News in Japan - January

GEJET
One in four tsunami children needs psychiatric care
Naraha mayor rejects gov't plan to build nuclear waste storage facility

Japan
Tokyo can't handle heavy snowfall If the temperature drops below minus 4 degrees Celsius for several hours, water in the pipes freezes and expands, causing pipes to rupture. Last winter, Tokyo reported some 200 such cases, and the figure in 2011 was about 550 cases. Ominously, in both of these cases the temperature remained higher than minus 4 degrees.

USA
'It's too darn cold': Historic freeze brings rare danger warning
Storm Surge Barriers for Manhattan Could Worsen Effects On Nearby Areas: Other Options Proposed

Other areas
Roots of Deadly 2010 India Flood Identified; Findings Could Improve Warnings
Mapping the Benefits of Our Ecosystems
Beneath Booming Cities, China’s Future Is Drying Up

Top 50 Water Blogs 2013

SDGs open way for ‘resilient development’

Call for applications: Future Earth Engagement Committee

Climate change research is globally skewed

Sea level variations escalating along eastern Gulf of Mexico coast

World's most vulnerable areas to climate change mapped

Vulnerable people
Equality man and woman in constitution Tunesia (Dutch)

Only 15% of Davos attendees are women, even fewer than last year

Psychological vulnerable older adults are more susceptible to fraud

Environmental Ethics (2)

Today we had the second special lecture on Environmental Ethics. The topics included deep ecology, eco-feminism and radical change, with a focus on current issues.

One thought experiment was that of John Rawls and the original position. Imagine you know the basic facts of natural and human science, but you don't know who of the humans you are. What rules would you use to distribute goods and burdens? If we want to guarantee the result of this distribution is acceptable, we need unanimous agreement on the rules. While this is certainly a fair process, it might take too long to be practiced.

Secondly, the question was raised, who determines what you want? Is it marketing or other people? These days it seems many people have little time to think and make up our mind themselves, distracted by consumerism.

An emerging consensus from environmental pragmatism and sustainability revolves around 4 points:

• market economics alone are insufficient
• earth's productive capacity is limited
• environmental justice cannot be separated from social justice
• we have responsibilities for future generations

Again, there is many flexibility as to how this could or should turn into practical environmental policies.


Finally, there were some special recommended links:

• Ecological footprint - see what your footprint is by making a few clicks
• Interface - sustainable business
• Center for a new american dream
• Natural capitalism
• World population clock - open the page and come back to it after a while to see how many new people exist after you drink a coffee or read an article. Cities full of them!

Environmental Ethics

Today was the first of 2 special lectures on Environmental Ethics, from the Environmental Diplomatic Leader program at Tsukuba University. Open to all without registration, I joined to learn more about ethical considerations in environmental policy.

The main question of environmental ethics is, given the facts, should we act, and then, what should we do?

Also important is how to answer these questions. Science and technology often refer to risk assessment or cost/benefit analysis to determine policies. This leads to the main conflict: who decides what is acceptable risk, and are all risks equal? Many environmental issues are often only handled by technological scientists, but those bearing the risks are often not included in decisions.

Often in global politics we are confronted with the right of the strongest, 'justice is the advantage of the stronger', or 'might is right'. Ethically, we should respect the dignity of each individual and consider ourselves better than other people. How can this practically lead to policies that we all can agree on, if we are to respect everyone's values? Theoretically a free market might lead to everyone's preferences being satisfied, but the rights of minorities cannot be protected without additional measures.

The lecture covered several historic streams of thoughts and explored modern day questions, such as 'does it make sense to talk about human rights of future generations who do not yet exist, and what about animals?' Should we then look at individual animals, or at species as a whole? Concerning climate change, the big question was, if we don't know the exact consequences, what should we do? Some people argue to act on the side of caution, while others say, we don't know what will happen so why do anything at all?

In my opinion, having rights also includes a responsibility for safeguarding those rights for yourself and the world. This links to the new Future Earth initiative: "Future Earth is a new 10-year international research initiative that will develop the knowledge for responding effectively to the risks and opportunities of global environmental change and for supporting transformation towards global sustainability in the coming decades. Future Earth will mobilize thousands of scientists while strengthening partnerships with policy-makers and other stakeholders to provide sustainability options and solutions in the wake of Rio+20."  Sounds interesting? Sign up to be on their committee before March 14 and actively participate in the future of the planet.

International Development Policy

All the material for the course 'international development policy' is available at this website. As disaster risk management, from prevention to recovery, is often dependent on development aid, it is important to understand the links and integration with development. The reading material includes in depth explanations of the working of developmental aid in both Africa and Asia.

Course description:

This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of international development policy through reading and discussing recent papers and reports, with special attention to global transformation. The course is offered through a mix of lectures and workshops. Students will be exposed to a range of international development topics and contemporary policy debates. The East Asian perspectives of aid and development will also be introduced.

International development has undergone significant changes over the last decades with the progress of globalization. The East Asian economies have achieved rapid growth with poverty reduction, while fragile states continue to struggle with the challenges of nation building. Development agenda have become increasingly complex, and new actors such as emerging donors, civil society, and the business community, are now important players in development. Such global transformation presents challenges to the traditional approach to development and aid.

The first few lectures will give an overview of the evolution of international development policy and development cooperation. Workshops include student presentations and discussions. At each class, one or two students will present the main points of pre-assigned policy-related reports or papers and share his/her perspectives, based on the assigned readings. In some lectures, guest speakers with first-hand experience of development cooperation and policymaking may be invited to interact with students.