Ryan Falconer, PhD Candidate
Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia

I have been fortunate, through the course of the first year of my PhD candidature, to be at the forefront of research into sustainable urban design. I have found that there is increasing understanding and acceptance among researchers and policymakers that the sprawled, single-use, automobile dependent metropolitan areas often found in Australasia and North America are no longer sustainable.

Increasingly, the adverse health effects of excessive car use are being examined. In Perth, Western Australia the State Government has responded to the issues associated with sprawl by formulating the "Liveable Neighbourhoods" design code. This code is intended to facilitate a more sustainable form of urban development, characterised by increased opportunities for bicycling, walking and public transport use. In particular, liveable neighbourhoods are intended to be walkable environments, where housing is anchored by local services and facilities, and public transport routes. In contrast, conventional neighbourhoods are characterised by low density development, single-use zoning and priority for private motor vehicles.

Prior research shows that car dependent, sprawled urban environments generate numerous unsustainable outcomes. For example, excessive car use leads to higher emissions, which in turn affect people´s health. Other forms of pollution, such as water contamination are associated with such travel patterns. Moreover, the increasing scarcity of oil is a worrying omen for cities which are built round motor vehicles.

My research is being conducted in Perth, Western Australia. It is a comparison of the travel behaviour characteristics and environmental quality between a sample of both `liveable´ and `conventional´ estates. These outcomes will then be compared to selected personal health indicators in order to explore possible linkages. Ultimately, it will use a combination of surveys, observations and focus groups to answer questions about whether the "Liveable Neighbourhoods" design code is making a measurable difference to transport behaviour and health outcomes and the overall transport sustainability of Perth´s suburbs. The study is part of the RESIDential Environments Project (RESIDE) based at The University of Western Australia, a project which aims to the impact on walking, cycling and sense of community of neighbourhoods designed using liveable and conventional sub-division design codes.

In early April I was very fortunate to be able to visit Hong Kong and present the first phase of my research at the 12th Annual Sustainable Development Research Conference. I was part of a large international contingent to the conference, which had the theme of `sustainable cities´. The presenters, of which there were dozens, brought decidedly multidisciplinary content to the occasion. Topics ranged from local scale initiatives to regional development issues, urban hydrology to urban transport, sustainable building principles to corporate philanthropy, and included case studies, theoretical discussion and generalised examples. For me it was a treat to be able to present to such a diverse and esteemed audience. While many of the speakers were discussing issues of especial relevance to Asia, my talk was a reminder that planners in the Western World have often not got it right from a sustainability perspective.

At this stage, it remains to be seen whether liveable neighbourhoods will fulfil its mandate, although early indicators would suggest that it will not. Watch this space for more, when the data collection is complete and results analysed.

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my supervisors, Professors Jeffrey Kenworthy and Billie Giles-Corti. Furthermore, I thank the chief investigators involved in the RESIDE study, namely Matthew Knuiman, Kimberly Van Niel, Max Bulsara, Fiona Bull, Terri Pikora, and Trevor Shilton. Thanks also to the National Heart Foundation, which is the Industry Partner for the Transport Sustainability and Health Study.

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An environment and sustainability-focused edition this time round folks. Welcome to a packed edition!!! 15 pages of goodies for your information and inspiration. And the best part? Most of it is generated by you! Thanks to all our contributors this month – and we have more coming for the next edition. We’ve got a section below (page 10) with details on our upcoming themes and calls for some specific input from you all. It’s YOUR newsletter, so get your contributions in.

On the environment and sustainability theme, Ryan Falconer asks just how sustainable the designs of our cities are, drawing on the work he is doing for his PhD. Stephen Folaranmi writes about an exhibit in Nigeria to commemorate World Environment Day. And have you ever wanted to get involved in an Eco Village? We’ve got information on an Eco Village design course!

There is a lot of information here on IYPF happenings as well. Sarah-Jo Dawson, IYPF President, checks in with what the Board is up to, and VP and Strategy Working Group Chair, Melanie Ashton, updates you all on the responses to the last round of Strategy questions she posed to you, on what International Young Professionals Foundation means to you. This month, Melanie poses another round of questions. We invite you to respond and have your input in to the future of the IYPF!

Over the last month we have also learnt about a great young professional led project, Exceptional Lives. Clare Mulvany, a courageous and passionate Irish YP has set out on a journey around the globe to capture the stories of people ‘who change their world’. Read the article and her blog to learn how you can contribute. It’s very exciting!

There are plenty of other bits and pieces that I’m sure you’ll find informative. Articles related to 3 of our topical and reginal online communities; a review of a National Young Professionals Forum in Australia; info on a logo contest for an IYPF project in Latin America; and much more.

For good measure, we’ve thrown in a few quotes that we found challenging and inspiring. From all the members of the Communications Team, we hope you enjoy this edition and we look forward to seeing you again next month.

Yours towards a better world for all

Cameron Neil
CEO, IYPF
cameronneil@iypf.org


In This Edition

IYPF News
- Board Column, Strategy Column, New Staff, Seeking Content Producer
- Huella Emprendedora Logo Contest, National Young Professionals Forum
Member Activities
- Exceptional Lives Book Project
Partner Activities & Events
- YES Kenya 2006
- EWB Australia with Peter Garrett
IYPF Communities
- Globalisation & Doha
- HIV & AIDS: UNGASS
- Africa: Practical Academia
Environment & Sustainability
- World Environment Day
- Model Suburbs
- Man, Nature & Environment Exhibit
- CSD 14
Opportunities & Resources
What Is IYPF
How You Can Help

Last year was supposed to be the year to "make poverty history". Rock stars sang for the poor, world leaders talked themselves into a lather of visionary empathy, and the rest of us wore surprisingly chic white wristbands. But despite all the goodwill, its time to brutally assess how well we have converted words into action before another year slips away.

Unfortunately despite the best of intentions all year, the moment of truth occurred in Hong Kong at the meeting of trade ministers organized by the World Trade Organization. This should have been the occasion to turn words into reality, and to make major changes to the world trading system, boost the world economy, and give hundreds of millions of people the opportunity to trade their way out of poverty.

Yet unfortunately, when it came to the crunch, very little of substance was achieved. This was truly a wasted opportunity because there is a lot at stake in world trade because it has the capacity to reduce poverty all over the world from Azerbaijan to Zambia. It's a global solution to a global problem and Australia is playing a leading role. In the World Trade Organization, Australia is in a key position as the chair of the Cairns Group - a negotiating coalition of 17 agricultural exporting countries including New Zealand, Canada and Brazil. The Cairns Group formed in 1986 as a lobby group to improve the lot of their own farmers by lobbying other countries to reduce their agricultural tariffs and subsidies.

While most countries in the WTO have put self-interest on the backburner in this round to make way for proposals which would help the poorest countries, the Cairns Group has stuck to its guns. If anything, Australia has been lobbying harder than ever for the US and Europe to reduce their tariffs and subsidies on agricultural goods because they have been able to claim that agricultural reform will boost farm incomes in the poorest countries. At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November, John Howard demanded "significant movement on agricultural protection" ... "to give the developing countries a fair go". At the APEC conference earlier the same month he said "Agricultural trade is the deal-breaker for the WTO". Indeed when Howard talks about agricultural reform, he very rarely mentions the windfall gains that would fall to Australian farmers, choosing instead to cast himself as a champion of the poorest countries. This may be good politics but some of the poorest countries are starting to complain. Contrary to the claims made by the Cairns Group on their behalf, the poorest countries realize that many of them will actually be worse off if Europe and the US are forced to reduce their agricultural subsidies. The key fact is that most of the world's poorest countries are actually net importers of subsided food and the most disadvantaged people in those countries, particularly the urban poor, will suffer if the removal of subsidies forces the world price higher.

That's subsidies, but what about tariff reductions? Here again the Cairns Group doesn't really speak for the poorest countries which already benefit from generous special schemes to allow their goods to enter Europe and the US without any taxes. This means that further tariff reductions will only benefit the richer countries, and will in fact reduce the advantage these preferential special schemes currently convey to the poorest.

Australia's grandstanding on agricultural issues was shown up last year when the World Bank released estimates of the winners and losers from agricultural reform. Not surprisingly Australia and our Cairns Group allies were at the top of the list of winners. But many were surprised to see how many of the poorest countries would be left worse off. Certainly Australia should stand up for its own interests at the bargaining table but it shouldn't claim to be doing favors for the poorest countries at the same time. Global agricultural policies need to be reformed, but simply slashing tariffs and subsidies is not by itself a panacea for the poorest.

There is a broad agenda beyond agriculture that has been almost entirely ignored in this round of talks and was not progressed in Hong Kong. Tariffs on industrial goods must be cut and the set-up must be altered so that the types of goods exported by poor countries, such as processed foods, are not unfairly penalized. There is also much to gain from increasing the mobility of workers. Workers from poor countries should be allowed to carry out short-term projects in rich countries.

This would help the flexibility of the labour force and also allow workers to send part of their pay home. The flow of money from migrant workers in rich countries is a crucial source of development finance and is already greater than all the aid money that is given every year. New evidence shows that aid and trade must complement each other. For the poorest countries in the world, market access is not enough. Goods will never make their way into the market if there are no roads and ports to transport them and if the product quality is not up to scratch. On their own, tariff cuts will have little effect.

The almost exclusive focus on agriculture in current trade that Australia is pushing may not be as much help for the poor countries as it claims. Instead we should be looking more broadly for ways of helping ourselves while at the same time more genuinely helping developing countries.

Dr Andrew Charlton is a research officer at the London School of Economics and recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship. He has co-authored his new book, Fair Trade for All: How Trade Can Promote Development, coauthored with Nobel Prize Winner Joseph Stiglitz.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199290903

A version of this article was originally published earlier this year on the Vibewire website: http://www.vibewire.net/3/

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) must seize a golden opportunity to make the interests of 25 million small-scale family coffee farmers -- producers of the majority of the world's coffee - an integral part of its work when it meets in London starting today.

The ICO will be renewing its operating charter, the International Coffee Agreement (ICA). Oxfam and other groups representing small-scale family coffee farmers say that the renewed charter will be vital in helping to level the playing field for millions of poor farming families around the world whose livelihoods are being destroyed because they can't compete in the global market due to unequal terms.

The ICO is the only dedicated forum for discussing coffee-related matters at the international level, bringing together coffee-producing and consuming countries around one table. It could be the focal point for international cooperation to bring about a truly sustainable coffee economy.

"The current discussions on the future of the ICA present an historic opportunity to address the ongoing crisis facing small-scale family coffee farmers and farmworkers," said Seth Petchers, the coffee lead for Oxfam's `Make Trade Fair´ campaign.

World coffee prices plummeted in 1999, devastating coffee farming communities around the world. Despite recent improvements, the price continues to fluctuate and the crisis for coffee farmers persists. To make matters worse, they don't have enough access to credit and information to plan and market their crops.

"Long-term solutions must go beyond the topic of price and instead address issues including giving farmers the space to participate in international debates -- space comparable to that available to the big coffee companies -- as well as access to market information and credit," Petchers said.

"Since the World Coffee Conference in Salvador, Brazil in 2005, groups representing and supporting small-scale coffee farmers all over the world have been calling on the ICO for greater representation," said Gerardo De Leon of FEDECOCAGUA, a federation of Guatemalan coffee cooperatives. "In Brazil, we presented the ICO with the /Carta de Salvador/ - a declaration outlining the need for
greater farmer representation in international debate -- and we have elaborated on the `Carta´ in `Grounds for Change´. The ICO has got the message, now it is time to act."

A recent paper released by Oxfam International and twelve allies called `Grounds for Change: Creating a Voice for Small Coffee Farmers and Farmworkers with the Next International Coffee Agreement´, recommends the ICO:

1. create forums within the organization dedicated to making coffee production more sustainable;
2. ensure fair representation of small-scale farmers and farmworkers alongside of coffee companies;
3. create systems so that all parties, including farmers, have access to relevant coffee sector information;
4. and facilitate coordinated, well-resourced responses to the crucial issues facing small-scale farmers including: technical assistance, risk management and access to credit.

To read `Grounds for Change´, please visit:
www.maketradefair.org/ico.

Fight Hunger: Walk The World
www.fighthunger.org

"Walk the World 21 May 2006... the World Walked!

"Walk the World 2006 was a fantastic success. In more than 420 locations in 118 countries all over the globe, people all gathered to call for an end of child hunger. Photos and stories are pouring in from all over the world - it was a truly global day of action."

This activity started in The Netherlands through the initiative of TNT company employees, to sensitize to the world about the hunger problem and to urge people to reach the first Millennium Development Goal. The success of this initiative has been so great, as it was followed by the main United Nations source of donations received.

This year, the march made emphasis on child hunger. 760 000 people walked around the world this year. In Latin American countries, there were activities accompanying the campaign such as collecting food, donating money, holding workshops and simply walking!

For example, we will talk about the Argentina case
(www.fighthunger.org/gathering/home/2/ar): With the support of the United Nations World Food Program, and through the Global Youth Action Network (www.youthlink.org), young volunteers from Vientos del Sur Association held 2 workshops titled "Messages from Children", with kids of the School #9 from Lomas de Zmora city, on May 17.

These children belong to the poorest districts of the city, and are in the school where they receive their main daily food. So hunger is a problem that directly affects their lives, families and communities. 200 children whose ages range between 11 and 15 years old participated in the workshops, and the result was almost 40 banners made for the march. Messages, drawings and collages made by them, showed that they have opinions and proposals for being part of the solution for the hunger problem.

At the end of the morning and afternoon workshops, children made a walk around the neighborhood where the school is, showing their posters and making their own "walk the world" in a symbolic way. Pictures of this activity can be seen at: www.vientosdelsur.tk. Also On May 21, these banners were taken to the National Long Walk, where they were exposed. Everybody made very positive comments about them.

We hope more people engage in solving hunger next year!

Mariana Ballestero, Director