ZEFnews No. 5 September 2000 1

Zentrum für EntwicklungsforschungCenter for Development ResearchUniversität Bonn

ZEFNo. 5 September 2000

Editorial

Torsten Feldbrügge

Emergency Relief Manage-ment in Mozambique andAngola

Prof. Paul L. G. VlekDirector at ZEF

A commonly held notion is that theworld has become more vulnerableto disasters and violent conflicts,

and that this is particularly the case in de-veloping countries. In fact, statistics showthat the total number of disasters increasedduring the last decade, while at the sametime the number of people killed by disas-ters decreased. Recent trends also indicatea slight decrease in violent conflicts, al-though the high number of latent conflictsis not very encouraging.

Human and economiccosts of disasters and vi-olent conflicts are high.Against this background,a recent study at ZEF hasanalyzed the “Economicsof Emergency Relief Man-agement in DevelopingCountries”. This topic isof special relevance sincemost of the costs of crises,in particular on human re-sources, spread into thefuture and adversely affectdevelopment. An analysisof the correlation betweenthe occurrence of conflict and national nu-trition performance in 1992 and 1997, forexample, shows that each of the ten lowestranking countries experienced conflict ordisaster.

Other costs relate to bi- and multilateralexpenditure, by OECD/DAC members, onemergency aid. These reached a peak in1994 with about US-$ 6 billion, equivalent

to almost 10 percent of overseas develop-ment assistance. However, the costs havedeclined considerably since.

Nevertheless, in contrast to commonperception, there are good short as well aslong term reasons to invest in effectiveemergency aid, because, besides the hu-manitarian duty of saving lives, emergencyrelief can provide the basis for rehabilita-tion. The economics of relief managementmust be seen in this dynamic perspective.

The ZEF study offers an economicframework to guide improvements in effec-tiveness of external emergency relief.

Emphasis has been put on the role ofinformation as an economic problem in cri-ses, in particular between donor and reliefagency, between relief agency and benefi-ciary, and on costs of relief interventions.

The year 2000 may go on record asthe Olympic year for droughts.Kenya, Ethiopia, Romania, theWestern United States and North-West China are all suffering fromthe same problem, but with widelydifferent consequences. In theUnited States we are seeing anatural disaster in the form ofbush fires and the ensuing de-struction of huge tracts of forestand the threat to homes as aresult of prevailing drought condi-tions.We are witnessing a lose-losesituation in those regions of theworld where natural disaster iscoupled with human disaster andgreat suffering, as the capacity tocope with such climatic uncer-tainty is lacking.Are we experiencing a dryingtrend?A Chinese study claims that theincidence of drought in the North-West has doubled to two out ofthree years in the past 2500 yearswhich is related to deforestationin South-East China. With thepace of land conversion in thetropics of today we may accomplishin a century what took over twomillennia in China.The debate on the reality of GlobalClimate Change continues at everhigher levels, and has become atheme in the presidential contestin the USA. There is an urgentneed to obtain a better under-standing of the effects of defores-tation on global and regionalcirculation and climate. Until wehave that, it might be wise toconserve as much forest as we can.

A deadly legacy of the violent conflicts in MozambiquePhoto: ZEF

2 ZEFnews No. 5 September 2000

Doctoral Studies Program

Case Studies

To illustrate the range of informational prob-lems and potential for improvement of reliefaid provision, two case studies on foodemergencies have been conducted in SubSaharan Africa. One case study analyzedflood emergency relief undertaken by theGerman Agency for Technical Cooperation

(Deutsche Gesellschft für TechnischeZusammenarbeit, GTZ) in Manica Provinceof Mozambique in February and March1997. The second case study focused ondrought relief, managed by the German AgroAction (Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, DWHH)in a volatile conflict environment in KwanzaSul province, Angola, in 1997.

In the Mozambique flood relief, a diffi-

cult trade-off between officially requestedassistance and potential inducement of solereliance upon external aid by the intendedbeneficiaries as a result of this assistance,was part of the decision problem of the re-lief manager. The case study further showedthe relevance of information collection,such as monitoring of relief distribution orregistration of beneficiaries. In Angola, con-troversial information between aid agencyand food donor on the severity of thedrought led to an exhaustion of food aidstocks. Improved communication betweenagencies and a higher valuation of local in-formation by the food donor would havebeen beneficial in this case.

Effective Emergency Management

Sound information and knowledge of theexternal conditions of crises, their percep-tion by the population affected and the re-lief agency, and their causes are crucial foreffective emergency relief. This helps to im-pede a simple return to the previous situa-tion in which the crises could not be pre-vented. Moreover, such information is need-ed by the decision-makers in their effortsnot to aggravate a crisis through relief ac-tivities. Emergency relief managers shouldmore explicitly consider potential scope forreforms in crises. Clearly, the external condi-tions of crises call for adaptive interventionpackages instead of pre-designed solutions.The investment in relief-related informationis potentially very valuable, if valued notonly on the basis of direct costs for informa-tion collection, but if the benefits of im-proved intervention as a result of better in-formation are integrated. However, at the lev-el of relief agencies, difficulties in interpret-ing information seriously determine effec-tive allocation of relief resources.

Flexible Funding Structures

More flexible funding structures betweendonor and agency than those presently ob-served are needed. Agreed minimum stan-dards for monitoring of interventions shouldbe introduced by relief agencies. As for theoften neglected structuring of decisions involatile crisis situations, a computerized de-cision-support system is proposed in theZEF study for use in disaster management.

Torsten Feldbrügge is research fel-low at ZEF, Department for Econo-mics and Technological Change, andconducted the research in Angolaand Mozambique.

While ZEF was welcoming the participantsof the International Doctoral Studies Pro-gram for the 2000 academic year, the grad-uate students from the previous year wereembarking on their respective field re-search trips. The following summary de-picts just two research projects whichcould be undertaken owing to the supportof the German Academic Exchange Service(DAAD) and the Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).

Bamboo in Central China

The Shennongjia Reserve is situated inthe mountainous landscape of the north-western Hubei province with peaks up to3,100 m and deeply-cut valleys. The re-gion is covered by dense forests and hugearrow bamboo stands. Biodiversity is high:more than 3,500 plant species as well as308 bird species and 75 mammals havebeen recorded in the reserve. Many of theanimal species are rare and protected, suchas the golden monkey, tiger, leopard, blackbear or the musk deer. And also the en-dangered giant panda lived here—but cen-turies ago. Today, plans are discussed toreintroduce the giant panda into the re-serve with its arrow bamboo stands. Ar-row bamboo is the preferred food of giantpandas: an adult animal consumes about18 kg per day.

The doctoral research examines thebotanical characterization of the arrowbamboo communities and their distribu-tion in the reserve. The thesis will alsoassess the food supply and the respec-tive carrying capacity with regard to theenvisaged reintroduction of the giant pan-da. Furthermore, the dynamics of bamboostands will be studied, which are stronglyinfluenced by the unusual flowering be-havior of arrow bamboo: All plants of astand or even a region flower simulta-neously and die back after producingseeds—a fact that might cause seriousfamines for the pandas. The bamboostands regenerate from the seeds, start-ing with seed germination and seedling

establishment. The opportunity to studythese processes, however, is rare, as ar-row bamboo flowers only every 70-80years. At present, we have one of theserare chances because the bamboo in theShennongjia Reserve recently started toflower. The reintroduction of giant pan-das into the Shennongjia reserve will re-sult in higher public awareness of therich biota of the reserve, which is one ofChina´s most important places for biodi-versity conservation.

This research is conducted by Zhao-hua Li, botanist from Wuhan, China, incooperation with the Institute of Botanyof the University of Bonn.

ICT in Bangladesh and Peru

The importance of information is increas-ingly recognized in the development pro-cess. This thesis looks at the impact ofinformation and communication technol-ogies (ICT) on transaction costs, house-hold resource allocation, and performance.Access to ICT and associated declines incosts have increased the potential of de-veloping countries to overcome the infor-mation poverty. The provision of mobilephones to poor women by the GrameenBank in Bangladesh, and the spread oftelephones in Peru due to deregulation andprivatization are two recent examples.Though different in the nature of provid-ers, they are similar in terms of their con-sequences: availability of information inrural areas. The availability of informationhas opened up a new opportunity to ana-lyze the impact of less costly informationon the objectives mentioned above.

The study is expected to provide aguideline for future development policiesrelated to the provision of information andpoverty alleviation.

Shyamal K. Chowdhury, an economistfrom Bangladesh, is conducting this re-search for his doctoral thesis in close co-operation with the Jahangirnagar Univer-sity, Bangladesh, and the Grupo de Análi-sis para el Desarrollo, Peru.

ZEFnews No. 5 September 2000 3

Doris Wiesmann and Torsten Feldbrügge

An International Nutrition Index(NI) developed by ZEF serves as acomprehensive measure enablingthe analysis of performance andtrends in combating hunger and

malnutrition both in individualcountries and entire regions.

The NI, a research project on food securityand nutrition developed at ZEF, reflectscomplementary dimensions of a country’snutrition situation by integrating three indi-cators:● the percentage of undernour-

ished in the population,● the prevalence of underweight

in children under the age of five,and

● the under-five-mortality rate.

Available data, refined andsupplemented by own estimates,permit the calculation of the Nutri-tion Index for the majority of de-veloping countries at three pointsin time (1981, 1992 and 1997). Ac-cording to the NI, in North Africaand the Near East, as well as inLatin America and the Caribbean,a nearly satisfactory nutrition sit-uation has been achieved. The sit-uation is still bad in South Asia and at bestmixed in most South East Asian countries.But promising upward trends have been ob-served in this region since the beginningof the 80s. In large parts of Sub-SaharanAfrica, the nutrition situation is bad or evenextremely bad, and recent trends do not pro-vide much scope for optimism.

In further analyses, significant correla-tions between NI values and the prevalence

The International NutritionIndex

of micro-nutrient deficiencies have beenfound. There is also a close connectionbetween macroeconomic performance andpeople’s ability to be free from hunger andmalnutrition. In spite of this, for many coun-tries the comparison of NI and per capitaincome reveals that a large potential for pol-icies to relieve hunger and malnutrition hasremained untapped so far.

The Nutrition Index, in its function asan international moni-toring tool, is hoped tomake countries more ac-countable to their com-mitments and to helpspeed up necessary nu-tritional improvements.

The Nutrition Indexis presented togetherwith a broad range ofnutrition-related indica-tors in a new year bookon world food security

which has recently been published—joint-ly by the German Agro Action (DeutscheWelthungerhilfe), the International FoodPolicy Research Institute (IFPRI) and ZEF.

Further topics in the year book range fromthe impact of trade liberalization to the ef-fects of biotechnology on food security andnutrition.

Desertification is defined as the degrada-tion of land (vegetation and soils) in arid,semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions and iscaused primarily by over-exploitation ofnatural resources beyond their carrying ca-pacity. Desertification leads to a persistentdecline in economic productivity in the ag-riculture of the affected ecosystems. Threetypes of land use dominate in drylands, anddetermine different potential solutions.

Rangelands constitute the dominantland use in drylands (4556 million ha out of5158 million ha). Here, vegetation degrada-tion due to overgrazing and by fuel woodextraction is the primary cause of desertifi-cation.

Rainfed croplands occupy an area of 457million ha, of which 216 million suffer main-ly from a degradation of soils. Soil con-straints arise primarily from the rainfed crop-lands’ vulnerability to erosion, which leadsto a loss of soil fertility. Eroded soils arestructurally unstable and prone to crustingand compaction. However, poverty and theunforeseeable rainfall distribution patternslimit the options for restorative manage-ment. Rainwater conservation, a viable so-lution to minimize risk, is not adopted dueto insecure tenancy and centralized man-agement of government-supported pro-grams. A lack of adequate knowledge ofwater efficient techniques and high valueland use alternatives, as well as an inade-quate marketing infrastructure are the ad-ditional causes of poor rainwater manage-ment. Conditions for an improvement in thissector are: (1) a change of land tenure pol-icies towards free hold ownership, (2) theintroduction of community participation inrainwater management, (3) scientific inter-ventions in efficient use of harvested wa-ter supported by high value land use op-tions built on indigenous knowledge (e.g.,the “zai” system used in the Sahel zone)and (4) government support to facilitate thedevelopment of rainfed agriculture.

Within drylands, irrigated cropland oc-cupies an area of 145 million ha. Forty-onemillion ha suffer from reversible degrada-tion, mainly due to salinity and water log-ging . With canal water irrigation, three keydevelopment options are suggested to re-move excess salts and water and to mini-mize conveyance and application losses ofwater: (1) the introduction of effective drain-age including research on bio-drainagetechniques; (2) properly lined or closedwater conveyance systems and efficient ir-rigation techniques to reduce water losses;

Desertification - Howto Reverse the TrendJ.C. Katyal and P.L.G. Vlek

Doris Wiesmann and Torsten Feld-brügge are research fellows at ZEF,Department for Economics and Tech-nological Change.

Minister for Agriculture, Karl-Heinz Funke, at thebook presentation „Jahrbuch Welternährung“ on29 March in Berlin Photo: Jungeblodt

4 ZEFnews No. 5 September 2000

Christopher Martius andAnja Schoeller-Schletter

Water and Land Use inUzbekistan

The Aral Sea basin was declared an “eco-logical disaster area” in 1992 by the UN. It isa dramatic example of how the expansion ofirrigated agriculture with inefficient meth-ods, poor management and disregard for theecological conditions can lead to the de-struction of a whole ecosystem, inducingclimate changes of supra-regional impact.The drastic reduction of the Aral Sea sur-face area since the sixties is mainly due tomassive losses of river water in ill-designedand inefficient irrigation systems along theAmu-Darya and the Syr-Darya rivers, themajor tributaries of the Aral Sea. Not only awaste of water is to be noted, but also high

degradation of soils, combined with highsalinity – the latter being a result of the highground water table. Water losses due topoor transport systems are estimated toamount to 40 km3 of water per year – savingthis amount alone would be enough to sta-bilize the Aral Sea at its present level. Worse,water use per hectare is twice as high as inother regions, yet at the same time, the yieldsof crops are reported to be only half, and insome cases less than one-third of what isproduced elsewhere.

The production system and the admin-istration of land and water have aggravat-ed the problem. Measures such as the in-troduction of incentives to save water orthe privatization of small farms are beingstifled by a still widely unchallengedplanned economy with fixed quotas for cropproduction and centrally assigned water.Transfer of land from former state ownedfarms to private users is not compatible with

and (3) the introduction of a participatorymanagement of the irrigation system. Al-though installing drainage and leak-proofconveyance systems is costly, the econom-ic and ecological gains are high.

The entire strategy of reclaiming deser-tified land revolves around water to either,reestablish the vegetation of rangelands,rejuvenate the productivity of rainfed crop-lands, or halt cropland loss creeping intoirrigated farmlands. Desertification beginswith actions by people and will have to end

with new strategies. Otherwise the 900 mil-lion people affected today will grow to bil-lions tomorrow.

No. 26 - Wiesmann, D., von Braun, J.,Feldbrügge, T.: An InternationalNutrition Index - Successes andFailures in Addressing Hunger andMalnutrition, pp. 56, Bonn, 2000.

No. 27 - Torero, M.: The Access andWelfare Impacts of Telecommuni-cations Technology in Peru, pp. 30,Bonn, 2000.

No. 28 - Hartmann-Wendels, T.,Menkhoff, L.: Could Tighter PrudentialRegulation Have Saved Thailand’sBanks?, pp. 40, Bonn, 2000.

No. 29 - Dev, M.: EconomicLiberalisation and Employment inSouth Asia, pp. 82, Bonn, 2000.

ZEF DiscussionPapers on Develop-ment Policy

New Publications from ZEF

ZEF - Books

No. 30 - El-Mikawy, N., Hashem, A.,Kassem, M., El-Sawi, A., El-Sawy, A. H.,Showman, M.: Institutional Reform ofEconomic Legislation in Egypt, pp. 72,Bonn, 2000.

No. 31 - Roy, K., Ziemek, S.: On theEconomics of Volunteering, pp. 47,Bonn, 2000.

ZEF Discussion Papers are available fromZEF free of charge (tel. 0228/73-1861)or per E-Mail (zef@uni-bonn.de). Thepapers can also be downloaded fromthe ZEF homepage (www.zef.de)

the state maintaining the fixed overall areaunder cultivation for cotton. Legal uncer-tainty – deriving, for example, from unde-fined exploitation rights and maintenanceobligations – is impeding private initiativeand investment in new areas of production.

Effective and sustainable land and wa-ter use can only be achieved by integratingconcepts for sustainable management ofnatural resources with proposals for eco-nomic and legal-administrative reorganiza-tion. New agricultural production methodshave to be designed and tested, water andland distribution procedures need to beanalyzed, the legal basis for agriculturalproduction must be studied, and marketingpossibilities must be evaluated. At present,ZEF is carrying out a feasibility study withthe financial support of the German Minis-try of Education and Research (BMBF), in-vestigating the possibilities of developinga research project in close cooperation withUNESCO and several research institutes inUzbekistan. A proposal addressing the eco-logical, economic and legal-administrativeconstraints for the improvement of waterand land use practices in the target regionwill be formulated by the end of the year2000 and submitted to the BMBF.

Dr. C. Martius, soil biologist and ecol-ogist, and A. Schoeller-Schletter, pub-lic law specialist, are preparing theinterdisciplinary project proposal,together with other ZEF staff.

Dr. J.C. Katyal is director of the Na-tional Academy of Agricultural Re-search Management (NAARM) inHyderabad, India, and was a researchfellow at ZEF during 1999/2000.Prof. Paul L.G. Vlek is director at ZEF.

Other Publicationsvan de Giesen, N.C., Stomph, T.J., deRidder, N. (2000): Scale Effects onHortonian Overland Flow and Rainfall-Runoff Dynamics in a West AfricanCatena Landscape, Hydrological Proc-esses Vol. 14 (No. 1), pp. 165-175.

Sommer, R., Denich, M., Vlek, P.L.G.(2000): Carbon storage and rootpenetration in deep soils under small-farmer land-use systems in the EasternAmazon region, Brazil. Plant and Soil219, pp. 231-241.

Jütting, J. (2000): Transmission of PriceShifts in the Context of StructuralAdjustment: An empirical analysis forstaple food after the devaluation of theFranc CFA in Ivory Coast. In: Agricul-tural Economics, Vol. 22, pp. 67-74.

Jütting, J. (1999): Social SecuritySystems in low Income Countries: AnOverview from an Institutional Perspec-tive. In: Indian Journal of LabourEconomics, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 341-360.

Wehrheim, P., Frohberg, K., Serova, E.,von Braun, J. (eds.): Russia’s Agro-foodSector: Towards Truly FunctioningMarkets, pp. 552, Kluwer AcademicPublishers, Boston/Dordrecht, 2000,ISBN 0-7923-7841-5.

ZEFnews No. 5 September 2000 5

Displacement in ColombiaStefanie Kirchhoff

In collaberation with theUniversidad de Los Andes inBogotá, ZEF is elaborating

recommendations for politicalmeasures, the aim of such

measures being to offer displacedpersons in Colombia long term

prospects in their new homeland.

Many displaced persons in Colombia are forced to work as streetvendors in order to sustain a living Photo: ZEF

The armed conflict over economic and po-litical power in Colombia has forced approx-imately 1.200.000 people, mostly women andchildren, to leave their homes during theperiod from 1985 and 1997. Colombia ranksamong the 10 countries with the highest in-cidence of displacement in the world. Offi-cial sources predict another 500.000 peoplewill be displaced within the next three years.The continuing and increasing trend of dis-placement and the limited ability of the re-ceptor cities to absorb these immense mass-es of people, are making it more and moreurgent to design policies of prevention, as-sistance, and resettlement. A project fund-ed by the Colombian National Planning De-partment and the research foundation ‘Col-ciencias’ aims at helping the design of suchpolicies by analyzing the determinants andeffects of displacement at the householdlevel. Some preliminary results of a surveyamong about 400 households in expulsoryand receptor locations are presented here.

Causes of Displacement

The interviews confirm the role of the vio-lent conflict as the principal cause of dis-placement. The actors most likely to pro-voke displacement are the paramilitarygroups, followed by the guerilla. The prob-ability of displacement increases substan-tially when household members become thedirect target of death threats or other men-aces. The analysis indicates that land own-ers, members of local organizations, andyounger household heads face the highestrisk of such threats. Violent events (e.g., tor-tures, assassinations, massacres) experi-enced by household members, friends andpeople from nearby areas also significantlyincrease the likelihood of displacement.

The results indicate that economic fac-tors also play a significant role in the indi-

vidual’s displacement decision as high riskslike the loss of properties, unemployment,discrimination, etc., are involved. House-holds with a better standard of living athome (larger property, better access toschooling and public services) are less like-ly to displace themselves, a result which isconsistent with the economic theories ofmigration. Expectations about the standardof living in the receptor city (e.g., the prob-ability of finding employment) also play asignificant role.

The majority of the displaced consistsof low-income families from rural areas. Halfof the inter-viewees hadlived in theirarea of originfor more thantwenty years.Many used tobe farmers whohad to leavetheir land andother assets inthe control ofthe insurgentgroups. Often,they lack theskills requiredto find employ-ment in the re-ceptor city.About a thirdof the displacedhousehold heads became permanently un-employed. Others started to work as streetvendors, household aids or constructionworkers. While almost two thirds of the dis-placed that were interviewed used to live intheir own houses, after displacement mostof them lived in rented rooms or apartments,shelters or with family and friends, often inmarginalized poor areas and slums. Accessto health care, schooling, and public ser-vices may improve or deteriorate with dis-placement depending on the area of originand the city of destination.

Policy Recommendations

Obviously, any real solution to the displace-ment problem requires the end of violentconflict in Colombia. However, as long aspeace remains unlikely some policy chang-es seem recommendable. Government pro-tection could be focused more on those

groups most likely to be threatened. In-creased police presence might help improvethe sense of security of the population inareas of violence. The results also show thatthe affected household’s expectations re-garding housing, employment, and assis-tance in the case of displacement differ con-siderably from the actual outcome. There-fore, improved ex ante information is nec-essary. About 60 percent of the displacedare less than 16 years old. Therefore, spe-cial programs to deal with the necessitiesand traumas of the children are warranted.Most current assistance programs focus onthe provision of the most basic necessitiesright after displacement (e.g., shelters, food,blankets). While these programs are essen-tial they do not assure the long term liveli-hood of the displaced. When asked directlyabout their most urgent current needs, mostof the displaced named assistance in find-ing employment or credits to start their own

small businesses. More than a third indicat-ed a need for child education. Moreover, itis worrisome that 28 percent of the inter-viewees said they need money to buy food.Resettlement programs are one option toalleviate the pressure on receptor cities andhelp the displaced. When asked for the min-imum conditions for their participation insuch programs most interviewees named theabsence of violent conflict in the area ofresettlement, financial assistance in start-ing over, and property rights to housing andland.

Dr. Stefanie Kirchhoff, research fel-low at ZEF, is coordinating theproject together with project partnersin Colombia.

6 ZEFnews No. 5 September 2000

ViewpointsProfessor Dong Fu-Reng is aneconomist at the ChineseAcademy of Social Sciencesin Bejing, China and memberof ZEF´s Advisory Board

ZEF: China is about to join the WTO.How will this step change economicdevelopment in China in the longrun? Where do you see chances andrisks for China in the trade of prod-ucts and services?

Dong Fu-Reng: In the long run, China’s ac-cession to WTO will improve the develop-ment of its economy, however, it will alsobring some negative impacts in the shortrun. China’s accession to WTO will increaseits integration into the world market, thusfurther deepening its economic reform pro-cess towards an open market-oriented sys-tem. Facing international competition, manyenterprises will have to carry out and speedup reforms. This is especially true for thestate-owned enterprises. The private-ownedenterprises being relatively less impacted bythe structural changes will have greater op-portunities for expansion. The sectors fac-ing tremendous pressure include the auto-mobile industry (automobile producers andinput industry), the agricultural sector (main-ly wheat, corn, soybean and cotton), tele-communication, as well as the banking andinsurance sectors. Labor intensive sectorssuch as the textile industry will mainly ben-efit from accession to WTO, but only thoseenterprises with modern technologies willbe able to compete internationally.

ZEF: Human resources, innovation,science and technology are the driv-ing forces of long term growth. Howis China performing in this respect,and what future policy directions areexpected ?

Dong Fu-Reng: A basic goal of China’s na-tional policy is to promote the reform pro-cess based on science, technology and ed-ucation. Besides increasing investment infundamental research, the Chinese govern-ment encourages the private sector to in-vest in the development of especially ap-plied sciences and technologies. However,the environment and legal framework for thedevelopment of science and technologyneeds further improvement. This refers forexample to the protection of intellectual prop-erty rights or the creation of incentives fortechnical innovation. China has also estab-lished high-tech zones and implementedsome more favorable policies to attract for-eign and domestic investments in the fieldsof high technology. Core high-tech sectorsinclude information technologies, biotech-nologies, new energy, new materials andenvironment protection technologies.

ZEF: The employment of many work-ers of former public enterprises in theprivate sector is always a problem ofeconomic reform. How is China deal-ing with this problem and what is therole of small and medium sized enter-prises (SMEs)?

Dong Fu-Reng: Unemployment is an espe-cially big problem in the development ofChina’s economy. For the tremendous sur-plus of laborers in state-owned enterprisesnew jobs need to be created. The Chinesegovernment promotes the development ofprivate enterprises, especially of SMEs. Infact, the development of private enterpriseshas been very fast. In 1998, non-state-owned enterprises in total industry reachedabout 70 percent. However, the develop-ment of SMEs is still impeded by many ob-stacles, like the prohibited access to somesectors such as banking, insurance, telecom-munication, security trading, aviation or rail-way, the difficulty of recruiting qualified staffand in the area of management, administra-

tion and technology. In addition, privateenterprises have little possibily of raisingcapital on the stock market, and it is noteasy for them to obtain bank loans; SMEs,especially, are hardly able to provide collat-eral for banks, etc. These problems are in-creasingly being faced now, for instance,state-owned banks have established depart-ments for SMEs and specialized credit agen-cies are also being developed. To tackle theunemployment problems, policies thatspeed up the urbanization process and thedevelopment of small and middle-size citieshave also been carried out, since the levelof urbanization is very low in China. In 1999,only 30 percent of the total population livedin the urban areas.

ZEF: What is to be done to addressthe poverty problem in rural areasin particular?

Dong Fu-Reng: Although China has hadconsiderable success in alleviating pover-ty, the task of wiping out poverty by theend of the last century was not achieved.There are still 32 million people having prob-lems to sustain their basic needs in terms offood and clothing. Of these, 20 million peo-ple suffer from a lack of arable land, extremepoor soil quality and lack of water so thatresettlement into other regions is needed.A percentage of poor people who had beensuccessfully pushed above the poverty linereturned to poverty again. The major caus-es of poverty are adaptation problems tomarket changes, surplus of agricultural prod-ucts, barriers to marketing channels, lack ofknowledge and technology, scarcity of cap-ital, natural disasters, or tragic accidents offamily members. Therefore, it is necessaryto provide farmers with market information,technical training and loans. But there isalso the need to revive and create socialinsurance systems (health care, pensionsand social welfare).

International Advisory Board stimulates ZEF’sfurther strategyOn 19 August 2000 the InternationalAdvisory Board of ZEF met in Bonn forthe second time, the focal point ofthis year’s meeting being the currentand future role of the Center at botha national and an international level.Under the leadership of the deputychairperson, Margarita de Botero, theBoard discussed, in particular, the longterm strategy of the Center includingits research agenda. Furthermore,financial and administrative aspectswere addressed as well as the forth-

coming evaluation. The Board meetingtook place in a constructive and openatmosphere, during which various ZEFstaff members presented their researchprojects. The Board members wel-comed the opportunity to discuss thework of ZEF with researchers – a mostadvantageous opportunity enabling abetter understanding of the activitiesof ZEF thereby assisting the Board intheir recommendations for the futuredirection of the Center.

ZEFnews No. 5 September 2000 7

Endeavoring to make human rights the ma-jor aim of development has wide implica-tions. For one, it means asking whether hu-man rights are to supersede growth as themajor goal of development or whether hu-man rights set the agenda as a goal ofgrowth. It means looking at the argumentsin favor of, and in opposition to, such a re-definition, as well as the political and insti-tutional difficulties in doing so. It has impli-cations for the relationship between donorand recipient countries, and between inves-tors and recipient countries participating intrade related assistance.

One could consider going beyond theera of conditionality and related sanctionsin order to focus on redefining the contrac-tual relationship. The question then to beposed is whether all parties would be obli-gated to adjust their allocations of resourc-es for direct development aid as well as tradeand investment related assistance to fit thecriteria of human rights. Mechanisms forenforcing contractual agreements, or evenhaving them reviewed, then become impor-tant. What form these shall take must bediscussed and also how they are to be built

in as an integral part of a strategy for devel-opment aid and trade or investment relatedassistance. Finally, clarity is needed aboutthe larger context of the interplay betweenhuman rights and development.

The workshop will start with identify-ing the political and institutional constraintson making human rights the explicit primaryaim of development or growth. The partici-pants will then examine whether these con-straints can or should be overcome andhow. Against the background of thesebroader issues, representatives from bilat-eral aid agencies, business, and NGOs willhave an opportunity to assess the degreeof integration of human rights in their orga-nizations’ strategies on the basis of con-crete examples of good and bad practices.Also to be debated is the issue of the obli-gations that a human rights policy placesnot only on the recipient countries, but alsoon donors and investors, in terms of re-source allocation and implementation. Thepros and cons of various approaches nowbeing used by multilateral agencies andespecially by international NGOs will bediscussed as well as issues of future strate-gies. Finally the question is raised whetherand how a fundamental consensus can bereached about human rights as the macro-environment that guides political, econom-ic, and legal choices relating to aid and trade.The closing discussion aims to identifypoints of focus for future research and pol-icy.

Should Human Rights TakePriority?Chris Jones-Pauly

Are human rights to be made theprimary goal of development and

trade and investment relatedassistance policies? This question

will be explored at a workshop atZEF to be held from 9th to 10th

November 2000.

ZEF Calendar

facts and newsIn July, the Brazilian ResearchCouncil (CNPq) approved theproject “Management of plantdetritus and its effects on litterdecomposition and soilmacrofauna in central Amazo-nian agro-ecosystems”, pre-pared by the State Museum forNatural Science in Karlsruhe(Staatliches Museum fürNaturkunde Karlsruhe -SMNK) and ZEF (DepartmentEcology and Natural ResourceManagement) in cooperationwith Embrapa - AmazôniaOcidental, the Brazilian agricul-

tural research institute in Manaus.The 3-year project, which on thepart of Germany had already beenapproved by BMBF in April, willstart this year. In this follow-upproject, the possible applicationof results from a previous project“Soil fauna and litter decomposi-tion in primary and secondaryforest in a polyculture forestryplantation in Amazonia“ (1996-1999) in practical soil manage-ment in low-input farming will beexamined.

SEPTEMBER11 September: 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

6th Bonn Dialogue on Develop-ment Policy with Kemal Dervis,Vice President, World Bank: „Glo-balization and Equity“; Confer-ence Venue: ZEF

DECEMBER4 December: Conferment of the Ger-

man UNIFEM Prize for sustainablewomen’s self help projects withHeidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Minis-ter for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (in collaborationwith the German Committee ofUNIFEM and the City of Bonn);Conference Venue: ZEF

6 – 8 December: International Confer-ence „Tropical Agriculture in Tran-sition – Opportunities for Mitigat-ing Greenhouse Gas Emissions? (incollaboration with the FraunhoferInstitute for Environmental Atmo-spheric Research, Garmisch-Partenkirchen); Conference Venue:Gustav-Stresemann-Institut, Bonn

14 – 16 December: International Con-ference „Facing Ethnic Conflicts –Perspectives from Research andPolicy-making; Conference Venue:Haus der Geschichte and ZEF,Bonn

From 16 October 2000, the regular ZEFPublic Lectures with diverse guest spea-kers will again be held each Monday eve-ning from 5:00 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Theprogram is available on the internet(www.zef.de).

The granting of stipends and re-search funding by the RobertBosch Foundation has made itpossible for future German gradu-ate doctoral students within thefield of agriculture and forestry toparticipate in the InternationalDoctoral Studies Program at ZEF.With this initative, the foundationaims to strengthen the long termpresence of German scientists ininternational research institutesand organizations within the agri-cultural sector. Additional to theGerman Academic Exchange Ser-vice and the German Federal Min-

istry of Economic Cooperationand Development, ZEF was ableto gain a further important sup-porter of the program.

At the end of August, Joachimvon Braun, director at ZEF, waselected the new president of theInternational Association of Ag-ricultural Economists (IAAE).The IAAE has about 1800 mem-bers active in over 90 countriesworld wide. Their central focusis on issues surrounding agricul-ture, nutrition, environment, ru-ral development and interna-tional trade.

Dr. Dr. Chris Jones-Pauly is seniorresearch fellow at ZEF, Departmentfor Political and Cultural Change.

8 ZEFnews No. 5 September 2000

Zentrum für EntwicklungsforschungCenter for Development ResearchUniversity of BonnWalter-Flex-Str. 3D–53113 Bonn, GermanyISSN: 1438-0943

Editor: Monika ReuleEditorial Board: Dr. Ulrike Grote,Dr. Christopher Martius, Dr. AnjaSchoeller-SchletterTel.: 0228/73-1811 oder -1846Fax: 0228/73-5097E-Mail: m.reule@uni-bonn.deInternet: http://www.zef.de

ZEFnews is published three times a yearin English and Germany and can beordered free of charge.

Whether in Africa, Asia, Europeor elsewhere in the world:

acceptable living standards mustprevail, otherwise people migrate

to the cities. Usually a set ofmeasures are required in order to

come closer to this aim. The“Global Dialogue on the Role ofthe Village in the 21st Century”

illustrated what needs to be done.

Impressum

At an invitation from ZEF, around 300village as well as city representatives,scientists, politicians and leading busi-ness representatives from all over theworld came together at the EXPO FairGrounds in Hanover. From 15-17 Au-gust, within the framework of the “Glo-bal Dialogue on the Role of the Villagein the 21st Century“, they discussedboth the difficulties and prospects oflife in rural areas.

More and more peo-ple worldwide are leav-ing the rural areas to livein the city. Already to-day more than 75 per-cent of the population inindustrialized countrieslive and work in urbanareas. This is also atrend seen in develop-ing countries in which the majority ofpeople still live in rural areas. Many peopleare forced to leave their rural homes due tothe economic or political situation or forecological reasons, while hope drives oth-ers to the big cities in search of a seeminglybetter life. Here they are often met with asituation, the very one which caused themto retreat from the rural areas: unemploy-ment, poverty and inhumane living condi-tions.

“We have to cease regarding cities andrural areas as isolated living areas havingnothing to do with one another”, urgedKlaus Töpfer, executive director of the Unit-ed Nations Environment Programme(UNEP). „The greatest challenge is to rec-ognize the mutual dependency on one an-other of city and rural areas and to contrib-

ute to stabilizing the connection betweenboth these areas“.

As always has been the case – in par-ticular in developing countries - agriculturerepresents the livelihood for most of thepeople living in rural areas. Current studiesindicate that the production of food willneed to double by the year 2025 in order tonourish the world’s population of aroundeight billion by that time. Participants ofthe Global Dialogue were thereforepromptly in agreement thatmeasures need to be taken inrural areas to facilitate in-creased food production,

however, without simultaneous, long termexploitation of natural resources. That suchan aim can be achieved through implemen-tation of simple measures, coupled with theinitiative of the village inhabitants them-selves, was evidenced by many illustrationspresented during the Global Dialogue. Forexample, a farmer from an arid Indian regiondescribed how the implementation of sim-ple measures enabled the saving and effi-cient use of water. Today, in this very sameregion, which once offered no prospects offundamental life, sustainable agriculturalmethods are once again being used.

The role of biotechnology is a contro-versial debate in the field of new technolo-gy. “Biotechnology is neither the “sole sa-cred technology” nor is it always to be in-stantly equated with genetic engineering”,

stressed Gerhard Prante from Aventis CropScience. In particular, representatives fromprivate industry urged to finally end dis-cussions and rather establish appropriatemechanisms which allow biotechnologytransfer and adaptation to local needs forthe well being of the population. Ernst Ul-rich von Weizsäcker, president of the Wup-pertal Institute, however, considered theapplication of genetic engineering as dan-gerous and in this context, made a compar-ison to nuclear energy.

Immense hope for the further develop-ment of rural areas is also placed world-wide on the introduction of modern infor-mation and communication technologies.Miko Rwayitare, managing director of Tele-cell, South Africa, reported on his experi-ence of marketing wireless communicationtechnology in the African continent. “Thepolitical decision makers, particularly inAfrica, have no interest in an improvementof living conditions in rural areas and there-

fore can often be held responsible forfailed efforts of trying to connect ruralareas to today’s society of informationtechnology”, he criticized harshly.During the Dialogue it was repeatedlystressed to decentralize political deci-sion making in order to enable rural com-

munities to improve the quality of life.By providing rural areas with the admin-

istrative and financial flexibility to act, itwould be possible for villages to take themeasures necessary for a functional localinfrastructure. Parallel, the initiative of thepeople themselves, their willingness, to-gether with a responsible approach, wasalso called upon. By initiating such prac-tices, the villages will be provided withevery opportunity to progress and devel-op into an environment offering attractiveliving conditions in the 21st century.

A Better Standard ofLiving for Rural AreasMonika Reule

Klaus Töpfer

Musicians from Palestine

Talkshow with Minister Betty Ok-wir, Deptuy Minister’s Office, Ugan-da, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker,Wuppertal Institut, Sabine Christi-ansen (moderation) and GerhardPrante, Aventis Crop Science(from left) Photos: ZEF