The Drum Beat 181 - The Environment

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More than 10 years have passed since the Rio de Janiero summit. In this time:

• global aid spending fell from $69 billion in 1992 to $53 billion in 2000
• in 2000, 3 million children under 5 in developing countries died from diarrhoeal diseases caused by unsafe water supply, sanitation, and hygiene; 60% of the 2.2 million deaths per year in children under 5 are caused by acute respiratory infections associated with indoor air pollution
• 80% of the wastewater in Latin American cities is discharged untreated into the environment
• 31 countries, accounting for 8% of the world population, face chronic freshwater shortages
• in Indonesia 70% of timber production is illegally logged; in Central Africa logging concessions cover more than half of the world's 2nd largest tropical rainforest
• in 1996, one United States citizen was responsible for producing as much greenhouse gas as 19 Indians, 30 Pakistanis, or 269 Nepalese

This issue of the Drum Beat focuses on approaches to communication about environmental problems and solutions.

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LOCAL & REGIONAL INITIATIVES

1. Maiti Ritual - India
Tree planting takes place during wedding ceremonies in the Kumaon hills of Uttarachal, India. Designed to increase forest cover, this "mother's home" ritual is sustained largely through the efforts of local women, who are disproportionately impacted by deforestation (they must walk for miles in search of grass, wood, and drinking water).
Contact harcddn@nde.vsnl.net.in

2. Ecologically Based Municipal Land Use Planning - provides solutions for controlling urban sprawl with an emphasis on the integration of federal, state, and local land use plans; discusses ecological resources; and provides practical solutions that municipal planners can implement on a local level.

3. Common Ground: A Vision from the South Asia-Canada Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture
"We, farmers and activists from Canada, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh...oppose the policies of multi-lateral and bilateral agencies and practices of transnational corporations that undermine the culture and systems of production of agrarian communities. We want to reassert, along with many other groups making the same call, that food sovereignty is not negotiable. This means respecting and protecting the sovereignty of individual farmers, farming households, communities and nations to decide what seeds to plant in their soils and to localize agriculture in accordance with their cultures..."

4. Latin American and Caribbean Forest Network
A network of model forests designed to show how partnerships with local communities and improvements in government policies can lead to effective forest management, environmental conservation, and poverty reduction.

5. Desertification 2002 - South Africa
Regional network organised by the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia (DRFN).
Contact info@drfn.org.na

6. Weekly Environment Programme (Radio Comunidade Lospalos) - East Timor
A weekly radio programme organised by the local government and NGOs in order to give community members an opportunity to discuss environmental degradation.

7. Rainwater Harvesting - Idkidu, Karnataka, India
A community effort to plan for water sustainability launched by a local farmers' organisation in Idkidu. Awareness workshops and a door-to-door survey doubled as a campaign to foster the collection and harvesting of rainwater.

CHILD & YOUTH INITIATIVES

8. Children's Media Center (CMC) - Kyrgyzstan
A film documentary details the efforts of kids from orphanages who cleaned up the river Alamedin.
Contact Chinara Donbaeva cdonbaeva@scuk.kg

9. YES! Project - United States & Global
Initiated by the Positive Futures Network (PFN) in an effort to empower young people to address social and environmental crises through a journal, a classroom initiative, a website, and a book project.
Contact yes@futurenet.org

10. Global Action Plan for the Earth (GAP) - Global
Peer support groups, campaigns, and school programmes like Journey for the Planet designed to encourage people to adopt "green" behaviours.
Contact David Gershon GAPUSA@mhv.net

11. Rescue Mission 2002: Planet Earth A book written, illustrated, designed, and produced by and for young people aged 13 and above. Explains the major UN documents, conferences, and ideas since the Rio Earth Summit and Agenda 21.

ANALYSIS & THINKING

12. Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing
Details how to uncover - and to provide a set of tools to address - the barriers that inhibit individuals from engaging in sustainable behaviours. The strategies detailed, and the methods suggested in order to implement and evaluate them, form the basis of "community-based social marketing".

13. Understanding, Conducting & Interpreting Environmental Assessments Mar 5-7, 2003 - Islamabad, Pakistan
A 3-day training course designed to make project planners aware of various environmental assessment techniques through a case-study-based approach. The training will also examine the role of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing in data handling and decision making. A field visit will be included.

14. Principles for Ethical Documentaries about the Natural World
Provides a set of guidelines for field work designed to foster an ethical relationship between the documentary filmmaker/videographer and the natural world. The guidelines focus on respect for the welfare of animals, maintaining the ecological integrity of ecosystems being filmed, and portraying natural behaviour accurately.

15. Environmental Communication Applying Communication Tools Towards Sustainable Development
A working paper outlining Environmental Communication as the planned and strategic use of communication processes to support effective policy-making and project implementation geared toward environmental sustainability.

INTERNET APPROACHES

16. SE European Environmental NGOs form Electronic Networks Environmental NGOs in South-Eastern Europe (SEE) have taken steps to initiate electronic networks in their countries and have linked them regionally.

17. Internet Conference on Communication for Sustainable Development
A conference organised by World Bank EnvCom that was conducted from Oct 7 to Nov 1, 2002 entirely on the Internet in an effort to bring together environmental practitioners and communication specialists from environmental agencies, international organisations, academia, civil society, and the media to establish a dialogue on the strategic use of communication to support environment projects.

18. The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
An association of over 300 local governments worldwide dedicated to the prevention and solution of local, regional, and global environmental problems through local action.

19. Earthwatch Radio
An outreach project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, Wisconsin, USA) that produces 260 two-minute radio programmes a year for broadcast in North America and Costa Rica on science and the environment, with a special focus on global climate change, the Great Lakes, and the oceans.

20. Sparknet
An interdisciplinary online meeting/publishing network focusing on energy for low-income households in Southern and East Africa. Comparative country data and Internet conferences are offered.

21. Synergy International Incorporated
An international team working to promote, develop, and implement projects that introduce renewable and sustainable technologies, with a focus on ecological design that incorporates solar energy systems and other regenerative technologies.

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Drum Beat to the Editor - Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com

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