UNCTAD’s 2012 technology and innovation report looks at how South-South cooperation could help developing countries breach the technological divide and promote inclusive growth through industrialisation. The report focuses on how technological learning and innovation capacity can be promoted across developing countries. The South is argued to be an important partner to promote technology and innovation capacity in the developing world. Policy experiences of other developing countries in fostering innovation capacities may be more relevant to other developing countries. Further, the technology employed in countries in the South may be more suitable for developing countries’ local needs and conditions. The report proposes a set of five principles around which a framework of South-South collaboration for technology and innovation can be structured: integrate the technological needs of developing countries into South-South exchanges; share and better integrate lessons learned from ongoing catch-up experiences of other developing countries in building innovation capabilities through proactive policies; promote technological learning in particular through alliances and technology transfer initiatives; make South-South foreign direct investment more technology oriented; and pool resources of developing countries to address common technological challenges.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
The world’s financial and economic crisis has taken a toll on children and poor households. High food and commodity prices, unemployment and austerity measures have aggravated persistent inequalities and contributed to a substantial rise in hunger and social tensions. Now, more than ever, investments for the world’s poor are needed to recover lost ground in pursuit of development objectives. People everywhere are demanding change. This book describes the social impacts of the crisis, policy responses to date and United Nations alternative proposals for ‘A Recovery for All.' The book guides us through the effects of the multiple crises on the poor, but it also demonstrates convincingly that the fiscal space for a basic floor of social protection that would provide effective protection from the worst social fall-out of such crises can be found. The book reminds that fiscal space is not a question of economic performance or state of development, it is first and foremost a question of political will. It is the lack of political will, i.e., cruel indifference vis-à-vis avoidable ill health, hunger, destitution and deaths, that prevents us from reducing vulnerability of those who have no means to fend for themselves.
Africa’s Pulse provides an analysis of issues shaping Africa’s economic future. According to the report, global economic activity has slowed significantly in recent months, weighed down by policy uncertainty. Despite difficult global conditions, growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has remained largely on track. However, the region’s economic prospects are vulnerable to heightened downside risks. Because Africa’s growth recovery since 2000 - the longest expansion since independence - was based on improved macroeconomic policies and political stability, the prospects of sustained growth are strong. Discoveries of minerals are bringing the prospect of large revenues for newly resource-rich countries. The challenges for these countries will be to strengthen mineral governance and also to ensure that the new revenues are invested in better health, education and jobs for their people, according to the report.
While bilateral investment treaties (BITs) can make a positive contribution to sustainable development, the benefits to host countries are not automatic, according to this speech by South African Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies. He says BITs pose risks and limitations on the ability of the Government to pursue its Constitutional-based transformation agenda. As a result, Cabinet has concluded that South Africa should refrain from entering into BITs in future, except in cases of compelling economic and political circumstances. Cabinet also seeks to incorporate legitimate exceptions to investor protection where warranted by public policy considerations such as, for example for national security, health, environmental reasons or for measures to address historical injustice and or promote development. South Africa’s updated approach would aim to achieve an appropriate balance between the rights and obligations of investors, the need to provide adequate protection to foreign investors, while ensuring that constitutional obligations are upheld, and that government retains the policy space to regulate in the public interest.
There were sobering messages on global economic prospects emerging from the meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Tokyo in early October 2012. Developing countries’ Finance Ministers and Central Bank officials voiced their concerns on the failure of developed countries to deal with their economic situation and on the policy and political paralysis preventing solutions. They argued that developing nations were also suffering from the spillover effects of policies adopted by some developed countries, particularly their provision of huge volumes of credit credit, the continuing European debt crisis, and the looming threat of the United States’ “fiscal cliff”. A major setback was the missing of the deadline to resolve the issue of altering the quotas of the International Monetary Fund with the aim of providing developing countries with a higher overall share, to improve their say over the policies of the institution. The Tokyo meeting was supposed to settle the question but was unable to come to a decision. The G24 group of developing countries argued that failure to meet the deadline undermined the IMF’s credibility.
In response to the early online release of a French study in September 2012, which suggested that genetically modified (GM) maize may promote cancer and early death in rats, a number of environmental and development organisations working in South Africa have written this open letter to government demanding an immediate ban on human consumption of GM maize. In contrast to the 90-day studies conducted by Monsanto, which developed the particular variety of maize in question, th French study ran for two years and revealed long-term health hazards. Monsanto has repeatedly asserted Roundup Ready maize is safe. Over 70% of maize consumed in South African is GM, according to this letter, and over 40% of the national crop is of the Roundup Ready variety. The letter notes that in many high income countries Roundup Ready maize is considered fit for consumption by livestock only.
The main aim of this assessment was to identify the existing occupational safety and health, working conditions, and environmental challenges in the weaving sector in Addis Ababa and their impact on productivity, quality and access to external markets. Researchers targeted women weavers in the three categories namely the micro-level weavers who weave in their homes, weavers in cooperatives and those weaving in small-scale enterprises. Respondents from all three categories reported poor working conditions and environment, and had low productivity and product quality. Weavers and owners of the small-scale enterprises were not aware of the benefits of improving working conditions, occupational safety and occupational health. Comfort in terms of the design of their workstations and ease-of-use of machinery was often not even considered by respondents to be of any importance. Most work rooms had poor light and little ventilation and were often overcrowded, as micro-level weavers shared their work space with children and other family members, all of whom are exposed to occupational hazards as well. Participants called for continuous support and especially the development of policy tools and bilingual guides for continuous improvement that would not only support their survival, but also their growth and ability to compete on local and export markets.
In developing countries, jobs are a cornerstone of development, with a pay off far beyond income alone. They are critical for reducing poverty, making cities work, and providing youth with alternatives to violence, according to the World Development Report 2013. The report focuses on employment, stressing the role of strong private sector-led growth in creating jobs, and outlines how jobs that do the most for development can spur a virtuous cycle. These jobs include those that raise incomes, make cities function better, connect the economy to global markets, protect the environment, and give people a stake in their societies. The report finds that poverty falls as people work their way out of hardship and as jobs empower women to invest more in their children. Efficiency increases as workers get better at what they do, as more productive jobs appear, and as less productive ones disappear. And ultimately, the report concludes, societies flourish as jobs foster diversity and provide alternatives to conflict.
The lack of a global legal framework to guide national action and international cooperation to reduce risk factors related to alcohol abuse and unhealthy diet significantly hinders the capacity of nations worldwide to unilaterally and collectively curb the expanding epidemics of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), according to this paper. A number of commentators have suggested the adoption of comprehensive treaties or framework conventions on obesity, or alcohol or both. Given the legal, political, budgetary, and time-related limitations to the development and adoption of all-encompassing treaty regimes to address obesity and alcohol abuse, the authors recommend an alternative legal strategy to counter these rising NCD epidemics. In particular, they call for the prompt adoption of a WHO/UNICEF global code of practice on the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children. Such a non-binding international legal instrument has significant advantages over a treaty approach at the present time. It would provide a much-needed step towards advancing meaningful engagement with and holding to account all relevant actors, including national governments, private industry, and UN agencies, in protecting children everywhere from harm. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (“FCTC”) addresses one of the major risk factors contributing to NCDs by establishing a global legal framework to counter the tobacco pandemic: in response, the authors call on the global community to act collectively to establish a legal architecture to regulate a central component of these two other major risk factors.
On 6 September 2012, Japan’s ruling party, the House of Representatives, ratified the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the absence of opposition parties, counting only the votes of the ruling party. Critics have denounced the move as undemocratic, also claiming that the Japanese mass media has marginalised the issue in the arena of public debate. Meanwhile, processes in several ACTA signatory states seem to be stalled. The author of this article notes that it is unlikely that ACTA will become an international treaty, with an apparent stalemate between the United States administration and legislators about ratification procedures, and the European Union’s recent vote against ratifying the agreement. Besides Japan, seven governments are reported to have signed ACTA, namely Australia, Canada, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States. Switzerland has not signed nor ratified. ACTA will have significant repercussions for public health, as the treaty aims to strengthen patent protection for pharmaceutical companies, wuth negative consequences for the production of affordable generic medicines in the developing world.