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The development
of this publication is scheduled for 2009.
Overview
of the Project
The
Natural Edge Project (TNEP) proposes to develop an
informative and practical book entitled ‘ The
Natural Advantage of Nations (Volume II)
– Exceeding the Millennium Goals through Sustainable
Development' supported by an online companion
database. The Book and Online Companion will highlight
proven options and future opportunities to achieve
the millennium development goals and sustainability
globally. The work will build on from 'The Natural
Advantage of Nations (Volume I) – Business Opportunities,
Innovation and Governance in the 21 st Century' and
examine key development and sustainability issues
in developing and emerging economies and detail effective
ways to move forward.
This
exciting field of work has the potential to unlock
the brainpower of over 2 million people previously
excluded from contributing to global solutions through
improving the quality of life in developing countries
as raised in the book Factor Four. This book
will also build on from Jeffrey Sachs “The End of
Poverty” publication by bringing together the emerging
success stories and methodologies that are contributing
to the reduction of poverty around the world.
The
central goals of the book will be to demonstrate how:
•
through the latest sustainable development strategies
in business practice, industrial processes and policy
development it is not only possible to exceed the
millennium development goals but to ensure that they
have a lasting legacy;
•
Natural Advantage will assist countries making the
transition from being reliant on liquidating natural
resources and low-cost labour to knowledge and value
added industry based economies;
•
the major threats to the millennium goals namely conflict,
world economic recession, corruption, lack of trade
opportunities and lack of co-ordination of current
aid programs can be overcome;
•
successful strategies sustainable development applied
with local capacity building can greatly assist in
rebuilding tsunami affected areas and post conflict
economies like Afghanistan and Iraq;
•
developing countries can ‘multiply the use of scarce
capital' through efficiency and sustainability based
programs reducing capital invested in outdated infrastructure
and processes;
•
such technologies and approaches in sustainable development
are also key to unlocking new sources of economic
growth in OECD countries.
Ending
world poverty and reducing global inequality by definition
requires a global effort. This work will have broad
interest because it seeks to provide options for rapidly
emerging and growing economies like India and China
to choose to approach poverty reduction, development
and economic growth. How these countries choose to
approach these challenges will have significant global
implications. China already imports more resources
of every commodity than any country except the US
.
In
response to such global challenges, a number of the
major banks responsible for 75 percent of loans to
the developing world have recently signed onto the
Equator Principles, injecting environmental and social
criteria into the selection of development loans.
The strength of the first book The Natural Advantage
of Nations (Volume I) is that the rigorous
frameworks apply to any country. The Natural Advantage
of Nations (Volume II) will build on the first
publication, so that while the focus of the case studies
will be developing and emerging economies, the frameworks,
principles and strategies will still be relevant for
all countries.
The
activities of TNEP are not for profit and draw on
mentoring and expertise from a diverse range of partners
including many bodies relevant to this publication
such as Engineers Australia, CSIRO, Engineers Without
Borders, the On the Frontier Group, and the UN Centre
for Technology Transfer, Natural Capitalism Inc, and
Rocky Mountain Institute. The development of the publication,
like the first volume, will be made possible through
donations and grants that will be used to build the
book and a companion online database to support it.
We hope that you will find this brief of interest
and consider making a financial contribution, research
contribution, peer review and mentoring in its development.
Goals
of the Project
As
stated above, the first goal of this book is to show
how through the latest and best strategies for sustainable
development it is possible to exceed the millennium
development goals by 2015 and to ensure that they
have a lasting legacy. The causes of poverty are multi-faceted.
Fundamentally the lack of investments needed to overcome
the root causes – drugs and public health measures
for AIDS and malaria, rehabilitating depleted soils,
schools and roads and so on – are small by global
standards but well beyond the resources of those in
extreme poverty. Therefore it is vital that investments
and aid is targeted to ensure maximum affect. So secondly,
the book aims to overview and learn from the latest
best frameworks, outcomes and results from United
Nations/Development Aid/ Sustainable Livelihood programs
plus indigenous efforts.
Thirdly,
the book will show how the major threats to the millennium
goals namely conflict, world economic recession, corruption,
lack of co-ordination and effectiveness of current
aid programs can be overcome. Fourthly, the book will
demonstrate how the emerging successful strategies
for sustainable development can help post-conflict
and post tsunami affected states, developing and emerging
economies grow successfully. Fifth, there is need
for such a book to support the recent commitment from
the global banks committed to the Equator Principles
(a set of sustainable development principles). There
is a great need then for an authoritative resource
and online companion to help better inform this new
opportunity. Sixth, we live in a world where government,
business and civil society all have real power. Decisions
made regarding the availability and costs of much
needed medicines mean the difference between life
and death. Therefore we need new models to show how
these three actors can better achieve and exceed the
millennium goals. Our first book brought together
many of the pieces of the puzzle, but there are more.
Finally,
this work will examine how wise sustainable development
strategies have been shown to also be key to OECD
countries trying to find new sources of economic growth
which will further assist economic growth and poverty
reduction in developing countries. Through making
these points the book will seek to rally new funding
to these more successful approaches. When countries
like the US spend as much on pornography as on aid,
it is clear that the world can afford significantly
more aid funding.. Australians waste more than $10
billion a year on products and services they do not
use, according to a recent report. The Australia Institute
study found Australians waste 13 times more money
on unused food than the nation gives in foreign aid.
The Natural Advantage of Nations (Volume II)
will provide a succinct, but authoritative resource
for organisations working with and in developing nations.
Objectives
of the Project
The
project will;
•
develop an effective and simple publication to help
businesses, government and civil society see their
potential to assist to reduce poverty and create opportunity
globally in post conflict states, developing and emerging
economies globally, and
•
provide a complementary web site containing in-depth
information to support the book and to link readers
to the achievements of businesses, engineers, universities,
in helping to achieve poverty reduction globally.
TNEP
will build on its existing formal partnerships including
Michael Fairbanks' On the Frontier group
that has worked in over 33 developing countries, Hunter
Lovins and Natural Capitalism Inc that are currently
working in Afghanistan, Bernard Amedei and Engineers
Without Borders (US) (currently leading the US engineering
response to the Tsunami), the United Nations Centre
for Technology Transfer in Japan, the International
Business Leaders Forum, Forum for the Future and the
Australian based industry research leader CSIRO.
TNEP
also partners formally with a range of international
groups and organisations including the World Federation
of Engineering Organisations, Japan for Sustainability,
Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development,
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies ( Japan
), Ritsumeikan University , and Friends of the Earth
(HK). And in April 2005 TNEP team member Charlie Hargroves
attended the International Dialogue on ‘Providing
Leadership for Sustainable Development', held in Beijing
, China along with team mentor Mark Diesendorf.. TNEP
would seek for this book to formally involve representatives
from such organisations and to be formally endorsed
and promoted to their members.
Australia
is currently one of a handful of countries, other
than dictatorships, that has not formally committed
to the Millennium Goals. There is a great need to
raise awareness in Australia of this important global
initiative and to demonstrate that supporting it is
worth Australia 's commitment and effort. Recently
in Australia there has been a significant outpouring
of support for victims of the Tsunami. Many countries
such as Australia consider themselves generous countries
however over the last couple of decades there has
been a growing level of cynicism about:
•
levels of corruption in the developing world and
its perverse and insidious effect on poverty reduction
efforts; and
•
the amount of money that aid organisations use for
their own operations reducing the amount of aid
money actually reaching those who need it most,
the poor.
This
book will highlight where in the world these another
other barriers to poverty reduction have succeeded,
and the lessons learnt. Moreover, this book will provide
solutions from a sustainable development perspective,
in addition to those covered in books like Jeffrey
Sachs' (Chair of the UN Millennium Goals committee)
recently published “The End of Poverty”.
Methodology
The
project will at all times work to ensure that all
partnering organisations are ethical and focused on
‘walking the talk'; seeking to ensure maximum involvement
and consultation with partners to ensure a collaborative
approach to the development of the publication.
As
stated above already the project has strong involvement
and formal support from significant bodies and co-authors
such as Hunter Lovins (co-author of the seminal works
Factor 4: Doubling Your Wealth and Halving Your
Resource Usage , Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial
Revolution ) , and Michael Fairbanks (co-author
of Plowing the Sea: Nurturing the Hidden Sources
of Growth in the Developing World).
The
book and web site will be edited by The Natural Edge
Project led by Charlie Hargroves and Michael Smith
(editors and co-authors of Natural Advantage of
Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance
in the 21 st Century ), Cheryl Paten,
Lecturer in Environmental Engineering at Griffith
University and Nick Palousis, TNEP Operations Officer.
TNEP will build on from its existing networks to bring
still more mentors onto its advisory and steering
committees to guide this project.
TNEP
will seek to partner with other relevant organisations
so that the book truly is a global network and consensus
building process that lays a foundation for the implementation
of the books ideas. The publication will involve inviting
additional groups to consider both joining the project
and contributing to it, either financially, in kind,
or by peer review of content. We feel that this is
important and truly promotes a global approach to
the project.
TNEP
is very conscious that the process is equally as important
as, if not more important than, the product, and consider
that our strength as a secretariat lies in our ability
and capacity to act as a central driving force to
bring together various sustainability-focused works
and activities. The networks and connections formed
through this project have already been used to publicise
and support additional projects by making use of project
partners' existing communication and publicity infrastructures.
This project is collaborative, exciting, and uplifting.
It is the progressive ethical businesses' natural
edge to be involved in the same way business has stepped
up to be involved with the Tsunami relief at the beginning
of 2005.
This
will not just be a book of nice ideas - rather the
book will be undertaken with co-authors and projects
that are already succeeding on the ground. There is
nothing that convinces people faster than success
stories. The book will start with profound success
studies such as the example of the successful Solar
Barefoot engineering project in North East India.
Stories connect with people and are essential for
this book to reach more than the traditional aid and
development audiences. Stories like these will be
used throughout the book to make points thus making
this book accessible to as wide an audience as possible.
Sample
Content Map
Forewords
Preface from the Authors
Acknowledgements and Endorsements
Introduction: Possible Scenario’s for the Future:
UN Millennium Assessment
SECTION 1: THE NEED
FOR A NEW PARADIGM
Chapter 1: The Millennium Goals: It is possible to
end poverty?
Chapter 2: Risks of Inaction: Possible Scenarios for
the Future
Chapter 3: Asking The Right Questions
Chapter 4: Windows of Opportunity: New Framework for
international development
Chapter 5: Thinking Locally, Acting Globally
SECTION 2: SEIZING WINDOWS
OF OPPORTUNITY THROUGH BUILDING A PRIVATE SECTOR
Chapter 6: Putting the Framework into Practice
Chapter 7: Opportunities through technology transfer
Chapter 8: Rebuilding Tsunami Affected Countries
Chapter 9: Post Conflict States
Chapter 10: Discussion of tool
SECTION 3: ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
Chapter 11: How do we prevent the conflicts of the
future today
Chapter 12: Sustaining quality economic growth.
Chapter 13: Increasing Prosperity and Jobs whilst
saving the environment
Chapter 14: Success stories of overcoming corruption.
Chapter 15: Opportunities for government to assist
through technology transfer
SECTION 4: IMPORTANCE
OF SUSTAINABLE CITIES
Chapter 16: Rapid Urbanisation: Challenges and Opportunities
for Poverty Reduction
Chapter 17: Ensuring national and local synergies.
Chapter 18: Meeting global energy and water needs
through Demand Management
Chapter 19: Meeting global resource needs: Closing
the Loop
Chapter 20: Minerals and Metal
Chapter 21: Greening of Industry and Manufacturing
Chapter 22: Sustainable Agriculture
Chapter 23: Tragedy of the Commons Global Fisheries
Chapter 24: Education and Capacity Building
SECTION
5: A NEW THEORY OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN A TRIPARTITE
WORLD
Chapter 25: The importance of nations supporting effective
international efforts.
Chapter 26: Environment and Trade
Chapter 27: Models for Global Institutions to incorporate,
ESD
REFERENCES
INDEX
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