UNU Update
The newsletter of United Nations University and its
network of research and training centres and programmes
 

Issue 13: December 2001

New book argues for integration of
environmental and development issues

The authors of a new book from UNU Press argue that environmental problems should no longer be viewed as the side effects of development and urge a new approach that promotes their integration. In Human Development and the Environment – Challenges for the United Nations in the New Millennium, edited by Hans van Ginkel, Brendan Barrett, Julius Court and Jerry Valasquez, the principal message is that good development involves conservation of the environment in a sustainable manner.

Contributions outline productive ways in which the international community and the UN system can address the major challenges of eradicating poverty and reducing the rate of environmental deterioration. They conclude that amongst the existing global institutions, only the UN has the moral legitimacy, global credibility, and practical reach to mediate and reconcile the competing pulls and tensions associated with both the process and outcomes of globalization.

Other new titles from UNU Press include:

Trade Environment and the Millennium (2nd edition)  - edited by Gary Sampson and Bradnee Chambers
Provides an overview of the key issues for negotiation at the World Trade Organization's Qatar Ministerial meeting and well beyond. Resolving these issues is a precondition for the launching of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations – considered critical by many WTO member governments in order to ensure a stable multilateral trading system that fully represents the interests of developing countries. 

Democracy in Latin America: (Re)Constructing Political Societyedited by Manuel Antonio Garreton M.and Edward Newman
Argues that the fundamental prerequisite of democracy is the existence of a polity or ‘political society’, something that has been weak or under threat in Latin America. Issues embraced include: dealing with past abuses of human rights by balancing justice and reconciliation; integrating societies into global market economics, with the accompanying social and political impact this has brought; the manner in which external actors - such as the United Nations, international financial institutions, and multinational corporations - have conditioned or facilitated democracy; the role of civil society; the problems of achieving a sense of citizenship in many communities; the 'indigenous issue'; and the pervading gap between the procedure and the substance of democracy.

The Legitimacy of International Organizationsedited by Jean-Marc Coicaud and Veijo Heiskanen
Presents the results of an interdisciplinary research project of the Peace and Governance Programme of the United Nations University. The authors, prominent experts in the fields of social and political philosophy, law, political science, economics, and environmental studies, take a fresh look at the philosophy of international organization, and discuss why some have been able to retain or even reinforce their roles while others have fallen from favour.

Financing for Development: Proposals from Business and Civil SocietyEdited by Barry Herman, Federica Pietracci and Krishnan Sharma
Twenty-one authors, including business executives and civil-society activists from developing and developed countries, address the question of how to boost the financing of development. Topics covered range from micro credit to large-scale project finance; from gender and poverty to bridging the digital divide; from local to global environments for investment; from domestic to international taxation; from trade expansion to debt relief; and from official development assistance to reform of the United Nations. 

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