1J. Macedo, 2M. Souvanhnachit, 3S. Rattanavong, 4B. Maokhamphiou, 4T. Sotoukee, 4P. Pavelic, 1M. ... more 1J. Macedo, 2M. Souvanhnachit, 3S. Rattanavong, 4B. Maokhamphiou, 4T. Sotoukee, 4P. Pavelic, 1M. Sarkis, 1T. Downs 1 Department of International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University, Worcester, MA. U.S.A. 2 Department of Water Resources Engineering, National University of Laos, Vientiane, Lao PDR 3Independent Consultant, Washington DC, U.S.A. 4 International Water Management Institute Vientiane, Lao PDR. Climate change risks pose significant challenge to smallholder irrigators who rely on rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods. Increased mean surface temperatures, varying rainfall, increasing evaporation and declining soil moistures all serve to impact productivity. Groundwater irrigation poses promising potential for agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of smallholders. Groundwater irrigation for agriculture use requires constant water quality monitoring. This excerpt is part of a field research, which assessed the impacts of biochar and fertili...
This paper draws on observational research conducted in McAllen, Texas, during the summer of 2019... more This paper draws on observational research conducted in McAllen, Texas, during the summer of 2019, of three major stakeholder groups involved in asylum management: Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center (HRC); federal government agencies; and the McAllen community. Each group holds a unique, pluralistic perspective on migration, informing intra-group relations and exposing uneven power dynamics between them. Our analysis is contextualized by a local voice, a former long-term volunteer at the HRC, who speaks of the evolution of the McAllen border in her lifetime, as well as federal authority over McAllen and the HRC to process asylees. We dissect how this power dynamic produces a highly violent, detention-dominant immigration landscape in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), antithetical to the practiced intersectional culture of voces locales. We reimagine how the US responds to asylum seekers by offering a community action-based framework, where these pluralistic perspectives are e...
Enjoying abundant hydro and solar resources, and relative socio-political stability, Zambia has t... more Enjoying abundant hydro and solar resources, and relative socio-political stability, Zambia has the potential to be fully energy independent with high sustainability. However, in response to frequent power outages, symptomatic of a worsening energy deficit, the Zambian government’s proposed energy strategy seems to offer only short-term fixes, exemplifying the inadequacies of business-as-usual development practice. The assessment/planning process has little stakeholder engagement with civil society, and pays no attention to capacity building on a societal scale. Indeed, globally, while calls for ‘integrative’ approaches are getting louder, operational details are lacking. We suggest alternatives to the proposed strategy and conventional development process, and improvements to operational stages using an integrative collaborative project (ICP) framework, arguing for a capacity building innovation network that scales up or down by linking local and regional projects together. We cons...
RESUMEN RESUMEN LOS PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES CARECEN EN LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA APUCACIÓN DE LAS APLICAC... more RESUMEN RESUMEN LOS PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES CARECEN EN LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA APUCACIÓN DE LAS APLICACIÓN DE un conocimiento integrado que pernita evaluar los impactos al ambiente dentro y alrededor de las instalaciones de producción, manejar sus riesgos y diseñar estratégica. y económicas que minimicen estos últimos. Esta cadena de cono- cimientos no se en entra disponible a causa de barreras existentes entre las disciplina de la ingeniería, las ciencias ambientales, la economía y la política industriales También su falta se debe a la rigidez en las ideologías académicas tradicionales, que deberían responder a las necesidades crecientes de la industria y la' sociedad que la academia y la industria no se hablan, asunto paradójico, dado que ésta se compone de los egresados de la academia. El propósito del artículo es empezar a derrumbar estas barreras, con la perspectiva de una maestría para profesionales del nuevo milenio, de enfoque interdisciplinario, que permita la formación de re...
ABSTRACT Complex relationships exist between human nature and needs, cultural evolution and ecolo... more ABSTRACT Complex relationships exist between human nature and needs, cultural evolution and ecological dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to present a working hypothesis that explores how we may reverse worsening underdevelopment, poverty and unsustainability trends world-wide. Empirical evidence from cultural history and contemporary project experience are used to suggest a development process that combines three critical dimensions: ethics, productive social interaction and knowledge integration. Logic dictates that the process should be applied in any given country to mobilize investment in supplies of natural, human and economic capital, principally biodiversity, soil and water conservation, education and public health. A sociopolitical theory of underdevelopment is presented to suggest that unethical virtual cartels control social interaction, knowledge integration and resource mobilization, precipitating negative feedback effects on human development, ecological stability and, ultimately, cultural evolution. The hypothesis was formulated using observations over 5 years in Mexico and case-study experience to initiate an alternative process of water resource conservation.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 09640560120060948, Aug 3, 2010
ABSTRACT Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its depen... more ABSTRACT Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on integrated capacity building that can link sectors, social groups and disciplines together. An interdisciplinary team has been gaining practical experience of how to improve the socio-economic and institutional capacity of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in Mexico, a country with problems common to many rapidly-developing countries. Carried out with multi-stakeholder working groups, strategic capacities were identified to strengthen six components: (1) political and financial support; (2) human resources; (3) information resources; (4) regulations and compliance; (5) basic infrastructure; and (6) the market for support products and services. Three pilot cities were used to test the process under diverse geophysical and cultural conditions. Results of the conceptualization, diagnosis and planning stages are presented, and are being used to guide implementation. The process is adaptable to other countries, and to other natural resource and development sectors, such as soil and biodiversity conservation, energy and agriculture.
... system consists of eight stages (9): (1) intake, (2) pretreatment (eg, screening, neutralizat... more ... system consists of eight stages (9): (1) intake, (2) pretreatment (eg, screening, neutralization, aeration); (3 ... and also one of poor service quality: Why should a person pay for water ... of agricultural chemicals (fertilizers containing nutrients and pesticides such as DDT) and industrial ...
Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability, 2008
ABSTRACT Sustainable development and poverty eradication are global challenges that require a sys... more ABSTRACT Sustainable development and poverty eradication are global challenges that require a systematic, transformative approach for action on the ground, with enhanced environmental impact assessment (EIA) at its core. Traditional EIA has been criticised for being a top-down regulatory method biased in favour of the sponsor of a development action. The purposes of this paper are to describe how to transform EIA into a process that enables sustainable development and poverty eradication, and to stimulate much-needed dialogue among engineers, scientists and policy makers. The paper argues for the synthesis of four components to create a new approach: (a) an adaptive social learning process at the core for multi-stakeholder assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring; (b) a trans-disciplinary, knowledge-partnership, systems-based approach to assessment that identifies priority problems and drivers using risk and vulnerability theory; (c) multi-criteria sustainability assessment of alternative solutions that makes socio-political, cultural, economic and ecological trade-offs transparent; and (d) integrated capacity building to sustain the target solution. Deductive reasoning based on empirical evidence from case studies and a literature review supports the argument.
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2001
Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on ... more Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on integrated capacity building that can link sectors, social groups and disciplines together. An interdisciplinary team has been gaining practical experience of how to improve the socio-economic and institutional capacity of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in Mexico, a country with problems common to many rapidly-developing countries.
1J. Macedo, 2M. Souvanhnachit, 3S. Rattanavong, 4B. Maokhamphiou, 4T. Sotoukee, 4P. Pavelic, 1M. ... more 1J. Macedo, 2M. Souvanhnachit, 3S. Rattanavong, 4B. Maokhamphiou, 4T. Sotoukee, 4P. Pavelic, 1M. Sarkis, 1T. Downs 1 Department of International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University, Worcester, MA. U.S.A. 2 Department of Water Resources Engineering, National University of Laos, Vientiane, Lao PDR 3Independent Consultant, Washington DC, U.S.A. 4 International Water Management Institute Vientiane, Lao PDR. Climate change risks pose significant challenge to smallholder irrigators who rely on rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods. Increased mean surface temperatures, varying rainfall, increasing evaporation and declining soil moistures all serve to impact productivity. Groundwater irrigation poses promising potential for agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of smallholders. Groundwater irrigation for agriculture use requires constant water quality monitoring. This excerpt is part of a field research, which assessed the impacts of biochar and fertili...
This paper draws on observational research conducted in McAllen, Texas, during the summer of 2019... more This paper draws on observational research conducted in McAllen, Texas, during the summer of 2019, of three major stakeholder groups involved in asylum management: Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center (HRC); federal government agencies; and the McAllen community. Each group holds a unique, pluralistic perspective on migration, informing intra-group relations and exposing uneven power dynamics between them. Our analysis is contextualized by a local voice, a former long-term volunteer at the HRC, who speaks of the evolution of the McAllen border in her lifetime, as well as federal authority over McAllen and the HRC to process asylees. We dissect how this power dynamic produces a highly violent, detention-dominant immigration landscape in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), antithetical to the practiced intersectional culture of voces locales. We reimagine how the US responds to asylum seekers by offering a community action-based framework, where these pluralistic perspectives are e...
Enjoying abundant hydro and solar resources, and relative socio-political stability, Zambia has t... more Enjoying abundant hydro and solar resources, and relative socio-political stability, Zambia has the potential to be fully energy independent with high sustainability. However, in response to frequent power outages, symptomatic of a worsening energy deficit, the Zambian government’s proposed energy strategy seems to offer only short-term fixes, exemplifying the inadequacies of business-as-usual development practice. The assessment/planning process has little stakeholder engagement with civil society, and pays no attention to capacity building on a societal scale. Indeed, globally, while calls for ‘integrative’ approaches are getting louder, operational details are lacking. We suggest alternatives to the proposed strategy and conventional development process, and improvements to operational stages using an integrative collaborative project (ICP) framework, arguing for a capacity building innovation network that scales up or down by linking local and regional projects together. We cons...
RESUMEN RESUMEN LOS PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES CARECEN EN LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA APUCACIÓN DE LAS APLICAC... more RESUMEN RESUMEN LOS PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES CARECEN EN LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA APUCACIÓN DE LAS APLICACIÓN DE un conocimiento integrado que pernita evaluar los impactos al ambiente dentro y alrededor de las instalaciones de producción, manejar sus riesgos y diseñar estratégica. y económicas que minimicen estos últimos. Esta cadena de cono- cimientos no se en entra disponible a causa de barreras existentes entre las disciplina de la ingeniería, las ciencias ambientales, la economía y la política industriales También su falta se debe a la rigidez en las ideologías académicas tradicionales, que deberían responder a las necesidades crecientes de la industria y la' sociedad que la academia y la industria no se hablan, asunto paradójico, dado que ésta se compone de los egresados de la academia. El propósito del artículo es empezar a derrumbar estas barreras, con la perspectiva de una maestría para profesionales del nuevo milenio, de enfoque interdisciplinario, que permita la formación de re...
ABSTRACT Complex relationships exist between human nature and needs, cultural evolution and ecolo... more ABSTRACT Complex relationships exist between human nature and needs, cultural evolution and ecological dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to present a working hypothesis that explores how we may reverse worsening underdevelopment, poverty and unsustainability trends world-wide. Empirical evidence from cultural history and contemporary project experience are used to suggest a development process that combines three critical dimensions: ethics, productive social interaction and knowledge integration. Logic dictates that the process should be applied in any given country to mobilize investment in supplies of natural, human and economic capital, principally biodiversity, soil and water conservation, education and public health. A sociopolitical theory of underdevelopment is presented to suggest that unethical virtual cartels control social interaction, knowledge integration and resource mobilization, precipitating negative feedback effects on human development, ecological stability and, ultimately, cultural evolution. The hypothesis was formulated using observations over 5 years in Mexico and case-study experience to initiate an alternative process of water resource conservation.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 09640560120060948, Aug 3, 2010
ABSTRACT Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its depen... more ABSTRACT Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on integrated capacity building that can link sectors, social groups and disciplines together. An interdisciplinary team has been gaining practical experience of how to improve the socio-economic and institutional capacity of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in Mexico, a country with problems common to many rapidly-developing countries. Carried out with multi-stakeholder working groups, strategic capacities were identified to strengthen six components: (1) political and financial support; (2) human resources; (3) information resources; (4) regulations and compliance; (5) basic infrastructure; and (6) the market for support products and services. Three pilot cities were used to test the process under diverse geophysical and cultural conditions. Results of the conceptualization, diagnosis and planning stages are presented, and are being used to guide implementation. The process is adaptable to other countries, and to other natural resource and development sectors, such as soil and biodiversity conservation, energy and agriculture.
... system consists of eight stages (9): (1) intake, (2) pretreatment (eg, screening, neutralizat... more ... system consists of eight stages (9): (1) intake, (2) pretreatment (eg, screening, neutralization, aeration); (3 ... and also one of poor service quality: Why should a person pay for water ... of agricultural chemicals (fertilizers containing nutrients and pesticides such as DDT) and industrial ...
Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability, 2008
ABSTRACT Sustainable development and poverty eradication are global challenges that require a sys... more ABSTRACT Sustainable development and poverty eradication are global challenges that require a systematic, transformative approach for action on the ground, with enhanced environmental impact assessment (EIA) at its core. Traditional EIA has been criticised for being a top-down regulatory method biased in favour of the sponsor of a development action. The purposes of this paper are to describe how to transform EIA into a process that enables sustainable development and poverty eradication, and to stimulate much-needed dialogue among engineers, scientists and policy makers. The paper argues for the synthesis of four components to create a new approach: (a) an adaptive social learning process at the core for multi-stakeholder assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring; (b) a trans-disciplinary, knowledge-partnership, systems-based approach to assessment that identifies priority problems and drivers using risk and vulnerability theory; (c) multi-criteria sustainability assessment of alternative solutions that makes socio-political, cultural, economic and ecological trade-offs transparent; and (d) integrated capacity building to sustain the target solution. Deductive reasoning based on empirical evidence from case studies and a literature review supports the argument.
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2001
Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on ... more Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on integrated capacity building that can link sectors, social groups and disciplines together. An interdisciplinary team has been gaining practical experience of how to improve the socio-economic and institutional capacity of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in Mexico, a country with problems common to many rapidly-developing countries.
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Papers by Timothy Downs