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SDPI
Research and News Bulletin Vol. 10, No. 2, March - April 2003 |
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| Developing
Country Initiatives in Complying with International Environmental
Standards – Pakistan’s Small and Medium Enterprises The integration of trade and sustainable development is an explicitly stated goal in multilateral and bilateral trade agreements. It also governs inter-firm commercial policies. Sustainable development is an overarching theme, which includes the promotion and protection of human rights, maintenance of local and indigenous communities, equity issues, as well as the traditional focus on environmental protection. Further, private welfare and profit are not necessarily in opposition to the promotion of sustainable development (Rotherham, 2000). In the trade sphere, sustainable development is defined by mandatory technical regulations and voluntary standards, where law drives the former and consumer preferences the latter. The Agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) contain provisions for harmonizing these standards globally. The ISO series, SA standards, and the Forest and Marine Stewardship Council standards represent attempts at harmonization by international voluntary bodies. However, harmonization is an elusive concept. If developing countries - for one reason or another - do not participate fully in the consultations of international standards bodies, the standards that emerge out of such consultations do not reflect their concerns. A more inclusive definition of harmonization would probably embrace both consistency (including technical equivalence) and acceptance as necessary and sufficient conditions. While harmonization is key to reducing protectionism - the downside of environmental, social and quality standards - developing countries are not sufficiently empowered in terms of their institutional, technical and information processing capabilities to contribute to and comply with proliferating standards. Voluntary standards, in particular, are increasing at an almost exponential rate. As a result, they are often caught unawares by non-tariff barriers, which may not be malafide in intent but, invariably, generate adverse political resonances. Essentially, two options present themselves. The first and preferred option is for developing countries to become proactive in standards setting processes so that their concerns and priorities can be reflected in these standards. But, as mentioned, this pre-supposes the requisite capacity. Absent such capacity, they need to
begin empowering themselves. And here the implicit recognition is that they do so in a “standards taking” rather than “standards making” mode. In particular, textile exporting firms in the South Asian region face a double whammy. The standards regime is likely to hit them hard at the MFA phase-out by end-2004, producing a cliff effect. Whether they tip over will depend very much on how well they have prepared themselves to comply with these standards. This entails appropriate firm-level and institutional/policy responses. National regulatory processes, standards setting and information access, conformity assessment and accreditation are some of the areas where multi-tiered capacities need to come up to speed. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in
Pakistan: Potential for Compliance Two studies undertaken at SDPI examined the scope, pressures and experiences in compliance by SMEs in Pakistan. The results of the more recent study (Khan and Haider: 2003) are presented in some detail, while the results of the earlier study (Nadvi and Kazmi: 2000) are recapped briefly. The first study examined firms producing tanned and finished leather and leather garments, while the second study looked at firms exporting soccer balls and surgical instruments. The first study focused on donor supported SMEs in the leather sector, with a sizeable number of export firms among them. Public pressure, stemming from pollution and the ensuing health consequences was the driving force for the firms to change their industrial practices. The frame of reference was NEQS. However, it did not matter who drove these standards or what the environmental benchmarks were. In complying with national standards, SMEs were expected to be on track when confronted with more stringent international standards - whether enforced by foreign governments or stipulated under inter-firm contracts. The approach adopted by the donor agencies working with these SMEs matched the premise stated earlier, namely, “private welfare and profit were not necessarily in opposition to the promotion of sustainable development.” The identified “win-win” or “no regret” options generated social, environmental and efficiency benefits. Demonstration of win-wins End-of-pipe treatment The following table presents information on capital and recurring costs and benefits. Consolidated Costs and Benefits
Capital costs and the reclamation/appreciation of agricultural land had a one-off character. Chrome recovery was clearly profitable as were other variables, which were not been estimated, such as waste recycling and water conservation. Recurring costs were relevant from a project sustainability perspective and are reviewed below. The conjunction of in-plant measures with combined wastewater treatment for tannery clusters demonstrated clear win-wins. This was evident in the relatively short payback periods for in-plant measures, the dispersion of recurring costs associated with end-of-pipe treatment across the cluster and the land reclamation gains. Clean-ups on this scale also yielded impressive environmental and health benefits. With regard to take-up, however, the situation was more ambivalent. Donor subsidies were required to leverage additional contributions by firms to institute in-plant measures, despite their relatively quick paybacks. Firms were even less willing to pay for the costs of running the combined water treatment plant. Essentially, collective action of this kind faced free rider problems. It might be added that in-plant measures are a necessary but not sufficient condition to meet the NEQS/international standard requirements and that they need to be supplemented with end-of-pipe treatment. Clearly financial sustainability and replicability are the key issues. From a policy perspective, the large one-off investments are feasible and likely to elicit donor interest. Since the bulk of tanneries in the country are clustered, there is merit in a concerted attempt to leverage financial support for additional plants, as well as to address the post-project sustainability constraints. One possible option could be for the government to take on the responsibility of running these plants for which they could charge a mandatory fee from the tanneries. Another option could to contract the plants out to the private sector. While they would, presumably, charge relatively higher fees, by the same token they could also be expected to run the plants more efficiently. Experience of Compliance Over the past decade, the surgical instrument cluster in Sialkot faced demands from its two leading markets, the United States and Western Europe which together accounted for over 90% of total annual exports, to conform with international quality assurance standards. The response was significant and rapid. Sialkot now stands out in the country in terms of standards certification. According to data held by the Federation of Pakistani Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the country's apex industrial body, Sialkot’s surgical instrument sector is placed second to the textiles sector, the country's largest industrial sector, in terms of total numbers of ISO 9000 certified firms. Similarly, international media stories brought to light the presence of child labor in the soccer ball industry. This led to demands from Western consumer groups, trade unions and NGOs for a boycott on products from the cluster. Manufacturers responded quickly and signed an agreement called the Atlanta Agreement in February 1997 along with SCCI, ILO and UNICEF. According to this agreement ILO was given the mandate to monitor the process of elimination of child labor from soccer ball industry and it was decided that this process would be completed in a period of 18 months. ILO set up its office in Sialkot under ILO-IPEC programme and started monitoring the phasing out of child laborers from the soccer ball industry. Various factors, which were not present in the first study context, contributed to the pressure upon firms to comply with. First, soccer balls and theatre surgical instrument are niche suppliers, enjoying premium prices. Their prospects for trade diversion are limited, as opposed to tanned and finished leather and leather garments. Second, compliance costs of implementing labor and quality standards are relatively low compared to those for environmental standards, which were the focus of the first study. Third, labor standards were a high profile area, where non-compliance or circumvention attracted adverse publicity. Fourth, ripple effects could occur: for instance, the emphasis on high quality theatre instruments produced spillover effects on disposable floor instruments. Fifth, while clustering did not embody economies of scale or information advantages per se, the quality of the services offered by institutions serving these clusters (trade associations, consultants, certification agencies, technology centers, financial agencies, other government bodies) were important factors in compliance. Concluding Remarks For all the developing countries including Pakistan, the challenge is to integrate trade and environmental policies harmoniously in such a way that maximum synergies are achieved. In other words, the ideal paradigm is one where trade policies become environmentally sensitive and environmental policies are not trade-restrictive. While the south has its own environmental agenda, which coincides with many northern environmental concerns, the task is to ensure that these two converge. In this context, we should take advantage of the capacity building opportunities offered under the WTO, TBT and SPS agreements. Scavenging:
Depriving children of the right to be young, free of abuse Anzoor is 17 years old Afghan refugee scavenger living in Peshawar. But he doesn’t believe that he is young. For him he is still a few years old child who will die as an aged man but will never get young. He has a very strong logic to convince you over this strange concept of life. “The poor people never get young. We have to start work at the age of five and to stop at our death. We jump from childhood to old age, enjoying nothing in between. He believes that “a poor man is either a child or an old aged paralyzed man, waiting for death”. For him the period between childhood and elderly life is an empty space. Five years old Naeem is his next generation. He doesn’t know much about life, the only thing he is aware of is that he has to work and that he has no time to play. He will ends up like Anzoor, hopeless, always ill, never young but old and waiting for a disgraceful death. Scavenging or rag picking is the most hazardous, debasing and worst form of labor. In May 2003, SDPI sent its research teams to the provincial capitals to launch an ILO funded project on scavenging. Age groups ranging from five years old to 18 were interviewed besides interviewing some other concerned people. Convincing these isolated and rejected souls for interview was a big job. They are afraid of everyone and don’t trust anyone out side their professions. They have many reasons to feel like that. During pre-testing of the questioner at Islamabad, a rag picker aged 14, expressing his distrust said that once a team of doctors came and took our blood samples with the pledge of coming back with medicines. They never fulfilled their pledge. “Everyone is selfish, everyone come with their own interests in minds and no one is working for us, we are aware of that”. For them, this is an ugly profession, having no chance of progress in future but they have no other option, as “they have to feed their families”.
They rise at dawn, hanging their dirty bags on shoulders and search for waste till dusk. They have to cover long distances with the weight of waste. Lack of means of transportation is their big problem. They wish to have a bicycle or a cart to carry the waste. Their main hunting places are business centers, residential areas, posh localities, roadside waste dumping places, outskirts of the city and major hospitals. One could find them everywhere in the city, with fear in their eyes and waste in their minds. They have only one hour to rest after lunch and then start the work gain. No time for education, playing and recreation. Even 5 years old children follow this tiring and boring ritual. There is no change in timings in the heat of summer or freezing cold of winter. They have nothing in their life like other children. For them, all other children are privileged one. A female rag picker Nusrat says, “she cries when she saw other girls going to schools”, look at us and look at them” she says to herself. They have only one privilege over other children and that is the “freedom of movement”. Some children aged 15 and above work at night in summer. They start in the evening and finish at 12 or 12: 30 at night. Markets, areas near hospitals and hotels are their hunting places at night. They visit hotels late at night to collect leftover food for themselves and their families. The children who work at night also work as casual laborers at daytime. Their work at night is, however, very risky as sometime they end up in ‘hawalat’ (police lock up). Waste buying and selling points or junkyards are playing the most important role in their lives. Junkyards could be found everywhere in Peshawar, even in the posh localities. They purchase every kind of item and then sell them out to others in this business. According to the owners, businessmen from Punjab, mostly from Gujranwala and Lahore, buy most of the waste for recycling. Junkyard is not only a place where scavengers sell waste but also a school, a park and a recreation center for gossip and socializing. That is also the place where they are faced with verbal and sexual abuse but still the only place where they meet and socialize. For them, at least the people around, the owner, the businessmen, the visitors, all belong to their profession, generating group feeling or feeling at home. Background of Profession Dumping Places, Variety of Waste and Value Commonalties All of them are bachelors. Poverty has forced them to live in a single-family system, having no grandfather, uncle, and in-laws staying with them in their mud houses. Scavenging is not a family profession as parents or elders of majority of them have no history of this profession. They have no chance to get education and therefore they are illiterate. In a nutshell they are property less, unemployed and non-skilled people, lower than the rank of proletariats. A wall clock, a fan, a radio, a broken mirror and a sheep are their sole property. Even some among them have nothing except ‘charpaies’ at homes. Those who own a bicycle are considered as rich and an ideal to follow. Their daily income is Rs. 40 to 100 with the exception of Karkhano market, the largest black market of foreign goods, where rag pickers earn Rs 150 to 250. Perhaps one reason of making more money at this place is practice of theft and begging as confessed by some children. All of them are suffering from some kind of illness. The most common illnesses are Ear Nose and Throat infections, spinal pain, rashes, skin related problems, fever, headache and cough.
Sexual abuse Girls and boys all are aware of the fact that there are many predators, on roads and residential areas, who want to hunt and exploit them sexually. Majority of the abusers are policemen, shopkeepers, choakidars (watchmen), junkyardsowners, old men and sometime coworkers. Apart from sexual abuse, verbal abuse and beating at homes and the workplace is a part of their daily life. Attitude towards Society and Psychological problems As a consequence, many among them are the victims of nightmares, seeing dangerous animals or beasts, someone cutting their throats with sharp knives, extremely smelly things, syringes, bodies and other frightening things and people. They have restless sleep at night. As they are suspicious of each and everyone outside their business, therefore they don’t trust anyone. Anyone out side their profession could be an abuser, agent of police, kidnapper or anything else but not a friend. They talk about speculations (or perhaps truth) that a gang of criminals in Peshawar kidnaps scavengers for tearing up their bodies to sell their body parts at hospitals. They are afraid of hunger and jail but police, dogs, shopkeepers, old men and choukidars at residential areas and at the gates of hospitals are their real enemies. National laws and international conventions are not ready to accept them as labor force because they are children. Society has no sympathy for them and is not ready to accept them as children. They are living with a double-edged sword, stabbed in their stomach. Opening of a few schools, hospitals or rehabilitation centers for them may be a good idea but it is just impossible to solve their problems and rehabilitate them within the society. The only rehabilitation of rag pickers could be a compulsory education system with some monitory help of their poor families and complete ban on waste collection by children. Let us hope for a welfare state and a civilized world where every child would have the right to go to school, live with dignity without any fear of harassment and with the right to be young instead of never young. Devolution
Plan and Public Service Delivery The concept of devolution of powers at gross roots level was floated in late 1999. The then newly constituted National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) initiated a debate and a process of consultation with stakeholders including politicians, media and civil society that resulted in promulgation of the Local Government Ordinance and holding of multistage elections to local bodies. Now that the structure of political decentralization has been partially established, it is time to see whether it is successfully delivering. NRB also initiated a process of brainstorming at a three-day workshop recently held at Bhurban. This essay draws on the discussions took place at the workshop. After almost two years of working of the process, it is quite evident that the system is not delivering as it was expected to be. There are many reasons for inefficient public service delivery through the devolution process. The most important among these reasons is the vague rules of business. Nobody knows what are his/her responsibilities. Due to vagueness in the rules of business, tensions are cropping up in the relations between district Nazims and District Coordination Officers (DCOs) and Nazims and District Police Officers (DPOs). If in some of the districts, the relationships between Nazims and bureaucrats are cordial and system is delivering, it is by chance that a good and frictionless team is in place. But in most cases, the system has come to a standstill. There are no institutional arrangements and things are running on an ad hoc basis.
Critics of the system also blame civil service inertia for being responsible for the system failure. This is partly true that the devolution process has deprived the bureaucrats of the absolute powers they have been enjoying under the previous system. But tension between Nazims and district officers, looking after various departments, is due to the fact that provincial governments recruit these officers and districts have no say in hiring and firing of these officials. Moreover, some of the officials having bad repute in the eyes of the district Nazims still serve under them. The relations between provincial and local governments are also not very smooth. An example is the tension between Mutahida Majlis-e-Aamal (MMA) government in NWFP and the district governments in the province where in President Musharraf had to intervene himself to save the system from a possible collapse. Although, the devolution plan says that local governments would work in provincial framework, yet provinces feel that devolution has further reduced the already meager level of autonomy they were enjoying. The devolution plan included constitution of community
citizen boards (CCBs) to mobilize resources in local context and
cater to governance issues and citizen accountability. The role
of CCBs is to ensure greater citizen involvement in the local government
and to make the local governments more responsive to citizen priorities.
The CCBs are to mobilize one fifth of the cost for improvement of
service delivery in a public facility, or for the management of
new development initiative and rest of the four fifth is to be matched
by the local government. These twin roles of CCBs have an inherent
conflict as they are considered to be development partners and simultaneously
are supposed to be watchdogs of the process. The 20:80 partnerships
could actually intensify the power structures, as there is a fear
of capturing the decision making by local elite. These boards have
not been constituted in most of the places. Local governments did
not spend money allocated to CCBs due to their non-existence. The devolution plan vested the responsibility of developmental work in the local governments. Although, in well functioning democracies, parliamentarians are likely to be engaged in legislation, yet they are genuine stakeholders in the development process. Some of the parliamentarians are of the view that if under the devolution plan, they were not made partners in the development work alongside local governments, they fear they would lose their seats in the parliament in the next term. They demand that they should be fully involved in the development process to attract their voters for next term. Although, direct discretionary grants to parliamentarians are not advisable, as these will ruin the devolution program and will render local governments redundant, yet there could be other ways out to tackle this situation. Since the Local Government Ordinance has a provision of CCBs and other district development committees, parliamentarians could be included in these bodies so that they don’t feel excluded from the process. Fiscal decentralization is another thorny issue in terms of relations between province and district government. Different systems are operative in the provinces. For example, in Punjab, district allocations are one-line items in the provincial budget and not much tiers are involved in fiscal transfers. Whereas, in Sindh, not only is the accountant general office involved in disbursing the payments allocated by the provincial government, but also, the allocations come under specified heads of accounts which make it difficult for the districts to utilize funds. In neither case are districts raising resources locally. Newly formed district governments are heavily dependent upon federal transfers. This arrangement is also a source of tension as districts complain of delays in payments due to procedural bottlenecks. Delayed payment of funds in turn hamper implementation of development projects. The district governments should have more local tax handles available to them. A portion from General Sales Tax (GST) is an option that would guarantee fiscal independence of local governments. The NRB could be renamed as the National Local Government Regulatory Authority (NLGRA) since it only deals with devolution program. Moreover, as sector specific regulatory authorities perform functions of check and balance and look after the interests of consumers, in a similar fashion NLGRA could look after the interest of the people as local governments are discharging the main civic services in the public domain such as health, education, water supply and sanitation. The functions of this proposed authority could be such that it has a monitoring, research and evaluation department based on participatory research methods. Since the devolution process is dealing with social engineering, a social or political scientist could be the right choice to head the proposed office. NLGRA could be designed on the pattern of other sector specific regulatory authorities with the capability of rigorous research. The proposed NLGRA should have a provision of public hearing as in the case of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and this will give an opportunity to the people to hold the local governments answerable. The proposed NLGRA should engage in rigorous research on the devolution process. There is a serious need to establish service delivery benchmarks as there are no such data available and one cannot assess the performance of local governments. Had there been benchmarks available, it would have been possible to comment on the performance of the local governments regarding the difference they have made in service delivery in various fields. The research department could also learn from other country experiences that are experimenting with innovative ideas. It seems that the donors in the country have a lot of interest in the process of devolution. UNDP supported the devolution process at its inception stage and still is engaged with NRB in terms of technical support. Since the theme of the forthcoming World Development Report is “Making Service Delivery Work for the Poor”, the World Bank is also interested in supporting the devolution process in terms of financial and technical assistance. Other donors have shown a keen interest in the devolution of power to the grass roots level. If donors are genuinely eager and committed to support devolution, they should negotiate the grants to the government that have the approval of sub committees as part of the democratic process. Presently, donors directly strike deals with individual departments such as Asian Development Bank negotiated Technical Assistance (TA) loan for Forestry Sector in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Similar negotiations are being done with other departments. This is necessary because loans and grants have long-term obligations and repercussions and this sort of dialogue at the parliamentary level would give broader ownership to the process. The process of devolution has stopped at the district level and powers have not even devolved up to the Tehsil and Union Council tiers. If the government is serious in devolving power, it should go to the lowest tier at village level where there will be more ownership and involvement of the people in the process. The devolution process is positive in its spirit, however, there is a need to rectify ambiguities within the system. Fiscal decentralization is in limbo and sooner it is decentralized, the better it would be. It also needs to be participatory to extend wider ownership. Proliferation
of TV channels in Pakistan Television was introduced in Pakistan in 1964. At that time, Pakistan Television (PTV) was the only channel available to the viewers for a few hours every day, from evening till midnight. It was introduced as a state-controlled medium and remains to this day a corporation of the state where a Board of Governors appointed by the Government of Pakistan, controls its affairs. The Managing Director, also appointed by the Government of Pakistan with consent from the Board, implements the rules for the Corporation and its employees. By the 1990s, PTV was hit by financial mismanagement, an overwhelming debt and a rapidly plunging popularity among viewers. It also began to lose advertising revenue to Hindi channels. The solution tried by the then Nawaz Sharif government (Feb. 1997- Oct. 1999) was to launch PTV World in 1998. However, this proved to be insufficient. Increasing globalization and market forces ultimately prevailed and in January 2002, Musharraf government (Oct 1999 - to date) approved an ordinance allowing independent electronic media. Today one-and-half years’ later, Pakistanis can access several private channels such as GEO, Indus Vision, and ARY Digital being some of the major ones. This article examines the impact of proliferation of television channels in Pakistan. In this context, it analyzes changing trends such as the opening up of political debate and increased choice for viewers; changes in programs on religion; impact on political talk shows and role of the multinational corporations. Political Talk Shows These political talk shows invite politicians and government officials who are then grilled by the audience or the host. Programs such as Alif and 50 Minutes invite several speakers representing opposite points of view. Questions are posed to each party generating a lively debate. The topics covered in these discussions vary from a critique on drama serial ‘Umrao Jan Ada’ to Islamic practices such as wearing ‘hijab’. A new show, ‘Hum Sub Umeed Say Hain’, depicts parodies of politicians. The popular belief is that PTV being a state-owned medium tows a government policy and restricts the views of the opposition. However, it has also taken a lead in showing programs/interviews with leaders of the opposition. For instance, views from the opposition are not taboo anymore. Programs, especially candid talk shows and live call-in talk shows, provide an opportunity to listen to views from different sides. The channels have become much more interactive and the audience is also able to air their views. Most of these political talk shows are popular. As one viewer asserts, these programs should be encouraged, as they are quite well liked among the television viewers. They present conflicting views and generate debate, which is healthy. One can argue that these channels can get away with grilling politicians because it suits the military government. The role of intelligence agencies and the issues related to the army such as the huge military budget and the army’s role in politics is not discussed. Muna Khan points out that there is also the criticism that exposing politicians as corrupt is a somewhat dangerous trend because it reinforces the idea that one need not be a politician to run this country. One reason for this ‘caution’ could be that the channels are relatively new on the scene and need some more time to establish themselves before they can start treading on ‘dangerous waters’, such as the military budget. As Mohammad Najeeb, a senior editor of the Media Serve put it, “Eventually private televisions may evolve to be completely independent, but initially they will have to act and pose as friends of the state rather than foes.” Proliferation of TV channels has had a positive impact on PTV. There was a time when “Some audience think that talking against the government means freedom of the press (media),” says a senior PTV executive. “But if you watch BBC or CNN, how many programs can you count that talk against the governments?” he questions.
Drama Serials and Religious
Programs Each channel devotes at least 10% of its time to religious (basically Islamic) programs. It is partly to gain legitimacy and counter the objections of the religious groups, which claim the channels are spreading “fahashi and uryaani” (obscenity and shamelessness). With passing of the ‘Shariah Law’ in the Frontier province by the MMA government, the regional station of PTV in Peshawar has been directed by the provincial government to focus more on such programs and slot in more air time. While PTV’s religious programs had a simple format, now religious programs too have undergone a change. For instance GEO’s Alim Online has a clean-shaven charming host with a laptop and a telephone in front of him. Callers call in or email their questions. The questions vary from simple rituals: can one pass by in front of a person offering his or her prayers to questions such as the validity of nikah if the bridegroom is wearing gold and the rights a man is supposed to fulfill towards his ex-wife. While both Shia and Sunni interpretations are given, the time given to minorities is merely token and only on special occasions such as Christmas and Basant. Another interesting weekly program is a series of documentaries based on Haroon Yahyah’s books. Telecast by Indus Vision it attempts to provide proof of the Quran’s validity by matching its predictions with scientific findings. Role of Multinationals Another strategy is to include the product’s name in the title of the program such as ‘Lipton Humsafar’ (Lipton Companion/Traveller) and ‘Lux Style kee Dunya’ (The World of Lux Styles) One viewer comments that these sponsorships are publicity stunts. There does not seem to be anything wrong with it. However, they do give the impression that the program is for sale. Yet another viewer adds that it is a cheap effort at showing empathy, almost like a tobacco company sponsoring a hospital. Conclusion: What does the future hold? There are disparate views on the future impact of television proliferation in the country. At the moment, PTV authorities are not too concerned about competition from the cable television. This optimism is not misplaced. While cable is available in limited regions, PTV is terrestrial with its own transmitters covering a wide area. PTV still has its stronghold and covers a wide-ranging area. For instant, PTV-1, which is also claimed to be the family channel, covers 38% of the area catering to 86% of the population. PTV World, that transmits news and current affairs programs, covers 29% of the area and catering to 75% of the population. Its news channel service covers some 8% of the area with 40% of the population. From June 2003, PTV has introduced another channel, PTV National that transmits regional programs. Prime TV telecasts PTV dramas and documentaries for the people, especially Pakistanis living in Europe. Channel-3 aims to provide ‘homely atmosphere to all family viewers’. PTV World beams its programs to viewers in South Asia and the Middle East. Private channels, on the other hand, have some
cause for worry. Intense competition for viewers’ attention
and advertising revenue might eventually squeeze out a couple of
channels. Meanwhile, the viewers are enjoying the newfound freedom
of choice in the electronic media. There are today many more channel-surfers
and couch potatoes than there were a couple of years go. There is
also a lot more debate among the television viewers on the content
and quality of the productions. Banning
use of Chemicals (BAB and LAB) in Detergents
Detergents are made from Branched Alkyl Benzene Sulphonic acid (BAB/ABS, brand name Conco AAS) and Linear Alky Benzene Sulphonic acid (LAB/LAS, brand name Santomerse). These are high production volume (>1, 000,000 pounds per annum) chemicals, which compete well with soap both in price and performance. These ionic surfactants are used in cleaning products for home, institutional and industrial use (also in agricultural products, textiles, paints, and personnel (including children) products. Commercial products usually contain 60 – 90% and consumer products 5 – 30% BAB/LAB. At one time most of these applications were all dependent on soap as the surface-active agent. The commercial BAB/LAB products are mixtures of various alkyl chain lengths, typically from about C10 to C14. Manufacturing process of BAB/LAB emits benzene, which is known carcinogen and known reproductive toxin. BAB was developed in early 1930s and being inexpensive became an instant success for use in powdered laundry detergents, replacing soaps. However, these were found to cause foaming problems in sewage/waste water treatment plants and in the environment. BAS surfactant began to accumulate in remote streams, waterfalls and fountains as BAB entered into waste flow patterns. The synthetic detergents were thought to be more resistant than soap to degradation in sewage treatment plants. The degradation process was found to be slow and incomplete due to the interruption of bacterial two-carbon oxidation at a time by the branched alkyl (3-carbon oxidation) in the hydrocarbon chain (C10 – C12). This led to search for development of biodegradable straight chain chemicals for use in detergents. The light colored viscous liquid LAB was introduced in 1965 as a replacement for BAB. Though pure LAB solutions have average foaming properties but the alkaline mixtures of LAB are considered excellent, next to soap. LAB is complex mixture of closely related homologues and isomers. Because of the enormous amounts of LAB consumed each year (2 million tons in 1990), serious concerns have been raised and studies are in progress to examine the biodegradation of major co-products of commercial mixtures of LAB surfactants. Di-alkyl tetralin-sulphonates (DATS) and methyl-branched isomers of LAB (iso-LAB), which account for up to 15% of LAB, have been reported to be resistant to primary degradation. Studies have indicated the non-biodegradability of 40 – 60% of DATS and iso-LAB. On the basis of LAB consumption and the results of these studies, it has been estimated that 200,000 tons of refractory organics is dispersed each year in the environment as a result of the use of these surfactants. Under the High Production Volume Chemical Challenge
Program, LAS/ABS (LAB/BAB) Consortium’s partial submission
to US EPA in December 2002 provides the following information: Further studies by LAS/ABS Consortium are in progress in USA and a final submission is likely to be made to USA EPA some time this year. International Program on Chemical Safety (ICS), World Health Organization (WHO), so far has not evaluated the different alkyl benzene sulfonates and their effect on environment. Based on 1000 lbs of surfactants, laboratory tests (including aerobic degradation, industrial, atmospheric and water borne wastes and energy consumption in manufacturing process and waste disposal) seem to support the use of methyl ethyl sulfonates (MES) and fatty alcohol sulfonates (FAS) over LAB. In view of above, the following suggestions have been made to Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) for consideration regarding ban on use of BAB and LAB in Detergents:
Sixth SDC on “Sustainable Development: Bridging the Research/Policy Gaps in Southern Contexts” The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is organizing its 6th Sustainable Development Conference on “Sustainable Development: Bridging the Research/Policy Gaps in Southern Contexts” in Islamabad during December 11-13, 2003. This Conference seeks to problematize knowledge production processes/research in relation to policies in the South. As there are gaps between policy and research at multiple levels, it will raise questions such as: who are the knowledge producers? Who raises the demands for knowledge production? What are the sites of knowledge production? Who uses such knowledge? Who benefits from new knowledge? What are the lessons learnt? And how can we bridge these gaps? Specifically, the Conference will focus on the problematique of knowledge production about southern contexts in the South. It will explore policy/research gaps in two directions: in some places policy needs to be fed by better research while in others, policy needs to take better account of existing solid research. It will focus on the ways and means for translating this knowledge into effective policy initiatives locally, nationally, regionally and internationally by identifying the multiple gaps between research and policies in different sectors. The Conference seeks to bring together theorists, researchers, creative thinkers, writers, activists, policy makers, and academicians to debate bridging the real and imagined gaps. How can the research we produce in third world contexts be translated into effective policy for sustainable development (SD)? Is SD only a question of reorienting the research/policy connections? Or, is it about claiming and putting value into the fragmented and disparate work that speaks to and about the third world? These questions will be tackled at several inter-related levels: in purely third world contexts; in terms of the relationship with first world institutions; and, within and between third world contexts. The conference would address three themes. The Conference will be multi and trans-disciplinary to open up new ways of seeing, which may lead to effective strategies for over-coming the gaps we presently face in policy making. The Conference will investigate critical policy issues ranging from the status of social sciences to issues of migration and urbanization, food security, employment, governance, gender, violence, poverty, the WTO regime and trade, renewable energy, and conflict. It will highlight the crosscutting linkages between such diverse themes and the increasingly complex demands upon the policy arena to respond to these issues quickly and effectively. Sustainable Development Conference Series:
A Background First SDC Second SDC Third SDC Fourth SDC Fifth SDC Trip
Report Ten media practitioners from India, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan attended a two week workshop entitled “Media and Reproductive Health: Strategies for Advocacy and Action” held from 21 April to 03 May in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. The workshop was sponsored and organized by Leadership Development Mechanism (LDM) Program of the Institute of International Education (IIE), the Himmat Society, an NGO based in Lahore, Pakistan and implemented in collaboration with Asia-pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development. The aim of the workshop was to highlight the role of media to focus on issues related to reproductive health and concerns in the context of gender relations to formulate strategies of advocacy. Ms Maxine Olsen, who has the rare distinction of being both the Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Resident Representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia, based in Kuala Lumpur formally inaugurated the workshop. In her inaugural address Ms Olsen applauded the commitment shown by the organizers and the participants for responding to the challenge of reproductive health in developing countries through more efficient, accurate, non-discriminatory and sensitive reporting and representations by the media. The workshop content covered the scope of the reproductive health encompassing the key concepts of gender and health. As an outcome of this project, the media practitioners formulated plans for publications such as newsletters and realistic proposals to either produce programmes, or write articles that would disseminate awareness on gender and reproductive health, and population issues, once they return to their respective countries. The consultants for this specific workshop were Ms. Moneeza Hashmi and Kausar S. Khan from Pakistan, along with a team of distinguished academicians and media practitioners from Malaysia, namely Datuk Dr Raj Karim, Director, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Dr Kiranjit Kaur, Associate Professor, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, University Technology MARA, Dr Shanti Balraj Deputy Dean, Post graduate studies, School of Communication University Science Malaysia and Dr Wong Yut Lin, Associate Professor Health Research Development Unit, University of Malaya. During the course of the two-week training, the participants were able to interact with local media professionals and from various local NGOs. They visited Radio Television Malaysia (RTM), followed by a briefing session by the producers on programmes that were telecasted on reproductive health. ‘Doctor and You’, ‘Global’ and ‘Point of View’ were stated as regular series, which dealt with reproductive health issues. At the New Straits Times of Malaysia, the participants had discussions with the editors of the women’s and youth columns/sections and were able to ascertain how the Malaysian print media responded to various problems related to gender and reproductive health. The study visit to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the East and Southeast Asia and Oceania Region (ESEAOR) based in Malaysia provided them with an understanding of IPPF’s network on reproductive health education, counseling on responsible parenthood and its struggle to out law the discriminatory and derogatory practices against women and children, along with development of community participation projects, within the international family planning movement, for its successful application. During the first week of workshop, participants familiarized themselves with terms such as health as a social issue, the importance of equality and equity in health care and the vulnerability of women. They became familiar with some fundamental concepts of gender, and related them with reproductive health, explored the concept that reproductive health issues are rights issues and the importance of self-awareness in professional work. At the session titled “Reproductive Health including family planning”, Dr Raj Karim said that, “Reproductive Health issues cover a very wide spectrum of issues such as poverty, unemployment and empowerment. Without alleviating poverty one can not tackle the issues related to reproductive health”. She highlighted the abortion practices in the region and how these states approached this controversial issue. Participants learnt that of the work done by Dr Wong Yut Lin, through a Malaysian case study on the Women’s Access to Gender-Sensitive Reproductive Health services. She said, “Though women are more empowered in Malaysia, the most developed country in ASEAN region, the male dominancy issue is still as evident as in other parts of the world.” “Women undervalue their own health needs and due to socioeconomic constraints avoid seeking gynecological care from male doctors, she added. Talking about the Media’s role in Reproductive Health issues, Dr Kiranjit Kaur said, “Malaysian media enjoys 50 per cent participation of women journalists, but there was also a need to sensitize them on gender issues. Reproductive health issue has not taken off in print media, in particular, and electronic media, in general.” During the second and last week of the workshop, Dr, Shanti Balraj, moderated three different sessions, focusing on gender, media and reproductive health: exercising a strong advocacy role. The objectives of these sessions were to create an understanding of gender roles and responsibilities, assisting media in integrating gender in their programs and policies to create an understanding and awareness of advocacy concepts and strategies among media practitioners. In order to better understand gender issues, she asked the participants to draw happy and sad family illustrations separately with explanations. This exercise helped participants to vividly comprehend the concepts and approaches, among each other, about the issues of gender, vividly. They were also asked to describe the roles and expectations of society from the point of view of men and women, that how have those roles changed from previous generations and how have they affected men and women individually, in the family and in the society. The Population and Environment Communication Center (PECC) of the Sustainable Policy Development Institute (SDPI) was represented by this scribe and a presentation was given on “The state of vernacular press in Pakistan and its role on advocating RH and gender issues”. The presentation was well received by the participants and the attending resource persons and media practitioners gave encouraging remarks. Finally, Moneeza Hashmi, the moderator of the workshop concluded the academic sessions with an action plan regarding the issues. She asked two groups to come up with proposals on how to make a more effective and better coverage of issues related to reproductive health and gender. Group A, consisting of Gabriela Granados (Mexico), Aminu Sarki (Nigeria), Mohsin Babbar, Rauf Arif and Khawar Ghumman (Pakistan), suggested a proposal to sensitize media practitioners on gender and reproductive health. The group suggested that the media, which included advertisement, alternate, print and electronic, should be sensitized on these issues through trainings, literature provision, through newsletters and research, discussion fora and seminars. Comprising Bello Sule (Nigeria), Simin Raheel, Waseem Abbasi (Pakistan) and Soumi Das and Arum Kumar (India), Group B proposed a project that would address the concerns of the youth population. Objectives of this proposal included informing and educating the youth on reproductive health issues and encouraging them to use of contraceptives as a method to prevent unwanted pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS, and as a tool for birth spacing. Participants agreed upon some of the proposed strategies and recommendations to overcome the absence of watered down approach of reproductive health and gender issues in the media. As journalists and mass communicators, media personnel should disseminate messages by introducing them in clear and simple languages for better and easy understanding of the target audiences. Controversial issues regarding reproductive health should be covered through a balanced and scientific approach. Media practitioners should advocate the need for new and progressive reproductive health legislation, and they should try to integrate women issues in the treatment of other social issues. The remaining stakeholders should assist in the capacity building of media practitioners and ensure the provision of information and data through research, trainings and seminars, resource centers inter alia. At the closing ceremony held on 03 May 2003 H E Nasim Rana, High Commissioner for Pakistan to Malaysia, presented certificates to the participants.
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