Month of March, 2008

Much is written about the effectiveness of encouraging alternative livelihoods in conservation. One argument runs that if you can find an alternative income for someone who currently exploits a natural resource unsustainably or illegally, then the exploitation will cease and biodiversity will be conserved.  The counter argument is that the alternative is actually used as a supplementary income, making it possible for the miscreant to buy a bigger chainsaw or truck for larger scale resource exploitation. Clearly some sort of alternative is needed, but how can it be used unequivocally for conservation?

These were the problems facing one of my projects focusing on the conservation of the Lambusango forest block, at the southern end of Buton, an island to the southeast of SE Sulawesi in the middle of Indonesia. This forest is home to many of Sulawesi’s many endemic species, especially the small but belligerent wild buffalo or Anoa.

What is good governance, and how should we measure it?  What impact does governance have on growth?  Even if good governance predicts positive outcomes over the long term, what effect does it have in the short term?  Dani Rodrik, well-known development economist and head of Harvard’s graduate program in public administration and international development, raises as many questions as he answers in this blog post; a recent article in The Economist addresses similar issues.  There’s a lot of interest these days in the question of how to best define and measure governance -- we’ll write more about this in the coming weeks.

The Grassroots Business Initiative (GBI) is the brainchild of the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).  Launched in 2004, the GBI supports innovative social enterprises – dubbed Grassroots Business Organizations (GBOs) – that directly engage the poor as entrepreneurs, consumers, employees and suppliers, offering financing and capacity building know-how to GBOs.

Only pedestrians and bikes are allowed on Pingyao's main street.

China’s coastal areas have benefited the most from reform and opening up because they were allowed to go first and also because their geography gives them better connection to the global market.  But now some of China’s lagging interior regions are turning their disadvantages to advantages.  Developing later, some interior towns have the opportunity to preserve their ancient character and use this as an asset to attract tourists and create jobs. 

My family got to see this first-hand on a weekend trip to Pingyao, one of the best preserved ancient cities in China.  Most cities long ago tore down their city walls to make way for development.  People in Pingyao joke that their city was too poor to tear down their massive Ming-dynasty wall, so it is one of the few left completely intact.  Now the city sees it as a valuable asset, and has had the good sense to ban motor vehicles in the inner city, creating a lovely walking/biking environment through its beautiful ancient streets. 

Arrived at Ban Navang! Arlyne and Tony with some of the villagers who were working on the wildlife monitoring.

Feb. 9, 2007* - This morning we, sadly, had to make our way out of the forest. We had our breakfast and left around 6:30 am as the transect teams were leaving to do their last day (day four) of their surveying in this area (tomorrow they’ll move to a new location).

The walk on the trail back was absolutely stunning. It is such a beautiful forest, it’s hard to describe and no adjective would probably ever do it justice. On the walk back we got lucky again and saw some Douc Langurs! They really are amazing creatures. And they sure make some giant leaps as they make their way from tree to tree.

We stopped midway to have lunch, and reached Ban Navang shortly after 3 pm (about a 16-kilometer walk from Camp 6, towards the opposite direction than Tha Phai Ban). Ban Navang is a very nice, but very poor, village of about 310 people. With support from the WMPA they have been able to build water wells, a school, and the typical “toilet houses” you see in Lao villages: small, little houses made up of wood and palm leaves with a squat toilet. They also have some water wells where Arlyne and I bathed today.

Jennifer Conlin of The New York Times reported recently on a global trend already sweeping through Asia and the Pacific -- the green hotel.   It was just a matter of time before environmentally-friendly practices and the business “bottom line” struck up what looks to be a promising long-term relationship.  Add growing consumer interest, combined with the cost savings realized through energy-saving and conservation strategies, and we have the makings of an eco-boom in tourism.  Case in point:  the eight-room Old Bangkok Inn, which uses solar energy to heat the hot water for the entire hotel, room sensors to shut down lights and appliances when a guest leaves the room, and features locally produced furnishings for the rooms, as well as local food specialties for every breakfast.

Feb. 8, 2007* - Second day of transect for us and third for the team. Arlyne and I joined a different group today, while Tony and Jim joined our group from yesterday. Our most interesting viewings today were Brown Hornbills – big birds about 70 centimeters tall, with a tucan-like beak, and sitting very high up in the trees – and a Giant Black Squirrel, just sitting there, with its large, bushy tail that made it look kinda like a skunk from where I was sitting (with my binoculars about 200 meters away.) The animals were so beautiful! I never imagined getting this excited about seeing a bird, squirrel or monkey, particularly when they are hundreds of meters away! But it’s exciting stuff! Like Tony says… the “WOW” factor: that moment when you first say “wow” and your perspective changes forever….

Perhaps almost as amazing as seeing the wildlife is noting the talent of these men in spotting things that are hundreds of meters away (granted they used to hunt for a living). While they have binoculars as well, they mainly spot the animals with their bare eyes, it’s incredible! I could barely see the hornbill at first, and they could just tell from hundreds of meters away, that high up on a tree, was a silhouette next to some leaves (which was a hornbill). I guess Arlyne and Tony are right; these are just the skills that they develop on a daily basis.
Lao Jungle Diary 5

Thailand made financial news on March 3 by lifting capital controls on the Thai Baht that were imposed 14 months ago.  The Bank of Thailand (BOT), the central bank, had imposed the measures to limit the rapid appreciation of the Baht against the US Dollar, which was reportedly hurting exports, and to prevent speculative investment in the capital markets.  Thailand’s capital controls imposed in December 2006 did not stem the appreciation of the currency (the Baht appreciated by about 14% since that time) and in spite of this appreciation, exports rose by over 30% in 2007.  This leaves open two key questions: (1) if the controls did not ultimately prevent the currency from appreciating, what impact did they have on financial market development? and (2) what can the rest of Asia learn from this incident, if anything? 

Mr. Xaypanya signals on the map where we went that day while Tony and Arlyne, on the left, and Jim and I, on the right, watch.

Feb. 7, 2007* - Although this was my first transect ever, and our first transect here, it was the team’s second day. We woke up at 5:30 am, had breakfast, and left for the transect just before 7 am. Arlyne and I joined one group, while Tony and Jim joined another. In each group there are generally three people (usually men in this case): the leader and another “observer” (looking out for species) and a guard (just in case).

The idea of the transect is to cover about two kilometers of territory, in a straight line (which is set up on the first day following GPS location and compass bearing), slowly and quietly, listening and looking out for the species. Why five types in our case? According to Arlyne, they chose these five because they generally are relatively easy to either hear or see in this forest but are also some of the most threatened by hunting – a big concern in the NT2 Watershed.

Rice prices keep going up, but freerice.com allows anyone to donate rice by playing a simple vocabulary game: You just make a guess at what a particular word means, and... if you get it right, you've just donated 20 grains of rice to be distributed through the UN World Food Program.

And the site wants you to get it right as often as possible, so based on your results, it automatically adjusts your level of vocabulary and you get words it expects you to know. The rice is paid for by the advertisers on the site.

I'm a wildlife biologist.  I'm among the very few lucky World Bank staff to get paid to climb up mountains, go down caves, trek through forests, meet remote forest inhabitants, and to argue the conservation case with senior government officials. But how does this fascinating work translate into Bank projects? Well, it means I work on pure biodiversity conservation projects, on others' projects to add biodiversity value, and on pioneer biodiversity initiatives. It's rather appropriate that I should be writing my first blog on the small Indonesian island of Ternate. It was from here, exactly 150 years ago in 1858, that naturalist and traveller Alfred Russel Wallace wrote to Charles Darwin from a small house somewhere close to my guesthouse.

Making a stop on the way to Camp 6 to have lunch. My favorite was the meng da geo, a gel-like substance in which to dip the rice, except this one was made of crushed, dry insects.

Feb. 6, 2007* - Up at 6 am, pack, enjoy some nice instant coffee Arlyne brought, some sticky rice with chicken left over from last night, and ready to go!

Today was a “point A” to “point B” day, meaning our main goal was to get to Camp 6, sixteen kilometers away from Tha Phai Ban, to join the groups working on the wildlife monitoring (the “transect” teams) – the reason why we’re here!

The walk wasn’t bad at all. We stopped about half way to have some lunch and got to camp by 4:30 pm. The forest is so beautiful, there’s so much energy! We walked through some villages, each with their own map pointing to what part of the protected area they live in and which parts they use for agriculture, to hunt, gather forest products, and which areas they fully protect. I also got to practice my Lao with my WMPA (Watershed Management and Protection Authority, which manages the protected area) and government friends, which was a nice little extra benefit for me!

Last week the World Bank hosted a workshop on the social dimension of climate change, a good chance for insights from the dark side of the moon. Not only environment, not only the economic implications of mitigating greenhouse gases, but people affected, the poors' right to their lands and to natural resources. Many studies were presented. One rang my bell.

A whole session was dedicated to the role that climate change impacts and disasters may have on conflicts and migration in developing countries. These are some of the previous statements that called attention the most:

• Climate change is an "all encompassing threat" to human health, to global food supply, and to peace and security" (Annan, 2006).
• Climate change will "help produce insurgencies, genocide, guerrilla attacks, gang warfare and global terrorism" (Homer Dixon, 2007).
• Climate change "may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for earth's resources" which may result in "increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states" (Mjor, 2007).

But what do we _really_ know about environmental factors and armed conflicts?

Jim, Buaseng and Lakhon making their way across the forest.

Feb. 5, 2007* -- The journey begins. This morning we had an early meeting with the Watershed Management and Protection Authority (WMPA, the entity managing the protected area) and then hopped on a canoe for a one-hour journey up the Nam Theun River.

One could not have asked for a better day: beautiful blue sky, cool weather, gorgeous views of the river, and interesting birds crossing our path. Once we reached Kaeng Maeo (translated as “Cat Rapids”), a stop along the Nam Theun, we had some sticky rice --the Lao staple-- and dried buffalo meat for lunch, and started our two-hour walk to avoid the river rapids.

 Once back on another boat at the top of the rapids, we (Arlyne, Tony, Jim and I, plus Lakhon and Buaseng, two colleagues who work at the WMPA and the District Governor’s Office, respectively), went along for another two hours – by now my legs are a bit cramped – until we reached Tha Phai Ban around 5pm. Tha Phai Ban is one of the villages inside the National Protected Area, and the WMPA is working with them, as well as with the rest of the villages, to help them improve their living standards.

Feb. 4, 2007* - Wow, it’s cold! Who would’ve thought I’d ever be cold living in Lao, but it’s nearly zero degrees where I am….

I’m here in the Nakai Plateau (Khammouane province), in central Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), with another World Bank colleague, a Senior Biodiversity Specialist for the East Asia region, who’s a biologist by training and therefore a rare species himself at the World Bank. He (Tony) has been working in the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) project for the past nine years, and has been closely involved with the protection of the Nakai Nam Theun National Protected Area (the NT2 Watershed, part of the project) – which brings me to why I’m here….

Tony and I, together with two colleagues from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Arlyne and Jim, will be spending the next six days trekking through the Lao jungle, joining wildlife monitoring groups to view wildlife and assess how the surveying program is working.

I’m excited! Time to sleep as tomorrow we have an early start.

--To be continued

The IFC's Rapid Response Unit that is behind the successful Doing Business map has expanded on it and created Business Planet, adding info from their other databases: enterprise surveys (70,000 firms in 104 countries), privatization transactions, and trends in private infrastructure projects.