Sustainable Development

NEW/NOVEDADES

• http://www.eldis.org/
  Eldis

• http://sustainer.org/
  Sustainability Institute

• http://www.earth-info.net
  Earth-Info Net

• http://www.earthisland.org/wosh/
  World Sustainability Hearing

  RECOMMENDED

   

  • http://www.comminit.com
    Communications Initiative is a partnership between The Rockefeller Foundation, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, BBC World Service, CIDA, Johns Hopkins University's Center for Communication Programming, UNFPA, Soul City and Panos. This is a recommended resource, though it should be noted that the "Initiative" tends to focus on institutional endeavors rather than grassroots programs. One complaint -- there is little on this website to show how the initiative began or for how long it will run. Among the best features on this site are Drum Beat http://www.comminit.com/drum_beat.html and the News features (http://www.comminit.com/news.html).

  • http://www.epa.gov/ecocommunity
    Community-based Environmental Protection is a new resource from the United States's Environmental Protection Agency. While this is not specific to the Americas, there are a number of useful resources. Due to site design, it's difficult to give URLs specific documents. Under news, for example, you'll find profiles of upcoming conferences on environmental decision-making and communities and wetlands.

  • http://www.EnvironmentalSustainability.info
    Eco-Portal - the EnvironmentalSustainability.Info Source is a new resource created by Glen Barry. The site tracks the latest environmental news stories which are updated several times daily. Kudos for its up-to-date "Road to Johannesburg" Earth Summit 2 Coverage!

  • http://www.gaia.org/
    Eco-Village Information Service: Check out the communities around the world which have a holistic connection to the environment. The site includes the Global Eco-village Network (GEN), as well as a list of other resources and a calendar of events.

     

  • http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/etour.html
    Exploring Ecotourism on the Planeta.com website (http://www.planeta.com) reviews the concepts behind environmental tourism and provides practical suggestions for travelers, entrepreneurs and policy-makers alike. This feature -- a Planeta.com Exclusive -- combines original research with a number of exterior links.

  • http://www.gatewest.net/~green/
    Green and Growing: From the Ground Up began as a teachers' lesson guide on food, agriculture, and sustainable development. This on-line version is divided into five lessons; The History of Agriculture and a Description of Sustainable Development; Soil; Agriculture and Chemicals; The Real Cost of Food; and Everything's Connected. This highly recommended website is prepared by Bryan Johnson and Keith Turner.

  • http://sdgateway.net
    SD Gateway based in Canada, where I guess "SD" is known by everyone as shorthand for "Sustainable Development." That bit of jargon aside, this is a highly-recommended, trilingual site. A "network of some of the world's leading sustainable development institutes," these organisations have formed the Sustainable Development Communications Network in order to improve their online products and services.

  • http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/SUSTDEV/Welcome_.HTM
    Sustainable Development Dimensions is an excellent new site hosted by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Information is divided into four areas: People, Institutions, Knowledge and Environment. The site is updated monthly. Includes information in Spanish.

  • http://www-personal.umich.edu/~fiatlux/td/
    Talking about Development: Highly recommended collection of real stories. This site - created by Vera Britto - is better than ever. Highly innovative and exceptionally interesting!

   

  SPOTLIGHT ON THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
  AUGUST 24-SEPTEMBER 4, JOHANNESBURG 2002

  The Johannesburg summit is a follow-up of the first Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The following materials focus on this global event. We will be updating this list and providing links to news via our Headlines.

  • UNITED NATIONS - http://www.johannesburgsummit.org
    

  • Earth Summit Info: http://www.earthsummit.info
    

  • Eco-Portal: http://www.EnvironmentalSustainability.info
    

  • FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization: http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/SUSTDEV/2001/EN0603_en.htm
    

  • IISD: http://www.iisd.ca/wssd/portal.html
    

  • PREPCOM 4: http://www.iisd.ca/2002/pc4/
    

  • World Summit 2002: http://www.joburgsummit.co.za
    

  • Earth Summit Biz: http://www.earthsummit.biz
    

  • Daily Summit: http://www.dailysummit.net
    

  Spotlight on World Summit on Sustainable Development

    Editorial: World Summit on Sustainable Development - Planeta.com
    Rhodes Journalism Review
    From Rio to Johannesburg: New Paths for International Tourism - Lisa Mastny
    A Discussion on Sustainable Development and Tourism - Tourism Concern
  >> More Headlines
  

  INSTITUTIONAL WEBSITES

  • http://www.iadb.org/sds
    The Inter-American Development Bank's Social Programs and Sustainable Development Department (SDS) has made major improvements to its website. Among the useful resources are a site map a site map (http://www.iadb.org/sds/sitemap_e.htm ), an enhanced search engine (http://www.iadb.org/sds/search_e.htm), and a publications database (http://www.iadb.org/sds/publication_list_e.htm).

  • http://www.americasnet.net/
    AmericasNet: Florida International University's Summit of the Americas Center tends toward an institutional focus - regardless of whether progress is actually being made. The site shows notable improvement in 2002. The "breaking news" is timely!

  • http://www.sistema.itesm.mx/misc/bcsd-la/
    The Business Council for Sustainable Development - Latin America offers general pages on the history and mission of the BSCD. New online pages include information on the first interamerican conference on joint implementation and sustainable development, held in San Salvador and the BCSD-LA document "Sustainable Development in Latin America." The site does not offer much in terms of news and it is unclear of how successful the council actually is in meeting its lofty goals.

  • http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr
    Earth Network for Sustainable Development - Formerly Earth Council, this organization was created at the 1992 Earth Summit, and though it's had a website for some time, only recently has Earth Council developed into a content-rich archive. For example, in 1998 it launched a directory of the National Councils for Sustainable Development and similar entities (NCSD) at http://www.ncsdnetwork.org. Unfortunately, the site does not appear to be updated frequently. See What's New.

  • http://www.erin.gov.au/
    Environment Australia does not focus on Latin America but it does provide a good example of what a useful government site can offer. Documents available include summaries of Australia's National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (NSESD), the InterGovernmental Agreement on the Environment (IGAE) and National Reports to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). Information on environmental economics and links to other sites with sustainable development information are also available for public viewing.

  • http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/
    International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT): This center is based in Cali, Colombia. Projects include Crop Improvement, Agrobiodiversity and Land Management. Kudos to CIAT for producing regular updates for the Ecoregional Network for Latin America/Red Ecorregional para America Latina. To receive the updates, contact Isabel Gutierrez.

  • http://www.iied.org/
    International Institute for Environment and Development has vastly improved. In the spring of 1996 there wasn't much information at this site. Now a great deal is online.

  • http://www.iclei.org/
    The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) is the international environmental agency for local governments. More than 200 municipalities from 43 countries participated in the founding of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) at the World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future held in September, 1990 at the United Nations in New York.

  • http://www.idrc.ca/
    International Development Research Centre (Ottawa, Canada) is pledged to building a sustainable and equitable world. To meet this challenge, the Centre has focused its efforts on five multi-disciplinary themes: Biodiversity, Poverty and environmental damage, Food systems under stress, Information and communication and Technology and the environment.

  • http://iisd1.iisd.ca/
    The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is a non-profit organization established and supported by the Governments of Canada and Manitoba. IISD's mandate is to promote sustainable development in decision making within government, business and the daily lives of individuals in Canada and the world. Looking for indicators of Sustainable Development. Look at the compendium online http://iisd.ca/measure/compendium.htm. This is a beautiful site!

  • http://www.sustain.org/bulletins/
    Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) publishes or distributes a series of bulletins in both English and Spanish, including BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest, Connection to the Americas, Intellectual Property & Biodiversity News, NAFTA & Inter-American Trade Monitor, El Monitor de NAFTA y Comercio Interamericano, IATP Propiedad Intelectual y Biodiversidad Noticias. The Minnesota-based center has a long history of promoting responsible trade and its publications are a model of advocacy journalism.

  • http://www.lead.org/
    Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) is a disappointment and it's unclear if its presence in the real world is much better. The online description reads: "In each LEAD member country or regions, approximately 15 promising mid-career are recruited from a broad range of disciplines and professional sectors to become Associates in the two-year program." Empty virtual conference halls and out-of-date contact lists undermines what could be a useful resource.

  • http://www.oas.org/
    Organization of the American States: "The OAS' Department of Regional Development and Environment conducts technical cooperation and training programs to assist the member States in their efforts to preserve their natural resources. It works with the countries on planning sustainable development, managing the environment and preparing investment programs and projects." The site has some country-specific reports, though none online and the website offers few contacts. Pages include a Proposal to Create a Sustainable Development Unit and the Bolivia Summit.

  • http://prometeo.cool.co.cr/usr/pleds/
    PLEDS: "The Resource Directory was developed by the Fundacion Acceso at the request of the Business Leadership for Sustainable Development Program (PLEDS) an initiative of INCAE (the Central American Business Institute). This Network of 50 members from 18 countries of Latin America seeks to motivate the region's young business leaders to undertake specific projects in support of the sustainable development of their companies, sectors, and countries by providing them with access to practical business information, personal references, management training, and opportunities for dialogue both within the network as well as with professionals in other sectors. Part of the Acceso project at http://www.acceso.org.

  • http://www.semarnap.gob.mx/proders/
    PRODERS: Mexico's regional program for sustainable development run by the Environmental Secretariat (SEMARNAP) is an exemplary web site. Mexico demonstrates great leadership in distributing information on this topic.

  • http://www.rafiusa.org
    RAFI: This is a wonderful, content-rich site! RAFI is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada) and with affiliate offices in Pittsboro, North Carolina (USA). "RAFI is concerned about the loss of genetic diversity - especially in agriculture - and about the impact of intellectual property rights on agriculture and world food security."

  • http://www.unep.ch/
    United Nations Environment Programme remains a disappointment. They say: "Geneva is a leading center for international treaties and major programmes dealing with the environment and sustainable development. Most of these activities are sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) or by the UN Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD)." I would ask that there be more specific information from the United Nations, starting with a useful calendar.

  • http://unep.frw.uva.nl
    United Nations Environment Program, Work Group on Sustainable Product Development: Includes information about the working group, its database, links to other environmental web pages, the newsfax archive and information on joining the program. There is also a Economic and Social Development section -- http://www.un.org/esa/ -- online.

  • http://www-esd.worldbank.org/html/esd/esdvp/esdvp.htm
    World Bank - Environmentally Sustainable Development: Content-bereft - this site has a list of tempting publications, none of which are available via the website and a calendar of events that is available only to World Bank staff: "The ESD Calendar of Events and Outputs is available only to World Bank staff that are accessing the Internet through the Bank's connection. People not in the Bank can not access this page." This is an embarrassment! For such an important division, it's a shame there is no documentation available to the public here. No email and don't even try to connect to the calendar section.

  • http://www.wbcsd.ch
    World Business Council for Sustainable Development: What starts as a good idea -- entrepreneurs working to protect the environment, talking about eco-efficiency and corporate social responsibility. But it's unclear what the group really does. Publications are available, in PDF format unfortunately. The WBCSD produces the quarterly Trade and Environment Bulletin, which offers a good review of current news in this field.

  DATED RESOURCES

  • http://www.context.org/
    Context Institute is a content-rich website, focusing on "sustainable culture." This is a great resource for planetary thinking and access to more than 1,000 articles. Bad news -- the site has not been updated since July 2000.

  • http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/
    Academy 2000: Distance Learning in the Watershed Approach is an innovative project from the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States. The content is not directly related to Latin America, but give this site kudos for providing an assortment of interesting documents online. Choice quote from the site: "Our economic choices should not be based on the principle of maximizing utility, but rather on minimizing regret."

  • http://mite.cs.cowan.edu.au/ipc6/toc.html
    Designing the Future - Proceedings from a 1996 Permaculture Conference is an excellent resource about sustainable agriculture. I wish more conferences put the full-text of terrific presentations online. While the conference was global in scope, there are several Latin America-specific articles, including one that details permaculture in Nicaragua

  • http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/sdrp/
    Sustainable Development Reporting Project is an archive of articles written by John Burnett, an Austin, Texas-based reporter, who also prepared audio versions of this series for National Public Radio. This is an excellent snapshot of sustainable development in Mexico and Central America from the 1990s.

  • http://www.utexas.edu/courses/sustdevt/
    Sustainable Development: Implications for World Peace was a 1996 conference held in Austin, Texas. Some of the papers are online as well as conference photos. Unfortunately, some of the links aren't working and the host does not respond to emails... Many of the papers, such as Sustaining Peace in Central America: The Challenges of the Central American Alliance for Sustainable Development tend to relay too heavily on what the institutions say they are doing instead of reviewing actual progress. Another paper, Philip Howard's Unsustainable Development and Conflict in Chiapas is listed but never has been accessible online.