Capture: Announcement of UNU/IAS Electronic Seminar

From: "Colin R. Leech" <crleech@freenet.carleton.ca>
Captured at: URBAN-L mail-list
>
>
>Date:  16 Sept-15 Oct
>Title: Scavengers' cooperatives and grassroots development in developing
>       countries
>By:    Mr. Martin Medina. Inst of Advanced Studies, United Nations
>       University
>
>
>ABSTRACT
>
>Up to two percent of the population in developing countries depend on
>salvaging, reusing and selling waste materials from garbage dumps, streets
>and landfills, etc, for their livelihood. These scavengers often work in
>hazardous environments and live in conditions of poor hygiene. Due to their
>daily contact with garbage and dirt, the public often perceive them as
>disease carriers, a nuisance, a symbol of backwardness or even as
>criminals. In many cases, buyers of collected materials and government
>officials exert economic and political control over scavengers, making
>their livelihood more difficult. Some developing countries like Indonesia,
>Egypt, Brazil and China have realised   the socio-economic importance and
>environmental benefits of scavenging and have  started to support the
>establishment of cooperatives and their collaboration with the formal waste
>management services. This paper presents a typology of different public
>policies toward scavengers; it argues that policies towards recycling by
>scavengers should be changed and analyzes recent experiences in the
>formation of scavengers' cooperatives. The paper suggests ways in which
>such cooperatives could be incorporated into formal waste management
>programs and as a means to promote grassroots development in their
>communities.
>
>Keywords: Scavenging, Waste Management, Recycling, Cooperatives, Developing
>Countries, Sustainable Development, Grassroots Development, Public Policy
>
>ABOUT THE AUTHOR
>
>Mr. Martin Medina is currently a Ph.D. Fellow at the Institute of Advanced
>Studies (United Nations University,Tokyo) and a Visiting Scholar at Tokyo
>University. He has worked and conducted research on waste management issues
>in the United States, Mexico, the Philippines, Central and South America.
>His dissertation attempts to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge of
>scavenging of wastes in developing countries, industrialized nations and
>Eastern Europe. He is currently working on an innovative waste collection
>system for slum areas in developing countries. Mr. Medina has a B.A. in
>Community Development from Monterrey Technological Institute (Mexico), and
>received his M.S. in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at
>Chapel Hill. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Studies at Yale
>University.
>
>HOW TO JOIN
>
>Registration is free and the pre-requisite for participation is your access
>to electronic mail.
>
>To register and to join the seminar, please send an email to:
>listserv@segate.sunet.se and write the message :
>
>SUB ECOCT-01 yourfirstname yourlastname, organization
>
>e.g. SUB ECOCT-01 Martin Medina, UNU/IAS-Tokyo
>
>If personal assistance is needed, please contact Mr. Jacky Foo
><foo@ias.unu.edu>
>
>After registration, all messages from the mailing list ECOCT-01, including
>the discussion paper, will automatically be distributed to your e-mail
>address. You may leave the mailing list at any time by sending the message:
>SIGNOFF ECOCT-01
>to listserv@msias.ias.unu.edu
>
>
>
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>

--
#####    |\^/|     Colin R. Leech     ag414 or
crleech@freenet.carleton.ca
##### _|\|   |/|_  Civil engineer by training, transport planner by
choice.
##### >         <  Opinions are my own. Consider them shareware if you
want.
#####  >_./|\._<   "If you can't return a favour, pass it on." - A.L.
Brown