Indian publishing: enduring the boom

There has been a boom in the publication of Indian plant science research in recent years, defying national trends in other sciences and outperforming the international trends in plant science publications. This boom augurs well for India considering the importance of agriculture to her economy and the crucial need for science-based solutions to break the yield barriers. However, sustaining it requires tackling the problems of funding, infrastructure, manpower and other policy issues.     

Proliferation of hydroelectric dams in the Andean Amazon and implications for Andes-Amazon connectivity

Due to rising energy demands and abundant untapped potential, hydropower projects are rapidly increasing in the Neotropics. This is especially true in the wet and rugged Andean Amazon, where regional governments are prioritizing new hydroelectric dams as the centerpiece of long-term energy plans. However, the current planning for hydropower lacks adequate regional and basin-scale assessment of potential ecological impacts. This lack of strategic planning is particularly problematic given the intimate link between the Andes and Amazonian flood plain, together one of the most species rich zones on Earth. We examined the potential ecological impacts, in terms of river connectivity and forest loss, of the planned proliferation of hydroelectric dams across all Andean tributaries of the Amazon River. Considering data on the full portfolios of existing and planned dams, along with data on roads and transmission line systems, we developed a new conceptual framework to estimate the relative impacts of all planned dams. There are plans for 151 new dams greater than 2 MW over the next 20 years, more than a 300% increase. These dams would include five of the six major Andean tributaries of the Amazon. Our ecological impact analysis classified 47% of the potential new dams as high impact and just 19% as low impact. Sixty percent of the dams would cause the first major break in connectivity between protected Andean headwaters and the lowland Amazon. More than 80% would drive deforestation due to new roads, transmission lines, or inundation. We conclude with a discussion of three major policy implications of these findings. 1) There is a critical need for further strategic regional and basin scale evaluation of dams. 2) There is an urgent need for a strategic plan to maintain Andes-Amazon connectivity. 3) Reconsideration of hydropower as a low-impact energy source in the Neotropics.     

Governing Anti-conservation Sentiments: Forest Politics in Laos

In many developing countries, conservation is regarded in a negative manner and this supports critical framings of conservation as a form of government or imperialism. This article examines debates about conservation and forests in Laos, and in particular, at the site of the World Bank supported Nam Theun 2 hydropower project that has featured prominently in international and national critiques of conservation. In Laos, foreign-driven conservation initiatives have at times challenged nationwide aspirations for development. But a fuller understanding of Lao concerns requires attention not only to international interventions, but also to perspectives of forests and management of these resources by the Lao state. Most significantly, a widely shared idea of foreign conservation as opposed to Lao development is used to elide the emergent competition between the state and rural villagers over forest resources. Anti-conservation sentiments, like their converse, can thus be used as strategies of government.     

Hydropower and the future of Amazonian biodiversity

In an effort to ensure energy independence and exploit mineral resources, the governments of Amazonian countries are embarking on a major dam building drive on the basin’s rivers, with 191 dams finished and a further 246 planned or under construction. This rush to harvest the basin’s vast renewable energy capacity has come without proper consideration of the likely negative environmental externalities on the world’s most speciose freshwater and terrestrial biotas. Here we highlight the economic drivers for hydropower development and review the literature to summarise the impacts of dam building on Amazonian biodiversity. We identify both direct and indirect impacts through the anticipated loss, fragmentation and degradation of riparian habitats. We then propose a series of measures to assess, curb and mitigate the impacts of destructive dams on Amazonian biodiversity.     

Ethics committees in western and central Africa: concrete foundations

The involvement of developing countries in international clinical trials is necessary for the development of appropriate medicines for local populations. However, the absence of appropriate structures for ethical review represents a barrier for certain countries. Currently there is very little information available on existing structures dedicated to ethics in western and central Africa. This article briefly describes historical milestones in the development of networks dedicated to capacity building in ethical review in these regions and outlines the major conclusions of two workshops on this issue, which were held in September and October 2002 in Libreville, Gabon, and Paris, France. The workshops were the culmination of collaboration between the African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET) and the Pan African Bioethics Initiative (PABIN). They produced an update on ethics organizations with regard to mission, function, activities, members, and contact people, in eight countries within the regions discussed. As a result of the commitment of mandated delegates, a further prominent outcome followed these workshops: the creation of national structures, where none existed before, dedicated to the ethical review of clinical trials.     

International Trade Modelling Using Open Flow Networks: A Flow-Distance Based Analysis

This paper models and analyzes international trade flows using open flow networks (OFNs) with the approaches of flow distances, which provide a novel perspective and effective tools for the study of international trade. We discuss the establishment of OFNs of international trade from two coupled viewpoints: the viewpoint of trading commodity flow and that of money flow. Based on the novel model with flow distance approaches, meaningful insights are gained. First, by introducing the concepts of trade trophic levels and niches, countries’ roles and positions in the global supply chains (or value-added chains) can be evaluated quantitatively. We find that the distributions of trading “trophic levels” have the similar clustering pattern for different types of commodities, and summarize some regularities between money flow and commodity flow viewpoints. Second, we find that active and competitive countries trade a wide spectrum of products, while inactive and underdeveloped countries trade a limited variety of products. Besides, some abnormal countries import many types of goods, which the vast majority of countries do not need to import. Third, harmonic node centrality is proposed and we find the phenomenon of centrality stratification. All the results illustrate the usefulness of the model of OFNs with its network approaches for investigating international trade flows.     

Infestation by pyrethroids resistant bed bugs in the suburb of Paris,France

Bed bugs are hematophagous insects responsible for a re-emerging and challenging indoor pest in many countries. Bed bugs infestations may have health consequences including nuisance biting, cutaneous and systemic reactions. This resurgence can probably be attributed to factors such as increased international travel and development of resistance against insecticides. Resistance against pyrethroids has been reported several times from the USA and rarely in Europe. In France, very few data on bed bugs are available. The present study aimed to assess the infestation by bed bugs of a complex of two high-rise apartment buildings in the suburb of Paris and to evaluate their susceptibility to pyrethroid insecticides. We inspected for bed bugs 192 out of 198 apartments units (97%) and interviewed their residents. 76 (39.6%) apartments were infested. Among the 97 residents living in infested apartments, 53 (54.6%) reported bed bug bites. A total of 564 bed bugs were collected in the infested units. Bioassays showed that 54 out of 143 bed bugs were resistant to pyrethroids (37.8%; 95% confidence interval: 29.9-45.7%). DNA sequencing showed that all bed bugs tested (n = 124) had homozygous L925I kdr-like gene mutation. The level of pyrethroid resistance found indicates that this phenomenon was already established in the site and prompts the need to reevaluate the wide use of pyrethroids to control bed bugs.     

Life cycle inventory study of the electrical energy production in Romania

Aim, Scope and Background The paper proposes the assessment of the environmental interventions resulting from the electrical energy production in Romania, a Central East European country, using the LCA technique limited to a Life Cycle Inventory study (an LCA without the Life Cycle Impact Assessment phase). Main Features The following life cycles of the energy carriers employed in the production of the electrical energy are analysed according to their provenance: lignite (domestic) 31.2%, brown coal (domestic) 3.4%, brown coal (import) 0.4%, heavy oil (domestic, land) 4.2%, heavy oil (domestic, continental platform of the Black Sea) 0.4%, heavy oil (import) 3.6%, natural gas (domestic) 12.4%, natural gas (import) 6.1%, hydropower 27.8%, and nuclear energy 10.5% from the total of the electrical energy produced in Romania. The unit processes of the life cycles of these energy carriers are aggregated in two main stages: Pre-combustion (extraction, processing, transport and achievement of infrastructure) and Combustion (the production of electricity). The functional unit of the study is represented by 1 kwh. The spatial limits of the analysed system are extended as far as CIS countries for coal, Western Siberia (Russian Federation) for natural gas and the OPEC countries for oil. The temporal limits are included in the year 2000. Results and Discussion The LCI study enabled us to quantify the interventions on the environment, which result from the electricity production in Romania, the independent use of different energy carriers and the different life cycle stages of the system. The use of the LCA technique in a prospective way shows the reduction of these interventions that could be achieved through the adoption of specific scenarios for the development of electrical energy production in the country. Conclusions The main findings of this Life Cycle Inventory study, the first for Romania, are: the emissions of pollutant substances are prevailing in the combustion stage; for different energy carriers, the magnitude of environmental interventions decrease in the following order: coal, oil, natural gas, hydropower and nuclear energy. By comparison with other countries, the environment is more affected by the production of electricity in the case of Romania and only the promotion of alternative, renewable resources such as hydropower could substantially improve these interventions. Recommendations and Perspectives Some important interactions with the environment, like land use or the risks of the nuclear energy, are not taken into consideration in the study because of the lack of particular data for Romania. We would like to continue the investigation in order to surpass the limits of the study, on the one hand by collecting data concerning the risk of nuclear power or land use at the national level for different energy carriers or, on the other hand, by taking into account some other renewable resources like wind or solar energy.     

The Future Role of the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) in Tissue Banking

The International Atomic Energy Agency, an agency of the United Nations, has supported tissue banking programmes in 28 countries to further extend the use of ionising radiation for medical sterilisation applications. Up to 1998, some 115,000 tissue allografts have been produced and clinically used. A new thematic approach has now been introduced to set strict criteria to govern future developments. The emphasis will be on appropriate training and the introduction of Quality Systems in order to achieve international standards. Countries wishing to gain further support will be required to demonstrate the need and performance. To ensure a training mode appropriate to a global organisation, a multi-media training curriculum has been developed, which can be delivered by distance learning methods. Following its successful launch in the Asia Pacific region, the curriculum is now being translated into Spanish for use in Latin American countries. The Republic of Korea government too has provided resources for translation into their language and to initiate a national programme. In other countries national networks are being set up for improving public and professional awareness, training and tissue distribution. Collaboration with international organisations is another new area of development.     

International intellectual property strategies for therapeutic antibodies

Therapeutic antibodies need international patent protection as their markets expand to include industrialized and emerging countries. Because international intellectual property strategies are frequently complex and costly, applicants require sound information as a basis for decisions regarding the countries in which to pursue patents. While the most important factor is the size of a given market, other factors should also be considered.Key words: antibody, patent, international, PCT, filing strategy     

Use of macroalgae for marine biomass production and CO2 remediation: a review

Biomass production from macroalgae has been viewed as important mainly because of the need for pollution abatement. Environmental considerations will increasingly determine product and process acceptability and drive the next generation of economic opportunity. Some countries, including Japan, are actively promoting "green" technologies that will be in demand worldwide in the coming decades. Should an international agreement on CO₂-reduction be ratified, its effective use for energy production would be of high priority. This report shows that macroalgae have great potential for biomass production and CO₂ bioremediation. Macroalgae have high productivity, as great or greater than the most productive land plants, and do not compete with terrestrial crops for farm land. The review focuses on recent data on productivity, photosynthesis, nutrient dynamics, optimization and economics. Biomass from macroalgae promises to provide environmentally and economically feasible alternatives to fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the techniques and technologies for growing macroalgae on a large-scale and for converting feedstocks to energy carriers must be more fully developed.     

Control malaria to help defeat poverty, says WHO

In a report by the WHO, interventions against malaria could help alleviate poverty in countries where the disease is rife, and aid in boosting economic growth. The WHO calls on the international community, private foundations, and international agencies to commit funds for malaria interventions and research. This call was made since malaria has long term effects on trade, tourism, foreign investment, and commerce. Moreover, repeated bouts of malaria add to costs through malnutrition and death among children and time off work among adults. In this light, WHO further suggests the setting up of a malaria vaccine and purchase fund to spur pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies into developing a vaccine. Furthermore, new therapeutic, preventive and diagnostic tools need to be developed, particularly drugs, insecticides and dipstick tests.     

The ‘experimental stable’ of the BCG vaccine: safety, efficacy, proof, and standards, 1921–1933

The anti-tuberculosis BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin) vaccine was conceived and developed between 1905 and 1921 at Pasteur Institutes in France. Between 1921 and A. Calmette’s death in 1933, the vaccine went through a first period of national and international production and distribution for its use in humans. In France these activities were exclusively carried out by Calmette and his collaborators at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Initially improvised production in a small room in the cellar gave way in 1931 to the construction of the spacious and magnificent ‘New laboratories for research on tuberculosis and the preparation of the BCG’ within the premises of the Pasteur Institute. Presentation and image-building of the vaccine in France insisted on the fact that the BCG was not a commercial specialty but distributed free of charge. The technical monopoly of its production nevertheless lay with the Paris Pasteur Institute and standardization of scientific proof of safety, efficacy and stability was dominated by that Institute in France. In contrast, the international production and distribution of the vaccine was entrusted and transferred, free of charge, to trustworthy laboratories outside France. Multiplication of producers and users led to an increased need for standardization. For this process the analysis distinguishes between the standardization of scientific proof concerning safety, efficacy and stability of the vaccine and standardization of its medical uses. Whereas standardization was rather successful in the inter-war period in France, the international efforts remained rather unsuccessful. Only after world war II under Scandinavian leadership and in the context of mass vaccination programs supported by the WHO and UNICEF was the international standardization effectively implemented and succeeded at least to some extend.     

Research Ethics: Beyond the Guidelines

There is international recognition of the need for sustainable research ethics committees to provide ethical review of human subjects research in developing countries, but many developing countries do not have such committees (often called 'IRBs'). Theoretical and practical uncertainties encountered by an IRB on the Caribbean island of Grenada offer insight into ethical review of research in developing countries. Theoretical uncertainties include questions about whether means of ensuring confidentiality and obtaining informed consent will be effective in local settings, and whether deviations from Western norms are justifiable. International guidelines are helpful in addressing these concerns, but are subject to interpretation. Guidelines are less helpful in practical areas like selecting members or chairs. They do not address what sort of procedures and paperwork will work in a developing country, or IRBs' relationships to governments that have no mandate for them. Experiences presented here show that IRBs in developing countries can sustainably adhere to international standards. Sustainability requires knowledge, personal commitment, and an official mandate to uphold international standards. Capacity building must therefore focus on educational programs to make developing country leaders knowledgeable about the value of international guidelines to their nations. Such knowledge is needed before people will become motivated to promote, implement, and uphold the guidelines. People in developing countries must help design bridges to help their nations put international standards into practice. The structure of such bridges may, of necessity, vary in different settings.     

A Comparative Analysis of Accident Risks in Fossil,Hydro, and Nuclear Energy Chains

This study presents a comparative assessment of severe accident risks in the energy sector, based on the historical experience of fossil (coal, oil, natural gas, and LPG [Liquefied Petroleum Gas]) and hydro chains contained in the comprehensive Energy-related Severe Accident Database (ENSAD), as well as Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) for the nuclear chain. Full energy chains were considered because accidents can take place at every stage of the chain. Comparative analyses for the years 1969–2000 included a total of 1870 severe (≥ 5 fatalities) accidents, amounting to 81,258 fatalities. Although 79.1% of all accidents and 88.9% of associated fatalities occurred in less developed, non-OECD countries, industrialized OECD countries dominated insured losses (78.0%), reflecting their substantially higher insurance density and stricter safety regulations. Aggregated indicators and frequency-consequence (F-N) curves showed that energy-related accident risks in non-OECD countries are distinctly higher than in OECD countries. Hydropower in non-OECD countries and upstream stages within fossil energy chains are most accident-prone. Expected fatality rates are lowest for Western hydropower and nuclear power plants; however, the maximum credible consequences can be very large. Total economic damages due to severe accidents are substantial, but small when compared with natural disasters. Similarly, external costs associated with severe accidents are generally much smaller than monetized damages caused by air pollution.     

Ecologically-based strategies for conservation and development in the tropics

Tropical countries are endowed with a rich array of biotic and geophysical resources. Only in the past 30 years has the rate of their resource transformation been so rapid as to threaten the environment, largely because of the demands of a growing human population resulting from the demographic transition. While resource transformations have produced the goods and services necessary to meet the needs of the growing populations, they have also generated a variety of effects on the environment and the societies of these countries. The rapid pace of technological advances and social change seriously threaten the sustainability of natural assets and ecological processes in these countries, with global consequences. This threat is exacerbated (1) by inadequate capability in these tropical countries to manage degradations in natural resources and the environment arising from technological interventions affecting large-scale ecological processes; and (2) by the coincidence of down-turns in long-term cycles of unequal amplitudes, which concern elitism and administrations, dependency on fossil fuels for industrialisation and shifts in cultural periods, all of which threaten the global structure and continuity of prevailing social institutions, Both phenomena endanger the prospects for international investments in the transformation of natural resources and management of the environment for sustainable livelihoods, especially in developing countries. most tropical countries have developing economies, and have inadequate capacity to manage the impacts and trade-offs of technological insertions largely because of financial constraints, poor technical expertise and the international character of their economies. In spite of harsh socio-biological, technological and financial constraints, there is a pressing need for investing in human expertise in tropical countries because of their effects on the sustainability of global climate, resource and environmental heritage, cultural heritage and societal organisation. Assurance of this sustainability demands that investments in tropical countries must be founded on traditional knowledge, organisation and community participation; on comparative advantages in terms of resource endowments and technological skills; on strategies and actions promoting innovative futures; on the strengthening of institutional capacities for assessing impacts and trade-offs; on a universally-acceptable system for exchanging experiences about technological insertions with reference to spatial areas, levels of sophistication, assessment of impacts and standards; and on the attraction of various forms of international cooperation at professional, governmental and non-governmental levels, which has been recommended by the World Commission on Environment and Development (Bruntland Commission). This overall challenge for international development in the tropics amounts to advancing macro-ecological and-economic sciences of large-scale processes having local impacts, andvice versa, involving the dynamic interactions between culture and philosophy, politics, investment (economics), society, technology and environment at different spatial and temporal scales.     

Ethics committees. Research ethics: beyond the guidelines

There is international recognition of the need for sustainable research ethics committees to provide ethical review of human subjects research in developing countries, but many developing countries do not have such committees (often called 'IRBs'). Theoretical and practical uncertainties encountered by an IRB on the Caribbean island of Grenada offer insight into ethical review of research in developing countries. Theoretical uncertainties include questions about whether means of ensuring confidentiality and obtaining informed consent will be effective in local settings, and whether deviations from Western norms are justifiable. International guidelines are helpful in addressing these concerns, but are subject to interpretation. Guidelines are less helpful in practical areas like selecting members or chairs. They do not address what sort of procedures and paperwork will work in a developing country, or IRBs' relationships to governments that have no mandate for them. Experiences presented here show that IRBs in developing countries can sustainably adhere to international standards. Sustainability requires knowledge, personal commitment, and an official mandate to uphold international standards. Capacity building must therefore focus on educational programs to make developing country leaders knowledgeable about the value of international guidelines to their nations. Such knowledge is needed before people will become motivated to promote, implement, and uphold their guidelines. People in developing countries must help design bridges to help their nations put international standards into practice. The structure of such bridges may, of necessity, very in different settings.     

International funding for malaria control in relation to populations at risk of stable Plasmodium falciparum transmission

Background

The international financing of malaria control has increased significantly in the last ten years in parallel with calls to halve the malaria burden by the year 2015. The allocation of funds to countries should reflect the size of the populations at risk of infection, disease, and death. To examine this relationship, we compare an audit of international commitments with an objective assessment of national need: the population at risk of stable Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission in 2007.

Methods and Findings

The national distributions of populations at risk of stable P. falciparum transmission were projected to the year 2007 for each of 87 P. falciparum–endemic countries. Systematic online- and literature-based searches were conducted to audit the international funding commitments made for malaria control by major donors between 2002 and 2007. These figures were used to generate annual malaria funding allocation (in US dollars) per capita population at risk of stable P. falciparum in 2007. Almost US$1 billion are distributed each year to the 1.4 billion people exposed to stable P. falciparum malaria risk. This is less than US$1 per person at risk per year. Forty percent of this total comes from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Substantial regional and national variations in disbursements exist. While the distribution of funds is found to be broadly appropriate, specific high population density countries receive disproportionately less support to scale up malaria control. Additionally, an inadequacy of current financial commitments by the international community was found: under-funding could be from 50% to 450%, depending on which global assessment of the cost required to scale up malaria control is adopted.

Conclusions

Without further increases in funding and appropriate targeting of global malaria control investment it is unlikely that international goals to halve disease burdens by 2015 will be achieved. Moreover, the additional financing requirements to move from malaria control to malaria elimination have not yet been considered by the scientific or international community.     

A Note on and a Proposal with Respect to the Transportation of Nuclear Cargoes in International Straits

The adoption of an international agreement to create a regime of prior communication and cooperation in the establishment of a precautionary contingency plan for nuclear spills for straits used for international navigation is vital as the peaceful uses of nuclear energy continue to be attractive to states, including Asian states, as a component of a sustainable energy strategy. With the expected rise in nuclear commerce for peaceful purposes, the need for a comprehensive framework for nuclear cargoes and wastes exists and this includes suitable response action plans for nuclear spills. The international instruments adopted by the International Maritime Organisation and the International Atomic Energy Agency provided a framework for the safe and secure carriage of nuclear materials from, other things, piracy, terrorism and sabotage. This article focuses on the movement of vessels carrying nuclear cargoes and wastes through the territorial sea waters of international straits and the necessary relationship that should exist between the vessels and the adjacent coastal States.     

The Impact of Official Development Aid on Maternal and Reproductive Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Background

Progress toward meeting Millennium Development Goal 5, which aims to improve maternal and reproductive health outcomes, is behind schedule. This is despite ever increasing volumes of official development aid targeting the goal, calling into question the distribution and efficacy of aid. The 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness represented a global commitment to reform aid practices in order to improve development outcomes, encouraging a shift toward collaborative aid arrangements which support the national plans of aid recipient countries (and discouraging unaligned donor projects).

Methods and Findings

We conducted a systematic review to summarise the evidence of the impact on MDG 5 outcomes of official development aid delivered in line with Paris aid effectiveness principles and to compare this with the impact of aid in general on MDG 5 outcomes. Searches of electronic databases identified 30 studies reporting aid-funded interventions designed to improve maternal and reproductive health outcomes. Aid interventions appear to be associated with small improvements in the MDG indicators, although it is not clear whether changes are happening because of the manner in which aid is delivered. The data do not allow for a meaningful comparison between Paris style and general aid. The review identified discernible gaps in the evidence base on aid interventions targeting MDG 5, notably on indicators MDG 5.4 (adolescent birth rate) and 5.6 (unmet need for family planning).

Discussion

This review presents the first systematic review of the impact of official development aid delivered according to the Paris principles and aid delivered outside this framework on MDG 5 outcomes. Its findings point to major gaps in the evidence base and should be used to inform new approaches and methodologies aimed at measuring the impact of official development aid.