Daily Archives: May 23, 2017

Desert lands run by the U.S. Department of Interior in Utah. Kirk Siegler/Kirk Siegler hide caption

Desert lands run by the U.S. Department of Interior in Utah.

Rural communities dependent on U.S. public lands for everything from outdoor recreation to hunting to livestock grazing could be hit hard under the Trump administration's latest budget proposal unveiled Tuesday.

Still subject to approval by Congress, the president's budget includes a roughly $1.4 billion cut to the Department of Interior and far deeper cuts to the Department of Agriculture: combined the two agencies own and manage more than 700 million acres of public lands, mostly in the West.

Here are three items of note in the Department of Interior budget alone that aren't generating much attention so far. But they could disproportionately hit rural communities, many of which tended to support President Trump in last year's election.

As a congressman representing Montana, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was a vocal supporter of the Land and Conservation fund. But at a budget briefing for reporters Tuesday he appeared to sound a different tune on future land acquisition and conservation more generally.

"Rather than simply adding more land, we want to make sure we take care of what we have," Zinke said.

Like many of his predecessors, Secretary Zinke has articulated a broad, if sometimes complicated, vision for the future of public lands management. On the one hand, he's pledged to be a conservation champion in the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt. But he's also promised to boost the economies of rural American towns by increasing mining and other development on public lands that surround them.

For sure, this reflects the often competing "multiple use" mission of DOI agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management. But Zinke predicted that reversing Obama-era policies restricting off-shore drilling alone could bring revenue back for many of the restoration and conservation programs currently facing cuts.

"Some of it has been due to oil and gas pricing, but not all," Zinke said. "A lot of it is uncertainty that we have not been a good partner with industry."

Still, many influential sportsmen and public lands groups say the administration's budget is directly at odds with many of the conservation values Mr. Zinke espouses.

"When you talk about on the one hand, increasing access, and then you cut out the very tool to do that, it's hard to reconcile," said Land Tawney, executive director of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

Tawney says the DOI's budget proposal is reflective of a broader trend that he says has been building in Washington in recent years: "when you starve these agencies of their budgets, you make them look sick, so we can [then] think about divesting in them."

As much of the rural West in particular has been transitioning from a resource-based economy to one more dependent on outdoor recreation, groups like Tawney's have flexed their political muscle recently. They say they plan to press Congress in the coming weeks as well, if the administration's budget proposal moves forward.

Meantime there is early and widespread speculation that much of the budget stands little chance of passing Congress, at least in its current form, even with the president's party in control of both the House and the Senate.

For his part Tuesday, Secretary Zinke seemed to view the latest budget proposal as a conversation starter, even if it's controversial. He argued that many federal land agencies need to be overhauled and updated with a longer term vision.

"I view this as a reorganization to look at how best to manage, protect and use our public lands in the next 100 years, given that we have a number of challenges," Zinke said.

See the rest here:

This Land Is ... Cut Under Trump's Budget? - NPR

A mining port facility in Port Hedland, Australia.

House-buyers seeking a bargain amid the wreckage of Australias mining boom might want to get in quick.

Port Hedland, a shipping hub for the Pilbara iron ore region in Western Australia, saw house prices collapse nearly 70 percent in the past four years as workers lost their jobs and left amid theend of a resources investment boom. But prices there have reached a bottom and are now even rising.

"Were starting to get multiple offers on properties," said Peter Dunning, a real estate agentat Ray White Group in Port Hedland, who says local values have risen about A$50,000 ($37,470) in the past six months."People realized that prices had got so cheap, they probably werent going to get any cheaper. So they started buying.

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Brighter spots in housing is one of three chunks of evidence adding to a growing sense that Australias resource-based economies are improving. The Reserve Bank of Australias liaison with businesses and its data analysis show emerging signs that the Queensland and Western Australian slowdowns are coming to an end, it said earlier this month. The regions jobs markets, meanwhile, showed a healthy pickup in April.

The recent commodities rally has laid a foundation for recovery. While the price of iron ore -- Australias biggest export -- has slipped after unexpectedly rebounding toward the end of last year, it remains well above the lows beneath $40 seen in late 2015. Still, there is potential for the steel-making metal to fall further as no.1 trading partner China stockpiles its holdings.

Port Hedland last month approved BHP Billiton Ltd.s request to boost the amount of iron ore it ships through the port by 5 million tons to 275 million tonnes a year, after the miner initially sought an increase to 290 million tons. The coal-mining state of Queensland, meanwhile, is starting to reap benefits from large-scale liquefied natural gas projects coming on stream.

A CoreLogic report earlier this month found that many mining towns across Australia were seeing sales volumes of houses lift and the rate of price declines starting to slow. But its still a far cry from the good times, when median prices in the fly-ridden, cyclone-prone outpost of Karratha, the Pilbaras biggest town, topped Sydneys by 49 percent.

Read more about the peak of Western Australias housing boom

Nobodys expecting a return to the boom years, when mining workers with no degrees were commanding salaries akin to that of Wall Street bankers. The bonanza lasted for much of the decade though 2012. But recent green shoots bolster the RBAs case that the unwinding of the mining investment boom is almost done, as the central bank seeks to diversify the economy toward services industries.

Drivers of growth in mining states appear to be broader-based than just commodities. Western Australia is getting a A$2.3 billion overhaul of its roads and rails, with a new 60,000-seat stadium also under construction, while works are well underway on Queenslands Gold Coast in preparation for the city hosting next years Commonwealth Games.

Queensland has got a pretty good spread of industries, for example tourism and education, so once the worst of this mining pullback is done, then the prospects are pretty good," said Steven Milch, chief economist at Suncorp Corporate Services Pty.

Deloitte Access Economics is also optimistic about Queensland. It forecasts the north-east state to grow 4.5 percent in fiscal 2018, outstripping New South Waless 3 percent and Victorias 3.4 percent.Growth in Western Australia, the state hardest hit by the mining downturn, is tipped to accelerate from 0.2 percent in fiscal 2018 to 2.2 percent the next year.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. gave a tempered assessment in a May survey:"While activity in Western Australia continues to expand well below trend pace, the weight of the downturn is lifting." The banks Queensland index also improved, but it said that labor-market slack was still a drag on economic activity.

April data showed improvement in the resource states job markets. Queensland added a net 62,100 roles in the six months through April, the most of any state during the period. Western Australias jobless rate dropped 0.6 percentage points to 5.9 percent, the biggest decline in almost two years.

"It is busy over here," said Guy Fulcher, a recruitment consultant at Zenith Search agency in Perth. "Its been slowly picking up in the past 12 months. Its still nowhere near where it was in the boom time, but compared with how quiet it was, its a lot better."

With soaring property prices in Sydney and Melbourne far out of reach for many workers, some economists also expect to see northward migration to Queensland increase. That might go some way to easing an apartment supply glut in Brisbane, which the RBA has identified as a significant restraint on prices in the states biggest city.

Its still a stretch to suggest that resurgent mining states can pick up Australias growth baton should east-coast property markets stutter.

Back in Port Hedlands real estate market, Dunning saidhes also seen a sharp drop in rental vacancies, usually a sign that employers are in hiring mode, while buyer demand is almost entirely from owner-occupiers. He says the real gains wont come until a different type of bargain hunter reappears.

Nothing will happen dramatically until the investors start to come back,"said Dunning. For investors, Port Hedland has got a skull and crossbones on it.

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Australia's Mining Bust Town Reawakens - Bloomberg - Bloomberg

Business News of Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Source: http://www.ghanaweb.com

USAID Ghana Country Director, Girmay Haile

The Country Director of USAIDS Ghana, Girmay Haile has lauded the governments decision to introduce the 1 district 1 factory policy. The policy he intimated will help transform the country from a resource based economy to an industrialised one.

He bemoaned the absence of value addition on the resources we have in the country and explained that the decision to introduce such a project will go a long way to strengthen the economy.

The policy is to industrialise the country, the interpretation of the government is to start from the community with a factory. That way they have pushed the agenda to the community they have pushed the district to the expert, they have pushed the agenda to the investor. He stated.

He added that the policy also gives the opportunity to the community to focus more on it capacity and what it can contribute to the growth and development of its inhabitants and the country by extension We need to look at Ghana and identify what is feasible in terms of industrialisation in each district and each district will have to identify what its actual wealth and capacities are in order for it to start to plan at the district level, a development plan. So I think its a right step In the right direction and we need to and should benefit from that policy, he insisted.

He, however, cautioned that for districts to have the full benefits of the policy, government must dialogue with stakeholders and have broad consultations.

He was sad that a sector like Agriculture which is touted as the backbone of the economy and contributes about 17%-20% to the economy but investment in less than 5% of government expenditure.

The USAID Ghana Country Director expressed worry that most transnational companies that operate in the country end up remitting most of its returns leaving Ghana with nothing.

He called for a proper policy framework to correct such business practices as the country is on the losing side most of the time.

He made these revelations to http://www.ghanaweb.com on the sidelines of day two of the Ghana CEOs Summit held at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra on Tuesday.

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USAID country director lauds one district, one factory policy ... - GhanaWeb

This past week we celebrated graduation at Columbia University. Throughout the week, schools gathered under tents on campus, and on Wednesday the entire university gathered for the official commencement and to hear Columbias President Lee Bollinger speak on the importance of free speech and the free global exchange of ideas. Some advocates of sustainability push a particular ideology or set of answers to these pressing problems, but at Columbia we have worked hard to ensure that multiple perspectives are part of our teaching and learning. We teach climate law and command and control regulation, and at the same time offer a certificate in sustainability finance that focuses on market-based solutions to the challenges of transitioning to a renewable resource-based economy. Our search for sustainability must be an open and honest one. My favorite part of President Bollingers speech was when he put his own office and prestige behind his advocacy of free speech and observed that:

Anyone with a voice can shout over a speaker; but being able to listen to and then effectively rebut those with whom we disagreeparticularly those who themselves peddle intoleranceis one of the greatest skills our education can bestow. And it is something our democracy desperately needs more of. That is why, I say to you now, if speakers who are being denied access to other campuses were to come here, I will personally volunteer to introduce them, and listen to them, however much I may disagree with them. But I will also never hesitate to make clear why I disagree with them.

There are environmental advocates who believe that they have a monopoly on wisdom. They dont. Ive been working on environmental policy for over four decades and I have made many mistakes. Over time, I think Ive learned some hard lessons and come to understand that listening is central to learning. Hearing contrary perspectives and stories drawn from many experiences is essential to intellectual growth. Columbias sustainability curriculum and co-curricular programming provides opportunities for choice and different approaches. I dont always agree with the faculty I recruit to teach and I know they dont always agree with me. And following the lead of our universitys president, one of my jobs as an educator is to ensure the respectful airing of disagreements and to insist on dialogue and genuine free speech. The goal of sustainability is an economy that does not damage the planet beyond repair. There are many ways to achieve that goal; some have not yet been invented.

I direct and teach in two masters programs at Columbia, the Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and the Master of Science in Sustainability Management at the School of Professional Studies. While Ive participated in many commencement ceremonies, they never get old. This weeks school ceremonies were thrilling. On Monday, I greeted well over one hundred Sustainability Management graduates and witnessed our students and faculty winning several school awards for outstanding achievements. On Thursday, I celebrated with about 50 MPAs in Environmental Science and Policy as they graduated from SIPA. The student bodies of both schools were diverse, happy and surrounded by family and friends. Families travel thousands of miles to participate in this educational rite of passage. At SIPAs graduation, graduates carried flags from scores of nations. From the stage, the faculty viewed a sea of colors of nations and faces celebrating a globalism that cannot and will not be stopped by the forces of reaction and xenophobia.

Our economic life is changing, and for some the transition has been painful. Education at every levelfrom K-12 through community college and from college to graduate schoolhas become key to economic survival in this changing world. So too has specialized technical and vocational training. Last week I saw proud parents who have struggled and sacrificed to ensure that their children could succeed in this changing world. It doesnt get much more expensive than New York Citys cost of living and Columbias tuition. The faces of parents seemed to reflect pride of accomplishment and a little sense of relief. As faculty, it is critical that we always remember our responsibility to deliver on our end of the bargain. Educators must be life-long learners themselves, in order to ensure that we are able to prepare our students for the dynamic environment they are entering.

When I first studied and taught about environmental policy, my focus was on pollution and its impact on ecology and human health. Today, the field of sustainability management seeks to integrate understanding of the physical dimensions of sustainability into routine management decision-making. I am teaching tomorrows CEOs to manage their organizations waste, use of energy, water and other raw materialsto ensure sustainability throughout supply chains and to be aware of the financial risks posed by environmental accidents, pollution and climate change. The field continues to study conservation and pollution, but now encompasses a far broader set of concerns and has come to include the built environment, management, and the transition to sustainable cities. Students are pushing us to teach about start-ups, locally sourced food, and the environmental benefits of the sharing economy.

While the content of our courses evolves, some basics remain. Understanding the planets physics, chemistry, ecology, biology, culture, technology, politics, organizations, economics and values are at the center of our curriculum. Academic integrity, civility and hard work are as important as ever. Students of environment and sustainability can be wonderful to teach because they are often idealists with a deep sense of mission. They are determined to apply their new knowledge in the real world and spend a great deal of time and effort networking to find meaningful work in an unstructured but rapidly growing profession.

I hear often from our graduates who are applying the knowledge they gained in our programs to the problems they address every day. They are not shy about suggesting improvements, relaying trends and telling me the positive value of the lessons they learned with us. A number have come back to teach or give talks. Many mentor current students, and many are extraordinarily generous with their time. I am sure these experiences feed my optimism that we will meet the challenges of the crisis of global sustainability. A positive, creative and energetic community of sustainability professionals has emerged over the past decade. Many environmental scholars and advocates are skilled at communicating worst-case scenarios. They believe that gloom and doom conveys the sense of urgency that they feel. But spend a few months with our students and alums and you start to believe that even the most urgent crises can be addressed.

The most fundamental evolution of the field from environmental policy to sustainability management is that our profession is no longer limited to advocates, lobbyists and policy makers, but now includes entrepreneurs, green financiers, builders, managers and owners. We know we need to change the world, but the process will take place piece by piece, block by block, within distinct organizations, specific neighborhoods, cities and states. Our graduates are working to improve the quality of our lives while maintaining the quality of the environment. They are trained to do that. They know the questions to ask and how to find the experts needed to provide answers. And each year American universities are producing more and more graduates like the ones we educate at Columbia University.

Start your workday the right way with the news that matters most.

See more here:

The Evolution Of Sustainability Education - HuffPost

A report recently published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) revealed that Iran has made significant progress towards a knowledge-based economy, powered by science and innovation. However, the report indicates that certain measures should be taken to fully harness the potential of the country.

In a 3-part articlewe will highlight the main findings of the 100 page report on Irans science, technology and innovation standing. The first part will focus on the human resource base of Iran. In the next two parts, infrastructure and the role of knowledge-based firms in the transition towards a knowledge-based economy will be discussed.

In recent years, Iran has been moving swiftly towards a more diverse economy that is less dependent on oil. Statistics show that the number of knowledge-based firms and S&T parks, and the amount of technology-based and knowledge-based exports have increased noticeably. These statistics indicate a national commitment to foster economic growth and sustainable development.

While not long age sanctions had almost left Iran no choice other than to opt a self-reliance strategy, recent political developments have provided grounds for Iran to collaborate internationally, exchange technology and know-how and engage in more innovative and scientific economic activities. Using the revenues from Oil and Gas to finance innovative endeavors and invest in other industrial sectors, Iran has been steadily moving away from an economy that was once almost solely dependent on oil.

The devotion of the country to develop a knowledge-based innovative economy has led to a strong human resource base. Iran has now one of the highest numbers of young educated adults. It ranks second globally in the number of engineering graduates per capita. Many well-educated and trained Iranians also live abroad as scientists and entrepreneurs, some of which are returning or plan to return to Iran following the optimism regarding the economy and politics of the country.

Iran has made significant progress in science; Higher education enrollment has almost doubled, the number of PhD students has tripled in the last 10 years, and the country is now ranked 16th globally and first in the middle east in terms of scientific publications, a significant improvement since 2005. New areas of research including nanotechnology, biotechnology and renewable energies have gained popularity among Iranian academics, ranking 15th in the world in 2016.

Despite these promising prospects, Iran still suffers from an illiteracy rate of around 13% among adults, an issue that the government should tackle. The unemployment rate among educated adults is twice the national average, which highlights the need to improve training and include vocational and technical education to deliver a better match between the skills of this group and industry needs.

The Human Development Index (HDI) shows Iran has moved from countries with low human development to countries with medium human development, from the 1980s to 2002. Womens participation in higher education has now reached the position of near equality. Female students now account for more than half the student population in social and medical sciences and while the engineering sciences are still dominated by men, women account for 35% of the total engineering students.

The highly educated and skilled labour force in Iran is a major resource for economic development, however, to ensure a fast and reliable transition towards a knowledge-based economy policymakers should plan to fully leverage this valuable resource.

More:

Iran Swiftly Moving Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy Part 1 - TechRasa (press release) (blog)