TORONTO, September 19, 2002 -- Following the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, York University researchers are calling for new development partnership strategies spanning the fields of environmental studies, business and law, as a model for creating sustainable livelihoods at the local level in developing countries.
In a conference on Friday, September 27 entitled, Post-Johannesburg: New Strategies for Sustainable Livelihoods, York faculty and invited specialists will discuss recent successful models of development using this integrated strategy in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Robert Goodland, former environment and development advisor to the World Bank, will give the keynote address. Other guest speakers include: Toronto journalist and author Ken Wiwa; Vice-president of Conservation International, James Nations; Director General, Policy Branch at the Canadian International Development Agency, Naresh Singh.
"There is now a recognition at senior levels of government that global security and sustainable development depend on more effective engagement by donors at the local level in ways that clear a path for local communities to take part in national and global processes," said Prof. Rob Macdonald, associate dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) at York. "The vicious cycle of poverty and degradation of the environment must be addressed in a comprehensive way by creating livelihoods in local communities that are sustainable from an environmental, entrepreneurial and institutional perspective."
One recent success story based on this integrated strategy is Honey Care Africa Ltd., a private venture in community-based bee keeping managed by Farouk Jiwa, an FES graduate student who is also completing a Graduate Diploma in Business and the Environment, jointly offered by FES and the Schulich School of Business. Jiwa helped launch the company two years ago with $300,000 in private investment and a small start-up grant from the United Nations Development Program. Working with 2,500 subsistence farmers in poor communities in Kenya, Honey Care has helped them get start-up loans to buy bee hives and guaranteed a market for the honey they produce, at a per unit cash price higher than Ontario bee keepers earn. Last year the company sold 65 tonnes of honey in Kenya, doubling farmers’ income and bringing them for the first time above the $1-a-day poverty line. Honey Care was among 27 finalists awarded $30,000 each in the Equator Prize competition results announced at the Johannesburg summit.
The conference Post-Johannesburg: New Strategies for Sustainable Livelihoods convenes on Friday, September 27, 8:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Moot Court, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele St. A conference agenda is available on the Web at: http://www.yorku.ca/fes/strategies/program. The conference is hosted by York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, the Haub Program in Business and Sustainability in the Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, the York Centre for Applied Sustainability, and the Fisher Fund for Neotropical Conservation.
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For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Rob Macdonald | Susan Bigelow |
| Associate Dean | Media Relations |
| Faculty of Environmental Studies | York University |
| York University | |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 22626 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22091 |
| robmac@yorku.ca | sbigelow@yorku.ca |
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