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African Development Community (african + development_community)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Transboundary Aquifers: A Global Program to Assess, Evaluate, and Develop Policy

GROUND WATER, Issue 5 2005
S. Puri
Transboundary aquifers are as important a component of global water resource systems as are transboundary rivers; yet, their recognition in international water policy and legislation is very limited. Existing international conventions and agreements barely address aquifers and their resources. To rectify this deficiency, the International Association of Hydrogeologists and UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme have established the Internationally Shared (transboundary) Aquifer Resource Management (ISARM) Programme. This multiagency cooperative program has launched a number of global and regional initiatives. These are designed to delineate and analyze transboundary aquifer systems and to encourage riparian states to work cooperatively toward mutually beneficial and sustainable aquifer development. The agencies participating in ISARM include international and regional organizations (e.g., Organization of American States, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Food and Agriculture Organization, and South African Development Community). Using outputs of case studies, the ISARM Programme is building scientific, legal, environmental, socioeconomic, and institutional guidelines and recommendations to aid sharing nations in the management of their transboundary aquifers. Since its start in 2000, the program has completed inventories of transboundary aquifers in the Americas and Africa, and several ISARM case studies have commenced. [source]

Regional Organizations and Intra-Regional Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Prospects

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 6 2001
Aderanti Adepoju
Africa is a region of diverse migration circuits relating to origin, destination and transit for labour migrants, undocumented migrants, refugees and brain circulation of professionals. This article outlines major migration configurations in the region, and the role of two vibrant subregional organizations , Economic Community of West African States and South African Development Community , in facilitating, containing or curtailing intra-regional migration which takes place within diverse political, economic, social and ethnic contexts; the transformation of brain drain into brain circulation; and commercial migration in place of labour migration within the region. Despite overlapping membership, wavering political support, a poor transportation network, border disputes and expulsions, these subregional organizations are crucial for the region's collective integration into the global economy, and to enhance economic growth and facilitate labour intraregional migration. Free movement of persons without visa, adoption of ECOWAS travellers' cheques and passports, the creation of a borderless Community; and the granting of voting rights and later citizenship and residence permits by South Africa to migrant workers from SADC countries are positive developments. These organizations need to foster cooperation between labour-exporting and recipient countries, implement the protocols on the right of residence and establishment; promote dialogue and cooperation in order to harmonize, coordinate and integrate their migration policies as envisioned by the 1991 Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community. [source]

Regional tourism and South-South economic cooperation

THE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2001
Krishna B. Ghimire
Regional tourism within developing countries is a growing phenomenon. Yet this aspect has been largely neglected in social science research as well as tourism planning. This paper highlights the general nature, scale and economic significance of regional tourism in three leading regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The topic is especially timely as economic self-reliance and cooperation are increasingly reiterated in the context of the emergence of regional groupings. A key question addressed is whether regional tourism development represents any new and viable prospects for regional economic improvement and partnership, especially compared to international tourism centred on attracting visitors from industrialized countries. Based on a critical assessment of the experiences of three regional blocs (ASEAN , the Association of South-East Asian Nations; SADC , the Southern African Development Community; and Mercosur , a common market comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with Chile being an associated member), the paper suggests that a basic appreciation of the prospects of regional tourism is not enough to produce perceptible benefits. Regional tourism development is occurring in a haphazard manner, with little attention to managing existing socio-economic inequalities and centre-periphery relations. The paper is based primarily on the review of secondary literature readily available to the author combined with a few documents obtained directly from different regional organizations or through Internet search. A small amount of material, especially concerning emerging tourism trends and outcomes, is drawn from a research project on national mass tourism in developing countries coordinated by the author at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva. [source]

Understanding foreign direct investment in the southern African development community: an analysis based on project-level data

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3-4 2010
Nomathemba Mhlanga
Foreign direct investment (FDI); FDI determinants; Africa Abstract This article uses a uniquely rich project-level data set to analyze determinants and trends of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to the Southern African Development Community region. We control for the source of the investment, the sector in which the investment is undertaken, and the investment type in addition to project size. The results indicate market size to have a positive impact on FDI flows under all specifications,a result consistent with earlier studies. Other variables are unstable depending on specification and the subset of the data used. Furthermore, we find no significant differences in factors that drive FDI flows by source country, while greenfield investments are seen to respond more to the growth potential of the market relative to other forms of investment. In general, we find macroeconomic variables to be poor at explaining project-level FDI in the region. The descriptive analysis of the data points us more in the direction of the gravity model, with factors such as colonial ties and proximity of the investing country appearing to matter. Limited flows and minimal sectoral diversity call for enhanced investment promotion and collaborative efforts among member states. [source]