The Social Process Diagram published in 1992 was an attempt to map out the key systems and interactions among systems that were seen as underpinning the human drivers of global environmental change.
Category: Poverty / Economic Development
Overcoming Challenges to Local Development in Haiti
Haiti Dialogue Series: Should funds be more effectively channeled through the Haitian government, a decentralized finance program could help streamline financing and reinforce local government planning efforts. As part of the Haiti Research and Policy Program dialogue series, Tatiana Wah was joined by Leslie Pean to discuss possible approaches to achieving the call for decentralization in Haiti that has been a part of the country’s development plans for decades, with renewed efforts after the 2010 earthquake. Most current international aid and development funding circumvents the government ministries at the national level. The lack of dedicated local budgets, as well as a weak incentive structure to attract or retain skilled professionals who are capable of complex governance, is a considerable hurdle for any decentralization proposal in Haiti.
Brahmaputra chars
We traveled to the Brahmaputra River, one of the most active on the planet, to continue our fieldwork. We visited two places while working our way downstream and saw the rapid changes in the river bank and chars (islands). At one ghat (dock) the river had eroded a mile of the coast while in the other it added a similar amount. The chars had moved, appeared, disappeared and reemerged. In this changing environment, the resilient Bangladeshi char people shifted and adapted with the land.
Author: Haiti Relief Lacking in Long-Term Solutions
Haiti Dialog Series: Author Jonathan M. Katz joined the Haiti Research and Policy Program’s dialogue series to discuss his new book and two years reporting on the Haitian recovery after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Katz argues within his book that the international aid money has become a missed opportunity to address core development challenges in Haiti and that the country remains equally vulnerable today as it did prior to January 10th, 2010.
Extraordinary Support for Sustainable Development
Visit the interactive digital Earth Institute 2012 Annual Donor Report to see some of the remarkable projects, initiatives and achievements that have been made possible through the support and advocacy of donors, students, faculty and staff in fiscal year 2012.
Hartal!
A two day general strike disrupted our field plans, but Bangladeshis are adept at adapting to any change. We walked the local outcrops one day and hired a small pickup truck the next and managed to accomplish our goals despite the political turmoil.
Rosario’s Farm: Rising Tides, Shrimp from the Forest
Rosario Costa-Cabral and her brothers harvest hundreds of fruits, oils and wood products from the stream-laced forest of the Amazon River delta. But the climate here is changing: Tides rise higher, and seasonal floods are growing worse.
Summer Opportunities for Columbia Students at UN Environment Programme
Since the Fall of 2007, the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch (PCDMB) and the Earth Institute, Columbia University, have partnered to offer Research Assistantships each year to Columbia University graduate students. These positions take place at the PCDMB offices in Geneva, Switzerland, each summer. Travel costs will be covered for the selected students by the program.
Poor Ethiopian Farmers Receive ‘Unprecedented’ Insurance Payout
Thanks to a groundbreaking new program that relies on advanced satellite technology, a weather index insurance payout of unprecedented scale will benefit poor African farmers.
Glenn Denning’s Road to Bali, and the Earth Institute
Glenn Denning grew up in Brisbane, Australia, loved the outdoors and hated the idea of working in an office. And, he really didn’t have any urge to go to other countries. Then he happened to overhear a conversation in a hallway between two students. That bit of serendipity sent him on a road to a life overseas; to key roles in “green revolutions” in Asia and Africa; and eventually to an office at Columbia University, and the Earth Institute.
