of England and Hartpury College. It is one of the leading specialist rural research centres in the country with programmes of research in rural community development, rural poverty, agri-environment policies, agri-tourism, local sustainability, local economic development, EU and UK rural development, and the planning system in the countryside. See www.ccri.ac.uk for more information.
The World Resources Institute (www.wri.org)
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. Mission Statement: Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.
Because people are inspired by ideas, empowered by knowledge, and moved to change by greater understanding, WRI provides—and helps other institutions provide—objective information and practical proposals for policy and institutional change that will foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development. WRI organizes its work around four key goals: · People & Ecosystems: Reverse rapid degradation of ecosystems and assure their capacity to provide humans with needed goods and services. · Access: Guarantee public access to information and decisions regarding natural resources and the environment. · Climate Protection: Protect the global climate system from further harm due to emissions of greenhouse gases and help humanity and the natural world adapt to unavoidable climate change. · Markets & Enterprise: Harness markets and enterprise to expand economic opportunity and protect the environment.
Manish Bapna joined WRI as its Managing Director in June 2007. His expertise is in international development with a particular focus on the sustainable and equitable use of natural resources. Most recently, Bapna served as Executive Director of the nonprofit Bank Information Center (BIC), whose mission is to protect rights and promote sustainability in the projects and policies of international financial institutions. Bapna presided over considerable growth at BIC, including increases in staff, funding and influence, especially in developing countries.
Bapna previously served as Senior Economist and task team leader at the World Bank. During his seven-year tenure at the Bank, he led multidisciplinary teams in the design and implementation of community-driven water, watershed and rural development projects in Asia and Latin America. Bapna also advised several nonprofit development groups including Seva Mandir (a leading grassroots nonprofit in India) and Women's World Banking (a microfinance support organization). In an earlier incarnation, he worked as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company in the financial services and technology industries.
An oft-quoted source in influential newspapers, Bapna has been cited in front-page articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and International Herald Tribune. He has regularly testified before U.S. Congressional Committees on the role and effectiveness of development aid. Bapna is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Bapna has an MBA and MPA from Harvard University and a SB from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Geeta, recently had their first child, a daughter named Laila, in May 2007.
Camilla Toulmin, Director, International Institute for Environment and Development Specialist: Economist; current and future policy thinking on all aspects of environment and development agenda, particularly building alliances with those in the frontline of sustainable development; land rights in Africa and all regions. Working on: Climate Change, property rights, global governance, and natural resources.
Zuo Ting received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Nanjiang Normal University in 1984 and his Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Donghua University (Shanghai) in 1989. In 1992, he received a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Management from the University of the Philippines at Los Baņos. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Economics/Conservation Biology at the CAS. Zuo Ting is Deputy Dean and Professor in Development Studies at College of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural University (CAU)
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The Conference
1. The 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons (IASC) will take place at The University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, England on July 14-18, 2008.
2. The title of the conference is: 'Governing shared resources: connecting local experience to global challenges'
3. The conference will attract over 600 participants from 75 countries around the world. Key speakers include: Lord George Carey (former Archbishop of Canterbury), Elinor Ostrum (Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science, Indiana university, USA), and Judy Lin Wong OBE (Director, Black Environment Network)
4. Overview of the Conference
The emphasis of the conference is the exchange of knowledge on shared resources or 'commons' between:
- developing and developed world, ·
- practitioners and researchers, ·
- 'old' and 'new' commons.
The overarching theme of 'governing shared resources' aims to encourage discussion on alternative approaches to using, managing, protecting and creating ‘commons’.
5. What are 'commons'?
Commons are resources that are shared by different members of a community or society. Typically in a commons certain people will have defined or specific rights to use or access the resource. In an open access resource, like the traditional ocean fishery, there may be no rules about who can access the resource. Commons range from globally shared resources such as the atmosphere, climate stability, and biodiversity, to local community managed resources such as a woodland, water source, or village green.
6. Conference website: http://iasc2008.glos.ac.uk/iasc08.html More details from: Gill Parker, Conference Administrator
Email: iasc2008@glos.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0)1242 714123
7. The International Association for the Study of Commons (IASC) was founded in 1989 and is a nonprofit Association devoted to understanding and improving institutions for the management of resources that are (or could be) held or used collectively by communities in developing or developed countries. IASC's goals are: · to encourage exchange of knowledge among diverse disciplines, areas, and resource types · to foster mutual exchange of scholarship and practical experience · to promote appropriate institutional design for commons resource management.
The website for the IASC:
http://www.indiana.edu/~iascp/index.html
Organising Committee for IASC 2008 Conference
The conference will be co-chaired by:
Dr. John Powell, Senior Research Fellow, Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire. E-mail jpowell@glos.ac.uk. Telephone +44 (0) 1242 714129 714129
Mr. Chris Short, Senior Research Fellow, Countryside and Community Research Institute, and Senior Lecturer, Department of Natural and Social Sciences, University of Gloucestershire. E-mail cshort@glos.ac.uk. Telephone +44 (0) 1242 714550
The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) is a new body created by the University of Gloucestershire, the University of the West of England and Hartpury College. It is one of the leading specialist rural research centres in the country with programmes of research in rural community development, rural poverty, agri-environment policies, agri-tourism, local sustainability, local economic development, EU and UK rural development, and the planning system in the countryside. See www.ccri.ac.uk for more information.
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Contacts:
Press Officer, Julie Ryan
Office Manager, Chris Rayfield, crayfield@glos.ac.uk or telephone 01242 714121
Issued by:
COUNTRYSIDE AND COMMUNITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Dunholme Villa,
The Park,
Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire
GL50 2RH
